Thiaw’s impressive outing casts further doubts on

Thiaw finally appeared again from the first minute after showing some promising glimpses during his first few months at the club. Before that, the German Under 21 central captain had been given a paltry 142 minutes of game time across five appearances.

Pioli obviously reserves the right to evaluate the process of introducing and adapting a player given he sees Thiaw on a daily basis, but the problems the defence has had in 2023 so far makes it seem strange he has now appeared more.

Fikayo Tomori and Pierre Kalulu haven’t hit the same levels as last season, while Matteo Gabbia has not done much better and the precarious physical conditions that Simon Kjaer has shown after his return to the field means there is hardly a wealth of available options.

The same narrative applies to Yacine Adli and Aster Vranckx, but perhaps above all Charles De Ketelaere who was the big-money signing of the last summer window and has instead become Brahim Diaz’s back-up.

The struggles of Kjaer and Gabbia in defence, the evident decline from Tonali and Krunic in the middle of the field and the inconsistency of the forwards Brahim Diaz, Ante Rebic and Junior Messias fuel at least some suspicions about the rotations performed by Pioli.