Pellegatti suggests a ‘sensational’ position change for Ibrahimovic as key man struggles

By Oliver Fisher -

The struggle for form that Brahim Diaz is currently battling has led to certain suggestions from pundits and fans regarding adjustments Stefano Pioli could make, and Carlo Pellegatti has suggested something pretty radical.

There has been a notable decline in performance from several players compared to the start of the season too and the most striking example is certainly Brahim Diaz, who scored 4 goals in the first 9 games of the season including three match-winners, but since he had Covid in October he has been poor.

This has led to various suggestions ranging from a switch in formation to buying a player in the transfer market and even experiments such as Franck Kessie moving further up into an advanced role, as seen in the 4-2 win over Empoli in the game before Christmas.

Pellegatti has written a column for MilanNews during which he spoke about the mercato and about the recent controversial incident at the end of Milan-Spezia, but in the final paragraph he hypothesised an interesting tactical idea.

“In the meantime, I would like to suggest a sensational move to Stefano Pioli. The idea comes from having just finished the book ‘Adrenalina’ by Zlatan Ibrahimovic,” he begins.

“On page 234, ‘Ibra Supremacy’ reads: ‘I like this: always have full control of the offensive manoeuvre, know the position of teammates and opponents, to be able to decide the action with a pass, a hole, a header’. The Swedish champion often plays already as number 10, moving on the entire offensive front. Why not entrust him with the direction of the attack manoeuvre, a job that he could do with great effectiveness, given his class, his vision of the game, his physicality?

“Nobody is asking him to move back to the midfield line, but he could be a fantastic point of reference up front with Giroud or Rebic, centre-forwards. Stefano Pioli is brave. Once, in a press conference, I quoted him a phrase from Mario Draghi: ‘If you lose courage, you lose everything!’.

“As Ancelotti had the brilliant idea of ​​re-inventing Pirlo in front of the defence, the ‘Duke of Parma’ could revolutionise Milan in the second half of the season, developing a conviction, already revealed in Empoli with Franck Kessiè, to put more physicality in the last 20 metres. It would be a sight to see Ibra phrasing with Leao, with Giroud or Rebic.”


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Tags AC Milan Zlatan Ibrahimovic

12 Comments

  1. Move Diaz to the wing where he can take more players on one v one. Play Saelemaekers and Kessie in the center leave Ibra as a target man.

  2. Or, we realize he is way, way passed his prime and he is no longer fit to be a starter. And we start making the best of the bad situation and play him in the last 30 or so minutes of the game.

    1. You are joking? Find another player that scored 33 goals in 51 matches in Serie A, excluding Ronaldo and Vlahović. That is 0.647 per match. Lukaku had an average of 0.65 during his time at Inter. So stats same as a 120M transfer. 😀 You have to be joking or super special.

      1. We can also brig up his statistics when he was at Milan first. How about Ibra at Inter? Sorry buddy, as awesome as Ibra is, he is getting old and is already not the player he was just a year ago. Time to take off those rose colored glasses and accept he is a substitute, not a starter. And that is not a bad thing, it is just the way to get the most out of him before he has nothing more to give on the field.

        I love the guy, but this is twilight of his career not his prime. I hope both him and Pioli will realize that sooner rather than later, or more opportunities for easy points are gonna be wasted.

  3. Yes Pellegatti You are right, Ibra have to play attacking midfield Giroud play 9, it will be perfect, Brahim Diaz lose form secondly that position 8, required some one with height, a real defender ;Like Chillini or Bounce will not allow Brahim Diaz to pass him, your suggestion is well perfect,

  4. Yeah, but Ibra is an assassin in the box (although he has been misfiring a little of late). We need that Hercules to lead the line. Giroud gets some nice headers now and then, but he doesn’t have the gravitas of Ibra. I say let Kessie have another shot at the position, with Bennacer and Tonali in behind. And then if we have a lead in the last 10-15 min this could easily shift to a flat 3 for more defensive solidity. The one player I DO NOT want to see as CAM is Messias, as we need him at RW. Alexis is just not good enough offensively, bless his heart.

    1. Saele is better than Messias ,yes he may take care of the ball better, but of course you will not lose it when you just stand around

  5. Jf you have watched Ibra basically is playing that position now, facilitating outside the box, hhe draws so much attention that others are getting shots like last game Saele. and Rebic

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