AC Milan face Genoa on Thursday night at San Siro hoping to keep pace with those at the top of Serie A, and Massimiliano Allegri provided some updates.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport recall, Allegri’s pre-match press conference on the eve of the game also focused on the physical condition of several of his players, after being down to the bare bones again in recent games, especially in attack.
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Updates from the coach
The coach provided several important insights about the use of Luka Modric, how Christopher Nkunku is going, Niclas Füllkrug’s condition, Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s minor issue, plus the possibility of finally seeing Christian Pulisic and Rafael Leao start together again.
On Modric: “Modric is certainly no surprise from a technical standpoint. What’s most striking about him is the intensity he puts into every training session.
“We’re talking about an extraordinary player who gets very angry with himself when he makes a bad pass. Men like him, in love with this sport, are an example.”
On Füllkrug: “He fit in well at Milan straight away, and his debut against Cagliari was positive. He brings new qualities to our attack, and we need his goals.”
On Nkunku: “Nkunku is struggling with ankle pain that’s still causing him some problems. Unfortunately, he won’t be in the match tomorrow, but we hope to have him back for Fiorentina.”
On Loftus-Cheek: “Loftus-Cheek is fine. He had a few problems in training yesterday, but he’s recovered and will be available. I’m very happy with him, he’s an important player who can make an even bigger difference in scoring.”
On Pulisic and Leao: “Both are not at their best. Pulisic is recovering from a flexor problem, Leao is having adductor pain, but if things don’t get worse, they’ll be the starters in tomorrow’s match. I’m asking Rafa to score goals with a striker.”
It has already been reported by La Gazzetta that Allegri plans to opt against rotation for the game against Daniele De Rossi’s men. Therefore, Modric will keep his spot, as will the usual three centre-backs (with Gabbia returning), and the wing-backs.
Pls, let Leao play from the left wing. Aside the goal he scored in the last game, he and Loftus-Cheek didn’t offer much. What’s the point bringing in Fullkrug, and leaving him on the bench while Leao starts as No.9? Leao isn’t fit enough, yet, you want to use him ahead of the striker you just brought in. The summation is, Fullkrug isn’t good enough. I don’t understand why we keep going for low-grade strikers. We need the Scudetto, but, we’re not making the right moves to secure it. We offloaded Abraham, Jovic and Jiao Felix, only to end up with Fullkrug, when Gimenez and Nkunku are not really delivering. We’re just going round in circles.
It may be that Fullkrug isn’t fit enough to start against Genoa, which leaves Leao-Pulisic up front.
I’d like to see all three (Fullkrug, Leao, Pulisic) on the field together – Pulisic would drop to the midfield as a #10 in place of Fofana, and play in front of Modric and Rabiot.
Why won’t Allegri rotate the players? This is a perfect game for Jashari to start and let Modric rest.
I don’t know when Jashari will get a chance, and I don’t know if we’ll have a chance against Fiorentina in 2 days.
Allegeri doesn’t believe in rotating players. Never have. Never will.