Stefano Pioli is no stranger to an injury crisis as he has constantly had to come up with new solutions to cope with the number of absentees since his arrival.
La Gazzetta dello Sport writes how Pioli, on Saturday night, won in Empoli without Theo Hernandez and Mike Maignan, with Alexis Saelemaekers, Davide Calabria and Simon Kjaer going off before the end of the game.
Pioli has become known for trying new tactical solutions at Milanello and preparing back-up plans as the Milan boss has had to come up with ideas for teams who play with two midfielders and how to break down those who play deep with three of four defenders, often playing Sandro Tonali, Theo Hernandez or other players between the lines.
The attacking midfielder role is a good example of this as Brahim Diaz started last season, Franck Kessie was then used in that position and Rade Krunic was relied upon by the end. Then, Sandro Tonali has been pushing forward more too.
In defence, Pioli trusted Pierre Kalulu when there was a crisis in the centre-back role and now in six months he has gone from a semi-unknown alternative – perhaps as a full-back – to a high-level central defender. Theo was used as a winger and an added midfielder in various attacking moves, with a 4-2-3-1 at the beginning of 2020 becoming more of a 4-1-4-1 at time.
Pioli relies heavily on the staff and dedicates a lot of time to motivating the team, often speaking at Milanello not with the established starters but with the players who are playing less, to get them up to speed.
The results are visible as Ante Rebic scored in Empoli, Rade Krunic played in his umpteenth position, Pierre Kalulu shifted to the right and Fodé Ballo-Touré scored an important goal, while Ciprian Tatarusanu has also been decisive at times too. In short, Pioli is not afraid of finding a way.
There is a big difference between NOT afraid trying new formation and simply Has NO choice. I actually think PIOLI always stick with the same formation. HE need to brave enough to try new players or even new formations even with NO injuries.
“HE need to brave enough to try new players or even new formations even with NO injuries.”
This isn’t about “bravery”!
New formation means different tactics where every players needs to learn and adapt. The process is not easy and definitely better to do that in pre-season match.
So trying new formation over old winning formation when the league just started and every match will cost us either 3 points, 1 points, or 0 is not making any sense.
You don’t see Ancelotti changing formation from 4-3-1-2 into 4-4-1-1 after the season just started or in the middle.
As for trying new players with no injuries, Pioli already did that many times.
Again, this is not about “bravery” because each players are different. Some are ready to play while others needs a lot of time to prepare. This isn’t like video games where you can just pick whoever you want as a starter / sub and then win.