AC Milan decided to dip into the transfer market on deadline day after Alessandro Florenzi’s muscle injury against Sassuolo, and Sergino Dest arrived.
La Gazzetta dello Sport (via MilanNews) writes how Stefano Pioli and the management believed that Davide Calabria alone would not be enough from here to the break for the World Cup, so after evaluating different profiles the choice of Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara was Sergino Dest.
The USA international arrived at Milanello from Barcelona on loan with an option to buy and the feeling is that Dest will play not only as a full-back but also as a winger. He is a young talent with enormous potential, but he did not explode as some thought after joining Barca from Ajax.
Dest’s main strength is his speed down the flank which contributes to his attacking threat, and while he will have to improve defensively in Serie A and also take a step forward from a mental point of view, he arrives in a positive environment and is immediately ready to get stuck in.
Yeah but Pioli more than half the time is obstinate with his selection. For instance, everyone sees that we have the squad to play a 3-5-2 or a 3-4-1-2 but Pioli chooses to stick to the 4-2-3-1. It’s understandable because Giampaolo came and tried to implement his preferred formation which failed and he tried to correct that by using a formation which wasn’t his but that failed even more. Also, I don’t get why we’re the only ones who take time to integrate players into the fold. I see Paqueta who just signed for the hammers is playing their next match, Isaak played from the start and many others but for us no one is ever ready to be thrown right in. I think football is like 60% player intelligence and maybe 40% tactics but then I’m not a coach so maybe the coach knows best still a little unpredictability has never hurt anyone. It’s kinda like we all know that Leao will be on the left wing in the next match but I see some teams switch wingers to confuse the opponents. It’d be nice to see all these but like they say, “you don’t change a winning formula.” 🥲
I dont understand the obsession with playing 3 at the back. It would require 3 CB with 2 in rotation. We barely have enough. Tomori, Kalulu and Kjaer (who can’t play all the time and is mostly injured). with only Gabbia in rotation. I guess Thiaw too who just arrived yesterday 🤷♂️ and we haven’t tried it out in pre-season because we didn’t have the personnel.
Plus such a drastic change in formation now means movements are different. It’s not the same set of movements the players are accustomed to and the style of play changes. And I haven’t even gone into the wing backs issue.
I’d argue we currently play a version of 3 at the back with a high line already that I don’t really see the point. 3 at the back is more a counter attack formation
Not actually saying we should play three at the back, just saying we should at least have a plan b especially when playing certain kinds of opponents. It’s hard to imagine that in modern football, a coach can’t adapt his team to play several formations but like you said, a drastic change means the movement becomes different so it’s not difficult to understand why Pioli sticks to what he’s used to still I think football is 60% player intelligence and 40% tactics. 🙂
IKWYDLS — I agree with you we don’t have enough CB to play 3 in the back.
I will say that I believe the obsession with playing 3 in the back has always been because people want Theo further up the pitch and that is where he plays for France. And Dest is similarly more of a threat going forward and isn’t as good defensively as Calabria.
Having said all that, I still think 4-2-3-1 is better for us/those players because (besides the lack of CB depth), Theo has actually developed the past 18 months into a much better defender, gets back on D; and I think Dest is destined to start at RW anyway, not RB. So his deficiencies at defending won’t be as exposed at RW replacing the horrendous Messias and terrible Saelemakers.