Torino head coach Ivan Juric has claimed that he is ‘afraid of everything’ about AC Milan ahead of tomorrow night’s meeting at San Siro.
Juric has already got the better of the Rossoneri twice this season with his side having won the game at the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino in the reverse league fixture back in October, and having dumped Milan out of the cup with a 1-0 extra-time win last month despite having 10 men from 70 minutes onwards.
Torino are pushing for a European spot this season and will run into a team that have not won a game since January 4 – a streak of seven games without victory – hoping to inflict further misery in front of over 65,000 fans.
Juric spoke in his pre-match press press conference on the eve of the trip to San Siro to face the Rossoneri for the third and final time this season, with his comments relayed by MilanNews.
How did you prepare for this match?
“We recovered, had good training and worked on the details to see where to put Milan in difficulty.”
How are the injured players?
“Ilic’s condition is far from ideal. He’ll need to work hard to be at his level. He’s coming with us, he won’t play from the start because he can’t keep up a good training pace: the injury has gone away, but needs two or three weeks to fix it.”
Will Linetty and Vieira play in the midfield?
“When you lose Lukic and Ricci, plus Ilic, you’re in trouble. They felt inside what you had to do, the midfield is always important: Ricci too had reached a high level, we’ll come up with something for tomorrow. We’re still thinking about it.”
What are the risks for tomorrow night?
“I’m sorry I don’t face Milan in top condition. These teams are more dangerous when they’re in difficulty. Milan are an example of football being strange, they were 2-0 up against Roma and then conceded two goals from set-pieces, from there that’s the negative results. You just need to let go a little and everything changes. I’m afraid of everything about Milan, they have two or three star players and the others are of the highest level.”
Will Sanabria start?
“We know what he can give us, he’s the only striker we have at the moment. There are situations where you need to have a different striker. We can come up with something, but they are situations and not certainties. Sanabria will play, I know he can improve.”
What kind of match will it be tomorrow?
“Pioli will go with a three-man defence, it will be similar to the cup. There will be a different rhythm compared to Udinese, Milan run a lot and press with the right covers. When you face a three-man defence it becomes so much one-on-one, I expect a challenge of dynamism and with little time to lose.”
Bro every coach now complimenting and issueing caution against Milan to then go and beat them by more than 2 goals haha
🤣🤣 @Manu, I hope we start our winning streak from here❤️🖤
Standard line from a professional. On that note I think Juric is a good coach and could be worth keeping an eye on if Pioli doesn’t figure it out. He’s used to working with a “small” budget and has done good things with Hellas and Torino. At Milan I can see him doing well should the project have to take a step back.
Good idea! Pioli is finished and Juric has been doing a good job with a mediocre club. His salary would also be fairly low.
They said the same thing with Giampaolo, Davis Moyes, Montella, Nuno Espirito. They were all “good coaches who can work on a budget” but all did disastrously when they took a step up to a bigger club. Be careful what u wish for.. it’s not always that transferrable