AC Milan begin the new Serie A season this weekend, and here’s how Paulo Fonseca’s starting line-up could look against Torino.
The Rossoneri have had a positive pre-season as the new boss continues to implement his ideas and mould the squad into his own, and it’s hoped we can take that positivity into the new campaign.
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Given the lack of involvement for some of our new signings as well as our internationals who went deep into tournaments earlier in the summer though, Fonseca is unlikely to be able to go with his preferred starting XI this weekend, but everyone will hope to be involved in some form.
It promises to be a tricky challenge at home against the Granata, as expectations will be high but patience will also be needed, and so it’s hoped Milan are able to make a fast start to get on the front-foot early.
Pavlovic, Reijnders and Morata not ready to start
Mike Maignan will start between the posts, and it will be a familiar back-four in front of the Milan goalkeeper.
The expectation is that Davide Calabria, Fikayo Tomori, Malick Thiaw and Theo Hernandez will get the nod, with Emerson Royal not yet ready to feature, while Fonseca strongly hinted in his pre-match press conference that Pavlovic will start from the bench as he hasn’t had the necessary build-up to be thrown straight in.
That backline will hopefully give us the foundation on which we can go out and win the game, with the midfield pivot of Ismael Bennacer and Ruben Loftus-Cheek giving us the all-important physical presence, tenacity and technical ability to control tempo and possession to allow us to get a foothold in the game.
Ahead of them, the exciting and dangerous attacking trident of Samuel Chukwueze, Christian Pulisic and Rafael Leao will provide support behind Luka Jovic, with Fonseca also conceding that Tijjani Reijnders isn’t yet ready to start either, as per the link above, while Alvaro Morata is expected to be a similar position.
Chukwueze had a promising pre-season and so it’s hoped this proves to be a big year for him, while Pulisic is expected to shake off a knock to make the starting line-up.
It will be a strong bench though with the likes of Reijnders, Pavlovic, Yunus Musah, Alexis Saelemaekers, Noah Okafor and Morata all available to come in and change the game if necessary, but it’s hoped that we can make a positive start and integrate some of those newer facers under less pressure as Fonseca continues to get his ideas and principles across.
Long-term absentees Alessandro Florenzi and Marco Sportiello are joined by Alex Jimenez on the sidelines, but it’s a fundamental boost that Fonseca has almost everyone at his disposal at least as he looks to make a winning start to life on the Milan bench.
