These games are flying off the shelf! So many games in a short amount of time and the derby is this weekend! What to do, what to do…
MATCHDAY:
LAST FIVE
MILAN: DWWLW
BOLOGNA: LDWLW
FORMATIONS
MILAN (4-2-3-1): Maignan (C); Tomori, De Winter, Pavlović, Estupiñan; Musah, Jashari; Hutchinson, Cissé, Bartesaghi; Ramos
BOLOGNA (3-4-3): Skorupski; Darmian, Casale, Theate; Zortea, Pobega, Ferguson (C), Alhassane; Bernardeschi, Odgaard, Mbangula
TIME/LOCATION
TIME: 1:30pm EST/6:30pm GMT
PLACE: San Siro, Milan
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:
With all these games and my busy schedule these days, writing up post matches just isn’t in the cards a lot of the time. So, let me just say I was very happy with the game over the weekend. Even the makeshift lineup did well, executing on Amorim’s tactics, and attacking in multiple ways. The two goals game up the middle, one from a dead ball that was played over the top while Udinese was sleeping, and the other off a wicked shot by Jashari that the keeper parried and fell to Hutchinson for the rebound. But Milan found ways to attack from the wide spaces too, and Pulisic interfering with a cross meant for Bartesaghi negated another goal.
Speaking of Bartesaghi, Amorim made a comment after the Udinese game that struck me as odd. He said he thought Bartesaghi was more defensive and not as good offensively whereas it’s the opposite. Considering he shipped off Fofana, who would be useful in his system, as would Giménez and Nkunku, but somehow kept Estupiñan, RLC, and RB Terracciano, helps me to understand this baffling statement. Pioli sometimes got things wrong in player selection too, and I like Amorim, but this feels like an own goal. Hopefully he’s figuring things out and the results seem to reflect that.
As for the lineup, you know I love me a 4-2-3-1 and it looks like they might actually be playing that and not just a FotMob mistake. With Cissé lined up as the #10, and that’s not his skillset, the creativity is going to have to come from Hutchinson, Bartesaghi, and Jashari. But he can finish and we know Ramos can too, so bang in some balls and see if one of those two can get on the end of one.
PREDICTION TIME:
I thought last game would be tighter with the makeshift lineup but Milan executed and maybe Udinese is just bad. That was their sixth straight loss. With Inter coming up this weekend, I wonder if Milan’s focus and effort will be elsewhere. So, with that I’m going to hedge that this will be tight too and it’s not uncommon to see slip ups before and/or after big games. Let’s hope Milan can get it done and walk away with all 3 points.
Forza Milan
gillis