Why Milan’s sacking of Paulo Fonseca is harsh and embarrassing | OneFootball

After Milan’s 1-1 draw against Roma in the Serie A yesterday, Rossoneri boss Paulo Fonseca had to confirm his own sacking on live television.

An hour before the game, reports in France suggested that Sergio Conceicao was lined up as the replacement and this led to reports in Italy stating that Fonseca’s position on the Rossoneri bench was in big doubt, regardless of whether they were going to beat Roma or not.

And Fonseca was asked about the potential sacking after the game and he confirmed that he will not be the club’s manager.

That is one of the most embarrassing things a manager can do. It is almost lower league level and stinks of Milan having big issues higher up in the club’s management. After all, this is not the first time that Fonseca has been left hanging by the club.

Every second week, there has been talk of his job being in trouble. A couple of months ago, there was also talk of how Zlatan Ibrahimovic would often not have a good relationship with the Portuguese and would have a sway over the dressing room that not even Fonseca would have. There was talk of how they had a bad relationship and the club advisor was dictating things.

Granted, Milan are eighth in the table. But they have gone from from Stefano Pioli to having a very positional manager in charge in Fonseca, who has tried hard to coach a set of players that either are not his or are not suited to his approach at all. The transfer window was poor and the backline was not fixed at all. Alvaro Morata and Tammy Abraham had arrived only after the club failed to land other targets. In fact, Fonseca himself arrived after the club’s fans had protested against Julen Lopetegui.

The right-wing area is a concern once again and the club lack alternatives in midfield beyond Youssouf Fofana and Tijjani Reijnders, with their key concern in the January transfer window being all three positions. That speaks volumes for a club that has let the manager down – on and off the pitch. Despite that, Milan’s underlying numbers are top four worthy.

As per FBRef, their xG is fourth in the Serie A and their xG Conceded is the fifth-best in the league. Considering the weaknesses of the squad, those are not bad numbers.

There is an insistence that incoming manager Sergio Conceicao is ruthless in his approach and he might well be. So was Fonseca with his treatment of Theo Hernandez and Rafael Leao, but both have been eased back into the side. Fonseca communicated his ideas very clearly and made his demands crystal clear. He takes no prisoners and every press conference and interview he gave was an expression of how he views the game.

There was flaws and problems, but so many of them were down to the team’s bad squad construction. Plus, sacking a manager is fine. Sacking him in 200 days is not fine and treating him the way Milan have is downright bad. It is a Milan problem and the issues higher-up could escalate soon.

Kaustubh Pandey I GIFN