The Bunga-Bunga Bowl! (Yes, I’m giving it the American bowl moniker and I’m trademarking it BTW…)
After a disappointing loss to Napoli it appears Fonseca is once again coaching for his job in his still very young tenure as Milan skipper. Will he get the points he needs and survive another round? We’re about to find out.
MATCHDAY:
LAST FIVE
MONZA: LDWDL
MILAN: LWWLL
FORMATIONS
MONZA (3-4-2-1): Turati; Izzo, Mari, Carboni; Pereira, Bondo, Pessina, Kyriakopoulos; Maldini, Mota; Djuric
MILAN (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Terracciano, Thiaw, Pavlovic, Hernández (C); Fofana, Reijnders; Chukwueze, Pulisic, Okafor; Morata
TIME/LOCATION
TIME: 3:45pm EST/7:45pm GMT
PLACE: U-Power Stadium
WHERE TO WATCH:
Paramount+ and FuboTV here in the US of Aye (Spanish broadcast on Fox Deportes in the US); FuboTV and TLN for Canada; TNT in the UK (maybe?); ESPN for Mexico; DAZN for Germany, Austria, Switzerland; a website called GXR for our friends in India; and illegal streams that support dictators and oligarchs everywhere.
*Let us know if this needs updating or if you have additional broadcasters to add*
WHAT TO WATCH FOR:
I’m going to keep this short-ish. If you’re really curious about where I’m at, read the opening section of the Milan-Napoli post match.
Reporting is saying Leão is going to start on the bench again for this game, so apparently management is content to let this thing ride. Again, read what I said in the matchday post or even all the way back after the Lazio game when Fonseca first benched Leão. I would like to point out that reports in the last day or so are saying the Leão-Fonseca relationship started to really deteriorate during the international break, which was right after…you guessed it, the Lazio game. Seems like my commentary was right on the nose.
In other news, RLC is likely to start on the bench as well which despite my frustrations with the Leão situation, this is always welcomed. Expect the team to look better than they do when he’s in there. DON’T conflate this with Milan being better without Leão. This would be like driving fast and reckless while wearing purple socks and getting into an accident and then the next time driving slow and careful while wearing green socks, NOT getting into an accident and thinking the purple socks were the problem.
Elsewhere, apparently Calabria is back from injury but may not start with Terracciano getting the nod at RB with Theo back from suspension. Umm, what the hell happened to Jimenez??? Surely he’s a better option than Terracciano, no?
Finally, I don’t put much in this rumor but until the lineups post I’m not taking anything off the table. BUT, apparently Fonseca might?…maybe?…bench Maignan because of the Kvaratskhelia goal? I was disappointed in that too and factored it into the rating I gave him last game but bench him? Seriously? Maybe someone is twisting a routine maintenance day into something it’s not but again, watch for the lineups.
Prediction-wise, tough to call. A Leão-less Milan is an inferior one to a Leão-included Milan, but RLC not starting is definitely a positive especially if Pulisic is at CAM (and Reijnders and Theo are back). Throw in that while Monza haven’t been very good this season, they have shown in their short Serie A tenure that they start slow and start to pick it up as the season progresses…and they have a Maldini who scored against Milan in the Trofeo Berlusconi back in August. Ex-Milan player curse rears its ugly head again (plus they’re at home)?
So my prediction is 🤷♂️…
Lisi says: I’ll go with a 2-1 win. Both teams to score and over 2.5 is a nice parley. Pulisic to score or assist. Reijnders shots. Djuric with a shot on target.
Hold onto your butts.
Forza Milan
gillis
**Don’t forget to check out Lisi’s Weekend Whip Around: Round 11!