The Rumour Commode L - Take the L

[Kmoney]

And I was wondering why your posts suddenly made sense

Touche

 

[Kmoney]

Rabiot behind a striker means there could be room for Jashari, Musah, and one of Ricci/Comotto.

The win/win solution i’ve never thought

If we do this, I think we need a holding midfielder rather than a number 10

 

[Hitchens]

We need CBs, this is the stark reality of today's game.

Gila did very well, and he pressed high and snuffed out danger before it could really happen. I hope his injury is nothing serious, but it is worrying how our backline looked without him.

Pav looks uncomfortable, it's clear. De Winter doesn't look comfortable either, and even though RCB is more of his role, he still didn't inspire confidence in me when he took over that role after Gila went off injured.

I am happy with the result, I am largely happy with the performance--but there are things to be worried about. The CB unit is my primary concern, without Gila, we looked significantly worse. I am confused as to why we would let go of Tomori looking at our CB unit, even if we moved Bart to LCB and he became a star, we need better CBs.

Also, to get Bart to play as a CB will take time and require a learning curve, time we don't give young players.

The second concern? Our LWB spot. Pervis does not like that wingback spot, and while today he looked better than usual (he still wasn't great) and I feel like we ran risks, coin-flips went our way (like Musah not getting dispossessed in areas he usually does) and that's where you keep seeing these flashes of danger: bad spacing here, exposed pocket of space there, and defensive mistakes in dangerous spots... but it's early.

To give a more positive spin on this, I'll say this: the team swarmed and worked very hard to cover up their mistakes today, so whatever problems we have, structurally, I can imagine that Amorim sees them, knows about them, is willing to run those risks--it is getting players to run for each other that will allow this to work.

Pioli ran a 424 that started out wonderfully after winning the Scudetto, but he ran the players into the ground and could not sustain that style because he did not want to utilize his full squad. Amorim does not seem to suffer from limiting his options, so far, and Amorim seems to be keenly aware of that. He moved Sales to RWB after Chuk just ran himself into the ground (to their credit) and used his subs to great effect, for example.

The pessimistic take on this is that we are a few lost duels in risky situations from disaster.

My third concern is about chance creation. This system puts our attackers (Cisse and RLC today) and our RWB in Chuk in advantageous positions, we use switches-of-play to get Chuk in isolation, we utilize runs and spacing to allow Cisse to run through to attack, or rely on RLC's speed to counter--but we don't really create chances for Ramos. We ask Ramos to sacrifice a lot, actually, and he does it, but he's not the beneficiary of that, at least not today. I also think this was apparent against Man Utd. I can imagine Ramos could become frustrated and I hope he doesn't.

Of course, with a more mature player for Cisse (Pulisic or Leao) or with Rabiot from the start instead of RLC or Moreira instead of Chuk, maybe they look to involve Ramos, seek him out, maybe the spaces are different? Maybe in Europe he'll get more space than in Serie A? I just hope we don't squeeze him for his pressing, alone, a striker lives to score and I hope we create more chances for him.

It's early days, and I'm happy that Amorim is hitting the ground running, he needed that, we needed that--and it seems that the better Amorim does, the more attention we get, and if Man Utd does poorly, we will just get even more attention, which would be great.

I hope we can continue to fine tune against Venezia so we can be in the best shape for our first big challenge against Juve.

I thought a LOT about this watching the game last night. If we have an off night and can't score, this can get real ugly against top opposition.

I wonder what Amorims solution for that is.

Feels so good to have a coach that inspires this much thinking in both players and fans alike.

 

[Kmoney]

When Amorim first got the job he said that Pulisic is perfect for the LAM role and I guess when he's healthy Cisse will back him up. I don't like Salad in that role because he isnt't great in the final third and could be a jolly playing on both wings when the starters need rest or not 100%. Frankly, he hasn't been good both in the pre-season and now.

Hope that he's not regressed and just needs a little more time to adjust to the coach's tactic but he doesn't look that happy on the pitch. BTW, Cisse's goal was magnificent, showed a coolnes rare for someone his age, placed the ball between two defenders and hit the shot with precision at the far post/

Saele as wingback rotation I think would solve a lot of our problems… RLC Rabiot Pulisic Cisse for now for both AM spots is fine for now

 

[asoundwave]

He could if he decided to

leao and Cisse in that spot could be deadly

Not saying he will want to but we saw glimpses of it pre season

And that's just it isn't? We have seen glimpses of it for the past few years..enough is enough

 

[asoundwave]

I said if Leao stays, and yes, Leao can do those things.

