In all likelihood, Massimiliano Allegri will be able to call upon two real weapons off the bench against Napoli: Rafael Leao and Christopher Nkunku.
According to Corriere dello Sport (via MilanNews), Leao will be available to Allegri for the game against the champions after more than a month out. Of course, the Portuguese winger will not start because he is not fully fit, but he could be a real game-changer.
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In addition to Leao, Nkunku – who scored his first goal for Milan in Tuesday’s cup win – should be left out of the starting eleven against Napoli. The same applies for the Frenchman: he isn’t at his peak yet, and is gearing up to become a regular starter.
Clear path marked out
Nkunku and Leao will start on the bench against Napoli, but the plan is for them to become starters for the foreseeable future. Of course, doing without Christian Pulisic would be a bold move, so it’s possible the three could co-exist.
In this situation, Santiago Gimenez risks being left out, but after his goal against Lecce there is also the hope that El Bebote can begin scoring regularly to command minutes himself.
One thing is certain: Milan’s new attack is working, especially since in just over a month of the season they have all scored, with Allegri rotating them with his usual wisdom, aware however that the spots must be earned based on current form.
Leao – Pulisic starters if fit. I think that Allegri never said or though this, a liar made it up.
haha its funny the media is obsessed with 2 man upfront, Allegri is not married to a 3-5-2, he used 4 man backline plenty of times
he isnt gonna bench Pulisic, would make no sense, Leao is also not a striker
We only have four forwards in the squad. What other formation are we going to play? 4-3-3? 4-2-3-1? With three of the four on the pitch and no basically no subs? I don’t think so. And no, Saalemaekers doesn’t count as a forward. So now we have the problem, regardless of starting combination, of two of Leao (the “star”), Pulisic (the real star), Nkunku (summer’s most expensive tranfers) and Gimenez (32M euros) sitting on the bench. This will eventually create problems we don’t need. It’s a side that’s poorly built to play with two forwards (too many starters) or three forwards (too few backups).
Why would you want to start 3/4 forwards anyway. 4 players for two spots seems prudent in the event of injury. Milan if it’s going to be a good team in Europe needs to have more than one good player for each position.
Pulisic is Milans best player (Leao have a higher ceiling but dont reach it regularly). No way Allegri will bench him. Pulisic and Gimenez also work way more defensively then both Leao and Nkunku, which will become very obvious once we see them together in the attack.
Allegri will be forced to play one of Pulisic and Gimenez at all times to not be left defending with 8 players rather then 9 (or 9.5)
Don’t question Allegri. Question the reporter of the news
Meant as a reply to DOM
Leao(Nkunku) – new N9(Gimenez)
Estupinan(Barte) – Rabiot(Jashari) – Modric(Ricci) – Pulisic(Fofana, RLC) – Alexis(new RWB, Athekame)
No way Pulisic signs an extension if he’s moved to the bench
what’s the big deal about been on the bench, Leao was benched most times by the 2 Portuguese clowns and he rescues the team many times, he is a bigger threat than Pulisic, A good coach on top of his game will not put a fit Leao on the bench for any of the attacker we presently have Pulisic inclusive.
You lover Chukwueze is gone you can come off the bench with your takes.
Exactly. Tuchel called him a super-sub and we saw how that went.
How do you take the best player in the entire league and turn him into a substitute! It would be utterly coaching malpractice to leave Pulisic on the bench and hand is starting job to Nkunku. Pulusic is the hottest player in Europe right now, there is no justification for benching him, I hate to say it, but he needs to leave Milan and go somewhere else where he can be appreciated. He’s in his prime, he cannot waste any more years being a rotational player.
Don’t overdo it. Not the best player in the league.
Why does the Italian media want so bad for pulisic to be benched should be the discussion of the day?
I think they are getting information from sources that tells them this is Allegri’s plan. I’ve always thought this was going to happen.
Of course. Sources. And finally they confirmed what you’ve been telling us all along, right? Omg.
So, you think they are just making this up? Allegri lied about ACM buying having Nkunku, saying he was not aware. Nkunku said he talked to Allegri before signing with ACM.
But did you not manage to realize that about 70% of the “news” are fake? That people writing them have an incentive to make up things so people read it? Yes, it is made up. Allegri definitely didn’t plan to bench Pulisic and then leaked it to the press so everyone talks about it? You really think it happened? Ok.
He didn’t even see Nkunku properly, he is planning to bench the most lethal player in the Ac Milan team for him? LIE. 100% LIE.
You really believe Allegri didn’t watch video of Nkunku? Nkunku, as quoted in an interview on this site said Allegri talked to him prior to the move. The reason I’ve been saying this is 1 Allegri’s past, 2 Allegri’s decision on how he plays 3-5-2, 3 Leão a locked in forward, lastly the articles and interviews here. Managers by nature are stubborn. Let me remind you Tuchel benched Pulisic for Werner and also Giroud. Both of whom helped CFC qualify for CL ball. Imagine how much money ACM think they can make from selling Pulisic.
