GdS: Stopping Leao and finding goals – Juric draws up Atalanta’s plan to face Milan

Atalanta head coach Ivan Juric is planning how best to contain AC Milan, and in particular the in-form Rafael Leao.

As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) write, Atalanta have flipped the script in terms of their playing style. They have the third-best defence in the league, but their six draws in eight games shows that they are not scoring enough to win games regularly.

Juric must understand why the team creates so much, shoots a lot but in six out of eight games has never scored more than one goal (and once zero). Understanding and remedying this is his big task at the moment.

Scoring goals and containing Milan

One of the players Juric plans to rely on is Gianluca Scamacca, and perhaps the time has come to use him from the start, after his two substitutions against Slavia Prague and Cremonese (28′ and 32′). He’s not yet at his best, and it shows in certain movements and choices on the ball.

The alternative is Nikola Krstovic, the summer signing from Lecce, but he has different qualities. So, Juric must decide whether to go with the Italian or the Montenegrin, either of whom will look to trouble Matteo Gabbia above all.

Another likely change in the starting eleven will be the return of Kossounou. He was reintroduced against Slavia Prague, but didn’t play in Cremona precisely to avoid risk, knowing he had spent weeks out and would be used against Milan.

One of the key aspects will be limiting Rafael Leao, which primarily means controlling his runs and cutting off the supply. Kossounou seems the most suitable option in the eyes of Juric, especially if the Portuguese isn’t playing as a striker, but starting on the left.

On the other flank, if Saelemaekers takes off from there, Juric could decide to bring back Bernasconi. He has less build-up ability than Zalewski, but has more pace and above all defensive aptitude.

The other possibility is a 4-2-3-1, a solution that Juric is unlikely to use from the start, but which could be useful down the line with Lookman and Sulemana together during the game, as they did for the final 13 minutes in the last game.