Sky: Milan’s predicted XI for Inter clash – Fonseca takes risk with new formation

Photo By Claudio Villa/AC Milan

The Derby della Madonnina is scheduled for Sunday evening and AC Milan are desperate for a big win, having struggled at the start of this season. According to a report, Paulo Fonseca is set to make a pretty significant change to the starting XI. 

Milan have won just one of their first five games and the loss against Liverpool last time out sent the fans into fury. Therefore, the derby is Fonseca’s chance to prove that he should remain the coach of the Rossoneri, but it will be far from easy against Inter.

According to Sky Italia (see photo below), the manager is set to deploy a 4-4-2 formation with Tammy Abraham and Alvaro Morata starting up front. Both have impressed so far and the hope is that they can do more good together. Furthermore, this means Ruben Loftus-Cheek is expected to be on the bench.

At the back, Matteo Gabbia has done enough to convince the manager and should start next to Fikayo Tomori, with Strahinja Pavlovic getting some rest after two games from start to finish. Speaking of the defence, Emerson Royal will replace the injured Davide Calabria at right-back.

It remains to be seen if the formation change will be enough to get a result tomorrow, but Fonseca must feel confident that it’s the right move.

Predicted Milan XI (4-4-2): Maignan; Emerson, Gabbia, Tomori, Theo Hernandez; Pulisic, Fofana, Reijnders, Leao; Morata, Abraham.

Tags AC Milan Inter Paulo Fonseca

64 Comments

      1. Tammy will press the left and Morata the right. It will force Inter down the middle where they meet a block of Tijani and Fofana. They can alternate which striker plays further up and behnd because both players can distribute. This will be more effective than hoping Loftus and Leao cover higher up the pitch and create as well. Neither can do so. He is playing his best players. 442 is a simple system everyone and their mom inows how to play, it offers an adaptable approach too.

        1. I am sick tired of everyone not realising that this team lack spirit to win, theo and Leo are totally out of the team, they don’t play with the team rather create spotlight for themselves, against Liverpool he should have taken out Leo, RLC , and calibration, bring in chukwueze and swap pulisic with him. Fofana is a force in midfield ,tijjaani is also good but they are weak , the par are so different , a team like inter which such vigor, energetic midfield ,thus is just a walk in the pack for them.

          Using two strikers ,slow unskilled,with strikers low stamina, at Once is damm not good.

          What if at 70 gas got finished in the tank

    1. Ce 4-4-2 proposé peut se transformer en un 4-4-2 en losange avec Leao en MG, CP11 en MD, Reijnders en MO et Fofana en MDF. Dans l’idée c’est pas mal mais ça pourrait manquer d’équilibre en transition. Il faudra pour les ailiers faire les essuies glaces pour être compact et meilleurs défensivement

      1. Sachant qu’il y a quatre joueurs à vocation uniquement offensive avec Leao, Abraham, Morata et Reijnders qui ne défend pas non plus, ça risque d’être très juste. Emerson Royal est une chèvre en défense aussi. L’objectif est sans doute de marquer plus de buts que l’Inter, ça va se finir sur un score de tennis et je pense pas que Milan soit gagnant à la fin…

    2. We need more midfields againts a team like Inter, and now we play with less mids? I can easily our team got run over by another fastly paced transition football.

      And for the CB pairing, Fik and Gabbio have been figured out and stripped down by Inter, mostly the first one, so it’s better to start Pavlo. At least he can offer some surprises.

      1. I see a superstar…a player that makes good decisions over and over very quickly. Doesn’t lose the ball in bad spots. can burn a press by himself…he has connected the defense to the offense for the last year which is one of the hardest things to do in a 4231…note when he was moved to the 10 and the team was pressed by Liverpool they really struggled to progress the ball as he and musah are the best press breakers (they did not have this issue against Dortmund last season). If you look at the goal logs from last season (on freb)…you will notice that he is the name that pops up more than anyone besides leao. While most assists were provided from the flanks. He had close to 20 passes to the player that made the assist…his ability to find players in dangerous spots and make quick decisions is special…not a great defender but that’s why you play a guy like musah next to him who will cover.

      2. You’re just blind to good midfielders, as you used to complain every morning and night about Tonali, too.

        Any midfield average Joes like RLC though, they get your approval. Funny guy you are.

        1. Well you can go watch the amazing Tonali come off the bench for a mid table Premier League team if you miss him so much. What a superstar he is.

