AC Milan are back in action on Wednesday night against Como, and Massimiliano Allegri has some decisions to make.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport report, Alexis Saelemaekers also trained separately on Sunday, but will most likely return to full training today. If his left adductor doesn’t cause discomfort (the scan he did in the last few days was reassuring), he will be called up for the match against Como.
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At that point it will be up to Allegri to decide whether to start him on the bench (with Zachary Athekame still in the starting line-up) or use him from the start, bearing in mind that Athekame has produced two good starts in a row.
The coach also has to replace the suspended Adrien Rabiot. The most likely option at the moment is to use Ruben Loftus-Cheek to have a physical midfielder who can join the attack like the Frenchman does, plus two players with good ball possession like Samuele Ricci and Luka Modric.
In attack, Max will likely rely on only one between Rafael Leao and Christian Pulisic, who for various reasons are not in top form. Niclas Füllkrug and Christopher Nkunku – who were disappointing in Pisa – are raring to go and hoping for another chance to redeem themselves.
The final issue is centred around the three centre-backs that will be chosen, with Koni De Winter hoping to return to the starting XI. After today’s session, Allegri has scheduled another tomorrow and Wednesday morning.
I want to see Pulisic and Fullkrug for 90 mins. I thought both have been looking sharp when they where paired together in previous games.
yea. At this point though, it’s a question on who is fitter. Looks like Rafa is closer to 100% than Puli. But given we will be missing Rabiot, i’d give the nod for at least 45 to Puli. I think Puli is better at linkup play/dropping back and gettting everyone involved than Rafa.
All you need to do to know how important a target striker is to Puli is to look at the great interchanges between him and Giroux first at Chelsea and then Milan. The pairing made both of them more effective.
Agreed. They could be a perfect Serie A pairing if we can get them clicking.
My preference is for Jashari to come in and show what he can do.
Maignan
Koni Gabbia Pavlo
Athekame Ricci Jashari Modric Bart
Puli Fullkrug