Davy & Chin Talk A.C Milan Weekly
Davy & Chin Talk A.C Milan Weekly
Davy & Chin Debate AC Milan's Turbulent Start: Fonseca's Challenges & Player Accountability
Can high preseason expectations be a team's worst enemy? Join us as Davy & Chin to passionately dissect AC Milan's unexpectedly rocky start of the season. Sitting 14th on the table, Milan's defensive lapses and failure to convert preseason promise into official match success have left fans disillusioned. We scrutinize the early performance of new coach Fonseca, drawing uneasy comparisons with his predecessor, Pioli, and expressing our surprise over the team's lack of cohesion.
We dive into a fiery debate about player accountability and coaching dynamics, sparked by a controversial post-game interview after the Parma loss. How do stars like Rafael Leao and Theo Hernandez respond to criticism compared to elites like those under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City? Leadership and responsibility take center stage as we question whether players are undermining Fonseca's authority and explore the challenges he faces in establishing control and implementing effective changes in training and match tactics.
Finally, we tackle pressing issues like inconsistent team selections and midfield struggles that have plagued Milan. Focusing on tactical adjustments, we deliberate on better utilizing players like Benassi, Fofana, and Tijani Reinders to improve pressing and overall performance. Despite the frustrations, we highlight promising aspects like Pavlovich's performance and the importance of supporting the team through this turbulent period. Tune in for an in-depth critique of Fonseca's coaching and a hopeful look ahead at Milan's potential to turn their season around.
The Rossoneri Renaissance is complete After 11 years. Once again, Milan are the champions of Italy. It's they who wear the crown for the 2021-22 season. Hello everyone, this is Davin Chintok. Milan, we are back again. Ooh Chen, what's up, man, how you doing.
Speaker 2:I'm doing well, um, except that I have to listen to you whine for the next 30 minutes or so. Uh, aside from that part, I'm doing quite all right, that's that's that's.
Speaker 1:That's not what I'm here for. I just want you to know we're just here to talk about facts sure, like you see.
Speaker 2:How Do you see how happy you are? Someone you know, like you know someone passing by wouldn't realize. Milan lost a couple of games. Milan lost a game this season already and drew two games.
Speaker 1:I just want you to know, chin, eh, I just want you to know, chin, that I have some groups that I cannot even show my face in right now because of our situation. Like those groups, like right now, if I show up in that group, the way they mock me, eh it just it's ridiculous.
Speaker 2:Why would they mock you? Because?
Speaker 1:it's Milan. Milan is in 14th position after three games. Oh Like, come on. How do you?
Speaker 2:explain this. No, I think you're taking it too far, but go ahead, well, I?
Speaker 1:think I'd rather have a rough preseason and then, knowing that, okay, it's going to be a long season, we have to battle it out right. That's the defense mentality.
Speaker 1:But having a very good preseason giving me such you know an impression that we're going through the season and we're going to go dominate you know what I mean, because everybody was like oh everybody was like, oh, everyone was like, you know, fonseca hasn't really had the opportunity to even, you know, get his hands on the main players and he's using the backup team to beat City, to beat Barcelona, real Madrid and all those things, right. And I'm like, oh, okay, which to me makes me feel like, okay, he's got, he knows what to do. And again, considering the fact that he's only, he's literally taking someone's blueprint and just like adding his own idea to it to polish it up, like we shouldn't be having any problem, right, then we have not won any game in three. I mean, to me, I think any Milan fan, honestly speaking, forget the fact that they're anti-Pioli and they're pro-Pioli. Any Milan fan at this moment would be upset, even you that wanted, like that, you know, absolute change. I mean, obviously this is not what you expected, right what's your thought?
Speaker 2:yeah, so I, I think what, what is going on with you is the expectation. It's a I think it's a cognitive bias called I think it's called something about expectations. So, because milan went into the preseason and they had such a majestic preseason, we which again I fell victim to the same bias as you, which is we were now expecting, uh, bigger things. If they can play that kind of football in preseason against tough opponents, well, what, what else is left? They can run through torino and run through palma and a bunch of all the other serious teams, right, yeah. But but what we don't know is the problem with expectation, that cognitive bias, is that it just sets you up to kind of disappoint you right To your point. If Milan had gone through with this season not winning a single game, you would have actually been happy with two points right now. But unfortunately, you were expecting nine goals scored, zero goals considered.
Speaker 2:Now, am I surprised by this outcome? Yes, why? Because even though I told you at the beginning of the season, when we talked, that my worry was about Midland's defense, right, I told you that I said that's a big worry for me. Worry was about Midlands defense, right? I told you that I said that's a big worry for me. I'm just really surprised as to how uh ineffective they are like as a team, like they can't really work together as a group. And then also the fact that the way the shipping goes, it might as well be like, uh, grade two children playing football like it's too easy. So, yes, that's.
Speaker 2:That's really surprising because in precision, you could see that they struggled um as well with keeping children playing football Like it's too easy. So, yes, that's really surprising, because in preseason you could see that they struggled as well with keeping clean sheet or keeping off chances. But for that to translate to the league, where already they've considered what? Six goals, seven goals, yeah, six goals now, six goals in three, yeah, it's too much. And every time they attack Milan it's like they're going to score against them, right, and to be frank, I also mentioned the full backs that they are all suspicious. That has been proven right, including Theo, to be frank, right. So it's just a little sad because, honestly, I came into the season excited when Fonseca was hired. I wasn't going over the moon about Fonseca, I know you wouldn't believe that, but after watching them in preseason I felt that I had praise on the preseason games that he knew what he wanted to do and in the first three games of the season he just basically reminds me a lot about Pioli.
Speaker 1:And to your point, to your point about Pioli.
Speaker 2:That's actually what it is, but go ahead To be honest, I think, am I surprised?
Speaker 1:I'm very much surprised and I'm surprised not because of the fact that we actually struggle this way. I think it's the way that we struggle Because, again, if you see how we played in the preseason, it seems to be able to communicate his ideas and philosophies. You know, what we're talking about is that he was able to, has been able to communicate his philosophy and ideas about football, about knowing how to attack, about knowing when to defend and all those things right, all those details that I think we were lacking before, which we know we were all happy about. Like you know, we saw it against Real Madrid. We saw it against even one of the toughest games in the preseason, which is the Barcelona game. I think we also saw it as well, like he really did enough to earn those victories and stuff.
Speaker 1:But again, now, having the adding more qualities to this team you know you and I know what this team were lacking all through. You know a couple of seasons right, and I think you know, honestly, I'm not going to say that the management are able to do enough this transfer window, because they made some blunders too. Let's be obvious Obviously, kalulu shouldn't be going to Juventus, kalulu shouldn't be leaving Milan to even start with. You know what I mean. We don't need MSN Royale if you have Kalulu, like it doesn't make sense. But anyways, we'll talk about that later again.
Speaker 1:But looking at the people that, the effort that they've put towards, you know, rebuilding this team in terms of adding more values, for example, players like Fofana, for example, coming in and then having players, like you know, morata and I mean Temi in tell me in the last minute, I think these are really qualities that our team were lacking, like you know, the past couple of seasons in terms of like bodies, and I feel like Fonseca should be able to, you know, manage this team Because, again, this is not just tactics Football, this is beyond tactics. I'm talking about understanding how to manage players Like these are management, like these are things that separate a good coach from a knowledgeable coach.
Speaker 2:We have to caveat this it's been three games into this season, right, milan can still turn this whole thing around and go on a great run. I agree, I agree, I agree. We've both seen Milan go through start using quite all right I think last season is a good example and then sometime in end of december or january they go on like a six, seven game losing streak. To be frank, it's no different, like to me, whether you lose your goal. You're losing streak in the middle of the season or at the start of the season.
