With the midfield department a bit low on numbers Stefano Pioli decided to entrust Yacine Adli with quite a big job, and he certainly repaid his faith.
La Gazzetta dello Sport (as seen below) writes that Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Yacine Adli and Tijjani Reijnders are the ‘heart, intelligence and legs’ of Milan who are back on track, and when Ismael Bennacer returns from the Africa Cup of Nations the quality in the midfield will rise again.
The paper speaks of the ‘metamorphosis’, which means that Adli is in charge at the moment. He is the new starting regista, which seemed like an almost impossible thing at the beginning of the season when Pioli told the Frenchman there was no room for him.
Adli accepted the challenge and started working to change his role, from attacking midfielder to playmaker in front of the defence, in a department that in the meantime had been repopulated by the summer transfer market as Reijnders, Loftus-Cheek and Yunus Musah arrive.
Against Empoli, Adli touched the ball more than anyone else (over 100 touches in 90 minutes), raising and lowering the pace as needed, like a true No.6 should. Against Roma he raised the level further with a goal and he had a hand in Giroud’s too.
The midfield has rebounded thanks to Adli, of course, but also to the affinities he has with his team-mates. There are many in the dressing room, and they go beyond the dynamics of the pitch.
This was demonstrated by the message that Leao dedicated to him on Instagram which read as follows: “Example of patience and hard work. Congratulations brother.”
Added to those of Rafa were the compliments of Giroud, Theo, Pulisic, Thiaw; practically an entire team. Obviously there was no shortage of words from Reijnders, a team-mate with whom the feeling started early and has strengthened in the last few games.
The two love playing together, they look for each other and fit together wonderfully, it is also from this understanding that the change takes place at pace in Milan’s midfield.
In the new trio everyone is in the right place: with Adli deeper, Reijnders has found the space from the left while Loftus-Cheek is free to occupy an area starting from the centre-right.
Musah – more muscular – remains an interesting option to come off the bench during the match. As a substitute, the American caused panic in the Giallorossi area and hit the post late on after a weaving run.
The new arrival Filippo Terracciano, however, remained on the bench: he can also play in the midfield, but Pioli said: “For now I’m only trying him on the flank.” Given the abundance in midfield, that seems a good move.
I’m very happy for Adli but the article also sheds light on the lack of planning by the management. Reijnders was supposed to play furthest up, now it’s RLC. Krunic was supposed to sit in front of the defense, all of a sudden it’s Reijnders there as a regista. Now, Adli is showing improvement and promise, so he’s the regista. Musah has been moved around the midfield and still has no stable position. What happens when Bennacer returns? I believe all this contributed to our struggles this season. The same goes for Okafor. He has the characteristics of a second striker but we play with a lone striker. He can play on the left wing but we already have Leao there. I’m not sure what the future looks like for him. It seems a lot of our success is dependent on players reinventing themselves in new positions. Unless Pioli had a big say in these transfers, I’d say he’s been dealt a bad hand. He isn’t without his faults and it has been a disappointing season but I’m in no hurry to get rid of him.
Back as 4312 will be the answer. That’s Milan DNA.
That’s basically what happened in a lot of teams though? And it’s not like it’s the first time happened in Milan history. Take Pirlo case, for example. Do you believe we bought him to be played as a regista right from the start? No.
Many players played different role between his youth and when he matured. It’s not necessarily lack of planning but a Mess of things happened both on the matches, on training ground, and off the pitch. Especially on younger players.
On Okafor case, do you think we only need one good players for each position? We need 2 good players for each position at minimum – to provided cover and competition. His future is to compete with Leao – and to provide further cover in other attacking position. Take Liverpool for instance – they have 5 Senior players that could play any front three and further back up from youngsters. The only player with no clear backup is Salah – and that’s because he performed at consistently unbelievable level and really fit.
Oli you do great work but seriously, “the abundance in midfield”??
We have Adli, RLC, Reijnders and Musah as senior players to fill 3 midfield roles.
If RLC is “the heart” we are in trouble, he has shown very little.
Musah is young and has potential, and perhaps RLC finds form (though to be honest, this is why he was never a fixture at Chelsea).
It’s Bennacer, Adli, Reijnders who are the future of this midfield.
We do also need a true DM to add some steal and to give options
How many times I said that Adli should be given more playing time and there should be in place a proper turnover so that players continue to grow and adapt to play with the team. Adli should be given the role of Pirlo feeding forwards and when the opportunity comes shoot from outside the box.
Oh boy I think they’re over doing it now.
Also I thought we went back to 4231 🤷♂️ so how is Adli a regista? I’m so lost.
Also we only played our b*TCH Roma. We face an in form Udine but other than that we’d be facing a falling Bologna and Frosinone, another of our b*tches Napoli, and Rennes. We have room to score some serious points
Misogynist comment
If only players could play together for several seasons without disruption, but fabrizio romano and all the unknown little ones and the jorge mendes crew would become unpopular, so the pieces have to keep moving on and on and on, probably it will be frattessi, locateli and mainoo in 2026/27 season, and locateli will be the new krunic online
Let’s see how Adli does rest of season. Magnificent display but only one game. I’m a huge supporter of him and think he will be a star for us. BUT PATIENCE is needed. He needs time and will have many up’s and downs like all young players do especially one that is learning an entirely new position. However if he does master it – as we saw in Roma game -‘sky is the limit for this kid. Another potential gem from Maldini to go along with so many others. He’ll – Even CDK is coming around – who would have thought LOL 🤪🤪🤪