GdS: ‘Fonseca changes again’ – Loftus-Cheek key to planned new formation

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·18 de noviembre de 2024

GdS: ‘Fonseca changes again’ – Loftus-Cheek key to planned new formation

AC Milan will take on Juventus on Saturday night in a crucial game at San Siro, and Paulo Fonseca is reportedly plotting further tactical alterations.

La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) recall this morning how Fonseca has already got Milan fans accustomed to a changing side. The switch to the 4-4-2 in the derby against Inter and playing with a five-man defence against Real Madrid are just two examples of bold calls that paid off.

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Alarm triggered

The three goals conceded against Cagliari showed that Milan still remain too exposed and too fragile. Thus, here is another possible change with the aim of strengthening the defence: a three-man midfield, and inside the new midfield the physicality and dynamism of Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

The Englishman has not had a great season so far with five games as a starter in the league, the last against Napoli and the penultimate in mid-September against Venezia. In the Champions League he was a starter three times out of four, starting from the bench in the success in Madrid.

After a first season with six goals in Serie A and four in the Europa League, this year he remains stuck on zero but with few shot attempts. A starting spot against Juve would also be a strategy to restore his confidence, in the hope that it will be reciprocated by an up to par performance.

Movements

Adding an extra body and some size to the midfield and providing a leading role for Loftus-Cheek would have inevitable consequences on the other departments. The goal is to protect the defence, but the attack would also suffer.

For the derby the masterstroke was to use Alvaro Morata as more of an attacking midfielder and Tammy Abraham as the striker, but this time the Spaniard would take up his duties as a centre-forward, with Rafael Leao and Christian Pulisic (the latter no longer central) on the wings.

The changes would be notable, as they have been on other evenings: Noah Okafor and Filippo Terracciano on the left flank against Napoli, and then Yunus Musah as the right winger/wing-back at the Bernabeu to slow down Vinicius.

This time Milan must win against Juventus, in order to try and catch the Scudetto train before it definitively leaves without them. Against Inter and Real the Diavolo were underdogs, but the San Siro crowd expect Fonseca’s side to impose their game and entertain.

The preparation

Being among the few players who have remained at Milanello can be considered an advantage for Loftus-Cheek, who was able to work uninterrupted with the coach at the training complex, aside from when time off was granted.

Fonseca will have had the opportunity and will have the chance in the next few days to give him specific instructions, even if for the coach the three-man midfield would not be a real turning point.

“In reality we always play with three midfielders, in Cagliari they were Reijnders, Fofana and Pulisic,” he said after the draw in Sardinia, an away match in which evidently something didn’t work.

Pulisic will only be available from Wednesday and Fonseca will not be able to ask him to work overtime on the pitch. RLC, on the other hand, is ready to do so to try to relaunch his season. Milan must do the same.