Speaker 2:At some point, you, like we, found out that this milan team does, and you, you were right in your assessment earlier in the season when you said the team is too emotional. And I told you it was the coach. And I'm wrong for saying that, because, to your point, you talk about the players that you call the leaders of the team. Those guys are too emotional and that's the reason why this team is emotional. So why I say that is let's talk about Theo and Leao Fonseca probably sent them a message I don't know what happened behind the scenes and then put them on the bench against Lazio.
Speaker 2:The both of them come on Within 30 seconds. They score a great goal, awesome Way to show it. Stick it to your coach. 30 seconds after that, they call a water cooling break and those guys decide not to go to join their entire team. To me that's unacceptable. Like I don cooling break and those guys decide not to go to join their entire team. To me that's unacceptable. Like I don't care how you want to phrase it, I don't care how you want to frame it, I think it is childish behavior because guess what? In a way, you're indirectly insulting the rest of the guys that started the game by implying that well, you didn't have the coach, didn't have the right to bench you like. If you're well, sure, go ahead.
Speaker 1:You see, I understand your. I understand what you're well sure. Go ahead, chin. You see I understand what you're trying to explain. Like there has to be a level of discipline in the team. And if you call yourself a leader in the team, yes, you know, deputy captain, for example, or Rafa.
Speaker 1:Lea, or best player and who's been there for all these years, there has to be a level of respect, right, but at the same time, I just kind of feel like, let's be honest, Fonseca really hasn't helped the situation in any way, Like we all know. That. Hold on, hold, on, hold on Chin his first game. Do you listen to his interview? Do you listen to his? Do you watch his interview after Pama's loss? Yeah, Do you listen to him? Like he's not ready to take responsibility, and I think that's very unacceptable. You have to protect your players first.
Speaker 2:That's the first thing you have to do. Well, because you know why? Because in your mind, in your mind, right, what's his name? Pioli has done this all these years. So when Rafael goes through bad patches, pioli will come out and then he will defend him and he will do this. So, rafael, in his head, he and Teo, they don't understand why this, and that's what I'm trying to tell you. There's a new guy in town and the new guy yeah, the new sheriff likes to operate this way. So this is maybe that's just me, right, I'll tell you this.
Speaker 2:I feel like if you carry yourself around telling yourself like you're one of the best players on the team, then then you should almost always lead by example. Why do I say this? When I watch teams like Manchester City and a bunch of other clubs play, I see Pep send messages here and there to even his best player, including Haaland and KDB. And those guys, what do they do? They turn around and they respond. They respond with performance on the field. That means you're not meeting my expectation.
Speaker 2:A coach is allowed to do that as a player. Part of the. They paid. They did not pay. Layout and tail. Yes, they did, even if they play the extra 45 minutes or whatever, it wouldn't change anything. The message is the message I need you guys to be the leader of this team. I need you guys to step up and help, and what they did, to be honest, did not show that. It just showed they were petulant kids. They basically know what that indicated to me. Well, I'm bigger than bigger than whatever you, the coach. I'm bigger than you, the coach. That's what it tells me. Because then, to be honest with you, that just implies that Fonseca, to your point, does not have this team under his grasp. Like who is Rafael Leal? Like, tell me, please, who is Rafael Leal and Theo that they think they are bigger than?
Speaker 1:the coach and Milan. I understand what you're trying to say, I agree.
Speaker 2:If it's Lionel Messi, I would understand. Okay, well, it's Messi. Have a layout, for Christ's sake.
Speaker 1:Cheat. Hold on. You know what I feel. I feel like. First of all, I don't think you should be judging Teu. You should be punishing Teu for one game.
Speaker 2:But you're looking at the game. Have you thought about training? Because you have to remember this part. You and I sit here once in a while we talk about Milan. The coach sees them in training. He sees the attitude. Imagine if you're the coach and then you watch that Parma game. You go through the whole session and Teo is there, acting like a petulant child because he is. And then you'd say, oh, theo, like you need you know, this is what you should have done. And then he chose his hand and then training all week. Because I don't think what's his name? Fonseca, because I think the only guys that played that game against Pama, that ended up playing against against Lazio no, pulisic played that game. He played. A lot of people played Tomorrow. Your boy has been horrible this season, but he still keeps playing. Well, good for you. If you say no, no, that's your choice. Don't say that.
Speaker 1:You and I. This is your problem, chin. This is your problem. Now I'm beginning to understand how you see things because again, remember last season, when Milan was playing very bad, you hit the entire fault on Puyol. Now you're targeting players now, basically, that's what you're doing.
Speaker 2:That's what you're doing. You're just targeting players.
Speaker 1:Your last one minute of talking about this situation. You're just targeting players.
Speaker 1:No, you're not understanding what I'm saying. No, no, that's what you're doing, because, if you want to look at it this way, a new coach that comes to a team he literally has nothing to do, Like, you know how many give a cheat sheet when you're going to an exam and they say you know what? Here is it, here's the blueprint here, 4-2-3-1. Well, I mean 4-2-1-3. This is the formation that we have, this is the personnel that we have and this is what we're missing. This is what we want you to do to improve your squad. Right To me. I don't think Fonseca should be struggling.
Speaker 2:You got it all wrong, so I'll have to explain to you. I don't think he should be. Let me explain to you why.
Speaker 1:You see you Okay, sorry.
Speaker 2:Can I say something? Can I say something to you? You said I'm blaming the players. I don't know if you actually listen carefully to what I said. I am telling you that there's a new coach in town. The players have to help the coach acclimatize instead of being antagonistic towards the coach, trying to remain the same way they were under the old guy.
Speaker 1:That's what I'm trying to tell you have you evaluated how, how, how Fonseca is communicating no, no, no, just through his media let's just, can I say, use Conte as an example.
Speaker 2:Conte comes to your team. We all know that he's going to have his bad character the more reason why Conte cannot coach Milan.
Speaker 2:That's the reason no, no. But you see, the problem you have is that you assume that everybody should treat them the way Pioli was treating them. But that's wrong assumption on your part For me. I believe those guys are professionals In their whole life. I'm sure Leao has gone through at least six, seven coaches in his career already. He will still go through more coaches.
Speaker 2:What he needs to learn is, when the new coach comes in and he's asking and saying, hey, can you do a little bit of a deviation from what you normally do, because it will help the team more, your job is to say yes, coach, or say hey, sorry, coach, you know, the problem is that this is why I can't do this. And then the coach will say, okay, you know what likes his reports to be done. X Y Z does not mean that when the new boss come, you go to X Y Z. You ask the new boss hey boss, how do you like your reports to be done? And when they give you feedback, you go oh my God, you're allowed to be angry and say, oh my God, this guy, he wants it to be this way. This lady, she wants it to be this way.
Speaker 2:But then what you do as a mature professional is. You go back and you adjust, because in the team, leao can pout all he wants, he's still a player. They can fire the coach, for sure, but the coach is supposed to be his boss. And then, similarly, there's Milan. All of them, if they actually understand that, every single one of them there have the same intent, which is to get the best out of Milan. Imagine if Mourinho came to Milan and said Lea should be playing right back.
Speaker 1:Let me ask you one question why do you think Fonseca is struggling?
Speaker 2:Fonseca is not struggling. He's only. When you say struggling, your assumption is that, oh my God, everything has gone wrong. And I'm telling you, it's still a problem. Sometimes, depending on how far away you are from where you want to be, it might actually require a lot of work to get there.
Speaker 2:You and I talk about having a great preseason. Are you watching these games? We talk about having a great preseason. Are you watching these games? Yes, dave, we see that the team does not have identity. We see all the issues there. But this is what I'm trying to tell you, the. But this is what I'm trying to tell you. The coach sees those things as well. He's not dumb. So then, what he says is okay, we need to actually make adjustments based on our level of commitment. That is okay. He will learn. He's still learning the players. He's still learning the personality of the players. He just realized this week that Rafael Leal and Theo Hernandez are big babies, that if you bench them, they will go and cry and whine and then make it through a big tantrum so when your intention was to chase Pewdie, right.
