AC Milan boss Stefano Pioli has made his selection decisions in view of tonight’s game against Borussia Dortmund, according to a report.
Calciomercato.com report that there is high morale and great confidence among the Milan squad ahead of a game against a Dortmund side that could well be the Rossoneri’s main opponent for second spot.
They will be backed by the 81,000 fans at the Signal Iduna Park and the famous ‘Yellow Wall’. Stefano Pioli wants a team that is ready for battle from a physical and mental point of view, so the preparation for the match went in this direction.
Yunus Musah will be at the base of Milan’s three-man midfield because he knows it better than Tijjani Reijnders, given he practically always plays in that position with the United States.
Pioli does not want to limit the influence of Reijnders too who will be free to occupy as much space as possible in the middle of the pitch with Tommaso Pobega on the right of the trio to provide physicality and runs into the opponent’s penalty area.
Yacine Adli’s wait for a first start in the Champions League continues though he could come off the bench. As mentioned, Pioli deemed it necessary to go with his most physical midfield three, so the Franco-Algerian sits out.
I have no problem with Pobega starting over Adli, but Florenzi should start over Calabria.
At this point due to physicality we need pobega more than adli. Adli can still come in when the game is more balance in second half to add some creativity in the last our of the game. My take is that pobega can give the physicality we might loss from the absence of cheek.
Yes, Florenzi has earned the starting spot with his play. Calabria has been poor defensively and offers nothing going forward.
I want to believe we all understand why we need pobega in the start of the match compared to Adli. Pobega will bring the physicality we are missing due to the injury to loftus cheek. Adli can always come in when the game is more balanced in second half.
“…with Tommaso Pobega on the right of the trio to lose the ball and run around in concentric circles bashing into opposition players.”
Spot on
You are even worse, you have literally 0 clue about football. I have tried reading what you write but it is just random subjective stupidity that has no basis in real life.
You showed how much you know about football when you were talking about potential signings. How Openda is not good enough and Thuram also. You “didn’t feel” good about them. Shows how much your feeling is worth and how much you actually understand. Can you tell me how many times per 90min does Pobega lose the ball? And then other midfielders? You have no idea, just random stupid babbling like always. 0 facts.
Pobega is basically Krunic 2.0 so this is not a good lineup.
Calabria at DM makes most sense to me.
He has done well there before, he as also been playing inverted this season, so knows how to operate there.
Adli is not ready for a game of this magnitude and Pobega doesn’t have the quality, tho he may be a useful sub.
If we start Calabria, Musah and Reijnders we still have the option of Pobega or less likely Adli off the bench. CL games are intense so its important to have fresh legs to bring on
Its going to be very tough without RLC and Krunic. Thats on management for not bringing in a DM
Acmilan must be aggressive against Dortmund we must not underestimate Dortmund at all
I’ve been saying from the beginning that Musah is a natural defensive midfielder, although one that has the range and speed to play as a box to box midfielder, and that he is the most likely ultimate successor to Krunic/Bennacer.
Musah is not quite there yet, but he most reminds me of an unfinished version of N’golo Kante, in terms of his defensive tenacity, range, and physicality
Yes, but in 2-3 seasons. He is defending really bad, at least from what I’ve seen in a few games.
That’s because at Milan he’s yet to be assigned the defensive mid role and specifically instructed to just hang back and shut down any potential attacks.
In the box to box role, he’s sort of been running all over the field which is clearly not what Pioli wants, and yes, Pioli has explicitly criticized this in an interview comment.
I think in a more structured role as the defensive mid, which he has played for the USMNT (but only since this year, as Tyler Adams, the normal defensive mid has had a long term hamstring injury), he will do well.
As a young midfielder, the one area that he needs the most work on is his positioning and anticipation of where he needs to be to be most useful to his team. He hasn’t really received any proper coaching up to this point on that, but I think Pioli is the guy who can do it. On field, there are a lot of guys like Tomori, etc., who can help him and tell him who to cover, etc. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.
Calabria and Florezi will interchange. But pobega will offer nothing going forward. He’s just a bruiser in the midfield.
I prefer Adli as his ability to send a long ball makes the other team less confident with their pressing. That has the effect of shifting the entire game more towards the opponent’s end.
Overall Adli may not be as skilled as other options but that mental effect his long ball provides is worth alot
As an American who watches every USA game, Musah almost always plays as one of two 8s / mezzale, and has never played as a single pivot as a DM, only as part of a double-pivot in a 4-2-3-1. He certainly has the ability offensively as a press-resistant midfielder with a great passing range, but it would be a big ask defensively to ask him to mark Reus. I would put Tij there myself, or play a 4-2-3-1 with Musah and Tij as DMs and Pulisic through the center.