Cisse hit crosses into the stands, messed up chances, overdribbled often, which is fine, attackers need to try things, and he's a kid, and quite frankly I think our biggest issue is our defense, because only Gila looks decent and he can't last 90 minutes.

Once he went off we were on our heels.

Why are you even remotely entertaining that idea. Hasn't the past few years given you any indication of what will happen with him on the field???!

 

[Longbowman]

Gerry Cardinale, on the sidelines, watches his Milan warm up after high-fiving every Rossoneri player upon entering

Is Milan the worst performing asset on RedBird portfolio?
I thought Gerry had other assets to look after as well, but with the amount of time he is now dedicating to us, I feel either there is lot of pressure from investors to increase the value, or may be he found a passion for football. Can't be the second one because even hardcore fans stopped watching football after watching Allegriball.

 

[brk]

So Rabiot RCAM Confirmato?

I'm still excited that it's happening. Amorim basically confirmed that Rabiot and Moreira will primarily play as the right AM and RWB. So far it looks like my list is more or less correct:

GK
Maignan
Terracciano

RCB
Gila
De Winter

CCB
???
Gabbia

LCB
Pavlovic
Diawara

RWB
Moreira
Chukwueze

LWB
???
Bartesaghi

CM
Modric
Jashari
Comotto
Musah

RAM
Rabiot
RLC

LAM
Pulisic
Saelemaekers
Cisse

CF
Ramos
???


This is my ideal squad at this stage, and we'd need three more purchases to get it. Lots of versatile players like Saelemaekers, Rabiot, Moreira, Musah and Bartesaghi that fill other positions during emergencies. Might need another CM, but it depends on how ready Amorim thinks Comotto is.

We're short a CB, a LWB if we sell Estupinian (we clearly need an upgrade there) and a CF backup. Besides that we're good to go.

I wasn't sure what to make of what Amorim said about Saelemaekers. Was he saying that he's going to play a lot as the LWB, or did he say that because he cuts inside that he wasn't really suited to the role?

 

[Hitchens]

I am so ready for the Venezia game. I expect carnage!

 

[brk]

Amorim might actually generate more Milan fans than any of our marketing activities.

Gladly i’ve never thought the same about Max or Padre or Fonseca. These Amorim hippies are crazy.

Why are they so obsessed with him?

 

[brk]

Gila did very well, and he pressed high and snuffed out danger before it could really happen. I hope his injury is nothing serious, but it is worrying how our backline looked without him.

This isn't entirely fair on the defense. When Gila went out, Chukwueze was already looking exhausted, and the few times Njie ran riot was because Samu couldn't keep up. When Amorim switched Saelemaekers to RWB this mostly stopped. Musah also slowed down and Modric can't sprint to close down the same way way Musah and Jashari were doing all game. Ramos also got tired. That collective exhaustion was more to blame for why we dropped back in the last 15 minutes, way more than simply not having Gila on the field.

 

[brk]

If we do this, I think we need a holding midfielder rather than a number 10

I don't think we do. There's far more important areas to upgrade first (CB and LWB depending on how he sees Saelemaekers)

We have Modric, Musah, Jashari and Comotto for two spots, and Rabiot can easily fill in during an emergency. If you get someone else in there you'll suffocate whatever time was available for Comotto and he doesn't develop. I think Amorim likes him and trusts him so he's our fourth CM. That feeling you have that we need another CM is because we didn't trust Musah. I think based on what I saw last night, Musah is about to have a big redemption season. The CMs run a lot. I think we're going to see a Kessie sort of transformation. He can finally become a great player once the coach limits his role to only the things he's good at.

CCB. That's the key weak area right now. KDW is a RCB. Gabbia is good but limited. Pavlovic deserves a chance to prove he can fit in this role, so that why i'm not sure Inacio is the right choice (he was strictly the LCB for Amorim at Sporting). We need to get a starting leader CCB way more than adding a fifth CM.

 

[DonSilvio]

That crazy Torino goal was gonna get saved by Mike if not for the perfect placement. Mike gave it his all and wasn't far from an equally absurd save

 

[Ryo]

Why are they so obsessed with him?

There's a section of United fans that hate management and will take every failure by them as a chance to highlight their incompetence.
To the point of cheering for other teams who prove their point (in this case, us).

Sound familiar, no?

 

[brk]

I thought a LOT about this watching the game last night. If we have an off night and can't score, this can get real ugly against top opposition.

I wonder what Amorims solution for that is.

Feels so good to have a coach that inspires this much thinking in both players and fans alike.

