Paulo Fonseca has now settled on a centre-back pairing after a lot of experimentation, but naturally that means disappointment for some too.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport recall, Zlatan Ibrahimovic was present at the unveiling of Strahinja Pavlovic in August, introducing him as follows: “He’s an animal. We did everything to bring him here. He will enter the hearts of the fans. Just look at him and you’re scared.”
Four months later, however, that animal that was supposed to instill fear in opponents has become a reserve. By not playing against Verona, the number of consecutive games on the bench rose to four, including the Champions League.
The definitive verdict on the Serbian came from Fonseca a couple of weeks ago: “At the moment the team is very happy with Thiaw and Gabbia.” The result is that Pavlovic hasn’t played since last December 3rd in the Coppa Italia against Sassuolo.
It is a match in which he partnered Fikayo Tomori, and in a strange contrast they were the two chosen more at the beginning of the season. What changed? In terms of numbers, they are Milan’s worst defensive pairing: in 450 minutes played together they have conceded 10 goals.
Pavlovic is a player who excels in aggression, recoveries and aerial play. The problem concerns his tactical discipline, which in Italy makes all the difference in the world. With the Serbian on the field, Milan have conceded 15 goals in all competitions, including three in Cagliari and two in Bratislava.
There is always a second side to the coin, though. Pavlovic has already racked up goal line clearances, peremptory sliding tackles/blocks to close down opposing attackers at the moment of shooting and some good anticipations. It can perhaps be shortened as follows: Milan will concede goals with him on the pitch, but he will keep some out too.
Here we come to the conclusion: Fonseca experimented with five different pairings until the beginning of November and the sixth one he used – Thiaw-Gabbia – became the one he has stuck with. They have started six games together and the record stands at just three goals conceded.
Of the five games played in Serie A with Thiaw and Gabbia, the Rossoneri have recorded four clean sheets in less than a month, the same as from August to before the last break in November. What this means for Pavlovic, unfortunately, is that he must wait for his turn and try impress then.
Esto con PAVLOVIK se podría llamar… MAL TE PAGA!!! A QUIEN BIEN SIRVES (FONSECA!!!) PAVLOVIK SALVO AL MEDIOCRE MÁS!!!!! DE UNA VEZ CON GOLES Y VERDADERAS PARADAS DE GOL…. 🇵🇹🤮
This management is just something else, you have the player you need still went ahead and sell one of your best (kalulu) and buy pavlovic now is in bench,look at popega, saelemeka, madini, bring this guy’s back and give them playing time.it has been sure the champion league is over
Milan management are a bunch of bozos. They sell Kalulu to Juventus then pay 20m for Pavlovic and 20m for Emerson. They wasted 40m that we could have used for getting a better striker than Morata who cost 13m. That’s 53m wasted on 3 useles players who did not improve the team.
Selling Kalulu to Juventus and buying Emerson Royal for 20m must be the dumbest deal they have done. As you also mentioned, those 40m spent on Emerson and Pavlovic. Could have invested in Dovbyk or Sørloth
Fully agreed mate 🍻🤝
Someone needs to kick Cardinale ass along with the new management out from Milan.
They’re destroying what Maldini and Pioli already build for years.
A season ago, when Kalulu would get injured right after coming back from yet another injury, everyone (probably including you) was calling to offload him. The deal wasn’t the best, but in principle made sense because no one could count on him to stay healthy.
But you have the benefit of hindsight, warrior 😉
Emerson is a waste by any metric but Pavlo needs more time.
There are donkeys with better technique and less clumsy than him. He needs time to be sold, that is it.
What a waste of money.
With Kalulu, we already solved RB + CB problem. But the management are a bunch of i*iots 🤮
They spent 30+ million for Pavlovic and Emerson and both are mediocre af. Then they sent Kalulu to Juve only to see him became one of Juve important player for this season. Fking hell.
No Pavlovic is Good and solid only that needs to adapt from Gabbia and thiaw pairing but Acmilan should bench Emerson from now henceforth and replace him with Calabria or tomori because we want to see complete build up of 4-2-3-1 in the pressing system. Against opponent because it’s time for Acmilan to turn table around enough is enough I’ve watched some couples of Acmilan match especially when were under pressure Emerson royal can’t control the tempo of the game so is responsibilities is under questioning.
He will never be even above average. Average is his ceiling. Anyone watching him for 3 games in Austria could have figured it out. Except top scout Moncada. Same with Emerson.