This match was an incredibly eventful one, particularly for a draw. Although there were only two goals, there were eight yellow cards on the pitch, another yellow and two red cards off the pitch, and a penalty that was not called that a blind man would have given in his sleep. But the real action happened after the match. After Fonseca assured the press he felt his job was secure, management informed him that he no longer had a job. So, after a 1-1 draw with his former club Roma, not only did he get a red card, Fonseca was permanently sent off.
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| Saelemaekers witnesses Fonseca's rage firsthand and realizes the bullet he dodged. |
The Curva Sud continued their banner-less protests due to their criminal activities being halted. They began the match with 15 minutes of vigorous singing of chants against management such as "Cardinale vendere, vattene, vattene" (Cardinale, you have to sell, go away, go away), then they had a silent protest for the rest of the match. So bizarre that they made such a complacent statement when a club legend was sacked by Cardinale, which anyone could see would lead to a decline in the team and in results. But they waited until the team were actually in eighth place, long after there was an opportunity to do something about it, before actually getting angry and acting.
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| Reijnders attempting to get the Curva Sud to cheer, but they were silently sulking... again. |
The match was physical right away, with a Roma yellow card in just the fourth minute. Shots were fired, and Fofana and Koné knocked knees, with the Roma player getting the worst of the contact. Fofana also took out Dybala in the 10th minute, which to be honest could also have been a yellow card, but no card was given. Dovbyk hit the post a minute later, and the highlight of the first half was when our own Emerson Royal blocked Gabbia's shot. Who says his defending is poor? You're welcome, Roma.
The moment Milan fans will remember, though is the 16th minute, when Fofana sent a nice cross for Reijnders, who slotted home his ninth goal of the season. 1-0 Milan and he became our top scorer, too. Jiménez was playing well, linking up well with Morata, whose chance was blocked by a Roma defender.
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| This duo are beginning to make it rain goals for Milan this season. |
What was telling, however, was that every time something went poorly for Milan and the cameras would pan to management in their box, there were giddy smirks on the faces of Furlani, Ibrahimović, and Moncada. If only Fonseca could have seen this, he would have absolutely known his time was up, like the rest of us saw.
More positively, it was nice to see Reijnders have moment with his arm around his former teammate currently wearing a Roma shirt, Saelemaekers, sharing a quick word and smiles. Rumors are that the Belgian could stay at Roma after his loan spell this year, being happy there and having thus far been pretty consistent. He's got two goals already in just seven Serie A appearances with the capital club this season.
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| Saelemaekers is getting actual playing time at Roma, so he would probably like to stay. |
In the 20th minute, Terracciano plowed into Dybala, again, no card. Theo Hernández, bearing Fonseca's benching wrath since he "fixed" Leão, was finally allowed to both start and wear the armband for this one, and had a nice shot that Svilar saved. But then the battered Dybala pulled out a quality goal to equalize in the 23rd minute, and Milan were back to square one.
After Thiaw tackled his former teammate, a red card was shown to the Roma bench for someone on Ranieri's staff, who was sent off, presumably for something he said. I assume he was just cold and wanted to get inside, I have no idea what would have set someone off about that tackle. Milan continued to attack, with Chukwueze sending a ball in that ended up bouncing off the top of the net. And in the 34th minute, Theo used his speed to position himself 1v1, but Svilar sacrificed his body to absorb Theo's shot and block it point blank.
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| Every time this guy gets a chance at a starting spot, something happens to prevent it. |
In the 40th minute, Saelemaekers tackled Jiménez. And while he did get the ball first, his leg did sweep Jiménez on the follow through, for which Fonseca (and much of the stadium) wanted a yellow card for. So much so, that Fonseca's protests earned him a yellow card from Fabbri, the referee. But that was just the beginning of the referee debacle.
Just two minutes later, Pisilli went into Reijnders with a two-footed challenge in the box, taking Reijnders down. Not only did Fabbri allow play to continue, he never gave the penalty, the card, or even a foul for such an egregious challenge, which most referee experts agree was a blatant and obvious penalty. As that play continued, Fabbri did give Theo Hernández a yellow card for a foul on Dybala, which was odd, because the replays showed that Theo got the ball and that Dybala employed some serious dramatic skills while falling, as well as some not so well-concealed smirks afterward.
