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AC Milan Crisis: Should Paulo Fonseca Be Sacked? (Clip From Ep. 480) image

AC Milan Crisis: Should Paulo Fonseca Be Sacked? (Clip From Ep. 480)

The Italian Football Podcast
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1.3k Plays15 days ago

After AC Milan drop points following a poor performance against Patrick Vieira and his Genoa, Nima Tavallaey and Carlo Garganese discuss, debate and analyze if the Rossoneri should sack Paolo Fonseca.

This is an extended clip from this week's free Monday episode of The Italian Football Podcast which is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google podcasts.

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Transcript

Milan's Dilemma: Keep or Sack Fonseca?

00:00:03
Speaker
football The question needs to be asked now. Milan have a decision to make. know The top four is sliding away and really at risk, even more so, and that much more so, I would say, right now than Juventus. Can Milan or should Milan stick with Fonseca? Can they actually risk sticking with Fonseca? Given, I mean, the Scudetto obviously is gone, but given how much they really risk missing on the top four, you know, should should Milan start thinking about sacking Fonseca?
00:00:41
Speaker
I think that that is definitely something they should take into their calculations, but given that the situation that they have created, the Milan directors, because again, the issue is not just the results, the issues are that you have players who mentally are not worthy of being at Milan. They are great players with individual skill, fantastic, world class even, talent, skill, whatever. But the mentality just isn't there. And if you sack the coach at this point, well, you you know you're you're you're building a pretty dangerous precedent because you're kind of shifting the power over to the players and basically saying that they can get anyone sacked. That's a really dangerous virus to get into a dressing room.
00:01:29
Speaker
because the suit if you you you know that can easily become something that players used to. As soon as they don't like a manager and his decision, they just stop playing for him and the the manager gets sacked and and it continues. We've seen it time and time again at different clubs. So I think at this moment in time, it's very, very dangerous if they did that.
00:01:47
Speaker
I'm not sure how much how much the the players want. I have no inside information on this, but I don't know how much the players want Fonseca to be said, if they want it to be said. I'm not sure if we're there. I think that clearly that there's an issue that Fonseca is not able to maybe the job is i'm not sick maybe the job is maybe the job is too big for him but he's not able to get yeah get yeah I'm not saying that the players want him sacked that's not what I'm saying at all I'm saying for all intents and purposes when you clearly have the issues that you have at Milan so publicly when if you sack the manager at that point you're essentially setting a precedent a very dangerous precedent regardless of what the players want actively or not where it's
00:02:35
Speaker
They get, they, they, you essentially tell them by your actions that they can get the manager sacked when they're not happy. That is very, very dangerous. And I think that's something that's a very dangerous risk. I think that would assume that they're not happy with the manager. I mean, that might be the case. I

Milan's Performance and Financial Concerns

00:02:52
Speaker
think that, I think, listen, I think you have a decision to make, like, you know, you, I mean, look at, look at the situation from Milan right now. They're eighth in the table.
00:03:01
Speaker
they're 14 points off the the top, so obviously the Scudetto's gone, they do have a game in hand, that but they're eight points off the top four, um and you look at their their results this season, six wins, five draws, four losses in Serie A, but in the last two months, three wins, three draws,
00:03:19
Speaker
three losses. I mean, that's that's wind draw a loss, wind draw loss, wind draw loss. I mean, that's just just just just simply not good enough. is well It's not this one there's not even close to being good enough. See, sure you have a decision to make. like yeah Do you want to stick with Fonseca with these these results? ah where there There's no signs of improvement, because as I've said, the the results are a wind draw a loss, wind draw loss the last two months. Or you know do you stick with Fonseca and risk missing the top four? And the financial ramifications of that going forward um as well, looking ahead to to next season. Do you risk it or do you change it now, bringing someone like a Saudi or someone else that's going to risk you, get you into the top four? I mean, I don't know. I mean, are you that married to the Fonseca project or do you just accept that, well, this project isn't going to work if we give him more time? Well, i mean the issue is that it is going to work.
00:04:16
Speaker
My issue again is that in this specific moment in time, if you sack Fonseca, you would be setting a very dangerous precedent um by your actions, which is very, very difficult to stamp out later on, where you essentially, every manager is almost has this question mark hanging over them as soon as they walk through the door.
00:04:40
Speaker
I don't think other than that amazing over that is a result of everything that's happened very publicly since the beginning of the season until now. But and and but I do think that there is a mitigating factor. And then I look at Fiorentina, I look at Lazio Fiorentina, Inter, the teams you know above there, and they're eight points but behind behind them.
00:05:01
Speaker
Fiorentina and Lazio, they kind of have the same, you know, Lazio played tonight against Inter, but Fiorentina have a game in hand just like Milan did, so it's not panic mode.

