Davy & Chin Talk A.C Milan Weekly
Davy & Chin Talk A.C Milan Weekly
Exploring AC Milan's Struggles with Fonseca in Charge, His Tactical Choices, Man Management and Fans Frustration
What if AC Milan's recent managerial choices are steering them off course? We tackle this pressing question as we dissect the club's rollercoaster journey back to the pinnacle of Italian football and the subsequent challenges they've faced. From the controversial hiring of Paulo Fonseca to the nostalgia surrounding Pioli's tenure, this episode unpacks the critical decisions impacting Milan's league standings and fan frustrations. We scrutinize the effects of these choices on the club's morale, particularly as Milan celebrated its 125th anniversary.
Listeners will learn how AC Milan's performance metrics tell a different story than their league results suggest. We take an in-depth look at the tactical decisions that might be undermining their potential, focusing on strategic missteps in player selection that have left fans questioning Fonseca's vision. The absence of key players like Pulisic further complicates the club's efforts to maintain attacking momentum. Join us as we highlight individual performances, including Tijani Reijnders' promise, while critiquing the formation choices that disrupt Milan's attacking fluidity.
We explore the strategic and financial motivations behind these changes, assessing how they reflect Milan's broader goals. As the club navigates its evolving identity, we emphasize the importance of stability and foresight in reclaiming its competitive edge in Serie A.
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 Dave and Chin. Talk, milan, and we are back again, chin. What's up, bro?
Speaker 2:How you doing man, I'm good, dave, I'm good Chin. What's up, bro? How you doing? Man, I'm good, dave, I'm good See. See how happy you are, although Milan won. If we had lost, I would have understood why you're so happy, but anyways, how are you?
Speaker 1:In all honesty, still not convincing, and I think the games are there for everybody to see. Honestly speaking, if I have a place to go and celebrate Christmas, I don't think it's going to be Milan, because I don't want to see that guy's face. Man, let's just be real for a second.
Speaker 2:You're asking me, yeah, but of course, yeah, you're taking your anger out on the wrong guy. But it's okay, the guy is trying his best, man his best is not good enough, but he's trying his. Then he was hired and he's doing exactly what he promised he was going to do, which is to give you what the performances he's giving milan like you have to ask yourself where, where would you have gotten any exceptional performance from fonseca to believe that he had that in him like think about it, this is.
Speaker 1:This is what I'm not understanding from you people, to be honest, because you cannot tell me that.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, people like you.
Speaker 1:For example, you scrapped a project of five years that we've been working on, and then you brought in a new coach because you feel like, yeah, what the previous could give you is not good enough. Well, the new coach is not even doing better. So I'm just saying like, hello, hello, what are we discussing here? There's no discussion here, to be honest.
Speaker 2:So when you say you people, you have to be very specific. Mediocre management Now I was in support of purely living Again. He should have left a while back, but then they let him stay one more year and again the results were what they were. But I did not also tell them to go and hire a mediocre coach, just like they had the mediocre coach before. But I keep saying it Until Milan hires a good coach, we're still going to have all these problems, dave. So I don't know what your frustration is. I know for me, if you ask me, your frustration as a fan is warranted, but it is really misplaced because you need to place it on the right place, which is the management of the team, not the guy that basically got paid. I'm sure they paid Fonseca less than they paid Pioli. They actually paid him more. Oh, they paid him more. Yeah, they're getting what they paid for now, like Milan couldn't couldn't, this Milan team cannot get there.
Speaker 1:To be honest, anyways, guys, welcome back again to, because there's been this sort of you know back and forth in our group as well, regarding this whole Milan situation where we are. We're still languishing in eighth position in Christmas period. Don't forget that when um purely go ahead in 2019 or so, we were like 10th, so we're not far away from that position as I'm talking to you right now. So I think there's every reason to feel this way. But, by the way, we're doing this podcast after Verona win, which was a very, very scrappy game.
Speaker 2:Anyways, to even start with, but Verona is always like that, though you can't just blame this one for a second Every time Milan plays Verona. It's the same way, right? It's the same thing Even under Puyol.
