AC Milan began their second consecutive American tour on Saturday night with a 3-2 victory against Manchester City at the Yankee Stadium. Although it was only a friendly, there were a lot of positives from the game, so let’s dive into the three key things.
Following the draw against Rapid Wien, Paulo Fonseca has had another week of working with his squad, as he aims to prepare them for the upcoming season, and we are slowly starting to see his tactical nuances implemented onto the squad.
Erling Haaland kickstarted the scoring, but a four-minute brace from Lorenzo Colombo put Milan into the lead. Whilst James McAtee levelled for the Citizens, Marco Nasti scored the winner 12 minutes from time.
Fonseca-ball in the works
Manchester City are probably the best team in world football, and beating them should offer a level of excitement. However, it is then important to remember that it is a pre-season friendly, where both sides fielded weakened elevens.
Nevertheless, we can still get a grasp of how a team is going to be set up in the season to come, and we are gradually seeing Fonseca’s football come together.
There was a clear focus on playing the ball out of the defence quickly on Saturday night, and there were some very nice patterns of play. Furthermore, the Diavolo’s transitions were fast, and there was a clear focus on getting onto the front foot as quickly as possible.
FONSECA BALL 😍🔥 pic.twitter.com/WzyBgn9Fh6
— gabe🇵🇹 (@itsgabe20) July 28, 2024
Again, it is important not to get carried away, but the basic stylistic elements and ideas will remain consistent throughout the season. Fonseca was hired to play on the front foot and to play exciting football, and there were several showings of this against City, and he vocalised his pleasure about this after the game.
An exciting headache
There is a continuing conversation about how Fonseca will set up his Milan team, and it will continue until the end of the mercato. The main area in focus is the middle five players in the team. From a flat midfield three to a double pivot with a 10, there remains a lot to be seen in terms of composition but there is an emerging problem.
Earlier in the summer, there were suggestions that Ruben Loftus-Cheek and another midfielder could be a double pivot with Tijjani Reijnders in front of them. However, the idea of Christian Pulisic playing as the Trequartista is being liked again, and Samuel Chukwueze’s performance will create an exciting headache.
Pulisic was fantastic on the wing for the Rossoneri last season, but when he played centrally he shone just as brightly, and he could facilitate Chukwueze’s role in the team. The Nigerian winger is much more prone to staying wide and eventually cutting in, whereas when Pulisic can float between both wings and be a presence around the box. Perhaps, Fonseca could be onto a gem.
Should certain players depart?
Two of Milan’s best players against City were Alexis Saelemaekers and Lorenzo Colombo, and both players are seemingly heading towards the door. Yesterday, it was reported that the young striker will return to Italy on Monday to move to Empoli, and Saelemaekers is set to leave this summer as well.
However, is it the right decision?
There have been questions about the Rossoneri’s striker department for several months now, and it seems that a three-striker prong is the ideal case, Colombo could have been a very good option for a part within that – his movement was excellent for both goals, and he was a consistent threat. Nevertheless, it seems his fate is sealed.
In regards to Saelemaekers, though, nothing is done, and maybe it should stay that way. The Belgian winger was bright throughout the game, and Fonseca spoke highly of his performance after the game. Not only is he a good player who can play a viable role within the squad, but he can play a range of positions, which is vital for squad depth, something which you can not have enough of.
Samardzic is a luxury buy we might not need. Puli can be the answer at trequartista, Chuk to start at RW, and Salad can stay as backup RW. Use some of the Samardzic budget to seal the deals for Fofana and Pavlovic and the rest on an RB to compete/backup Calabria and keep Kalulu as a CB. Transfer market closed.
I disagree on Samardzic being a luxury and Pulisic being an answer for the 10 role.
They could move Pulisic during games into the AM spot in situations when they need to push for a goal, but starting games with Leao, Pulisic, Chukwueze and Morata up front will disrupt the balance of the team. They are way too offensive and most of the time they neglect their defensive duties.
Milan needs a midfielder that can play as a 10, not a forward. Samardzic fits that bill.
Let’s not forget that when Milan played with an offensive n10 like Brahim, he had Saelemakers on the right, who was more defensive, to keep it balanced. In some games he even had Rebic on the left, who for all his flaws, covered a lot of ground. Before Brahim it was Hakan, who also did a lot of defensive work.
Pulisic at 10 should be the exception, not the rule.
The problem though is that we need to sell someone in order to bring Samardzic, and none of the players we want to sell are either that wanted (Bennacer, Pobega) or want to leave (Adli) and I think the defensive midfielder is more urgent than the attacking midfielder.
One solution would also be to go back to 4-3-3 instead of a 4-2-3-1. A 4-3-3 can work well with regular fullbacks (instead of inverted ones), doesn’t need an attacking midfielder and we already brought players for a 4-3-3 (Reijnders, Loftus-Cheek and Musah). All we need is a true 6, not someone like Fofana but more like Amrabat (but not necessarly or even prefarbly Amrabat).
exactly…u are absolutely right
1 NOTHING 2 NOTHING 3 NOTHING 👏👏
Even if we get fofana and samardzic
we still need Bennacer Rejnders RLC I’m sure they will stay!
