AC Milan head coach Stefano Pioli has admitted that the team are ‘angry and disappointed’ at twice letting a lead slip against Lecce.
The Rossoneri were impressive for large parts of the game at San Siro on Sunday night, twice taking the lead through Hakan Calhanoglu and Krzysztof Piatek.
However they were twice pegged back, firstly following a Khouma Babacar penalty which was converted at the second attempt and the second blow coming from Marco Calderoni’s 92nd minute screamer.
Pioli spoke to to Milan TV after the draw in his first game in charge, and admitted that while there were positives to take from the game there are also plenty of things to be fixed.
“In the first half we were more balanced and tidy, after the restart we were more unorganised,” he said, via MilanNews.it.
“In some situations we were less precise in pressing and Lecce became dangerous. We regret not leaving the field with a victory after such a performance.
“We are angry and disappointed, but we must start from this performance.
“I didn’t know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised. Tonight’s game told us that we are a team that we can play proactive football.
“We reacted after the 1-1 and we got back in the lead. There was a lack of the ability to read some situations, but it’s normal because we worked a little together. We did something wrong in the recovery.”
Pioli raised a few eyebrows with his decision to switch the left-footed Paqueta to the right central midfield position and move the right-footed Kessie to the left
“Kessie had to lend a hand to Biglia, while I wanted to take more forward lines,” the 53-year-old explained.
“We must not change our game principles. There are many positive things, but also many things to improve.
On the full-backs: “We took the restart after the penalty with Theo a little high, but I don’t think we suffered situations in inferiority.
“The full-backs have to play like this, they have to put themselves forward. If they advance, the midfielders have to cover them.”
READ MORE: Player Ratings – AC Milan 2-2 Lecce – Theo and Calhanoglu impressive showings not enough
