Stefano Pioli can finally breathe a sigh of relief by seeing that the Milanello infirmary is now getting less crowded. The Rossoneri coach will have almost all of the squad available very soon. Positive signs have already arrived before Bologna-Milan, with the return of Bennacer among the squad and the negativity of Calhanoglu's coivd-test.
According to Gazzetta dello Sport, Pioli should change some of the starting elements in the next matches, also by natural rotation of the players, maintaining the now classic plan. The 4-2-3-1 has brought excellent results in the last year, but it seems that Pioli himself is working on alternative solutions to not leave Zlatan Ibrahimovic alone and take advantage of the large range of attackers that he has available.
A change to a 4-3-1-2 must not be excluded. Pioli could enrich the midfield with Sandro Tonali who would play with Bennacer and Kessié. Calhanoglu would remain in his number 10 role, while one between Leao and Mandzukic would be playing next to Ibrahimovic up front.
Another alternative would be to re-propose a classic line-up, as happened at the beginning of 2020 on some occasions, when Pioli was still looking for the right team: the 4-4-2 module. The coach could opt for two wingers: Saelemaekers and Rebic (or Calhanoglu) wide in midfield, two midfielders (Bennacer and Kessié) and a tandem in attack made of Ibrahimovic and one of Leao or Mandzukic.
Having Ibrahimovic and Mandzukic play close together and coexist is one of the goals of coach Pioli, who could also simply use the Croatian 34 year-old experienced attacker as a winger, like in the days of Juventus.
