MN: Two different philosophies to break down Genoa as Pioli ponders forward choices

By Oliver Fisher -

There are two different routes Stefano Pioli can go down in terms of replacing Zlatan Ibrahimovic for Sunday’s game against Genoa.

As MilanNews writes, the current options available are to play Mario Mandzukic in place of the suspended Swede or to field Rafael Leao as the striker once again, hypothesising that playing Rebic and Leao together from the first minute seems to be the more likely scenario.

Rebic and Leao guarantee more energy and movement from the start especially in dangerous spaces and off the defence’s shoulder, but if this does not happen the game risks stagnating, a bit like what happened against Sampdoria.

At that point it could be Mandzukic’s turn, and then the Croatian will have to show he has what it takes to win his team valuable points which would of course help his chances of earning a renewal.

Playing Mandzukic from the start means that Milan could be more direct and take advantage of long balls and crossing situations  without necessarily looking for space, while bring Rebic and/or Leao off the bench could be an injection of life into the attack. In short, two different philosophies to break down Genoa and Pioli must choose correctly.


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Tags AC Milan Mario Mandzukic Rafael Leao
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