Week 33 Preview: Sampdoria – Milan

Following the 2-1 loss to league leaders Juventus it has been another remarkable week for Milan. After a dinner with Cristian Brocchi he was hired by Berlusconi and Mihajlovic dismissed. Milan have now hired a third rookie coach in less than three seasons.

Brocchi brings his own ideas and is known to favour more attack oriented tactics. One of the first consequences of this belief is that Bonaventura will be played on tip of a midfield diamond behind and supporting Balotelli and Bacca. This means that at least for time being Honda will find himself on the bench. How long Brocchi lasts as Milan coach and sticks to his 4-3-1-2 is open to question of course. As mentioned Balotelli will likely start and probably continue to be given a few final chances to help the team and remain beyond this season. The rest of the midfield is set to be predictable with Bertolacci, Montolivo and Kucka starting and not surprisingly there is still no room for the likes of Mauri. Locatelli however, remains a wild card and has been emerging as a potential starter in the last few weeks.

Mexes in place of Alex and De Sciglio in place of Antonelli have been mooted but Brocchi may stick to the same four as Mihajlovic did and keep Antonelli and Alex in the starting eleven.

Sampdoria will likely miss Antonio Cassano and Andrea Ranocchia is suspended after picking up a yellow in his team’s 2-0 over Udinese.

The week also brought news of an American-Chinese group trying to convince Berlusconi to sell a majority stake. Whether that happens is highly questionable but with losses mounting and team’s value falling anything can happen. Read more about the ongoing sales saga on the forum, and about the match too.