A major factor in Stefano Pioli’s expected decision to use a 3-4-3 formation against Hellas Verona is the fitness of Theo Hernandez and Davide Calabria, a report claims.
As has been reported by Milan News, both Hernandez and Calabria are feeling the effects of first few games of the season and they are at risk of suffering injuries.
With Pierre Kalulu also unavailable through injury, Pioli feels it is an opportunity to try a new formation that uses a back three and wingers rather than conventional full-backs in a back four.
The expectation is that Alessandro Florenzi will play as a left midfielder and Yunus Musah will start on the right, with Rade Krunic and Tijjani Reijnders as the two central midfielders. That sees Ruben Loftus-Cheek drop to the bench as well for a rest.
Many fans are confused by a new shape being used so soon into the season but it may be necessary with so many matches coming up.
Lmao. Before season : We don’t need LB , we have Bartesaghi and Pioli trust him. First chance to play him : Pioli changing formation,because he is a coward to play Bartesaghi vs Verona. 😂 He is a joke and destroyer of primavera players.
Bartesaghi, pellegrino, simic, adli, oka4 should be given a chance to feel real match tho.
Pioli is hopeless. If he dont want to use Bartezaghi as a backup for theo he should just have made that clear. And why is Okafor never playing. Man I really hope this is not our lineup.
Musah as a right wingback???
The season has just started and they are already tired, wonderful…who said we didnt need an extra LB?!
Florenzi being Florenzi will probably get injured in the first half and Theo will need to play anyway 😀
100%facts lol 😂
This is less about tiredness, and more about risk. Maybe Pioli saw what I saw in preseason in that Barte is not ready to face proper opposition (Verona is a decent team and hard to break down) as he’s too rash in some of his challenges and is quite green. So Pioli prefers to put a more experienced figure in Florenzi there. Plus Calabria is likely injured than tired as if he was tired Pioli would have played him, just like he’s playing Giroud over Okafor and Jovic. This calls into question as to why let Fode leave anyway if you’re not going to play the subs and then say we have depth.
I’ve been saying depth is only as deep as much as Pioli would play them. Plus we really only depth for a 433, def not a 4231 and worse yet a 343