Former Serie A striker Antonio Cassano has unleashed a blistering critique of AC Milan’s current manager Sergio Conceiçao, calling him “just a jester” and “not credible.” The outspoken pundit didn’t mince words during the latest episode of Viva el Futbol, suggesting that Paulo Fonseca would have been a better choice for the Rossoneri.
Cassano began by praising Milan’s initial managerial selection: “In terms of football, Milan had made the right choice because they had hired a top-level coach at the beginning of the season. One who plays Milan-style football. Throughout its history, Milan has always had great players playing a special kind of football that made people enjoy watching. I can’t judge Conceiçao now. But they certainly had a top-level coach who spoke well, with correct behavior and great consistency. That was Paulo Fonseca.”
The former Milan player then criticized the treatment Fonseca received: “He was treated like s**t by most of the press, by most of the players who are now breaking Conceiçao’s balls too. Problems with Calabria, Theo Hernandez and Leao being substituted, some situations that aren’t working. You play terribly. With Fonseca, you could say you suffer a lot, sometimes you’re sloppy in terms of metrics and the team is stretched. But you played an offensive, quality type of football. Today you play haphazard football.”
Cassano didn’t hold back in his assessment of Conceiçao’s credibility: “If you want to be credible, like Conte and Capello were, if you, Conceiçao, start acting like a jester with a cigar in your mouth, these things happen. They tell you to f**k off. They don’t respect you because you’re not credible. You want to be nice, the jester in the locker room? Then they tell you to f**k off in the locker room, a player even wants to attack you. I don’t understand the communication, even about Theo and Leao, first he says he substitutes them for technical reasons and then communicates that they will be starters against Dinamo Zagreb.”
The pundit insisted on the need for change at Milan: “I think that, regardless of what will happen, Milan needs to change. They need to have a coach who has an idea of football. Fonseca was hired to play a type of football and to replace Pioli who was at the end of his cycle. Fonseca’s ideas reflected Milan’s tradition in terms of play and ideas. Now Conceiçao has arrived, he has imposed tough rules, but then he’s not credible.”
Drawing from his playing experience, Cassano added: “I’ve been a player and I know there are credible coaches and less credible ones. This one is not credible. With people like Capello or Conte it’s all different, this one acts like a jester, he starts putting on a show, with the cigar – Guardiola can do that, a credible coach, but not him. He’s set rules that no one listens to. Milan needs a coach who makes their fans enjoy, as it has been for 30 years with Berlusconi.”