Speaker 1:Well, the reality of the matter is, I think, the manner of this game, the manner in which this game actually unfolds, is what really baffles me tremendously, to be honest, because this is not just about oh okay, it's normal, we struggled against Verona, yes, but at the end of the day, like we need to look at, take a deep look, we need to pick these games apart and see why we actually struggled in this particular game, because this is not the team that we had last year. So let's get that clear this is not the team that we had last year. Anyways, beating up to this game on our 125th birthday, which was a special day for all the Milan fans Fonseca is a party pooper, to be honest Like he literally just he spoiled that day trying to discipline players. I'm like, on the 125th birthday of Milan, this is a special day. And again, what happened? He decided to punish some players and put Such as who and who, pinky and Landers Probably like probably like Fika Tomori is part of them as well.
Speaker 2:Tomori has always been punished most of the season. He said he was resting him because he needed rest.
Speaker 1:Today he's still resting him we'll come to that conversation very shortly. To be honest, we'll start picking this to my part because I have a question for you, shane.
Speaker 1:I have a question for you go ahead the thing is, you know, like I just feel like that guy and this is my problem here when you hire someone that doesn't really, you know, align themselves with the culture of the team, and you know, the passion that a coach like Piuli has for Milan is completely different from what Fonseca has for Milan, like I don't think we do understand the weight of this special day right, and I feel like, you know, picking a day like this to come and be punishing some players and costing us, you know, three points in front of legends. I'm talking about legends, of the legends of this game that have walked in the field of San Siro and played for Milan, won trophies Like you, disappointed them and putting you know academy players. To me, I just feel like this is not warranted. We had this same period last season when we played Monza, when we celebrated our 124th birthday. We literally used Monza as a sacrificial lamb, and that's what we expected from Fonseca when we played Genoa, and he didn't. In all fairness, even the game before that, which is a Red Star game, I could tell you there's a million things that happened in that game as well.
Speaker 1:To me, I just feel like this guy is not really getting the gist here. I'm not even sure if he knows that he's under pressure, because every time he comes to the press he's always throwing one player or the other under the bus, so to me I don't feel like he's good enough to take this team forward. There might be some element of you know, there's some glimpses of you know, improvement in terms of you know, one, maybe one, one or two things, for example, like in big games, like in the big games that really showed up sometimes. You know what I mean, but overall, like, I think it's been a, it's been a, it's not been a good season for, for second so far. Like, what's your thought, though? Like, how do you feel about the whole current situation with Fonseca and this team as a whole?
Speaker 2:You said he doesn't. He's not acting like a guy that is under pressure. I beg to disagree, because I think a guy under pressure, a guy that isn't under pressure, will go about his business in a different way, meaning he wouldn't. Okay, fonseca is being desperate is what I'm trying to get Like against Carlos Moreno. He's playing a lot of defensive players. He's just making weird substitutions. He's playing guys out of position just to see if he can get the result right. There's no more logic, or there's never been. Anyways, there's no logic to what he's trying to accomplish, which tells me that he's tossed out all his footballing philosophy out the window just to get results. So that's a guy under pressure, a guy that doesn't feel like he's under pressure or doesn't realize it, will continue to be stubborn and do whatever he needs to do. Now, the stubbornness part that is making you say that is him benching underperforming players. But he also came out a few weeks ago and said how a lot of the players have been ill-disciplined from the you know, purely error, and for him he feels like he's adjusting those players in terms of their morale, expectations and work rate and honestly, he did that with Rafael Leal, you remember, and Leal since then has been good, until you know, he got hurt, just this past game. But the point I'm trying to make is some Milan players feel like they are bigger than the coach. Right, because somebody made them, empowered them enough to feel like they are bigger than the coach. Now, fonseca, on the other hand, you know, without any resume to back himself up, now he's taking on these big fights. I actually applaud him for that. I applaud him for that because, honestly, the other option he has is to cave in to the players' request, which basically makes him lose face. Either way, he's going to be fired, because you keep talking about guys like Tomori and Theo, but those guys are playing games and Milan has lost those games this season. They haven't been well.
