Massimiliano Allegri is expected to opt for consistency in his AC Milan side for the big game against Napoli on Sunday.
Allegri and Milan want to lay down a marker after a good start to the season by beating last season’s Scudetto winners at San Siro. However, they face a side that have won every league game under Antonio Conte so far.
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AC Milan vs. Udinese: Predicted XIs
According to this morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport, Allegri will continue with the same rearguard of Mike Maignan in goal then a three-man defence of Fikayo Tomori, Matteo Gabbia and Strahinja Pavlovic.
Alexis Saelemaekers and Pervis Estupinan are almost certain to be the two wing-backs, either side of a midfield trio of Youssouf Fofana, Luka Modric and Adrien Rabiot. Santiago Gimenez and Christian Pulisic are down as the front two.
Conte meanwhile is tipped to persist with his new 4-1-4-1 system that sees Rrahmani come in for the injury Buongiorno, Lobotka as the midfield pivot, the reigning Serie A MVP McTominay on the left, and De Bruyne behind Hojlund.
The big news for Milan is that they should have two weapons off the bench: Rafael Leao has returned to the fold and should be in the squad, while Christopher Nkunku is getting nearer to 100% after a goal in midweek.
Predicted Milan XI (3-5-2): Maignan; Tomori, Gabbia, Pavlovic; Saelemaekers, Fofana, Modric, Rabiot, Estupinan; Gimenez, Pulisic.
Predicted Napoli XI (4-1-4-1): Meret; Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Juan Jesus, Spinazzola; Lobotka; Politano, Anguissa, De Bruyne, McTominay; Hojlund.
i, had, the time of my lifeee. And I’ve never felt this way before, and I swear. This is trueee. And I own this all for you
Nobody puts Milan in a corner
I think you mean, “nobody puts my Bebote in a corner”
😂
I’m ok with the formation. It is a big test but a few key points
1. We finally have a consistent back line. say what you will about Tomori, Gabbia, Pavlo but for the first time in a while, we have kept the same back line. I believe chemistry is important.
2. Santi broke his duck, perhaps continuing as a starting is what he needs
3. Rafa and Nkunku will get some minuts
I agree. I never thought the poor performances from our defense was solely down to the players. Since Allegri took over Tomori and Pavlovic have looked excellent. I think it’s right to start Santi after he scored midweek. Not only because we need to continue boosting his confidence, but he offers more in defense than Nkunku or Leao can right now.
Nkunku and Leao are not 100% fit. If eithr one of them were at 90-100% Allegri would have bench Santi Gimenez regardless if he scored against Leece because before the red card he missed 2 clear open chances to score and he failed.
@ZionTrain, thank God you’re not Max Allegri, so let’s wait till he starts benching him.
It will probably happen. I agree, Leao will (and should) bench Santi. but Alas, we are talking about THIS game. For this game, Leao isnt 100%, Nkunku isnt fully fit and Santi came from breaking his duck and in good spirits. People always have something negative to say. Humans are never happy
May yours kids be bullied in the playground and May they never get a chance to prove their worth.
Oga O chill with the curses..😂😂
What kind of post is that? You should be banned. Are you referring to Gimenez being benched? It was a bad recruitment from a league with no defence. Has has beet at the club for nearly a year and is obviously a gigantic flop for 40million. You sir are an idiot for your last post.
Gabbia in the heart as well.
Often it’s down to direction and structure. Just look at how much better Pavlovic looks himself.
Napoli*
Not Udinese 🙂
This feels like out best starting 11 at the moment.
Then Leao, Nkunku, RLC and Ricci as stong substitutions for midfield and attack. Good coverage on CB and wingbanks if substitutions is needed there too.
There was a loooong time since the bench looked this good.
Predicted line up vs Napoli…not Udinese…please correct
Yes, we’re all noticing. We play Napoli. Not Udinese guys.
Obviously copy-and-paste from the last match preview 🙄
It’s time to see if the D holds up against a strong attack.
I think we should stick to d winning team or starting 11for now…..with little or no change at all
I love Santis work as 9, but i do not see enough quality – miss so many chances. Hower the first 15min (until stupid VAR steped in with red against lecce was the best i have seen for a year from ACM. Lets hope we can continue and the missing CB/RB/LB/9 transfer will not become a boomerang.
Hojlund will score at sunday 🙂
We’ll finally see how real Milan is against quality competition.
The game will be won or lost in the midfield. I like our chances. Modric is well rested, Rabiot is playing wonderfully, and even Fofana put 2 shots on frame the last game (only 1 NFL field goal last time).
Not getting behind / chasing the game is a main objective of Allegri’s system. Milan should be very cautious early on and play 5 across the back so we can get to halftime with a clean sheet.
I think Allegri likes everything about Gimenez except the wooden first touch and all the misses in front of goal. Even his goal was not a good strike at all – he would have missed the frame if he’d been at 5 yards instead of 1 yard.
This is a good starting line up. But I would not be surprised to see RLC in place of Puli. I don’t agree with that idea, but sometimes Allegri just wants to put his biggest players on the pitch and try to get something off a set piece, with no interest in scoring goals from run of play – would rather tie 0-0 than win 2-1 sometimes, it seems. I hope I’m wrong and GdS is right, because if Allegri doesn’t know it yet, he’s about to see that Puli is a big game performer. Remember the goal in the first match against Inter last year when we finally broke the skid against Inter? 1 against 5? That was one of the best moments of all of last season.
You’d have to think Allegri sticks with the 3-5-2 we’ve seen thus far.
The only places I could see any change would be striker or midfield:
– Nkunku over Santi (maybe)
– RLC over Fofana (maybe)
There is a nice song from Nick Cave and bad seeds. Bring it ON!!!!
P.S. Leao has 0 contributions this year and that is about to change very soon. So lets just keep the defense solid.
Leao scored in the first Coppa match against Bari before he hurt himself. One game, only something like 60 minutes, and he has a goal.
i thought he scored in 17 minutes vs bari