After coming out the gates firing with lots of goals and 3 straight wins, Milan have stumbled with a terrible performance vs Inter last weekend and then a disappointing draw vs Newcastle this past Tuesday in a game they thoroughly dominated. Whatever happens today, walking out with all 3 points is a must with Inter playing lowly Empoli this weekend, otherwise Milan is back 6 points after 5 rounds and that’s not a good ratio this early in the season.
LAST FIVE
MILAN: DLWWW
HELLAS VERONA: DLWWW
FORMATIONS
MILAN (3-4-3): Sportiello; Tomori, Kjær, Thiaw: Florenzi; Reijnders, Krunic, Musah; Leão (C), Giroud, Pulisic
HELLAS VERONA (3-4-2-1): Montipo; Dawidowicz, Hien, Magnani; Terracciano, Folorunsho, Hongla, Faraoni (C); Lazovic, Duda; Ngonge
TIME/LOCATION
TIME: 9am EST/2pm GMT
PLACE: San Siro, Milano
WHERE TO WATCH:
Paramount+ and FuboTV here in the US of Aye and Canada, BeIn for our Aussie pals, ESPNPlay for our fellas in T&T, JioTV for our Indian leoni, and illegal streams that support dictators and oligarchs everywhere.
*Let us know if this needs updating*
WHAT TO WATCH FOR:
Rotation-rotation-rotation! It looks like out the gate there are 3 beginning-of-the-season starters sitting and I would guess another 3-4 coming out of this game as Pioli needs to start playing the long game. Between now and the next international break (ugh, I know) starting October 9, 2023, Milan has 5 games in 16 days including a big one away at Dortmund on October 4, 2023.
So, what does that mean for this game? Well it means we’ll get to see some of that quality depth we all believe Milan brought in this past summer vs one of the hotter Serie A sides to start this season. Playing at home will help but I’m expecting a dog fight as Hellas will have little to lose by trying to steal at least a point at the San Siro.
Musah will get his first start for RLC, Florenzi comes in for Theo, Calabria sits, and Pioli changes to a 3-4-3 formation. We all saw some of what he brings last match vs Newcastle as his direct style and strong ball carrying helped Milan move more efficiently down their right. I’m excited to see what he can do starting out the gates.
How else might this 3-4-3 look? Well it was reported Reijnders worked some as a regista this week, which I personally like, and it looks like that’s what he’s being asked to do as he moves to the middle in the midfield 4. He’s been at this best threading passes in the middle third as opposed to the final third and his shooting boots have been…well…very Saelemaekers-esque. Krunic starts to help give him some protection and I’m going to be watching very closely to see if he’s the conduit out the back. With Maignan out injured and losing that point of distribution I’m betting on this even more. Speaking of, thank god we don’t have to see Tatarusanu.
Up front, Pulisic comes back in but oddly Giroud is starting again…which seems like a lot for the 36 (37?) year old. I would guess he’s the first guy subbed out and likely doesn’t play midweek…or at least I would hope so. I want to see Okafor and Jovic play so maybe Jovic comes in for Giroud and Okafor for Leão? I guess we’ll see. As for what to expect with this group, I think Pulisic retreats back a little bit more and becomes the orchestrator in the final third with Reijnders sitting deeper and no Theo to carry the ball forward on the left. When Hellas does get forward I would expect Reinjders and Kjær to try and release Leão on the counter. This is all tough to predict with new pieces and a new formation but if I was betting money that’s where I’d put it.
As for Hellas, I won’t pretend to know a whole lot about them but I know that Ngonge has been hot with 2 goals in four games, Montipo is pretty good between the sticks, and their creativity appears to be coming from Duda, who has a goal and assist to start his campaign. The bigger tell for me, even more than ratings or scoring numbers, are that Hellas have come out swinging this season. Their 7 points in four games is already 22.5% of their point total from last season. While they certainly won’t keep this pace up and will probably slow down quite a bit before season’s end, Milan is playing them NOW and right now they’re a feisty group.
Expect this to be a cagey game and Milan pulls out a hard-earned 2-1 win.
Forza Milan
gillis