What Milan will take the field against Udinese on Friday evening at 20:45? What has Mister Conceição prepared these past days at Milanello? Will the Portuguese coach, after a month without midweek commitments, finally field a team with two true strikers as he would have liked to do from the moment he sat on the Rossoneri bench?
The former Porto man has changed many lineups and offensive solutions, but so far none has convinced enough to be considered untouchable. At the beginning of the season, there was talk of the short blanket: cover one side and you uncover the other. This Milan, built in a not very organic way, is difficult to field with balance: in the past year Pioli, Fonseca, and Conceição have all tried, without ever succeeding consistently. It’s clear that the characteristics of the players, although individually strong or very strong, don’t mesh the way they should once on the pitch.
And at this point, in a moment of the season when the league has lost all meaning, why not finally dare to try the two strikers? With the return leg of the Coppa Italia derby ahead, everything must be tried to find that extra spark that has practically always been missing this year: taking the field with a setup that’s particularly congenial to the coach could yield unexpected results.
Also because balance can’t be found anyway. Musah will hardly return to being a starter in the short term, Walker’s injury pushes Jimenez’s area of action back: Pulisic, at this point, can return to the right, where he has done very well these past years in Italy. And with a Jovic in this form, it almost seems obvious to fit the pieces of the puzzle. Against Fiorentina, many wondered why the Serbian came on and not Gimenez to pair with Abraham. The former Real Madrid striker made it very clear: when playing with two strikers, it’s obvious that Jovic must be on the field with either Abraham or Gimenez, depending on the match and the characteristics required.
The number 9, who at Milan has spent almost all his time essentially out of the project—both with Pioli and with Conceição—has shown that with a center forward next to him, he can give his best, almost like he did at Eintracht in that fabulous trio with Haller and Rebić. Alone, he doesn’t perform and can’t shoulder the weight of the attack; in a pair, he transforms completely—like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In this difficult moment, you have to cling to everything, so why not also make the most of Jovic’s state of grace?
