Massimiliano Allegri considers Rafael Leao to be an immovable starter, and that opens up a battle for the remaining spot in the attacking duo.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport recall, without Christian Pulisic – sidelined due to injury – Allegri has tried Santiago Gimenez, Christopher Nkunku and Alexis Saelemaekers in the front two, plus Ruben Loftus-Chee during games.
Read SempreMilan ad-free and get access to exclusive news. Click here for a free trial!
Pulisic will likely be back for the game against Parma on Saturday night, with Milan hoping to go into the last international break of 2025 with another win. Is it as simple as the American regaining his starting spot? Max has options.
What was planned
The Pulisic-Leao pairing was the first one Allegri experimented with in the summer friendlies, with Rafa as the centre-forward. This solution hasn’t been completely abandoned by Max, although in recent matches it was first Gimenez and then Nkunku who played further forward.
And with the American’s return? In Parma, Pulisic’s condition will need to be assessed, having been out for over two weeks now, so he could start on the bench. Given Leao got a calf issue early on and then returned just as Pulisic was sidelined, they actually haven’t played much together as a duo.
Allegri and the Milan fans are therefore waiting to finally have both stars fit and ready to play. In Max’s mind, these two are the starters. Despite hardly ever playing together (only a handful of minutes against Napoli and Juventus), they are clearly the most productive of the Rossoneri attack.
In the league, 10 of the Rossoneri’s 15 goals have seen one of them be involved with a goal or an assist. That’s why seeing them together again soon is generating a lot of optimism and excitement.
The trident
At Milanello, however, Allegri and his staff have been studying a hyper-attacking version for some time: Nkunku, Pulisic and Leao simultaneously. This idea is currently deemed difficult to implement from the start, but it should be considered during the game, especially when the team is behind.
Max and his men are working on how to get the three to fit. For example, who would play in the middle? Probably Nkunku, as Igli Tare said before the Roma game: “He’s played as a centre-forward in 72% of his career.” This would give Leao and Pulisic more space to run.
The Frenchman got more into the match against the Giallorossi after a decidedly subdued start. If Pulisic isn’t 100% fit, the Frenchman will almost certainly be the one to support Leao at the Tardini against Parma.
Other solutions
Santiago Gimenez is currently on the sidelines with an ankle problem, which could jeopardise his participation in Parma on Saturday. Gimenez is not only the one true centre-forward in the Milan squad, but also the striker with the most minutes in Serie A so far: 627.
Yet, the goalscoring column is still empty, in the league at least. Santiago has often worked hard for his team-mates, doing things that perhaps go unnoticed such as leading the press and creating space. At the same time, he has been glaringly lacking in finishing.
The injury has halted him at a difficult time, but who knows, it might just help him recharge his batteries mentally. Clearly, with everyone available, El Bebote will have fewer opportunities. Meanwhile, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Alexis Saelemaekers remain the emergency options up front.
No debate here, pulisic first and then the rest
This
A front 3 really isn’t hyper-attacking, it’s perfectly normal. Nkunku said himself his favourite position is centre attacking midfielder, so I say try him as a trequartista behind a Leao Pulisic front 2.
?
Do we then play 3-4-1-2?
Mike
Tomori Gabbia Pavlovic
Salae Ricci Modric Bart/Estupinan
Nkunku
Leao Pulisic
Do we have Nkunku stay up while puli comes down to help the midfield defend? That’s a lot of
Running for him.
Rabiot is a 100% starter. Don’t be ridiculous.
Well Puli is used to doing that anyway. I’m thinking more like how Roma used to play with the “slingshot” of Totti in the middle with Gervinho and Salah still quite wide. Could do a 433 too with either Tomori or Saele as RB
Forget about that trident nonsense unless its the last part of the game and Milan needs to score a goal.
Milan midfield has been absolutely annihilated over the last 4 games with 3 midfielders, but let’s take one of them out and play with only 2 of them. Yeah, that would make it better. Let’s make a 40 year old run more because he will have to cover even more ground.
“Milan midfield has been absolutely annihilated over the last 4 games with 3 midfielders”
The first half in Bergamo and 30 minutes against Roma doesn’t really equal 4 games. It hasn’t been easy without Rabiot and Modric certainly is tired from the extra playing time, but the team held his own, with Ricci stepping up and even Fofana doing some helpful dirty work that went unnoticed, because of his epic fails in front of goal and the penalty. If we had played in midfield like we did last year, we would’ve lost both of our last two games, instead we got 4 points.
You conveniently forgot the entire 2nd half of the Pisa game, a relegation team.
Also forgot the first 65 minutes of the Fiorentina game, the worst team in the league.
Short memory.
If Milan goes to playing with only 2 midfielders to accommodate the 3 men forward line, the midfield will look like last seasons, which was the whole point of the comment, weakening the midfield.
Pisa game? Did you watch the game? 🤣🤣🤣 Pisa midfield destroyed Milan midfield?
Try to read. It says 2nd half of the Pisa game.
Did you watch the 2nd half when Pisa took over the game and went from being down 0-1 to being up 2-1 ans Milan needing a lucky shot from Athekame from 30 meters away to salvage a point in that game.
let’s not be dramatic. we werent annihilated , nor we dominated the game. The question remains, do we bring one more attacker and take out a midfielder? if so Who? Modric? Rabiot? Ricci/Fofana? . When Jashari comes back, then what? we got a many midfielders to accomodate as well. 🙂 Looks like allegri has a problem in his hands. Allegri imho is a conservative man, he will rather play Rafa/Puli, and use Nkunku, and Santi as backups, than to mess up with the midfield. Front 3 will be his option when chasing the game, that’s it.
I truly do not think we have the CBs or the midfield (unless Jashari is a revelation) to play anything other than two up top. And in all honesty Pulisic and Laeo play well together…and are both more than capable of being dangerous as just an attacking two. The key is Laeo….is he willing all game long to make the off ball runs that stress the defense and open up pockets of space? or does he drift along the left touchline and wait for passes, ultimately stagnating the attack? No wonder Allegri has paid so much attention to Laeo, his play is really the difference between Scudetto, and flaming out again.
We would be strongest with:
Leao – RLC
Estupinian -Rabiot- Modric- Ricci -Salemakers
Pavloic – Gabia- Tomori
Mike
as soon as i saw RLC, i knew it wasnt the strongest. lol It may be if Puli, Nkunku are out hehe
Genius. Let’s take Pulisic, not only our best player but the best player in Serie A this season and put him on the bench. That will ensure that he doesn’t renew his contract with the club. Has the team looked better or worse since he’s been out injured?Any more bright ideas?
This too.
He’s not renewing and will push to leave after the WC. As soon as ACM hired Allegri this was going to happen. Pulisic had the same thing happen at CFC with Tuchel and Potter. He won’t put up with being a sub which is going to happen.
As much as everyone has their favorites and players they despise, Allegri will stick to his formation and the midfield will not change. Fofana-Modric-Rabiot. The only time Allegri will change to 3 in attack is if Milan are trailing and a goal is needed.