Ok! Sergio Conceição’s first game out of the gate and it’s vs the huge pile sh*t that is Juventus! And the winner goes on to play Inter for a trophy on Monday!…the Supercoppa Italia trophy…yeah!
MATCHDAY:
LAST FIVE
JUVENTUS: DWWDW
MILAN: DWDWL
FORMATIONS
JUVENTUS (4-2-3-1): Di Gregorio; Savona, Kalulu, Gatti, Cambiaso; Locatelli, Thuram-Ulien; Conceição, Koopmeiners, Mbangula; Vlahovic
MILAN (4-3-3): Maignan; Royal, Gabbia, Thiaw, Hernández (C); Fofana, Bennacer, Reijnders; Pulisic, Morata, Jimenez
TIME/LOCATION
TIME: 2pm EST/7pm GMT
PLACE: Al-Awwal Park, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
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:
So, it’s the first game of the Conceição era and it’s vs the dirty cheaters that are Juventus. I’m not particularly invested in the Supercoppa Italia but I always love watching my team play…even when everything they’re doing is terrible and they’re causing me misery. But we have a new coach (!) and we get our first glimpse at what he may be trying to do philosophically and tactically. And for this I AM excited.
At the onset it looks like he’s going with a 4-3-3, with the back 4 the same as last game but with changes to the midfield, as he’s starting Bennacer in the middle with Fofana and Reijnders as the mezzalas. In the front 3 it’s Morata in the middle flanked by a returning-from-injury Pulisic at RW and Jimenez at LW as Leão is still out injured. I’m curious if this is actually what shape the stay in or if Reijnders gets more advanced and they basically end up playing a 4-2-3-1 with a double pivot of Fofana/Bennacer. Also, keep your eyes on Theo as something else to watch for today.
One last thing to note for Milan is that despite Pulisic returning they are still down Leão (as mentioned above) but also Chukwueze and Okafor, so any substitutions and it wouldn’t surprise me to see them change their formation, particularly is there’s more than 2 strikers on the pitch. RLC is still out but Musah is available.
For Juventus, who cares, amiright?! I kid, I kid. A couple of interesting bits of information is that coach Conceição’s son, Chico Conceição, is starting for Juve at RW. I don’t know the player well but I know he’s young, has some promise, and is a regular contributor. So a neat little subplot there.
For us Americans, Weston McKennie is starting at LB, which is interesting, and something I hope Pulisic can exploit being opposite. Maybe we’ll see Weah and Musah enter the game as well and we can have 4 Americans on the pitch. I know the Curva Sud will probably get butthurt over it but what aren’t they getting butthurt over these days?…clowns.
Prediction time. Do I get a clean slate??? I think so and I couldn’t be happier. I couldn’t figure out the Fonseca-led Milan but considering the uneven performances that led to Fonseca’s sacking, maybe that’s not too surprising. For this game, I am really curious to see how Theo, Reijnders, Fofana, and Pulisic are used. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a ramped-up vintage Theo. So, what the hell, I’m going with a 2-1 win off of the new coach bounce.
Michael Lisi says: The guys wanting a move show off and we get a win. Other than that can we go home now??? Betting ideas?…stay away.
Forza Milan
gillis