Chukwueze-Jovic-Pulisic: Pioli and Milan rely on the emergency trident

Winning to start again, otherwise there will be trouble. Boos at San Siro if Milan don’t beat Fiorentina and slip back into the Champions League race. The scenario is dark and complicated by the unavailability of several players: Giroud disqualified, Leao and Okafor injured. Stefano Pioli’s attack has been restricted, the coach will be forced to rely on a trident never seen before from the start, with Chukwueze and Pulisic as wide wingers and Jovic as centre-forward. On the bench is the 15-year-old Francesco Camarda, a special call-up, a boy who deserves to make his debut in a more serene context.

strategy and move

—

Fiorentina tries to impose itself, it doesn’t consider who is in front of it, it attacks them. Vincenzo Italiano’s playful vocation can turn into an opportunity for Pioli, provided that the Milan coach, a member of the same party as his colleague, agrees for once to profit from the value of others and renounces, at least in part, to impose his own strategy. Translation: let Fiorentina come forward to hit them on the counter. The Argentine Martinez Quarta, the Viola central defender, frequently “stands up” in midfield and sometimes proceeds further into attack. A kind of horse move that exposes Fiorentina to headwinds in transitions, when the ball is lost and must be recovered. Christian Pulisic, attacking midfielder-winger, could be the one to speculate on these gaps. Tonight Pioli should deploy him on the left flank in place of Leao, so Pulisic can come back on the right, for a shot or an assist with his favorite foot. Furthermore, the American could personally fill the spaces left free by Martinez Quarta.

the puzzles

—

Samuel Chukwueze arrived at Milan preceded by a fair reputation: a powerful and dribbling winger. In five seasons with the Villarreal first team he had established himself because he created superiority and because he saw the goal. The archives credit him with 37 goals and 31 assists in 207 games with the Spanish Yellow Submarine. Important figures, denied by the first months at Milan. So far we have seen fragments of Chukwueze. The Nigerian hit a shot in Lecce, before the break: it was his opening that triggered Reijnders’ solo for AC Milan’s second goal. A sui generis assist, far from the goal, however a certificate of existence on the pitch. On the other hand, Luka Jovic’s path is flat, at almost 26 years of age he has increasingly fallen into the role of the player he could have been and wasn’t. An early decline, explainable by attitudes, because the technical talent remains unquestionable. If he wanted to, if he tempered the rough edges of his character, Jovic would break the nets, but his “moody” holds him back. Tonight he will face his former team Fiorentina. At the end of the summer transfer market Commisso, Barone and Pradè gave him to Milan: the cost of the price was zero, in practice they got rid of his contract. Who knows, maybe tonight the spark of revenge might spark in him. Milan signed him in the hope of disciplining him and bringing him back to the levels of his seasons at Eintracht Frankfurt. Mission failed, for now. Jovic seems resistant to the directives, his anarchy has prevailed. Zero goals, zero assists, nothing at all. Chukwueze and Jovic enjoy a good opportunity, starting in their natural roles, one right winger and the other center forward. They can help each other prove that they are not enigmas. Chukwueze will have Biraghi as his direct opponent, an interesting duel.

born in the USA

—

Thursday was Thanksgiving Day, a national American holiday, and Milan, an American-owned club, celebrated it with its US players, Christian Pulisic and Yunus Musah, and never mind if the latter lived childhood in Italy. At the end of the training, the two were given the surprise of a lunch with the classic stuffed turkey, the symbolic dish of Thanksgiving. Pulisic will have the opportunity to give thanks in turn tonight, with a goal or a play. Pulisic landed well on planet Milan, he did his part. A mature and reliable striker, he will be the offensive star of the group today. Leao and Giroud out, it will be up to him to take on the responsibility of commander in chief of the trident. He will have Parisi in front of him, another potential point of fragility for Fiorentina. Because Parisi is a left back adapted to the right, due to an emergency. Good at pushing, he could suffer and pay something on a flank that will be played by Hernandez and Pulisic. It is possible that the American centers himself to let the French full-back pass. It is true, however, that Fiorentina will be equally pushing in that lane, with Nico Gonzalez and Parisi himself. A lot will be decided there.