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| Theo got a yellow for Dybala's theatrics, while Reijnders was actually taken out in the box, but no call. |
But still no card for Pisilli, who went studs up with both feet into Reijnders. It is no secret I lost any respect I may have had for Fonseca after the Lazio match, but when he was shown a red card for dissent after both the non-call on Pisilli and the card for Theo, I can't say that I could not at least relate to his rage. I don't even care whether Milan got the penalty, or not, that is not the point for me. The card system is in place to protect the players, and Pisilli's foul was reckless and dangerous and absolutely should have been penalized so that he does not repeat it and really hurt someone.
Morata was also then shown a yellow card for dissent, and afterward, Theo reported how disrespectful Fabbri was in that exchange. So, to summarize, our player was dangerously fouled in the box. Not only was the Roma player not cautioned or sent off, as most referees would have done, Milan also were not awarded a penalty. In fact, play was not even stopped, and instead, on that same play, our player was shown a yellow card after a Roma player dove.
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| Fabbri handing out plenty of cards in all the wrong places. |
Which led to both our manager being sent off and our player receiving a yellow card. And not a word from the AIA, the Italian Referee Association, at all. Not even on the television show called "Open VAR,'' where someone from the AIA commonly discusses controversial referee calls at the end of each weekend in an effort to increase transparency for fans. So don't expect Fabbri to be punished or expect any apologies for this shambolic display of refereeing.
Back to good news, Bennacer made a triumphant return as he was subbed on for Fonseca's stop-gap midfielder, Terracciano, at the half. There was a very close call from a Dovbyk shot right away, then shots from both Bennacer and Chukwueze saved. But the good news could not last, as after that shot, Chukwueze went down with a clear muscle issue and had to be subbed off, replaced by Tammy Abraham. As we have been accustomed to in past years, we get a player back and a new player is injured.
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| Maignan was called upon to be Maignan in this match. |
Maignan made a massive save on Dovbyk in the 70th minute, and from about that point on, Roma increasingly put more pressure on Milan in attack. Our old friend El Shaarawy was subbed on for our currently owned Saelemaekers. And Reijnders allowed himself the tactical yellow card in the 82nd minute to stop Dybala from scoring again. Something that could physically hurt, as Fofana discovered a couple of minutes later, when he painfully deflected a shot from the Argentinian from point blank range.
El Shaarawy forced Maignan into another big save in the 85th. Fonseca's staff then made their third and final sub of the night, bringing Camarda on for Morata. Keep in mind that one of those substitutions was at halftime and the other forced due to injury. I have mentioned Fonseca's subbing as of late, as I cannot honestly remember the last match he utilized all five substitutions, yet now we have an injury crisis on our hands. Seems like there could be a correlation. But then again, Fonseca has a history of keeping track of the number of subs he uses, so I suppose he figures better safe than sorry? Although he has no problems dropping points when it comes to benching players, so that doesn't really track, either.
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| It was great to see Bennacer back, even if we lost Chukwueze. |
Fans in the U.S. will remember Camarda's appearance in this match due to the insultingly low IQ commentary of the lead commentator on Paramount Plus, who made some creepy remark about the young player facing "grown hairy-chested center backs." It can be traumatizing to listen to American commentary. Luckily, the rest of the match was only tense, not traumatic, although Gabbia did receive a yellow card for a foul on Shomurodov.
Following the match, Fonseca went to his press conference, where he continued his disconnect with reality, insisting that there was no indication that his job was in danger, despite the myriad reports ahead of the match that he was going to be sacked and the multiple times this season it was reported management had met with him concerning results and performances. He may have been the only one who was surprised at the news he got immediately afterward. News that, before the Club could make an official statement, he personally gave to the press.
