Throughout the season the hypothesis has been floated that Stefano Pioli could field Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Olivier Giroud together at the same time.
La Gazzetta dello Sport reports how the duo have won more than 40 titles and have scored nearly 900 goals combined, while both have toured Europe and have been in the biggest games, but the idea of an ‘Ibroud’ pairing is one that does not appeal to Pioli.
They have played together at the same time before, but only for 5 minutes against Verona, half an hour in Bologna, 34′ against Fiorentina, 27′ against Napoli and another 20′ against Spezia. A total of 116 minutes together therefore, which shows that the idea of a 4-4-2 with Ibra and Giroud up front is far away.
Pioli addressed the idea after the 0-0 draw against Bologna on Monday: “The two of them together? No, otherwise it becomes all a ball thrown in the middle at random.”
It will therefore be down to the classic relay already predicted at the beginning of the season and seen so far, while it is worth noting that in the five games that the Swede and the Frenchman were together on the field, there were more defeats (Fiorentina, Napoli, Spezia) than victories (Verona, Bologna).
Milan needs to find the new twin strikeforce. Van basten + gullit / Kaka + sheva. 1 striker will not get milan far
I think they can easily play together. Ibra dropping deep and Giroud in the box. It would work against low tier team at least, with the pressing game not as demanding. I am 100 % convinced Ibra would be better at finding space between defenders/midfield than Diaz.
Exactly. Diaz is pushed away from the ball far too easily. That won’t happen with Zlatan. He also has the unexpected creativity the Milan attack is clearly missing.
And they both would create room for each other too.
Ibra can drop to the 10, he lingers there a lot anyway PLUS he can see the opportunities, yes height does matter as to vision. He also is probably the best on the team with his back to goal. Strong like bull. At this point I will try the exact opposite of what Stefano thinks ’cause the strategy he has been following ain’t cutting it.
Yeah i would love to see zlatan and giroud start together and zlatan dropping and being more a playmaker and can score goals too should try something
of course it does not appeal to Stefano……he did not think of it, it could be the solution to “kick start” the offense which has been non existent. Ibra knows how to put the ball in the back of the net. And when he does come on it is in the last 5 minutes. Saving him from an injury when and if he is needed in the big game is a pipe dream. Thanks to a predictable offense every game has become a BIG game.