AC Milan did not start their season with a win against Torino as they would have hoped to on Saturday night, but there could be significant changes to the starting line-up from that game.
For various reasons, Paulo Fonseca was not able to name the likes of Theo Hernandez, Tijjani Reijnders and Alvaro Morata in the XI that played from the first minute against the Granata, and in the end all three came off the bench to start the comeback that led to a 2-2 draw.
Youssouf Fofana was also not available for the game having only been announced as a new signing that morning and he could therefore come in, but Morata won’t having picked up an injury. That means Fonseca must pick an option up front to replace him, with various solutions available.
Peppe Di Stefano spoke live on Sky from Milanello this afternoon to give an update on how preparations for Saturday’s game are going, which his comments relayed by Radio Rossonera.
“Pulisic and Leao on the wings behind the only striker who will be Okafor or Jovic. Theo Hernandez will definitely return in defence , Reijnders will definitely be a starter in midfield, but Fofana is also raring to go,” he said.
Good thing they don’t play Leao up top. Hope
Fofana is ready. Really want to see what he can do.
Thank God, so the silly idea of playing Leão as the striker is gone. Thankfully. I was not impressed with Fonseca being so clueless about what has been tried before and hasn’t worked at all. It shows that he never did his homework, never watched film. I think once he was hired by Milan and took another month to come to Milano, he should have watched film, should have watched all games Milan played last season, so that he’d understand a few basic facts and wouldn’t come up with that stupid lineup against Torino, with Alexis as LB (?!?), Thiaw instead of Gabbia, and Jovic starting as the sole striker. I was very disappointed in Fonseca for being so unaware of what skills our players have or don’t have. You can’t just base your lineup selection on pre-season friendlies. You need to watch film and look at what these players have done in official matches.
That one coach disclosed that he watched his next team’s matches doesn’t mean all coaches must adopt that style.
Afterall, your favorites lecturers in scholl didn’t use the same style to teach you, did they?
It would be nice if this were true, but I have a feeling Fonseca is going to try and find some way to squeeze Saleamakers and Chuku into the starting XI. Hopefully not.
I would like to see
Emerson – Tomori – Pavlovic- Theo
Fofana -Reijnder
RLC
Pulisic – Okafor – Leao
I hope this is a 433 since RLC is not a trequartista or attacking midfielder. He should play as number 8 mezzala. RLC, Fofana, Reinjders.
Replace RLC with Musa please. He is slow & Musa can do the work & he can score as well
I like Musah too, I think he brings good energy off the bench. But he has not proven that he can score as I believe he has zero goals so far. Also RLC gets an incredibly bad rap on here. He’s not slow, he’s just one of those players that is very smooth and it never looks like he is running hard but he actually has pretty good pace and does a good job for this team. He did score ten goals last season.
We don’t have the players to play in a double pivot IF we sell Benny – and that looks extremely likely.
Should be a midfield 3: Reindjers Fofana and RLC
Up top: Leao Morata Pulisic
Reindjers and RLC are not DMs needed in a double pivot and even if we sell Benny and somehow beat Roma to Koné (unlikely) – Koné is not a DM for a double pivot either.
I wonder if we do switch to a 433 eventually …
He quickly give up from idea he was practicing the whole preseason – pulisic as AM 🤣
Who’s playing the 10?
RLC. WIth Reijnders and Fofana at the double pivot and Pulisic on RW. That’s actually the attack I prefer as I am not a fan of Chukuweze at all.
The attack wasn’t really a problem last season, it was the defense. A ton of injuries to the defense, Calabria’s defending falling off, Thiaw being a mess and lack of a DM was the real issue last season. Hopefully a lot of that will be fixed now with the new signings but I wouldn’t mess too much with what was a very good attack last season.
Me I prefer Musa than RLC
Maybe it’s about time to try the 4-3-3
Leao————-Okafor———Pulisic
Bennacer/RLC————-Reijnders
—————-Fofana——————–
Maignan,Theo,Tomori,Tiao,Emerson
fofana,reijnders,loftus,pulisic,salemakers and okafor
We will win if play without Calabria and Leao
I generally like the sounds of this. You can always bring in Chuku on the right and shift Pulisic to the middle and RLC back. I’m glad not to see Saelamakers mentioned in the starting lineup. Bring him in for Leao after we get up 2 goals.
I think Musah could be very, very good in the pivot in the long run. His weaknesses are passing accuracy (though his pinged ball for Okafor in the box last week was quality) and finishing (which is really quite bad). I think RLC is fine in the pivot, not sure why folks don’t like him there and don’t like him in the squad. He’s extremely versatile, same deal as Florenzi. Just plug him in wherever you need help. He’s played every midfield spot plus right back in the past. That’s part of why I really like having him in the squad. He also brings a little more height and skill in the air than the rest of our midfield. Remember, we’re also going to have more injuries at some point this season. Pulisic is our second best winger and can technically play anywhere along the front line, so having RLC to play the 10 also makes sense, even if Puli is first pick at the 10. RLC scored plenty of goals from the 10 last year, just wasn’t maybe the creative force you’d hope for. I like the looks of this team and mostly worry about depth at this point. It would be nice to work out a back 3 variant to mix things up against some opponents. I don’t know how Leao would do in a box midfield. Maybe not so great, which is why it wouldn’t make sense, but without Leao in the squad because of injury, it could make plenty of sense. Theo at LWB, RLC at RWB, slot Emerson Royal into RCB, Gabbia middle, and Tomori LCB. Musah and Fofana at the base of the midfield, and Pulisic and Reijnders as the inside forwards at the top of the box midfield, with Morata up top. I think that could work sometimes if teams are always expecting 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3.
U play too much of fantasy football manager or Na WhatsApp manager
I say bring back the old Christmas tree. 4-3-2-1.
Emerson – Tomori – Pavlovic- Theo
Reijnders – Fofana – Musah
Pulisic – Leao
Oakafor
When Leao and Pulisic make their runs they will still be on the wings but a little more central allowing them to link up with each other or in a triangle with a striker. This also allows Theo and Emerson to Storm foward at every chance with all the coverage in the deep midfield.
Vintage Milan Football alla Ancelotti. Now if we could just bring back Gattuso in his prime all our destroyer problems would be over!
Umm the point of the fences being erected is to prevent spies etc, right?
What’s the point if a journo could still confirm our line up?
So, either he’s lying, or we still need to address this.
Theo Hernandez to forward, He is amazing player.