AC Milan face a big Champions League test tonight when they take on Bayer Leverkusen at the BayArena, a team that ran over almost everyone they faced last season en-route to a league and cup double.
This morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport has a section dedicated to the game titled: ‘Milan without fear. Defence, Fofana, dribbling and… Abraham to hurt Bayer. Morata is not at his best: he goes to the bench, Loftus-Cheek warms up. Leverkusen a goal machine but they concede’.
Paulo Fonseca knows that it will not be enough just to try and block the passage to Mike Maignan’s goal in order to get a positive result. He wants to see a courageous team that dominates with the ball even in Europe, where the bar is raised compared to Serie A.
There is still work to be done to reach certain levels but we will understand a lot about how far the team have come since their early-season difficulties given that the team who await ended Bayern Munich’s run of domination.
Not being able to field Alvaro Morata from minute one (in all likelihood he will start on the bench), complicates his plans, but it doesn’t nullify the chances of the Rossoneri who still have ways to create difficulties for the Germans.
Generating pressure
If the Spanish striker will only be on the bench, Ruben Loftus-Cheek will play in his place. With the Englishman it will be more complicated to deploy the 4-2-4 in the non-possession phase that prevents the opponent’s build-up.
Inter also had to deal with it and found themselves facing a line composed of Pulisic, Morata, Abraham and Leao, and they passed the ball less easily. This would have been the idea again if Alvaro had been 100%, but now they have to find a variation on the theme.
It is likely that the first commandment will always be to press, at least at the start of the build-up phase, but it will be necessary to slide back quickly to not leave too much space between the lines.
With Fofana in the middle of the field the Diavolo have found the balancer that was sorely lacking in the first few games, but the Frenchman cannot do everything alone. Bayer builds with the three defenders plus the two central midfielders and in particular Xhaka has the task of getting Wirtz involved.
This is why it will take a lot of running to slow down the circulation of the ball while the hosts are in possession, a team that are a machine offensively as demonstrated by the 13 goals scored in the last four matches, hence the request by Fonseca for a defensively perfect performance.
The errors seen against Parma, Lazio and Liverpool would be fatal and at the BayArena the risk of Milan making a fool of themselves would be high.
Using the ball
To think about going for a draw is not in Fonseca’s DNA though. That’s why the other diktat will be to defend while holding the ball; to break the rhythm of the opponents and force them to run backwards.
The Atalanta model – which in the last Europa League final attacked the Germans with one-on-ones across the entire pitch – cannot be replicated because the physical and technical characteristics of the Rossoneri are different from those of La Dea.
However, this does not mean that with courage they cannot move the ball, using switches of play to activate Theo and Leao on the left. Abraham will have the task of creating the spaces that Morata usually opens and the French full-back, the Portuguese, but also the midfielders will have to insert themselves there.
Scoring would be important to confirm that Bayer are not invulnerable (as demonstrated by the 10 goals conceded in the Bundesliga), but also to make it clear that the feat is not as impossible as it seemed three weeks ago.
Using energy
Another key point will be physical energy, closely linked to mental energy. Milan arrive at the second Champions League game after beating Lecce on Friday, a game that was won thanks to five minutes of fire at the end of the first half and a controlled recovery.
The Rossoneri had one more day of rest than Bayer Leverkusen, who on Saturday had to squeeze out a point away from home against their title rivals Bayern Munich. This could be a significant aspect, especially if the Germans are sometimes forced to chase and do not dominate the flanks with Frimpong and Grimaldo.
This is what Fonseca will reiterate in today’s team meeting. It will be a real call to arms, and the hope is that it will be more complicated for Xabi Alonso’s men to break through, producing opportunities at the other end.
I don’t see why RLC replacing Morata makes much difference on the defensive side, he’s a perfectly capable presser off the ball.
What he doesn’t have is Morata’s link up play (though he does add some physical threat with his height), but if he’s been watching and studying the last few games I’m sure he’ll perform the role.
Other option would be Reijnders but then we have to commit to a replacement CM and that’s probably a bigger risk at the moment, with Fofana still settling down into his new role.
a better option to replace morata wud be okafor.second striker is his best position and he got better linkup plays than cheek.plus he cant do worse defensively than cheek.only advantage cheek got over him is height.
If Loftus cheek want to be a number 10 then he must learn how to dribble and how to penetrate defense and how to attacks and how to support both wingers with the ball this the quality of a number 10 otherwise he should not be our no 10 let’s use somebody that can do it better
Why do our formations and tactics always get leaked before games??? Its so bothersome. We can’t even go a game without seeing what our tactics will be before the game. All a coach has to do is pick up a newspaper and read it