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.
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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.