AC Milan head coach Sergio Conceicao has named his starting XI to face Bologna, and he has opted for selective rotation.
With the Coppa Italia final next Wednesday, there was speculation in the build-up to the game that Conceicao might make mass changes to the side, both to preserve their fitness but also to try and disguise his plans a bit.
The coach has not been helped by the fact will be without five players for tonight’s game. Rafael Leao is suspended, while Emerson Royal has just returned from a long absence and won’t be available. Warren Bondo, Youssouf Fofana and Riccardo Sottil are the other absentees.
AC Milan vs. Bologna: Official starting XIs
Consistency and continuity are clearly key in Conceicao’s eyes as he has named an unchanged rearguard of Fikayo Tomori, Matteo Gabbia and Strahinja Pavlovic ahead of Mike Maignan. Alex Jimenez and Theo Hernandez remain the wing-backs too.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek starts again but moves into the midfield to partner Tijjani Reijnders in the double pivot. Christian Pulisic and Luka Jovic keep their place, with Joao Felix coming in to complete the attack.
Official Milan XI (3-4-3): Maignan; Tomori, Gabbia, Pavlovic; Jimenez, Loftus-Cheek, Reijnders, Theo; Pulisic, Jovic, Joao Felix.
Bench: Sportiello, Torriani, Florenzi, Bartesaghi, Thiaw, Terracciano, Musah, Chukwueze, Gimenez, Abraham, Camarda.
Official Bologna XI (4-3-3): Skorupski; De Silvestri, Erlic, Beukema, Lykoggianis; Freuler, Moro, Pobega; Orsolini, Dallinga, Dominguez.
Bench: Bagnolini, Ravaglia, Castro, Calabria, Casale, El Azzouzi, Ferguson, Aebischer, Lucumi, Cambiaghi, Miranda, Fabbian.
So the newspapers said anything in between 4 to 11 changes, and we ended up with only 1 change.
At least we are less predictable for the opposition.
Well, at least Musah is not playing…
Heavily rotated team… right.
“while Emerson Royal has just returned from a long absence and won’t be available…” You say this like it’s a bad thing…
“while Emerson Royal has just returned from a long absence and won’t be available…” You say this like it’s a bad thing… Let’s see if Felix can put in another positive performance.. he’s playing to stay at the club but he’d have to score a hat trick every game for us to even think about that.
If we’ve learned anything about Conceiçao we would know his unpredictability with lineups or rather how clueless media are with his selections
Of course, the one change we’re making is to advertise João Felix for Mendes, how appropriate. Forbid trying to give any of the players on our books a shot.
I like 3421. Even better than 343. But they need to get a DM.
3-4-2-1/-3-4-1-2 is best for having more weight in the middle, but what to do with Leao? This has always been our conundrum with the 3-back formations. Either we go all in on this system, sell Leao and fund players and a coach who favor this system, or keep Leao and continue in 4-2-3-1/4-3-3.
343 suits him fine
Yes, 3-4-3 suits him well enough, but we’re not talking about 3-4-3.
You said if Leao stays we need to play with a back 4.
He like most of our squad suit the system with 3 at the back
Milan can’t be this boring. I am not watching again. They can’t even spring passes together. What a shame
Cagey half. Despite Leao’s flaws, we always struggle to open the game without him. That said, we seem bereft of ideas. Not surprising given the brilliant tactician of a coach that we have.
ANother glorious first half under Conceicao. I swear this guy has the tactics (lack thereof) of a middle school Gym coach. He has no clue, no ideas of how to deal with any kind of high press from the other team. Making Genoe and now Bologna look like prime Liverpool. Just kicking the ball forward back to Bologna. It’s so bad. If that is your gameplan to deal with the press by lobbing long balls over the top , then Tammy would be the wiser choice. He’s taller and better at hold up play, Jovic can not win any of these balls.
It’s like Grounhog Day. Every match it’s the same thing. They may end up winning it in the second half but who cares at this point, it’s just such ugly football to watch. Literally every team we play looks better and more in control of the match than we do.
These guys play like they’re owed half a year’s salaries. They do nothing. Nothing at all.
Felix is garbage and Italiano has us figured out. Let’s hope that Leao can one-man team us to a result on Wednesday. 🙄🙄🙄
Well, this aged well. 🙄😂
In all fairness, it was Sergio who actually started the game with wrong tactics.
But why is Theo all over the place???