  1. Juventus just played their 3rd straight 0-0 game in serie A.
    Another proof that a new coach needs time to change the way the team plays after replacing a long standing coach, especially during an International tournaments summer.
    Watching Juventus play under Motta so far I see zero difference than Juventus under Allegri. Solid, very compact defensively. Toothless, no chances created offensively.
    Still playing under Allegri’s principles. I thought Allegri was holding Vlahovic back, but Vlahovic has been ass under Motta too. He got subbed at halftime today, and it wasn’t because of an injury.
    Just like Milan is still playing under Pioli’s principles. Poor defensively and try to go 1v1 offensively.
    Simone Inzaghi is considered top 5 coach in Europe today, but he was all set to be fired by inter in his 22/23, but a lucky draw in UCL allowed him to go to the final ans saved his job. Inter that season only had 2 more points than Milan in Serie A and finished 4th, with 12 losses in 38 games. Milan only had 8 losses that season.
    It takes time, just like it took Pioli time after he took over from Giampaolo. Some act like Pioli came in and change everything from day one. It got a lot worse under him after Giampaolo, before it started to get better.

    1. Should we understand from your comment that Fonseca is a good coach with credible ideas that should be kept around for longer regardless of tomorrow’s result ?

      1. I’m not in the locker room to know if Fonseca’s ideas are credible or not, are you?
        What I can see is that Milan plays the same way like they did under Pioli. The same players whose efforts we criticized under Pioli are putting the same lazy effort today and we hear from the coach that the players are not following instructions during games.
        If you fire Fonseca and hire Sarri, or another coach, and the players are still behaving the same way, are you going to fire him and bring another coach, and then another? When are we going to point the finger at the supposed best players on the team?
        Look what happened at Napoli last season. The media and certain players (Osimhen) were against Garcia since the beginning, and were creating toxic environment. Napoli was 4th on the table when they fired Garcia with 21 points after 12 games. Move praised by the media. They finished 10th with total of 53 points, missing UCL and European competitions. They earned 32 points in the next 26 games post Garcia. Was it a good move to fire the foreign coach that the media was against?
        The player who caused the coach to be fired was trash the rest of the season and he isn’t on the team anymore. Conte only has 2 more points so far this season than what Rudi Garcia had after 5 games, even though Rudi also played in the UCL. Rudi was criticized, Conte is praised.
        Roma spent more money than Milan this summer and have less points than Milan. The media wants Fonseca fired, while they criticize Roma’s management for firing De Rossi.
        Do you notice a pattern?

        1. I wasn’t neither agreeing nor disagreeing, I was just making sure I got your point.
          Honestly, wether we keep Fonseca or not, I don’t see the situation improving anytime soon. If he [Fonseca] was unable to get his ideas across despite having the whole summer (albeit a short one), I don’t see what Allegri or Sarri or Conceiçao can do better with a limited amount of time.
          If we’re lucky, we might get a Zidane like situation, but that will be a fluke.

    2. Idk both Juve and Napoli sit in top 5 4th and 3rd respectively. Juve has exactly 1 goal conceded in 6 games this season – 0 in Serie A. I prefer this plus the draws rather than being sh8t on with goals every game. These coaches had the same amount of time to work with the players – A player we practically made him leave is a starter now for this DRAWING team so bad omg

    3. Nah bro, you can’t judge inzaghi by that stat. He went bad that season not because he need time. Its because injury storm and a lot of player contract drama wich he finally found the solution by him self (thats why inter bounce back and beat milan in UCL).

      He already transform inter in the first season joining inter. he even almost claim his first scudetto that season.

      The easiest way to compare inzaghi first season with fonseca is inzagii win against Liverpool in anfield while foseca get beaten by Liverpool in san siro.

    4. Great point and I totally agree. I don’t get why there is any rumors of firing Fonseca because what did the management expect him to do after 5 games especially since he didn’t have ALL the players during preseason?

      No coach is going to be able to change a team overnight. A lot of players came back late and started the season out of shape and lacking match fitness.

      It takes time and patience. There’s no guarantee that a new coach will be able to do anything different.

      This is why an EXPERIENCED SPORTING DIRECTOR is needed because Marotta didn’t sack Inzaghi after a bad start to his career at Inter and Inzaghi had an Inter that won the scudetto under Conte.

      Unfortunately, Milan fans and management will have to give Fonseca TIME. I don’t believe he should be sacked before December but if he gets sacked after the Inter game then Ibra, Furlani and Moncada should be sacked along with him. It is unfair to a coach to put in a position where change is needed and not give him time.

      Maybe the 442 is the best solution for Milan and if he wins the derby or get a positive result then there’s no need to rush to appoint another coach until December if the bad results continue.

      1. I don’t think anyone expects overnight wholesale changes BUT there need to be some signs of improvement which there have been none so far.

        Motta made Juve his own 2nd game in. Conte as well. Fonseca has yet to effect this team.

