Tomorrow evening’s game against Sassuolo at San Siro will be a very important match for Stefano Pioli, who is under fire after the 2-2 draw against rock-bottom Salernitana.
According to what is being reported by Tuttosport (via MilanNews), Pioli will start from a disadvantage as the defensive department will again be in full emergency. Malick Thiaw, Pierre Kalulu and Fikayo Tomori – the top three in the centre-back hierarchies – will certainly be absent.
Although Jan-Carlo Simic gave positive sensations against Monza and also in Salerno, Pioli will rely on his ‘senators’ at least from the start. The paper states that Simon Kjaer and Theo Hernandez will be the pairing in the middle, leaving the left-back position to Alessandro Florenzi.
The right-back will obviously be Davide Calabria, all of which shows that – in such a delicate match – the Rossoneri coach seems determined to focus more on the experience of those he has known for longer, rather than on the freshness and enthusiasm of the young Simic.
Yesterday, however, good news arrived regarding the conditions of Luka Jovic , who is struggling with a bruised ankle suffered after a tackle from Gyomber in Salernitana-Milan. The Serbian striker, fresh from three goals in the last three league games, should return to training with the group today.
Havent won Sassuolo at san siro since 2019 so yeah.. Its gonna be a massacre.
Florenzi v. Berardi. Queue the Jaws theme.
What’s this I smell? A fresh injury during the game?
I’m trying to think who’s up next. I think my money has to be on Theo. He doesn’t have an actual replacement or the coach doesn’t trust the youngsters (Bartesaghi). CB is a tough role to be in. You need good physical strength over long periods.
Next in line is Kjaer, who probably hasn’t recovered fully from his injury given he could complete the last game. I think he’s more likely to not last the game that Theo.
The other choice was Reijnders but at least u can sub him out, Theo HAS to play, unfortunately.
You can’t blame Pioli for having to field different defending pairings and expect them to stay solid at the back as if they played together for years.
BUT, you can make your team stay more compact because of this to help protect the back line. And to improve set piece marking which has been plaguing us all season.
Let’s see what he does against Sassuolo. The team usually responds well after a disappointing result, just doesn’t keep performing like that game after game.
FORZA MILAN ⚫️🔴 ALWAYS!
Wouldn’t it be better to have Calabria move to CB? Then Florenzi could play his natural RB and Theo could do what he naturally does best at LB. That way only 1 player playing out of position instead of 2. Between this and the stupid attempt at inverted fullbacks, Pioli has destroyed our dangerous left side attack.
Milan need to to just sit deep and compact and hit on the counter. It’s what they are best at anyways.