AC Milan head coach Sergio Conceicao is expected to make some interesting changes to the team that lost to Napoli for tonight’s derby against Inter.
Conceicao knows that he can still leave the club at the end of the season with two trophies under his belt in just six months of work, with the Coppa Italia taking on some extra importance given the European spots are currently out of reach in the league.
The predicted starting XIs
The only absentees for the Portuguese coach to think about are Emerson Royal (who should miss another 20 days) and Ruben Loftus-Cheek (out for a month after appendix surgery). Yunus Musah returns from suspension, and Malick Thiaw is over his sickness bug.
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below), Conceicao will go with a back four of Kyle Walker, Matteo Gabbia, Malick Thiaw and Theo Hernandez ahead of the goalkeeper Mike Maignan.
Youssouf Fofana and Tijjani Reijnders are down as the midfield double pivot, with Christian Pulisic ahead of them in the No.10 role. Alex Jimenez should get a chance on the right, with Rafael Leao returning on the left and Tammy Abraham remaining up front.
Milan will have some options off the bench such as Santiago Gimenez, Sunday’s scorer Luka Jovic, Joao Felix, Samuel Chukwueze, Warren Bondo and Musah.
Predicted Milan XI (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Walker, Gabbia, Thiaw, Theo Hernandez; Fofana, Reijnders; Jimenez, Pulisic, Leao; Abraham.
Predicted Inter XI (3-5-2): Sommer; Bisseck, De Vrij, Bastoni; Darmian, Frattesi, Calhanoglu, Barella, Augusto; Thuram, Correa.
So Reijnders will cover for Theo and Leao side when they go forward? If we lose 3-0 we good
Massive midfield imbalance. Tijjani can’t cover Theo and will be blocked from attacking. Every inter attack will end up in a goal. We may see a high scoring game between both teams but realistically 1-4 for Inter tonight
Yep.
The coach should go 343
Pavlovic -Thiaw- Tomori
Pav & tomori can defend aggressively on the left and right side respectively.
Pavlovic can be more useful in the buildup, creating room for theo & leao to be more dangerous on the left while Jimenez/musah & pulisic can operate on the right.
Walker in our lineup then we are one man down that’s awful player i can say he is donkey in the field
With our idiotic defence reaction and defence support among the players ,we should play 6-3-1 and it would still be a shaky hollow defence ,i already see how they let calhanoglu open shots from 20 m distance,or how they forgeting to cover their wingbacks as always
Fonseca defeated inter with a 442
SC deafeated inter and juve as soon as he switched to a 442. He switched to a 442 pn sunday too and we pulled a goal. My question.
Why not play 442 to make life easier?
This lineup has potential because in games against Real and Slovan Bratislava, we had Reijnders play exactly where he was and his presence with Theo and Leao created a lethal left side. On paper, it looks week defensively but they have potential to exploit that left side with him there.
The other reason we are Inter’s kryptonite is we tend to do attack best on counter-attacks. A three-man defense is always going to get exposed to Leao and Pulisic. What matters the most is that we put away our opportunities which has also been a huge struggle. AC Milan can get definitely get a W here.