Fiorentina 2-1 AC Milan: Five things we learned – hangovers, headloss and mutiny

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·7 de octubre de 2024

Fiorentina 2-1 AC Milan: Five things we learned – hangovers, headloss and mutiny

AC Milan’s 2024-25 season took another backwards step on Sunday night as they were beaten 2-1 by Fiorentina at the Stadio Artemio Franchi in a dramatic game where there were three missed penalties.

Despite the disappointing results in Europe against Liverpool and Bayer Leverkusen, Milan managed to find some stability domestically as they sat on three wins in a row prior to the Fiorentina game, with one of those wins being against city rivals Inter.

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Given that positive league form it was no surprise that the Rossoneri were the favourites to win this clash against a stuttering Fiorentina side under Raffaele Palladini. However, they were 1-0 down at the break after Yacine Adli’s opener, and that came after Moise Kean had missed a spot kick.

Theo Hernandez had given away the penalty and things went from bad to worse when he missed one at the other end, then Tammy Abraham also saw his effort saved from 12 yards before Christian Pulisic volleyed in a brilliant equaliser.

However, the away side didn’t take advantage of the momentum and allowed Fiorentina to get back in front in the 73rd minute through Albert Gudmundsson, which ended up being the winner. Below are five things we learned from the game…

1. Mentality issues persist

Something that has been an issue for quite the while is the mentality of the squad and Fonseca does not seem to have an answer to fix it.

Against Inter we saw a proper reaction as everybody seemed to be committed to the cause, but then against Liverpool and Fiorentina, for example, we saw lack of desire and passion that is becoming all too normal for the squad and is certainly not the mentality a club like Milan should have.

In contrast we can only observe how Antonio Conte managed to turn the Napoli dressing room around and the team are flying now, admittedly without European commitments to balance. Fonseca might have limited time to sort this out.

It might be harsh to only pin it on the coach and it’s probably not just his fault, but what we see on the pitch and what we saw on both penalties (where the designated taker Pulisic did not take either of them) speaks volumes about the authority or lack thereof that Fonseca has in the dressing room.

The fact that we are back to discussing his future is also a red flag and it’s a delicate situation that has to be handled with a lot of thought by the management and if they were to actually sack the coach then a proper high profile replacement is needed for the project to progress.

2. Birthday hangover?

Given how Theo Hernandez played, Milan might have been better off without him against Fiorentina. The Frenchman conceded a penalty, then missed one to equalise, then slightly redeemed himself by providing the assist for Pulisic’s goal, but was lucky not to concede a second penalty towards.

He then managed to surpass himself again to provide the worst moment of the night in terms of a headloss as he got himself a red card after the final whistle for going after the referee Luca Pairetto, which probably means he’ll be out for a couple of games.

With Fonseca having no real replacement in the squad it makes it an even more baffling sending off to comprehend, and to top it all off he did it with the captain’s armband on, hardly setting a good example after the earlier penalty mutiny.

3. English duo supercharge the defeat

Whilst the performance wasn’t brilliant by any standards there were some players that really stood out in a bad way. One of them was Theo, who we already discussed, but then there’s Fikayo Tomori and Tammy Abraham.

The latter missed the second penalty of the game after barely touching the ball prior to that moment and the frustrating part is that videos have surfaced of how Tomori grabs the ball and gives it to Tammy to take the penalty when Pulisic – who was stood nearby – should have been on it.

The feeds into the mentality point, but that whole circus and then to miss the spot kick in a very delicate moment of the game is possibly worthy of being benched for a couple of games. Some would argue he showed confidence and initiative to take on the responsibility, but after usurping the hierarchy (again) you’d better score.

The cherry on top has to be the sloppiness that Tomori showcased on the second goal, completely caught off guard and misjudging De Gea’s long ball allowing Gudmundsson to go through and score the winner.

That topped of a game for Tomori where he was clumsy all around and made several mistakes. At this point Gabbia seems like the only defender worthy of starting every game and maybe we’ll see a Pavlovic-Gabbia partnership soon.

4. Questionable changes

We already highlighted Fonseca’s inability to control his dressing room, but his in-game decisions didn’t look much better either. He subbed off Leao and Pulisic when Milan needed a goal, with Pulisic being the best on the pitch for the Rossoneri and Leao also having a couple of positive moments.

One could argue that the Portuguese wasn’t having the best of games which is true, but he was involved in a couple of dangerous situations and seemed to be finding joy against a tiring defence, as showed by a 50-yard run through the middle that could have been an assist.

The winger is a player that can have that moment of brilliance and score or assist a goal, but on the other hand Noah Okafor has also proven to be crucial off the bench so it is not entirely unreasonable to bring him on, but could Morata or Abraham have made way?

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What is unreasonable is to bring on Samuel Chukwueze, who has produced nothing so far this season, in favour of your best player on the pitch. The American didn’t seem happy either on the sideline as he walked off the pitch asking why he was brought off.

Fonseca said after the game that it was because Pulisic had an adductor problem during the week and he didn’t want to risk him yet the former Chelsea man’s reaction suggested he was fine, so was that another example of a coach not understanding his players?

5. French backbone remains intact

Mike Maignan managed to save the penalty and keep the score level in the 22nd minute and followed that with a few goods saves, while he was largely not at fault for either of the goals that Fiorentina did score given the aforementioned defensive howlers.

He also distributed the ball well and is finding continuity between the sticks, so at least there’s one positive. It might be time for him to step up and be a leader in the dressing room too, though, as we’ve read about his mentality many a times and this squad is in a dire need of someone to uphold standards.

His compatriot Youssouf Fofana also had a decent game although nothing spectacular, compared to the Leverkusen game for example. He did shield the defence well and won most of his duels, though he is playing that role to facilitate Tijjani Reijnders, who is offering little in terms of end product.