Ismael Bennacer impressed in a more advanced midfield role against Sassuolo on Saturday but Stefano Pioli also used the midfield to send a message, a report suggests.
As written in this morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below), there were plenty of narratives to come from the 1-0 victory over the Neroverdi that kept the noise about Pioli’s future to a minimum.
It certainly was not a vintage performance from Milan but the huddle on the pitch at the end showed that it was one of togetherness. The points were needed, as was the clean sheet and the chance to go into 2024 off the back of a win.
Pioli chose to hand the young Kevin Zeroli his debut off of the bench, taking the place of Ruben Loftus-Cheek. It is suggested that he was showing the hierarchy that a new midfielder for depth is needed in January, especially with Rade Krunic expected to leave.
The good news in the midfield was that Bennacer looked to be a genuine threat when getting forward and could play a much more offensive role than he did in the past before his injury.
What is clear is that Rafael Leao will have to improve drastically in 2024 if he is to continue being viewed as one of the pillars of this team.
Pulisic left Chukwueze right and Leao sell.
Can sell to Liverpool+Luiz Diaz
Next, Victor Eletu in the first team. Great talent. He is ready
Pioli can show lack of depth in midfield as much as he wants to. He had all summer to get proper midfielders but opted for bunch of ball chasers. Now the midfield depends on one player who just came back after serious injury but is off to AFCON.
We, the fans, who are nothing but bunch of laymens, saw that hole already in the summer.
Good job!
But not to be so negative, I hope Zeroli will become first team regular, if not now then from summer on. Also Victor Eletu. It’s time to show faith in homegrown talent.
The problem is we have 3 mezzala in midfield, with no destroyer. Reijnders stats were insane yesterday, but he’s a mezzala, and not a destroyer even with his 8 duels won and 92% passing accuracy he’s still just a facilitator. The kids will do well playing more, I agree, Zeroli always looks confident, they should be getting a lot of game time in the cup especially if we want to keeo the top four challenge up we will need to lean on them in the cup.
Just get Jordan Sancho on loan.
I screamed out loud for us to sign Greenwood, but maybe because of brand image we didn’t get it, which I’m not overly disappointed at anyway.
But Sancho is another huge talent being wasted at Man Utd bench, I believe he will definitely be hungry to prove a point.
Just sign him on a reduced salary to compete with Leao on the left wing.
Also, we need to sign a proven LB who can effectively play in the absence of Theo Hernandez, I will recommend Benjamin Mendy for that position.
We need to also sign a proper DM, I keep talking about Amrabat, just sign him when he leaves Man Utd.
Also, we need a fast CF like Anthony Martial who is wasting at Man Utd. We missed out on Marcus Thuram, but I think Martial is better than him.
Finally, sign a good right back to compete with what we have. I recommend Dodo of Fiorentina, I think that boy is good.
Get these players, and get a proper coach, and we are good to go.
LW – Jordan Sancho
DM – Amrabat
LB – Benjamin Mendy
CF – Anthony Martial
RB – Dodo
Good point.but Amrabat is off to afcon too.also our midfield problem is d fact pioli is arranging the players wrongly.Our best signing is reijnders but he is being used too deep.cheek can’t play attacking midfield cos once he runs into d final third he has no clue what to do.his vision is so limited.he shud take tijjs place or be on d bench once musah is fit.musah and bennacer can anchor d midfield giving tijj opportunity to move up more with his slick moves and vision.also adli too is more of a am than deeply that he is playing.if this is done,we’ll be scoring freely.like against frosinone that tijj moved up well enough
I agree with you completely especially regarding RLC, I have always felt that he and Reijnders are poorly used.
Pioli giving fans headaches! problem is: who’s gonna pay for all these players?
That’s our predicament.
You watch too much EPL, why Milan should focus on bench players while there a lot of talents. B
You know you gotta live in your reality. No need to live in denial and set unrealistic targets.
Berlusconi era is gone, and unless we are bought by a Sheikh, we have to be tactical in getting talents.
Pulisic and Tomori were both bench warmers for a certain club, but they are arguably part of the core best players for your club today.
I don’t watch EPL too much, I know where to find Mbappe, Vini Junior, Musiala and all, but are they within your reach?
And please don’t forget, Inter milan won the league with Ashley Young, Alexis Sanches, Lukaku, all EPL bench warmers.
Greenwood and Sancho, if not for circumstances and managerial conflict, can play in any big team in the world.
Martial and Amrabat are struggling because the club has no direction, it will make the best players look average. Look how average Rashford looks, meanwhile, he has the quality to play even in Madrid.
Smart recruitment should definitely strategise to get such huge talents who are not in perfect environments.
They shut downt he Greenwood article over the summer because there was a clear rift in the fans opinions and it was probably a touchy subject. But he got legally cleared so imo it’s should be fine and everyone in life deserves a second chance. Would be a nice comeback story. I think Greenwood would do well here and he’s a great player.. we had, after all, Cassano, Balo, Menez, Binho lol 😂
But he’s completely above our reach right now.
Our only chance would have been snapping him up at his lowest point. But it appears too late already.
I saw it as a no brainer because I was totally sure of Greenwood’s abilities and I knew he would have torn Serie A apart in shreds. But instead of footballing success on the field, we prioritised branding and image, which to me is not a bad thing, but for a talent as Greenwood, I would have made exceptions to that general rule. I mean look at Greenwood and his quality.
Yea it a unfortunate really. But like u said I do get the image issue.
You know you gotta live in your reality. No need to live in denial and set unrealistic targets.
Berlusconi era is gone, and unless we are bought by a Sheikh, we have to be tactical in getting talents.
Pulisic and Tomori were both bench warmers for a certain club, but they are arguably part of the core best players for your club today.
I don’t watch EPL too much, I know where to find Mbappe, Vini Junior, Musiala and all, but are they within your reach?
And please don’t forget, Inter milan won the league with Ashley Young, Alexis Sanches, Lukaku, all EPL bench warmers.
Greenwood and Sancho, if not for circumstances and managerial conflict, can play in any big team in the world.
Martial and Amrabat are struggling because the club has no direction, it will make the best players look average. Look how average Rashford looks, meanwhile, he has the quality to play even in Madrid.
Smart recruitment should definitely strategise to get such huge talents who are not in perfect environments.