AC Milan head coach Ruben Amorim has admitted that there are some frustrations emerging with how his side are approaching games.
Over 65,000 fans turned out at San Siro on Wednesday night for what was probably the showpiece tie of the Europa League first phase between Milan and Benfica. The vast majority of them went home unhappy, as the Portuguese side emerged with a deserved and rather comfortable win.
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Dodi Lukébakio scored early on to give the visitors a lead that their early pressure had suggested was coming, and Benfica also rattled the post in the first half too. After the break, Jakub Kaminski got their second with a lovely first-time finish, and it was enough for Marco Silva’s side to win 2-0.
After the full-time whistle, Amorim spoke to Sky about the result, his selection choices and whether he could change his ideas. MilanNews relayed his words.
The return to Europe was a disappointment. The regression and difficulty of the game were a bit disorienting…
“This conversation is about my thoughts. Sometimes we create more problems for ourselves when we have the ball than when the opponent has it. We’re trying to create automatic movements, but we don’t create. We keep the ball, but we lack creativity near the penalty area.
“When we conceded in the first half, we completely lost what we were supposed to do. We wanted to do everything quickly, but we lacked quality. We lose the ball in certain moments that are really dangerous.”
Milan have struggled in every first half this season. Is it a bad approach?
“I don’t know if it’s mental. It’s the second game in a row where we’re not in the game in the first half. We can’t concede goals in those few moments when we have to defend the box. We already have trouble scoring. If we concede, we get nervous and everything becomes more difficult.”
Isn’t it better to work on the defence that suffers too much?
“Everything is connected. We’re not very organised. For the first goal, when the player carries the ball, we’re already too deep. When we lose the ball, we’re all too close together and too deep.
“We need to improve our defence, we need to score first and take the game to a different level. We’re not creating many opportunities.”
There’s a negative attitude in the first half. No one makes runs in behind, or nobody tries to find the runs…
“It’s true, especially in the first half, no one was attacking the space behind the defence. The attacking midfielders don’t have space because we don’t attack the space behind the defence.
“Then you have to look at games as a whole. We have to run behind the defenders, we talked about it at half-time, but in the second half we still struggled with them waiting for us on the edge of the box.”
Why didn’t you continue with the second-half XI from Rome?
“It’s simple. Because Rabiot played the first 90 minutes and we didn’t know if he was capable of playing for long in this match. It’s the same for Pulisic. He played 45 minutes in Rome. You know Pulisic’s story, we have to be aware.
“Moreira had a personal problem and hasn’t trained with the team for two days. It’s not a matter of a couple of players; we have to improve as a team.
“We get close to the box a lot, but no one attacks it, even when Chukwueze crosses. Before the second goal, we had a chance with De Winter, who was free. We have to be a better team.”
Are you ready to continue playing 3-4-2-1? Or are you ready for a change?
“But I’m constantly changing. We’ve done two months of work, and we’ll definitely find ways to adapt. We need to develop a way of doing things, but we also need to win games. I’m ready to adapt.”
Tell Amorim to watch and learn from Barcelona. Use a formation that brings the best out of your players. Stop being rigid!
Facts!
i enjoy watching Barca. They are a team that no matter who they play will play to win
Thing is, Barcelona has a strong (historic) academy behind their back. Even if they are in a financial crisis, they can bring up Yamal, Cubarsi, Xavi Espart etc. who can play the exact same system, no matter the age gap. All they needed was a good manager who is able to play the exact system. Meanwhile, the best product to come through Milan academy in recent history is Donnaruma and we had to sell him.
If only we did sell him 😀
Amorim have selection issue. He is too rigid not a dynamic. He is not a good coach
Are you ready to continue playing 3-4-2-1? Or are you ready for a change?
The guy still thinks he’s coaching Sporting
Amorim, “we lack creativity near the box”
Because we don’t have any creative players and didn’t sign any creative players therefore we’re not going to be creative. Sometimes football is not difficult
100% correct eversince Diaz left, we haven’t had any true AMs. Just experiments. Pulisic is the only one that comes close to that role. Maybe formation change by Mr. Rigit.
Hopefully Conte will take over soon, Amorim is lousy coach!!
Enough of these go around dinosaurs. It’s time different coaches with modern football in mind. But to that you need SD that know how to build a team. Not people (like our management and ownership) that keep rolling the dice.
Conte is not a good idea. There’s no long-term with Conte. He’ll be done inside 2 seasons. Motta, who we should have signed years ago, is a good fit.
Oh you think Conte would’ve done better with his European track record? Give it sometime Arteta took years and we’re here on our 5th game talking about Conte.
Arw you seriously compare Amorim to Arteta!!!
Arteta had MANY years of failure and constant change. He went from imitating Arsenal to playing haramball. Apparently, this was forgotten after last season.
He’s on speed dial for sure…..