Speaker 1:So this is what this is kind of, john, you want to embark on.
Speaker 2:No, that's not the point. Because Milan did not go through. Can I ask you a very weird question? Why are you calling?
Speaker 2:the guy a slack? I don't understand. Wait, no, I am not calling him a slack. I am only telling you that the guy literally just took over the job Like he just did. Everybody like.
Speaker 2:Okay, if you, I don't know where to explain it. It's not every coach that comes in that will become an slot of Liverpool that just takes over the same team and then they just play similar football and continue. Sometimes there has to be deviation, and one thing I know is that Fonseca seems to be one of those very, very what's it called idealistic football coaches that believe that X Y Z has to go with X Y Z, and which might be a problem for him, because if he was more pragmatic, then he would just literally do what your boy purely has been doing for years, which is mold the team in a way that they just go out there and win, regardless of how well they play. The team is playing poorly, maybe because they are all confused, maybe because he's trying to tell them things that goes contrary to what they've been doing for the last four years. Have you thought about that?
Speaker 1:Like what is contrary, what has been contrary since he took over?
Speaker 2:This is the point. You and I cannot see it because it is so confusing. They are all over the place. You, I cannot see it because it is so confusing.
Speaker 1:They are all over the place. You don't know what this guy is talking about. Like he's been given the same excuse for the past three games. We're not pressing well. We're not pressing well.
Speaker 2:I'm like yo, but he keeps telling you you're not pressing well, which might explain why he's benching some players that are not pressing well. So let's back up. You also have to remember something. You keep thinking that this God, blah, blah, blah, blah Like they just had a new coach, a few key players they just brought in, they are trying to bed everybody in. Some of those guys, like Theo and Leao literally Leao played 45 minutes of preseason. Theo did not play any, so those guys are also just recovering from their summer. So there's time, just give them time.
Speaker 2:This is not Inter Milan that has the same set of players and they just keep tossing, sprinkling around the edges. So you have to remember that. So all I'm trying to tell you is that I am not telling you that Fonseca is doing a great job. He's doing a horrible job. I am seeing the same things that I saw when Pioli was coach. The only thing to your point is he's worse because he doesn't have the same management skills that Pioli has, which, again, I'm telling you, is a flaw in his person, but does not mean that we should discard him after three games because Dave does not like him, because the follow-up question to you is when you discard him after three games in quote, because he's not doing what?
Speaker 1:you expect Shane, I'm not discarding him after three games. So then, what is your point then? My point is this is my point Look, you see the last three games right. If we played well, and it shows that you know we're trying to do something very positive and we've seen the positives in these games right, and we end up losing these games, To be honest, the entire fan base that are against Fonseca will not be against Fonseca, but our game is so bad that I can't even watch it. Bro. I'm not, purely. We used to be one of the most entertaining team in the entire Italy.
Speaker 2:Well, I think that was. That was his first two, three years.
Speaker 1:No, no, no. Last season, you know how often I fell asleep watching you last season. You can say that toward the end of last season, yes.
Speaker 2:Towards the end of last season, no, it wasn't towards, bro Like you and I sat here when I told you the Milan played South Solo.
Speaker 1:Milan played South Solo. Do you know how we were playing when we started the season, like against Bulogna, against all those teams. My God, sorry, was it not last year? Sorry, was it not last year that we?
Speaker 2:played against PSG, guy solo. Am I mistaking something? Am I missing something Like the one that I fell asleep? So then you said you played against PSG, the same game that we watched. That was back and forth.
Speaker 1:The thing is, let's address some of the issues.
Speaker 2:Milan's issue to be honest with you. I've said it and I'll say it again the coach is 100% correct in the fact that the poor pressing by the players is leading to too much what's it called too much freedom for the other team to run through and then passes just go through. You should have watched the Pama game. It's the same nonsense that happened. Pama would just be doing tiki-taka with Milan because nobody's really pressing the ball, and then what's it called? A lot of the selections that he's been doing.
Speaker 1:Let's call it speedy speed he's like one of, I think. I think this guy also has selection problems, to be honest. Oh, yeah, that's it.
Speaker 2:Okay, sorry, that's the part that bothers, that's the part that sorry, let me just say this part.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is the part that really bothers me doing this, one week he's doing that and Fonseca is exhibiting the same traits, which is one week he's doing this and one week he's doing that. For me, I understand that he he signed a new player in Fofana and he's trying to embed in new guys and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But, honestly speaking, like you're making some some kind of weird uh what's it called? A weird uh selection decisions that, frankly, as a Milan fan, it bothers me, because he just tells me that he's either falling under the pressure of I have to deliver results, that he's moving away from what he thinks he should need to do, or he doesn't know what he really needs to do, which is a big problem, because if he doesn't know what he really needs to do, then there's no difference between him and Pioli.
Speaker 1:They're both the same Chin Chin. I really want us to address some issues that I'm spotting basically. For example, let's talk about the selection problems right, if you look at how it is right, and I want to address that midfield specifically, because I think that's where one of our biggest problems are when it comes to pressing. He's trying to play Loftus-Cheek as an attacking midfielder, right, and he's playing for Fana and Tijani Rendes. To me, I feel like he's not getting what he wants from all these players because of the way they move, and it's because, if I were him, I think Benassi should be playing in front of our defense and then using the skill set of Ida Fofana and Tijan Nirenda to balance it up. What's your thought, though? Like I don't understand, because, with me, I don't think we really have control of that flow.
Speaker 2:So the coach keeps talking about pressing right. First of all, I'll tell you this Rafael Leal does not press. Okay, you and I know this, we've known this. He does not press, he walks half the time, he literally walks around the field. That's number one. Number two Lubin Loftus-Cheek does not press.
Speaker 2:Tumnali, when he was at Milan, was one of the best pressers I've seen, and I'm not saying that because he's no longer at Milan. But that's what pressing is, where you go full-hearted right and you go for it. Lubrin loves his trick. Does not press, neither does he stand covered defensively. All he does is jog. I don't know if you haven't noticed it.
Speaker 2:And then when he gets the ball, he's not very good at passing the ball. And also he's not that good at carrying the ball as much as we think, because half the time he carries it after two steps, someone close to him, he shields the ball and then gets a foul, or tries to dribble and gets a foul. So, to your point, you can either be a team that keeps possession or you can be a team that wants to counter-attack, and then, when you're defending, you can decide to be compact or you can decide to be a pressing team. Right, liverpool against Manchester United. They lose the ball less than 10 seconds later they're getting the ball Like basically, you start depressed as soon as you lose the ball. Right, it was impressive.
Speaker 1:But I feel like hold on. I kind of feel like Loftus-Chick also has his advantages too. He's very good with transitioning Like he's very good at it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if you ask me what my perfect midfield whatever for Milan would be, it would not include Loftus-Chick Because, to be honest with you, he's so horrible, like when it comes to helping the team move. And I'm not saying this because I like I'm looking for a person to pick on. I'm saying this because, no, let me explain now. This is what you're really doing, though, as a guy, as a guy that plays attacking midfield, I don't know. This is where Fonseca, like I feel like that is his own new crew niche. As a guy that plays attacking midfield, I don't know how you would have. I told you in the chat.
Speaker 2:I said Ryan has had the ball for like almost 30 seconds. He was running around like a headless chicken and he's looking up and there's no literal he his attacking. That is not anywhere near him. Remember when we used to have Hakan, or even like Brian Diaz, how often they drop? They drop and put themselves in those pockets of spaces and then get those balls right. This guy, it's almost like he's avoiding, like he avoids what's it called like being part of the play. Does that make sense? Like, if the ball doesn't come to him in like open space where he can try to run. He wouldn't, because one thing, yeah, yeah, one thing that made hakan so good is that he can do all those one, two touches in tight spaces. Same with brahim, like you know what I mean with ben asser or kessie, where it's like touch, touch, touch, touch.
