Niclas Füllkrug got to make his debut for AC Milan last night, coming off the bench against Cagliari, and Massimiliano Allegri praised his cameo afterwards.
Milan announced the loan of Füllkrug from West Ham yesterday, but the deal was secured already before the new year, and the striker had been training with the team for several days. In short, they just needed to wait due to the transfer regulations.
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In any case, Füllkrug was included in the squad for Cagliari-Milan and even got to make his debut, coming on with 20 minutes to go. After the game, in his interview with DAZN (via MilanNews), Allegri praised the German striker.
“Füllkrug entered the game very well, but I had no doubts because he arrived at Milan with so much enthusiasm and desire. Tonight, he was very useful with his headers and in protecting the ball.
“It’s not something you will see this early on the pitch, but he’s very good. He’s only recently arrived, but he has settled in very well,” he stated.
Indeed, the German combined well with his teammates in those 20 minutes and got a decent rating from us. He nearly bagged a good assist for Pulisic, first flicking it with his head, then finding the American in a good position. However, the shot was saved by the keeper.
It remains to be seen what the front two will look like against Genoa on Thursday. Rafael Leao might be in better condition by then, just as Christian Pulisic, and Christopher Nkunku could also be back for that one. But with Füllkrug in good condition already, he might get the chance.
Yesss
We can play pulisic as right winger sala as left winger leao and fullkrug as striker
respectfully, i dont like it. Move Saladman from his best position, push Puli away from the box (where he’s done the most damage and asking him to defend)? . Moving Saladman to the left meaning benching Bartesaghi (our revelation of the year) ?
It’s an idea but it moves too many pieces that seem to be working.
I would be more incline to say, go for gold, bench Fofana and have a Leao – Fulkrug – Puli up front, a midfield of Bartesaghi – Rabiot – Modric – Saladman and our usual back 3…. lol Too agressive for Allegri but who knows.
That’s a great option if they’re behind and need to be more aggressive. He may do that in certain cases as he did in one of the earlier games, he threw on everybody (I forget which). But it worked. Right now, I think it’s unrealistic to expect all 3 to be healthy all the time, based on the season so far. So it’s great that Fullkrug can be that guy that can combine with Leao or Puli (depending on who is healthy). Both those guys have the type of injury that lingers. So if Fullkrug can stay healthy, he can be that consistent reference point. Nkunku is not a reliable reference point as he’s also a 2nd striker type. But I like the idea of maybe a mega xmas tree with Puli and Leao behind Fullkrug with Rabiot and Modric behind them with Bart and Salad doing a lot of running but in a 15-20 minute period, could be really effective.
That would be a devastating attack trident.
Fullkrug and Leao/Pulisic up top makes the most sense. Fullkrug is a big presence that can hold the ball up and win 50/50s to link up with the faster striker. It can work well in combination if we can feed them well enough