Milan v Udinese

TIME/LOCATION

TIME: 3:45m EST/7:45pm 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:

All eyes will be on what Pioli decides to do with the mini injury crisis at the moment. How this plays out will have a major impact with what should be 3pts for Milan at the end of the day.

In the Milan-Napoli post match, I spoke about the injury crisis, specifically the muscle injury crisis, and briefly speculated what might be the cause. What I want to focus on now are what options are available for Pioli to address the current situation.

Being up 2-0 at the half vs Napoli and faced with Pulisic coming out and Kalulu already taken off, Pioli decided to plug-and-play and substituted like-for-like despite being very thin at CB. An argument could be made that he could’ve gone midfield-heavy since that was the one position on the squad mostly intact. Any combination of a 4-4-2 or a 3-5-2 or anything with a heavy midfield presence could have perhaps provided better coverage and execution to preserve leaving the Stadio Maradona with all 3 points. Pioli will have a starter-quality backline to start today’s match vs Udinese but when it comes down to substituting, or god forbid Milan go through another round of muscles exploding, how Pioli will deal with the issue at hand will be of utmost importance. Throw in needing to prepare for a big Champions League showdown coming up, resting key players (all key starters) will also factor into this equation.

The same concern about the CBs can be said about the attackers, specifically at RW. If Pioli starts Romero, as is expected by FotMob and WhoScored, what does he do if/when he wants to sub him off? I think an argument could be made to pair Okafor and Jovic up top of a 4-4-2 with Pobega and Adli contributing and being utilized along with the usual starters of Reijnders, Krunic, and Musah (heck, Adli should probably start since Milan is playing a bottom of the table team, one thin with attacking gravitas). Ultimately who starts in the midfield in a possible 4-4-2 should be aligned with however Pioli chooses to approach this, but either way he should lean heavily on his mostly-healthy midfield in his formation decision.

Finally, with Udinese in an expected 3-5-2 and flooding the midfield, Pioli could try and counter that with a heavier midfield presence. Udinese is not Inter but I’d be remiss to not bring up the fact that Udinese is probably likely going to sit back and try to counter. That combination of a flooded midfield and Pioli playing a high and aggressive line could mean Udinese gets a goal. Will Pioli have enough with his usual 4-3-3 to get two to bring home all 3 points?

These are all things I’ll be thinking about today. Either way, Milan MUST secure all 3 points to keep pace in the league and build a little bit of confidence with a midweek showdown vs PSG looming.

Let’s go get it, boys…

Forza Milan

gillis

*If you haven’t yet, don’t forget to check out Lisi’s Serie A Whip Around for insights into all of this weekend’s Calcio

**Lineups updated. Apparently Theo hurt his ankle and is not in the squad today. Pioli does appear to be going with a 4-4-2 with Jovic and Giroud up top and Leão at LM and Reijnders and Krunic in the middle of the midfield. Not sure how this will play out and what the default movements will be, particularly for Leão and Reijnders, so this should be interesting…