With each passing game, AC Milan’s decision to bring Massimiliano Allegri back for a second spell looks to be the right one.
As Tuttosport (via MilanPress) write this morning, a coach’s work is judged by the results he obtains and how he manages to exploit the squad at his disposal. Allegri is ticking both boxes, with Milan top of the table in Serie A, and with every player having played their part to get there.
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All hands on deck
The paper actually focuses mainly on the second point: the great management of the squad and the gradual and precise insertion of some players into the rotations. For example, the midfield duo of Samuele Ricci and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
They have gained more and more confidence and therefore more playing time over recent weeks, after previously seeming as though they were at the bottom of the pecking order. Monday night’s win over Torino showed this.
The double improvement was clearly visible against the Granata, as the Italian came on and did well and also provided the assist for the winning goal, while the Englishman played in three positions and was a very useful wild card – especially in the second half.
Both are therefore no longer simple reserves, but genuine additional starters. In the second half in Turin, we also began to see some improvements from Christopher Nkunku too, who moved well with Christian Pulisic alongside him. Could he be the next to prove his real value?
I thought in the second half, Nkunku played well. People get a narrative going on a player and don’t judge how the player plays each game.
This article is completely wrong and misses what’s happening.
Allegri is not strategically distributing playing time across different players to rest players and broaden the team’s strength. That would be nice. No, each and every substitution this piece talks about were forced by injuries.
RLC came in because Fofana was injured.
Ricci came in because Leao got injured.
Nkunku came in because Santi and Pulisic were injured.
If it were up to Allegri it seems he would start the exact same 11 every match and never rotate at all.
The only role where Allegri is legitimately rotating is at left wingback, where Bartesaghi has won the starting role over Estupinan but Estupinan is still getting some time even when Bart is healthy.
I agree with everything you wrote but I also think that when you’re only playing once a week and with a lot of pressure to be top four he’s sticking with the best team available. I also wouldn’t be surprised if Modric has an agreement with the team that he plays/starts unless he decides he needs a rest.
We also legitimately don’t have any backups at Striker, Right Wingback, and in the Central Defense. Ricci and RLC should be used more mainly in place of Fofana but other than that there’s not a lot of player management to be done.
This!