With the competitive action just around the corner, Milan are starting to reflect on their pre-season in regard to results, individual player performance and the overall tactical direction of the team under Paulo Fonseca.
As highlighted by La Gazzetta dello Sport, there are plenty of talking points from Milan’s pre-season and one of them is the fact that they managed to beat some very good teams in the USA. Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester City were all beaten by Milan which helps to breed confidence.
In terms of how the team looks in the transfer market, the consensus is that more than half of the needs have been met by signing Alvaro Morata, Emerson Royal and Strahinja Pavlovic, but a midfielder is a must.
Of those signings, Morata is certainly the prized possession and fans will be desperate to see how the former Juventus man performs.
Fonseca’s tactical style has been evident from the very early stages of pre-season which is positive news, as Milan have been tighter at the back and have kept the ball much better than before.
In terms of which players have made a surprise impact, young goalkeeper Lorenzo Torriani is right up there as he was the starter in all three US games. Samuel Chukwueze also had a great pre-season and has a very good chance of carving out a starting role for himself.
As for injuries, Alessandro Florenzi and Marco Sportiello are the two casualties. With Torriani’s emergence and the signing of Emerson Royal, the impacts are mitigated.
Sportiello’s injury is a problem. Torriani is no where close to being a good sub in case Mike gets sidelined for more than one match
We just need Mike to hold out until mid October.
Considering our schedule, it’s not an impossible task.
That’s just 7 League matches and then an International break. If Sporttiello can be back by MD 8 against Udinese on Oct 20th, Torriani will be sufficient coverage.
So long as Mike is healthy of course.
Let’s cross our fingers then; league matches is almost a quarter of the entire season.