QS: Bad starts, Musah, strikers and the defence – Conceicao culpable for Milan’s ‘crisis’ | OneFootball

AC Milan have once again found themselves in a very difficult place due to a failure to rack up wins, with just two victories in their last seven games.

Quotidiano Sportivo have published a piece titled: ‘Milan in crisis: Conceiçao and the challenge of reviving the team in Serie A’. They begin by recalling some of the comments made firstly by Paulo Fonseca and then by his compatriot, who replaced him in December.

The team made ‘incredible mistakes’ in the eyes of its coach. It has been described as ‘not a question of tactics and technique, but rather of head and mentality’, while there has been a ‘need to work on our attitude, on balance’.

From Fonseca to Conceiçao, the refrain is practically the same. In the meantime, points are dropped and the European places are very far away, even the Conference League let alone the Champions League zone.

The Rossoneri continue to make bad starts to games, and always coming from behind is almost impossible. Juventus and Inter in the Supercoppa Italiana saw deficits overhauled, as against Como, Parma and Lecce in the league, and yet now it is obvious that it is unsustainable.

Milan have let in eight goals in the first 10 minutes of games this season, something that hasn’t happened since 1949. Under Conceicao, the team have gone behind 13 times in 14 league games, and there were 18 substitutions at half-time.

The coach recently spoke of a glass half full and half empty yet final points projection is almost the worst of the last decade: 59. Only the team coached first by Sinisa Mihajlovic and then by Christian Brocchi were worse: they finished on 56.

Then there is the striker problem. Santiago Gimenez was the big winter investment and yet he has vanished from the scene in favour of the on-loan Tammy Abraham, who scored against Inter and Fiorentina to hit double figures for the season.

A surprise protagonist has even ended up ahead of the Mexican: Luka Jovic. He has been firmly on the sidelines for the last few months, but – after scoring against Napoli and Fiorentina – the Serbian seems to have gained Conceicao’s trust.

Speaking of which, the ex-Porto boss chose him to replace Yunus Musah midway through the first half against Fiorentina. The American, who had been a starter for almost three months in the league with the Portuguese, was taken off against Lazio before half-time too. Not a good sign.