Leao should be starting against Roma's slow full backs. He had a field day in the reverse fixture and is undoubtedly more confident than Rebic at the moment.
I don't think we need to choose between the 2. No when we have zero contribution from Saele, Samu and Hakan at the moment.
I don't see why we can't start Rebic and Leao. I understand neither one of them dreams of playing on the right side...but such are the needs of the team right now. Also, maybe they don't have to play on the right. One can play as a LM/LW and one as a SS near Ibra. Of course, it means changing the formation slightly and moving to something closer to a 442...but really, it's not that different then what we are doing now. Especially as Hakan looks completely out of form and as crazy as it sounds, completely out of shape. The dude looks like he's running in sand. Trips on the ball half the time.
I think what separated us from the rest last summer and in the beginning of this season, was the conditioning. We looked more in shape then the rest. We were sharper on the ball. We were running more. And many games we separated ourselves in the last 15-20 mins because we were in great shape. At this point, this seems to have disappeared. We see players making simple technical mistakes on the ball. We see players being sloppy and 60mins in, look like they are carrying rocks on their back. The #1 thing Pioli and his team need to do is get the team back into shape. It's not easy in the middle of the season and with 7 games in 20 days or so....but it's necessary. Otherwise we'd be in big trouble.
And no....no need for stats saying how much our players have run in comparison to others. You can cover the same distance. Doesn't mean you did it efficiently and it doesn't mean that you were sharp on the ball. You can sprint 60 meters and so will the player next to you.....but how fresh are you at the end of those 60 meters to make the right decision on the ball and execute sharply. Stats will not show this part. And this is the par that to me at least, it's evident of our team lately.