Speaker 1:I just kind of feel like he needs to. He needs to get more involved.
Speaker 2:No, I think what he needs to do is be on the bench. No, no, he just needs to be on the bench, like that's what he needs. Yeah, because then you can play Pulisic and attack him in the middle.
Speaker 1:So let's go back, go ahead. I understand what you're saying. Right, like, I completely understand what you're saying. But regardless, whether you like it or not, I don't think Fonseca really has faith in Chukwueze anymore, and that's the more reason why Pulisic is going to end up back at the right wing and then he's going to keep banking on Ruben Loftus. Well, how can?
Speaker 2:you. This is where I struggle. How can you, as a coach, lose faith in the guy that you gave a lot of minutes and precision and he showed that he can, and then, because he had one bad game, you lose faith?
Speaker 1:already. Come on, chin, don't even go there.
Speaker 2:No, no, no. What are you saying? No, but sorry, sorry, it's the same thing. Now I'm supporting you in a way. I'll tell you why. He literally just lost faith in Theo Hernandez because he had one bad game against Parma. That's what I'm saying about this guy. Good, so yeah, in your life, if you realize that I'm actually supporting you, all I'm trying to tell you is that those things bother me, the fact that the coach, within one game, will just decide that, whatever I've been doing, let's be realistic though.
Speaker 1:I've seen Chukwizi, I've seen his highlights, I've watched him play, I don't think he's the kind of player that can do anything exceptional on a consistent basis for Milan. He's not that kind of player that can do anything exceptional on a consistent basis for Milan. He's not that kind of player. He's just that, literally that kind of. He's just pretty much to me. Honestly, I won't lie to you I would have preferred him being traded instead of Salamakas, to be honest.
Speaker 2:Okay so let's not talk about Alexis Salamakas. So this is where, in a way, I am very wary of Fonseca. I'll tell you why. When we played preseason, we played with Very skillful attacking midfielder Liberale, whatever his name is yeah, liberale, yeah, so Liberale. Yeah, you know, I see most coaches Going to the season. All of a sudden, one young guy Just out of the blue Just bursting to sin. Who just burst into sin and become like a key player right, he happens. Who just burst into sin and become like a key player right, it happens almost every, yeah, and because you like the idea of what that person is. So why I bring this up is coaches like ideas. Most of them Forget it Like the ones that are actually very idealistic.
Speaker 1:This is where you want to be the boss, because I'm like why can't he play liberally as an attacking midfielder?
Speaker 2:Pulisic played there in the first game against Torino and he wasn't bad. And then the next minute, rafael Leal comes back and you change too much. All you needed to do was take Pulisic, rafael Leal where he was and then remove somebody. But again, I keep telling you that his obsession with Ruben Loftus-Chick is incredible, because the only thing stopping other people from playing there with Ruben Loftus-Chick is incredible, because the only thing stopping other people from playing there is Ruben Loftus-Chick. And Ruben Loftus-Chick is actually Because even that balance you guys keep talking about the defensive balance it comes because when Milan loses possession in weird, awkward places, then the pass is so easy because the other dude again Ruben Loftus-Chick is almost always never in the right position to just start pressing right away, because it is not a natural thing for him, like, I don't know, like sometimes, whatever, you know what. Yes, you're right.
Speaker 1:Everything you're going to say about Fonseca, you're 100% correct For me what really bothers me the most on the system can change and I've been saying it sound like whenever you don't like me talking about purely because you feel like, yeah, like I'm being biased and I understand, I completely understand if you feel like that, to be honest, but at the end of the day, this is what I always feel like. I'm always avoiding this sort of situation where, like you know, we just bring in one random coach that is a 50 50 chance and it comes in and screw up things for us. Because right now, with the way other teams are playing right, even though that napoli even started, like the struggle to initially, but they bounce back, they're on their feet already after the first game. Right, inter is already flying after their first game. Like, really, now we have to start, you know, and juventus, juventus hasn't lost any game as well. I know they drew against roma.
Speaker 1:Right now, my concern is what do you think this guy can do? Like to turn this around? Because after the international break, we're gonna come back, we back, we're going to play Venezia, we play Inter, then we'll go back and play Liverpool. So this is a very tight schedule for us. I'm going to be playing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so Dave, yeah Again. Let's not forget. I know it looks like Milan is so far behind the rest, but the season just started. Right to your point, napoli lost the first game of the season. Now they are. They have six points. You know there's still a lot of games to go.
Speaker 2:So what I'm trying to say is let's not start by saying, oh, like I'm almost like the whole season is over. And also to your point about purely I remember when they hired purely, it wasn't like purely was coming in and he was god to come and save us because we hired one of the best coaches in Europe. All I'm trying to say is that you let hindsight make you think that Fioli is the best thing that has happened to Milan ever. That's not true. He came in. We all thought, oh my God, he's an interim coach. What is he going to bring? He made us feel good and then they wanted to fire the guy won the league and then so on and so forth. It does not mean that he has to still remain Milan coach. I don't know how many times I have to say that part Fonseca might also be a horrible coach. It does not mean that he should remain Milan's coach.
Speaker 2:You can fire Fonseca and find yourself a better coach this summer. I'm surprised A lot of coaches were out there. Mia was saying it. He would have gone for Di Gebi. He would have given a lot to get Di Gebi, because it's not like Marseille. Is that much bigger than Milan In my own? I don't know how he ended up in Marseille instead of Milan. The point I'm trying to imply is, in my mind, they settled for Fonseca for whatever reason. Maybe they were being cheap, or maybe they just liked the guy. Maybe he knows how to interview, but they'll still fire him. Still does not mean that purely should be milan's coach and that purely might not still be in the same position that this guy is in, because you and I forget this. Milan starts the season well and then they run into problems. Eventually. There's a reason why they end up losing, losing leagues by 20 points.
Speaker 1:It's not because they started the season well and kept it up like that no, this is what I mean you always have when you start trying to reference to that go ahead. Look, I'll just leave this here for you regarding this, so we can go to two other conversations about the same team. Right, this is what I'll leave for you. I've seen this coming Sure.
Speaker 2:I've seen you that you were excited in the preseason and now you've seen this coming Of course.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was excited because he wanted to prove me wrong, but I guess then he didn't.
Speaker 2:But I've seen this coming as far as you're concerned, any other coach that came in we?
Speaker 1:would have seen this coming. Let me just speak quickly. This is it here. All we needed to do, all we had to do was just look into this team and look at the deficiencies that we had last season. That Giroud's decline was a big hit on Milan. Let's forget that last season we never invested in centre-back, even when we were crying and shouting about it before the season started. Instead, they went and carried one boy from Argentina, pele Grino. So you know that this team wasn't properly put together last season, even though we did bring in some players that looked like good players.
Speaker 2:Dave, you're talking about deficiency. I'll tell you that. Forget player deficiency. Coaching deficiency was also a problem. Go ahead, let me finish.
Speaker 1:This is what happened here. Now, if we are looking to all this and we decide to say, you know what, this guy has one year left in the contract. Okay, fine, Even if we don't want him again to start with us this season, let's look for a reliable coach, like someone that has proven records, to help take this team to the next level. Or if you can't find someone, look at what this team suffered last season in terms of what we needed last season, what we're missing.
Speaker 1:Last season, we were missing CDM. We were missing center back. We were missing right back. We were missing a reliable striker, not a 38-year reliable striker, another 38 year old striker. Let's give this guy what is missing and then give him his last chance to end up his contract and if he doesn't do well, we can find a solution and then let's just kiss him goodbye and then find a proper replacement before then for the season end. But we had no plan. We just took Fonseca and gave him the job because we felt like, oh, this guy is going to change the whole atmosphere for us. Look at what has happened. We shouldn't be in this condition. We shouldn't be in this situation. If we actually take a deeper look, Dave, you're playing the result.
