I’m not totally sure a fully fit in form Milan team would necessarily get crushed by them. It would be possible for sure, I was worried after the draw because they really are much better in big games where they can counter, seen that against sociedad, psg, first game against leipzig.
But execution is important. The flip side to that is that United has had like 5 goalless draws against top 6 teams in Europe, with a whopping two open play goals against top 6 epl teams as well. Similar to Milan, they have a young team and they are very on or off. Rashford and martial kill it when they’re on, and when they’re not they’re useless. Leipzig showed in the second game against them you can still dominate them playing that aggressive style if you 1) make slight adjustments and 2) execute. You have to put the ball in the net when the chances come, don’t waste opportunities. I do think it’s right to go in with a cautious lineup and game plan, we have to with the absences, what I’m more worried about is just individual quality. Tactics and systems are important but talent matters, and games are still typically decided by individual moments of quality. Tactics are there to ensure the players are in thee right places to express their quality. Over reliance on rigid tactical systems is what has killed Italy in Europe for a while, look at conte always underachieving. Point is, if Krunic Samu and Alexis continuously lose the ball on Thursday, they will pile a lot of pressure on us and the counter attack approach will be for nothing. Hopefully krunic is still in a confident mood and Leao can pull something out of his ass. He can dribble their CBs if he feels like it
