AC Milan would line up with three of the new summer additions in their starting XI if the season were to start today, according to a report.
Milan are on seven summer signings so far: Marco Sportiello, Luka Romero, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Christian Pulisic, Tijjani Reijnders, Noah Okafor and most recently Samuel Chukwueze.
This morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport has outlined how Stefano Pioli would probably line Milan up if the Bologna game were now, starting with the defence of Davide Calabria, Malick Thiaw, Fikayo Tomori and Theo Hernandez ahead of Mike Maignan.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Tijjani Reijnders – both of whom arrived during the summer window – should be the two mezzala players either side of Rade Krunic.
Samuel Chukwueze would likely start on the right wing with Rafael Leao on the opposite flank and Olivier Giroud as the centre-forward.
Today’s Milan XI (4-3-3): Maignan; Calabria, Thiaw, Tomori, Theo Hernandez; Loftus-Cheek, Krunic, Reijnders; Chukwueze, Giroud, Leao.
Hope krunic is there only momentarily. Calabria and Tomori are too inconsistent to be considered starters BUT overall a good lineup.
How exactly has Calabria been inconsistent?
He’s probably been one of the most important players in the Pioli era.
He’s played at both full backs and CM (against Juve). He and Theo have been a key part of Pioli’s system, he’s provided goals and assists, helped us win the title, marked the player of the season out of 4 games last season, and he’s our captain and club symbol but it’s STILL not good enough for some fans.
Because he’ll never live up to the imaginary player you have in your head who will help win all the imaginary titles in your head.
I mean he’s the captain 4 sure, however never a symbol LeL what u smoking
Tomori? He’s been of the best players in recent times, just unlucky injuries
Who would you put instead of those two players???
Big NO for this comment. Tomori & Calabria are most Important player at DEF.
– Tomori always cover for Theo’s absence when Theo go very high (and all people only see Theo, not Tomori when we get Counter-Attack at left wing).
– Calabria is one of most all-round Wing-Back ever. He can defend well, and help build up & has good vision. He isn’t Theo style, but Calabria brings stability in Pioli’s system, he always know how to make team balanced in attack & defend. He is deserved to be ACM Captain.
Your football knowledge is poor
And you don’t watch the game you only look.
Pulisic is better than Chukwueze, and has far more experience at the very highest level of club and international football. Krunic should be dropped for Musah.
Why to krunic to line up captan American why
Use 4-2-3-1 plz
We would have an insane attack!
———–Giroud/Okafor———
Leao———Pulisic——-Chucky
———-Rejnders—–RLC——–
Theo—Tomori—–Thiaw–Calabria
—‐————Maignan———–
Why is this a bad idea? Gets the most talent and creativity on the field at the same time for attack. Can’t rlc or rej cover the kessie role well enough?
I agree. I don’t see Pulisic riding the bench. Only adjustment is RLC is not a DM, neither is Reinjders actually so maybe Musah can be that guy – I believe he played in an double pivot at the WC for the US national team. Let’s hope. But knowing Pioli he has Krunic set in stone as one of the starting mids…
This would be the only logical line up with all of the signings made. Okafor, Romero and Saele/CdK as subs on attacking trio.
I think Krunic for RLC. Pioli seems to like Deers already
When will people realise that playing both RLC and Reijnders in double pivot would never work. You have 3 defensive players in there, the balance is way off. Not addressing the issues we had past seasons. If we would play double pivot we will most likely play with Krunic and Musah, Reijnders would work if Loftus covers AM role, but anyway there has to be balance. Football is more than just attack
Hear me out ; a quasi diamond 3-4-3 with more attacking freedom for theo plus salad is was great in transition
we saw this last year but the attack was subpar ; it could be great with the new additions
Leao——– Giroud/okafor Pulisic/Chucky
——— CM/CAM Rejinders/RLC——–
– Theo DM/CM Bennacer/Musah__ Saeler/cala
— Tomori–—–Thiaw–—-Kalulu
—‐———————-Maignan———–——-
I like this line up
I’ll say it for free, we’d ship alot of goals next season, the midfield is lacking a sort of balance that the coach cannot address, so unless Musa happens to do a good holding job , we’d keep on thinking Tomori and Co are useless
Thank you. At least I’m not on an island..the same defensive mid position hasn’t been addressed since Kessie left. Krunic while tactical superb cannot do that job, let alone in a midfield 3 where the other two push up
Agreed
But… but… Pioli played Kessie as AM during the last phase of scudetto run 😅
Because there was Tonali and Bennacer and our CAMs were playing trash. And even when he played AM he still tracked back. He was literally ALL over the pitch
So it is not since Kessie left but since Tonali was sold with Bennacer still injured.
