Milan are rested after lots of rotation over the last couple of games and they welcome a struggling but dangerous Lazio team, one that will be eager to get a result. While I love their coach, Maurizio Sarri, I can’t stand the team and hope Milan add to their continued early-season misery. Should be fun game either way but I think Milan come away with all 3 points.
LAST FIVE
MILAN: WWDLW
LAZIO: WDDLW
FORMATIONS
MILAN (4-3-3): Maignan; Hernández, Tomori, Kjær, Calabria (C); Reijnders, Adli, Loftus-Cheek; Leão, Giroud, Pulisic
LAZIO (4-3-3): Provedel; Hysaj, Romagnoli, Casale, Marusic; Alberto (C), Rovella, Guendouzi; Zaccagni, Castellanos, Anderson
TIME/LOCATION
TIME: 12:00m EST/5:00pm GMT
PLACE: San Siro, Milano, Italy
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:
A busy week comes to an end and Milan have rotated, rested key players, and most importantly have earned 6/6 points during this stretch. Now comes in Lazio to cap 3-games-in-8-days-stretch and Milan hope to make it 9/9 points heading into an near-must-win away match at Dortmund next week.
Last season Milan split the matchups with Lazio, with each team winning one. Milan has gone 4-1 vs the Sarri-led Lazio, which includes Coppa Italia quarter-final win in 2022. Needless to say Pioli has had Sarri’s number and Milan hopes this streak continues.
Milan come in the more injured of the two, with Krunic, Kalulu, Jovic, and Bennacer all slated to miss the contest. Lazio only have Romagnoli out but this absence might be the most consequential of them all. Lazio’s defense was suspect in Sarri’s first year but then Romagnoli arrived and helped spring Lazio into the second best defense last season. With Milan firing on all cylinders, this is bad news for Lazio.
Here are a few things I’ll be watching for:
- How does Adli do in this second start and vs a better team (at least on paper)? He showed what he can do with the ball at his feet in the last game, but he also showed some of his liabilities by having a costly turnover in his own box that led to Cagliari’s only goal. Lazio will pose a bigger challenge for him defensively and how he does on that front I think will determine how much he plays moving forward
- Can Reijnders shine vs a tougher opponent? His best two games so far have come against Bologna and Cagliari, not exactly top-of-the-table competition. Lazio, and Sarri’s offensive-minded football, are likely to provide him some space to distribute and cause havoc, so it’s a good opportunity despite the tougher opponent. I’ve been critical of his play in and around the 18 yard box but he excelled in this area last game and I hope to see it continue
- Leão and Giroud got some rest midweek, Giroud getting the whole game off, and both players should be ready to go. Having watched their teammates play beautiful team football last game, will Milan go back to a give-it-to-Leão-and-watch-him-do-it-himself, or will they be part of a more complete team approach? We’ve seen a bit of both so far this season and I’m curious to see how this plays out
- The defense has looked a lot better with Tomori’s return after the sending off vs Roma, and have only given up one goal in the last 3 games after giving up 5 to Inter without him. He appears to be the glue back there and we’ve been getting the good Tomori. Will this continue to be the case? I hope so
Alright, that about wraps it up for this matchday post. If you missed it I filled in for Lisi in the Round 7 Whip Around, give that a read if you can. I also went on the record in that post that Milan will win 3-1, now go make me proud, boys!
Forza Milan
gillis
*Update: Romagnoli is available and starting, so we’ll see how that affects Lazio’s defense. If I were Milan, I would challenge him all game and see how healthy he actually is. Either way, go get that win!