With the game against Bologna postponed, AC Milan head coach Paulo Fonseca can start preparing for the game against Napoli on Tuesday night.
As Tuttosport (via MilanNews) writes, Fonseca will have to do without Theo Hernandez and Tijjani Reijnders who – given the postponement of today’s game – will have to serve their suspension against Napoli instead.
The Portuguese coach will have few training sessions to choose the replacements for the French full-back (Davide Calabria and Filippo Terracciano battling) and the Dutch midfielder (one of either Ruben Loftus-Cheek or Yunus Musah).
However, there is another issue: what to do with Rafael Leao? Will Fonseca give him a starting spot back, or bench him to let Noah Okafor play in his place? At the moment it seems more likely that Leao will play, given the magnitude of the game.
In addition to that, there is a concern that benching the former Lille star for such a big game could ‘psychologically break’ Rafa even more. Fonseca and Milan cannot afford this because, like it or not, without the real Leao it will be really difficult for the Rossoneri to compete for trophies.
Completing the Rossoneri attack will be Samuel Chukwueze on the right wing, while Christian Pulisic will act as an attacking midfielder behind Alvaro Morata. The conditions of Tammy Abraham and Luka Jovic will be evaluated in the coming days.
I don’t really trust Okafor when he starts. He seems to do very poorly when he plays from minute one. He is a good super sub and when he comes in with fresh legs at a point of the game when the opponents are tired, he is very effective and has scored or assisted resulting in some great late goals for us, but his production has been much worse when he starts a game. It’s similar to Jovic: a great super sub but a lousy starter. I’d rather suggest to Fonseca to keep Okafor fresh for the last half hour of the game once Napoli defenders are tired. That seems to be the most effective use of Okafor’s skills.
Start him, the first half, see how he does. Bring Leao in the second.
Seriously no Theo no Tijani and now you want no Leao!!.
Don Corleoni said “time erodes gratitude more quickly then beauty “,
Milan fans need to remember it’s been Leaos brilliance that brought the seria A title and our semi final in the champions league.
Just give Leao and Fonseca time to adjust to one another and then we will see!
Why wouldn’t you do it the other way around?
Okafor has been tried as a starter over and over, and very rarely – if ever – has made anything out of those starting opportunities. On the other hand, he seems to be a great super-sub who often does very well when he comes in later on, with fresh legs that put him at an advantage over tired defenders; his performances as a late sub have been WAY brighter than those he puts together as a starter. Why fix what is not broken? Why do we have to keep reinventing the wheel with all those crazy experiments, instead of trying what has been clearly working?
If Fonseca hasn’t noticed yet how different Okafor’s performances are when he’s a starter as opposed to being a late super-sub, then he needs to watch tape and do his homework. I’m not saying that this is coming from Fonseca; this is just an article on a website; but if Fonseca is actually considering it, then, again, he needs to watch the tape of the games when Okafor started.
Okafor and Jovic are true and tried late subs who have added lots of energy and goal efficacy in the last half hour of matches. Both, however, have often had putrid performances as starters. So now, out of the blue, we need to start Okafor again?
Why???
(I think I know the answer to that, but I won’t be offering my thoughts on it).
Okafor actually reminded a lot of Leao while in Salzburg, but after injury he looks a bit fat and doesn’t remind of the same player anymore. He lost some speed along the way, guess the injury got him pretty good. Still a good player but he looked like world class potential a few years ago.
Okafor deserves to start in all honesty. He has been playing good when coming on and he earned his spot I think. Leao needs to be benched so he can think about his laziness and unwillingness to defend and work hard for the team. Dribbling when someone gives him the ball isn’t enough.
People have short memories. Yes, Okafor has been playing good WHEN COMING IN like you said. But practically he NEVER plays well when he’s a starter; have you forgotten about those games? He looked invisible among the fresh-leg defenders.
What exactly has changed in his skills, stamina, and form, to suggest that he’d do well as a starter?
Nothing. He’s ALWAYS been a good late sub; there’s nothing new about it, so why is this coming up now, again? He’s not “deserving” a starting spot now, in any bigger way than when this exact same situation happened in the past.
Because, see, every time the coach thought like this and got him a starting job as a follow-up to a good late sub job in which he scored or assisted late, he sucked as a starter the subsequent game! You know, this HAS been tried already, and didn’t work.
I don’t know what caused it; Igor here said it’s been the case after an injury. Maybe Okafor no longer has the stamina to play for 60 to 90 minutes? Because he seems to be WAY better when he only plays in the last half hour or last 20 minutes.