AC Milan’s ‘week of fire’ concludes tomorrow when they meet Napoli at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, and a win is required after two defeats.
According to Corriere dello Sport (via MilanNews), Milan first fell to Juventus on Sunday night, then to PSG three days later in the Champions League. The challenge tomorrow will be a rising Napoli side away from home, one of the toughest games of the season.
The Rossoneri must find alternatives to the default game plan that Pioli has implemented since the beginning of the season. Despite their disparate outcomes, Milan’s three defeats have one thing in common: they all came in important games.
The two league defeats came against Scudetto opponents (Inter and Juventus), while the defeat in Paris made it difficult to advance to the knockout stages of the Champions League.
An overly aggressive defensive approach that frequently left opponents open in one-on-one scenarios against Milan’s defenders. Both after the 5-1 derby win and the setback to Juve, Pioli decided not to change his strategy, which backfired against PSG.
With the club’s trust, there is a potential to put a more mature Milan on the field, one that knows how to chose other tactics to try to face fast teams capable of counter-attacking.
The Rossoneri will go to Maradona without Malick Thiaw, who has been the Diavolo’s starting central defense alongside Tomori since the start of the season. The German has had a nightmare of a week, and his red card against Juventus means he is suspended.
Pioli is considering Pierre Kalulu as a possible replacement. After being injured for approximately a month, the Frenchman returned to the squad last week against the Bianconeri, and he is eager to reclaim his starting role.
The battle for the starting berth is with Simon Kjaer, who was instrumental in advancing to the Champions League quarter-finals against Napoli a few months ago. Milan, on the other hand, had built up a completely defensive game plan and were able to counter.
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