Alvaro Morata has admitted that he was hoping to be able to celebrate a win in his first competitive game for AC Milan, and also insisted that a ‘change of mentality’ is needed.
When Morata got his first goal for the club late on to give the home fans something to cheer, it looked like being a mere consolation. Musah had a shot blocked, then Reijnders let fly and the Spanish striker was on hand to redirect the Dutchman’s attempt into the bottom corner.
However, Noah Okafor would then pop up with a volley in added time to complete the comeback from a two-goal deficit and ensure that Paulo Fonseca’s side at least got something from his first game in charge.
Morata spoke to Sky Italia after the game to try and assess what was a rollercoaster of a night both for him personally and for the team given that he had a goal disallowed and drew a penalty that was overturned, with his comments relayed by MilanNews.
“It’s not a great debut because we drew. But we sent a message, a team that was practically dead caught up and if it had lasted five minutes more we would have won,” he said.
“We need a change of mentality. Every Serie A match will be tough, every Champions League match will be tough, the Coppa Italia will be tough.
“We are Milan and we have to pedal. It’s beautiful to play at San Siro with this shirt, I hoped I could win. I can’t promise goals or titles, but I will give everything for the shirt, yes.”
The former Real Madrid and Juventus man also spoke to DAZN about the spectrum of emotions that he experienced in his competitive debut for the Rossoneri.
“Penalty taken away, offside, goal, yellow card: they all happened to me! We took at least one point, we have to show this courage and this strength from the first minute.
“Is it a physical issue? No, we have to take a step further mentally. We have to work hard, become a tougher team. From tomorrow we will all do it together.”
Mentality is the biggest problem of this squad when Torino was 1:0 up you could see no player applying any pressure. Big teams even when they are leading by 2 goals you see them running to score a third but not Milan. This team only woke up the last 15 min of the game!
There was no cover for the back four & Salesmeekers and Calabria really struggled.
Get Fofana and RLC in the pivot with Pavlovic behind them and you will always have the physical advantage.
I think Milan felt they just needed to show up to get the 3 points and before the new it they were a goal down and then 2, but we can take heart from the comeback, getting those 2 goals was a monumental effort and the boys did well
Physical? No, we need to take a mental step forward.
Already said it better than the coach.
The problem is Leao….
He has a way of disrupting the energy flow of the team with his lazy walk around demeanour during matches…
I could sense the frustration of Jovic, pulisic and Alexis throughout the 1st half…. He seriously needs to be addressed specially. Period
What lazy walk around? Leão tried very hard today. His finishing was lacking but he did try, including tracking back.
Leao needs to be kicked in the ass. He lacks leadership. No sense of urgency in his play. We should sell him soon. 5yrs in Milan he has not changed. Same way of doing things. We need to set some competition for his position. What the Hell. He needs to buck up. You can’t win the champions League and win world best with such lazy play.
I agree bro.. Milan must buy some player in same as leao position. So he will more discipline, not lazy anymore or he will be sold 2 years to come. That’s why Pep already have 2 or 3 player at the same position to get some internal competition.
Leo is just stupid arrogant player i use to argue that he’s better than saka before but look at him Okafor is way better him now, he has potential to win games but he’ll score one out of ten, he needs to hit the bench
And those who say we are sorted and don’t need Chiesa… matches like these are for the experienced players who are used to winning.
They can lift the team.
Chucky hardly made a correct pass all game, Leao missed a sitter and was awful.
We need Chiesa. My two cents.
100% we need chiesa. I know saelemaekers played out of position but he was horrible and so was chukwueze
Chiesa is an opportunity not to be missed, no doubt and I’m totally in favour of bringing him
in. When he is fit and supported he is a game changer and we need that.
There are a lot lot of players up front though and someone has got to go , at least on loan.
One thing though, even if we get Chiesa , the coach has to abandon this ultra offensive line up with too high a line.
Fonseca himself said that winning the ball back aggressively is a must and it’s not going to happen when you have 4 attacking players(leao-puli-chuks-Jov) and only Bennacer & RLC in the middle. Fonseca cannot expect the back four to snuff out attacks on their own , they need the other players to win the ball back in the opposing half or we are going to have last season all over again . Balance , Balance, balance.
For me, next game’s line-up should be:
Maignan
Calabria(Royal)-Tomori-Pavlovic-Theo
Musah-Fofana-Reijnders
Pulisic-Morata-Leao
The coach has mental problems benching Theo and played sale in that position what kind of tactics is that, you see that Malik i don’t know how he made that team he is the most useless defender I have ever seen
Yeah, the tactics isn’t the problem I guess, but rather a selection problem.
I want to believe that’s why we are still tracking Manu Koné. I think he and Fofana should be our double pivot, they bring a lot of aggression and physicality there, and then move Bennacer further up to AM, we can efficiently press from the front with such arrangement.
With such arrangement, we will play a fluid 4-2-3‐1 easily adapted to a 4-3-3.
Bennacer will be key for our midfield balance this season.
While Bennacer will assist Leao and Puli in pressing upfront, Fofana and Kone will break the passing lines, sounds easy on paper but implementation requires stealth.
On the whole I agree with you , I like Kone a great deal but he plays very similar to Bennacer (deep-lying playmaker) and doesn’t seem so aggressive in the defensive phase.
For now I think Reijnders as the AM in a 4-2-3-1 ,would allow him to express his qualities that also brings out the best of his teammates, as soon as he entered yesterday, he sped up the tempo with his quick passing and creativity leading to the equalizer. For the double pivot Fofana & Musah/Bennacer.
Having difficulty posting a comment.
Kone just like Fofi are excellent at breaking the lines and that is exactly what we basically require from our double pivot in order to protect our defense.
