Milan took fans for a wild ride this past week. After their worst performance of the year and the 1-0 loss to Udinese last week, they defeated PSG 2-1 in the Champions League on Tuesday in one of their best performances of the year. Now, ahead of the international break next week, they are away to 13th place Lecce on Saturday afternoon. Three points is the least they are expected to do, with a good performance and no new injuries the ideal scenario. But above all, they need to settle into a mental rhythm again that helps them to perform (and hopefully win) consistently. Ready, steady, go.
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| Now Milan need to keep the performances and their mentality steady. |
Roberto D'Aversa, manager of Lecce, was a product of the Milan youth system as a player, but never played an official match for the club. Now he faces the club that raised him as manager of Lecce, who survived relegation last season and are looking to stay in Serie A once again. Their last match was at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday, where they were leading and only lost 2-1 to Roma due to two late goals scored in stoppage time by Mourinho's side. For that match, D'Aversa lined up: Falcone; Gendrey, Pongračić, Baschirotto, Dorgu; Kaba, Ramadani, Rafia; Almqvist, Krstović, and Banda. He will be missing Almqvist and Corfitzen to injury.
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| One point, two points, three points... D'Aversa will take any and all points from his former team. |
Pioli has seven players injured as of this writing, but we know that the number usually goes up before kickoff. That is the Milan way. Those missing will be: Bennacer, Caldara, Sportiello, Kjaer, Kalulu, Pellegrino, and Pulisic. Supposedly, Pulisic avoided any serious injury, but he was not called up by the U.S. for this international break. It has yet to be determined when he will return. Kjaer also has an unspecified return date, while it is hoped that Sportiello will return in December. For everyone else, it will likely be January or later. Whether or not Pioli rests any players on Saturday is anyone's guess. Three points is important, but he may actually try to manage injuries by rotating some players, who knows?
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| Will Chukwueze get time coming back from injury? |
Still, even without the couple of starters and the depth that Milan are missing in all of those injuries, Milan should be able to pull off a decent performance. Tuesday's win will go a long way for the mentality of the team, but stability is what will be important now. Lecce clearly have the mentality to be able to pull out a result, as they showed on matchday one with a win over Lazio. D'Aversa's side will have home advantage, and with Milan's shaky results and injuries, will absolutely look to take points from us. However, this is also the opportunity for Milan to show they are ready to be consistent: ready, steady, go.
This post inspired by the music of Paul Oakenfold's "Ready, Steady, Go"
Reviewed by Elaine
on
12:45 AM
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