Massimiliano Allegri has named his starting XI as AC Milan take on Arsenal in the first preseason friendly of their summer tour.
Milan will take on the Gunners at the Singapore National Stadium, in the first instalment of the Asia-Pacific tour. Games against Liverpool in Hong Kong and Perth Glory in Western Australia will follow.
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Youssouf Fofana and Alex Jimenez have both had slight injury problems and will not be risked, with Luka Modric and Santiago Gimenez on vacation. Emerson Royal, Ismael Bennacer and Yacine Adli are among those who have been left in Italy and told to find a new club.
Arsenal vs. AC Milan: Official XIs
The most interesting note regarding the team that Allegri has picked concerns the formation: he has gone for a three-man defence with Fikayo Tomori, Malick Thiaw and Strahinja Pavlovic ahead of the new signing in net Pietro Terracciano.
Alexis Saelemaekers and Davide Bartesaghi are the two wing-backs, with Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Samuele Ricci and Yunus Musah the trio in midfield. Up front, Rafael Leao and Christian Pulisic have got the nod.
Official Milan XI (3-5-2): Terracciano; Tomori, Thiaw, Pavlovic; Saelemaekers, Loftus-Cheek, Ricci, Musah; Bartesaghi; Leao, Pulisic
Bench: Pittarella, Torriani, Gabbia, F. Terracciano, Magni, Dutu, Bondo, Comotto, Libeali, Chukwueze, Okafor, Colombo.
Official Arsenal XI (4-3-3): Raya; White, Saliba, Calafiori, Zinchenko; Norgaard, Rice, Nwaneri; Saka, Havertz, Martinelli.
Bench: Kepa, Setford, Rojas, Gabriel, Lewsi-Skelly, Kiwior, Timber, Odegaard, Merino, Lokonga, Zubimendi, Trossard, Nelson, Nichols, Dowman, Salmon, Copley, Kabia, Harriman-Annous.
We really need a backup striker…. Either vlahovic, loan hojlund or nunez. We need to buy jashari. We need to use the money we have sold🤣. But i belive in allegri and leao this season, Forza❤️🖤
oh my, mr lucky bastard Pulisic is playing. he might get lucky goal again
Nothing that you post bears any resemblance to reality.
From the formation we will play with contra attack. 😔… The result in this game doesn’t count, Coach Allegri!!!!
Milan news says it’s 4-3-3, not 3-5-2. From what you posted Salemakers is RMW?, and if it is on the field RW? You support Milan playing 3-5-2, but you are a newspaper that we should trust, not read your wishes.
Is MIKE injured again ?
Presume so.
Not even on the bench.
Who knows. He wants to leave Milan.
This lineup looks like a midtable team in PL compare to the Arsenal lineup
Broo there’s a reason why it’s called a friendly, if they don’t test the players ability now when should dey do so🤦🤦
There wasn’t any serious about what i wrote 🤦🏾♂️
Yep, but that’s sort of the range that we’re in in the market. Being honest, we don’t challenge the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea for players, we’re the next rung down in that market and competing with upper-mid-table English sides.
That’s just the sad reality of the situation Milan and Serie A finds itself it; especially with no UCL money, the bottom Premier League side will make more TV revenue than Milan this season.
Musah actually looked dangerous and combined well with Leao.
Surprised
Respectfully speaking, Bertesaghi doesn’t deserve to be on the pitch.
He has no clue about what is going on the pitch. He doesn’t know what position he is playing, doesn’t know who he should mark.
Goofy kid. Poor Pavlovic is getting toyed between Nwaneri and Saka.
Pavlovic looks like Bambi on ice
We look lost in their press.
Can’t play through it.
Becoming a 541 formation
Welcome to Allegri ball, all 11 Milan players in the defensive third of the field waiting for arsenal to score before reacting
Allegri is known for his 1-0 scorelines and solid defense. Perhaps that’s what we need. At least to get us back on track. After finishing mid table and conceding goals every game, i wouldnt mind a bunch of 1-0s and the 3 points all season.. This is a friendly game tho, let’s not overreact.
People forget this. Allegri’s tactics are close to catenaccio.
Bartesaghi’s actually decent. Quite strong on the ball and keeping Saka at bay.
I am not sure if we are watching the same match lol
He can’t even keep up with Nwaneri’s shadow. Your boy is nowhere. Lost his position and confused all the time
Musah plays well from the start, then thinks he is prime Pirlo for a second, and everything falls apart
Lol! I saw that. Tomori almost assaulted him for those shenanigans 😂
It’s like watching Juve playing 2 seasons ago only instead of pointing and laughing, I’m now pointing and crying because it’s us. We’re 23/24 Juventus 🤦♂️
It’s one of the top 5 teams in the world we’re up against, at a more advanced stage of their pre season than us and with a more established lineup (no new manager, formation and less player turnover). We’re trying to figure out something new, they’re just switching the machine back on.
Yes, we’re getting stuffed but this game isn’t going to be representative of how we’ll play all season.
You are right about the details however it’s the overall approach that was evident in the first 10 Mims which is camp behind the ball and hope for the best.
Allegri ball is 20 years out of date
This is exactly how Allegri will have them play all season. He kept saying the same thing at Juve “we need to improve”, “our conditioning needs to be better” blah blah blah. We’ll have a bang average season scraping for 5th or 6th with the season highlight being maybe a 1-0 win at Home to Napoli, Inter or Juventus. And to be honest, i could accept all of that if it wasnt so painful to see Roma landing a visionary like Gasperini and bringing in a CF like Ferguson whilst we get Allegri and no CF.
Commentator said Ricci is playing really well, is this true?
Very nice touches. Composed on the ball, brings a calm in front of the defence, no mistakes but nothing special yet.
“brings a calm in front of the defence, no mistakes”
This might actually be the special part, given what we’ve seen from most of the other CMs over the past couple of seasons.
Pls Allegri should be sacked with immediate effect.
Lol! Too early for the sack calls.
11 behind the ball in a clusterfck for most of the game and Leao the only outlet. When Leao or RLC have breakaways they can’t do anything.
On my way to the airport in Lisbon, i assume i don’t miss anything by reading the comments here
I’ve been impressed by RLC most of all. He seems to have regained some of his speed.
I didn’t watch the game. Can anyone give a review of the match? Thanks.
Score 1-0
Shots 23-3
Shots on target 9-1
That sums it up
Torriani had a blast at least, showing he is ready to be the second goalkeeper. Great penalty saves