Milan travel to Udine to play Udinese, a place and team they can be hit and miss on. Need proof? They’ve won 3 and lost 2 in their last 5 games against them. Needs like neither team has wanted to take home partial points. While Milan absolutely have to have this if they have any prayer at a top 4, Udinese can play free as they are safe from relegation, unable to catch a European spot, and should land somewhere between 9th and 12th when all is said and done. Will that matter? Can Milan finally bring home all 3 points after being winless in their last 3?…
MATCHDAY:
LAST FIVE
UDINESE: WDLLL
MILAN: WWLDD
FORMATIONS
UDINESE (4-4-2) *Predicted*: Okoye; Ehizibue, Bijol, Solet, Kamara; Atta, Lovric, Karlström, Ekkelenkamp; Lucca, Bravo
MILAN (4-2-3-1) *Predicted*: Maignan (C); Jimenez, Gabbia, Thiaw, Hernández; Bondo, Fofana; Pulisic, Reijnders, Leão; Abraham
TIME/LOCATION
TIME: 2:45pm EST/6:45pm GMT
PLACE: Bluenergy Stadium, Udine
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:
As mentioned at the intro, Milan haven’t won since coming back to beat Como 2-1 on March 15th. The only game they’ve played well in since then was vs Inter in the Coppa Italia, taking home a well-earned draw in the first leg. But Milan are probably going to need to run the table from here on out in the league if they want to catch the top 4, although that isn’t a for sure thing even if they do pull it off.
Since this is being posted before the official lineups, I’ll repeat my common mantra that Conceição needs to start Pulisic or João Felix as the CAM and Reijnders in the double pivot. As long as Leão is out left then everything else is secondary…unless he changes the formation. And, I’ve seen some rumors that he might, going with a 3-4-3. The rumor, apparently from Gazzetta, has a 3-man backline of Tomori, Gabbia, and Pavlovic; a midfield of Jimenez, Fofana, Reijnders, and Theo; and a front line of Pulisic, Abraham, and Leão. I don’t generally care for a 3 man attacking line but the main thing is to not crowd out Leão, and to a lesser extent, Theo. Another factor in this could be Kyle Walker breaking his elbow, and with Royal still out that only leaves Jimenez and Terracciano at RB (I don’t know that Florenzi can handle a start yet).
I personally would rather he stick to the usual formation with the proper players in the proper roles, trying to win some shootouts with you on the front foot the whole game rather than coming from behind (as I mentioned in the Conceição section of the last post), but I don’t hate this idea if the focus is to try and stop the hemorrhaging of goals. I certainly don’t want a bland defensive lineup but the results haven’t been coming, so maybe time for a change?
As for Udinese, they’ve been struggling, dropping their last 3 games and winless in their last 4. This has roughly corresponded with an injury crisis, as they are set to miss up to 6 players in this game to injury. Milan beat Udinese in their first meeting way back in mid-October, playing well and getting the lead on a 13th minute goal from Chukwueze. The score would stay like that as this was the game Reijnders clipped a Udinese player on a breakaway, taking a straight red in the 29th minute, and Milan had to hold on for dear life for 70 minutes. So I’m not sure how much of this will translate over considering all the extraneous variables.
PREDICTION TIME:
I have no idea how this will go but the outcome will be determined by the lineup selection first, everything else second. Let’s hope Conceição does the right thing.
Forza Milan
gillis