The international break is currently underway and this has given Stefano Pioli, as well as his staff, some time to analyse the recent performances. Above all, however, it will give the manager time to decide the left-back dilemma.
Theo Hernandez was booked in the game against Hellas Verona, for doing his usual celebration mind you, and will thus miss the important encounter with Fiorentina. This also means that Pioli will have to decide his replacement pretty soon, ideally before the proper preparations begin.
Milan don’t have an obvious replacement for the Frenchman, as crazy as that sounds for a club this big, but there are two options that Pioli will choose between: Alessandro Florenzi and Filippo Terracciano. Both have played in this position for Milan before.
Seeing as Terracciano arrived in January from Hellas Verona, Florenzi has done it a lot more for the Rossoneri and he will be the choice for most Milan fans. On the other hand, Terracciano has played in that position more than the veteran, just not with the red and black shirt.
Fundamentally, we are talking about two very different players here. Terracciano has a lot of potential, he has a good height and is quite fast as well. He’s very rough around the edges still, though, and is significantly behind Florenzi when it comes to technique.
Florenzi has shown that he can play on the left before, even if he is very right-footed and the defending leaves a lot to be desired. In most cases, he makes up for the unnatural position with his experience and we have seen him deliver some good set-pieces this season as well, which should not be forgotten.
So, what decision should Pioli make? It will depend entirely on the game he wants to play. If it’s Florenzi, one would assume that he will be a lot more defensive, or more responsibility will be placed on Fikayo Tomori to cover the action on the left (perhaps with Florenzi in an inverted role).
With Terracciano, on the other hand, Milan could *almost* keep their style of play and hope that the youngster has a good day. He will not be able to deliver Hernandez’s trademark runs, we all know that, but it will be easier for him to switch between attacking and defending.
The weight of the game cannot be overstated, of course, and this leads us to believe that Florenzi will be given the chance. Terracciano will get his chance eventually if not against Fiorentina, and the reality is that Milan cannot afford to drop points in this clash.
They can, of course, but not if they want to avoid seeing Inter celebrating the Scudetto in the derby. As far as experience vs. potential goes, at least in light of that, it seems pretty obvious that experience will prevail here.
