Week 34: Milan – Benevento
Losses have piled up and after weeks of somehow holding onto second spot Milan dropped places in the Serie A table. The poor form and sometimes questionable starting 11 and subs has led to Milan finding itself tied with Napoli and Juventus for third and in danger of dropping to fifth. Players such as Tomori who have had a good start to their (perhaps brief) Milan careers have made mistakes and the 3-0 loss to Lazio was one of the worst of the recent games. The final games features matches at Juventus and Atalanta but for now 18th place relegation battling Benevento beckons.
The team has been fighting a tough battle with injuries and is once again returning to a near healthy squad. Ibra is available and will get the start. With both Rebic and Leao in the squad Pioli has a dilemma and while neither has been doing well the latter has easily been one of Milan’s most frustrating players. Pioli may still choose the Portuguese. Calhanoglu and Saelemaekers remain the most logical options to complete the 3 behind Ibra. In the last two games Milan played as a 4-2-2-2 when in possession and this may happen again with Leao or Rebic pushing more up centrally. Kessie and Bennacer will be the pivots and it is hoped the latter can regain his pre-injury form. The defense offers the bigger questions. Kjear is probably very tired and has been more error prone and slower than his usual pace. Tomori’s positioning has been questionable and may be dropped, for one week at least. Romagnoli is ready to play but which of the two will he replace? Donnarumma and his ongoing contract soup opera will be in goal. He and his agent are presumably waiting to see if Milan qualify for the Champions League before replying to Milan’s latest contract offer but the matter is almost certainly not helping the team on the pitch.
Pippo Inzaghi’s Benevento have fallen down the standings with only one win in the last 10. That one win was surprisingly at Juventus.
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