After AC Milan’s victory against Newcastle United at St James’ Park, Geoffrey Moncada spoke about the impact of the summer signings on the game and his immediate thoughts following a nearly historic night.
Milan’s game against Newcastle went how the Rossoneri needed it to. Although, the same cannot be said about the fixture between Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain. The result at the Signal Iduna Park means the Italian outfit will continue in Europe, but only in the Europa League.
There are, of course, financial implications as a result of this. However, this will be dealt with in the relevant time frame. The immediate facts are this. Milan’s summer additions, Noah Okafor and Samuel Chukwueze, proved their worth due to their combination for the winner.
In addition, the Diavolo showed their willpower and earned a result. They withstood the pressure and then fought back to win. Whilst there are negatives attached to the night, for now, Milan can look at the successes and the road ahead and hope that the near-miracle on Tyneside can kick-start their revival in Serie A and push them to greatness in the Europa League.
Following the match at St James’ Park, Geoffrey Moncada spoke to MilanTV and his comments were relayed by MilanNews.
Immediate thoughts following the game…
“It’s a pity because we were really close to passing the round; it was important for us. We got eight points like PSG. Maybe we had to do better in the first two games where we made some mistakes.
“Now we have to come back strong in the league. It’s really a pity about the Champions League because we were very close to it…”
Milan’s new additions impressed against Newcastle…
“We saw that this group has the right spirit. There were some good changes, the coach made some good changes and they came in well straight away.
“Okafor came in well, Jovic has been doing interesting things for five games. Chukwueze? I’m happy for him because he’s a good guy who works hard and I’m sure the future will be good for him.”
How does Milan move forward from here?
“We have to get our defenders back. We beat a Premier League team playing with a left-back in the central defensive role. When we have a full squad I think we will return to the level we saw in August and September.”
Europa League football…
“We have to think only positive because we are staying in Europe. We have to think only of doing well in this competition because it’s a good competition, we have to play well in it.”
A word to the fans?
“Our fans are always present and strong, I am very happy with them. We want and need to do something more for them, we have to. Definitely.”
Is the interviewer not going to ask any tough questions?
Like why out of 10 signings we have no DM?
What is his thoughts on CDK, a forward who has 2 goals in 57 games since he was bought
MilanTV. It’s a propaganda tool like La Pravda or Fox News.
or any “news” service for that matter…fox, cnn, msnbc, etc.
Nice to see Jovic getting mentioned. I thought he was excellent. If Leao and Tomori don’t each hit the post, Jovic gets the assist on both.
No DM because Pioli didn’t ask for one.
The only teams better than us in EL are Liverpool and Leverkusen. Brighton we are on par. Winning it will not be easy at all, lots of good teams, even Galatasaray is stacked. Almost excited for the EL, hope we finally manage to win it.
They don’t give a flying fudge about EL. The money just isn’t worth the extra games and the effort.
BUT its good practice for CL next season. I hope they aren’t too vested in EL.
Haha fans making fun of Tonali and speaking about money all the time like they’re drunk addicted gamblers at Ceasar’s Palace 3 in the morning. Not too long ago we could brag about Milan being Il Club Più Titolato Al Mondo. Now “fans” cheer for money and budget.
I do cheer for sustainability after our nightmare 10 years of banter. From the high flying days of il Condor, it is a different game and you have 3 options: belong to a Sheik, money has to work out, or your best player is Ménez. As laid out, financial sustainability is the path to bragging rights to going back to DNA references, etc. but it will take time. Just not today.
Upvote.
I can understand you got PTSD from the banter era, it still haunts most of us haha but my memories as a fan are Maldini lifting trophies, Kakà with the Ballon d’Or, Ancelotti erupting, Sheva’s goals, etc. This is what I want back. I don’t remember having been excited by a nice, lovely financial budget. I understand what you mean, we need sustainability to compete. But I think the previous management did both.
The “not today” you speak is the “yesterday” when we were Serie A champs and UCL semi-finalists. When football achievements eventually led to subsequent money. Looks like the 4th option. Anyway Jerry is here for 4, maybe 5 years, so I wouldn’t count on him for long-term building my friend.
Look, like most here Maldini is a god to me and I am very grateful to his work. He waited 10 years for his chance and did amazing while here. We all know we won the scudetto with a good team that punched far above its weight (and with Inter messing up against Bologna) and made the UCL semis because of a very nice path to get here. Again, we have a very good team which will only get better given the financial steps taken. But I do see a chasm between this team and winning the UCL with Sheva or Savicevic. My days of delusion are over. And I agree with you, RedBird will likely sell the club 4 milliseconds after the stadium is built. And they will have done their job well.
“But I think the previous management did both.”
What previous management? Berlusconi? Have you not been keeping up with the news? The club was in severe debt when he sold it, and then Yonghong Li took it over the edge with the purchase loan and the 200m summer spending spree. Football finances have been fvcked for two decades. It’s not just Milan that can’t compete for players the way it used to, no Serie A team can build squads the way they used to. Inter is the closest at the moment, but they’ve got big financial problems and a 300m loan coming due in May. The only glimmer of hope is to carefully manage the club and hopefully just enough quality will be able to be marshalled to make a run at the CL or title, but this balance is a knife edge.
They care for every bit of money, including potential ticket sales.
Winning the el over serie a will be a bigger achievement, as no Italian team are capable of winning European competition
It will be good to go as far as possible or even win the EL…they need to get back to winning trophys and where best to start than to reactivate that winning culture (the more you win the more that belief gets embeded in your DNA) Also for the fringe players it will be good to give them this kind of run out and build a cohesive team where everyone’s contribution is valued. Hope they take this competition seriously…
We also need to think about club and country coefficients. All important. The higher our coefficient, the better to avoid being Pot 3 or 4 so that we don’t have to endure another stupid group of death as we have 2 of the last 3 CL seasons. Remember Liverpool, Atletico Madrid, and Porto two seasons ago?
How on earth
You have balls to come out
Maldini made you F
Pioli You. Ibra are all made in Maldini
But all of you are unprofessional , unappreciated people
Where is character where
You become like that guy Furlany so greedy
Ibra
Don’t forget
Maldini and Boban brought you back
Because you still will play with Colorado
Shame on you Ibra
Shame