We simply cant play a full serie a season and at least 8 groups matches in the new CHL format and dream of a title without a good subs in midfield.
Pobega Adli need to bee sold maybe musah aswell even though I like him.
That “luxury headache” will be necessary for squad competition and also we will be playing every 3-4 days. We need all of them. Saladmaker should stay. We also need Emerson, Fofana, Samardzic, Fullkrug to be competitive in Champions League. Don’t forget there is no guarantee that they will all stay healthy throughout the season.
Why does the squad need competition?
These are elite footballers who got to where they did through sheer hunger and determination so why do they need 2 or 3 players behind them to keep them motivated?
Do you need 2 or 3 people sitting behind you at work in case you don’t feel motivated?
All this mythical competition does is prevent a team from establishing a first choice starting 11 and sticking with it long enough to create that nano-second understanding that is the difference between success and failure.
Real Madrid have a squad of about 23 built around a core of about 19. That’s what we should be aiming for?
It’s a false equivalence.
Dude sitting in a chair is not the top 0.01% of potential employees.
Dude sitting in a chair is not making massive lifestyle sacrifices even hour to be where he is.
Dude sitting in a chair is not making millions to perform better than all but a dozen or so people on the planet.
Competition within a department is healthy when the margin between top 0.01% and 1% is the difference in a couple of days training effort.
These elite athletes got to be elite by winning every competition for their job up until today.
Having competition for your spot is part of the job description and all of them know it. Most welcome it.
You’re right, it’s a false equivalence.
You might get away with it more in an office job which don’t rely on split second decisions!
I mean you said yourself – they’re top 0.01% already so it’s not like there’s many to fill 2 and 3 rows back.
Why does Milan need a bigger squad than Real Madrid?
It’s so obvious that not only you’ve played the sport at any level, but not even understanding sport psychology at all…
Stay on the cheering department…
*never played
It’s the basic rules of football.
You can only have 11 players in the starting line up.
Why do Serie A squads need to be bigger than the La Liga squads?
Which is the more successful league?
Which is the more successful national team?
Added no. 4 things to learned: believe in your home grown players. 3 from 4 milan goals this friendly match that from his home grown players. Noted !!
Added more: nasti and colombo its left footed striker that we have not last season. I guess Fonseca its ‘yes sir’ coach.
This is a complete waste of time.
Most of these players will be sold or loaned before the end of the summer.
The exact same thing happens every single pre-season.
Honestly I feel like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day each summer screaming at people not to keep repeating the same mistakes and false hope.
The time to decide to keep the likes of Saelemaekers, Colombo and Nasti was last summer (or even summer’s before).
Instead the club decided to sign a whole load of new players.
We now have to keep moving forward with those players if we are to BUILD on last season. Otherwise we’re just doing this backwards and forwards shuffle.
Can we at least learn from last summer’s mistakes?
If you want, say, Gabbia to succeed don’t sign another CB.
If you want, say, Chuk or Okafor to succeed, we need to sell Saelemaekers.
if you want, say, Carmada, to have a future Colombo and Nasti need to go and we need to avoid signing another CF now that we have Morata.
And where the f’ck is our DM???
Part of the burden I must wear as the Bill Murray character in this year’s edition of Groundhog Day is I now need to defend the decisions from last summer that I was opposed to last summer..
So I now need to call for the sale of players I didn’t want sold or loaned last summer (e..g. Saelemaekers) so that the players I didn’t want us to buy (e.g Chukwueze) can have the best chance of succeeding….
It’s quite ironic given I also get accused of living in the past by people who, without any sense of irony, then make completely arbitrary comparisons between our current players and…,the players in the….past….
The thing about the past is that we shouldn’t learn from it not live in it.
When I talk about the past e.g. all of of our former players now playing for our rivals, it’s to avoid the same thing happening again.
You really made me laugh with this post. I love the irony that you now need to protect last summers buys.
On the bright side.
The managements low ball strategy to only buy players who are willing to force a cheap sale on their current club. May just mean there is minimal changes this summer.
Oh it really is my favourite time of the year!
This summer is definitely an improvement.
I am in total agreement with Morata’s signing, Fonseca seems to be a good appointment, and if all that happens is we end up with another CB and Fofana there are worse things.
This is the true Vertical Play. The Nasti’s goal showed how a vertical should be : Build up from GK, Man City did a midfield block, back to GK then long pass to Calabria at right flank (it already pass the mid block efficiently), Calabria give the ball to Saelemaekers to cross it center to Nasti and goal. It means only need 3 passes start from GK to make a goal. 3 passes that across all field.
Wonderful, and very promising play.
Well given we could well be starting the season with none of those players at the club that may be the last time you seem them combining.