Speaker 2:How many years did Pioli stay at Milan? Last year they gave him a lot of good players. The result was still 19 points behind in time.
Speaker 1:Are you talking about the Ruben Loftus shit that you're saying?
Speaker 2:Yes, because this is the point. The point I'm trying to make is not a lot has changed this year, apart from the fact that they got Morata, fofana and then Pavlovic. So the point I'm trying to tell you is that the same outcome would not have changed, because the deficiency Milan had last year one of them was Pioli. Now let's back up. They may still have a deficiency this year in coaching. We have not solved that problem. Let's remember that. So then the big deficiency might just be Milan's management is just bad at realizing their deficiencies. That's all I will just tell you.
Speaker 2:You can say all you want In your mind. You think that you force me to actually start defending Fonseca? I'm not, because for me, all those coaches they pass by, because I've been a Milan fan now for God knows how many years and I've seen a lot of coaches come and go. You do not attach yourself to coaches. You support Milan, have positive intent. I hope that the coaches are going to pan out for the team, that's it. And then when they don't, when they don't, you fire them.
Speaker 1:Let's address the issue. Look for us to not run into situations after the break, right, Because obviously we have big games. What do you think Fonseca should do?
Speaker 2:Well, I think he should take this international break, you know, assess his players and decide what he wants to do, and die by that, because it doesn't matter if he dies by his ideas or he dies by trying to please everybody else he's still going to be dead, right. So let him just figure out what he wants and then do that. And please let him stop playing Ruben Loftus-Chikas and attacking midfielder Like anywhere else. You can play him as right back, he might even be better, but not attacking midfielder. That's just mine. So all I'm saying is, if you're the guy that we all thought football he wants to play, try and play that. It doesn't matter what it looks like, because it cannot be worse than what is already going on now. Try that At least we might be entertained while also losing or whatever right?
Speaker 1:Let's just quickly shine some positives to Atleast Atleast. There's some little positives in this game too, most especially Pavlovich, I think that guy is good for me.
Speaker 2:I like Pavlovich. But then you know, you see, the second goal Lazio scored right and you see how weirdly enough he was basically like at opposition he had Tomori. I don't know, they do a competition where they try to be at opposition. The only difference is that he's physically enough to recover and make those last-ditch tackles. Same as tomorrow. But to me I feel like when defenders are making last-ditch tackles, that means man, you've been out of position a lot, to be honest.
Speaker 1:I just kind of feel like also like this has a lot to do with shape, right when they go, well, yeah, They've always been caught up.
Speaker 2:So that means the coaching. The coach has a lot to for the league. They just need a better coach. That's just what I'm saying. Or let me put it back this way they need better coaching. How about that? Instead of saying better coaching, they just need better coaching.
Speaker 1:I know I've been harsh on Fonseca, to be honest, but at the end of the day, too right, I kind of understand and that's the only reason I'm kind of cutting him some slack that most of his really involved in international duties during the break, right, so they didn't really have.
Speaker 2:He's not the only guy.
Speaker 1:I know, I know, but I'll still cut him some slack on that, because at least if he had that group together more early right, these important players more early, I think they would have actually helped him a lot. I mean, it would help him a lot in this situation. But overall, I think I'm giving him Initially I said five, but I think I'm giving him. Initially I said five, but I'll give him 10 games. To be honest, I'll give him 10 games to score, If you give him 10 games.
Speaker 2:Milan will be 30 points behind the 10 Milan. Anyway, I think five games would be okay, but I still believe that it's a good decision to fire Pioli. I don't care if they hire me to coach Milan or you to coach Milan or my children to coach Milan. It's still a good decision to fire Pioli. That's all I'll tell you, so you can try to change my mind. I don't think you can, that's it.
Speaker 1:Anyways, guys, yeah, so I want to talk about the Champions League, right, but before we go, I still feel like there's a couple of things I really want to address with this team chain, because we didn't start well.
Speaker 1:We're not playing well Now. There's, you know, a bit of issue here and there in the dressing room and stuff like that, right, and obviously, like this international break, most of these guys I probably have seen Theo, posting pictures, and all these guys, mike Minyan they're already on international duties, right, like within this period, because I think it looks like a long time, but it's very short, right what do you think this guy can do to just really transform the situation and communicate his ideas with these players so that, when they return, venezia is the only test that we have. After Venezia, we're going to go face Inter, we're going to go face Liverpool, right, and looking at the team right now, which area do you think he needs to improve? To me personally, my first, if you ask me, my number one thing to do is we have to take Calabria back in the first level.
Speaker 2:I don't want to say Marcelo Real to be honest, yeah, but you were happy that Marcelo Real got signed for Milan. I told you that he was a waste, that you cannot be taking rejects from other teams and think that they are going to magically turn into something for you. What did Leo say? It's just a taller version of Calabria. I think it's worse. I think it's worse. It's worse. He can't defend, he's just erratic. He just does whatever he wants.
Speaker 1:Do you see any chances of him being improved by Fonseca? Do you see any, or do you think it's too late for his?
Speaker 2:career to change? No, no, yeah, I think he's a fully formed player. Like his decision-making is very rash and he doesn't read the danger very well, like you know what I mean. Like it's funny because. Like it's funny because he's almost like a very bad version of Trent Alexander-Arnold. See, trent at least he's very good going forward, but this guy is not. So then the question is what does he bring to your team? It's so weird, but hey, I don't know man.
Speaker 1:Sometimes to your point, you think… In my mind this is what I would say. I think maybe first of all he needs to improve on his fitness. Maybe that will help Emerson, maybe that will help. But in all honesty I'm comfortable with Calabria playing as a right back then than Emerson. At least Calabria is disciplined and he might not be able to run, but at least whenever he makes contributions he's still better at least.
Speaker 2:Calabria will be, at least when it comes to his 1v1 defending. He can and you know he can help. But again, I told you before, all Milan fullbacks not named Teo Hernandez are suspicious. Even Tarek Tshiano, like played it Tarek Tshiano, they are all suspicious. Even Theo now came back from international break, not fully himself, right? Look that.
Speaker 1:Theo's case is to tell me, theo, after a couple of games he'll get himself.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I know, I know, but at the same time it's not helping, right, I know, yeah, so.
Speaker 1:This is my question, though Do you think these guys switch formations To what? Maybe play 4-3-3? Instead of trying to force all of Tuchik to play as an attacking midfielder right From a midfielder of three? To me I feel like Benassi should be playing, if from a midfielder of three between Benassi.
Speaker 2:I don't understand what exactly is going on with Ben Atsu.
Speaker 1:I don't either, and I saw that he posted a picture of him to the national team judges today. So Lui is back home now for international duty, right? I just feel like the way Fonseca came in right. I just feel like he needs to. First of all and you're right, a new sheriff in town, but at the end of the day, too, you need to understand that these guys are professionals. Right, a new sheriff in town, but at the end of the day, too, you need to understand that these guys are professionals. Right, there's a way, there's a level of communication that has to be between you and these guys.
Speaker 2:Okay, but can we also can we also, can we also call the elephant in the room out Management, the senior management at Milan, or your boy, brian Movich and his cohort, like? I'll tell you why. Because you talked about Alexis Alemaka, right, yeah, and I thought about the same thing too, like when I said I said I was at okay someone attributed the wrong what's it called wrong comments to me. I never said Fonseca improved Alexis. I said Mota improved him and, funny enough, he goes to Roma first day. In fact, I'm sure he was on the flight. They already put him as a starter on the team, right, and even Fonseca likes him. So, which begs the question, if you like the guy and he looked like he was actually a new and improved version of himself in the preseason so why then do you get rid of the guy? That just tells me that management did it. So we have to remember that part too, right? Other?
Speaker 1:even Adli, for example. Why are you okay with him leaving?
