Ok! The first REAL match of the season. The season opener!
The first match always illicit extreme takes. If they win, they’re winning the Scudetto! If they lose, well that depends on the person, of which there are usually two: (1) well, that’s not great but 37 more to go!, or (2) f**k them and their moms. Burn it all down.
Which one are you?…
(Also, if you missed it, here’s our season preview to get you ready for the season!)
MATCHDAY:
LAST FIVE
MILAN: WWDLW
CREMONESE: LWDWD
FORMATIONS
MILAN (3-5-2) *Predicted*: Maignan (C); Tomori, Gabbia, Pavlović; Saelemaekers, Loftus-Cheek, Ricci, Fofana, Estupiñan; Pulisic, Giménez
CREMONESE (4-4-2) *Predicted*: Audero; Terracciano, Baschirotto, Bianchetti, Pezzella; Zerbin, Bono, Grassi, Vandeputte; Sanabria, De Luca
TIME/LOCATION
TIME: 2:45pm EST/6:45pm GMT
PLACE: San Siro, Milano
WHERE TO WATCH:
***New season, so tell me if this needs to be updated***
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 with the Bari Coppa Italia season opener, still a little uncertainty about Allegri will come out. Still working in players and now he’s missing Leão. But, what’s different from the Bari Coppa Italia opener is that we’ve seen that he appears to be sticking with the 3-5-2 formation and the squad selection we saw in the Bari match, as well as a couple of times in the preseason (FotMob is also of this same mind as you can see above in their predicted lineup for formation). So maybe we have some idea about how he might have the guys coming out of the gates?
Another thing we learned from the Bari match is that Allegri isn’t going to be afraid to be aggressive at least against provincial sides. Milan looked like Pioli days last weekend with a high press and high line, not allowing much going the other way. The press was effective, as it indirectly led to the first goal and very so much led to the second goal. So I’m going to expect more of the same thing today. Oddly enough, I thought RLC was pretty solid using his physicality and winning back balls in dangerous positions. If he’s going to be in there, more of that please.
Up top all signs point to Giménez filling in for Leão. Considering how he’s been using Leã0, this shouldn’t result in much difference in how the attack is going to function. When Giménez came on for Leã0 in the Bari game, we saw this very same thing play out, with Giménez even contributing to the second goal in transition and in open space. No reason to expect anything different.
PREDICTION TIME:
I’m expecting a multi-goal win and there’s no reason the defense shouldn’t be able to keep Cremonese off the scoreboard considering this back trio have played together virtually all summer (and down the stretch last season). Throw in having a real DM that will be sitting in front and we really should see a goose egg next to Cremonese’s name on the scoreboard.
Pulisic looks eager to score goals so look for that as well, and maybe a little bit of Modrić magic once he comes on (or the off chance he starts).
Let’s go get those 3 points!
Forza Milan
gillis