“I just want to explain” – Amorim questions the media as line-up concerns persist

This weekend, AC Milan will return to Serie A action and it’s a big game for the club before the international break. But it’s a bigger game for Ruben Amorim.

In the early stages of the season, Amorim’s selection choices have been widely criticised. After five games – and a full pre-season – there are still questions about the Portuguese’s ‘preferred’ starting team.

It’s a challenge for the Portuguese to get it right now, especially when he’s dealing with so many players coming back from injury and/or the World Cup. Nevertheless, it feels like he is out of time for experiments.

Amorim tries to explain…

Speaking in his press conference earlier this afternoon, Amorim asked a journalist about their lineup choices and then explained his own choices, trying to contextualise why it’s not so easy.

Are the training experiments over after all these rumours?

“What is the best formation in your opinion?”

Gila, De Winter, Pavlovic. Chukwueze, Modric, Rabiot, Moreira. Pulisic, Cisse. Ramos.

“Chukwueze has played three games. If he has a problem, who do you put in?”

Saelemaekers.

“On the right? Open? To play one-on-one? And in midfield?”

Modric.

“And what did you say last week about Modric and his speed? Every week there will be a different lineup. How do you manage three games a week? How do you manage the substitutions? I know it’s not your job, but mine. I just want to explain these things to you.

“We can have this conversation every day. Trust me, no one wants to win more than me. I don’t just think short-term, but long-term. And I think about what’s best for the club, not for myself. Tomorrow I’ll choose a lineup thinking about the fact that I’ll want to push harder in the second half.

“I try to have balance in everything, win and help the players. And sorry for all this. It’s my job, not yours. But you’re not that far from tomorrow’s starting eleven.”

He was also asked whether Christian Pulisic, Diego Moreira and Samuel Chukwueze could start and his answer was equally interesting…

“Everyone can play together. You know a lot of things that happen here during the week, but there’s a lot you don’t know, and I have to make my choices. They can play together. Maybe tomorrow you’ll see some of these guys play together.”