And boom goes the dynamite! https://sempremilan.com/milan-attack-in-emergency-vs-genoa "According to La Gazzetta dello Sport ..., Loftus-Cheek has hurt his right adductor while Morata is struggling with a muscular problem in his left flexor. Their two injuries add to those of Luka Jovic and Christian Pulisic, so there is now an ’emergency’ in attack. The Portuguese coach will be able to count on Tammy Abraham – who scored the winner last night – and Francesco Camarda in the role of centre forward. Samuel Chukwueze and Rafael Leao will be the only wingers, then there are wild cards like Yunus Musah and Mattia Liberali for the No.10 role." Of course I would love to see Musah as the 10, for developmental purposes, but why (on earth) wouldn't you put Reijnders there and play Musah further back alongside Fofana?
Then don't call it a two-man midfield. Call it a three-man, or better yet, a five-man. Problem solved.
TR has played next to Forfana in what is "on paper" part of the midfield 2 in a 4-2-3-1, although to my eye he plays more as a B2B next to Forfana's more DCM role. TR has played in the "10" once or twice this year, but putting Musah there would keep the shape more intact, although I'm not sure Musah's best skill sets are showcased there. From a "minimizing line up changes" perspective, putting Musah in the 10 makes some sense, but from a skillz perspective I think I'd move TR up or go back to a 4-3-3 for a few games. But none of those moves are ideal.
Not sure if this is a serious post. He's just turned 22 but has 165 matches in top level leagues and 45 caps. He is playing a new position and has never been considered a specialist in goals or assists. But every time he has a bad match, people let loose with the doom and gloom. The kid pretty much has broken out. Long time ago. Just saying. Unless your bar for "breaking out" is, like, amazingly high.
I agree with you for the most part, but I don't think we can call it a 'new position'. It's not his preferred position, but he's played outside quite a bit for Valencia, Milan, and now the Nats. In fact, he may well have actually played more games on the flank than in the middle for Valencia and Milan.
Why can't it be serious? Players plateau in certain environments. Thats why change is necessary for certain situations. his confidence looks bad, he does not look that good. Fine he broke out 4 years ago, but so did my acne, and now its gone.
The latest from SempreMilan ... "Should this happen {this being the benching of certain players}, the back four should be made up of Emerson Royal, Matteo Gabbia, Malick Thiaw and Filippo Terraciano. In front of them, there will be no changes, Tijjani Reijnders and Youssouf Fofana ... will be joined by Yunus Musah to form a midfield three – Musah and Reijnders could switch periodically to provide support as a No.10, though. The triad of Samuel Chukwueze, Rafael Leao and Tammy Abraham should lead the line." This flexibility is almost ideal, from my perspective. https://sempremilan.com/fonseca-to-switch-formation-punishments-in-mind
“Milan are heading into the clash with quite a few absences, as Yunus Musah picked up an injury in training and won’t be called up.”
Well, it was fun while it lasted ... Some more bad news has arrived regarding injuries, with Yunus Musah now expected to be sidelined for the rest of the year. According to Sky correspondent Peppe Di Stefano, Musah has been added to the long list of unavailable players for Milan. The midfielder has not recovered and will miss both the match against Verona on Friday 20 December and the match before New Year’s Eve against Roma at San Siro. The other unavailable players for the game at the Stadio Bentegodi are Noah Okafor, Ismael Bennacer, Luka Jovic, Ruben Loftus Cheek and Christian Pulisic. The last three have some hope of recovering for the match against Roma which closes 2024.
🤩 GATTI TURNS IT INTO HIS OWN NET! 2-1 #ACMilan! https://t.co/yqsFty7ZNM— SempreMilan (@SempreMilanCom) January 3, 2025
Musah (7): He was tremendous off the bench and would have got the MOTM if it wasn’t for Thiaw’s commanding display at the back. It was a huge difference compared to Bennacer and although the goal was a bit lucky, he made things happen on the ball. Then, when moved to the right-back spot, he was ice cold and handled the duels perfectly.
True, it helps if the guy you are replacing is having a howler, but Musah did well. I think he was also helped somewhat by the formation tweak that moved CP more central. Either way he was focused and engaged for every minute. I really like this player, and if he can learn to stay focused for the full ninety he can play at CL level, he has a really high ceiling.
Impact substitutions "One of the important alterations that Conceicao made was bringing on Yunus Musah and this saw the coach tweak his tactics. Compared to Bennacer, Musah carried more bite in the defensive phase of the game. He helped in more ball recoveries and helped the team to solidify the centre of the pitch. Once Jimenez went off for Tammy Abraham, then Musah would sit back and help Theo Hernandez to act as a LW/LWB and add more zest to the attack." A very underrated part of the second goal was Alvaro Morata making the off-the-ball run pulling Kalulu out of position giving space for Musah to run into. https://sempremilan.com/tactical-analysis-of-juventus-1-2-ac-milan
Here's something from the tactical analysis that caught my eye. "Now we move on the throw-ins. Like Fonseca, Conceicao also uses a spare man to prevent the pass back to the player taking the throw. All the other Juventus players are marked with man-on-man marking." Why don't we see this more often? Why don't we 'always' see it? The 'check-back' pass to the thrower is so common, so why isn't marking the thrower more common?
Because treating set pieces seriously has always been kind of frowned upon. The fact that set piece coaches are just becoming a thing speaks to that.
Musah and Pulisic both starting against Inter in the SuperCoppa Final. Could be a 4-3-3 or a 4-4-1-1 with this personnel.
Very good game from Musah. Still has some issues with awareness defensively when in a zone, but very strong on the ball and actually showed a willingness to pass progressively. Think he was kind of hindered though playing alongside Jimenez and Emerson in first half (Emerson wasn't bad aside from falling asleep on INter's goal, but Jimenez is not a wing and it showed)