Speaker 2:You yourself, you've been one of the people that have mentioned that Teo has been out of form. He's been out of form since the summer because after the Euros, he came back. I think he thought he was going to get a transfer, if you ask me, but it didn't happen, and then he hasn't been himself. Am I wrong, dave? I don't quite agree, but go ahead, okay? Well, because basically Teo is playing for a new contract. He's acting out, if you ask me Now, on the flip side, tomori, on the other hand, hasn't adjusted and realized that what they need from him now isn't what they needed from him when he joined his team and purely was a coach. Right, his aggressiveness, he and Pavlovic, they are too aggressive and it costs Milan a lot. Now, if you notice, you can complain all you want. I thought when you wanted to talk about improvements, you were going to talk about the defensive improvement Milan actually has. They've not been that bad defensively, am I wrong? Like, if you look at the numbers, like we, don't create.
Speaker 1:Talking about this defensive, you know changes or improvement that you're talking about, right. I'll commend you on some things, right. First of all, I've seen the players like Malik, chia, right and Gabia. Like they've been putting extra work. Like you know, they've been putting a lot of work. If you want to talk about form and hard work, maybe you might probably give those guys a little bit of edge, because they're hungry. They just want to go back in the first level, right. So I understand that level, but when you look at the qualities of these players, these guys are not quick enough. They're not quick enough, yeah but what value does?
Speaker 1:it add when they are quick. It's affecting us, though. It is affecting us because this is how we play. You notice, most of the time we're not playing aggressive, attacking football like we used to. We're high-press and you see Giroud going after the centre-backs and forcing them to, like, you know, put the ball to the side or maybe, like, make some sort of long balls and stuff which give us the opportunity, because again, we have aggressive defenders right that can easily just go for all these loose balls and just regain possession. Now we're not playing like that, like we used to. Like this is affecting our game, like you know honestly, to me personally, now you might be punished.
Speaker 1:You might think, oh yeah, maybe Tomori is. Tomori and Pavlovich are pretty much the same kind of like player because again, they're very aggressive and different and they high press and they have, but they also have this ability to track back. And you know, honestly, like I feel like the old Milan, the Milan that we usually know before, is the Milan that plays with this sort of style of high, high press, high, high intensity style. Right, and we have like a very strong like again. If Benassi is there, benassi will probably sit in front of these guys, as much as you want to agree or you want to say, yes, centre-backs has been solid Thiel and and Gabia but in all honesty, are we really getting the best out of this team as a whole, or how is this affecting us?
Speaker 2:How are you measuring this thing? Forget watchability, because I can tell you that Milan are not that entertaining to watch, right? I can tell you that if you're a Milan fan, milan this isn't. That's what I'm saying now. But again, I keep telling you that towards the end of Pioli's time I saw the same Milan. But that's beside the point. Let's go back.
Speaker 2:But when you look at all the metrics and all the numbers, it looks like Milan actually is not that. They are not that bad. Like. They are top five in almost all defensive metrics this year so far. They are top five in most of the attacking metrics, including expected goals and so on. So the team is actually, weirdly enough, creating chances. Are they high-quality chances that we expect? No, a lot of them get missed because of whatever reason. But do I think Milan has been entertaining? Absolutely not. But what I'm trying to tell you is that you and I can sit here, we can talk about Milan and all the issues. You see all day, the results are what they are. We've dropped a lot of points. But you see all day, the results are what they are. We've dropped a lot of points.
Speaker 2:But on the lane metrics it says that Milan is actually doing okay, right, we're doing good defensively, we are creating chances to score, and so on and so forth, but those things are not. They are not converting into actual points on the table, and that's what it is Now. Football is a team where is a game, where you know, but football is a game where it's made of moments, and those moments are what converts. Like Lukaku can just wake up and decide to win a game for you, even though maybe Napoli doesn't play well. Those are the moments. Now we're not getting those moments in quotes from the players, and that's what I actually assume.
