AC Milan are approaching do-or-die time as their top four hopes fade away, and winning is the only option tonight against Bologna.
In case you had forgotten, this fixture originally meant to be played in the last week of October, but the game ended up being postponed due to risk of flooding. It actually ended up being quite a farcical situation in the end, and one Milan were not too happy with.
Four months on, the game has a lot more riding on it now than it perhaps did then. The Rossoneri are eight points behind Juventus in fourth and this is the game in hand they have over other sides, so a win is needed to trim the gap or the Champions League places might as well vanish.
Official starting XIs
Milan are without the long-term absentees Alessandro Florenzi and Emerson Royal, while Ruben Loftus-Cheek is getting closer to a return but will not be available. Kyle Walker will also sit out, but Luka Jovic is back.
The main headline is that Sergio Conceicao has chosen to break up the ‘Fantastic Four’, instead opting for Yunus Musah as the right winger. He is joined by Joao Felix and Rafael Leao in the attack, plus Santiago Gimenez up front.
Tijjani Reijnders remains in the double pivot with Youssouf Fofana getting his spot back. Alex Jimenez starts at right-back, Theo Hernandez at left-back, then the centre-backs ahead of Mike Maignan are Malick Thiaw and Strahinja Pavlovic.
Official Milan XI (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Jimenez, Thiaw, Pavlovic, Theo Hernandez; Fofana, Reijnders; Musah, Felix, Leao; Gimenez.
Bench: Sportiello, Torriani, Tomori, Gabbia, Terracciano, Bartesaghi, Bondo, Chukwueze, Sottil, Pulisic, Abraham, Camarda, Jovic.
Official Bologna XI (4-2-3-1): Skorupski; De Silvestri, Casale, Beukema, Miranda; Freuler, Ferguson; Ndoye, Fabbian, Dominguez, Castro.
Bench: Bagnolini, Ravaglia, Erlic, Moro, Orsolini, Calabria, El Azzouzi, Pobega, Aebischer, Odgaard, Lykogiannis, Dallinga, Lucumi, Cambiaghi.
We have strong players but we don’t have quality team play.
Also it is obvious, Conceicao and Fonseca are 2 unexperienced coaches. They can’t lead Milan players .
If Milan signed Francisco Conceicao, Sergio Conceicao wouldn’t have played him as much as he plays Joao Felix no matter how bad he is.
Or lazy Leao…
I’m guessing Puli is not fully fit. Nothing else makes sense and Puli was struggling in the last game for his last 10 min or so.
I really like Musah and think he will be great as a pivot. But his inclusion at RW underscores how thin we can be. We have three natural LW (Leao, Puli, Sottil) and one natural RW (Chuk) and we aren’t even starting the natural RW in this situation. SMH
I will miss today’s game but I bet we come out flat and look disjoint. Musah will make some great dribbles but miss the final pass/shot. Felix will flit about and be in the way of Leao, Musah and Reinjders unless he is rolling around jestering (misspelling on purpose)
Thiaw will make some nice vertical passes but Leao will be marked out the the game by a cagey Calabria.
Pavlovich will play emergency CF for the last 15 min. Puli will come in at some point but with Felix mysteriously left it (superpower of being invisible i suppose) they will also run into each other.
Fofana and Reinjders will look like they have been rode hard and hung up wet.
All in all it’s gonna be the same as the last 10 games.
Please Sarge make me wrong. Come with a well drilled plan for the first 15 min. Come with planned subs that acknowledge the fitness of our players and the context of the game.
Forza Milan
Musah is not a rw. Jimenez will probably push up and Musah will cover. That said, Jimenez is very wasteful.
Agreed. Puli having a knock is the least shocking explanation. Otherwise it means Conceicao is either completely incompetent or involved in something nefarious.
Leao again, good Lord I can’t watch that guy
Pulisic benched? All the talk was Pulisic and Gimenez were locks to start and it was between Leao and Félix hahaha. What a joke.
IF Pulisic is a bit dinged then ok. But if he’s 100% fit I don’t understand.
Yep. Felix and Leao have sucked.
At this point the question may be, Who?”
I honestly think they made a deal with Felix that he gets to start every game or something. They should never have brought him in in the first place.
There goes Conceição keeping his agent happy. He knows he’s out at the end of the season and must keep his lord master happy.
Wow. Felix an instant untouchable. Well… I guess he did used to sleep with the coach’s son.
Oh ffs…
Evidently Felix will have a good game and everyone will forget the $hite games. You just can’t count on him. I’m betting Pulisic doesn’t sign the extension. I wouldn’t with this clown show.
I don’t understand from Portugal with love relationship between conceicao and Felix. No matter how worst Felix is, in a match inexperienced conceicao will not sub him. What a coach.
What do we expect musah to do on the wings? He should be in the double pivot at least and reijnders in Felix’s position. Felix should be benched
Glad to see we are persisting with putting Félix in Reijnders flight path and playing Musah in a position he’s proved he can’t play multiple times.
I look forward to camera shots of Conceicao looking like a lost child when it’s not working.
He is indeed a lost father.
