GdS: Krunic and Chukwueze key as Pioli seeks to resolve two major issues

Stefano Pioli has a new AC Milan side at his disposal and now they are searching for an identity that will lead them to a second star as soon as possible.

La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) writes how the first summer friendlies highlighted two problems – the defensive strength (or lack of) and the few goals scored – which creates a paradox.

On paper, this Milan team is full of attacking talent such as Rafael Leao, Samuel Chukwueze, Olivier Giroud, Noah Okafor and Christian Pulisic, while they have a defensive group that has been tested in the last couple of seasons.

These two areas should be the guarantees, while the midfield in theory is the department to be rebuilt. Instead, everything seems to be going backwards even if – this is the truth – a team is a single organism, it cannot be cut into pieces or broken down into self-sufficient departments.

What can Pioli do to give Mike Maignan more protection and to score more? Starting with the attack, Milan will play today at 18:00 CEST against Étoile du Sahel, the team that won the last Tunisian league, and tomorrow at 11:00 CEST against Novara. Both are behind closed doors.

Pioli will alternate all his players and in one of the two games he will have Samuel Chukwueze play from the start. He is the first answer, because what filters from Milanello is that everyone is impressed by his first training sessions:.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Tijjani Reijnders will have to do their bit to help Chukwueze and Leao with their well-times runs and their creativity.

Then responsibility falls on Leao – who is already among the best in the world but in the final third he can grow a lot – and Giroud who is experiencing a difficult summer but should get more chances to put away.

There have also been a number of individual errors in preseason too. Fikayo Tomori was not the only culprit, and the team must act as a unit to shield the back line, include Rade Krunic who will be used in a very different way than last season.

Krunic in the new Milan is the deepest who often drops back to almost be an added defender. It changes a lot, for him and for the team: positions, choices in transition and in the defensive phase.

Tags AC Milan

17 Comments

      1. Maybe you should remind them that we were unbeaten at the start of 2021/2022 season with Krunic + Tonali as double pivot. At that time Bennacer was unfit and Kessie were busy with Olympic.

        1. So you think milan good run back then because of Krunic??
          Wow you must have a quite “perfect logic”..
          Fed up with these krunics fanboy..

      2. Many plYers played big part as well back to 21-22 season such ad Rebic,samu, etc. According to your logic, then milan should keep all players who contributed to scudetto. Sigh. If so there is no way we can improve the squad..
        Really don’t understand with milan fans who keep defending mediocre player like Krunic.
        He was not even starter last season.
        Are u milan fans or krunics fanboy?

        1. Maybe you should learn how to read and process information.

          The man said “If krunic plays any part in our team then we can just forget about scudetto”.

          Just pointed out what he claimed to be already proven wrong, because Krunic played big part in a season where Milan won the scudetto.

          Also, Krunic was a starter last season. After Milan was getting pummeled by every team they played in January, Krunic was put in the starting line up which helped solidify that midfield and led Milan to the semi final of the UCL.

          Those are all facts.

          1. The man refers to upcoming season.
            Players played part for scudetto back then doesn’t mean we need to keep them. That is the point

            What Krunic was starter??? Really??
            Do you know what starter means?
            He played mainly because other players injured or unavailable, on very few occasion because the tactical change. But he was never starter.. a player played 5 times in a row in one season doesn’t make him starter

          2. He was a starter from the end of January till the end of the season. That’s almost 5 months. He played alongside Tonali and Bennacer. So who was unavailable that allowed krunic to start? Pobega, Adli, Vranckx? Who?

          3. They don’t understand. You can give them stats and info on how many games krunic started and played 90 min and they’ll still cry he is nor was a starter.. ridiculous people.
            He was even praised as the balancer by Italian media. But nah. KrUnIc BaD

    1. True Milan fans remember the likes of Rijkaard, Albertini, Pirlo all legends who played a similar role. Now, we’re stuck with this garbage who is slow, can’t thread a pass, has no vision or physicality. He’s so bad, its embarrassing. But, let me guess “he plays hard and knows the system.” I wonder if Pioli will propose before a match this year in front of the Curva.

  1. and Kalulu must play in my opinion! I like his play so much, those are small nuances but u think he is far better than Calabria.

  2. I can already see Krunic is going to be the new Tonali on this site. He’s going to get an extra point added to his rating every week.
    If krunic is the key to our success we are utterly and truly screwed.

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