“My leadership is not to be seen on the outside, I’m not an actor. If we have any problem, I don’t give a shit about the player’s name. I talk to him. Frontally, directly, with the team or with the players.” The words of Paulo Fonseca to those who underlined what the criticism towards him thinks – that is, that he doesn’t have control of the locker room – they evidently seem to be those of a coach annoyed by what has been said over the last few weeks, from Fiorentina onwards. Also because after Inter we could have thought of a change of direction, but instead there was a defeat against Bayer Leverkusen 1-0, plus the one against the Viola 2-1.
As already happened with Lazio, the behavior of the players came under the magnifying glass. There Leao and Theo had ended up in the eye of the storm, guilty of a cooling break on the sidelines after the decision not to let them play from the first minute. A choice that had no explanation, probably the idea of giving a strong signal to the locker room. It was evidently a double-edged sword.
In Florence the problem arose from penalties. Pulisic should have kicked them, Theo Hernandez and Abraham did itwith the result of not changing the fate of the match, on the contrary. Now yet another outburst with the feeling that only the points – many, to be achieved in the next eight days – can push away the clouds that continue to thicken, week after week.