Sergio Conceicao will name his first starting line-up as AC Milan head coach on Friday, and some clues have arrived on how it will look.
La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) reports that during yesterday’s training session at 17:30 local time, Conceiçao ‘played’ with the rest of the team. He wasn’t wearing a bib, but he was always in the thick of the action.
You could tell from his loud calls that reached the street, audible from behind the barriers and tarpaulins put up to protect Milan’s session from prying eyes. At times the voice of the former Parma and Lazio player could be heard clearly: he interrupted the action by calling the players to him and explaining what they had to do.
He was almost remote-controlling them like Antonio Conte does, and it is no coincidence that Sergio is defined by many as the Portuguese Conte because of his grit, work methods and determination. But what will his first Milan team be like?
The current idea for tomorrow’s game is a 4-3-3 that could transform into a 4-2-3-1 with the advancement of Tijjani Reijnders, used as an attacking midfielder in the final few games of Paulo Fonseca’s tenure.
At the moment a 4-4-2 – like he often used at Porto – does not seem to be in Conceicao’s mind. Against Juve the centre-forward will be Alvaro Morata and the favourites to flank him are the recovered Christian Pulisic and Alex Jimenez.
The American has overcome the pain in his ankle and also the previous muscular discomfort in his calf: he is fine and Conceiçao needs him, especially since Noah Okafor and Samuel Chukwueze have remained in Italy.
Rafael Leao is not yet ready, while Yunus Musah worked with his team-mates yesterday and – although not at his best – he should be considered capable and enlisted for the role of offensive winger on the right, if and when Pulisic needs to be replaced.
In the middle of the field, Youssouf Fofana and Reijnders are irremovable. Filippo Terracciano will not join them though because he trained separately due to a shoulder injury. Instead it should be Ismael Bennacer, who was used in the second half last Sunday and is ready to start for the first time since August 17.
The Algerian could play as a right-sided mezzala, with Fofana as the central pivot because in Conceiçao’s system, in front of the defence there is usually a player who has the physical structure and ability in the interdiction phase rather than a pure playmaker.
When he returns to 100%, Ruben Loftus-Cheek will play an important role and will be one of the strong candidates for the role of midfielder. It remains to be seen whether the Englishman will go on the bench tomorrow but it is difficult given that yesterday he was on the sidelines.
If RLC can show a modicum of good form the next 6 months we should use the opportunity to offload him back to the EPL.
He’s not the 2nd coming of Rijkaard or Gullit, so don’t make the mistake of waiting till he’s completely benched and his value drops again to sell him. A recent example is Tomori we could have sold him for €45m+ now we’ll be lucky to receive €30mn
The best to do if we are going to use Bennacer for the match is on the left of a midfield 3, on the right he is limited , or have RLC in the middle, with Fofana and rejinders on the sides…
Bennacer isn’t ready to start. He’s months away from full fitness and his performance level is awful. Better to play a primavera player than him TBH.
I’ve always liked the way Porto played in recent times, not knowing Conceicao was their coach. I would like to see changes in our overall game play. We take too many risks at the back, giving the ball to Mike constantly; the wingers can’t seem to get the right passes to the striker when they reach the opponent’s box, while our midfielders sometimes move the ball forward, only to lose it to the opponents. This happened a lot against Roma. Our defending has improved, no doubt, but, there must be purpose when Emerson or Theo go forward. The two are also guilty of wasting a lot of balls, after running forward. No point in going forward and wasting the ball, only to leave the back short, when our opponents counter.
Yh Theo and royal should only go forward when no other option is there and when there is a real purpose foe one of them. IMO only one of them should push up depending on which side the ball is played. Also I don’t rly see the benefit of inverted attacking for them. When using the overlapping right it can be so deadly on the sideline like we saw with Theo in the past.
Acmilan will definitely get a good result
One of his biggest mistake will be playing Emerson Royal and playing pulusic as a winger. He will end up with same results as Foncesca and Pioli. Play pulusic as in Midfield please.
It doesn’t matter where he put puli it’s how he make him play
We hope win 4 milan
All these Sempre Milan coaches and managers here that always know better than the team coach.
Fonseca was fired and non of you were hired. Are you guys really fans or what?