He has got be the biggest BSer in the bussines. Somehow he manages to fool these clubs.
If you don’t have any creative player why you buy only 1 striker for 70m?
I see the same kind of failure for Amorim at Manchester: buying expensive players but not fit with the system he plays.
First I do not want to see what happened two years ago. Firing coaches mid season is not the recipe for success.
But
Come on Amorim. If Rabiot and Pulisic can’t play 90, have them start and play 60. You needed to start on the front foot. And I can think of 5 bad choices to start this match. You dug your own grave, just like you did at Lazio except for one thing you easily should have known. The Portugal league has only 3 real teams. So Benfica is used to playing deep with a lead, because they have the lead in almost every match they play. You coached and played in Portugal…you know this. You had to score first. Yet you rolled out a garbage lineup!
I’m not quitting on Amorim. Ithink if we can commit to this high octane style (like Como has) we can be great. But you have to do a better job with squad management.
Why did Cardinale choose that idiot of a coach? Just look at what happened at MU
I mean, Manchester United is as bad of a team as Milan. Their only saving grace is that they have LOTS more money, which allowed them to get more transfers.
Ill believe it when I see it. Being flexible means being willing to swallow your ego and recognize your favorite formation isnt working at all, and it needs change. Youre trying to play a formation with 2 attacking mids, but theres no creativity up top. We have no real playmaker except for a 41yr old modric
Hope from now on he realize that he can’t always rely for his change of players in second half will change the game output. Start to field the best 11 right from the start.
The thing is his system is not working yet. So he can’t just field anyone hoping that the team will perform the same. Benfica showed us perfectly when the team has ideal system and identity, it didn’t really matter who’s playing. I think this is the aim of Amorim but yeah, long long way to go
Like I said, there is no way to said, we need time again Amorim.
Every match, and still can not decide the best eleven for play…why Cardinale choose this man to be Milan coach after Allegri???
Look Notingham Forrest under Glasner.
I know we can not hire top world class coach. But we can hire world class prospect coach.
I hope my opinion was wrong about Amorim. And Milan can compete well in Serie A this season.
For a change the coach got his analysis spot on. Now can this enlightenment translate into real action to correct the mistakes…
Amorim is just a younger and unsuccessful Allegri
Man…this club is so poorly managed…
Benfica didn’t create anything either. They scored a lucky goal and then parked the bus. 0.99xG for Milan and 0.6 for Benfica. We weren’t great, but it’s not the moment to start panicking either. Sacking the coach is not going to help
Finally an intelligent comment.
Amorin is a terrible coach. No football identity. Just eleven players running endlessly for 90mins.
Let’s hope he adapts by changing this non-working system first. There are great imbalances. Chuck cannot defend cause he’s a classic winger. He cannot serve the role of wing-back. Same goes for Barteshagi who’s a full back. He has to adapt the system to the players he has.
Amorim doesn’t learn. He is a very lousy coach, milan are more stupid for employing him. Rubbish
Well Mr, it’s true you have to adapt. But there has to be a balance. If you believe in your system, then better stick with it until it clicks (unless you think the players are uncoachable).
For me the solution is easy. Ignore the fans, ignore the Gerry, ignore the table, ignore the results and implement your ideas for the next 5 games.
It is better to suffer straight 5 games and have a real team, than to constantly adapt the team throughout the season and have no identity. On the latter, you will only get yourself sacked and hated by all parties and Milan will be back to square one.
BTW, the Como everyone is admiring today didn’t have the pressure of Milan and they started working on their identity from Seria B with Fabregas in 2023.
You need to have balls, discipline and maturity, and stop appeasing the media.
Unpopular but 100% correct.
People need to understand where we are right now. We can talk all day about why we are there – reminisce about Tonali and Kessie, redo the last four years worth of transfers in our heads – all irrelevant toady and tomorrow.
Amorim has not taken us backwards, thats an absurd notion – we were already very, very backwards. He’s thrown everything out and started again, and while last night was eye opening, I see green shoots all over the place – more than at any time in the last four years.
We can let him work, or we can get back on the merry-go-round again, again.
Problem is taht Milan spend serious money in teh summer window, meaning that Amorim does not have a lot of time to get things right. Milan needs Champions League football next season, or it all falls apart…
Best advice.
You better be. No matter how you sing praise, Milan summer mercado was an utter failure. It is not just about unable to get rid of some trashes, it is also about paying exorbitant fee for Medicare and unproven players like Ramos, Moreira etc. Gila fee is reasonable. Meanwhile look at Inter, Roma etc, they spend within their means. Inter never buy at 50 millions, let alone 75. Only Milan and Juve are fools. I want to know what is the agreement with that agent.
Gila had 1 year remaining on his contract. If it was Milan that had to sell him, they wouldn’t be able to get more than 15-20.