GdS: Milan's potential three-man attack and when Allegri plans to use it

"Yet, in January, something happened: Allegri used a front three for an hour across the games against Genoa and Fiorentina. Against Como and Lecce, no, but the message is clear. In-game changes The goal in both of the games against Genoa and Fiorentina was the same: to come from behind. Against the former, Allegri brought off Saelemaekers to bring on Füllkrug, and in the 92nd minute he got what he was looking for with Leao's goal."

"There is one constant, however. Allegri, for much of those 59 minutes with the attacking trio, asked Leao to stay wide on the left and used Pulisic on the right, as Stefano Pioli did. The duo played centrally in some situations against Genoa, but were often out wide, to play one-on-one and create superiority. Overall, things went better against Genoa: in those 35 minutes, Milan were dangerous with two crosses from Bartesaghi, a Rabiot-Pulisic double shot, a Leao header, a Pulisic volley"

Massimiliano Allegri has shown openness to switching Milan’s system and has experimented with a front three after the club initially chose a 3-5-2 despite summer consideration of a 4-3-3. In January he deployed a three-man attack during parts of matches against Genoa and Fiorentina, using substitutions such as Saelemaekers for Füllkrug and Nkunku for Pavlovic to alter shape. The front three appeared both as a classic striker-plus-wingers setup and as a mobile trio without a natural No.9. Allegri often asked Rafael Leao to stay wide left and Christian Pulisic to operate on the right to create one-on-one superiority. The Genoa experiment generated noticeably more attacking chances than the Fiorentina one.

Read at SempreMilan