AC Milan will continue preparing for the Napoli game during this afternoon’s training session at Milanello, while waiting for the full squad to be available.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport reports, 11 players have worked with the coach in the past few days having not been called up by their national teams. That means another 15 will return from international duty, including youth teams.
The players who were in Europe are expected today, then the staff will decide the type of work for them. Theo Hernandez, Mike Maignan, Tijjani Reijnders, Strahinja Pavlovic, Luka Jovic, Rafael Leao (substituted twice) and Joao Felix (played zero minutes) will all be back.
Kyle Walker was on the pitch last night at Wembley so he will have an extra day to relax, while Cheistian Pulisic and Yunus Musah are due back after finishing fourth in the CONCACAF Nations League final four. Santiago Gimenez won it with Mexico, and he played virtually all of the final.
Only when he has the entire team available will Sergio Conceiçao be able to choose who to field at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona against Napoli. The question marks he faces include whether to start Theo Hernandez, who played 120 minutes in France-Croatia and missed a penalty.
He must also choose the midfield, with Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Musah, Warren Bondo and Youssouf Fofana competing for the two spots alongside Tijjani Reijnders.
In attack everything remains to be seen: Riccardo Sottil and Tammy Abraham worked at Milanello, but both Leao and Gimenez will want to keep their spaces.
THeres a paradox that Leao only plays well as a super sub but does not perform when starting. Id say start Sottil LW, Abraham ST, Tijjiani CAM, Puli RW. Fofana and Bondo double pivot. THeo LB, I dont think Jimenez will do well defensively vs Napoli. Id sub in Leao for Sottil at halftime, and depending how good or bad Abraham is playing sub Gimenez in for him at second time. Sub in RLC for Bondo at second half. I think we will start losing and then have a resurgence second half to probably draw the game but if we play well and napoli collapse we can go an win it either 1-2 or 3-2.
Yes your right start Sottil on Left wingers then pulisic on right winger then Reijnder on attacking midfield then Bondo and Fofana to play double pivot as simple as let’s go with the line up then second half pulisic play attacking midfield, we substitute Reijnder, will bring in Leao, Gimenez, chukwueze as simple as and we must not give Napoli any chance to play their game.
Underwhelming performers will start from the bench. Names do not matter, we make decisions based on performances on the pitch. Coaching instantly becomes football manager when you field your XI based on the magnitude of the names.