Milan is back and so are we! Calcio has been gone too long with the extended international break but now it’s time to see if the extra time has helped Amorim figure out the best path forward for this Milan club.
MATCHDAY:
LAST FIVE
SASSUOLO: WDDWL
MILAN: WDDLW
FORMATIONS
SASSUOLO (4-3-3): Murić; Van der Bremt, Ćaleta-Car, Leysen, Doig; Adžić, Matić, Bakola; Berardi (C), Esposito, Laurienté
MILAN (4-4-1-1): Maignan (C); Gila, Gabbia, Pavlović, Estupiñan; Chukwueze, Musah, Rabiot, Moreira; Pulisic; Ramos
TIME/LOCATION
TIME:12pm EST/6pm GMT
PLACE: MAPEI Stadium – Città del Tricolore
WHERE TO WATCH:
Paramount+ and FuboTV here in the US of Aye (Spanish broadcast on Universo Peacock 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:
It’s nice to be back and even though I didn’t get a chance to post anything over the break, I did write a good chunk of a post I had hoped to post this past week. Oh well. Maybe I can post it midweek or I can save it for the next break, as it was more of a splattering of topics, some timely but others just around the game.
As for this game, Amorim has had some time to work on his tactics and philosophy with the squad…even one missing as many guys to international duty…should still be helpful. The news coming out towards the end of the break was that Amorim was thinking of switching from a back 3 to a back 4. This is great! It’s something I’ve talked about over multiple weeks, namely a willingness to adapt to the squad’s strengths even if that means moving away from the coach’s preferred formation. So, let’s applaud Amorim for this…
On the flip side, he’s forced to play Gila has his RB in this back 4 and it makes me hate his decision to ship Athekame to Lyon all that much more. Yes, it’s a dry loan and he’ll come back, but we’re seeing Athekame perform VERY well so far this season, showing he has the offensive umph Amorim likes in his wide players even if he’s not an exact match of his preferred characteristics. One other possible option at RB, Saelemaekers, got injured over international break and is set to miss an extended period of time (poor guy but I’m not heartbroken about this from a footballing perspective).
The lineup for this game looks good, with a good balance of grinta in the midfield and a couple of creative players in Pulisic and Moreira playing. I’m glad to see this change and see that Amorim has realized you need some creativity out there if you expect the squad to have meaningful possession. Hopefully, and it should, bode well for Ramos up top has he’s had a derth of chances to start the season. Poor guy has to go to international duty to remember what it was like to get service. Hopefully that begins to change today.
PREDICTION TIME:
Funny thing, Milan’s last win at the MAPEI was the 0-3 win that clinched the Scudetto on May 21, 2022. They’ve gone 0-2-1 in the 3 games there since (Sassuolo was in Serie B for one of those seasons since the Scudetto clincher).
Anyway, I think Milan walk out with at least a point but can for sure walk out with all 3, something like 1-1 or a 1-2 Milan win. Sassuolo had a bad loss to Monza right before the break, so I’m sure they’re going to be eager to right the ship after having to sit with that loss for the last 3 weeks. Should be a hard fought game.
Forza Milan
gillis