Yahoo Sports GdS: Why Musah’s display against Real Madrid has given Fonseca food for thought
Yunus Musah was not the player to steal the headlines after the victory against Real Madrid, yet the job that he did was very important.
La Gazzetta dello Sport writes how Musah is the player that ‘every coach would like to have in his team’. Paulo Fonseca has discovered a wild card, someone who answered the call and helped tame the Ballon d’Or runner-up Vinicius Junior.
To do so, the American used his three best weapons: reliability, adaptability and attentiveness. He was the tactical needle that allowed the Rossoneri to create a five-man line in the non-possession phase, which proved decisive in blocking off Real’s dangerous left side.
The numbers bear witness to the success of the plan: Musah had 88% pass completion rate (including two key passes), three dribbles out of three completed, three blocks and six out of 12 ground duels won.
The data is not bad for someone who is not a regular, given he has just three starts this season. He got two in Serie A – defeats against Parma and Napoli – plus one in the Champions League, against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu.
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Fonseca gave him a starting spot that not even he expected, as he admitted after the match: “I was surprised when the coach told me I would play.” Jokers are like that: in some card games they can appear out of nowhere, but they often have an intangible added value.
Last season, Stefano Pioli started the American against Lecce as a right-back in place of Calabria, and then deployed him as a right winger with the task of balancing the team. Fonseca rode the same wave and found the answers he was looking for in arguably the biggest test of all.
His work rate and ‘grinta’ made him perfect for the match against Los Blancos, but now the question mark becomes Cagliari. Fonseca must decide whether he needs a five-man line against a Cagliari team that will sit deep and as to be broken down.