    5. A very smart and reasonable comment Z. Remember in the preseason how good the team looked when he had time to work with those players. He hasn’t really had time to work with the starters because they weren’t there during the preseason, they were at the Euros. I would like to see him be given a little time but unless they win tomorrow it looks like he’s gone. Let’s hope we win. If we do win tomorrow we will be in a very good position in the league despite the rough start.

        1. How long is it going to take for a new coach to come in and implement his tactics? I really doubt a new coach is going to come in mid season and the team just starts playing great football right away. There will be growing pains either way. The idea that it’s not going to take some time for a team with a number of new signings and a new coach to all get on the same page and start to gel is just unrealistic. Obviously it needs to get better quick but 4 games is not a fair amount of time for any coach to be judged.

    6. Pioli started to do significantly better after the management brought in experienced figures in Ibra and Kjaer. That’s a pretty bold move by management, contrary to always buy young (and raw) talent policy from the higher up. Just like a they did on the Rangnick fiasco. Even caused Boban his job. And I can’t see the current management made that kind of move.

  2. Honestly (I hope I’m wrong) this smells like disaster. We have teams, including inter, that have been going through our midfield like a knife through butter and the solution is to empty the midfield even more ?
    I don’t see a front 4 overloading their defense (already tried and failed). Having Leao+Theo on Dumfries and Pulisic+Royal on Dimarco should work but it was already the case with a 4-2-3-1, and you can’t count on Leao for the defensive duties required in such a setup.
    This leaves Fofana+Reijnders against Çalhanoğlu+Barella+Mkhitaryan which doesn’t look pretty at all.
    But who knows, if he puts this, maybe he’ll also use a sit and counter approach that might work.
    In any case, I really hope I’m wrong.

    1. The idea is Tammy and Morata can cover more ground than Giroud did or Jovic as ST.cThey are more mobile and effective at a high press. They can Alternate roles as distributors or strikers, Leao and Pulisic can switch flanks as well depending on how Inter transition. The overload will be on a higher block and give their midfield less time and space to garner steam or momentum in the middle. We were ran through because Leao and Giroud or Jovic couldn’t press quick enough if their life depended on it. I’d believe Fofana will insulate Royal with Pulisic in transition and defense. Permitting quicker interchange and faster build up with Tijani, Theo, Leao on the left to keep Dumpries pinned. Then the middle we have a taller striker to attack the ball in the air and another to convert chances on the ground. He is better on Tammy and Morata being quicker than Leao and Loftus on top. Which makes sense. You actually close the central lanes further up the pitch this way and have more pliability. With an AM, that lacks speed and distribution skills, you shoot yourself in the foot.

  3. Yes this 4-4-2 is Good but second half like 70th minutes foncesca should switch to 4-2-3-1 so 4-4-2 and 4-2-3-1 can go together

  4. The challenge is to get the rapper leào to understand that defending is also part of the game! He needs to track back always to help the team, it is a team sport not an individual sport!!!

    1. Sure, sure. That’s the one challenge. It’s all the LAAAAAAZY rapper Leão’s fault! If we had sold Rafa, by now we’d have 12 points in Serie A in four games, would have beaten Liverpool 4-0 and would win tomorrow against Inter 6-0. I mean, without such a LAAAAAAZY rapper we’d be gold, right?

      Let’s just ignore the fact that while, sure, Rafa is not a good defender, he is one of our 2 best scoring chances (together with Puli), and has CONSISTENTLY had for the last 3 seasons the highest total of scores + assists or at worst the second highest, among all players in our team.

      I’m sick and tired of the “Leão-is-lazy” crowd. When will you all understand that it is just player characteristic? Some players defend well and track back well. Others don’t. If the latter are forwards and they produce an assist or a score per game, they will have helped the team; others more adapt at defending and tracking back could be doing efficient defending so that those productive forwards’ scores/assists would count (to win, you need to score more goals than the goals you concede, and forwards can’t do it all).

      So, the fact that we have a mediocre coach (with a predilection for throwing his own players under the bus), a clown posing as sporting director when he is anything but, a scout who thinks that Terracciano and Emerson Royal were worthy pursuits, two lousy players at right back who keep allowing teams to score at will from that side, no deputy for our otherwise good left back, no good defensive midfielder, a goalkeeper made of glass, rather uncreative players trying to play offensive midfielder, no players who are adapt at doing a double pivot competently, low impact right wing and left wing subs, older and injury-prone strikers, and ownership that doesn’t feel like we should spend more than 20-25M on any player and should take forever low-balling prospects until other teams snatch them; an owner who has no clue about what soccer consists of, a bloated squad with bums like Origi still earning millions for doing nothing, and so on and so on and so on and so forth, of course none of it has ANYTHING to do with how badly we’ve been playing and how unmotivated we are.

