The tactical shift launched this week by Massimiliano Allegri has changed AC Milan’s transfer decisions and the roles of individuals.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) report this morning, Allegri’s calls could change the course of Rafael Leao. The coach has decided not to use the 4-3-3 he had in mind when he rejoined Milan and instead will go with a three-man defence, so Leao could remain up front.
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The tactical signs
The above explains why the search for a penalty-area striker has been crossed off the list of priorities and the Rossoneri have placed their bets firmly on Christopher Nkunku, who is more of a winger or a false nine than a No.9.
Allegri wasn’t kidding on Friday night when he explained that he doesn’t know in which position he’ll use the former Chelsea player. It will depend on the match and the opponent, but having a versatile player like him is important.
For Leao, however, Max has the number 9 role in mind. An atypical one, but still at the heart of the attack. It’s hard to even imagine a similar solution a year or two ago, when Rafa considered himself at home only on his beloved left flank.
Now, however, Rafa’s transformation is well underway: in preseason, he swept away Liverpool with a superb performance and scored against both Perth Glory and, in the Coppa Italia, against Udinese.
The Rossoneri number 10 is currently sidelined with a calf injury sustained two weeks ago against the Apulian side, but he’s almost ready. Not being called up to the national team will help him be at his best when the league resumes for the match against Bologna on September 14th.
How does it suddenly change to a 433 just because??? He just plays in the first 2 in the 352. We’ve been playing wingers there instead of strikers, obviously you put him next to leao or santi up top
And Pioli didn’t try him as a CF? It is. And what results did it produce? None. And now the genius from Juventus came to do what Pioli could not do. Leao is not a CF but a player who needs space because of his speed. And in counters, Salah is relentless, and he is not a CF, but a RW. I don’t know why Allegri is doing this when we all know it is doomed. Come on, he doesn’t know where Nkunka will play for him, but where Pulisic will play for him, if Leao and Dovbyk are strikers in his beloved 5-3-2 formation??? Should Pulišić be a substitute for a position that does not suit him (same as Leao).?? Come on, let one of the geniuses solve this enigma for me 😃
This is a different team than Pioli had.
For what? Had Leao and tried him in a 4-4-2 formation, and later in the 2022/23 season in a 5-3-2 formation. Everything is the same. Conte abandoned the 5-3-2 when he saw that it was not working and won the scudetto with the 4-3-3 formation. Allegri can’t adapt? He can’t track players if he doesn’t have 5 in defense 🤣🤣🤣
You’re so right, it was so wrong to bring Allegri as our players don’t suit his style (if he has any).
They should’ve bring coach who plays with winger and to bring one killer CF, with Santi fights for his place with him.
Instead we don’t have World class forward, but we do have 345 midfielders….
And I don’t want even start talking abour defense.
Tare’s rate for marketo – 5 out of 10
He is scared to play 433. Defensive minded coach. Milan will definitely be boring, and they will be unattractive to watch, honestly. And also, performance will drop drastically since Leao & Pulisic would be playing out of their natural positions. Sorry Milanistas, we still got it wrong, and finishing in the first 4 is almost impossible.
Milan are dead!
This is also the Allegri we saw the last two seasons with Juve so is anyone surprised?
He could also play 3-4-3 or 3-4-2-1 (really just numbers) but with Leao and Pulisic behind or beside a lone striker, then 2 defensive midfielders in front of a 3 man back line.
But Allegri doesnt dare to just have either 3 CBs and 2 DMFs, or 2 CBs and 1 DMF and 2 mezzalas.
For some reason he must have 3 CBs and 3 central midfielders. It a sign of being more scared to lose games then dare to win them.
Nkunku is a great signing. We have no need for a true striker because we don’t have a team that dominates possession and creates plays. We need speedy guys that put in effort to run in space, and look for breakaway opportunities, and can dribble at speed. Gimenez does not have it. Nkunku does.
I wish we signed someone bigger, similar to Thuram, and honestly Tammy Abraham would have worked well, but Nkunku is a good option.
I’m excited to see where this goes.
Allegri is after some redemption and I don’t think he will play it safe after leaving Juve in such a dramatic fashion. Lets wait and see what he does first.
Why he said he doesn’t know where to use nkunku surprises me cos nkuku fit perfectly in his nonsense defensive 3-5-2 system he uses cos he is scared.nkuku as 2nd striker with leao.simple.it will always be either nkuku or pulisic for the role
They are guessing.
I truly don’t understand what’s going on in this past week. How are musah, Jimenez and chukwueze allowed to leave when we have looked so thin? On top of that we are playing a formation that makes the starting lineup look weak.
How does the 4 3 3 get abandoned when that suits this team best? But all of a sudden it may not because we don’t have anymore subs for it since we’re selling?
Playing with three at the back when we only have 4 cb’s and none at the moment are above average. I don’t understand what allegris plan is here and I’m trying to be positive and wait for the full healthy team but he’s making it so hard. I actually thought we’d be scudetto challengers before the season started and now I don’t even know if we’ll finish too 4. It’s like ever since that Boniface catastrophe everything has gone down hill. Ive always liked nkunku and thought he was a great player and I can’t even get excited about him because of allegris comments.
Pippo couldn’t hold up play, the ball was his enemy, he couldn’t dribble or shoot or head.
But he knew where to be and he could score goal.
Gimenez is a new version of Pippo. So change the tactics in order to set him up. Play with him and another attacker, for instance Nkunku.
Here is the issue. Signing Kunku is unbelievably horrible. Not only chances he couldn’t play well at Milan, also such heavy weighted player being added force the team change the way they play, team’s formation. This signing can be destructive for milan this season.
Added somebody the coach didn’t want it. Now coach has to change the ideas. The crisis is coming.. for this season. Mgnt probably deliberately added such player mess up the coach’s plan. haha 🙂
Or the coach is a stubborn dinosaur who cannot adapt his style of play to what suits the players on the team. Nkunku could be a good player for us and the squad urgently needs some attacking players. If the coach can’t figure out how to use his attacking players than the coach is not a very good coach.
Allegri will place Nkunku into the second striker role in a 352, anyone who thinks differently doesn’t understand Allegri.
I didn’t like the signing of Allegri but was keeping an open mind . Unfortunately he seems unable to adapt to the modern game. He seems to only be able to coach one way, one style, one formation and only with certain players. He hates attacking players. 3 CBs , 5 midfielders which none of them are attacking midfielders . No focus on the offense at all, just expect Leao or Pulisic to create all by themselves. The could have a dynamic offense with Leao ,Pulisic and Nkunku but I don’t see Allegri having the courage .
And that leaves Pulisic where? A wingback? That’s not a good idea.
On the bench. It was always headed in that direction. Disappointed Pulisic didn’t push to leave.
So, Leao scored against Bari, not Udinese.
We haven’t played Udinese yet.
4-3-1-2 or 4-3-3
Ricci-Modric-Rabiot in the middle.
Forza Milan.
Attack wins games, defence wins championships. Allegri has played 4-3-3 many times with Juventus, he adapts his tactics depending on the squad he has. Milans biggest problems the last 2 seasons have been the defence. 3-5-2 is more balanced for this Milan!
Good point. I would add that good midfied makes defence better, and attack more lethal. Thats balance. So, with a great mid this sesson we should be very competitive. I belive that Allegri knows how to do tactics with limited (roaster) capacities. Sempre Milan!