Live TMW
The fate of Paulo Fonseca is it already written? In the meantime, there is the derby that could – the conditional is a must – change the cards on the table. And the Portuguese coach intends to play them until the end. The Rossoneri coach, meanwhile, is present at the press conference to present tomorrow’s Inter-Milan, a match valid for the fifth day of the championship.
Follow Paulo Fonseca’s statements with live text on TMW.
14:04 | The conference begins now.
What feeling is there?
“There is great frustration, but awareness of being united to get out of this situation. The team understands the moment, we work to do better and the solution is to work”.
More complicated match?
“We will play against a very strong team, but it is important for us. I always like to see the positive, we have a lot to win tomorrow. We have to think positively, about what we can win if we play a good game”.
How much does his future depend on the derby?
“I don’t think about it, honestly. The most important thing is the team and the match against Inter, I focus on what I control, that is my work, preparing the match and the team.”
Did Ibra reiterate his confidence in you?
“I’ve always felt the company trusted me in my work, nothing has changed now. Ibra was here, but it’s normal: it was like the other times.”
His idea of football is not visible…
“There can be many reasons to explain it, but I don’t want to find excuses. I want to address what is happening with work. I can say that we have good moments, but we don’t have continuity. What I feel is that the team is growing every day. And we need continuity. Do we need time? Yes. Abraham arrived last, we had little time with the delays of the players. But I don’t want to have excuses.”
Is there anything you wouldn’t do again?
“No, I do what I believe in, I can’t do what I don’t believe in.”
Have you ever had a start to a season like this in your career?
“I’m not lying. I arrive here the day before the game… And I arrive with confidence. It’s one thing to see the players sad, not comforted. I would have liked you to have been able to see the team’s work week. I can’t arrive here and not say I’m confident, because these three days of work have been fantastic. The atmosphere in the team and the way we work give me this confidence.”
Same tactical attitude tomorrow?
“We have different strategies every game. We are facing a very strong team. There is one thing I don’t know how to do: give the ball to other teams. We want to play, we want to keep the ball, we want to dominate when we can, we want to defend well (and there has been progress), and we have prepared for tomorrow’s game with normality”.
Are you convinced that the company has given you an excellent team?
“I received what we had prepared. We are not already a very strong team, but we have the players to be.”
What is the version of tomorrow’s Milan?
“Against Lazio we defended well because we had the ball: that’s the reason. We were close, compact, but we had the ball.”
How to beat Inter tomorrow?
“Scoring more goals than Inter.”
How are you experiencing this situation?
“I believe in a way of winning, which is a way common to many great teams. In Italy, the value of the game is not so much the game, but the result. When they brought me here, it was because they wanted to change the game. When a team has the ball, there is a greater chance of winning. We must believe in this. I don’t think the best football is when we give the ball to the opponents”.
TMW – But keeping the ball is not enough: against Liverpool Pulisic said that you are not capable of keeping the ball in your half of the pitch…
“I want to have the ball to attack at the right time. Creating against Liverpool consistently is not easy for anyone. But there were four or five occasions in which we could have done better, if we had done more in the final pass. The times in which we got there we didn’t defend well. It’s a question of final decisions. Salah touched the ball the least times of all, but when he did touch it he hit the crossbar twice, he shot: it’s the decisions that make the difference.”
It is impossible that these rumours about his future have not reached Milanello for days now…
“Not to me. I’m 51 years old, if I hear what you say or write I can’t work. It’s not important to me, honestly. If you post something on Instagram and I comment: ‘I don’t like your goatee’. You don’t like my comment, you get angry with me. Many people say many things: if I listen to them, how can I trust my work? My wife got angry with me because I didn’t have my hair done. I replied: then you don’t take photos. For me these are not important things. For me what is important is what I feel here”.
Inter defended very well against City and then attacked well…
“It’s a good question to get me to speak well of Inter, but I don’t want to do it.”
Is there anything to learn from Liverpool?
“Liverpool are a great example of a team. They conceded after 3 minutes, but they haven’t changed their way of playing. They are still the same team, with the same confidence. I would like my players to have this same confidence.”
Inter has many leaders, does Milan have them?
“I don’t want to individualize. When you don’t win, there are excuses and this one about leaders is an excuse. We have leading players who do this role well.”
How to defend yourself tomorrow?
“We can’t separate the moments. We have to have the ball tomorrow, when we don’t have it we have to recover it immediately. We are not forced to defend low. In the first 20 minutes against Liverpool we had a short, compact team. There is a lot of talk about Leao not defending, but Leao was there defending. We have to play like that. Inter are a great team.”
Do you feel more like a lion or a kitten?
“Always a lion.”
Which central pair?
“I have faith in my players, I will choose based on the opponent.”
Why does he see a good Milan in training and then not on Sunday?
“I tell my players that we must always be the same, it doesn’t matter if we are winning or losing, we must be ourselves with our identity. When there is a change it takes time, but with confidence and work you arrive at moments of domination. We are growing to get to this.”
The conference ends here.