Against Torino, the defensive shortcomings of this Milan were further highlighted, considering that the two goals conceded by the Rossoneri last Saturday were direct consequences of (serious) individual errors or poor decisions.
For this reason, Paulo Fonseca intends to remedy or at least try to limit the damage as much as possible by raising a real defensive wall, reports La Gazzetta dello Sport, by immediately throwing the duo of Strahinja Pavlovic and Emerson Royal into the fray at the Tardini.
He was absent against Torino due to bureaucratic issues that should be resolved during the course of this week, allowing him to be called up for Milan's first away match of the season in Parma. However, Emerson Royal has been regularly training with the team for days and was involved with Tottenham in the Asian tour, where he delivered several high-level performances. For this reason, the Brazilian full-back should be physically on par with his teammates, including Davide Calabria, with whom he will compete for the starting position for the rest of the season. The first duel, the one for Parma, could indeed be won by Emerson Royal, who is expected to replace the captain in the starting eleven after the latter struggled considerably against Torino, even being booed by the fans at the time of his substitution.
Could Pavlovic be ready for the match against Parma this coming Saturday?
He remained on the bench for 90 minutes against Torino, as Paulo Fonseca did not yet consider him ready to start, but things will change for Parma. The extra week of training could be enough to convince the Portuguese coach to throw him straight into the fray in Parma alongside Fikayo Tomori, especially since after Saturday's performance, where he was arguably the worst on the field, Malick Thiaw might need some rest to forget the errors and recharge for a very long season ahead.
