Ordine questions ‘what Conceiçao has given’ to Milan: “Not always a good ally” | OneFootball

Journalist Franco Ordine has pointed the finger at the AC Milan squad but also at Sergio Conceicao after last night’s defeat to Dinamo Zagreb.

Disaster struck for Milan in Croatia as they were beaten 2-1 by Fabio Cannavaro’s Dinamo and surrendered a place in the top eight of the Champions League in the process.

An indication of how the night was going to go came when Matteo Gabbia slipped on the ball at the back, allowing Martin Baturina to stroll through and finish, then Yunus Musah got a red card not long after.

Christian Pulisic equalised in the second half, yet minutes later Marko Pjaca restored an advantage that would last. The result means that Milan dropped from sixth in the table before a ball was kicked to 13th, and now a potentially tricky play-off tie is on the cards in February.

Ordine published his weekly column for MilanNews and unfortunately for him it had to be a reflection on another disappointing night for the team in an already chaotic 2024-25 season.

“There are no excuses, no particular explanations, no alibis to show. What happened last night in Zagreb is the unfortunate manifesto of Milan this season that drags along error after error, from the choice of the first and second coach, correction after correction, and basic wrong choices after wrong choices (football transfer market),” he said.

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“How can you explain the blunder committed by Matteo Gabbia who messes up a harmless ball and gifts the first goal to harmless Dinamo? Only and only with a basic observation: because there is in him and in the rest of the team, especially in the first half, such pressure capable of crushing anyone and leading even a serious and attentive boy like Gabbia to such a clumsy and inexplicable error.

“How can you explain the other harakiri by Musah who commits two fouls, useless, in ten minutes earning the inevitable red and leaving his team with ten men thus condemning them to defeat? There is only one answer to the question: the nervous fragility of a group unprepared to face such a twist that reacts in a nervous and disorderly way from the first minutes (Pulisic’s protest was the first sign).

“Okay, then there is also the referee who denies the sacrosanct penalty to Leao but at that point the worst has already happened. And so Milan, incredibly pushed towards qualifying in the top 8 before starting, is relegated to the 13th and condemns itself to a probable Italian derby with Thiago Motta’s Juve that will take years of life from many fans.

“At this point we must ask ourselves with great realism what Sergio Conceiçao has given to this Milan in the few days available, with very few training sessions (about ten in total)? Judging from the facts lined up we must start from the series of comebacks after some disastrous incipits, and the Riyadh Supercoppa that cannot be forgotten but in terms of organised football and tactical balance almost nothing.

Photo by Jurij Kodrun/Getty Images

“With the surplus of nervousness, also transmitted by his attitudes, which is not always a good ally in healing a group of young players left without a leader. Now Milan is preparing a nightmare February with the Coppa Italia (Roma), then the game in hand against Bologna, then the two Champions League play-offs and in a few hours the derby from which he can emerge with definitively broken bones.

“I am curious to see how the club will react on the market because, net of the news about Gimenez – who withdrew from the Lille match due to injury – it will not be an insignificant detail. Either they will give proof of still believing in the work of his technical area (Ibrahimovic and Moncada) or if instead he will pull in his oars, he would have only one scenario ahead of him and that is the total loss of all the fans, giving credence to those who claim that the sporting part is of no interest.

“And here we see who has the mettle to lead a team like Milan and who is instead only an apprentice manager and owner.”