Speaker 2:not necessarily because I don't know like. I feel like Adli can provide you some things right, but that's beside the point. We have a lot of misfeeds, especially with Fofana coming in. But the part that bothers me is then they wanted to get rid of Benatse and then Benatse, because I think that's why he wasn't playing him in the like you know, like after the first game of the season yeah but I'm thinking who's getting rid of Benazir? Is it the coach, or is this a problem with management? I don't understand.
Speaker 2:So at the end of the day, yeah, yeah, like it's just so weird because it's like, who do you guys like and who don't you like? Like I feel the team has been uh, what's it called? Diminished, with a lot of some maybe potentially uh what's it called? Okay, but not great options in certain positions, but then you just get rid of them and then the ones that you have, you decide not to play them. Like that's very purely the behavior share, if you ask me. But hey, what can I say? It's fonsecaca, maybe, who knows, after a while, I know, like Scooby-Doo, he will pull the mask up and I'll reveal that it's purely after that. I just saw Fonseca's face.
Speaker 1:I was coaching me. Shane yeah, do you have faith in him? Who the coach?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I had faith in him in preseason, like what I've seen.
Speaker 2:Yeah, had faith in him in precision, like what I've seen, yeah, what I've seen in the. So, because you know, so, your, your past right, your past always usually indicates a lot. Occasionally there's an outlier, where people, just you know, change. Maybe an environment suits a coach and then he works out for them. The fact that fonseca has to your point I think you made a comment about him only excelling in like Ukraine and so on and so forth the fact that he doesn't do well in certain high pressure situation. Right, because he's looking like that's how it is for him whenever the pressure is turned up and it's no different than any other player. So some players do well in like low pressure clubs where they are the star men and not a lot of things going on. But then when you come to Milan and you draw one, lose one game, draw two games, everybody thinks the world is coming to an end. That kind of environment can test a person's you know, like who you really are, and that's why, again, not to mention Leo, I feel like he was Leo was right in basically saying we needed a well-established coach who is a little bit stubborn.
Speaker 2:It seems like Fonseca might not really be that guy, because when he was at Roma. I remember reading the article about him. At Roma he changed his formation a few times when things weren't going well and it's like okay, and eventually got fired. And then he went to Lille I think it was Lille, right. So the point I'm trying to make is he seems to do well when the pressure is not high, but at Milan the pressure is always on. So if you're going to buckle every single time, you do something wrong, like God forbid, he loses to Inter Milan. I think they would just fire him at the stadium, right.
Speaker 1:I don't think a lot of Milan fans really expected this from Fonseca. I'm just giving my thoughts.
Speaker 2:It just doesn't feel good. That's the problem. It's horrible football. There's no results to even suit yourself with To your point. The team is chaotic. No one knows what to expect. We don't know what the lineup is. If you ask me to tell you the starting lineup, I cannot even predict. I will not be shocked next week. Mike Mian is the striker and Yunus Musa is the goalkeeper. Like I don't know what he wants to accomplish, right? But hey, it's three games in, let's wait.
Speaker 1:Which is my worry, because if we're going to be going to the Champions League with Champions League being formatted for the season right, it's going to be really hard for us, to be honest, to get out of that group right, based on the people that they stayed with. We're talking about, like Real Madrid, liverpool and this group.
Speaker 2:So I don't know if the Champions League group became harder to get out of or easier to get out of, like I'll explain so before. Right, what are your chances of coming out of the group? You have to finish two out of four, which is what 50% chance? Yeah, no, am I missing something? You're right, yeah, two out of four, yeah, good. So then now, what are your chances of coming out of the group? You do what. There's eight teams in the group. Did they say top three or top two? I think it's top two. That goes first, and then potentially the next two people can also go.
Speaker 1:It's just weird, to be honest, and I don't think it's going weird to be honest, and I don't think we're gonna help our situation, to be honest, because, again, with the lack of stability that we have in this team now, we don't really have enough you have six games, which is 18 points, if I'm not mistaken.
Speaker 2:Six times three is 18 to to qualify. And then now you have seven games, right, which is 21 points, and you have to still finish almost the same number of. Uh, no, I think. I think milan has a better chance this time around, if you ask me, because basically you only have to play all these teams once, you don't have to play them twice. Imagine if you played real madrid home anyway, that you know that you're going to drop six points, basically, let's assume, and then you play. You know what I mean. Like that takes away that, but then now at least you know to to Leo. Leo mentioned that in the group where you can lose to Madrid, maybe you can lose to Liverpool, I'm not saying you will and then you can beat majority of the other teams and you might end up finishing top three or top four in the, in the, in the group which brings you to, you have an option to make it through to the next round, right?
Speaker 1:so yeah, do you think? Do you think? Do you think milan has really equipped this team enough this is into to compete at this at the high level in terms of no, no, not really, because they have a coach that might actually be as as clueless as a former coach.
Speaker 2:So, no matter what you equip, you can equip them from nothing tomorrow if you took your team with the garbage team to the semifinals championship.
Speaker 1:Don't forget that. Yeah, sure, before you start keeping it.
Speaker 2:If you equip all you want to equip and carry the key and give it to the wrong person, then you're going to yeah, you're going to not achieve anything, right? Because I keep saying this part good players when they really are playing, but then for some weird strange reason it never comes together for them, like it's almost like they are just like running around with no clue. It kind of sometimes reminds me of chelsea, where they have a lot of players that on paper should be good enough to be doing stuff, but then when they just throw them together on, the team feels like there's something missing. There's like a lack of belief or chemistry or like desire to sacrifice for each other missing right, and that usually falls on the coach, to be frank but anyways, the thing is for me at this point, right?
Speaker 1:I think my, my destiny, my, my, my, my high, high, high, um, high energy has been depleted, be honest, because of the way we started in the season, right? So I'm just you know, honestly, that logic isn't right. I watch it, hoping to see changes, but again, you know, I was disappointed, right? So my own thing is I'm just hoping that I fix the problem before I start getting very ugly.
Speaker 2:You know, football is very interesting. So that game, the coach believed that Milan had a good first half and then all I was seeing was sideways passes, backward passes. You only had one shot on goal, yeah, and then we had that headed goal from a corner kick and it's like, oh yeah, we had a good first half kick. And it's like, oh yeah, we had a good first half, like it's not. What you had was maybe more a controlled first half.
Speaker 2:But I thought you said you want to dominate and, and you know, show yourself like. You know what I mean. Yeah, you want to dominate the game and impose themselves. Like how do you impose yourself? By the way, I told you, and this is the thing with you, when you like people, or when you think that someone you know, as soon, as soon as they just start wearing black and red, you assume that those people are like, oh my God, super great players. I don't know what your general assessment for Fana was, but I can tell you he had a yellow card in that game, right, and I will not be surprised if he gets a lot of yellow cards. You know the forest boy, the way he got carded. I'm like, hey, chidu. Oh yeah, chido, bring it to the podcast. Oh yeah, of course. And then did you also notice how many times he gave the ball away for no reason?
Speaker 1:Well, to be honest, again, I wouldn't say much, because that's his first game, bro, come on. No, no, it's his first full game.
Speaker 2:He doesn't say his first game is starting Like come on, you have to realize something, you something, people's decision making right and their body language tells me a lot, he so for does this weird thing, and I just noticed it.
Speaker 1:Can I be real with you? Yeah, I think the biggest problem that we're having, yeah, in that main field, is just the chemistry between these players can I ask you a question?
Speaker 2:yeah, I don't know. Maybe I would. You didn't notice it. He's very, very, very aggressive in terms of going almost all out for a ball right, so sometimes he takes weird angles and then now he's behind people. And now to your point. You talk about chemistry. If they had, maybe, a balanced midfield and I don't know why, if I'm the coach, I would never, I don't know why you would not toss Benacer in there, because Benacer Reinders and this guy would help you better than whatever you think you're doing with Bouludou Mbamdou Stichik. But then, for fun, I might not need to be trying to attempt to go cut off passes that do not exist. Like it's just so strange, like this team is like I'm going to say it to your point yes, they are worse off than they were last year, but, man, in my head it's similar stuff, it's just the same stuff. It's just random football with no idea and just chaos.
