If they play this formation going forward, I assume Reijnders, RLC and Musah would play the double pivot?
Kind of interesting to point out that Pulisic used to be a #10 with US youth teams and got moved to the wing by Dortmund. He played as a #10 with the full national at first but moved to wing after being there for Dortmund. I think he said he liked playing the 10 the best back then but that may have changed after he played a bunch of spots. Moving inside is a fairly common thing once player get experience (and maybe drop some of their speed). Pulisic has become very two footed so it does make sense if you have two other good wingers and no better #10. Will the new US coach consider him there?
IIRC one of the reasons that he moved to Milan was the opportunity to play the 10 in Pioli's 4-2-3-1. Didn't really happen other than a couple of games, due to Chuku's injury and the fact they they mostly played a 4-3-3, but I'm pretty sure he still likes that position if it's available.
You mention that it makes sense if you have two other good wingers. We appear to have just one other good winger.
I still have faith that Fonseca will get the best out of Chukwueze ..... if he does that group of three will be hard to handle in the Serie A.
yes it is real luck to put that ball in a 9 inch pipe which only gets past (over) the keepers head and fits into the opposite upper side of the goal netting ... you have to make your luck with skill to match it. With the right pace the keeper simply can't get his hands over his head in time to stop the ball .. the keeper was protecting the low near side post (as he should) and likely worried about a cross to the six. He got caught and Pulisic went right over his head to score. his technical skills are superb.
To me, it is understandable why Pioli didn't play Pulisic at the 10 last year after watching the match. Clearly they come with plenty of firepower in that setup but will leak even more goals than they did last year. There just isn't enough defensive solidity with a 9, Leao, Pulisic, and Chukwueze. Not to mention Theo as the LB and Calabria/Florenzi at RB. Maybe they will go the Zeman route and go all gas no breaks and just vibes at the back.
Fonseca does it here... "As for Pulisic, he played like a number 10. In the second half, we started without a striker, we played with two number 10s, Pulisic and Loftus. I have to confess, he (Pulisic) can make it into every position in attack. He's a player who is very intelligent, I think to play in this zone of this pitch, he has big participation, but I like to see Christian there."
Not sure they have them but two stout defensive mids behind those four should work. As always the outside backs should have instructions on when to attack and for me that's almost never both at the same time high up the pitch. maybe when behind and time running out but certainly not at will at any time. One of the problems that teams that change coaches all the time have is they always have players that the last coach wanted that don't fit the way the new guy wants. Because they have them and pay them a lot the coach has to find ways to fit the square peg into the round hole. Saw a bunch of that at Chelsea and when half the team is being squeezed into round holes you get there play over the last few years. They aren't the only team that looks like that either. Arsenal is reaping the rewards for sticking with their guy when he struggled early. Many teams would have moved on.
Of course American TV carriers will hire the most trash British soccer commentator before anyone with a Spanish (or American???) accent
Which is why I believe that Pulisic didn't play the 10 much last year and RLC did. I agree that he RLC can't play a double pivot if the front line is Pulisic, Leao, Chuk, and Morata. Pulisic and Morata work very hard for the team, but that wouldn't be enough to compensate for the lack of defenders in the rest of the squad, IMO.
a shame that ACM could not obtain the services of Kante ... he would be perfect behind Pulisic as the number 10.
The issue is RLC. Defense isn't really his thing, which is a shame because he's not much of a playmaker either.
RLC had some of the best form of his life last year during his healthy stretches. He is a large guy but doesn't really play all that tough. I feel like he is an enigma and overrated high up the pitch. He doesn't give enough effort/have enough speed/ give a shit enough/ to play with much defensive responsibility, and that was kind of Milan's overarching theme for the season as a team. Our lad, oddly enough put in some pretty good defensive effort. I know there are a handful of people around here who like me have long believed his best spot would be as a 10 playing in a more central position. It all went wrong, at BVB when TT had different ideas about where CP should play. So they left for CFC and it appeared as if he might have to settle for being a winger, and maybe he could learn midfield from Supah Frank, but here comes TT again and that all went to Hades. He comes to Milan and his services were sorely needed on the wing and he performed quite well there. Even if it was in the coach's mind to use him there Chuk didn't really get healthy or show much form until very late in the season. Add that to their porous midfield along with no real viable solution to add some grit to their defense and I believe it wasn't really possible to give it a real shot last year.
Looks like ManU might be hijacking this deal too. Negotiations between Milan and Monaco is not making any progress.
Man U have more $$$ Italian clubs are peasants trying to lowball clubs. Club wants 40m for player, Milan offer 20. Embarrassing
What’s embarrassing about it. It’s basic revenue vs expenses realities. Serie A clubs don’t have access to the tv money EPL clubs do.