AC Milan will tackle Torino tonight hoping to proceed their push for a high 4 spot, however it’s a story of gamers in contrasting type for either side.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen beneath) writes this morning, Samuele Ricci is the thoughts and soul of Torino. Having arrived in January 2022 from Empoli, his development path has been steady and has led him first to turn into a set level of the Granata after which the Italian nationwide crew.
He’s the one Torino participant to have began each league recreation, excluding the one towards Bologna, missed as a consequence of suspension. Initially of the season the coach used him as a mezzala, whereas with the 4-2-3-1 he returned to inserting him within the double pivot.
All the things passes by means of him, in assault and defence, which is putting if you happen to think about that he’s solely 23 years outdated. Gineitis, Linetty and even Casadei can play alongside him, and he’ll hope to harm .
Tijjani Reijnders doesn’t want the encouragement of his coach to assault the opposition objective. He’s already at 11 targets this season, a private finest, even when with the 4 strikers he’s now requested to make much more sacrifices in midfield.
Reijnders can carry out just about each midfield position: he is without doubt one of the Milan gamers who covers essentially the most distance per recreation and has by no means held again, whether or not he’s alongside Youssouf Fofana or Yunus Musah, like on Tuesday at San Siro.
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Does shifting his place again make him much less harmful within the objective space? In concept, sure, however the information within the two legs towards Feyenoord confirmed he had 4 pictures Wellenreuther’s objective. For comparability, Leao and Pulisic had two.
In objective in the meantime, Vanja Milinkovic-Savic and Mike Maignan are the prototypes of the modern-day goalkeeper. They save, however in addition they like to play with the ball with their ft, as extra liberos or defensive registas.
The Serbian can also be having considered one of his finest seasons between the posts, much less so the Frenchman from Milan, who in latest weeks has admitted that he’s not in a state of grace. Vanja is a penalty saver having stopped three this season already, and a frontrunner too.
At 28 years outdated – he turned 28 on Thursday – Milinkovic-Savic has reached the peak of maturity. Magic Mike Maignan, as talked about, is as a substitute coming off a couple of too many errors. The final one, within the defeat within the first leg towards Feyenoord within the Champions League, value Milan loads.
The standing of the French goalkeeper isn’t in query: there’s already an settlement with the membership for the renewal of his contract till 2028, with an possibility for an extra yr, at €5m internet per season. The expectation, after all, is that Mike will return to being ‘magic’ just like the yr of the Scudetto.
Then, there are the 2 playmakers Nikola Vlasic and Joao Felix. The Croatian is maybe having his finest season in Granata. Past the numbers – he has three targets and three assists within the league, whereas his finest was 2022-23 with 5 targets and 6 assists – his angle, incisiveness and freedom are putting.
Vlasic has actually turn into ‘the perfect buy of Torino’s mercato’, as Vanoli mentioned in the summertime, when he was ready for his return after the damage on the European Championship. It took time, discovering the suitable formation and above all confidence.
Vlasic has returned to full type since December onwards, and if the 3-5-2 didn’t benefit from him as a result of it held him again within the position of mezzala, taking part in as a second striker within the 4-2-3-1 freed him up, assured him the area within the centre that he has at all times favoured.
Joao Felix as a substitute scored ‘solely’ within the Coppa Italia, on his debut towards Roma, however he has typically appeared for the way in which to the online. The Portuguese doesn’t restrict himself to solely creating unpredictability between the strains and creating numerical superiority with dribbling.
The early indicators have totally satisfied Conceiçao who strongly needed him and doesn’t intend to do with out him. Not even at present, even when Joao isn’t at his finest as a consequence of an ankle drawback he suffered on Tuesday.
The standard of the previous Benfica man is helpful to the crew, particularly in a recreation towards a crew that promise to be troublesome to interrupt down just like the one towards Toro. Because of this Sergio doesn’t need to do with out his compatriot and hopes to deploy him additionally towards Vanoli’s males from the first minute.