It would be fair to say that the year of 2023 has not been kind so far to Rafael Leao and the reasons for his decline are not necessarily obvious.
Leao has now gone two months without a goal and some believe the reason behind that is tactical. Since Stefano Pioli changed formation to a 3-4-2-1, the Portuguese winger has been playing more centrally rather than as a pure winger and that is a different role entirely.
It seems that the former Lille man is struggling a bit to adapt to a new position on the field where he is forced to move in traffic and finds less space. While he and Stefano Pioli have both said that he suits the role, it is not one that he has played for much of his career and especially not with the Rossoneri.
Journalist Franco Ordine spoke during his weekly column for MilanNews and as part of it he addressed the current struggles that Leao is enduring, questioning the reasons behind it.
“Speaking of Leao, perhaps it is appropriate to go into specifics and ask oneself whether the responsibility for this sudden and long decline of the Portuguese is not really to be related to the change of formation,” he began.
“Pioli said so on more than one occasion when questioned, Rafa replied that he agreed and he had covered that role in the past. Then what’s wrong?
“If the question is the contract, then the knot must be untied immediately and the matter clarified because the Portuguese will not be the first nor the last not to renew.”
It’s not, I’m a Leao fan but he has clearly been in his own head. Not uncommon for a young player under Pioli these days…
Get rid he is. A lazy shit.
3412 is better for both,leao and diaz,now they both play in weird position and i dont know why
We were told that this new position was Leao’s favorite.
For the millionth time. Leao is only effective when he is isolated wide and with a lot of space to operate where he can use his speed and strength vs slower and weaker defenders.
Moving him centrally or closer to the goal means moving him into traffic and in traffic skill and and intelligent movement is more important than speed and strength.
Just pay attention how Leao stays away from the box. He is rarely ever in it and he is a forward. How often has Milan received a penalty because of a foul on Leao in the penalty area?
He shies away from traffic that’s why even though Milan tried to play him as a striker it didn’t work.
He has the physical attributes to be a great striker. He is bigger and stronger than Osimhen, but he doesn’t have Osimhen’s heart, grit, desire, hustle, mentallity, understanding of movement to play in the trenches. He would rather take the easy route and play on the wing.
But let’s keep giving him excuses, oh it’s the new system, oh it’s the contract.
He should stop searching his name on social media and maybe spend more time improving his game.
Signing new contract won’t make his job easier, it will elevate the expectations of him exponentially and with that the criticism
Fvcking spot on. I’ll add that having talent doesn’t make up for mental weakness or having a football brain. While Leao may have certain physical talents, he may just not have what it takes psychologically. That said, the formation then precisely matters. The coach should recognize exactly what Z said and put Leao out where he can be most effective given his limitations, that is out wide in a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3. The renewal saga won’t help with respect to his psychological weakness. Screw the renewal, we may be buying a lemon in the long run. Just sell for the probable 50-60m and move on.
According to stats…
Eight teams in the Champions League. The best league in Europe produces the most number of teams.
Italian Serie A (3) teams – AC Milan, Napoli, Inter Milan
English Premier League (2) teams – Man City, Chelsea
Spanish La Liga (1) team – R. Madrid
German Bundesliga (1) team – Bayern Munich
Portuguese Primeira Liga (1) team – Benfica
Spain, German and Portugal are on thesame football level, while The EPL is slightly better than them, but the best league to play football is in Italy.
Stats bro… stats!
Ha Ha Ha.
An exception doesn’t disprove the rule.
Since you like stats so much, look at the stats of the last 13 years.
The best league according to delusional stat fans only provided one trophy, conference league at that, in more than a decade.
1 year they have a little success and you get someone calling it the best league.
It’s funny
Well I’m sorry Mr stats.
How do we now decide the best league?
1. Is it by digging up stats of a decade ago?
2. Is it by digging stats of last season?
3. Is it by using current stats?
4. Is it by accumulating all the stats since the tournament or club was formed and dividing it by the number of years?
Hell, I don’t seem to know much nowadays.
In another suggestion, I don’t know if Amazon will be having a Black Friday in the Easter season, we could put Leao up on a discount, who knows we might be so lucky to sell the garbage kid.
@Z, Well said