AC Milan striker Krzysztof Piatek has lifted the lid on his recent struggles in front of goal, as well as life under new head coach Marco Giampaolo.
The Poland international is yet to get off the mark this season having failed to score in preseason, causing some to become worried about his form and whether he can adapt to Giampaolo’s system.
Despite this, Piatek was quick to point out that in terms of competitive fixtures, he has only gone one and a half games without scoring.
“In official matches I’ve only not scored in 1.5 matches,” he told Foot Truck (via MilanEye).
“After preseason I wasn’t fully physically ready now I am. I wasn’t fresh for Udinese. Giampaolo’s system isn’t easy to adapt to. We have to learn it, it may take some time.”
Piatek scored 22 goals in Serie A last season, though there are worries as to whether he can replicate that this time around, but he is not feeling the same pressure.
“If you score 30 goals in 48 games it’s not luck, if it was 8 goals in 5 or 6 games it could have been luck but this definitely isn’t.
“There were situations vs Cesena where defenders were holding me with both arms, like a fight. For me it’s strange that Referees in Italy protect defenders more than attackers.”
On the number nine curse, he added: “The coach told me jokingly that people take these things seriously, and last match vs Brescia when the ball almost crossed the line the players joked with me in the locker room saying why this 9, change it, but I always wanted to play with it.”
“In Italy they say that I’m a typical poacher always lurking in the box, but the stats don’t show this.
“I have a lot of contact with the ball and I interact with the team but people say I have to work on my play outside the box.
“Milan is a team that wants to hold the ball, I think sometimes we need to search for simpler solutions and play a long ball or after 2 touches lob the ball up the pitch, and I think I lack that as a striker”
The former Genoa man was then asked who the current joker of the Milan squad is.
“There’s only one, Franck Kessie. Very, very positive and an unbelievably crazy guy.
“He doesn’t care, he comes in the dressing room shouting, dancing, turns on the music when everyone else is on their phones”
On his relationship with Lucas Paqueta, he added: “We communicate somehow with broken Italian, sometimes he says something Portuguese and uses sign language. Gattuso was always confused how we got on so well, but we are close friends.
“He has unbelievable potential, it’s not only skills and technique, he has very strong legs, and overall physically, he also has that flair and risk taking, Giampaolo is sometimes angry at him but he is a player that needs to be trusted.”
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