Monza 0, Milan 1: Fonseca's Sorority

Milan pulled off the 1-0 win over Monza on Saturday, albeit with a controversial goal called off for Monza. (Three of Fonseca's six wins have come as a result of favorable VAR or referee calls.) The performance was worse, as the relegation-threatened Monza dominated for much of the first half, and Milan's play was unconvincing throughout. However, it was the postmatch press conference that demonstrated just how badly things are unraveling with Fonseca at Milan right now. He doubled down on his repeated benching of Leão, despite having been widely criticized by pundits and former coaches alike. But this time, he let something slip that was far more disturbing than anything he had previously said. He directly compared Leão to Loftus-Cheek and Musah and said that "Status does not play." For him, despite his choices actually costing us points, he looks at status ahead of technical ability. This is not a football team for him, this is like a bunch of catty girls vying for his approval, it is Fonseca's sorority.

When your teammate stand with you, no status is needed.

The match started off with Monza's goal, a well-worked goal that saw Danny Mota hit the back of the net in just the seventh minute. However, despite not having whistled at the time of the foul, head ref Feliciani chose to disallow the goal due to a foul on Theo Hernández in the buildup, that was really not a foul. Certainly, it was not worthy of disallowing the goal, and a representative from the AIA (Italian Referee Association,) said as much on Sunday evening. This goal should have stayed on the board.

Reijnders is unstoppable right now.

It seemed that Daniel Maldini would score on Milan, as he has been known to do. His free kick hit the wall, then he had a shot just wide, and even hit the far post in the 30th minute. Milan barely got any shots off, but Pereira forced Maignan into an incredible save in the 28th, as well.  However, it was Reijnders who broke the deadlock in the 43rd minute, his diving header from a rebounded shot making the difference in this match. 1-0 Milan. 

Reijnders has been on fire lately. He had said recently that he wanted to score more goals, so he has. This goal meant he scored in two consecutive appearances for the first time in the Milan shirt. Not only was he awarded Serie A's Player of the Match, but Milan fans also voted him as their Milan MVP in this one as well. All this after he and his family won everyone's hearts with their amazing Halloween costumes he posted to social media this week as well. We need this kind of wholesomeness with all the drama surrounding the club right now.

Maignan was a hero during and after the mach, gifting his kit to a 6 year-old birthday boy.

The second half opened up with Morata earning a yellow card for a bad foul on Dany Mota. Then, a few minutes later, one of Fonseca's assistants was sent off with a red from the referee for something he said., Then, as even our opponent, Bianco, realized, "perhaps the best player in Serie A," Rafael Leão, came on for Milan, replacing Fonseca's "technical choice." He did more in his brief 30 minute cameo than Okafor had done in his 60 minutes, with a total of three shots in that short period of time. This included a run in the 85th minute where he dribbled past multiple players, but found himself in front of the keeper 1v1 when it was time to shoot, rather than having the control to dribble around him, and Turati grabbed it.

Fonseca subbed Loftus-Cheek on for Chukwueze in the 81st, and then no one else until the 89th, when he replaced Pulisic with Musah and Terracciano with Calabria. One of Fonseca's prematch arguments for benching Leão was that there were many games in a short period of time, so it was about man management. But the way he subbed showed he was definitely not worried about resting players for Tuesday's Champions League match. They were simply after thoughts, and he still only sed four of his five subs, with the final three all coming within the last ten minutes of the match.

Fonseca destroyed Fofana's claim that Milan did not play well.

In the postmatch interviews, Fofana specifically said, "Today it was not a good Milan." Yet in Fonseca's press conference, he specifically disagreed with the player, and gave a very different view of how the match went. That alone set up his press conference to be strange, because it's rare that a player will say they played poorly, then a manager will flat our disagree and claim they did better than that. And if a manager did disagree, he might say it more tactfully.

But then the subject of Leão came up. And rightly so. Leão has only played 188 minutes of the plast 450 minutes available in the last five matches, despite being fit, in form, and available. And while there was a bit of controversy following his initial benching two months ago for the Lazio game, he atoned for it by doing extra individualized training sessions to work on whatever Fonseca said might be lacking. So Fonseca's comments ahead of the match that this wasn't about his workrate seem to be true.

Angel Theo hugged Daniel Maldini postmatch, while Theo himself had been more than a bit devilish recently.