We signed midfielders that do bring balance. Three great mids, and Musah can easily play the DM role. But okay you want the team to fail. Great to know.
It’s not an argument or wanting the team to fail, we are speaking facts not fantasy football. But okay everybody is entitled to an opinion.
I’m talking facts. You have this mindset few teams play by. Two defensive mids? Pardon me for my 2008 era flashbacks. Clearly not.
Also I just love it when someone who thinks they are good enough to coach makes all these assumptions and crystal ball predictions about us leaking goals. And then subscribe to some form of defensive football that’s been dustbinned for over a decade.
Musah will start once he comes and Krunic will be at a bench role.
Don’t tell flying tortoise this.
Don’t you think we should tell Pioli? It was reported that Pioli want Musah as mezzala. 🤔
You believe media reports. Says it all.
You also believe some of them, otherwise, you won’t be here.
I hate to bring it to you, but Krunic will be prominently present, despite grumpling.
Only a matter of time you will rail against the new players you idolise and praise today
I still want CDK to stay and try for another season, but if he leaves I understand. I don’t bail on players. I didn’t for Tonali when his first season wasn’t great. Nor did I for Kessie in his first season.
I think they will for the most part do fine. Do I think all the new signings will perform at the same level as each other? Probably not, but I think all will do well to perhaps very well.
Continue being a moron though.
Check the way mancity plays, they play with just one defensive midfield and two central midfielders. What they is collective marking and all attacking system of play. Milan doesn’t necessarily have to play 2-3 defensive midfielders so as to prevent opponents from scoring. For God sake, the best way to defend is to attack. Play pulusic as 10 and RLC as a central midfielder. Please..we need fast players upfront. I feel this is the season where pioli will get sacked
The best way to defend is to keep possession and that’s what we have here. So you’re right.
People on this site have this 1990s and early 2000s era mentality where we need a Gattuso and Ambrosini in midfield at the same time. As much as I loved both of those players, we’re well pass that.
We used to do two mids because we had one playmaker (Pirlo) that needed coverage. The era of the playmaker are long gone.
We don’t need 3, we only need 2, 1 for starter and 1 for subtitute. How many we have now? Is Krunic and Bennacer counted as DM?
Well right now we have zero defensive midfield.
Or at least a dedicated one. No one is asking for 3 defensive mids. Two will definitely help but not necessary. City has Rodri but they also have an assembly of the best talent in the world. Also Stones moves up to CDM when they’re in attack so technically yea they do have 2 defensive mids.
For starters I think so far so good . After Maldin and Ricky Massara left. I was personally worried and scared 😳 that the worst will happen. With the new signings I can now smile 😁 with a sigh of relief knowing that the future seems bright for my favorite team Milan. With another two or more additions we are good to go. Last season we had no depth in the squad and I see that balance coming.
It’s Forza Milan all the way…..
Maignan
Calabria Tiaw Tomori Hernandez
Krunic
Loftus Raindets
Pulusic Leao
Giroud
Up until now I don’t teally undersrand why Pioli really likes Krunic. He tried him on the last two friendlies and Krunic failed miserably. Krunic is not technically gifted and slow, but Pioli kept speaking high about him on several occasions. Really make me speechless.
That’s why I am still thinking that Pioli is not the right coach for milan.
I hope once again he proves me wrong esp. with current
We should take at the second look of the two center backs( Tomori and Thiaw) we shld buy one quality defender with experience that will control e defence.we shld for Thiago siva to pair with thiaw
I suspect we’ll see Pulisic in the starting line up. Not sure where or how given our other signings.
Personally I think he seems to have more of an end product than Chukwueze.
I do like that Leao, Pulisic and Chukwueze all have slightly different characteristics, and perhaps we could rotate the 3 of them like Chelsea use to do with Duff, Cole and Robben, Barca did with Messi, Suarez, Neymar and Iniesta (not quite in that league), and Napoli did with Mertens, Insigne and Callejon.
That 3 for 2 combo works really well because it ensures lots of game time for each player and keeps them sharp.
Ideally we’d do the same with defence (Kalulu should be used as cover across the back four) and midfield (with Krunic).
Really we should have a core of 16-17 players.
If we get lots of injuries we’ll struggle anyway.
Ironically the squad last season actually performed the best during the injury crisis prior to Christmas when we were keeping up with Napoli. It was actually after the Christmas break when Pioli had the full squad at his disposal that we lost our competitiveness. Rotating 8 players in a Serie A match will do that.
Lol. Chukwueze had 13 goals and 11 assists last season. He didn’t come here to be benched. I know you really despise the signing
Again I don’t hate the players.
They are merely pawns.