      It’s just the LAAAAAAZY rapper’s fault. Sure. (Insert rolling eyes here)

      1. I will never understand why so called fans could be against the ONE players in their team who has the X factor. I mean it’s just beyond me. This is in the end entertainment right? At least a big part of it. Why don’t you want to be entertained?

        I mean literally 99% of the teams on this planet and their fans would give an arm and a leg to have a player like Leao in their team. To see one of their players score goals like Leao scores.

        1. Exactly!!!

          When one of our 3 best players (together with Puli and Theo) is disrespected by our own administration (Scaroni said he’d personally pack Rafa’s bag) and scapegoated by the coach and by an expressive segment of the fan base, no wonder he is unmotivated.

          People say Rafa didn’t do anything against Liverpool. Well, Liverpool had so much respect for him, that he was constantly triple marked. Why didn’t the other forwards take advantage of the space Liverpool’s defense gave them while they were busy triple-marking Rafa (who still hit the post despite getting absolutely no service from his companions)?

          Was it really Rafa’s fault?

          Milan has a huge number of problems currently and Rafa is NOT one of them. Despite all the negativity thrown at him and the little help he is getting from the midfield, Rafa was still one of the few who had goals and assists (even though he had fewer minutes because the mediocre coach stupidly benched him). Other than Pulisic, Rafa has been one of the few bright points in this disaster that the current Milan is.

          When Rafa finally gets fed up and leaves, people will regret it and miss him, because we always have a lot of trouble scoring when Rafa is not playing.

        2. This formation with pulisic and leao on a 4 midfield looks so exposed specially when you have royal and hernandez(defending lately like a muppet)behind those 2.My only hope is not to become a massacre.

          1. Yes, that’s not using Rafa to the best of his abilities, and yes, with Emerson and Theo not defending well, it’s difficult. Like I said, not Rafa’s fault, if the coach gives him a role his characteristics are not ideal for.

    1. If he’s good enjoy to outplay psg and dortmund and Newcastle midfields last season I don’t see the evidence that inter are that much better than those teams…

  5. Fofana? why? there is nothing he does better than musah…against both good and bad teams…if he’s injured or if this is how he plays, either way…it doesn’t make much sense.

  6. Milan was already playing 4-2-4 defensively, so no much difference without the ball. With the ball you get an option more to play direct or long balls. The reasonable thing to do will be to add a center back to manage in numerical superiority Lautaro and Thuram and having the wing backs covering Di Marco and Darmian. But Fonseca wants to die with his ideas, so let it be. It will be a massacre.

    1. I agree that I’d rather add a CB than a striker. I think a cockeyed 3-4-1-2 with Mush as wingback could work. Leao plays high and left with Theo as normal and Tammy in the middle. Gabbia in the middle with Pavlovic left CB and Tomori right CB. Musah gets to just play man v man against opposing WB. Simple job that he can do well. I would then slip Puli into attacking mid role, really a free role in attack and a job to do in defense. RLC and Fofana in the pivot. I think we could play them tough and hope for a little magic from Leao or Puli. We need tactical flexibility against strong teams. Play one way vs Venezia and another vs Liverpool and Inter.

  7. 1. I thought training sessions are closed from journalists.
    2. Increasing numbers in the center (eg a diamond 4-4-2) makes more sense than decreasing the numbers, as all matches we kist was due to lack of midfield.
    3.The idea here could be either that Tammy plays as a number 10 (some logic there since he can put pressure on defenders), or as plan b if Inter takes the lead.

  8. I think in this formation, when we have the ball Pulisic is doing to drift inside and play, in effect, a number 10. But the real question for this team is whether a few guys who haven’t been so committed are willing to play for the shirt.

  9. Hope this changes bring victory against Inter.

    But 4-4-2 is good formation. Two strikers are better, always. And they can shifted to 4-4-1-1 to if they want to win the midfield, but Morata must be the second striker behind Abraham.

    Hopefully, this night we will win again, over Inter.

  10. I think the reason for the 4 – 4 – 2 is to give the full backs less space to track back, so they are not fatigued, also Inter congests their midfield, and Fonseca wants to challenge this.

    That being said, let’s see how our players will react to the formation.

    The main issue has been lack of grinta.

  11. The key will be thuram vs gabbia…we will probably press high with those two to try to stop inter cooking on the midfield so they will chose to go long on thuram.Gabbia or tomori wont stand a chance,jagernaut should have played to try to bully thuram.

  12. If this is what they do, I presume it will be more of a 4-2-2-2, with Leao and Puli pinching in as attacking mids to make a box midfield and force Inter to play wide and take their chances with the long wingback to wingback diagonals.

    It could work, but I’m not optimistic.

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