Probably sells newspapers (or clicks). People rage-buy the paper so they can yell at it, “how can you bench Pulisic?”
Exactly. Last few days of the transfer window the so called “journalists” made up so many stupid transfer targets. You could see they were lies, but it got them clicks and more engagement so they can make more money from social media. This is how all of them operate today. Well not all, but 99%.
Corsport or whatever that stupid Rome newspaper is called is never a reliable news source and has never had any good thing to say about Milan. Always wanting to destabilize the unity of the team.
It’s obvious that Allegri has no interest in Pulisic. Pulisic has been rarely mentioned by Allegri since he became the coach. Why I. The world would you even consider benching the one of the current most prolific scorers in Europe. It’s hard to imagine that Nkunku would be scoring more than Pulisic. Pulisic needs to move as soon as possible before Allegri wrecks his career.
I have nothing against Leao and NKUNKU starting as long as puli is getting subbed in after around 50 Minoans the other way around. Of cause we nee Leao as St we have seen how he play in this new Milan as striker (unbelievably good). U can rotate after 50 minutes per game that’s a big advantage.
Only if you are set on Pulisic leaving. Do you wonder why he hasn’t signed the extension? He’s leaving money on the table. That should tell you he sees himself as a starter.
this is a nonsense article. Seeing Nkunku play in Puli’s role you can tell that he can’t contribute what Puli does by himself, the two of them together as attacking midfielders on the other hand, that’s the winning ticket and maybe we don’t see that until the 2nd half of the season b/c that is the combo (along with Leao out there) that will win us matches in the champions league next year but we need a bit more depth. I think if Jashari can come back and Ricci can really get in there, Rabiot can be used as an attacking midfielder to give rest (I’ve said this before). The goal is to reach a 4321 or 4312 formation that’s pretty clear but they need to figure out the full back situation and some rotation players for attack. 352 could work as the main formation but I don’t see how they could make either Puli or Nkunku a bench player and both need consistency so playing as a starter only 50% of the time is not going to cut it at one match per week. Seeing as they’re both around 27, it really wouldn’t make sense to choose one over the other in any scenario, if it’s avoidable of course, which is why they must have a plan to move to 2-1 or 1-2 up front.
Pulisic is better as a striker, not an AM, RW or LW. The problem is also not what you wrote for the 4 at the back formation. The problem is central defenders. Even Conceicao moved to a back 5 last season because with 4 it was horrible. And going forward Milan is playing 4 at the back so that won’t change. Milan is doing 3-5-2 only when defending. Do you see Tomori upfront crossing from RB? What does that mean?
You can fit 3 in if you go 3-4-2-1 and rotate through your forwards. I think that’s where Allegri is headed, but I think he’ll regularly start only 1 forward, because he’s so so so conservative.
I think Allegri has the same anti-American bias as many top coaches. He starts with the assumption that they won’t be good enough and then has to be proven otherwise. Wasn’t McKennie forced to train separately at Juventus before becoming a locked on starter? Pulisic will force (is already forcing) Allegri to play him. He’s averaging a goal or assist every 47 minutes and has played a role in half of the team’s goals this season.
It’s a puzzle no matter what. Somebody is going to be unhappy. The crux of coaching Milan in today’s game is figuring out how to get Leao to play defense and make the off ball runs and win second balls. Every coach so far has failed at that. We see him buy in for a game or two. And then not. And he gets benched. Allegri has the pedigree to maybe finally get Leao to take that next step.
But… there’s a good chance it doesn’t work and then I think Leao winds up on the bench, or playing the 9, which he doesn’t want to do.
It’s interesting to me that we haven’t seen much of Puli + Nkunku on the field together yet. That worries me a bit, because I think that’s where we should probably wind up.
When all 3 are healthy, I’d put 2/3 of Puli/Nkunku/Leao on the pitch all the time, tell them to run hard and keep rotating. So each game you have a plan to sub one of them at 60 minutes for one of the others. But odds are they will each miss some games, as they all get hacked down a lot.
I would not be surprised if Leao got moved in January after he and Allegri can’t work it out. And I’m fully expecting Allegri to bring in a big target man striker with hold up skills in January, barring a major turnaround from Santi. Even on the goal, he looked clumsy and lucky, not like a clinical striker. His first touch is just not very reliable, so he has to be scoring goals to be an effective member of the team. He does press well, which makes him our best defensive forward option.
Puli has the best attacking statistics in Series A over the last three seasons.Leao has never reached his potential and Nkunku is unproven at Milan at best. Why would Allegri mess with the one reliable scorer. If he’s does, has got to have an anti American bias. Statistics don’t lie, but can be ignored.