Speaker 1:All I just feel like Fonseca should focus on doing right now, basically, is for like, for example, for a player like Fonseca Wright, for Fano Wright. He needs to find a way to make him disciplined in terms of his movement on pitch and, again, how to play alongside players like Rendes, Because I feel like they have similar playing style. They're always, like you know, they call themselves box-to-box right, I wouldn't play two box-to-box midfielder together. I wouldn't. I'm sorry, Like it doesn't work.
Speaker 2:I thought you were saying that they signed for Fana to sit back.
Speaker 1:That's what I thought, but again I'm seeing his movement way further. I like when I see him play.
Speaker 1:I like what he's doing in terms of you know, when we're in possession, right, he rotates in the middle of the center back trying to like, help them to support the passes and stuff. But when we now move forward, that's where the problems start coming, in terms of, like, defending when we were losing the ball from the attack, we're trying to defend, and everybody's all over the whole place. Then you now see some people start using backheels to counter us. Like I'm like against Parma. I'm like what the heck is this Like? How did it get here?
Speaker 1:Everyone under Pioli, right, as much as I know that we were struggling in terms of defending counter-attacks and stuff, right, like we're in this bad like, and when we're with the ball, we know when to attack. That's one thing about Pioli. We might lose goals. Like, we might be losing, like you know, glaring chances. Like at least you see that we have a mission and we know how to attack. Everybody knows that it's between Theo and Liao. Like we have an identity of how we attack. This team just lost everything, literally. Like when he decided to bench Raphael Liao right and bench Theo Hernandez. Like the replacement they're not matching To me. You brought Chukwuzi, chukwuzi. You don't do anything, not through the game. Literally, you're just there Like why don't you put a switch on the right flank and then find a better solution? Why does it have to be Chukwizi, like literally, you know what I mean, so, but anyways.
Speaker 2:Chukwizi and.
Speaker 1:Tarichana. I'm hoping this guy turns things around. I don't want him to go. I don't want him to get fired just like that, If I see changes in the next couple of games like against Venice and against Sintar.
Speaker 2:I mean, why not? What kind of changes are you expecting?
Speaker 1:Play well. Let's play well first. Let's play good football. Let's attack. If we miss chances. I know we'll miss chances. You know what I mean. We're just passing the ball around like we don't have. You know how flat and tasteless Jalpa Luz games were when we started. I can't forget that game against Denizli. That game was so tasteless man, like literally we were so flat. That's how we played. We played very flat. We don't really like there's no permission.
Speaker 2:You're saying that Fonseca gives you signs of Giampallo. I'm telling you, my guy, like that's how I'm feeling. And then, when Diabalu left, who came and saved Milan? Stefano Pioli.
Speaker 1:I remember, even when Pioli came, people only hated on Pioli because they felt like he's a deterrent coach and doesn't have any lockdown plan for Milan. But eventually the poor guy feared it. I was able to actually, you know, create a legacy for himself in Milan. That's the kind of vibe I'm going for for Seca, to be honest. But if we're playing this sort of football, I don't think anyone will be encouraged for him to stay. To be honest, that's how I feel. Now I'm not going to be exonerating the management out. Maybe they've done their part this season. They really did, to be honest, in terms of transfer, apart from the fact that we sent some couple of good players like shout again in that game that came in and changed the game, because, again, that's the kind of quality we're looking for, right, not before that you carry Jude and put Jude there. That kind of ball. You know that layoff that Tim Abraham gave Rafael Leal. I tell you, if it was Jude, that would have been the wrong pass. You see, we have quality players.
Speaker 2:So things are getting better. Yeah, to improve. Now we're after Mabry and the question now becomes okay, if Morata comes back, what do you do Now? You have to bench one, bro. We have long-term games.
Speaker 1:man, there's no benching anybody. And then Okafor has his own way of playing. And then, what about Jovic? What happened to Jovic? Jovic is not even included in the. That's how you know how things are for him. But anyways, the main thing is just the fact that our goal is to basically, right now, find a solution to the chaos and say, like, cool everything down. So let me tell you what Milan let me tell you what will happen.
Speaker 2:so the best thing that could happen to Milan is Venezia come, venezia comes, they beat Venezia, well you know. And then Inter Milan shows up, and then they beat Tamilan. It doesn't matter if it's half nothing, half a goal to nothing, but they beat Tamilan, then the Milan fans would, then the team and everybody would believe man, if Tamilan shows up and whoops Milan's backside, it's all over, because there's nothing, there's no difference. Now the other guy lost, this one just started losing as well. You cannot convince anybody, otherwise they will have to probably go and call Pioli back and just pay him, just because they're already paying him. Right, I don't want Pioli to come back. I don't want Pioli to come back.
Speaker 2:Milan does not want him back.
Speaker 1:Even though I know, even though I know, to be honest, even though I know that if Pioli, if this team was in Puyol's hand, I know what it's going to be.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he would do a better job than he did last year and the year before last.
Speaker 1:To be honest, he will do it. But the problem is again and I don't know what to do. I just kind of feel like the same pressure will be on the old man man. You see, puyol is always on fire. He can't be loud. So I don't ask me that, because I've also heard this guy's name is lingering around already Allegri. I'd rather go back to Pioli. You didn't see what's happening? Yeah, it's on the news already about. You know Allegri might be the option if things for a second. My only thing is just that I'd rather have Piuli back than have an Allegri in that team. To be honest, I don't want to say Allegri anywhere near Milan job. He's not worthy of it, he's not qualified for it. So let's just keep it straight here. But anyways, do you have any finances for the rest of the team in Italy?
Speaker 2:Because now, no, everybody else is like they're gearing up, they are doing well, except for Milan, and it's a little bit sad. But you know, my fear is that I don't want them to get to the point where they're already. What? Five points behind Inter Milan? No, yeah, five points. And then, before you know it, now you're doing catch up, right, but again, like there's still time, I still have a little bit of faith. But if we go play Venezia and it's the same rubbish where we pass sideways and then everybody's out of position and they're countering us, I think that's it. Yeah, we'll fire the coach. I'll help them fire the coach because, again, I keep telling you this part, I don't really care who coaches Milan, as long as they do a good job, right. So if they're going to do a good job, I'm okay with it. What's your thought on Juventus this season? I think they really, they really solid.
Speaker 1:If I'm being frank, I haven't watched Juventus, but then I'm not actually surprised, because it feels like liberation for those guys coming from Allegri to Mota Probably Mota like every day they are just sleeping and dreaming of flying pigs and stuff like that because it's like oh, this is heaven you know because imagine I don't think so, though, because the way morta wants them to play right, I think, I think it's going to require a lot of energy in terms of pressing in yeah, but then there's nothing wrong with energy easy maybe yeah, the, the liberation might come in in in a sense that, yes, they get to attack and not just back exactly they get to play football.
Speaker 2:Like who wakes up? Okay, so sorry, only people that have problems in their head wakes up and decide that the best style of football they want to play and watch is the type where you park the bus or sit back and let your opponent dominate the ball. Like, players want to play the ball. They literally called footballers for a reason, not foot runners, like they don't run around. Ballers for a reason, not foot runners, like they don't run around. That's not what they do. But when Allegri is your coach, now you, just you know, however, you can get the result. You get the result.
Speaker 1:It just sucks to me the fact that I'm seeing Inter running away with this title already.
Speaker 2:Well, the only reason Inter might win the league again is just simply because of their coach, because not a lot has changed for them. They just do the same thing again and they just win. The thing is that I was hoping that our coach would have improved, but it seems like we did not improve coaching. That's the part that sucks. Really. It's like nothing, and I'm worried that Fonseca will not go and play and just naked him and just take his clothes and run away, just like he did to Pioli for those days, like he just naked him and run away with his clothes.
