AC Milan got their noses in front early on during their lunchtime trip to Tuscany, with Ruben Loftus-Cheek netting with a lovely finish to round off a great team move against Empoli.
In the 11th minute, Milan’s early pressure did result in the opening goal of the game. An attack down the left flank saw Leao play a nice cut-back to Loftus-Cheek who was unmarked on the edge of the box, finding the far corner with an excellent first-time finish.
Opening the dance 🤩⚽️@RLC | #EmpoliMilan | #SempreMilan
Brought to you by @SN4IFUN pic.twitter.com/i2aII8cj22
— AC Milan (@acmilan) January 8, 2024
Comfortable win good one
Watching the game, it is becomes even more trivial on why Pioli insisted on playing Krunic all this time when Adli was kept on the bench.
And seeing the game, against team position 19th in league, question must be raised why Pioli don’t field any youngster at starting eleven.
At least one of Simic or Jimenez shouldve start in a game like this… And look, Florenzi injured and replaced by Jimenez. Shouldnt even happen if Jimenez, or Simic start instead of Florenzi.
And Giroud isn’t effective in front, should’ve gone for Jovic to start. Dudes on a red hot form rn
Because it’s rotation and Giroud was rested. Both are in good form.
This isn’t coppa. We’re playing to win here and keep our position in the table. Even the weakest team in the table can surprised us, like Salernitana did. So playing the best players with the most experiences is a no brainer decision.
And don’t forget we have to play Atalanta in the mid week.
But it’s against 19th ranked teams in the table – one that’s struggling a lot in their home. If you can’t play your wonderkid there, then where will you play them?
I dont ask for wholesale changes, but one or two talented youngster should be okay. Big teams do that all the time – Garnacho, Quansah, Harvey Elliot, Alexander Arnold, Yildiz, Pulisic, Messi, Lamine Yamal, etc – the examples are plenty. if you struggle a lot just because one youngster in the team, you don’t deserve to be champions anyway.
Also, we don’t talk about random youngster here – Simic and Jimenez should be good enough to play for mid table teams in the league. Not regular starter but they should be fine doing so once in a while.
I’m not entirely in favor of everything Pioli is doing. While the formation is fine, Giroud should have been subbed out for Jovic and not be left to play the entire game. Other than that, it’s a good match but not an outstanding one.
But at this point you play to win.
Pioli keep Jovic fully rested for Atalanta which we will play in the mid week. I’m sure Pioli will sub Giroud if Okafor wasn’t injured.