The Rossoneri coach continues a job already started by Pioli: preventing his number 10 from working only as a winger, bringing him closer to the goal and at the same time freeing up the flank
There is no arguing about the specialty of the house: he gives his best when he has the space to accelerate on the wing and his teammate in the area knows how to dictate the best assistance. Rafa Leao was, and is, above all this. A lateral artist, in the sense of an external lane. Just look at Morata’s goal in Bergamo: a perfect example. However, football evolves, and does so more rapidly than a few decades ago. So we need to always try to invent something new. Try, if necessary, to modify yourself in order to catch your opponent off guard. Because there are two cases, limiting ourselves to the Rossoneri squad: either your name is Pulisic, that is, you are equipped with a basically total variety of shots and solutions, or you have to propose something else beyond the skills usual.
progress
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Since he arrived at the Rossoneri – summer 2019 – Leao has experienced fairly constant growth, albeit amidst a thousand difficulties of various kinds and without completing all the progress that could be expected. Pioli, who arrived a few months after him, was good at breaking him down and accompanying him on his growth path. Additional lessons in the field and the office door always open for discussions, suggestions and even some reprimands. Leao arrived at Milanello as a winger. Point. And from there we started working. Then, from an evolutionary perspective, Pioli looked for some other solution. Not drastic. There was no need to take Rafa from the zenith to the nadir, but simply to give him a few more shades of grey. Make it less anchored to its basic tactical extraction.
the peg gag
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Pioli made some attempts. Sometimes it went badly, like when he deployed him in the center of the attacking midfield. Other times with mixed results, when the Portuguese was used as a second striker, alongside Giroud. At a certain point a sort of gag was also created: Pioli said that Rafa considered it his favorite position, and then the person concerned denied it. Despite the entwinements, however, the path was the same. How can we make Rafa’s game flow less obvious? Centralizing it. At least a little. Pioli has started, Fonseca is continuing his work. However, unlike its predecessor which in some cases had actually modified the game system, it is a more philosophical, less extemporaneous migration. The more matches go by, the more visible this is: Leao finds himself more and more often in central areas, sharing square meters with Morata. Looking for the internal breakthrough. The objectives? Bring him a little closer to goal and free up the flank for Hernandez and perhaps for Morata himself, who loves to wander to the left. The most beautiful postcard from Rafa’s new work? Morata’s goal in Madrid: Leao turned in the center of the area, pivoting on the marker and unloading a right-footed shot that was not held by Lunin, which Alvaro then pounced on. A perfect centre-forward job. Not a new Leao, but another Leao: his most beautiful things are always the ones he invents while on the wing.
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