Pioli went to a 3 5 2 past year and while the defense stabilized a bit, it took away Rafa's biggest strengths. If Milan goes to a 3 man back like it'd be a 343 so Theo and Rafa could both be out wide
Both Pulisic and Musah start Your Rossoneri XI for this #UEL second leg 📋#SRFCACM #SempreMilan pic.twitter.com/YtTWk6Ov4R— AC Milan (@acmilan) February 22, 2024
yes, we all know that. But it's much more fun to infuriate fellow BS users. You are mad. I am happy. THE INTERNET!!!
Setting the table for tomorrow’s draw … “At this stage of the competition it is not possible to draw a team from the same league, which therefore leaves three potential Premier League opponents, plus teams in Germany, Scotland, the Czech Republic and Spain.” ➤ Brighton (England) ➤ Leverkusen (Germany) ➤ Liverpool (England) ➤ Rangers (Scotland) ➤ Slavia Prague (Czech Republic) ➤ Villarreal (Spain) ➤ West Ham (England)
Sorry if this is slightly off-topic, but it does pertain to Pulisic. Did anyone else find it interesting that news/leaks came out today about Tuchel at Bayern, basically saying that players were terrified to attempt risky passes or take chances, because he would have a go at them, so they resorted to playing boring/conservative ball. Seems like what happened at Chelsea with Pulisic and some other players, based on our eye test and theories, and they were coached to not express themselves or take chances. I think it somewhat justifies CP’s clear frustration towards the end of the TT regime. Although, granted, Pulisic did not really set the world on fire when Potter was hired and Lampard came back, but he was probably ready to leave at that point.
Interesting. 🚨| 📈 The updated UEFA rankings after the Europa League matches:Italy 🇮🇹 15,571Germany 🇩🇪 14,500England 🏴 13,875France 🇫🇷 13,250Spain 🇪🇸 13,187Italy is the only nation with all teams still playing (7 out of 7). Germany and England lost 2, France and Spain, 3.… pic.twitter.com/qRxmriz1XJ— Italian Football News 🇮🇹 (@footitalia1) February 22, 2024
The tweet is a little misleading, as those are not actually UEFA's rankings. The ranking that UEFA actually uses for official purposes incorporates 5 years of European league performance to achieve a sufficient sample size. The list above is just ranking leagues by how many points they've accumulated in this one particular season so far.
Though the individual seasons matter more than they ever have, because the top 2 countries now get an extra spot in the next season's Champions League.
The full draw, Round of 16 matches on March 7 and 14: ➤ Sparta Prague vs. Liverpool ➤ Marseille vs. Villarreal ➤ Roma vs. Brighton ➤ Benfica vs. Rangers ➤ Freiburg vs. West Ham ➤ Sporting CP vs. Atalanta ➤ Milan vs. Slavia Prague ➤ Qarabag vs. Bayer Leverkusen
Milan should go for it. They may be about the third-best team on the list, and Liverpool and Bayer will prioritize trying to win their league, while Milan should have an easier time with their realistic goal of staying top four. Would be wild to have a Europa League final between the English and German champions.
Having watched their defense/midfield, "third-best" seems generous, but on paper you are correct. I would only add that Milan might be concerned about the other Prem teams - Brighton and West Ham, even though those two are somewhat struggling in their own league. But I am rooting for them. When does Fikayo Tomori come back?
West Ham have been bad lately. They're very fortunate to be as high in the table as they are. Since the start of the year, they've gone DDLDDLLL against Brighton, Bristol City, Bristol City (replay), Sheffield United, Bournemouth, Manchester United, Arsenal, Nottingham Forest, they haven't scored in 300+ minutes, and they've been outscored 16-4. Even with Milan's issues, I'd expect them to win a two-legged tie against West Ham. Brighton would be much closer.
It's really only when you get to the Conference League these days where the deeper rounds aren't mostly top league teams. Champions League Round of 16 La Liga - 4 teams Serie A - 3 teams Bundesliga - 3 teams EPL - 2 teams Ligue 1 - 1 team .... Eredivisie/Portugal/Denmark - 1 team each (Only 3 clubs from outside the top 5 leagues, and only 1 club from outside the top 7 leagues.) Europa League Round of 16 EPL - 3 teams Serie A - 3 teams Bundesliga - 2 teams La Liga/Ligue 1 - 1 team each .... Portugal - 2 teams Czech League - 2 teams Scotland/Azerbaijan - 1 team each (Only 6 clubs from outside the top 5 leagues, 4 from outside the top 7 leagues.) Conference League Round of 16 EPL/Serie A/League 1/Eredivisie - 1 team each .... Belgium - 2 teams Greece - 2 teams Israel - 2 teams Swiss/Czech/Norway/Turkey/Croatia/Austrian leagues - 1 team each (12 clubs from outside the top 7 leagues.)
Atalanta has had Milan's number this year so far. Be interesting if Milan can break the streak. Sofascore has the mostly the usual (dunno if they are "insiders" - I imagine they just go off most common line-up. Giroud - RL-rL-C-CP - TR - Adli - TH-Gabbia-Kjaer-Flo, fwiw. Sempre Milan has the same escept Bennacer for Reijnders, fwiw
Yeah controversy sells, there is no controversy over Puli right now, so not much to drive the thread. Yunus Musah's thread doesn't get much run either.