AC Milan head coach Paulo Fonseca has made it clear early in his time at the club that he does not mind chopping and changing the defensive line.
With 22 goals conceded in 17 games played, it can be strongly argued that the lack of an established central defensive duo has hurt any attempts to build resilience.
The chemistry and cohesion needed to be a truly high-level defence cannot grow, whereas the 2021-22 Scudetto season showed what having an established back four can do.
Milan conceded two goals in the last 11 league games of that season, keeping nine clean sheets, with the following combination used: Davide Calabria, Pierre Kalulu, Fikayo Tomori and Theo Hernandez.
The combinations used
We have decided to go back through each game this season and list the four defenders that Fonseca chose for each game, plus how many Milan conceded in said matches.
➤ Torino: Calabria, Tomori, Thiaw, Saelemaekers (2 goals conceded).
➤ Parma: Calabria, Tomori, Pavlovic, Theo (2 goals conceded).
➤ Lazio: Emerson, Tomori, Pavlovic, Terracciano (2 goals conceded).
➤ Venezia: Emerson, Gabbia, Pavlovic, Theo (0 goals conceded).
➤ Liverpool: Calabria, Tomori, Pavlovic, Theo (3 goals conceded).
➤ Inter: Emerson, Gabbia, Tomori, Theo (1 goal conceded).
➤ Lecce: Emerson, Gabbia, Tomori, Theo (0 goals conceded).
➤ Leverkusen: Emerson, Gabbia, Tomori, Theo (1 goal conceded).
➤ Fiorentina: Emerson, Gabbia, Tomori, Theo (2 goals conceded).
➤ Udinese: Emerson, Thiaw, Pavlovic, Terracciano (0 goals conceded).
➤ Club Brugge: Emerson, Gabbia, Tomori, Theo (1 goal conceded).
➤ Napoli: Emerson, Thiaw, Pavlovic, Terracciano (2 goals conceded).
➤ Monza: Terracciano, Thiaw, Pavlovic, Theo (0 goals conceded).
➤ Real Madrid: Emerson, Thiaw, Tomori, Theo (1 goal conceded).
➤ Cagliari: Emerson, Thiaw, Pavlovic, Theo (3 goals conceded).
➤ Juventus: Emerson, Gabbia, Thiaw, Theo (0 goals conceded).
➤ Slovan Bratislava: Calabria, Tomori, Pavlovic, Theo (2 goals conceded).
What we can see is that on only three occasions was the back four kept the same from the previous game, which was that block against Inter, Leverkusen and Fiorentina.
Fonseca has suggested in the media that he has now settled on what his first-choice centre-back duo will be, though he didn’t deny that he might keep rotating in order to manage workloads.
The trend the sticks out to me the most is that we concede less when Gabbia is one of the two CBs. Then, surprisingly, Thiaw seems to be second in this category. So by the numbers, I believe Gabbia and Thiaw should be allowed to play together 4-5 games in a row and then they can evaluate.
Good analysis