In very sharp contrast, Theo, who was involved in the same benching/Waterbreakgate incident for the Lazio match followed it up with defying Fonseca's instructions outright regarding penalties during the Fiorentina match, then proceeded to get a red card after the final whistle and a two match ban as well. All while wearing the captain's armband, too. Yet he was immediately brought back into the starting lineup and given the armband back. Theories that Leão is still being punished for not drinking water with his teammates are therefore debunked, as Theo would then also be benched still.

However, Fonseca decided to let us know more clearly in this press conference. While he has said many times he wanted to "normalize" the benching of Leão, this time he went much further. He said that for him, Leão "is like Loftus-Cheek or Musah." That "it must be normal, it must be normal... There is no conflict, it is an option of the coach." When the reporter pointed out that Leão is not like Loftus-Cheek or Musah, he said, "for me, Leão is the same as Loftus-Cheek and Musah, he is the same. Status does does not play... I choose based on what the team needs."

We are not asking for him to play because he's Leão, we're asking for him so we can win.

I understand wanting to have unity in the squad and wanting to treat all players equitably, look at them all as potential starters, which is a laudable idea for a manager to say out loud. But that concept does not actually win football games. A manager wins football games by playing his actual best starting 11, not by putting his most technically advanced player on the bench so that he can get a sound bite. More specifically, having dropped points vs. Lazio and lost the Napoli match, he absolutely lost the team points by trying to prove this, with Leão benched for most of those matches.

That he views his squad as some kind of competition for status, like a bunch of girls in a sorority, instead of a team of footballers, is terrifying. And Leão is not the only victim, Calabria has also been benched multiple times this season when he was fit (including the Lazio, Napoli, and Monza matches.) I am not sure what players need to do to meet his criteria for status, but it seems more like his issue with important players than anything they did, as he did the same thing to both Dzeko and Florenzi when he was at Roma. The irony of him saying "status doesn't play," then using status as a criteria for who he does and does not select to play not only is not lost on me, but makes me incredibly angry.

Need more football, less sorority girl vibes.

What I do know is that whether his motivation is arrogance, ignorance, or some kind of psychological issue, it is impacting our club, our team, the results and performances, as well as the mental status now of our best player. After his bizarre press conference on Saturday, now Leão's teammates are coming out in the media to defend him, including Morata, who specifically said that "Leão has talent" and he "is our best player." Milan may have won this match, thanks to an errant referee, but no one is winning while Fonseca plays Sorority President instead of football manager. And most people feel like his sacking at whatever he thinks his job is at Milan is inevitable. I just hope that at least for his last while in charge, he stops acting like this is Fonseca's Sorority.

The Primavera Seal Another 3-0 Victory Over Verona Primavera

Scotti's teammates help him celebrate his goal.

On Saturday, Guidi's Primavera side defeated Verona's Primavera 3-0. Milan were up 1-0 at halftime, thanks to a 37th minute goal from Bonomi. A Verona player got back to back yellows in the 69th minute for a foul and then protesting it, so was sent off, leaving his team on ten men. Milan were able to take advantage of that with a Scotti goal just two minutes later, then Perin finished it off by scoring a penalty in the 85th minute to make it 3-0. Brief highlights are available. The U19 players will face Real Madrid Juvenil on Tuesday in the UEFA Youth League.

Milan Futuro Grab a Point Away to Pontedera

Jiménez responded with an amazing goal to give Milan Futuro the point.

Bonera's Futuro side have struggled so much this season, with only two league wins. But on Sunday, they were able to pull off a 1-1 draw away to Pontedera. They conceded an early goal to the home side in the 27th minute, but Jiménez responded and scored an incredible goal in the 34th to make it 1-1. Raveyre had a great penalty save in the 68th minute to keep the point. Serie C's YouTube channel has the highlights from the match. They hold steady in 18th place in group B, still with a game in hand.

This post inspired by the music of Garbage's "Stupid Girl"

As a reminder to my friends in the U.S. please remember to VOTE.

Our next matches are:

UEFA Youth League • League Phase

Real Madrid Juvenil vs. AC Milan Primavera

Tuesday, November 5, 2024 • 16:00 CEST (10am EDT)

This match can be streamed on the official Milan App

UEFA Champions League • League Phase

Real Madrid CF vs. AC Milan

Tuesday, November 5, 2024 • 21:00 CEST (3pm EDT)

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

or use a VPN to access better coverage

Serie C Week 14 

Milan Futuro vs. Arezzo

Sunday, November 10, 2024 • 15:00 CEST (9am EDT)

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