Week 20: Milan – Sassuolo

Milan are somehow still second in the Serie A standings. The half way mark of the season was reached with a humiliating 4-0 loss to Lazio. The team’s limitations and lack of depth were exposed. The long injury list and Pioli’s insistence on the same pseudo 4-2-3-1 has left Milan in a crisis. On top of all that the team seems unwilling to invest with growing fears that Gerry Cardinale and RedBird will not be what some hoped. Nicolo Zaniolo’s name was thrown around for a few days with little possibility of meeting Roma’s €30 million plus demands.

Milan host Sassuolo in another early game with hopes of turning things around as the danger of dropping out of the top 4 becomes real. The injury list has becomes slightly smaller with Theo and Ballo-Toure back in the squad. Tomori remains out alongside Maignan, Ibra and Florenzi. Maignan could be back in the middle of February and his return would be one of the most welcome as Tatarusanu has been one of the culprits in the recent downturn. Kjaer will replace Tomori in the back. Krunic may replace the suspended Bennacer in the middle but it is a good question to ask Pioli if Vranckx is indeed on the bench. It seems it is Saelemaekers’ turn to start on the right in place of Messias. De Ketelaere has a chance for a start, over Diaz, and if he does he will do well to shrug off the growing flop label. Leao will start on the left of course. Predictably Giroud is almost certain to be the forward.

Unsurprisingly Sassuolo have a healthier squad. However, the Neroverdi is in a freefall with their last Serie A win all the way back in October.

There is always more about this match and others on the forums.