Sky journalist explains why Fonseca showed ‘not even a frame’ of Inter during preparations

AC Milan ran out 2-1 victors in the Derby della Madonnina, and a journalist has claimed that before the game Paulo Fonseca did not show anything Inter-related to the squad in an attempt to make the squad more confident. 

Preparation is the biggest part of football, but there is no set way to prepare for football matches, less so big ones. Some managers will look at every detail of a game with their squad, but it seems that Fonseca would prefer to prepare his teams differently, at least for the Inter game.

According to Peppe Di Stefano, the Sky Sports Journalist, Fonseca focused more on his squad than the opposition and his words to Sky have been relayed by Milan News.

“The anecdotes of the pre-derby come up: like the barbecue and the writing courage in all languages as Fonseca wanted. In the course of the past week, he never showed his team a single moment, not a single frame, not a single Inter game situation. It is more a psychological move than a tactical one. In the conference, he said he didn’t want to speak well of Inter, but in fact, that’s what he conveyed to the team: trusting his own abilities more than Inter’s demerits or insecurities.

“Clearly with the staff they will have analysed Inter, but with the team he didn’t want to talk about it, he had focused on the mental aspect and the courage that he had written in the locker room of Milan. Given the result the intent in the end was positive, proactive and winning, now it will be necessary to follow up on these good intentions.”

This is another display of the Portuguese head coach’s bravery because if the result went in a different way, this would likely have been seen as a key reason why. However, his focus on his team playing their football clearly worked.