AC Milan head coach Paulo Fonseca is expected to make a number of changes to his starting line-up for tonight’s game against Parma compared to the side that drew with Torino a week ago.
According to this morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below), the game against Torino showed some limitations because while Milan at times played well and created enough chances to put themselves in a good position, they also looked defensively fragile and a tad predictable.
Fonseca’s ‘brand new Milan’ starts from the midfield where Tijjani Reijnders and Yunus Musah are expected to play, with Ismael Bennacer dropping to the bench in a move that probably says something about his future. Yacine Adli has not been called up again, and is on the way out.
Samuel Chukwueze was among the starters of the first night of the season but he is expected to miss out, with Christian Pulisic back on the right. The former Chelsea man had been elected as the future attacking midfielder, but Fonseca will opt for Ruben Loftus-Cheek who played there a lot last season.
Then there is the defensive end, where Strahinja Pavlovic is expected to come in for Malick Thiaw. For the Serbian it will be his first start since joining and he will look to bring solidity to a defence which last season conceded 69 goals. Up front, Noah Okafor will start.
To recap, there will be two changes in defence, a brand new double pivot and changes in the attack, with a couple of tactical shifts and the entry of five new starters out of XI. Youssouf Fofana and Emerson Royal could yet be late surprise inclusions too, which would make it seven.
I just want to see 1-2 games with Bennacer and Fofana as double-pivots and Reijnders as CAM
Bennacer is leaving now…
Unlike the nonsensical lineup of the Torino game, this lineup makes sense given what we currently have in terms of available players and fit players. Also, players are back to their preferred positions so it’s encouraging that Fonseca seems to have learned from his mistakes, unlike Pioli who always persisted for a long time with lineups that weren’t working.