Speaker 2:So, regardless, you can have all the best numbers and everything beneath All the metrics look good, but if you don't have your players feeling confident enough to do crazy things for you, right, and have those moments, then you're going to drop points right. So, even times where the only guy that I can tell you right now is having his moments is, uh, tijani randas, right, police each had his moment earlier in the year. But at this level of football, you do need players to step up and that's why, to your point, if he's having issues with the top players in the squad, then they are going to not likely step up, if you ask me right. More often than not they're not going to step up in those big games because they're not feeling their best self. But overall, like again, you keep bringing up Tomori Tomori's on the bench for a reason because he actually causes Milan to give up a lot of high danger scoring chances.
Speaker 2:Leo mentioned that. It's very obvious. You can see it. I remember talking about Pavlovic chasing back all the time, but those things you barely ever see, those things with Gabi and what's his name? Malik Thiel. You should be happy about that. When you talk about positives, that's a positive.
Speaker 1:I agree with you on that one, like. I agree with you on that one like. Yeah, you're right. Like being for him to be able to bring in Malik Chia and Gabia to the picture, right, I think he really did a good job. But you're not honest again, like. Is this costing us? This is my question for you, chin, like. So how is it costing you? Tell me, chin, gabia doesn't have the pace. Chia to do what, though? To pace to do what? When it comes to playing higher up the pitch, when Milan plays under Pioli, like the level that we used to, you know?
Speaker 2:press. Yeah, but this is not Pioli, though I keep telling you. I don't know why you keep talking about Pioli.
Speaker 1:The coach is trying to tell you that this is the same team. This is the same team.
Speaker 2:This is the same team. He's changing up what he wants from the players.
Speaker 1:So why are you comparing them to the junior era? What do you think Fonseca wants?
Speaker 2:Well, what I'm telling you is, whatever you see today might actually be what the coach wants from the players, because he and I cannot tell you what Fonseca wants, so you keep talking about when they used to be high-priced. He started the season with Tomori and Pavlovic and then now he's settled in with Malik Teo. If it's Malik Teo, if you ask tomorrow who's going to start for Milan, it's going to be Gabi and Malik Teo. So the point is he doesn't want that high-risk, high-reward that tomorrow offers. Neither does he want it from Pavlovic. So he's decided that it's going to be Teo and Gabi, who don't actually both of them cannot push forward because they can't recover, they don't have the speed.
Speaker 2:Okay, so what does that do for you? Well, it takes away some of your attacking edge that you get from your your what's it called to create on the left flank right, as much as he was in previous seasons. Okay, so a lot of little elements have been taken away from Milan's attacking play, and you can see that, because tomorrow he can push up and then join the attack and then maybe he has the ability to recover. But, based on how Milan has been playing this season, the coach doesn't want that. So the coach has to then figure out a new way to create while losing that ability that he gets from his fullback as well as his center back right, and that's why he hasn't figured that out yet.
Speaker 2:So that, to me, is the biggest issue, because Milan doesn't look that fluid. We look disjointed most of the time, especially since, to be honest, it's been worse since Pulisic went off, but that's exactly what Milan looks like. So until he figures that out, let's just celebrate the fact that he's figured out defending, because we don't give up that miniature. I watched the Hellas-Varona game and I was like, oh, gone are those days where you know like you remember when I was telling you earlier in the season that it's you know, milan will go forward and then they will come back against us and we'll go against them and it's just open-ended, right. I don't know if you remember those games. Those are not the games Milan play now. It's a little bit more controlled defensively, but they're not creating chances.
Speaker 1:This is my question for you how? How do you think Fonseca has done a better job regarding this player's improvement this season? Basically, we're talking about individual improvement, right? The player's development, basically. If you look at last season, for example, when players like Ruben Loftus-Chi came in the picture, players like Okafor, for example, to me, if I want to give you a summary of the average players that came to Milan, if I want to give you a summary of, you know, the average players that came to Milan, right, it took them an average of two years for them to actually get better, like to get to Milan playing level. If you look at players like Isma Benazer, players like Tonali, you know. So, to me, this season is supposed to be a breakout season for a couple of players in that team and, to be honest, they've been horrible. Look, I look at Okafor, for example. I try to understand what's up with Okafor. This is not the Okafor that I knew last season.
