Rafael Leao came off the bench for the second game in a row versus Inter. He created the only dangerous action for his side after subbing in, escaping on a counter and dishing a great feed to Olivier Giroud, who took too much time to settle the ball and shoot and got pickpocketed.
Per La Gazzetta dello Sport, the decision was merely tactical and was born a few days ago when Stefano Pioli decided to switch to 3-5-2. The coach elaborated on it before the clash.
“I choose to play with two forwards next to each other, and I think Divock Origi and Giroud are better suited for that. Leao will be very useful during match.”
According to the publication, the Portuguese ace isn’t 100 percent physically, which also contributed to his exclusions. He isn’t the only one struggling in that sense. Sandro Tonali has had baffling giveaways in recent fixtures. Giroud and Theo Hernandez have been shells of themselves following the World Cup.
Pioli added after the game that he planned to stick with 3-5-2 for a while and further weighed in on the ace.
“Leao has great potential, but we wanted two pure center-forwards to give Inter problems. He has to stay active for the entire game, and he’s a player we count on a lot. The choices were the best ones in my mind based on what I saw during the week. He doesn’t have the traits to play vertically with another striker.”
Our Take on Leao and Pioli
The gaffer was right in going outside his usual toolbox to shake things up to try snapping out of their woes but excluding their best player was plain overthinking given the other blah options.
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