You’re the one that writes off players not me.
However these new players perform I will support them because they are now the team. I can’t support the team and not support the players who are the team.
The word “personally” implies it’s an opinion. I’m comparing Pulisic and Chukwueze, and I prefer the former. I based this off YouTube (as it’s not like I watched these players before since they’re new to the team).
I don’t think we’ll see stats like that from any players because La Liga is a different type of league to Serie A. I certainly wouldn’t want to put pressure like you are on the team.
It’d be terrible if they didn’t live up to your expectations.
Did I write off any of these new signings? No. Do I think they will all be Theo level blockbuster hits? Unlikely. But I think they will all have varying degrees of success.
Also, the Premier League isn’t anything like the Serie A, and yet here you are wanting Chukwueze sitting on the bench. Youre Dreaming, hair Lice guy.
No you’re not writing off any of these new players, you’re writing off the players who only went and helped us win the title!
And that does suggest that you might turn on these players if things don’t work out. This has been a pattern for many fans (buoyed on by the media) for the best part of 15 years.
I’m not suggesting Chukwueze should be benched and if you actually calmed down and read my post you’d see I actually thought rotating him, Pulisic and Leao would work quite well and compared it to what other title winning sides did.
I thought everyone wanted “depth” so why is me suggesting how we use this “depth” controversial?
The cause was Maignan’s injury.
Maignan wa injury before Christmas when we were still competitive.
The catalyst was the collapse against Roma that brought an end to a period of nearly 2 years where we’d been one of the top 2 teams in Serie A (also contrary to popular belief the Scudetto win was not a fluke or once off but sat in the middle of an extended period of 2 years which began after the Covid break).
Why that happened is the big mystery that needs solving. Our form has not been good since January so I do hope we can shake it.
That crisis period happen inside his injury. At the beginning of the injury, other teams had not found way to exploit Tata, but they found it after WC. Shortly before the return of Maignan, Pioli had found a way to stop that exploit.
433 are good , if yunus come , he would replace RLC . Yunus have good physical and more defensive than RLC . Pulisic use as super sub . We need RB that have good speed & good crossing ,calabria often out of position due to low speed
Pls this man should stop this rubbish information here which one is giroud to start again where you good attacter pls pioli giroud should operate from bench not a starter..pulisic middle,leao n chukwueze for both wing,okafor front man,Milan should pls sign dingo of Torino bcos Calabria is a short one for the back with Tomori too.
One can only wish Bennacer will take krunic’s place once he’ll return. LC should be the physical presence we need
We were good at double pivot. With Musah is knocking on the door, why just can’t we continue using 4231 and see how it works. The 433 seems sacrificing Puli to start from the bench, while 4213 will experiencing Puli and still won’t be sacrificing the wing-burst attacks. Alternate to 433 when 4213 can’t break the low-block defense.
Ronin, i’m sorry. We already know how it works with 4231. We saw how it works against Inter last year. 5 good midfielders will always outplay 2 good midfielders. And our forwards will never see the ball.
Last year situation more or less because there was no player could cover the hole that Kessie was left off, especially when Theo burst forward. With Musah it could be different. IMO
Wow, there has no DM player.. Attacking will just for one side and the other will stand to deffend.. This tactic is easy to read from our opponents.. I think
If you want trophies you start pulisic. It’s that simple.
He is to be fired for the first four rounds as coach if he benches Musah and Poslic insted
And Krunic and un Applicable Line of our Players
Milan should remove Pioli at the end of season. Bring in a new a top coach. Pioli more suitable for mid table team.
I still have 1 question : What about our STC ? Giroud needs cover maybe 2 strikers-cover because in 36 yrs old, he can’t play full season.
Okafor might be Leao’s Cover because Okafor’s playing style isn’t like a striker. He is more like a Winger, aggressive winger like Leao.
Will 2 STC covers are Colombo & Lazetic ? Or will CDK will be trained to be STC ?
Milan’s weakness is Calabria and Tomori. Moncada must add other key players, and also Pioli should be add Pulizic as a key player and a real playmaker. He must try to return to the 4231 method, with Pulizic behind Giro as a playmaker.
Please don’t keep worrying about Olivier Giroud..
I expect him to score around 20 goals this season in all competitions…We have some amazing players around him with pace ,,but we need a man with experience, who is strong and technically brilliant..
He needs to be inside that 18 yard area ,that’s where he belongs…yes he needs a back up ,but not a replacement…The same can be said for all other positions in the team ,but this is not a problem with the squad that we have …We will score goals for sure .
I believe we can win the scuddeto again this season ,I really do ..We can also be a force to be reckoned with in the champions leauge ..so please let’s not be negative …I believe don’t you ?