AC Milan and Juventus were both linked with hiring Thiago Motta during the summer and it was the latter who eventually got him from Bologna, while the Rossoneri went for Paulo Fonseca.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport write, three games is not a big enough sample size to draw any definitive judgements and yet in round four Milan will host Venezia while Juventus travel to Empoli, which precedes Inter-Milan and Juve-Napoli the following week.
The contrast at present is obvious: Motta immediately put Juve on the right track with seven points from three games, Fonseca remained ‘entangled’ in the confusion of his side. Juve ‘expressed a clear idea of football’, while ‘it is not clear what end destination is for Milan’.
Nobody gets access to the Milan dressing room but the players and staff, but from the outside Fonseca’s approach seems different to that of Motta. The Portuguese went with a softer tone, handling issues like the cooling break saga with calm and composure, while the Italian was more ruthless in banishing certain players like Federico Chiesa.
Then there is the technical aspect, the pitch. Motta’s side are showing exchanges of positions and good passing networks, which will please him because his teams must work to create spaces to fill. He is very careful about the organisation of the defensive phase too, as shown by the zero goals conceded.
In the first three matchdays, Milan did the exact opposite. The promising patterns of possession seen in preseason have vanished while the Rossoneri let in six goals in a very similar way: via crosses from the left. Fonseca did not remedy these errors, he repeated them.
Juve and Milan share the 4-2-3-1, but today they are divided by their identity. The Bianconeri are ‘well defined because Motta knows what he wants’ while Milan wander in a labyrinth and Fonseca ‘has not yet found the exit’ and is already under pressure, hoping the break has provided some clarity.