Actually, I don’t mind having Fofi and Benn as our double pivot, but looking at our midfielders right now, if we must play an ultra attacking style of football, our pressing has to start from the attack rather than leave the job for our double pivot alone.
I remember, last season or the season before, I was singing for Pioli to move Benn further up, alas he did and he excelled in that position.
WHY?
Benn plays an aggressive style of football and very good at pressing. I still think he’s the best tackler we have in this team. But what will definitely make him excel more at AM than Reijnders is his vision and creativity, he shoots better than Reijnders also.
On he other hand, Reijnders is not suited to play as an AM. He naturally lacks that instincts and awareness when he gets close to the box. He’s more comfortable at the centre of the pitch.
Moving Reijnders to AM will result in the same effect created when we moved Paqueta to AM. Those kind of players like to carry the ball from deep in midfield and release to the AM. Paqueta had to learn the role, asking Reijnders to move to AM now will take a season or two from him.
Well, as for the match vs Torino, maybe you should watch it again, Musah was the spark we needed, from his entrance he immediately wanted to cause that spark, dribbling and shooting, running, they couldn’t handle him, it was his ball into the box that brought both goals. Reijnders acted on his rebound shot.
But no press will highlight Musah’s impact because he’s American and Americans are no good.
Having difficulty posting comments had to split it.
All my postulation is on the idea that we will play with a 4-2-3-1 formation.
For me also, I think the perfect solution should we sign Kone will be to revert to a 4-3-3 formation which I believe suits our players more, that way we wouldn’t have to alternate players positions to fit into AM.
Leao and Puli will maintain the wings.
Bennacer can be our DM will work perfectly with Fofi and Kone on both sides.
RLC, Reijnders, Musah and Pobega as cover.
This would be my ideal solution though.
We will go with:
Maignan/Torriani;
Emerson/Calabria – Tomori/Gabbia – Pavlovic/Hummels – Theo/Jimenez;
Fofana/Kone – Reijnders/Loftus/Musah;
Pulisic/Samardzic;
Chiesa/Chuck – Morota/Jovic/Camarda – Leao/Okafor;
Samardzic transfer to Atalanta has been agreed. But hopefully this disaster-class will encourage the board to take a chance on Chiesa, ideally a swap with Saelamaekers
Inters 2nd goal looked offside
Some things never change. Inter shouldn’t need help from the refs…
And thank god we got brought in a winner like Morata. What this squad is missing in mentality is that it’s missing leadership! A squad full of players in their early 20s will have no leaders who have been there and done it. That is the Achilles heel of building squads exclusively around “young and promising” players.
Leao has to go. He was the star of a lucky but mediocre team. He is a good enough player but he isn’t a great player and he’ll be good for squad rotation at another club, not as main player in Milan.
I began to see the truth about Leo since the Newcastle game, that boy needs to be left on the bench till he learns, he is a waste of talent i swear look at the people he started with vini and Saka
I don’t think he’s going to change at this point. He’s still a very valuable player but he’s always going to leave you wanting more.
Buongiorno dall’isola di Malta 🇲🇹.
Mà chè figura ieri sera!!
Non sono un genio, mà quando c’erà Giroud 🇫🇷 ho detto chè abbiamo avuto bisogno di un attacante comè Morata 🇪🇸 è di vendere Leão 🇵🇹 perchè non è un fenomeno. Leão senza Theo 🇫🇷 è niente. Una falcata; chè i difensori avversari sanno esattamente quando intervenire perchè è sempre la stessa mossa; ad naseum! Non sa nemmeno dare calci di punizione, non segna nei calci d’angolo è la vera vergogna è chè non sa alzare il pallone al incrocio dei pali 😭. Ieri ha avuto tutto il tempo necessario per alzare il pallone ⚽️ su Vanja Milinković-Savić. È quel colpo di testa; 2 metri davanti alla porta; un difensore da questi colpi di testa; non un attacante. La mancata rovesciata dicè tutto. Leão non è un fenomeno; non gioca per il Milan 🔴 ⚫️; mà per la sua gloria.
Non so perchè Fonseca 🇵🇹 non ha giocato Theo 🇫🇷 è Morata 🇪🇸 dal primo minuto. Se Maignan 🇫🇷 non era molto attento il punteggio sarebbe stato 0-4. Duván Zapata 🇨🇴 fa troppo male al Milan. Thiaw 🇩🇪; un autogol…lui 🇩🇪 è Theo 🇫🇷 erano vicino à Zapata 🇨🇴 nel secondo gol Torinese 😢. Neanchè una reazione da entrambi. Maignan non fa miracoli ogni volta! Theo 🇫🇷 per me è il piu importante giocatore della squadra. Quando Theo (19) non ćè, il Milan è in grande guai è soffre. È una vergogna chè un difensore è l’unico playmaker. Çalhanoğlu 🇹🇷 ci ha lasciato a mani vuote; è diventato un playmaker del Inter, purtroppo 😭.
Il centrocampo è un disastro. Frank Kessie è Ibrahim Diaz non sono stati mai sostituiti. Loftus-Cheek 🏴 ha giocato bene una volta; contro la PSG 🇫🇷, la scorsa stagione.
Il 125 anniversario deve essere speciale; vincere lo Scudetto (☆☆), Coppa Italia è Champions League 🏆. Siamo il Milan; non una squadra di Serie C.
Purtroppo non abbiamo cominciato con il piede gusto è una mentalità vincente.
Ora, Ibrahimovic 🇸🇪; hai molto da fare. Vogliamo trofei. Sei stato importante quando abbiamo vinto con Pioli il 19° Scudetto. Ora è importante chè i giocatori
ricordano chè giocano con il Milan sette volte Campione d’Europa 🇪🇺. In bocca al lupo 🦊 al Milan, la nostra squadra del cuore.
Buona Domenica a tutti.