AC Milan began their time in the United States with a 3-2 win against Manchester City, and there were some interesting takeaways for Paulo Fonseca to reflect on.
La Gazzetta dello Sport have picked out some of the positives and the negatives from the game, starting with Lorenzo Torriani who got another game in goal and certainly did not look out of place.
He is from Vimodrone and Cologno, in the province of Milan, and never played much in the youth teams. Last season he was the third goalkeeper in the Primavera, behind Raveyre and Bartoccioni. Fonseca gave him a chance and put him ahead of Nava and Raveyre.
Torriani played 90 minutes yesterday in New York against Pep Guardiola’s City and in the first half he thwarted Haaland with a save that was less beautiful than his dive last week in Vienna but still impressive.
Now, there is the possibility that he will become the third goalkeeper, behind Mike Maignan and Marco Sportiello. Fonseca certainly appreciates his ability on the ball, something he asks for in order to play out from the back.
Lorenzo Colombo was another big positive with his first half brace. Samu Chukwueze gave him two carbon copy crosses and he put them in the net, which is all that you can really ask for from a striker.
The piece states that it will be a farewell game for him, and that in the next 24 hours he will leave for Italy. Empoli are waiting for him and will sign him on loan with an option to buy.
Alexis Saelemaekers and Ruben Loftus-Cheek both played a good game, confirming their known qualities. The former once again created with his dribbling on both flanks, assisting the winger, and the idea of him staying rather than being sold for €15m is gaining momentum.
RLC on the other hand already looks like he is in peak condition. Fonseca had him attack in line with Colombo in what was a 4-2-4, and we will soon understand if he will continue to play so high up or if he will be moved back when Colombo leaves.
Onto the negative notes, Fikayo Tomori found it tough to deal with Oscar Bobb, who dribbled past him in the first goal, and also James McAtee who got the better of him for the 2-2 goal. Tomori must return to being a decisive player like in the Scudetto season, after two difficult years.
More is needed from the midfield too. Yesterday Florenzi and Bennacer played there, then Pobega, but that place on paper belongs to Reijnders and (if Monaco lower their demands) Fofana. Fonseca hopes to see both on August 7, when he gets off the plane.
Saelemaekers was excellent for Bologna. We know he runs all day, but now he has a final ball. To sign a player with his qualities would cost over €30 million. I hope he stays. He’s a perfect backup for Leao.
💯% – I always had a soft spot for Salad despite his flaws and he’s versatile.
Torriani as 3rd GK or should we keep him in Futuro to focus on his development? We can also test him as 2nd choice, not that Sportiello is some world class keeper…
Saelemakers and Colombo make me wonder if we should keep them. Colombo has the the home grown factor and younger than Jovic, if we have 6 midfielders Pulisic can be shifter to CAM from time to time and have Saelemakers/Chukwueze play at RW. I would say 5 players that can play in double pivot for balance, RLC only at CAM (Reijnders and Bennacer can also play there if needed).
Musah, Reijnders, Bennacer are the only options we have there; Ricci and Bove/Rovella might be enough for balance, but we would also be sacrificing Reijnders again…
You are so obsessed with this below average Ricci, always mentioning as if he is even better than Pobega, which from there time together Pobega was far better.
Torriani looked very accomplished for his age, nothing he could do with either goal but made some good saves..
Agree with the Saelemaakers comments, he’s a very decent squad player and has clutch moments. Be interested to see how Colombo does in the rest of pre season but he took two very smart finishes against city. The second one specially was very accomplished.
I grew up in the city so I was at this match.
There were definitely alot of positives (more than anticipated anyway)
However one major negative was most of the minutes from City’s outfield players were given to their youth team. Only Haaland, Grealish and Gvardiol (10 mins ish)
and we had first team players play a majority of the minutes.
Strength of the opposition is important
MBK , SO TRUE !! Also sell BENNACER ( too slow & floats too much)
In general the whole team showed positive play with our new coach. More direct through passes and good signs playing out of high pressure. if the coach can imposse this style of play on theo leao reijnders pulisic morata we could see a general improvement of the team. I could see a change of build up play compared to Pioli.
Liberali with number #30 in midfield was what cought my attention 17 years, good technique, low gravity. He did good against city youngsters in midfield. Tarraciano was a mess with the ball a LB and struggled a lot in general 🙂
Salemaekers had great game and will probably be sold for a profit but i could se him as a sub for leao.
It’s a preseason game. Glad we won. However, most players want to impress, especially, with a new coach at the helms. Can Saelemaekers or Colombo do it for the whole season? I think not. They need clubs where they can get first team football. Serie A is going to be tougher this season, and we need the likes of Bennacer, Loftus-Cheek, Chukwueze, to up their games, if we want to achieve anything this season.
Terra isn’t good at any one single thing he did….. No positional awareness on the first goal. I don’t understand his purpose.
Things we already knew:
-Tomori and Calabria very average, suffering from sleep apnea against City youth.
-no matter how Salad looked on the pitch, there’s still no room for him at Milan. Sell the guy.
-Pobega has a worse first touch than the statue of liberty.
-Adli can’t even get a start before Pobega. As good as gone.
-Colombo will still get loaned out. The fact that he was unmarked on both goals by City’s youth doens’t mean he’s Milan quality (even despite the fact that he was composed on both goals)
-I liked Milan’s direct vertical play.
-defense is a work in progress not helped by a missing DM or Gabbia’s & Tomori’s sleep apnea.
-Impressed by Liberali. Would love to see him get more minutes. Liberali vs Samardzic?