AC Milan signed Christopher Nkunku at the end of the summer mercato, and it has certainly been a bit of a polarising move.
There is something about the signing of Nkunku that many don’t get. Massimiliano Allegri requested a physical box poacher and instead was given the Frenchman. He is far from a bad player, but is he what Milan need? We don’t know yet.
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The fact that Allegri said the same thing is a worry, especially in a summer when his word has been investigated, given that only one of his targets arrived at Milanello. Nevertheless, a few ideas are swirling.
Four options
As MilanNews writes this morning, there are four possibilities, two ideas and two rogue maybes. The first two are that Nkunku slots into the 3-5-2, perhaps alongside Rafael Leao, Christian Pulisic or Santiago Gimenez as a second striker. Also, he could be the centre forward, if it was required, though this seems quite unlikely.
Alternatively, he could be an attacking midfielder, his self-proclaimed best position, in a 3-4-2-1 system. Perhaps, he could even sit behind one of the aforementioned names as an attacking midfielder in a 3-5-2.
A lot needs to be seen with Nkunku, and the possibilities are somewhat endless.
He’ll probably play a bit behind the striker in a 352. Allegri already said he using Pulišić there and he did with Saele in our last match. So it’ll be more of a 3511.
As a sub then? Because there’s no way he’s benching Puli
Nkunku needs to be use close to the goal especially against small teams and low blocks. He is very good in tight spaces and he can create chances from nowhere. The fact that you need a big tall box striker against low blocks is not true. PSG is very good at attacking low block and have no striker.
Same Real won UCL with Bellingham false 9.
I think the fact that Puli/Leao/Nkunku can interchange flanks is a huge advantage for Max to use. So Not using all three would not be helpful.
3-5-2 would imply having to use one of the attacking players in midfield, which if you combine wiht the fact that the outside players are wingbacks and will drop deeper to defend, it would only leave you with two true mids. If one of them is a 40yo, then that leaves them with Rabiot to do the dirty work. We might suffer in transition.
I think Max needs to go 433, despite his CB’s limitations, and focus on a beefy midfield and it’s protection in the transition phase to not be vulnerable to attacks. 2 CB’s, 2 wingers, 3 proper mids with Modric/Ricci in the middle and the front three of Leao/(Santi/Nkunku)/puli.
But hey, Max is the genius here.
The problem is leao does not defend. So to relieve him from any defensive work, he has to play as a striker.
Go for 3-4-2-1
Leao
Nkunku puli
Rabiot Ricci modric salad
Tomori gabbia kdw
Dream is to play these 4 upfront
Gimenez
Leao Nkunku puli
None of those 2 suggestions will ever happen.
In your 3-4-2-1 , who are your wingbacks exactly? Salad and Rabiot? That’s not happening.
And on your second one, there is no way Allegri is ever playing 4 attacking players in the same lineup. No chance. Not to mention that’s literally all of our attacking players so who’s going to sub for them?
It would be a stretch for him to use 3 of them at once. Most likely he will just play 2.
Max known as old-fashion defensive tactician who relies in world-class CB’s & we don’t have WC CB’s.. hope he prove me wrong