GdS: No longer just reserves – Allegri’s options expanded as new signings improve

For any team to dream big, the whole squad needs to contribute. Finally, AC Milan are getting answers from their ‘reserves’.

La Gazzetta dello Sport write that there is ‘life beyond the usual suspects’. The likes of Pulisic, Leao, Modric and Rabiot will always be the pillars of this side, but what is comforting for Massimiliano Allegri is that the deputies are contributing to the cause too now.

The importance of changes

On the eve of the match against Lecce, Allegri rightly emphasised the importance of substitutions, harking back to the Como games. In today’s football, five substitutions truly have the potential to transform a match when they’re executed correctly.

For example, Milan defeated Lecce thanks to a goal from a reserve player in Füllkrug. It could have been better too, had Ruben Loftus-Cheek not failed to bundle in a corner from a yard out, and had Christopher Nkunku not been denied twice in the closing stages.

Nkunku had already done his part in Como, converting a penalty just before half-time. So, Nkunku and Füllkrug are the answers to the lack of goalscoring in recent times from Pulisic and Leao, who have still scored 15 league goals between them.

Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images

The same applies in midfield, but in this case it’s not about substitutions, but rather about sanctifying a starting role that until now had been made free by the coach sparingly. This is the case with Samuele Ricci and Ardon Jashari, who are often fighting for the same spot.

The Swiss delivered a solid performance in the place of Luka Modric against Lecce. His message: the more you play me, the more effective I will be. Ricci’s work meanwhile is often as obscure as it is effective: he calmly leaves the spectacular plays to others, while he provides the coverage.

All of these are the effects and consequences of the rotation that Allegri had to fine-tune in two weeks, featuring many games in quick succession. Oh, and a tactical note: Ricci and Jashari can both play in front of the defence and as a central midfielder. That’s no small detail.