The view from above really does justice to Modric’s brushstroke and Pulisic’s technical gestures (movement plus control): the goal with which Milan broke the deadlock in Udine was not the result of who knows what tactics or who knows what exhausting training sessions, but of a rehearsed move enhanced by the extraordinary qualities of two of Milan’s world-class players.
Without Rabiot, Gila and Diego Moreira, and with Gonçalo Ramos still searching for consistency in front of goal, Ruben Amorim entrusted the backbone of his emergency lineup to two absolute certainties. And the Croatian and the American answered the call, setting the direction of a match that promised to be complicated and which, thanks to them, immediately became an easier task.
Modric
The management of Modric is quite clear: he will hardly play three matches in one week. Since the first international break, the number 14 has remained on the bench against Sassuolo and Salzburg, started against Atalanta, rested at Bournemouth, and taken the field from the first minute in Udine.
According to this pattern, and assuming he is certain to start in Saturday’s derby, tomorrow it will be his turn to rest. He will start from the bench, making room from the opening whistle for a midfield composed of Musah and Jashari.
The strategy is working: making sure that Modric plays the most important matches in the best possible condition, without exhausting himself excessively. Better a few matches played well than many played with his tongue hanging out.
And, considering what was seen in Udine, the plan is working. Besides the clever assist for Pulisic, what made an impression (without being surprising) was his 50-metre chase in the 85th minute after Udinese’s Vinciati, born in 2007, who had broken away on a counterattack.
Intelligence, legs and class for Milan.
Pulisic
His second goal of the season closely resembles his first in terms of the exquisite quality of his ball control: against Lecce, there had been a left-footed control of the ball in mid-air from Pavlovic’s long pass; against Udinese, a delicate first touch, again with his left foot, to position the ball and shoot with his right past the onrushing Okoye, as pointed out via Corriere dello Sport today.
Pulisic is, unquestionably, the player with the greatest attacking quality in the Rossoneri lineup, and Amorim, in his hybrid 4-2-3-1, has decided to place him in a position where he can unleash all his technique: central attacking midfielder.
A return to his origins for the American, who was born as a number 10 and moved, for various needs, from the centre to the wing both at Chelsea and during his recent years at Milan.
In the middle, however, he seems freer to express himself: he can move to the left or to the right, find space wherever it is available, and link up with the midfield and the striker as he pleases.
Pulisic is not a vocal leader, and he himself acknowledges it:
“There are many leaders in the team. I don’t talk much,” he confessed after the match in Udine, “but I want to show it on the pitch.”
He knows how to speak the language of football perfectly. And with Modric feeding him the ball, even more so.
