Koni De Winter believes that AC Milan must not get ‘angry’ despite suffering their first defeat of the season against Benfica.
What was supposed to be a memorable European debut with Milan for Ruben Amorim actually ended up being a bit of a nightmare. He was outfoxed by Marco Silva as his former club Benfica turned up to San Siro, made nine changes from the weekend and won rather comfortably.
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Amorim’s pre and post-match comments have caused quite a bit of alarm as he strongly hinted at having a squad which cannot fully implement his ideas. It is early days, but there has already been a bit of a regression in performance levels from the first couple of games.
De Winter attended the press conference following the full-time whistle to offer his thoughts on what was a difficult night for the team, one in which they were jeered off. MilanNews published his comments.
Another first half like against Lazio – why?
“When we have the ball, we lose it too easily. We’ve lost confidence. They scored early, they defended in a big way, and we had trouble scoring.”
Are you clear on what Amorim is asking of you?
“We’re confident in the coach’s ideas, but we need more patience when things don’t work out, moving the ball forward and making plays at the right time. There’s no need to get angry.
“We’re all upset because we lost the game, but it’s still early in the season. So we’re confident, and these losses also help us grow.”
What does Amorim ask of you with the ball at your feet?
“The coach gives us a foundation, but then it’s up to us on the pitch to bring intensity and creativity to create attacking chances. That’s what’s missing a bit now.”
Yes. This is the point. We’ve had years of hysteria and overreaction at any setback. How about we try something different for once…?
Sure, we should be critical of Amorim’s choices, but we also need to remind ourselves that this is the result of 16 years of negligence and one manager cannot change it over night.
Is the guy who wasted our best chance and gifted them the second goal in the matter of 50 seconds really saying that? Now that’s some nerve.