Coaching Strategies: Temporary vs Long-Term

00:05:11
Speaker
The red alarm bells are really ringing. I wonder if they, if if if right now is the right time to do it. I wonder if, you know, yeah again, it's about risk analysis and what you gain, what you stand to lose and so on. But regardless, if you are to do it,
00:05:31
Speaker
If you are to bring someone else in, you can't, you can't, it cannot be, in my opinion, just a tragetatore. You can't just bring someone in and say, okay, well, you're just going to be the caretaker coach until the end of the season, and then we're going to relaunch. That would be a disaster.
00:05:54
Speaker
rig if you're gonna do it then basically rip up everything and say okay well this is the person we're backing this is the person we're going up we're going to actually build with because at least that way you send a message to the players that okay didn't work out with Fonseca but all of you are not off the hook Do you see what I'm saying? Because if you just get a tragetatore, someone who just comes in and brings everything to the end of the season, and well, you're essentially saying, well, okay, the season's are right off, you're all off the hook, then we'll see what happens in the summer, which ones of you stay and who goes. that would that That would just be a, I mean, and and not to mention what a betrayal that would be to the fans.
00:06:34
Speaker
It would be pissing them in the face. Well, the fans are not happy at all. um And, you know, it seems to be right now. I mean, the Milan players were

Fan Dissatisfaction and Club Unity

00:06:42
Speaker
booed off the pitch. Did you see it before the game? Well, there's there's lots lots of good. I mean, this was supposed to be a celebration. Remember, this was the 125th.
00:06:50
Speaker
anniversary of the land called the game. You had a ah parade of like all the legends that walked out. I mean, all the legends like Mambastin, Gulit, Reichardt, Barrezi. Except Maldini. And Balban. Well Balban wasn't invited, which I thought was a terrible look. I know there's been obviously legal issues between the club, but first that's just awful.
00:07:10
Speaker
and then Maldini refused the the the invitation. Maldini also put out a quote after the game which was quite telling and as well about about what's going on at Milan, but the relationship's not good there, but but you know there was a banner from the Milan fans yeah towards the management which said, in the Curva Sur, which said, we honour our champions, those symbols of a Milan that no longer exist, which was quite telling.
00:07:34
Speaker
And not just that, when they were chanting that we're not Americans, I couldn't stop laughing. No, I just could not stop laughing. It was so surreal. Well, there was lots. There was that. There was a banner outside San Siro, which said, to the Milan management, we have waited and supported you endlessly. We've had enough of your mediocrity. There was the chance, like you said, we are not American. That is such a ridiculous chant. I'm sorry. I can't take that seriously. We're not comparing. You don't deserve us. We are fed up. And then there was also a chance of Cardinale you have to sell as well. It's clear that the Milan fans are not happy with the management and they seem to have lost their
00:08:28
Speaker
the fans as well, which again just adds to the whole, how do you possibly create some kind of unity between the players, the manager, that the fans, the the management, like if everybody's not rowing, everybody's fighting against each other, they're even fighting. It's a mess, it's a complete mess. like

