GdS: The ‘reborn’ – how Allegri has transformed several struggling Milan players

Massimiliano Allegri’s work on the training ground is largely based on the collective, but he has helped some individuals improve too.

As La Gazzetta dello Sport recall, one year ago Strahinja Pavlovic and Fikayo Tomori were getting a lot of criticism, to the extent that a January departure was deemed not only possible for both defenders but perhaps even likely, as Galatasaray and Spurs came forward respectively.

After the season under Paulo Fonseca and Sergio Conceiçao, Youssouf Fofana was labeled a player that would probably only be useful as a back-up moving forward. Now, he is an immovable starter under Allegri, alongside two big names in Luka Modric and Adrien Rabiot.

Tomori, Pavlovic, and Fofana are probably the three Milan players who have improved the most from spring to fall. The fourth would be Mike Maignan, but everything has already been written about him in the last few days.

Alexis Saelemaekers, Davide Bartesaghi and Matteo Gabbia deserve a mention. They consolidate Milan defensively, allowing Modric, Rafael Leao and Christian Pulisic to attack freely. How did Allegri manage to help them grow exactly?

Photos: Marco Luzzani/Getty Images

On the up

Part of the answer is psychological, and only the Milanello dressing room could provide a complete answer. He certainly gave everyone confidence, motivating them by putting them in the starting XI from day one, and spoke highly of them publicly.

Part of the answer, however, is tactical. With Allegri at the helm, Milan are performing better with a three-man defence, and both Tomori and Pavlovic are performing better as outside centre-backs rather than in a pairing

Two statistics stand out. Firstly, Pavlovic strides out with the ball 2.48 times per game: in this stat, he’s among the best defenders in the big five leagues. When he can, he carries the ball and Milan’s left-side adjusts, with Bartesaghi dropping back and a midfielder (usually Rabiot) sliding over.

Tomori, on the other hand, has 2.44 tackles per game, again among the best in Europe because thrives on duels with the attackers. Will it continue like this for the entire season? It’s hard to say, but the potential is there.

Allegri said at the start of the season that he expected a combined 15 goals from Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Fofana, who, however, only scored against Udinese. Youssouf shoots 1.5 times per game but rarely hits the target. If he can add goals to his game, he really would be undroppable.