Speaker 2:So Okafor was Okafor last season, and then Euros came and the Switzerland national team coach decided that Austria or Switzerland, one of the whatever countries from that, he wasn't going to play him. Not a single minute, right, not a single minute in the Euros. And why? Because he said well, purely, when he was at Milan, they couldn't figure out which position he wanted to play, and so on and so forth. Right Now, okafor, this season, hasn't. Yes, this is great. What I'm trying to tell you is that you're basically trying to carry in your mind this is year two of Okafo and Chukwuize, and so on and so forth. Therefore, they should take that next level step, but that's assuming that they are still under Pioli. To me, this is zero, level zero for everybody, if you ask me. Because they are all learning the new coach, learning his new language and how he approaches things Now. Because they are all learning the new coach learning his new language and how he approaches things Now, you will not call out Wait, how?
Speaker 1:So you mean Okafor? Has Okafor switched wings? Or Chukwuzi switched wings, since they've been at Milan?
Speaker 2:Okay, but what are you saying, bro? So what I'm trying to tell you is that if this was still Pioli, then we'll be making like there's continuity, right, you can, right, you can make that judgment and say this is year 2 under Pioli. That's been the trend. It's not year 2 at Milan, it's year 2 under the same coach, right, chukwezi right, okay, put Okafor.
Speaker 1:Okafor doesn't play on a regular. Even when he comes in, he doesn't switch wings. He's been playing as either he's either replacing Rafael Leal or play as a right winger. You will never see Fonseca ask Okaf to go and play as an attacking midfielder, right? This same thing applies to Chukwueze. Chukwueze has to be playing as a right winger Under Pioli, under Fonseca. Same style of play, same requirement from Chukwueze. Sorry, how do you know?
Speaker 2:that you Sorry. How do you know that, though, you and I sat here and the coach was telling you that Rafael needed to sit on the bench because he wasn't listening to him, and then now you're saying that the coach is giving the same instruction to all the other players?
Speaker 1:That's not true. Not all the players, no, but you're saying because, they are physically the requirement. They asked you to quiz you right. It's basically for him to play as a right winger, which is basically dropping.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but then they were asking Rafaela to stay as left winger and then benched him because he wasn't doing what they needed him to do. So the point is the requirement.
Speaker 1:So you mean Moussa. Moussa is the better winger than Tukeze.
Speaker 2:I never said that. All I'm trying to tell you is that. So, for instance, now you're talking about Moussa. When Moussa was under Pioli, he didn't play right. He didn't play right wing until this guy now brought him in there to do some job for him. So what I'm trying to say is, because a player plays the same position under these different coaches does not necessarily mean that their instructions are exactly the same. From the coach. For instance, rafael Leal, who was playing under Pioli, never had a problem. And then Fonse second comes and says well, fayal needs to get in the box more, he needs to do more tracking back and he needs to price more. Well, those are different needs from the other coach, right.
Speaker 2:So when you try to compare improvements, I'm saying compare it on the on one coach, otherwise you just have to assume that everybody's starting from ground zero when everybody, a new coach comes in. That's my assumption all the time. Right, it's, we are all starting from ground zero. We have to prove our point and learn the new system. Now, if it's the same coach, the same philosophy that they bring in and it's almost similar stuff, then it's easy transition. But in this case the guy is literally telling you that whatever you guys are doing last year, he thinks it's ill-disciplined and he doesn't want it. So, as a result, he's now asking for changes. So you can then judge Okafor and all those guys and say, well, how are they not improving after year two?
Speaker 2:Meanwhile, on the other hand, too, let's also call out some people that have actually done well, since, like Tijani, renda is having a great year statistically. We're going to talk about the positives. Okay, no, I was going to say, because to me, yeah, now you want to start with negative it if it's purely with a slightly positive, to me again, everybody on the in milan right now is going through a transition and, honestly speaking, it is very, it is very young in this season. It doesn't look like we know where we're headed, but I don't think this management is going to fire the coach because they are very cheap and they don't want to be paying two coaches at the same time, right, so I think they might.
