AC Milan boss Stefano Pioli has decided to make 10 changes to the starting line-up for today’s game against Bologna, which has posed a couple of questions.
The first question is quite an obvious one: who will be the captain? Milan have stuck with their trend of rewarding the longest-serving players as Ante Rebic will have the armband for the match at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara, with Mike Maignan the vice captain.
When was the last time the Rossoneri made this many changes from one game to the next? The answer is the 2002-03 season under Carlo Ancelotti, when he changed the entire starting line-up for a game against Piacenza.
However, there was some additional context to that: it was the last league game of the season with nothing left to fight for, but the Champions League final in Manchester at Old Trafford beckoned after, one that Milan would eventually win on penalties.
Ugh. Oh well. I’m assuming a loss so that I won’t be overly disappointed. Any result better than that will make this one of our best games of the season. On the flip side, we risk a major embarrassment. This could easily be another Sassuolo or Atalanta style drubbing. Get the popcorn out.
And not because the 11 players starting are worse than the 11 players starting for Bologna.
But because that many changes is so disruptive the players coming in don’t have a chance. Pioli is throwing these back up players under a bus. I can only think he’s laying out the gauntlet to them but I just can’t see how at the highest level you can introduce a team that’s never played together before over half way through the season.
I hope we’re both wrong.