AC Milan are currently able to rely on a fantastic defensive department as their recent record shows, with the centre-back pairing of Fikayo Tomori and Pierre Kalulu among the stand-outs.
MilanNews recalls how the Rossoneri have conceded just 31 goals in 36 games which means they have the joint-best defence in the league on par with Inter and Napoli. Of course Stefano Pioli, Mike Maignan, Theo Hernandez, Davide Calabria and others deserve credit for the organisation, but the Tomori-Kalulu pairing is a strength.
Kalulu and Tomori have become the pillars of the Rossoneri defence after the long-term injury to Simon Kjaer and the fluctuating performances of Alessio Romagnoli. In the last 9 Serie A outings – against Napoli, Empoli, Cagliari, Bologna, Torino, Genoa, Lazio, Fiorentina and Verona – the Rossoneri have conceded just 2 goals.
Only Ciro Immobile and Davide Faraoni managed to pierce the rearguard which is a real improvement after a spell where there were some leaky games. On Sunday against Atalanta, the penultimate game of the season and a huge one in the battle for the Scudetto, both Kalulu and Tomori will have to be at their best again.
Not only that, but they must be very careful not to get a yellow card that would force them to miss the last match of the Serie A campaign in Sassuolo, along with Alessio Romagnoli, Brahim Diaz and Rafael Leao.
Kalulu & Tomori have played well together.
But its also worth noting that for majority of those 9 games Milan played with 3 defensive midfielders.
So it’s not only the defense and Maignan that deserve credit but the whole team. The defense barely had anything to do over those 9 game. The competition was also very weak.
What games have you been watching SMH Forza Milan
Pierre Kalulu next year need to start as right back if we got new center back because he deserve it he is better then calabria
He isn’t. He is maybe better than Calabria at CB, I didn’t really see him playing better at RB. And he played at RB only when we had Calabria and Florenzi injured.
But I agree he should start. As CB, I wouldn’t buy Botman as we can spend that money better on a striker. We have 4 centre backs already. If Kalulu develops into a great RB ok, but let’s see what Pioli, Maldini&co decide.
No , we still need botman. Kjaer not enough as back up since he got ACL,Romagnoli not sure if he want to stay or not as back up,gabbia Will be loaned out. Even they fail to buy botman ,they Will still buy another CB not striker. AC Milan priority only RW and AMF since striker already 3 : Ibra,Giroud,Origi. They Will buy striker if Ibra out
I also think Kalulu is better at RB than Calabria. Calabria has been pretty terrible going forward this year. He hasn’t been delivering good crosses, he often has sloppy passes that turn into turnovers, he doesn’t have the same speed/pace dribbling or sprinting forward (or to get back on D which is important for an outside back) as Kalulu and Calabria’s shots on goal have been terrible. He had two golden chances to score in Verona match and shot both straight at the keeper. Florenzi came in and less than 2 minutes in, he put the ball inside the far post like Calabria should’ve done twice.
He’s never been as good as Kalulu offensively though–Calabria’s strength had always been defense; but even there, he was terrible v Verona as Lazovic made him look like a fool 4 or 5 times (and he didn’t have the speed to catch up after he was beat). So now we have seen for months that Kalulu can defend as well as get forward so putting him in for Calabria at RB will not be a step down defensively either — in fact, it looks like it will be a step up.
Also, crorossonero — Kalulu’s natural position is outside back, not CB. You might recall that he was used at both RB and LB (when Theo had to sit for a red card last year)… he is versatile for sure but outside back is his normal position. He was only forced to play CB out of necessity after injuries to Kjaer and Romagnoli; but he is better at RB and once we have Botman next year, Kalulu should 100% start over Calabria.