Speaker 2:Actually, did they not get purely off their books because they went to Saudi Arabia? They did, right, they must have? Yeah, so they don't want to have to pay this Fonseca and then pay the new coach, whatever they need to pay them. So that's part of the argument you have to make here. And for them, fonseca isn't that far off, whatever goals they set for him. Milan didn't come into this season. Now I realize in hindsight they didn't come in thinking to come and win the league, because you know why I say so. If they had thought that, maybe they might have actually hired a guy like, let's say, pardon me, maybe the allegories of this world or the context of this world that I've demonstrated in the past they can actually win in Serie A, right? Not Fonseca, who they chased out from Roma and they chased out from the league and all of a sudden they brought him back, right?
Speaker 1:This is it here. We've all known the Milan model for a while, which is basically looking for young talent with good potential, right, and try to either develop them, work on them to make them better and develop them to that level that they want them to be at, and they either also go for players which are them to be at and they either also go for, like players which you know are supposed to be at the peak of their career and really struggling to, you know, maybe with one or two issues or whatever right, and then they work on them and we develop them again and, you know, bring them back to the spotlight and stuff like that. Players like police, for example. You know the hype on police each. You know when he left dutchman to chelsea, example. You know the hype on Pulisic. You know when he left Dortmund to Chelsea, and again, you know how the team died down. Then he's able to reignite his career again and again the same thing happens to which is so funny Ruben Loftus-Cheek, because you and I were here talking about Ruben Loftus-Cheek last season and you were telling me that, oh, like he's a Chelsea player, anything done on him. Look at Love Tushy, for example. The guy lost his confidence completely. Same thing with Okafor, same thing with Chukwuize All these guys. They lack that consistency.
Speaker 1:And now, honestly, this is what Piola has been battling all through. It's like three to four years at Milan, yeah, and again now. You guys are now quoting this guy as slack. You have two top strikers at your disposal. You have one of the, if not one of the best you know CDM in your team this season, which is Tijani, rendes and Fofana. Right, this team is a very good team. This team should not be at eighth position on the league team period.
Speaker 1:There's no two ways to discuss this. Fonseca is a big problem to this team and until he leaves, he's going to keep damaging this team. Don't forget, we have Jovic. Jovic is still there, as of what I heard. I heard that Jovic is actually in Turkey. He's no longer with the team anymore. Let's just talk about the rest of it, like how realistic is top four for Milan or winning the league for Milan and this season, the way things are going? In all honesty, if you look at the numbers, right, we're not far away. I think we're like 12 points. But again, the question is, how realistic is it for us this season to actually, you know, win the league or maybe finish top four.
Speaker 2:I think top four winning the league is that one is no longer a discussion Top four because basically, yeah, that's not the discussion. Top four is realistic, but they have to go on a hot run. I don't know, I don't think Fonseca is that guy that would take them on that run, right? So that's what it is. I think you know. One of the things that you also have to factor in is that you know, just like how man City is struggling and they are losing a lot.
Speaker 2:Everyone now thinks they can beat man City. They've lost a little bit of their lost style of fear factor. Same with Milan. So they go into any stadium. Everyone believes they have a chance, because there's nothing there that tells anybody that. Oh yeah, this Milan is not to be gutted, right? And you know, the difference is that Milan are building towards something. Man City looks like it's been destroyed. Now I know you say, well, it was built, it's not built. You know why I say it wasn't built? Because your so-called PO leader you keep talking about as though somehow he cured cancer the last two seasons of his whatever he had a combined. He finished his season combined 20 points on average behind the eventual league winner. So forget the fact that this year, everybody else has stepped up and they're now being competitive and holding each other more accountable Milan technically, milan technically. If they finish now, they will probably still be a little bit better off in terms of finishing off the top, even though they finished 8th, but now everyone else is a little better. That's what happens in the league.
Speaker 1:The tennis. The tennis Is it. Is Fonseca going to get us in the Champions League or not, With the way things are, Well, that's what I'm telling you.