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| He'll have plenty of time to polish those shoes now... |
Here is where I do not understand the sudden and excessive outrage from fans and the media about the method of Fonseca's sacking. This owner and management sacked Paolo Maldini. Nothing they do should surprise anyone, it's difficult to go lower than that anyway. People who for months have raged and begged for them to sack Fonseca suddenly are angry that perhaps his dismissal was not handled perfectly? Those who have criticized his every misstep are now calling him a class act because he worked for people who were morally bereft? So morally bereft, in fact, that after he was sacked in person (which not all clubs even do,) Cardinale also sent him a warm message thanking him, which he acknowledged. But the press and fans tried to spin this and demonize him for an actual classy gesture.
I do not understand this delayed anger, particularly from the Curva Sud, who remained "without judgement" when Cardinale sacked Maldini, but are now complaining about press conferences and t-shirt cannons? Their leader is in jail for serious drug dealing charges and associations with the notorious Ndrangheta crime family, our team is in eighth place, our Milan Futuro team is in the relegation zone, and these are their gripes? Get some perspective, this is as embarrassing as the management themselves.
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| Maignan appeals to disappointed fans along with birthday boy, Bartesaghi. |
In the morning, Fonseca returned to Milanello, packed his things, said his farewells to the players and fans, and left. Sergio Conceição was announced as his replacement, a candidate who was also available in the summer. He arrived without any fanfare, got straight to work, cancelled the players' day off and had them in training within hours of his arrival.
Conceição comes with a similarly fiery personality and reputation to Fonseca, perhaps more so, actually. But as someone who was successful both in Italy and elsewhere as a player, and also more successful as a manager, he also brings confidence and immediate respect. In his unveiling press conference, he spoke about getting to know the players as people and their back stories in order to better understand them. Not just the players, but everyone at Milanello. He also said, "I experience the game intensely, and I want my players to do the same, just like the fans... Their eyes must shine when they step into Milanello." His philosophy seems to be that talk is cheap, it's results that matter, and that he believes in hard work every day.
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| Talking to your players individually as human beings – what a novel concept. |
Contrast this with Fonseca's arrival, how he seemed to expect people to be there at the airport to greet him. How all of his press conferences talked about his ideas and his football, and the way he benched our captains and starters seemingly as a power or control move, which backfired on him massively in the Fiorentina match. The way he criticized them after a win, but complimented them after a listless nil-nil draw. And it's not like this was the first time this happened, he pushed out his captain and star player at Roma as well. It's no wonder that after more than 24 hours, finally only one player made any kind of goodbye post on social media that you would typically see when a manager leaves.
Some feel sorry for him or feel that he was somehow wronged. Certainly, he wasn't necessarily set up for the best possible outcome with a properly built team and support from management, but I think he overstayed his welcome by seven months. He never once took accountability for his words and actions, always publicly insulting or blaming his players and then benching his best players to the point that it actually hurt the team and cost us points. How can anyone respect someone like that?
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| Someone who commands immediate respect, he doesn't need to try to force people to respect him. |
He spent more time polishing his dress shoes and styling his hair ahead of the matches than he did on his lineups and substitutions, and it was costly in performances, results, and now injuries. Then he leaked his departure to the press and said he had a "clear conscience" and that he "did his best." His best at what? Disrupting and bringing chaos to our dressing room?
I know that Conceição likely has red cards in his future at Milan, too. He may even bench some players or make other decisions I don't care for. And who knows what our performances and results will look like? But I have a hard time seeing him blame and gaslight his players without taking responsibility. He will at least take the time to build proper relationships with his players instead of trying to put himself above them all the time. And I know with a certainty that he will never put his vanity or self-importance ahead of the team actually winning like Fonseca did. Because that's just not who he is.
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| Don't let Milanello's gate hit you on your way out. |
But it was kind of perfect Karma that, against his former team, Fonseca's last match would see him with an early exit due to a red card. That his legacy would be cemented in a two match ban should he ever work again in Italy, as well as a €5.000 fine, after he somehow got out of his ban following his tirade against referees after the Atalanta match. The perfect way to end a horrible tenure, seeing Fonseca sent off.
This post inspired by the music of The Sundays' "Here's Where the Story Ends"
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Reviewed by Elaine
on
8:00 AM
Rating:
