Alasdair Mackenzie: High time Leao and Theo took responsibility in an AC Milan side lacking leadership
ROME: Paulo Fonseca has had a nightmare start at AC Milan, but his most experienced players aren’t exactly helping. After a series of eye-catching but misleading pre-season wins, the Rossoneri’s draw away to Lazio on Serie A Matchday 3 left them facing an ugly truth going into the international break.
Zero wins and two points from three games means Milan have got off to their worst start to a Serie A season for 13 years.
It’s little wonder, then, that questions are already being asked of the former AS Roma boss, but let’s be honest here – he could do with more support from his supposed leadership group.
Drama with Theo and Leao dominates Fonseca's opening weeks at AC Milan
A major talking point from the game in Rome was Fonseca’s decision to omit Rafael Leao and Theo Hernandez from his starting line-up – and then what happened once they did take to the pitch.
The coach insisted before the game that it was not a punishment and simply what was best for the team, but it appears that Milan’s two biggest stars didn’t agree. Theo and Leao were eventually brought on with Milan trailing 2-1 and the Portugal winger scored within a minute of their introduction.
But almost immediately after, both decided against joining the team for a cooling break, remaining on the far side of the pitch.
Leao and Hernandez avoided a fine for the incident as the club quickly looked to brush it under the carpet, with Leao insisting they didn’t take part for the innocent reason that they had just come on and didn’t need water.
But that’s not really the point, is it?
Firstly, Leao and Hernandez came on at the same time as Tammy Abraham and Yunus Musah, yet those two were willing to go and listen to their coach.
Secondly, the cooling break offered a valuable and timely chance for Fonseca to instruct his players going into the crucial closing stages of the game moments after equalising. They should hear what he has to say.
Thirdly, it doesn’t really matter if they didn’t need a drink. They must have realised the optics of their actions; the two of them alone, the snubbed superstars, standing apart from the rest of the team. If they genuinely didn’t, that’s concerning in itself.
Theo and Leao must become leaders at AC Milan
Most pertinently, Leao and Hernandez are exactly the kind of players who should be right in the middle of that touchline huddle, encouraging and motivating their teammates to go and seize that elusive first win of the season.
After all, they are by now two of Milan’s most senior players. This isn’t a Rossoneri side of old with a seasoned core leadership group spearheaded by a Paolo Maldini or Zlatan Ibrahimovic who can fire up the team.
Leao and Theo were the two longest-serving players to feature for Milan against Lazio. For both, this is their sixth season at the club.
In the entire squad, only captain Davide Calabria – also dropped – and Matteo Gabbia have been around for longer. Fikayo Tomori took the captain’s armband on Saturday because Calabria and his two vice-captains Leao and Hernandez were not on the pitch.
But that only cast more light on the fact that this Milan side is badly lacking in leadership. If Calabria isn’t playing well enough to get in the team and the next in line to lead the side can’t be bothered talking to their teammates at a crucial point of the match, where does that leave the Rossoneri going forward?
Perhaps Tomori can grow into the role. Perhaps Mike Maignan can step up as one of the more experienced figures in this squad, or Spain captain Alvaro Morata can inspire when he’s finally fit.
But the whole affair has put Milan’s lack of experience and leadership in the spotlight, and that has borne out on the pitch too, from the desperate late comeback against Torino to the loss in Parma and scraped draw in Rome.
Was the Hernandez and Leao cooling break incident blown out of proportion? Maybe. But the simple truth is that these should be the guys to guide the team out of a crisis, not deepen it.
It’s high time for Milan’s star duo to embrace that responsibility and lead by example – whether they are picked or not.