Yesterday afternoon, AC Milan’s first friendly match of the winter was staged as they beat Serie D side Lumezzane 3-2 at Milanello.
Corriere dello Sport (via MilanNews) writes that it was a game where few concrete indications could be drawn as it was more an exercise to start getting minutes back into the legs of those who have had a break and to get the ball rolling, as seen with the reworked starting line-up and the many Primavera players used.
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However, it was a showcase for Yacine Adli and it feels familiar given that the French-Algerian midfielder showed his abilities in the various preseason matches over the summer, to the point of suggesting a role of prominence in Stefano Pioli’s hierarchies.
In the end he had to settle for a bit-part role given the adaptation needed to get up to the rhythms of a new league and a new club, but friendly matches can breed confidence. It won’t be a match against Lumezzane that will turn his season around, but further positive games Arsenal and Liverpool in Dubai could help his maturation.
Yesterday’s match clearly needs to be taken with a grain of salt when looking at the line-up for the first and second half, as only Sandro Tonali and Fikayo Tomori from the ‘first choice’ starting XI began the game, with Pierre Kalulu playing in the second half for about 20 minutes as he returned a few days later than his team-mates.
There were already many absences with players like Davide Calabria, Mike Maignan and Alexis Saelemaekers forced to watch from the sidelines in the hope of being able to get involved soon, while Brahim Diaz has had some heavy workloads in the last few days and was not risked.
OK maybe I need to elaborate on what I mean when I say give him chances because some people may misunderstand and think that some fans are just being too sentimental. Cdk plays time and time again and still flops and everyone still believes he’ll come good and rightly so, he’s €35m but why would Pioli not also give this guy chances to be a flop? I want to see him play at least 7 matches with tangible game time and then we can all pronounce him as a flop. It’s that simple! Why would you put faith in one and pronounce the other as not good enough? Even Pobega gets chances and if its about not wanting to play those who aren’t used to the system then I’d like to always see Diaz or Krunic in the playmaker role.