Bianchin: Allegri thinking of using three-man defence without full-backs – the details

AC Milan head coach Massimiliano Allegri could be forced to adapt and try a different formation due to the lack of full-backs.

Milan begin their preseason tour properly on Wednesday with a game against Arsenal in Singapore and, at present, there is a lack of natural full-backs in the squad. Alex Jimenez, Alexis Saelemaekers, Davide Bartesaghi and Filippo Terracciano can play there, but surely will not be first choices.

One area where the Rossoneri are well covered is at centre-back where they have four options who will all hope to earn a starting spot. Fikayo Tomori and Strahinja Pavlovic started in the intra-squad game against Milan Futuro the other day, while there are also Matteo Gabbia and Malick Thiaw.

Three-man defence?

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Allegri began his second spell at Milan by making it clear that he wishes to proceed with a 4-3-3 formation. As mentioned though, without proper full-backs it will be hard to play a four-man defence.

The piece states that the Italian would be ready to dust off the formation Sergio Conceiçao used in his last few matches, which was the 3-4-3. This is, of course, while waiting for potential reinforcements from the mercato, with Pervis Estupinan seemingly getting closer.