As good as Cisse was last night doing the basics, he's still not fully there yet. Made some errors at the end of moves where a player with more experience maybe could have converted into a big chance or goal. He's reliable, that's why i'm really happy with him. Rarely lost the ball or made a stupid mistake, but he's still not that effective in the final third. Pulisic at his best is on a completely different level. I think the way we're playing will be exactly the sort of environment that will get the best of out Pulisic. I wouldn't be surprised if we end the season with him getting 15 goals or more, especially now that Rabiot is confirmed as the LAM.

We will get a lot of good, clear chances once the ideal 11 is consistently on the pitch; namely the attacking quartet of Pulisic, Ramos, Rabiot and Moreira. They all can score and assist and be huge threats in and around the box in different ways. I'm not worried about goal threat being a problem at all.

If there's something to worry about it's what to do once teams figure out how to negate our press. There's so much space to exploit behind our wingbacks. We saw that last night once Chukwueze got tired and the midfielders slowed down. If Njie can look like prime Leao, then what would someone like Yildiz do? That's our weakness right now, and it's masked a bit because Torino barely could manage to beat our press in the first 75 minutes. We can't really keep that up for every minute of every game of the season.

I just hope we manage to score enough every game so that it doesn't really matter in the end.

 

[Tobinho]

I don't think we do. There's far more important areas to upgrade first (CB and LWB depending on how he sees Saelemaekers)

We have Modric, Musah, Jashari and Comotto for two spots, and Rabiot can easily fill in during an emergency. If you get someone else in there you'll suffocate whatever time was available for Comotto and he doesn't develop. I think Amorim likes him and trusts him so he's our fourth CM. That feeling you have that we need another CM is because we didn't trust Musah. I think based on what I saw last night, Musah is about to have a big redemption season. The CMs run a lot. I think we're going to see a Kessie sort of transformation. He can finally become a great player once the coach limits his role to only the things he's good at.

CCB. That's the key weak area right now. KDW is a RCB. Gabbia is good but limited. Pavlovic deserves a chance to prove he can fit in this role, so that why i'm not sure Inacio is the right choice (he was strictly the LCB for Amorim at Sporting). We need to get a starting leader CCB way more than adding a fifth CM.

Only 4 players for 2 positions, one of whom is very green and one is 41, and positions where at least one is likely to need to be subbed in this style of play. If Rabiot plays there then we have RLC at RAM.

Rabiot is world class whether in midfield or RAM, I would look at the market and see where it's possible to make the better purchase. If a starter level midfielder is available, get them and keep Rabiot more forward, if a starter level RAM is available get them and have Rabiot in midfield.

But definitely agreed that the priorities are CBs and LWB. I have no idea why Amorim never tried Salad there in preseason, especially since we're so heavy at LAM, even more if we can't move Leao.

 

[brk]

Only 4 players for 2 positions, one of whom is very green and one is 41, and positions where at least one is likely to need to be subbed in this style of play. If Rabiot plays there then we have RLC at RAM.

Rabiot is world class whether in midfield or RAM, I would look at the market and see where it's possible to make the better purchase. If a starter level midfielder is available, get them and keep Rabiot more forward, if a starter level RAM is available get them and have Rabiot in midfield.

But definitely agreed that the priorities are CBs and LWB. I have no idea why Amorim never tried Salad there in preseason, especially since we're so heavy at LAM, even more if we can't move Leao.

Yes but we also have versatile players like Saelemaekers and Moreira.

If we have a crisis in midfield and three of the four are out, then it's Jashari + Rabiot + RLC in midfield (not ideal, but not bad either) because Saelemaekers can fill in for them. Same with Moreira. He can play LWB, RWB, and probably in both AM positions too.

If we get a new CM then it's not fair on Comotto, so we have to loan him out and then we end up in the same place we were before getting the CM. It all depends on whether Amorim trusts Comotto, and so far it looks like he does.

 

[forward]

Amorim: “I don’t know if Leão will be with the team for the next game because I don’t know if he’ll be able to recover in time. If he can be there, then he’ll be very important because every player in the squad is very important. If he isn’t ready to play, then he’s not that important (laughs).“

​

 

[brk]

I have no idea why Amorim never tried Salad there in preseason, especially since we're so heavy at LAM, even more if we can't move Leao.

Amorim did say something about Saelemaekers and the wingback position last night after the game. I read the response by Amorim again and it seems like he's suggesting that Saelemaekers will balance Moreira and Chukwueze by playing as the balancing LWB. That solves a big problem in the squad right now, and maybe wouldn't have happened without Cisse forcing his way into the conversation as a vice-Pulisic option. If we had loaned him out, then Saelemaekers would spend most of his time rotating with Pulisic, but now he has a lot more free time to spend elsewhere.

