Live TMW
The first three games of the season have been horrors in terms of performances and results, but now the Milan wants to find the first victory by challenging the newly promoted Venezia of Eusebio Di Francesco at San Siro. Paulo Fonseca, AC Milan coach, will present the match in the usual pre-match press conference starting at 14:45.
Follow all the statements of Paulo Fonseca with live text on TMW.
2.15pm | The press conference begins now.
Tomorrow 70 thousand spectators at San Siro.
“After these first three games, having 70,000 spectators is a great declaration of love. It is also a great responsibility for us, to continue to evolve and make the fans proud of us. That is what we want to do tomorrow, repaying the support of our fans.”
Venice as important as Liverpool and Inter?
“They are all important, even more so at this moment. I am confident, as always. It is important to win tomorrow, then we will think about Liverpool”.
Theo and Leao case closed?
“Never open for me. I don’t know if they will be starters, we’ll see tomorrow. I saw two players like the others, with a good aura, cheerfulness in working, normal”.
Do you feel under scrutiny?
“We coaches are always like that, we depend on the results. But I’m just focused on my job. If we focus on what is said, it’s difficult to work. All of us.”
Reijnders is doing very well in a more attacking position…
“There is this possibility. I always try to put players in the role where their characteristics are favorable. We didn’t look much at Reijnders further forward because we didn’t have many moments with the team going forward, but always close to Fofana. I really liked his games with Holland.”
How did he get out of the difficult moments in his career?
“I don’t know if I have the key, but I continue with the same passion and the same confidence, trying to find solutions to the problems that the team has. The key is to focus on the work.”
At Roma he started defending with 3 because you were conceding too many goals… Or 4-3-3?
“I don’t think I’ll change the defense, I won’t change to 3. Speaking of the module: if we look at the big teams, the module is a start; then after that the dynamics are different. The system in the defensive phase is different from that of the offensive phase. The dynamics are more important than the initial module”.
Did you hear from Ibrahimovic on the phone?
“Yes”.
Do you know Sarri? He said that Loftus is a mezzala, as well as Boban who spoke about 4-3-3…
“Sarri for me is the best Italian coach. I always respect the opinions of others, especially if they are constructive like Sarri and Boban. They are opinions, but then I am the one who works with the players and we are different coaches. I have to follow what I believe, not what others believe”.
How does it compare to society?
“It’s hard for me to talk about this. We’re in touch every day: on the phone, here or at a dinner… We’re always in touch.”
The team concedes too many goals…
“We didn’t have many players during the break, but we had a lot of defenders. We worked on the behavior of the defensive line and on individual behavior.”
Venezia is a team that makes a lot of counterattacks…
“Milan must always win, not just tomorrow. Tomorrow it will be like this. I watched Venezia: it’s true that they are a dangerous team on the counterattack, but we had an evolution between Parma and Lazio. Against Parma we suffered, but against Lazio we improved a lot. The problem was defensive organization, we worked on it. We know Venezia’s strong point and we are prepared”.
TMW – Looking at the roster, Milan seems to be a team of counterattackers rather than passers…
“That’s a good question. We believe in our ideas. With the quality we have here, I can’t believe that the players only know how to play low defense and counterattacks. Big teams have the responsibility to be dominant. Obviously at the moment we are not as I want, it’s a big change to make. We have to improve on the many goals we conceded: a team that doesn’t want to concede must keep the ball more. We are working on it, the players are understanding the importance of having the ball and managing the game with the ball”.
Still aiming for the Scudetto?
“The goal of winning the Scudetto remains. We are not a sad team or without confidence… What I see every day is a team that believes in itself, that wants to improve, happy… That’s why I’m always confident. I can’t be here in any other way when I see the players like this. Then, there are the results. But I can’t be negative looking at the form and confidence of my players”.
Did you hear what Maignan said after France-Italy?
“I don’t know what Mike said… But he’s an important player here, a leader in the locker room and we need that leadership; they bring character and responsibility to the team.”
What kind of player is Silvano Vos?
“He trained with us this week, I had already seen him before and he confirmed that he is a quality player, who wants to have the ball, to have a great participation in offensive possession, like almost all Dutch players. Technically he is strong, he can play both as a midfielder and as an attacking midfielder. I really enjoyed this week with the First Team. He and Zeroli will always work with the First Team. He confirmed what we saw”.
Can international commitments have an impact?
“No, a lot of them have left. Their performance has been very very positive and I have to take advantage of the trust they take away from the national team.”
The press conference ends here.