Hopefully this one and the following match can be the turning point we have been waiting for so we at least can salvage the season to some extent by fighting for a cl qualification to the end of the season.
Anyone who doesn’t put in the right work effort and doesn’t put the team above everything can be benched for the remainder of the season for what I care as we should be able to expect to see warriors and not primadonnas entering the field.
If we play with passion and concentrate we’ll win. Can’t believe we have to talk like this about AC Milan, like we’re semi-pros or something…
Lets hope this is actually 433, so i will reserve judgement.
If Musah is playing RW, mama mia we are doomed
Not looking forward to this, how much abuse can we take?
Guys Pulisic has been playing hurt since the Como game. Take it easy.
It’s a visceral reaction on a must win game. Puli played 90 minutes Sunday and they haven’t said anything about his fitness so it’s hard to stomach at first. Milan rarely scores when he isn’t in. But we will see.
Felix is useless and Musah ia high risk, I wouldn’t be surprised he gets a red card.
Terrible pass by Musah to Santi to destroy a great chance and nearly another own goal by Thiaw all in the first two minutes. Great start!
A properly squared ball to Santi would have been a goal almost certainly. Meanwhile, the other Santiago (Castro), is going to show why he’ll seamlessly replace Lautaro at Inter in a season or two.
Fofana is so bad. Rested and still bad smh
This has been more open than I thought. Expect to see some tired legs by 3/4 way into the game
Why do our coaches insist on playing Musah on the wing? Why not next to Fofana, push Reijnders to AM and the Felix on the right?
Because they love mimicking the level of competence of our management
Again Thiaw, again damn Musah and again f***ink Felix!
Conceicao and his vegan , anorexic and anemic girlfriend Joana Felix met again tonight. Bound together by an eternal blind consuming love…
An unbreakable portuguese love…I’m touched…
Joao Felix, is as useless as the letter P in psycho. Get this fraud off the pitch.
Elbow from leao…
Our players are so indisciplined, it’s like watching street boys.
Youre right!
Felix dives every time he’s touched also he loses the ball 99% of the time he has it – SIGH
Serie-A-MVP-scudetto-winner-best-player-on-the-squad-OMG-how-can-you-criticize-him Leao couldn’t couldn’t get past a fifth grader.
Reijnders is our deepest CM. LOL. Bring back Fonseca!
Another half game wasted
Another glorious first half under Conceicao. It’s diabolical. Every week I say this is the worst half of football I’ve ever seen. And then the next match comes and it gets even worse.
Hey isn’t Jao Felix great!
Bologna plays so beautiful . Italiano is a great talented coach and Sartori is the best sportive director in Italy, he discovered so many talented with great personality players for cheap. A very well run club
About f’ing time
Beautiful goal by Leao!
Jiminez is getting absolutely roasted on his flank. Midfield as usual with non functional players but that’s more of an it is what it is. Cant really change that..Felix on the other hand 🤦♂️. “lazy” Leao with the goal huh..smh.
Lol. Another failure to keep a clean sheet by Conceicao.
I thought last season it was once the ball touches hand regardless then it’s no goal. But this season it seems if your hand is next to your body it now counts 🤦♂️
The sooner Milan players learn to win by playing football and not from stopping play and crying to the ref the better.
I hope we get a player sent off in every game until they stop
Not gonna say I understand every little detail of the rules but how the hell can a header down on one of their players arms in the penalty area that then deflects to another of their players who then scores not be a freekick for us. Sigh.
Karma Martin.
The football gods don’t like cheaters
“it’s only cheating if you get caught”
Al Bundy.
Kidding aside I’m sure you are referring to the Theo diving against Feyenoord, right ?
Still some time to win this one though.
Why are we relying on calls by the referee? Why can’t we beat Bologna 3-0?
There are 3 areas on the pitch. Defence, midfield and attack. We have absolutely no midfield. That’s pretty much why.
Just to clarify it I never condone diving or players stopping up and complaining for a tackle or something if they can keep fighting for a chance so I’m fully with you here Vero but I dont know maybe our players are just a bunch of pantsies.
@I Know What You Did Last Summer, it was a rhetorical question.
Exactly!
Now Mike is diving
I know. I. Just as frustrated as you are
Its constant in this team.
Theo dived to cover up giving away a corner earlier.
I’m sick of it
It’s annoying watching Mike staying on the floor even when not touched by anyone. He was off the pitch. That could’ve been costly had the ref let play move..
Slowbega for the win lol 😂
At the moment, they are simply a better team than us.
Yep. We are what we are and that’s firmly the 8th best team
These players are cooked. They’ve given up. Mid-table finish and year zero this summer. It’s very sad.
Mama mia, make you miss Fonseca
Zero improvement. At least with Fonseca we were usually looking for the winning goal. With Conceicao we’re praying we don’t concede the winning goal to the opposition.
Fock this bs we actually still had a chance to turn this lackluster season around if we could win today, im gonna buycut the rest of the season now so if we doesnt speak before July may all of you take care as Im done for now.
Cheers Martin.
Enjoy the beers!
Conceiceo is rubbish no tactics no game plan just go to field and chase the ball that’s his tactic
What’s the definition of madness again?
Right, I thought so …