Speaker 2:At this current rate, no, we won't get in there, but it doesn't mean that, based on your whatever, oh, this team is now all of a sudden this one. The players are very good, this, that, that but that's true. I've told you before. Nothing has changed for me. Milan had a mediocre coach. They still have no more mediocre coach. If you ask me, like, fonseca is the worst version of Pioli, doesn't? It doesn't change anything about Pioli, but somehow Something in you tells you that you have to go back and grab Pioli and bring back.
Speaker 1:No, I don't want him to come back. I don't want Pioli to come back. All I want the management to do Is to do what, dave, the management needs to replace Fonseca. They need to find a coach that has the Italian League sort of identity or how to play in the Italian League.
Speaker 2:Okay, I was going to say I agree with you.
Speaker 1:Again, we also need to understand that it's not just about, you know, bringing up like foreign players to the Italian League and trying to like, make them play like you know you know. As to Italian league and trying to like, make them play like you know, you know Italian style or whatever. Like these guys, they have to look like. Look at how Chukwud is struggling. Even Pioli said it before he left. He said the style of you know playing Spanish is completely different from Italian league, which is more is why Chukwud was struggling in his. We need a coach that understands the Italian League more than Fonseca. Just because Fonseca has coached Roma doesn't necessarily mean that he's up to level to coach Milan. We want to be up there. We're not the team of fifth place. We're not the team of Europa League or Conference League. That's not who we are.
Speaker 2:So you finished fifth. Let me just tell you you finished fifth. Was it this year? Last year, yeah, Milan finished fifth. You took Juventus getting. Yeah, wasn't it 2020? Last season or the season before last, Milan finished fifth it was the season before.
Speaker 1:And, shane, please, you guys have to get off that horse, please, because every time we're talking about this, you keep referencing to three seasons ago, like Juventus didn't deserve to get deducted points. I don't understand. They deserve to get deducted points, though, like you guys keep saying yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm just telling you. But when someone listening now think oh my god, every year Milan is like competing for a league with whatever. Last year we finished 19 points behind Inter.
Speaker 1:Milan and how many teams? Okay, the team that finished Below Milan, how many points Were they off Of Inter?
Speaker 2:They were like Again 22, 23 points.
Speaker 1:Behind Inter.
Speaker 2:And then wait. Now and then the year before, milan finished 20 points Behind Napoli, that won the league and again In theory Finished 5th, and how many points?
Speaker 1:How many points Were Inter off Napoli? How many points? 16? So, All I'm trying. How many points will enter?
Speaker 2:off Napoli? How many points? 16. So all I'm trying to tell you is that you're always very easy to misremember. Right Now, let's go back to your point. I totally agree with you that Fonseca is not a good coach and Milan should probably be considering a new coach, but it won't happen. So right now to your point. Let's celebrate some of the wins and success.
Speaker 2:Milan have been keeping clean sheets. They have not been that porous, you know. Tj Hernandez is finally realizing his potential and I also believe that Fofana, in terms of his attacking contribution, has taken a leap forward. Right, it's just that everybody else also kind of step up. Like, as far as those two midfielders are concerned, they are the only thing that are holding Milan together, if you ask me, in terms of attacking creativity the both of them.
Speaker 2:The rest of the other players, I feel like they are a little bit all over the place, and part of it is there's no continuity. One minute, moussa is the right wing, the next minute is Chukwu, the next minute is a cup of water, terraciano. Like nobody knows who's going to be there, right, and that's one of the issues with Fonseca is that I don't know if he's experimenting or the fact that he's getting scared that he's going to lose his job, so he's going to toss anything in the fire and see whatever will light up for him. Right, and that's more or less my biggest concern. But aside from that, I'm enjoying watching Reinders you, you know, at his confidence level definitely he and Fofanas talking about Reinders and Fofana.
Speaker 1:To be honest, if I'm supposed to give trophy for the best, for Milan, best player this year, I think it's going to be between Tijani Reinders and Christian Pulisic, and if you, if I'm to, if I'm to, you know, we're based on the overall contribution, right. Right, I think it's so hard to choose man, to be honest, but I'll stick with Pulisic, though, because of, again, his consistency from last season. Right, because I realised there are some games that Tijan Reyners was actually struggling, in some games last season where Pulisic kind of stepped up and stuff. Right, what's your thoughts on that?