Cultural Impact of Ignoring Club Legends

00:08:50
Speaker
what How do you possibly, where do you start? Do you know what I mean?
00:08:56
Speaker
Yeah, no, I mean, again, like, ah where do you start? And I think it's where you start. You know, where do you start? Well, you so you should have. oh We know where you should have been. But where you go from here, again, I said it's risk analysis. OK, you can absolutely make an argument that you should sack Fonseca. Absolutely.
00:09:16
Speaker
But at the same time, this is, again, a coach who has done everything to make it work. He's tried everything, literally trying everything to work, but make it work in terms of tactical changes. He's tried approach to be professional. He's fighting for Mila in the sense that he wants them to to to to bleed for the shirt. And that's where it's kind of falling apart. If you sack him, then that's my point. Then you're essentially saying that it's OK not to care for the shirt.
00:09:45
Speaker
because unless you bring in someone who you marry and give a long-term contract to and say, look, this is now your show, um and that way you you basically make it clear to the players that everyone is under sotoizame in the sense that which whichever player, no matter who you are, does not start showing the right attitude and backing the the the club's decision to go with this coach, regardless if it's Fonseca or a new coach, you're out in the summer.
00:10:13
Speaker
I mean, you have to do something. You can't continue like this. You know, it's it's not. Well, he wasn't even set up today to the 125th anniversary, which wasn't a wasn't a good look either. But yeah, it's Yeah, don't I don't know. i don't know i mean I think where it all started to really go wrong, and this this is where Maldini is the common denominator here, not turning up. And and and he he put a his his ah sent out a message, happy birthday Milan for your 125th birthday. No one will ever be able to undermine your bond with the Maldini family history of memory.
00:10:47
Speaker
no one will ever be able to undermine. I mean, that's not even subtle, that's direct. I think subtle about that. No. So, I mean, he is the type with all of this. That's where it all started to really fall apart. Well, of course it does. You have to be an idiot to go to war with a Maldini at Milan. Like, again, you may not want to like it,
00:11:14
Speaker
But the fact of the matter is that Italy is Italy. It works in these ways. There are certain things you can't do. You can't at Roma humiliate the Rossi or Totti. You can't at Milan humiliate Maldini. If you do, these have political football political reverberations that go on forever. It's as simple as that. and And that's what they don't understand. You have to be diplomatic about these issues. These are touchy subjects.
00:11:42
Speaker
for for these environments. And and it's it's not it's not more difficult than that. And and they haven't understood it, neither at Roma or at Mila. and And so they have created their own cluster, F, of a mess. And so and and it's not like, again, these aren't just random run-of-the-mill people. It's Paul Maltini, for Christ's sakes.
00:12:05
Speaker
I mean, yeah there's no bigger symbol of like, you know what I mean? Like, it's just you don't you just don't do this. And now they have. And he's easy, you know, his honor has been, you know, hurt and and and questioned and and and insulted. So he he's not going to give up. But I don't know. it's It's it's a mess. It's an absolute mess.

Potential Sale of the Club

00:12:27
Speaker
And and well, you know, I don't know where they go from here on out. I don't know where they continue. um What do they do? Do they sell the club, which would again be another rebirth of ah of Milan or which I don't think is going to happen because I don't think anyone's going to pay Cardinale what he wants for Milan. Just not, you know, Italian clubs just aren't worth that.
00:12:52
Speaker
um if If they were worth that, then neither oak tree or redbird would be at Inter or Mila. so The short end of it is, okay, you appoint um you you get rid of Fonseca, but then again, like I said, there is a real, real risk of, because the conflict at Milan between Fonseca and the players, quote unquote, is not just results, it's also how the players behave. And

Fonseca vs Players: The Deeper Conflict

00:13:20
Speaker
Fonseca, again, has not humiliated them, he's not publicly thrown them under the bus, he's in fact, if anything, been been any been been been very kind and very
00:13:30
Speaker
gentle and tried everything, shown that he wants to make this work, but he needs the players to come on board. And they're not, for whatever reason. And that's a dangerous precedent to set when you sack the coach. That is. It's a perfect storm. It's a perfect storm. It's a perfect storm right now. It really is. It's a mess. It is. It's a mess. It is. What do you do?