AC Milan will leave for Dortmund tomorrow night, and Stefano Pioli will continue to rely on what has become his first choice attacking trio.
La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) confirm that there will be changes in the midfield three by virtue of necessity after Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s injury during the win over Lazio, but in attack consistency will be key.
The paper puts forward the idea that Tijjani Reijnders could function as an atypical attacking midfielder with the other two midfielders covering his back further back, but the certainty is that the ‘Pu-Gi-Le’ trio will start.
Christian Pulisic will face Borussia Dortmund for the first time as an opponent after playing there from 2015 to 2019, and he will be joined by Olivier Giroud and Rafael Leao.
Malick Thiaw will return to having a starting spot too. There will be a derby feeling for the 22-year-old given his Schalke past, and it was against Dortmund that he made his debut as a starter in the Bundesliga three years ago.
It didn’t go well at all (3-0 for Dortmund) but that is one more reason to try thwart Marco Reus and his team-mates.
If they still had bellingham i would be a lot more worried but still a good team nevertheless but certainly also one possible to beat for us.
everyone knows musah is a bellingham stopper…
Why is Giroud still starting most games for us? He can barely walk, let alone score. The guy hasn’t scored from open play since the opening game of the season. Why are we screwing with the confidence of guys like Okafor and Chukwueze for the sake of a 37 year-old man?
And then he goes and score a brace lol 😂😂😂
It’s like anytime I bad talk Pobega and then he decides to score 😅
So…how do you feel about Pobega? We could do with a goal from him…
he can shoot equally with either foot so why not, chance start at 1:17 and goal comes at 1:31 while milan was down 1-0
How far did you have to go back for that one? Notice the 1-1 draw to Bologna. Not good results when Pobega starts.
Last season, so what its not like he playst hat much anyways but he is dual footed as this one was with his left foot.
@Jay 😂😂😂🤣🤣 haha good one
If he scores, great, I want him to score more lol, but his days are clearly numbered, and most of his goals so far have been from the spot…
Giroud also has 3 assists to go along with his 4 goals, and another good pass that setup RLC’s penalty, so his passing should not be overlooked. He is still our best option at striker. I agree he should be rested against the lesser opponents but I still trust him in a big match more than the other options.
And nobody is messing with Chuku’s confidence. Pulisic has earned that starting spot with his play. Chuku has gotten opportunities, and he will get more. Maybe if he does something with these opportunities he will see more time.
People don’t understand complete team performance and how all the parts are complementary.
What opportunities has Chuk gotten? One start all season and a bit of CDK time (aka last 15 minutes of a match). Not enough time to do anything. Pulisic, as good as he has been, was given playing time from day 1 because he joined the club early and was there for the US tour.
Giroud has been very poor for most of the games this season and hasn’t scored from open play since Bologna. He needs to slowly be phased out of the team for guys like Okafor and Jovic.
“He needs to slowly be phased out of the team for guys like Okafor and Jovic.”
Phase out a ~15 goal striker for a 5-goal Jovic? Yeah, sounds like a brilliant, brilliant plan FFS! 😀
This is not last season. We have two new young guys who are itching to get started, one of whom already has two goals in two games for us. Giroud has been consistently one of our worst performers since the opening day, which is the last time he scored a goal from open play. Don’t let a bunch of penalties fool you. If he started scoring goals, fine, but he hasn’t been doing that, and he hasn’t been doing much outside of that, either.
Because Giroud has experience. He stays calm and collected. The youngsters sometimes have big moments but they can also crumble completely.
I feel much calmer seeing Giroud starting.
Calm and collected? What has he actually done this season? Nothing.
4 GOALS AND 3 ASSISTS in 7 games. That’s nothing?
Get a clue dude.
Good! Pioli just confirmed. Pobega and Musah — the way to go. Way stronger than Adli. Thanks mercato we have the depth now
How can anyone be excited about Pobega starting? Good lord. It makes me long for Krunic.
Rewatch the Lazio game. I did. 1 forced pass, 1 bad challenge. Both had adequate defensive coverage when he did it. However, he was defensively sound except for that 1 challenge. His passing was extremely pin point. Pobega and Krunic cannot give us what Adli will be able to. He was also strong in most challenges.
He’s a lot better than you’re giving him credit for.
I have a feeling we’ll be slipping into 4-2-3-1 at various points in the game with Musah and Pobega in the double pivot, with Reijnders pushed up. I think this would suit them. Not sure how Adli will do in the double pivot.
Adlis passing in Lazio game was poor. Pobega did one critical pass to Leao that led to a goal. Nogh said.
Adli isn’t starting because Milan want to keep his CL’s eligibility intact in case they transfer him out in January.
is that a real thing?
i mean i do think they are playing him with the hopes of increasing his value to sell given a lack of a true fit in the system and the speed and style which they are trying to play.
Our best midfielders are rlc musah and reminders. Are other options are too slow with the ball. It makes us too easy to defend there has to be urgency
RLC is slow with the ball, too….
Pobega is a wrecking ball on defense. Given Puli, Leao, Reinjders and Musah are big threats esp with Giroud feeding them, having a defensive stopper to start makes sense.
I hope to see Adli at the 60 though. Would be great his CL seasoning started.