AC Milan have started the season well and Stefano Pioli has been able to give some of the backups playing time as well. The reality, however, is that the Rossoneri will hardly have backups in the usual sense this term.
Due to the World Cup being played in the winter instead of the summer, the schedule is incredibly tight for the clubs. There are many mid-week clashes and this is obviously something that must be factored in.
As highlighted by Luca Serafini, in his latest piece for MilanNews, Pioli simply must rotate the XI regardless of previous results. Milan are playing every 72-95 hours and fielding the best XI for every game only raises the risk of injuries/fatigue.
Rotation is a peculiar topic in the world of football: when you win it’s considered smart, but when you lose it’s considered risky. Milan fans must ‘put down your guns’, as Serafini continues, given that Pioli doesn’t have much of a choice.
New/inexperienced players will be given the chance and if the likes of Tonali and De Ketelaere have taught is anything, it’s that this can be a positive thing.
The same happens in baseball in the USA. Typically the teams play about 28 games a month. So they are playing every day almost (sometimes twice a day). The starting pitchers usually throw around 100 balls per start but only start one out of every 4 or 5 games. But back in the “good old days” pitchers threw every day. This would wear them out and their quality was worse than if they gave up their spot to a “lesser” athlete. Optimizing performance by scheduled rest is necessary for teams with demanding schedules. So having an elite starting 11 is important, but is more important to have a more balanced top 20. Lesser talents need to step in and give their top players a break. The real question becomes putting out a top team and a lesser team or smartly rotating players to manage optimal performance. And thus is important in the mercato to structure the team accordingly.
I think the most important pos are pivots. If our pivots can do their job well, everything will go well too. Because in Piolis tactic, pivots are so important in both phase but little appreciate because rarely get any assist, goals, & key-passes. In fact, if pivots failed so do the team. Like vs RB Salzburg, Bennacer did cut the pass but failed to control or pass to higher area, made us conceded a goal. Just a little error, we conceded. Thats the burden of pivots in Pioli’s tactic.
I’m pretty confident with Tonali & Bennacer. Pobega also might good but i dont when vs top flight clubs. But i wonder about Aster Vranckx, will he ready ? Even Krunic not really good as pivot, Krunic’s best pos is AMC actually, for his trait : smart movements & weaker physical duels.
What is pivot? In ACM for example… I am too young to understand that. Could you please explain it better? Thnx.