Fiorentina 2, Milan 1: Pandemonium

Sunday's match had everything. Three saved penalties. Managers carded or sent off. A player scoring against the team that owned him (but not celebrating.) Five yellow cards amongst some very questionable refereeing. A captain sent off after the final whistle. And amongst all the insanity, Milan lost 2-1 to Fiorentina, dropping another three points. But the real chaos began with Fonseca's postmatch press conference when he raised some questions about some of the players' behaviors. Which in turn raised more questions about his man management and overall competency. So, once again, we have two weeks of an international break with Milan fans and the media in a complete state of pandemonium.

It felt like this for 90 minutes.

Brutality was a running theme in this match. By the 18th minute, Dodô had earned both a yellow card and then a penalty, when Theo was judged to have fouled him in the box. It was one of those where both players went for the ball, Dodô got to it first, and Theo's boot just caught his leg. Moise Kean stepped up to take that penalty, and Maignan actually caught it, saving it to keep the score goalless. Then Tomori earned a yellow to mark his 150th Milan appearance. Then Gosens may have elbowed Emerson Royal in the chest, but the Milan player fell to the ground and grabbed his face, much like his infamous Brazilian teammate. This had better not become a habit.

Maignan getting things started with a penalty save.

Kean scored a goal in the 29th that was called back for offside, so the score stayed 0-0. Leão had a shot that De Gea saved by tipping just over the crossbar. Fonseca earned a yellow card for dissent. And then, and every Milan fan knew it would be him, Adli scored a fantastic goal from distance. 1-0 Fiorentina. To his credit, he did not celebrate. Although the camera did pan to Rocco Commisso's face, and the glint in his eyes and the slight little smirk was communication enough to Milan's management that he thoroughly enjoyed this Karma. (As if Milan fans were not already upset enough that they sent Adli on loan to a rival.)

Leão has been hypercriticized for everything, but specifically for not doing enough in defense. So in the 37th, he tackled Dodô to win the ball back, and although he wound up on the ground, he stood back up with the ball, dribbled it all the way down to the goal himself and took the shot, forcing De Gea into a save. And that was still not enough for the haters, proving my point that it's not about him, it's about them.

Leão will never please the haters, so I hope he's at least pleased with himself.

Maignan made a double save on Kean and Colpani, then Morata earned his yellow for stepping on Comuzzo. Then it was Milan's turn for a penalty. Reijnders was taken down by Ranieri in the box, so captain Theo stepped up to take the penalty. Of course, De Gea also saved his penalty, so Fiorentina still had the lead going into halftime.

After the half, Kean scored again, but was very offside, so no goal yet again. Shortly after that, Tammy Abraham's knee wound up in Gudmonsson's back, a very dangerous foul, but no card. Maignan was sick of Kean scoring and did not want to risk him not being offside, so he came way out of his box to head the ball clear. 

Tammy Abraham went from a leader to a villain in this match.

Once again, Milan were awarded a penalty in the 54th, when Gabbia was fouled by Kean, similar to Fiorentina's penalty, as they were both going for the ball. This time, Tammy Abraham stepped up to take the penalty, and... you guessed it, De Gea saved it. He actually made a total of seven saves on the night, after which the official Fiorentina account compared him to another famous resident of their city called David. 

Milan reacted, however, and Theo crossed a ball across from the lefthand side of the pitch, with Pulisic creating some artistry of his own with an exquisite volley that was perfectly placed, and not even De Gea's heroics could save it. 1-1 all. Milan looked a bit more dangerous, but for an excellent tackle from Ranieri on Pulisic and Gabbia's header going just wide.

Pulisic's goal was a like fine art.

In the 69th minute, Theo fouled Colpani in the top of the box. And while it was as much a foul as some of the others deemed penalties, even after a VAR review Fiorentina were not awarded a penalty. I don't know if Pairetto the referee just felt like he wanted to keep the perfect three for three goalkeeper penalty save record, or if he was too lazy to give another penalty, or what, but the inconsistency of refereeing is what makes everyone so suspicious of Serie A refs in the first place.

