AC Milan have the best attack in all of Serie A and Paulo Fonseca’s decision to field a very aggressive side seems to be bringing the desired results.
La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) talk this morning about the front four players Alvaro Morata, Tammy Abraham, Rafael Leao and Christian Pulisic who are enjoying a golden moment after the decision before the derby to remove a midfielder and play a four-man attack.
Two attacking wingers like Pulisic and Leao plus two genuine centre-forwards like Abraham and Morata seemed like a tactical gamble, also because the full-backs – Emerson Royal and Theo Hernandez – are more geared towards pushing forward.
Intuition instead allowed the Rossoneri to win the derby and to give an encore against Lecce. In the two games with the ‘super attacking formation’ Milan have amassed six points, five goals scored and just one conceded.
Now the predisposition to pressing and the attempt to recover the ball in a more dangerous area are evident. The spaces to cover are no longer huge chasms like against Parma, and the team are more balanced and compact.
This is partly because Leao has also started to increase his work rate off the ball, but above all because Youssouf Fofana is starting to show what he can bring too. Inter and Lecce had difficulty building from the back because they found themselves facing a four (Pulisic, Morata, Abraham and Leao) that is difficult to overcome.
Those four have grit and energy. They run and chase. Especially Alvaro and Tammy, it is right to underline. This is why Fonseca is oriented to continue on this tactical path, at least while the results are as they are now and his players are all in good shape.
A special mention is needed for Morata who is proving to be the leader that Ibrahimovic, Furlani and Moncada were looking for. He arrived at Milanello after winning the European Championship, but without any arrogance, and he has raised the level with his goals and his leadership.
If Morata scored his second goal of the season, Pulisic – including the Champions League – is already at five (plus two assists). In the last four matches, including the Champions League, he has been able to celebrate a goal in each game.
The USA winger closed the 2023-24 Rossoneri with 15 goals and 11 assists, so we can say he picked up from where he left off. Fonseca hopes he doesn’t stop since Abraham and Leao are having some problems in finishing chances.
The Englishman came close to scoring his second goal at San Siro after converting the penalty against Venezia, but this time he was stopped by the post and a great save from Falcone. For him, however, only applause from the fans and the coach. The front four are clicking and dragging Milan out of the hole they were in.
Take one invisible ruben out of the AM, put in a work dog like Morata and witness the difference.
Elementary imao
Tactically we have not changed, the real difference is Gabbia in defence, Fofana settling in finding balanse in midfield. I have a feeling if you move one of those pieces the floodgates will open again
Bingo to both @flyingturtle and @Bruno
We integrated some better players over some worse ones. See if we get a top notch attacker (Tammy works hard I’ll give him credit but he’s kinda average not top class) and a competent RB (cmon we all know Emerson sucks) this will elevated us further
Credit to Fonseca though, making the changes not being stubborn like Pioli. Also he seems to have kept the dressing room unified, most important change I can see is the team as a whole is actually putting in the effort.
Forza Milan
Hopefully none of the these players get injured because it will be a different story for Milan. In January I think Milan should make an offer for Jonathan David who in my opinion moves in a similar way to Morata as a 2nd striker.
But we really need to find quality back ups who can challenge Abraham and Morata for a starting spot because we currently don’t have the right players to replace them if we have an injury crisis and with so many games to play it will be difficult to keep these players fresh and fit.
We need to take action in January and we should go for Berardi too since we can get him on a discount because sassuolo is playing in Serie B.