AC Milan head coach Sergio Conceicao will have eight players absent for the game against Feyenoord on Wednesday, a report has revealed.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) report this morning, the UEFA regulations state that only three new signings can be named in the squad for the knockout stages even in spite of their age or homegrown qualification.
This has forced Milan to leave out Warren Bondo and Riccardo Sottil who arrived in January, but also Alex Jimenez. Despite the Spaniard’s young age, the Spaniard has not been in Italy for long enough yet to be considered eligible for List B. Luka Jovic also remains out.
To complete the picture there are injuries: the long-term patient Alessandro Florenzi is on his way back but is not yet ready, Emerson Royal is in Brazil and will be out for a further two-three month and Ruben Loftus-Cheek will not return until the Verona game on Saturday.
Conceiçao will thus have 15 senior outfield players available, plus the young Davide Bartesaghi and Francesco Camarda and the three goalkeepers Mike Maignan, Marco Sportiello and Lorenzo Torriani.
There are few options to choose from, especially in the midfield where – without Musah, Loftus-Cheek and Bondo – only Filippo Terracciano remains as an alternative, in addition to the untouchables Youssouf Fofana and Tijjani Reijnders.
The Portuguese coach, if he wanted to respect the tactical plan of the last two outings, should focus on the former Verona man, but the temptation to launch the ‘fab four’ of Santiago Gimenez, Joao Felix, Christian Pulisic and Rafael Leao from minute one is there.
I mean, the eligibility rules are unfortunate, but RLC and Emerson are hardly a loss. That’s what the younger players are for…
btw, I only counted seven..
Why not remove RLC from d list & put Bondo in d list. We need all hands on deck during dis tight schedule
Bondo is injured
What part of only 3 changes are allowed is not clear?
The rules don’t allow this
Serie a lists can be regularly updated through the season. But UEFA rules only allow an initial list to be named for the group stage and one limited chance to edit the list between the group stage and the start of the knock-out phase.
Further restricted to letting you only making 3 change additions. Despite how many players exited.
Therefore dropping a currently injured player like RLC would have only hindered our options further.
Throw in in the kids. They are hungry enough..
the issue is in the midfield. Which kid are you referring to? Zeroli? not even in the squad. In the midfield, we got Fofana, Tiji and Terraciano. I know it’s risky but my take is, let’s put our best 11. That means Fofana-Tiji and the uber attacking front 4 of Leao, Felix, Puli and Santi or (tammy). It’s risky, away in holland where Bayern lost badly, with an uber attacking lineup (and a not so solid but improving defense). Plus, Theo and Walker who also like to go forward. It’s risky but they are indeed our best 11. Be like Carlo, or Scolari with the famous brazil of (kaka, Ronaldinho, Rivaldo, Adriano and Ronaldo). put them on, let them do their thing.
WE HAVE DEPTH !
The management took the notion of a “deep squad” and created a “in deep trouble squad”
It’s taken RedBird 18 months to figure out they need more Italians. Moncada out.
Musah and Gimenez both have Italian passports.
So, technically, they are Italians.
Can we use 3-4-3?
Tomori, Thiaw, Pav, Walker, Fofana, Tij, Theo, Puli, Gimenez, Leao/Felix.
I think it should be work.. theo and Walker can more aggresive to go forward when we have trio defense plus fofana.
Aside from terraciano who is naturally a LB that we now consider a midfielder, perhaps thiaw or gabbia can be made ready come in for tijjani or fofana if the need arises.
No matter what we are facing, Madrid is facing more and they’re surviving
Don’t see the issue 4231 like the second half of the Empoli game. This kinda feels like media manufactured drama.
This report from Oliver Fisher is a disgrace and very unfortunate.
The media is trying to rubbish the efforts of the coaches and players here.
Whatever formation Milan plays doesn’t matter, the end results boils down to who wants it the most, the fighting spirit of the teams.
Theo, Pavlovic, Tomori, Walker.
Fofana, Tijjani
Leao, Felix, Pulisic
Gimenez/Tammy
This is good enough anyday, anytime.
The only disgrace here is your attack on the author.
“Royal is in Brazil and will be out for a further two-three month”
Dare I even dream??? Could it really be we’ve seen his last match in the Rossoneri already?!! Oh boy, that would be almost like winning the UCL!
Whatever happens, we have given ourselves a mountain to climb – already 4 extra games and if we negotiate that, Arsenal or Sphincter to follow..