De Gea had another one of his big saves on Tammy Abraham, then Reijnders was shown a yellow after fouling Richardson. Fonseca for some reason pulled off Leão, subbing on Okafor, in the 73rd minute. Not only was this his first sub, it made no sense whatsoever. And, as soon as the change was made, Milan conceded again, this time a goal from Gudmondsson. 2-1 Fiorentina. 

Adli had a great night, Theo not so much.

So their goals came from Adli, a beloved Milan player on loan to Fiorentina, and a player who was indicted and on trial for sexual assault in his home of Iceland. Gudmondsson was actually acquitted of the sexual assault charges this week, expressing on social media that he would never endorse any form of violence, as a father with a daughter and also having three sisters. But he made no mention of his wife, or having any problems with the infidelity part and how that might impact her or his children. Seems legit. The goals and the loss weren't even as horrible as having those two specific players score them.

Fonseca made his second and final substitution, pulling off Pulisic to bring on Chukwueze in the 82nd. He said after the match that it was preventative, because Pulisic risked some kind of muscle injury, but Pulisic did not seem to know about this problem, he was uncharacteristically angry for being subbed off and questioned why as he went to the bench. Some of us fans were also questioning why, but perhaps with less restraint.

Sometimes maybe good, sometimes maybe...

Things were still getting spicy, as we saw Palladino get angry, take off his jacket, throw it on the ground, and continue to protest, eventually being shown a straight red card from Pairetto. Chukwueze's first chance was an excellent one, forcing yet another great save from De Gea in the 86th. And the Nigerian followed that up with a completely wild shot just a minute later. Kean could not score to save his life, having been denied the penalty, two goals called back for offside, then in the 94th, he hit the crossbar, and the ball bounced down, but not into the goal.

The final whistle blew, but that was not the end of the madness. Theo was shown a straight red by Pairetto for something he said, and he will now serve a two match ban for it. So his night was conceding a penalty, a penalty miss, the assist, nearly conceding another penalty, then a red card. And it got better, because Fonseca, in a rage and with even less discipline, called out both Theo and Abraham (without using their names) in his press conference for taking the penalties instead of Pulisic.

Theo almost made it without losing his mind.

Keep in mind, no one outside of the team knew that Pulisic was the designated penalty taker. But fonseca wanted everyone to know that his players defied his orders. (Although he likely would have said nothing had De Gea not saved their penalties, so it really was about losing.) Most managers would have kept an issue like this in house and dealt with the players' defiance internally. So why drag the dirty laundry into the spotlight? He had already embarrassed himself and shown that he was not worthy of his players' respect by his attempted dominance with the benching of three starters "for the good of the team" and the ensuing Waterbottlegate debacle and dropped points of the Lazio match. His attempt at looking strong made him look like a clown instead, with Papa Ibrahimović having to call the players from his vacation to scold them.

So you would think he would have learned his lesson. But no. He demonstrated his impotent leadership style once again through his angry outburst, only calling more attention to his poor results and worse man management. And while some fans and a few journalists have discussed the players' lack of respect/discipline, more journalists immediately questioned once again whether or not Fonseca should continue as manager. Which is where I'm at, too. If this is how he's treating his players publicly, how does he treat them in training? Or in the dressing room?

Fonseca's behavior has been far more egregious than our players.

His one truly successful match was the Derby, and that success was largely because he finally took the advice of every pundit and changed his tactics. Well, that and the surprise barbecue he threw for the players to attempt some team building. He has undermined the rightful captains by saying there were probably five players who could share the armband this season. And this is not the first time – he pushed out his captain, Florenzi, at Roma, and he also has a history of issues with players. People have been saying Milan has no leaders, but there are actually plenty of players who know how to lead, they are just constantly being publicly benched or otherwise denigrated by him or confused as to what they are supposed to do. Or just plain frustrated that they are in a literal no-win situation.

Now, most of the players are on national team duty, so he has no way of mending the huge rifts he caused in the respect and trust of his players with his selfish, angry outburst on Sunday. So many of the players are going to be in squads with good morale and healthy player-manager relationships these two weeks, only to come back to an arrogant, selfish man who has caused irreparable damage to the team morale and has failed to at least even prove himself with results as a decent manager here. 

