AC Milan will look for their third successive Serie A win against Atalanta at the Gewiss Stadium on Saturday night as they continue their attempts to shorten the gap between themselves and the league leaders.
Given Milan’s current injury issues, the defence will be unchanged from the victory against Frosinone, MilanNews reports. The Rossoneri were unlucky to concede on the evening, but given this was a fault in communication rather than a mistake, there is no need to consider changes. Even more so due to the revelation of Theo Hernandez centrally.
Pioli will opt for the 4-3-3 once again for the clash, meaning that Ruben Loftus-Cheek will play as an ‘8’ instead of an attacking midfielder. Tijjani Reijnders seems to be a guarantee alongside the Englishman as Pioli looks to solidify a midfield core. Yunus Musah will complete the trio.
The wings are concrete. Christian Pulisic and Samuel Chukwueze will continue on their favoured side, either side of Olivier Giroud – who will return to take the starting striker shirt ahead of Luka Jovic. Whilst the Serbian has impressed, he will not be favoured ahead of the veteran, even after scoring his first Rossoneri goal against Frosinone.
Probable Milan XI (4-3-3): Maignan; Calabria, Tomori, Hernandez, Florenzi; Reijnders, Musah, Loftus-Cheek; Chukwueze, Giroud, Pulisic.
Bench: Mirante, Nava; Bartesaghi, Simic, Jimenez, Krunic, Bennacer, Pobega, Adli, Chaka Traore, Romero, Jovic, Camarda.
One yellow card from suspension: Musah.
Injured: Sportiello, Kalulu, Kjaer, Thiaw, Pellegrino, Caldara, Leao, Okafor.
Guess Bennacer doesn’t have the legs to start yet. Hope he fully recovers soon because he’s the only natural 6 we have.
Also I wouldn’t actually be opposed to starting Jovic with Giroud coming in the second half, given Newcastle is next week…
It’d be a good idea to give Jovic another start so he can build on the last game.
In other sports like rugby they usually give new players runs of games.
They also don’t usually change half the squad every few months but that’s a different story….
I agree as to Jovic starting. He’s a player that needs continuity to improve and of late he has actually been improving. His movements off the ball free up space for the wingers.
As far as changing the squad Jazz… you’re sounding like a broken player :]
(I couldn’t help the last bit but my New Year’s resolution will be to not complain about the transfer market AFTER January!)
I was talking to a coach of a professional rugby team once and they said that when young players break into the team (professional rugby team still have youth teams unlike football…) they usually give the players a minimum of 3-4 games in a row.
I mentioned how in Serie A especially managers sometimes haul youth players off after half time even if they’re not the cause of the team’s performance. It happened a few times to Daniele Maldini.
Do you think modern football managers actually use sport’s psychologists or even understand human behaviour?
Pioli don’t have the balls to play Jovic again now giroud is available
Interesting – Bookies have Atalanta as favorites for this one.
Bookies don’t always make sense. Atala ta is missing as many at the back as Milan and they don’t have Scamacca. Also they are on a poor run of form.
It feels like our time to return the 5-0 favor to them.
It’ll be a tough game.
Atalanta, nor any other elite team in Serie A, should be underestimated.
We need to treat every game like a final.
Wy is Camarda still with the first team, Let him back to primavera for some playing time.
Chaka Traore, Jovic are enough on bench
Why not!
It’s not like you can ever get enough exposure to the realities of playing in Serie A.
Because he’s a kid and he needs to play and develop his game. Sitting on the bench isn’t going to help him.
But no doubt you’ll support us continue to sign 2-3 strikers every transfer window for the next 10 years and him scoring against us for Juve in a few seasons…..
LOL, this website deletes so many comments, man. It’s like they want specific stuff on this blog. That’s why I don’t want to write paragraphs here.
Anyway, about the game, I would be surprised if we don’t win this game by a good margin. Atalanta have injuries in their defense and are also without their best striker.
That’s extremely optimistic. When do we beat anyone by a good margin? And our defense is pretty banged up to.
@Doki, I was one of the original commenters on this site under a different name before u guys showed up lol. I’m talking about 2 or 3 comments spattered here or there per article. But I do recall saying anything close to critiquing the authors is a no no. Once you avoid that you should be good to go. They’ve gotten better at taking flak though or when it comes to corrections but you do get the odd deletions here and there that are head scratchers. I do find that summer nonsense could have been handled better. Giancarlo almost took down the whole site lol 😂
That’s funny🤣🤣 where is Giancarlo….?
The guy was fearless and happy to take on everyone 🤣🤣🤣
Every establishment needs a tough guy😜
Yeah, I know before I started to comment here I always saw you, Yelnats and a few others commenting here.
I have always been respectful to the authors, I guess my comments got flagged because of swear words even though I censored it using symbols.
Hey and I think Giancarlo is still commenting here with a alternate, the @Martin guy is also absent after the summer window. We need them back before the Jan transfer window, it won’t be interesting without them.
My worry is Gasperini. The guy is magician.
I too wish Jovic was getting the start. Message to Giroud (whom I admire): Be the adult on the field. Adulting is hard but I have faith that, at 37, you’ve had a bit of practice. Sit next to me these first 60 min and let’s practice together.
I’d also like to have seen Adli in place of Reinjders. Reinjders needs the rest and I’d like to see a bit more of Adli against a quality team with a quality coach. I still have hope for him.
It is interesting that Theo is inside. Several commentators I’ve heard remark that an attacking CB is unheard of. I guess they don’t watch Inter. So I’d like more certainty but lacking the bodies I’m keen to see how Theo does.
I’m also keen to see Benny get more minutes this week if he has the fitness. Odd prediction – when he comes on we move to a 4231 with he and Mousah in the pivot.
I’m liking this growing ability to effectively line up in different formations. I’m keen to see individual players with better defined roles to facilitate patterns of play.
Above all I hope to see Chuk prove me wrong. But, I expect Atalanta to be covering his left side to near exclusion of anything else. Because it is Gasperini, I expect them to play off Chuk and invite him to have the ball because he is so easy to dispossess.
The link up between Puli, RLC and Giroud should be fun to watch.
4-2 Milan.
Theo on the late run from Puli assist
Giroud on header from Puli assist
Reinjders on an individual move in the first half
Mousah opens his account on one of those weird runs where he is more winger off a delightful pass from Benny.
Forza Milan.
😍😍😍