Milan – Bologna Serie A Week 3

A Leao less Milan beat Lecce 2-0 away in week two for the first three points of the season. The game featured what could be called an unusual line up with Saelemaekers as a kind of a forward. His hard work only cemented the Belgian’s utility man tag. The game was an improvement over the week 1 loss versus Cremonese but Milan seem a long way off from a so called integrated team.

It was hoped that Leao will use the international break to get back to shape to play but this has not been the case and the Portuguese winger, now perhaps a forward, now aims to be ready for week 4 at Udinese. Nkunku is apparently not ready for starting 11 action either and this is already a case where this thin 22 man squad requires Allegri to be creative. Reports suggest a 3-5-1-1 is in the works. The sometimes maligned Gimenez ended up staying at Milan and his goals are now required even more. Loftus-Cheek scored the opener at Lecce and was mostly praised for his play. He is set to start behind the Mexican forward. The five man midfield survives and has more bodies for the middle three. Rabiot has joined Milan and welcomed as a familiar, experienced player for the middle. Ricci is therefore less likely to see minutes. Fofana and Modric will play alongside Rabiot. Estupinan and the aforementioned Saelemaekers will complete the midfield. The back three options are limited. De Winter may or may not get many minutes this season. For now Pavlovic, Gabbia and Tomori are likely to remain preferred.

There are already suggestions that the January transfer window will need to be used to add to the 22 squad size. There are also suggestions that Maignan could walk as a Bosman next summer leaving Milan with another move to make. This is in addition to the already needed steps for building a continually competing team, dealing with loans and more.

Bologna are of course the team that stood between Milan playing European football and not this season. Bologna’s win against Milan for the Coppa Italia title confined Milan to a relatively light schedule this season. Vincenzo Italiano’s team now includes Federico Bernardeschi and Ciro Immobile though the latter is out injured. This game is also drawing attention because Rabiot and Jonathan Rowe exited Marseille in the summer due to the two coming to blows in the dressing room. Rowe is a Bologna player now although he is likely to start on the bench.

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