Should he stay or should he go?

Let's not forget the lengthy meeting that Ibrahimović, Moncada, and Furlani held after the Liverpool match, they have definitely discussed possibly ending his tenure. The Derby won him some time, but how much? Gabbia had an interesting quote after the win over Inter, he said, "Until the last day that we have Fonseca, we will follow him to the death..." What struck me was the measured "Until the last day" part. It was very unusual for a player in general, but coupled with the fact that none of the players have expressed any type of prolific praise toward Fonseca, such as him really helping them grow or improve or even just being a really good manager or person indicates to me that there is no love lost. 

Milan News pointed out that Fonseca and Lopetegui, this management's top two choices for managers, both had the exact same poor starts. Lopetegui at West Ham also has three wins, two draws, and four losses in his first nine matches as well. And now, there are even have many managers to choose from if they were to sack Fonseca. It was clear they needed to hire the right manager in the first place, and most people have been concerned about their choice from day one. How long will they wait to correct their error? Until we have lost Champions League again? Until we no longer have a chance for top four? And if they sack Fonseca, are they even capable of hiring a proper manager? My guess is that they will wait until success is out of reach for our season, and with big players up for renewal, we could reach all new levels of pandemonium.

Milan Futuro End on Nine Men with a 1-0 Loss to Pianese

Nava came up big with the penalty save to keep it only 1-0.

Speaking of pandemonium, the weekend kicked off on Saturday with another loss for Bonera's side. After losing Coubiș in just the 5th minute to a straight red card, Liberali was sacrificed to bring on Bartesaghi. Somehow, they were still 0-0 at the half, despite being on 10 men. They conceded in the 66th minute, but only the one goal. Minotti, however, conceded a penalty in the 87th, was shown a yellow, then a second yellow and was sent off for apparently shoving the referee. However, I think the referee may have been confused and given the card to the wrong player, it was difficult to tell with the poor video quality and angles. Nonetheless, Minotti was given a hefty five match ban, which makes this loss sting that much more. 

Minotti will have a 5 match vacation, and while his first yellow was warranted, the red may not have been.

To be fair, Nava did save the penalty to keep Milan Futuro in the game. The 1-0 loss to Pianese also hurts, because Fonseca had called up Camarda and Zeroli to the first team for Sunday's match, but obviously did not use them. This match also saw them drop to 19th on the table, I'm not sure when they start discussing whether or not Bonera should stay. Atalanta's U23 are in fifth place in their group, so it's not just about being young. Milan Futuro's previously scheduled match vs. Pescara for Saturday will be rescheduled due to having so many players called up for international duty. Their next match will be after the break, when they host Legnano Salus.

The Primavera Fall 3-1 Away to Bologna 

Bonomi's goal was a great start, but not nearly enough in Bologna.

Sunday's early match saw Guidi's Primavera side facing off with Bologna Primavera. The match started out well, with Bonomi opening up the scoring in just the 10th minute. However, Bologna scored two quick goals before the half, taking a 2-1 lead into halftime. They sealed the deal with their final goal in the 87th minute, sending Milan Primavera home with a 3-1 loss from Bologna. That saw Milan drop from second place to sixth on the Primavera 1 table. The Primavera will host Cesena's Primavera after the break, then the U19 players will face Club Brugge in the UEFA Youth League. (This year the Primavera includes up through the age of 20, but the UEFA Youth League only allows players through the age of 19, so the older players cannot compete in Europe.)

This post inspired by the music of Måneskin's "Gasoline"

Campionato Primavera 1 Week 8

Milan Primavera vs. Cesena Primavera

Saturday, October 19, 2024 • 15:00 CEST (9am EDT)

This match is not being televised in the U.S.

Serie A Week 8

Milan vs. Udinese

Saturday, October 19, 2024 • 18:00 CEST (9am EDT)

In the U.S., this match can be streamed on Paramount+,

or use a VPN to access better coverage

Our next matches are:

Serie C Week 10

Milan Futuro vs. Legnano Salus

Sunday, October 20, 2024 • 17:30 CEST (11:30am EDT)

This match is not being televised in the U.S.