------------------Ramos
-----------Pulisic-------Rabiot
Saelemaekers---Modric---Musah----Moreira
----Pavlovic-------Gabbia--------Gila
--------------Maignan


Pulisic--------Ramos--------Moreira
-------Saelemaekers---Rabiot
-----------Modric-----Musah
----Pavlovic-------Gabbia--------Gila
--------------Maignan

Basically something like this

 

[brk]

Amorim: “I don’t know if Leão will be with the team for the next game because I don’t know if he’ll be able to recover in time. If he can be there, then he’ll be very important because every player in the squad is very important. If he isn’t ready to play, then he’s not that important (laughs).“​

​

​

 

[brk]

There's no way they end the mercato with just Ramos and Camarda as the CF options, right? But again if they get someone experienced, won't that suffocate Camarda? In an emergency who could play CF? RLC? Someone from Futuro?

 

[Tobinho]

Yes but we also have versatile players like Saelemaekers and Moreira.

If we have a crisis in midfield and three of the four are out, then it's Jashari + Rabiot + RLC in midfield (not ideal, but not bad either) because Saelemaekers can fill in for them. Same with Moreira. He can play LWB, RWB, and probably in both AM positions too.

If we get a new CM then it's not fair on Comotto, so we have to loan him out and then we end up in the same place we were before getting the CM. It all depends on whether Amorim trusts Comotto, and so far it looks like he does.

All true, but on the other hand we can raise the level of the starting 11 by adding an RAM better than RLC or a midfielder better than Musah.

 

[Tobinho]

Amorim did say something about Saelemaekers and the wingback position last night after the game. I read the response by Amorim again and it seems like he's suggesting that Saelemaekers will balance Moreira and Chukwueze by playing as the balancing LWB. That solves a big problem in the squad right now, and maybe wouldn't have happened without Cisse forcing his way into the conversation as a vice-Pulisic option. If we had loaned him out, then Saelemaekers would spend most of his time rotating with Pulisic, but now he has a lot more free time to spend elsewhere.

------------------Ramos
-----------Pulisic-------Rabiot
Saelemaekers---Modric---Musah----Moreira
----Pavlovic-------Gabbia--------Gila
--------------Maignan


Pulisic--------Ramos--------Moreira
-------Saelemaekers---Rabiot
-----------Modric-----Musah
----Pavlovic-------Gabbia--------Gila
--------------Maignan

Basically something like this

Yes agreed, which is mainly why I don't understand why he never tried Salad on the left and Chuck on the right, always persisting with Estupinan and Bart instead.

 

[Hugh Janus]

I still think we need to sign a new left footed RAM to rotate with Rabiot

 

[forward]

There's no way they end the mercato with just Ramos and Camarda as the CF options, right? But again if they get someone experienced, won't that suffocate Camarda? In an emergency who could play CF? RLC? Someone from Futuro?

The rapper can play ST...

 

[brk]

All true, but on the other hand we can raise the level of the starting 11 by adding an RAM better than RLC or a midfielder better than Musah.

Of course, but i'd rather spend 50m on a leader CB than 25m on both a CB and a midfielder. If we have crazy money to spend on every position this summer, let's do it! But I think at this stage, if there's the appetite to still spend, it has to be all in on a game changing CB.

 

[Nevermore]

I have a feeling we won't sign anyone. They will make up an excuse that there are no players who can improve the team

 

[Tobinho]

Rabiot says Amorim told him that he'll play in both roles:

In a post-match interview with DAZN, the French midfielder spoke about his new role as an attacking midfielder: "After speaking with the coach, we said I can play both in a two-man midfield and as an attacking midfielder. I'm ready to help the team in midfield and beyond."

 

[brk]

The rapper can play ST...

I've so completely moved on from Rafa that it took me 5 seconds of wondering 'Why does he think RLC is a rapper?' before I got it.

 

[brk]

Rabiot says Amorim told him that he'll play in both roles:

In a post-match interview with DAZN, the French midfielder spoke about his new role as an attacking midfielder: "After speaking with the coach, we said I can play both in a two-man midfield and as an attacking midfielder. I'm ready to help the team in midfield and beyond."

left footed AM that can elevate our team are not available on the market. Karetsas was an option, but I don't see anyone viable right now. It's just a lot easier to put Rabiot there and spend all your cash to finally fix the CB situation. But yeah Rabiot will play CM, but if Musah keeps it up and Jashari improves then I don't see the need for Rabiot in CM as much.