One of the things that has come under fire from AC Milan fans is that Paulo Fonseca has consistently rotated the centre-back pairing he has used.
With 22 goals conceded in 17 games played, it can be strongly argued that the lack of an established central defensive duo has hurt any attempts to build resilience, with the chemistry and cohesion not allowed to build.
Calciomercato.com have gone through each pair used:
➤ Gabbia-Tomori: Five starts, five goals conceded, one clean sheet
➤ Thiaw-Pavlovic: Four starts, five goals conceded, two clean sheets
➤ Tomori-Pavlovic: Four starts, nine goals conceded
➤ Thiaw-Tomori: Two starts, three goals conceded
➤ Gabbia-Pavlovic: One start, zero goals conceded, one clean sheet
➤ Gabbia-Thiaw: One start, zero goals conceded, one clean sheet
The pairing used in Bratislava in midweek – Tomori and Pavlovic – is the worst in terms of numbers. They concede two goals against Parma, two goals against Lazio, three goals against Liverpool and two goals against Slovan.
The duo have technical and tactical characteristics (such as their aggression and tendency to stray away from the defensive line) that are too similar and it is unlikely that we will see them as a pair again.
The best defensive pair, according to the numbers recorded in the first part of this season, is Tomori and Gabbia, Fonseca, though, is expected to exclude the Englishman against Empoli in favour of Thiaw.
At the basis of the choice to constantly change the players – as underlined yesterday by the Portuguese coach in his press conference – there is also a precise strategy that aims to reduce the risk of injury through managing workloads.
The fact that Fonseca hasn’t relied on even on central defender yet could be a sign that he isn’t entirely happy with his options. Geoffrey Moncada is evaluating various profiles in view of next season, so a signing could arrive in the summer.
Pavlovic is too inconsistent, Tomori seems to have reached the end of his time at the club, so Milan will ask the market for help again to try to resolve the now constant defensive problems.
Tomori make his defensive partner worse..should make summary which CB fault for each goal conceded
It’s the other way around for Me. Pavlovic is the one shaking that defense, the defense doesn’t perform well whoever Pavlovic is pairing with, thiat showed the poor recruiting plus Emerson.
I like the pairing of Thiaw and Gabbia. I wish it would became the permanent one. Thiaw does better when he has a CB next to him who can help him with positioning. He needs to make better decisions but I think he’s capable of it, with the right guidance. His main problem is being gaffe-prone which screams of lack of experience rather than lack of skills. He could turn into a real asset for us. Gabbia on the other hand is classy and intelligent and currently our best defender. He should work on athleticism and speed but otherwise he is a very good player, and one that with his intelligence can be the captain of the defense (and then next, become the captain of the whole team).
I’m sick and tired of Tomori’s impulsive mistakes. I’m not ready to call Pavlovic a flop yet; he is still very young and poorly adapted to Serie A; as unlikely as it may seem, this could ultimately change. Young players should be given more than one season to gel. Maybe Pavlovic should be loaned out for a season. As for Tomori, frankly, I’d not oppose a sale.
I don’t know how y’all watching ac Milan games but from the first game I saw pavlova and Emerson, I screamed.. it was terrifying to how they played. It just a face Pavlovic isn’t decent. The center back should be the rotation of Tomori,Gabbia, Thiaw
Pavlovic*
Tomori needs to be sold as early as possible. Pavlovic is a beast that can form a solid pairing with Gabbia, similar to Stam-Nesta pairing where brains and steel complement each other, we need to give him time. Thiaw-Gabbia should be our first choice, with Pavlovic coming in late, to help him adapt to the tactical Italian league.
We should look into our futuro team for backup at the right back, we.need not to buy.