Cart Before the Horse: Inzaghi's AC Milan Lineup Before He is Named Coach!

La Gazzetta Dello Sport, one of my favorite tabloids, I mean newspaper has speculated at the Pippo's possible lineup choices.  4-3-3 or 4-3-1-2, neither one looks all that appealing...

So first things first, I don't understand the smattering of youth and assumptions of who stays and who goes.  Both options have glaring issues from a balance and personnel perspective.  Why Cristante in one and Poli in the other!?  Why not Kaka in the 4-3-3 which is his more natural role or Honda at CAM, or only real CAM!?  Gabriel, the Pato of goalkeeping!?!?!?! I won't go much deeper into these but I still contend the 4-3-1-2 is our most viable option with the the personnel we have on hand.  That option above is close, but it needs some real changes...

First of all, if we assume Balo stays then we can state we won't be buying a CB better than the one's above.I don't understand how Zapata makes it back into the lineup as he was on Seedorf's shitlist, which isn't saying much because the guy didn't seem to get it.  He did wrap Mexes in a Captain's band after all!?  So the fullbacks is A-OK and CB becomes a battle of attrition between Rami, Mexes, Zapata, Silvestre and Bonera.  The key to a good CB duo is a pressure and cover backs, Rami and Mexes ended the season with Mexes as pressure and Rami as cover.  This had it's downfalls with the pressure needing to be aggressive but strong on the tackle, think Silva and Nesta.  We won't get that here but Bonera and Rami make logical choice but this needs to be determined ASAP as the money isn't there to fix this problem.  We will be linked to Astori again and that won't materialize, but he really solves this problem immediately, Rami and Astori is good, not gold, but GOOD.

The midfield three is a toss up and the above says Monty anchors, this is fine as long as the two flanks are box to box. This works with two Poli's but more often than not we barely have one!?  So this is a hole.  Preferably, you can anchor with NDJ, but it renders Monty useless, so sell, and buy the complimentary box to box man Poli needs because he isn't on the roster. Then you groom Cristante as the vice NDJ and you press on with Muntari and Birsa as your depth.  I don't understand how on Earth we don't give Honda reins the CAM role, he needs to sink or swim and it won't happen without a chance. This means we can forget Taarabt as he is "costly" but he doesn't fit in the system.  Honda's backup is now Saponara and you begin to integrate youth in backup roles to get them the playing time and keep costs down. Kaka can work here in a pinch but it's not my favorite.

Finally, you trim the fat up front, a place where Milan is typically obese.  We have more strikers than defenders and this is painful year over year.  In a two striker system you need a point and a support striker and Kaka and SES can be your support, with Pazzo/Balo (assuming he stays) as your point.  The problem with Balo is he is a to inconsistent, so sell and heck make Pazzo/Matri your point and bring home Paloschi to make one of those guys obsolete.  You can then sell Robinho who was an afterthought anyway and now you have Balotelli off the books and some money in the bank to fund the midfielder and CB we need.

This means deadweight like Essien, Urby, Robinho, Zaccardo, and Constant as an afterthought can go and you can start to build a nest egg to rebuild in the places that need it most.  Not forwards!!  Bolster the back, the fullback depth is painful, and midfield needs work but this team needs some solid depth in the 20-23 age range to start building with.  Not superstars but players with potential to be groomed and learn.  This will be a painful rebuild but it needs to start now...