Tomorrow, AC Milan will face their biggest pre-season test so far – and perhaps generally – in the form of Chelsea in Jakarta.
It has been an interesting pre-season for Milan so far. They have drawn both games – against Celtic and Inter, respectively – and there have been some good signs on display. However, it would be naive to ignore the issues, too.
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Ultimately, this team still does need some work before the end of the mercato and Ruben Amorim will face a familiar opponent in Chelsea. However, there have been plenty of changes since he faced them as the Manchester United head coach.
The lineup for tomorrow’s game is somewhat easy to work out, based on what we’ve seen in previous games. Yet, we wanted to take a look at what we’d do.
Changes we’d make
In an ideal world, you’d have a full defence for this game. Nevertheless, the turnaround makes this physically impossible. A four-day turnaround is not enough to minimise the risk, so we’d agreed with the suggested overhaul at the back.
Valeri Valdimirov is expected to get a start on the right, but we’d instead play Filippo Terracciano. The Italian is probably on his way out. But he’s looked solid in both cameos so far in this pre-season. So, giving him another chance on the right of a back three – as the experienced one – could be an interesting experiment.
Moving into midfield, we feel this is the perfect game to trial Alexis Saelemaekers at left-wing back. He’d face Marco Palestra, who was one of the finer Serie A full-backs last season, and this may be the best opportunity to see whether he is suitable left-back cover.
Pervis Estupinan could also get a start, considering Amorim’s desire to assess him. We’d not be in favour of this, though.
As a result of the shift, we’d give Yunus Musah a go on the right, too. He’s played as a right wing-back before and this would be a fantastic chance for him. Facing Mudryk, who is keen to prove himself and Hato – who needn’t prove himself – it could well be another good test to see if there is something salvageable in the American.
Then, in the middle, we’d start Ardon Jashari and Luka Modric. Christian Comotto is currently expected to get the nod and we’d not be completely against this, especially with him being completely fresh. Starting that double pivot from the off, though, would offer a true chance to assess them together. If it works, brilliant; if it doesn’t, you know what you need in the mercato.
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Up front, we’d make no changes. Saying that, though, Samuel Chukwueze should be given a cameo behind the striker, rather than at wing-back.
Expected Milan XI (3-4-2-1): Torriani; Vladimirov, De Winter, Diawara; Saelemaekers, Modric, Comotto, Estupinan; Nkunku, Leao; Ramos.
How we’d line up (3-4-2-1): Torriani; Terracciano, De Winter, Diawara; Musah, Jashari, Modric, Saelemaekers; Nkunku, Leao; Ramos