According to reports from this evening, Paulo Fonseca could switch formations for the important game between AC Milan and Inter tomorrow evening. By doing so, he would be able to start Tammy Abraham and Alvaro Morata together.
The manager’s career at Milan is on the line and a win is needed to turn things around, but that is easier said than done. During his press conference earlier today, he stated that he was confident after what has been three good days of training, but they will have to prove that on the pitch.
According to Antonio Vitiello, Fonseca tested Abraham and Morata together up front at Milanello today, deploying a 4-4-1-1/4-4-2 formation. Ruben Loftus-Cheek would then be the midfield getting cut, with Youssouf Fofana and Tijjani Reijnder starting in midfield.
Sky Italia (via MilanEye) has also backed this up by saying that Fonseca is set to deploy a 4-4-2 formation for the big game. Furthermore, Matteo Gabbia has won the battle against Strahinja Pavlovic who, in fairness, needs rest after starting the last two games.
Predicted Milan XI (4-4-2): Maignan; Emerson, Gabbia, Tomori, Theo; Pulisic, Fofana, Reijnders, Leao; Morata, Abraham.
It will certainly be very interesting to see Milan with this new shape, especially since Abraham has impressed so much in his first outings.
This might actually work. But the weak spot of course is Emerson Royal at RB, and Inter will surely exploit that sector of the field to attempt to produce the easy scores that our opponents have achieved so far through that open avenue that is our RB side. Given that we have no better alternative there than the horrible Royal, even with this improved formation it’s still likely that we’ll lose.
Calabria is very lucky that he got injured, actually. He won’t need to be part of the humiliation that is waiting for us tomorrow evening.
It won’t work because one player whom I shall not name will not participate in the defensive part of the game effectively leaving us in 9 v 10 on field.
Then ofc there is the useless Royal which makes it 8v10.
Don’t they have a some 16-year-old RB in Primavera they could use? Someone who actually can play football as Emerson sure as h3ll can’t.
Jimenez could do it.
But I guess they gotta play Emerson. 15M transfer and 2.5M net salary.
emerson royal is gonna help the other team if he played bad against lazio and parma how will he do against inter it is 10 vs 12
If he is going to play with both Tammy and Morata, then he should go with 4312 and Pulisic at 10.
Take Leao out and bring him off the bench when inter players are tired.
Put either Musah or RLC from the start to add another player in the midfield.
4312 is narrow, 352 is wide. Bad idea to do that.
What?
It’s 3 Milan midfielders vs 3 of Inter’s.
Theo and Emerson vs Inter’s wingbacks.
Milan 2 CBs vs Inter’s 2 strikers.
Pulisic, Tammy & Morata vs Inter 3 CBs.
Everyone is covered.
Look man..4312 is a formation that focuses on the central part of the pitch, right?
352 is a formation that focuses on stretching the game to the maximum. Without much problems they can overload the left or right side or even the middle. 4312 can’t.
It’s not about man marking or whatever you think..it’s about overloading a zone and either breaking through it or making space in the other side. 4312 has major problems when opposition switches up..l
Example, inter overload theo side, switch up play to dimarco and he’s one on one with Emerson while the guys doing the overload get in position to receive the cross. Nobody there to help Emerson because no winger and fofana is doing god knows what, probably trying to cover some midfielder making a run.
I agree. I’d go 3-5-2 but if he insists on 442 then you have to take Leao out and at least put someone more hard working off the ball on the left to help press on transition.
Pulisic isn’t that good as a 10, been tested a few times without that much of a success. I talked about Pulisic being an AM with my friend who supports Chelsea and he thought it was weird.
I won’t necessarly say it’s a bad idea, but understand that Pulisic will be nerfed (even a bit) as a 10.
Furthemore, the 4-3-1-2, even in Ancelotti days had this problem of lack of width, since only Theo and Royal will provide for width. Although against a 3-5-2, which also rely on wingbacks, that won’t be an issue. But do you really want to create a 1vs1 with Dimarco vs Royal ?
Unfortunately, like it or not, our squad is more built for a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1 and it will most certainly need wingers. If you drop Leao because he is lazy and doesn’t deserve to a be part of this team anymore, you’ll have to either put Okafor or Chukwueze, or risk Abraham/Morata as left winger.
Milan fans with their 100 suggestion. Imagine the coach been on this platform, which would he have gone for? The truth is that the players are there. We have good players to challenge for the title but they’re not playing for the coach. I feel they don’t like the coach.
also maybe fonseca needs to get tougher with them. i have seen Pep being aggressive and pushing and yelling at muller at bayern practice.if fonseca is soft, of course his players won’t play hard for him, also considering that some of them are naturally lazy, leao is technically gifted but is one lazy mofo, always walking, and smiling instead of focusing on doing his job. milan players don’t look like hunters/fighters on the field, they resemble the preys smh
Twin attack will bring Milan a win
This would be perfect for Okafor
how I miss kalulu right now
In theory this works. Pulls pressure off of Leao. In practice this won’t work because you need your wingers to defend well and let’s face it. Leao isn’t going to do the work.
If I were Fonseca trying to control my team, If I were to do this, I’d give Leao an understanding, you don’t defend, I’ll pull you out immediately. I don’t care if it’s the 10th minute.
Another speculation of building the team. After losing identity, now wanting to replicate the old ACM. Let’s hope it’s worked. Otherwise, arrivederci, au revoir, Mr Zorro.
We must play with 3 on the back and FOFANA in front of them, still defending with 4, but 4 that knows how to do it. Theo on the left can go in front without the responsibility of defend and on the other side Pulisic do the right side, and as you see we don’t see any of Royal or Calabria that are our weak spot.
Then we can opt with 5-2 or 4-3 on the front, seems a win win situation imho.
Sounds like an offensive plan. Keen to see how Abraham and Morata work out. I have reservations about the mid 4 and how we will cope with defensive duties (Puli, Leao, Tijji don’t give much comfort defensively). But the coach probably knows best. Let’s wait and see…
If we go with a 4-4-2, then why is not Okafor the second striker?
Good call. Start either Abraham OR Morata then sub the other one in.
Or in a 442 use Okafor in place of Leao.
I would have prefer a 3 4 3 formation with Emerson on the bench.
Tomari Gabbi Pavlovic
Musa Fofana Reijnders Theo
Pulisic Morata Leao
My most preferred option
3 up front is madness against Inter. The more players we have back the better.
Leao definitely the weak point. He’s not a box to box midfielder.
It’s essentially going to be a very unbalanced 4-3-3 with Leao not tracking back.
Pulisic will track back, but defense is not his strong point.
Probably Inter will score 2 or 3 goals in the first half and Leao will just be standing and staring most of the half.
Fonseca should just bench him for the second half and put in Musah or Okafor
musah does nothing good dribbling bujt no end product okafor yes but not musah
Hold on I’m still rubbing my eyes… Fonseca’s changing formation??
what could go wrong? Let’s experiment against a team that has our number.