Tomorrow, AC Milan will face their biggest pre-season test so far – and perhaps generally – in the form of Chelsea in Jakarta.
It has been an interesting pre-season for Milan so far. They have drawn both games – against Celtic and Inter, respectively – and there have been some good signs on display. However, it would be naive to ignore the issues, too.
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Ultimately, this team still does need some work before the end of the mercato and Ruben Amorim will face a familiar opponent in Chelsea. However, there have been plenty of changes since he faced them as the Manchester United head coach.
The lineup for tomorrow’s game is somewhat easy to work out, based on what we’ve seen in previous games. Yet, we wanted to take a look at what we’d do.
Changes we’d make
In an ideal world, you’d have a full defence for this game. Nevertheless, the turnaround makes this physically impossible. A four-day turnaround is not enough to minimise the risk, so we’d agreed with the suggested overhaul at the back.
Valeri Valdimirov is expected to get a start on the right, but we’d instead play Filippo Terracciano. The Italian is probably on his way out. But he’s looked solid in both cameos so far in this pre-season. So, giving him another chance on the right of a back three – as the experienced one – could be an interesting experiment.
Moving into midfield, we feel this is the perfect game to trial Alexis Saelemaekers at left-wing back. He’d face Marco Palestra, who was one of the finer Serie A full-backs last season, and this may be the best opportunity to see whether he is suitable left-back cover.
Pervis Estupinan could also get a start, considering Amorim’s desire to assess him. We’d not be in favour of this, though.
As a result of the shift, we’d give Yunus Musah a go on the right, too. He’s played as a right wing-back before and this would be a fantastic chance for him. Facing Mudryk, who is keen to prove himself and Hato – who needn’t prove himself – it could well be another good test to see if there is something salvageable in the American.
Then, in the middle, we’d start Ardon Jashari and Luka Modric. Christian Comotto is currently expected to get the nod and we’d not be completely against this, especially with him being completely fresh. Starting that double pivot from the off, though, would offer a true chance to assess them together. If it works, brilliant; if it doesn’t, you know what you need in the mercato.
Up front, we’d make no changes. Saying that, though, Samuel Chukwueze should be given a cameo behind the striker, rather than at wing-back.
Expected Milan XI (3-4-2-1): Torriani; Vladimirov, De Winter, Diawara; Saelemaekers, Modric, Comotto, Estupinan; Nkunku, Leao; Ramos.
How we’d line up (3-4-2-1): Torriani; Terracciano, De Winter, Diawara; Musah, Jashari, Modric, Saelemaekers; Nkunku, Leao; Ramos
Torriani- Terracciano, Gabbia, Diawara- Athekame, Comotto, Ricci (Fofana), Bartesaghi- Chukwueze, Nkunku (Cisse)- Camarda (Kostic);
Last chance for Ricci to prove himself deserving and worthy of Milan’s shirt, otherwise, he’ll be on his way to Atalanta and co.
Allenatore: Yours truly;
So, less than 3 weeks before Serie A starts. Still No team ! Bunch of useless players still not sold! Tomorrow another evaluation of Estupishіt &Co
Big mistake to let Tare go. Last year first time we had good sales ever
No leech leaving this season yet.
Laughing stock Leao still around blocking our transfer window
I personally like the idea of trying Musah at RWB. I think he could actually be quite solid out there, at least that’s what it looked like 2 years ago… He (along with RLC and Saelamakers) is one of those players who can fill in a lot of spots. Those make good backups – they fill one roster spot and can provide backup at 4 or 5 different spots. Musah is still young enough he could take a couple of steps forward if he gets a job he can do and a run of games.
Very good point. I noticed him too back then. And exactly, he is still young.
Musah already done 4-5 miss pass and has taking a bad decision for each match, estupinan do wrong position in the last match, so musah is most worst than estupinan.
Hey people! if its true that Man-City are willing to give Reijnders back on a loan with an option to buy, don’t you think we should be the ones to explore this option instead of along Juventus to snatch it in front of our noses?!?!? He’s better than everyone in our midfield, the man LOVES MILAN honestly, and surely won’t be asking a huge wage, given the fact that he never wanted to leave the club to begin with, but simply gave in the decision that was made upstairs.
Don’t know how true this is but I’d take Reijnders back in a heartbeat, no questions asked. They should have never let him go in the first place. Tonali as well, I’d take him back in a heartbeat too.
They started strong with two crucial additions in Ramos and Gila. But this team is still one big pile of mess.
Bondo, Musah, RLC, Estupinan, Chuk all still here. No sales means no money to actually further strenghten the team with players suitable for Amorim’s system. Chuk and Saele playing inverted wingbacks or something, already showed it will cause problems for us.
3 weeks to go and nothing. Another summer of last two weeks panic buys while the ones who should be sold will be loaned out.
The fantastic world of AC Milan. Yep. It has become a complete circus show.. 3 weeks to go? 3 weeks of evaluations for Amorim to do. 🙄
15 days until the first official match against Torino, 25 days until the transfer window closes.
Bondo, Musah, RLC, Estupinan but also Tomori, Ricci, Leao & Gimenez.