Friday night will be yet another big test of the lower table teams for Milan. Pisa come into this match in 19th place, a position that has been cursed for Allegri's Milan this season, seeing us drop points every single time. Additionally, Milan were frozen out by the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony last weekend, and may have had a little too much rest. Pisa are down to their third string goalkeeper, but have 12 draws this season, so could easily take points from Milan. Also, it happens to be where Allegri debuted against Milan as a player, so that could jinx Milan, too. For that reason, it is easy to see why some might be leaning toward Pisa.
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| The players will need to lean on one another to be able to bring home all three points. |
Pisa just sacked former Milan player Gilardino, who had only managed one win in 23 matches this season. Instead, they turned to a young Swedish manager, Oscar Hiljemark. His first match in charge was the scoreless draw vs. Verona last weekend, so Milan may also feel the full effect of the new coach bounce, too. In that match, he lined up a 3-4-2-1 with: Scuffet; Canestrelli, Caracciolo, Bozhinov; Idrissa Touré, Loyola, Aebischer, Angori; Stojilković, Moreo; and Durosinmi. For this match, Hiljemark will be missing Marin due to suspension for card accumulation, and also missing both goalkeepers Semper and Scuffet; as well as Vural, Denoon, and Albiol to injury.
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| Will Pisa benefit from the new manager bounce? |
Allegri obviously has Santi Giménez out, and Saelemaekers is not going to be fit in time to play in this match, either. And while Pulisic, Leão, and Füllkrug are all back in training and reportedly healing from their varied fitness issues, reports are that they will start on the bench. That means we will likely see a starting attack of Nkunku and Loftus-Cheek again for this match, and he will have the others to bring on as super subs. Saelemaekers' spot will likely be covered by Athekame once again.
After such a dominant performance against Bologna last time, logically, this match would be like a training match or a mere formality. However, not only is Allegri's record against the relegation-zone teams perfect in dropping points this season, there are a number of unusual circumstances that could easily see Milan come home without three points. In particular, Pisa's new manager and Milan having too much rest could affect the outcome of this one, when fate could be leaning toward Pisa.
This post inspired by the music of The Primitives' "Way Behind Me"