Matchday 1: Torino v Milan

All eyes will be on the man above and can he salvage this Gerry project we’ve been tortured with since Redbird took ownership of our beloved Milan. The predicted starting lineup for this game, although not entirely on Rubén Amorim, doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence in me for this first game nor the first month of the 2026-27 campaign. I mean, if the starting lineup ends up being what FotMob is predicting…yikes.

In theory, I should be excited for Amorim. I don’t know that he’s a good coach in the sense that he can find success outside of Portugal, but he clearly has ideas, ideas I liked learning about and sharing in the Welcome Amorim post from earlier this summer.

As mentioned in that summary, Amorim likes to generally work the middle of the pitch more when they build and then play wide as they approach the opponent’s final third. So he likes vertical play initially, then wide play with the wingbacks taking on the defenders when the ball does find its way wide in the final third. For this game, does he try that to start or does he assume the scouting report will have Torino trying to take that approach away? This is something I’ll be looking for: does he try to force it if Torino tries to take this away or does he do something else to try and set this up for later?

The other thing I’m going to look for is what former Milan player and Primavera coach, and current Torino coach, Ignazio Abate has in mind for this game. In this press conference yesterday, Amorim seemed to indicate Abate will want to play open football and attack. So…maybe that’s what we’ll see? But this is also Serie A and generally speaking there is a lot of defensive posturing especially by mid and lower table teams. So while I shared what I was going to be focusing on in Amorim’s attack as they build, just as important if not more so will be how does Rubén Amorim attack a low block? If Torino does indeed play open, I’ll be watching for how well Milan presses, as Amorim is known for his aggressive pressing.

Lastly and coming back to the players, Rafael Leão is out injured, or at least that’s what we’re being told. So he won’t be available. I’m also not expecting Tomori, Fofana, Giménez, or Nkunku (rumors are he has agreed to a deal with RB Leipzig) to dress at all. They’ve been deemed surplus and with Pulisic coming back from a World Cup injury and barely practicing, the starting lineup light on attacking prowess won’t find much on the bench to help rescue them should they need it. Something to keep in mind if this game drags on 0-0 or 1-1. Shiny new signing CF Gonçalo Ramos may have to save the day in his Milan debut…