Paulo Fonseca has named his first ever starting line-up as AC Milan head coach and he will rely on a young side against Rapid Wien this evening.
Milan have had a lot of players on international duty this summer that are still on vacation and it shows in the available squad. Yunus Musah and Christian Pulisic took part in the Copa America with the USA and are still away.
Luka Jovic’s Serbia were knocked out in the European Championship group stage but he is on holiday, as are Mike Maignan, Theo Hernandez, Rafael Leao, Tijjani Reijnders and the new signing Alvaro Morata.
Fonseca has chosen to name Marco Sportiello in goal with captain Davide Calabria at right-back and Filippo Terracciano on the other side of the defence. Malick Thiaw and Matteo Gabbia will be the centre-back pairing.
Yacine Adli and Tommaso Pobega are the midfield double pivot with the Primavera starlet Mattia Liberali ahead of them in the playmaker role. Samuel Chukwueze and Chaka Traore are the right and left wingers respectively, with Lorenzo Colombo the man tasked with leading the line.
Official Milan XI (4-2-3-1): Sportiello; Calabria, Thiaw, Gabbia, Terracciano; Adli, Pobega; Chukwueze, Liberali, Chaka Traoré; Colombo.
Bench: Torriani, Longoni, Bennacer, Kalulu, Loftus-Cheek, Jimenez, Tomori, Florenzi, Maldini, Saelemaekers, Cuenca, Bonomi, Bakoune, Coubis.
Official Rapid XI: Hedl, Raux-Yao, Beljo, Grgic, Sangaré, Seidl, Schaub, Jansson, Auer, Cvetkovic, Bolla.
Bench: Goschl, Gartler, Burgstaller, Hofmann, Oswald, Hedl, Demir, Dursun.
Coubis is back after disappearing?
Yeah from what i have heard he had a serious injury that kept him out for a year or something and now will get his chance with the u23.
Pobega and Madlini tests I guess
I was hoping to see a Fonseca Milan setup in 433 as it’d require less adjustments to the current squad. Almost all of the midfielders are better suited in between DM and AM therefore at CM. So may just need to add a DM or two instead of that plus some AM because RLC must not see that role this season and Reijnders should also play in his natural position- CM. Why would we patch guys in positions they can maybe manage when we’re having the chance to create a formation were they can play their best positions!
Are you among those who are never satisfied. And of course, he would not listen to every one who is a coach in his own way. He is here now, abeg allow him choose according to what he had seen and planned in training. Just his first selection and here we are.pheew
Shoot me dude but I will talk about how I want or hope the team to look like.The coach and management can do otherwise and doesn’t mean I will go against that. When I sound stupid, call me on it I don’t mind. But what will be the point of people coming here bothering to post just to say well the coach is playing with 8 defenders but yeah he’s the coach so let’s all agree with it. Are you that boring?
When I asked if we were playing 4231 ppl said 433. If we’re playing 4231, we need pivots functional to the formation ie proper pivots which includes a DM. And I don’t mind one mezzala there as long as there’s one DM.
If we’re going with a 433 we still need players for that formation in the DM. The mezzalas are fine for that formation. So far (15 mins in), this don’t look like anything new. And our defence still needs work based on the little I’ve seen (from an overall coverage perspective). I know it’s not the regular guys but the blueprint should be there.
Welp first half. Rapid had the better chances, hit the post and we look terrible in attack. Also if anyone wants to wonder why you can’t just throw these youth players against big dudes, this is a prime example. Still a preseason gm but …
Also saw Fonsy frustrated on the touchline. Maybe the guys are not following his instructions. He seems to want to ball to move faster or perhaps they need to get the Pioli muscle memory out of their system.
The defence is still laughable. Pobega is a bigger joke than last season and Chukwueze isnt benching Pulisic anytime soon. All in all, a very disastrous first half. We could have been 4 goals down if the opponent were a little bit clinical. Goddamn
Pioli nightmare still there to see
You’re really judging based in first match with a coach who has two weeks in Milan and bunch of bench players and Primavera kids?
Chill.
Yeah not judging but almost losing to Rapid Wien who are 4th in Austria is kinda warning
No it’s not. Under Pippo we won against Real in preseason and we all know how our season went down.
Judge new coach at least in mid season, when he and the players has some times to adjust with the new condition…
Judging a new coach on his first friendly match, with 2 weeks in, half Senior squad (best ones) not there, and with bunch of Primavera… smh
Love the fact that Fonseca will trysomething new. Hope our youngsters shine
We were terrible but it’s the first preseason game. Can’t really make out anything new or what we were trying to play though. Gabbia was sharp as was Jiminez. I’ll cough the rest up to match fitnt
Kalulu was absolutely horrendous. Are we sure we want to rely on him next season at right back? To me, he looks like a player who is a reserve in a mid-table Serie B team. I think it would have been better to give him up this summer, get a new right-back and instead of Kalulu, promote Jan-Carlo Simic to the team as a reserve central defender.