Speaker 1:Che, this is as much as you always refer us to, bilal losing to Inter a lot on that period. I just want you to remember something eh, we've had two good victories against Inter in between all these periods. One of them was dunking on them to win the Scudetto Right in front of right in the backyard. I know they did the same thing to us, but we've done it to them before, so there's still elements of positives. When it comes to the Derby and Pioli. So don't just write it off that maybe Pioli didn't win any of these games. He did. He did win some of them.
Speaker 1:But anyways, the thing is I'm hoping he doesn't get to, you know, sack him. I don't like that because when he started getting to that stage and was like switching coaches at the early stage of the season, we just had it for disaster and I don't want us to be like that. So to me, we made this choice, we have to stick with it and we have to just wait for things to get better. That's my own opinion because, again, I don't think it's worth bringing anyone back, or I don't think it's worth hiring another coach just at this early stage of the season. It's not worth it, to be honest, it's not. That's my own say.
Speaker 2:Now, if you, I think it's worth it if that means that Milan, we can't continue to go in this direction and then not make a decision right. At some point they have to say, oh, this is not going to work, we made it bad and then when they do that, they should fire Ibrahimovic and the rest of them to that.
Speaker 1:Well, they all deserve to be fired because if you look at what they've done so far, like the players that they've let go this season, I just feel like it's too much. For example, Danny Martini.
Speaker 2:Look at what that boy is doing at Monza. Let's all be guarded. They let people go does not mean that automatically. They should not have let them go.
Speaker 1:There's a reason why no, no, no, look, I monitor the growth of these players when you come to this, and this is where me and you always have problems.
Speaker 2:So in your mind Adli and Maldini and Pobega, and those guys should have all remained at Milan.
Speaker 1:I didn't mention. Pobega is not in the conversation.
Speaker 2:No, I just touched Pubega there.
Speaker 1:I can debate Kalulu's exit. I can debate.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but you and.
Speaker 1:I agree on Kalulu. I can debate Kalulu's exit. I can debate Adli's exit, because right now, with Adli leaving, we don't it's funny, they almost also let Benazir go. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, those are the two players we have left now that are good passers of the ball, apart from Rennes, tijan Rennes, that moved the ball up right.
Speaker 2:I think management should fire management. How about that? They should fire themselves.
Speaker 1:To me. I just kind, if you ask me. I'm not sure if it was the pressure that Cardinale eventually bowed to Lazic in that he made that decision with Puyol Because I expected him to actually see that. Ok, these players that I have, I don't think they're really really top level enough to achieve the objectives that I want. Like, how about we look for a different approach to the situation and not just throw everything out the window, like the three, four years of project that we've been working on, and see if I give him one more chance. If it doesn't work, then everybody just find a way. In between mid-season to the end of the season, you look for a very reliable coach. This team deserves a coach like Jurgen Klopp, for example. To be honest, Milan cannot afford.
Speaker 2:Kl cannot afford clubs. You haven't asked yourself why Fonseca is your coach? Because they are being cheap. Keep dreaming. Very soon now, your dream will go to Milan should hire a coach like Pioli, because Pioli is jobless. So yeah, pioli has turned down a couple of jobs also, you know, let's keep turning them down, like, if he's such a good coach, he will has turned down a couple of jobs also. You know, let's keep turning them down, like, if he's such a good coach, he will be coaching somewhere. Like I keep telling you he was a good coach for Milan, but then he wasn't the right coach. Again, like they just needed a change and the problem is the players are struggling with that change. Anyways, that from international break.
Speaker 1:I know, my only thing is just that we need to embrace this new chapter for all of us.
Speaker 2:Well, apparently, you, you're not embracing it. You, and Rafael Leao and Theo Hernandez and the other people longing for the former coach, you're not all embracing it and, to be honest with you, I understand change is hard, but at the same time too, you have to so think. You have to so think about it. What do you want the most? I'm sure you want Milan to what's it called, to succeed and do well.
Speaker 1:Of course, yeah.
Speaker 2:Sometimes, yes, and I can imagine it's the same thing too for Rafael Leal but sometimes I feel like, when people exhibit those attitudes or talk that way, it sounds as though, well, you're now wishing evil on the new coach, which, to be honest with you, doesn't indicate that you actually want to help for the team. Because, like if I was Zarafelea, I don't know why I would put my personal ego above that of the team.
Speaker 1:And you also know what I think, Chin. You see, I think Ibrahimovic needs to cool it down, which was Like he's too bossy. You know what I mean. The way they approached that. You know how Maldini is very close with these guys. Right, the way Maldini formed a very close relationship with those guys.
Speaker 2:But Ibra has been here since now. He's been there even Maldini time right. We credited Ibra with all the turnaround and helping the team win the Scudetto.
Speaker 1:The thing is, the way Ibrahimovic is approaching this is different. He's more of the bossy kind of guy where, like he just feel like okay, like you know, I expect you boys to know what to do right, and blah, blah blah, whereas, like Maldini, has sort of like relationship in terms of like.
Speaker 2:Can I? Ask you, won their first three games, Dave, if he won their first three games. Would you be making that assessment of Ibra, because Ibra has been around Milan for years. We've always known him to be like this. He's not a new thing, do you know?
Speaker 1:Do you know? He scolded those boys after the Pama game Because they were?
Speaker 2:deserving of scolding.
Speaker 1:I'm just saying that I don't feel like. I think he has to find a and find a way to, to, to put this team together in terms of you know um, discipline, in terms of you know, togetherness. He has a lot of work to do.
Speaker 2:That's how I feel maybe they should go and lock them up, you know how those days, they used to lock them up in one Retiro.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let them go and lock them up there, but anyways, yeah, anyways, guys, to our listeners on all the platforms, we want to say thank you again. We reached another milestone recently in terms of our downloads, so thank you so much for every support you've been giving us in terms of listening to our podcast and giving us your rating please, just so you know.
Speaker 2:I was actually actually. You know, you were a little bit reserved. I thought you were going to go all out to kill everybody kill for a second. But yes, um, you know, dave cares about you guys, the listeners, so remember that you should see him on whatsapp but anyways, definitely, look at the end of the day day, we all stand by Milan.
Speaker 1:Whatever we want, our desire, it's all about Milan, right Again, we cannot say, because of you know, our early, you know, start, which is not the best, could just throw everything away, like, whatever we're facing right now, we all find ourselves in it because that's what we want. We have to learn to deal with changes, like Chin said. So it is what it is, but anyways, thank you very much, guys, keep giving us your rating. I know we're looking forward to Milan coming back from the international break and again making changes against Venezia and again preparing for Inter. Then we're heading to the Champions League. I'm hoping this you know, hectic schedule coming up is not going to, you know, make things worse for us. I hope it's going to, you know be a challenge.
Speaker 2:Maybe they won't have that much time to think right and they just get it done. Let's just hope.
Speaker 1:Let them start with Venezia first, but Jane man, like we need to get to start winning, because I can't stand this anymore, like I can't, really I can't talk in some groups now because I feel like, except for Tid, the guy who goes, and sits down.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my new fans. They are my new fans on those groups. Of course, my fans of course, yeah, my fans just fans, take a screenshot of their positions as well and send Anyways. Do you have anything to add? No, nothing, just like you said. Thank you to the fans, thank you and Milan. Everybody's on international break, so we hope that when they come back, things will be much better for Milan and we'll be much happier. And then Dave can laugh genuine laughter instead of laughter of, you know, hatred oh man.
Speaker 1:Well, anyways, guys, it's been a pleasure talking about Milan again this week. Looking forward to, you know, a good week. 10th week chain, thank you.
Speaker 2:Dave, yeah, you know, a good week, thank you.
Speaker 1:Shane. Thank you, dave. Yeah, have a wonderful time.
Speaker 2:Okay, bye-bye.
