Just as it looked like Paulo Fonseca could turn the corner at Milan, his see-saw tenure at Stadio San Siro took two massive hits. Back-to-back defeats to Bayer Leverkusen and Fiorentina on the stroke of October’s international break forced the Portuguese manager back to the drawing board.
Milan seemed to be picking up pace following a sluggish Serie A start with three consecutive league wins, including a remarkable 2-1 triumph against Inter. However, Fonseca’s charges slumped to a disappointing loss at Artemio Franchi last weekend, losing further ground on early pacesetters Napoli.
Indeed, Milan headed into the international window five points adrift of Antonio Conte’s high-flyers, with the pressure mounting on Fonseca. According to Calciomercato, the former Roma boss is considering making several changes to his starting line-up for the upcoming home encounter against surprise package Udinese.
After squandering a spot-kick in Florence, Tammy Abraham could return to the bench. Despite his energetic performance, the Englishman has failed to provide a much-needed spark in front of goal. Abraham’s downfall could signal the rise of Noah Okafor, who has mostly played second fiddle to Milan attackers since arriving from Salzburg last summer.
Okafor should team up with Alvaro Morata in the front third.
Another ex-Salzburg man could profit from Rossoneri’s recent woes at the back. Fikayo Tomori was the architect of Milan’s slump in Tuscany, allowing Albert Gudmundsson to beat Mike Maignan with a rookie mistake. As such, he could make way for Strahinja Pavlovic, who joined Milan in the summer.
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