Haven’t played these guys in a little bit…should be fun!
LAST FIVE
MILAN: LLWWW
BARCELONA: WLWLW
FORMATIONS
MILAN (4-3-3): Maignan; Hernandez (C), Tomori, Thiaw, Florenzi; Reijnders, Krunic, Loftus-Cheek; Leão, Giroud, Pulisic
BARCELONA (4-3-3): Pena; Alonso, Garcia, Kounde, Araujo; Lopez, Romeu, Pedri; Ezzalzouli, Torres, Raphinha
GAMEDAY INFO:
TIME: 11pm EST/4am GMT
PLACE: Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
WHERE TO WATCH:
ESPN+, ESPN Deportes, and…¯\_(ツ)_/¯
WHAT TO WATCH FOR:
So another friendly, probably the last before the season starts (there’s always some random one about a week out from the season but I guess we’ll see). Last time out there were a lot of positives and I spoke about that here.
As always, biggest key is to stay healthy during these things so you can go into the season as healthy and strong as possible. Aside from that here are a few other thoughts:
- Milan will surely be in the 4-3-3 again and while there were some positive takeaways from the Juventus game last time out, overall the team doesn’t look quite in sync with the formation yet. I’m not saying they should be at this point but continued progress is the key so hopefully all sections of the formation will be dancing to the same tune ASAP
- With this new formation all eyes should be on the midfield. Pick your favorite component/job of midfield and focus on that because as the midfield goes so will Milan. For me, and I mentioned this is the Juve post match, I need to see a playmaker emerge out of the group because if one doesn’t the offense will stagnate as the season progresses and teams start to take away Milan’s strengths. Right now, this is falling on Reijnders but CDK and Adli will also be possibilities
- Calabria is out and I’m still trying to figure out what the hell happened to Kalulu (seriously, WTF?! where’s Kalulu?!)…as for this game, could be a chance for Saelemaekers to earn himself some minutes once the games start to matter with a good showing tonight (I’m assuming at RB)
- Giroud buried home a nice goal with one of the VERY few opportunities he got but aside from that the strikers that played didn’t threaten Juve’s backline very much. I would love to see them get involved even if they need to get a touch or two outside the box. I know with better wingers on the squad quality service should be less of a problem but I know I still haven’t seen it. Maybe tonight we start to see some
- Lastly for me, again, what does Pulisic do? He kinda feels like a man without a position, a little bit like CDK. I’m not convinced the 4-3-3 is the best fit for the squad but I’d like to at least see the 4-2-3-1 deployed occasionally and Pulisic could be really good in that CAM position (plus it never hurts to have a backup formation)
Not exactly game related but Yunus Musah is apparently set to take his physical in a couple of days so this one is just about in the bank. As you’ve already heard me say, I’m VERY excited about this signing and I think his upside might be the highest out of all the players Milan has brought in. But we can save this conversation for the next squad update.
Late start for a good chunk of us in the US, hope the kickoff time is friendlier to you all around the world!
Forza Milan
gillis