Massimiliano Allegri has insisted that the friendly defeat to Chelsea was not a disaster, despite the way the scoreline makes it look.
Milan fell to a heavy 4-1 defeat in their final preseason game at Stamford Bridge. Andrei Coubis scored an early own-goal and Joao Pedro doubled the advantage, then things went from bad to worse for Coubis as he got a red card for a last-man challenge.
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Liam Delap scored a brace in the second half including one from the penalty spot, either side of a Youssouf Fofana consolation that rewarded some of the Rossoneri’s bright attacking play. It means that Milan end preseason with two wins, two losses and a draw.
The coach’s reflection
Allegri spoke to Sky Italia after the full-time whistle to give his thoughts on the final preseason run-out, with his comments relayed by MilanNews.
The pre-season didn’t end in the best way…
“We’ve finished a month of preparation where there were no injuries. Starting Tuesday, we’ll be able to prepare as best we can for the Coppa Italia. Paradoxically, today, with 10 men, we performed better; we were more organised.
“We could have been more focused; these are things we’ll fix. We’ll have to focus differently; Sunday is a knockout match. Now we’ll have to work with complete composure.”
There were some defensive errors…
“We’ve improved a bit as a team, not just as defenders. We need to keep working. Conceding a goal after seven minutes on a dead ball, even on the second goal, we could have defended a bit better.
“The boys showed me good spirit. It’s disappointing when you lose, but it doesn’t change the value of the team. The important thing is that no one got hurt; we’re returning to Milan after two games in two days in good shape.”
Malick Thiaw is leaving…
“It’s a shame he’s gone. The club is looking for a replacement, but that’s the way the transfer market works: we have to accept it and keep working. I have some excellent players in the squad who have made themselves available to each other.”
Leao led the attack…
“Leao has raised his level of focus, his performances have become more demanding. We had chances, we could have been more aggressive.”
Now signing a defender is more urgent than a striker…
“Let’s see. The club is working with Tare. We have Gabbia, Pavlovic, and Tomori; we have three defenders to play next Sunday. If he arrives this week, great; otherwise, we’ll wait.”
A debut for Modric…
“He arrived 10 days ago, he needs to work. He had 30 minutes, he played 45. The expulsion changed the plans, he was supposed to come on for Musah who played 70 minutes after yesterday’s 60 minutes. He needs to improve his condition, he’s behind the others.”
It is a score that makes it seem like today was a disaster…
“It’s not a disaster, it’s summer football. We need to learn and improve on details like set pieces. I’m happy with how we’ve worked this month, now the season begins: the most important one and also the most fun.”
Good to hear a proper assessment from one of our coaches, something we haven’t heard in years. Surprised by how well Terra did at CB, did better than Tomori at this point of the season preparation
Oga sell Musa and buy a quality midfielder what is Musa doing and apart from that academy player is there no other df instead u are there experimenting players a coach without no clue
Today 433 tomorrow 3511 next 352 oga have a clue of what u are doing
All these are experiments to know the teams strength and weakness,which one is he doesn’t have clue, you are the one without any clue, Is this our first 11….how do u access extract the new players that’s u have. And know the best formation to us when d season starts. Remember most of the players are playing together for the first time.
the team needs musah. only sell if the offer is amazing. he is improving and will show his value this season.
I didn’t understand why he started with Coubis in the defence. Was he sending a hint to the management?
who else was he to play? Pavlovic and Gabbia already played yesterday. Thiaw has ghosted.
@sabiola the man is testing formations, giving more minutes to new fresh faces that just entered the team?
And by so doing, carrying out an overall assessment on the teams ability and ticking off things to work on.
What is it you don’t understand?
Saying he has no clue?
Do you even know what you’re taking about at all ?
I wonder oo. People like him praised the coach when Milan trashed Liverpool but losing getting trashed by Chelsea in same friendly match without most first team player they tend to bansh the coach.
All these are experiments to know the teams strength and weakness,which one is he doesn’t have clue, you are the one without any clue, Is this our first 11….how do u access extract the new players that’s u have. And know the best formation to us when d season starts. Remember most of the players are playing together for the first time.
All these are experiments to know the teams strength and weakness,which one is he doesn’t have clue, you are the one without any clue, Is this our first 11….how do u access and extract the new players that’s u have. And know the best formation to use when d season starts. Remember most of the players are playing together for the first time.