Alvaro Morata admitted that AC Milan simply need to perform better than they did during the defeat against Liverpool, but contested the idea that there is no leadership in the squad.
Things started brilliantly for Milan on the night and Morata had a hand in it as he fed Christian Pulisic inside the third minute who would stride forward and hammer a shot inside the far corner to make it 1-0.
However, Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk each scored headers from set-pieces to turn the game on its head before the break. Dominik Szoboszlai was on hand to turn in a third from close range, and in truth the Rossoneri never really looked like getting back into the game from there.
It dials up the pressure further on Paulo Fonseca and his players after what has been a poor start to the season with the record now reading one win in five games, plus nine goals conceded.
Morata spoke to Sky after the game to try and assess what was a difficult night for him and his team-mates, with his comments relayed by MilanNews.
Alvaro, what went wrong?
“We started well, it wasn’t easy to start like we did against a team like Liverpool, the best team in Europe. We conceded two goals from set pieces and it’s difficult to recover against a team like that. We can’t do anything else but work, work and work.
“We can’t do anything else, we respect what people say because they pay to watch the games and we are the ones who play. We mustn’t hurt each other because this week we have a very important game.”
Are there issues with attitude?
“It’s not a problem of attitude or tactics, football is like that. We could have scored goals from set pieces. Of course, we have to react better to difficulties. And work immediately. Let’s move forward.”
Is the squad missing leaders?
“There are many important players in this team, I don’t see this. We all have to become a solid team and not give others opportunities to hit us. At the beginning we also played a great game and played well with the ball at times.”
Now you need to react in view of Inter…
“Of course, otherwise it’s a difficult situation. Today it wasn’t the last 16 or the quarter-finals, but the first Champions League match. We need to understand that against certain teams every detail makes the difference.”
The poor man striker!
So if there is no attitude problem, team is not missing leaders, there is no lack of quality, hmmm… What could be the problem?
Not 100% sure, but I think the problem is somewhere between the bench and the sidelines…
Well at least we have a general area pinned down.