Speaker 2:I agree with you. I think so far, up until his injury, christian Pulicic has been Milan's best player, but Reinhardt, to me, is just another level in terms of confidence and what he can do, and he's working well for Fana. The other thing I wanted to say is I was surprised Is Benacer injured again?
Speaker 1:No, no, he's back now. He's back with the team now. He's now training for the team, which brings this question right With Benassi. Back now, Chin, how would you, if you were to line up this midfield, how would you do it?
Speaker 2:Like I said, I would try to figure out a way to put Benassi and then Fofana and Langer ahead, and then the rest, the attacking players. I can just do three of them right, but again it's this guy. What's his name? Fonseca, before I know it. Now Mike Mian is playing right wing. So you know, is Rafael's injury serious?
Speaker 1:With the MRI scan that came today, he's not playing against Roma on Saturday, right? So again that's a big game coming up again Because Roma now I think they begin to find a phone back right Under Claudio Ranieri, and this is going to be again a big game for Milan. What are you expecting from this game, shane?
Speaker 2:I don't know, To be honest, these big games, when it comes to Milan, does well in the big games, but at the same time, they are not like it's because they are so far off the top of the table, right, it just feels like it's not that big of a game. If you're close enough, like you know what I mean. If you're, like you know, in the top four, you're playing these games, it feels very important. It's just well, what's the difference between a land dropping point and not dropping point? If they get the point, it won't change anything. They'll still be like 12 points behind with 7 eyes on top. So it just takes away some of the you know, sense of importance of the game right Now.
Speaker 2:As far as building towards something is concerned, I think this is a good game to gauge how much defensive solidity they have, and I look forward to watching the game because it's a holiday period and hopefully they don't ruin that holiday weekend for me. But that aside, I just think, yeah, the game doesn't have that much weight. So, regardless of the outcome, it wouldn't change much for Milan in terms of their cause. It would just basically reconfirm whatever we've talked about, which is that for me they are not top four.
Speaker 1:And just to clarify, it's actually 14 points because we are 26 and Atlanta is 40. But we have a game in hand against Bologna, right?
Speaker 2:So, but yeah, it doesn't change anything. I think the league is almost totally gone for Milan. Now they just have to start building towards. They just need to be consistent. For me, there's still a lot of games to play, right, 22 games or so right. So in those 22 games you have to start showing some sort of improvement and hope that some of these players like you mentioned they are actually taking significant steps forward. Otherwise, you have to clean house by summer and buy some players that you need If you were to ask me.
Speaker 1:no disrespect to Atlanta and Gasperini, right, and their fans, but I just kind of feel like there's this period in the season where Atlanta usually go through this struggle right and they drop points heavily. And if you look at the way the league is shaping up, if we're able to put a very good run of form of good games together right and win, I feel like we can still catch up with them.
Speaker 2:Milan can't do that. That's the problem. These guys have won 11 straight games. Lukman is the best player right now, like in Africa. He's doing an amazing job. He's the best player in the league right Now, even if Milan were to say they catch fire. But you still need Napoli and Inter Milan to not also be on form and those two teams are actually on form as well. Right, like, there's too many people ahead of Milan that are doing quite all right. Lazio is good. All of a sudden, you can't just overlook all those guys, right. So to me, let's forget the league.
Speaker 1:Let's just build towards something, show progress have, have fun, enjoy the games, because the games are not enjoyable, if you ask me. So that's the part that he needs to work on getting these guys motivated and inspired to play football.
Speaker 2:Anyways, chin, it's been a pleasure talking to you about milan, yeah and uh, keep writing keep writing, maybe one day cardinale will listen to you and fire for a second, so you and I can celebrate as well anyways, hopefully you can do one more episode before the end of the year, after the rumor game.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much, guys. It's been a pleasure talking about Milan. Thank you, chin.
Speaker 2:Happy holidays everyone.
Speaker 1:You too Happy holidays.
Speaker 2:And for Zambia. Take care, dave, okay, bye-bye.
