Calciomercato.com write that the defeat against Napoli ‘has the flavour of a surrender by Milan’. Bologna are the team that are currently in fourth place and they are nine points away, yet the most worrying thing is that the Rossoneri are languishing down in ninth place.
Milan are thus currently divided between aiming for the Conference League and the hope of winning the Coppa Italia to at least secure a pass for the Europa League. This Milan, however, starts as a clear underdog against an Inter launched towards the 21st Scudetto in its history.
With eight games to go, the excuses have run out and all the components, from the highest to the lowest point of the pyramid, must assume their responsibilities. Conceicao actually tried to cling to some of these at the end of Napoli-Milan.
In his post-match comments he spoke about the absence of Ruben Loftus-Cheek and the more minor problems of Malick Thiaw and Rafael Leao. The English midfielder, in reality, has never really been available even under Paulo Fonseca, constantly struggling with muscular problems.
Thiaw ended up in the middle of the inconceivable and crazy carousal of centre-back pairings, while Leao has started on the bench on average one game in every three since Conceicao has been at the helm.
Joao Felix has often found space in place of the Portuguese winger. The former Benfica prodigy was requested by the coach in the winter window but so far he has just the good half hour played in his debut in the Coppa Italia against Roma.
Conceicao is certainly not the only one responsible for this awful season, but his faults are all too evident and have contributed to the decline of some of the most representative players in the squad, Christian Pulisic first and foremost.
To these must be added some wrong strategic choices, the lack of a recognisable style of play and the flop in the Champions League. The pitch is issuing a clear verdict: this Milan does not seem to be made for him, for his way of playing football and for his methods.
Since he took over from Fonseca, the Diavolo have had to contend with a consistent factor: going behind in games. It is a constant that denotes an evident difficulty in knowing how to best motivate the team in addition to insufficient tactical preparation.
If until the day before yesterday Conceicao still had some chance of earning a stay, the widespread feeling is that he set Milan up badly. The new sporting director will be given the final decision on the management, with a change almost certain.
