Pioli admits Milan needed to do ‘more’ vs. Chelsea but refuses to blame injuries

By Isak Möller -

AC Milan failed to get a good result at the Stamford Bridge this evening as Chelsea won 3-0 in the end. Stefano Pioli was understandably not happy with the team’s performance this evening. 

Milan conceded quite early in the first half and as they were trying to turn it around in the final 45 minutes, Chelsea doubled their lead and then eventually added a third to the party. It was a tough evening for the Rossoneri, therefore.

Speaking to Prime Video, as cited by MilanNews, Pioli shared his thoughts on the game. He admitted that Milan struggled to stay in the game as he’s used to seeing, but he refused to blame it on the injury crisis.

Giroud said there were mistakes…

“It’s true. We didn’t start poorly, but above all, we forced our decision-making. We lost a bit of distance. We could have done something more.”

Further on the errors…

“The lack of experience or the injuries have nothing to do with it: we had to be more lucid and precise. In ball recovery and management we were less brilliant.”

After the second goal, the team lost lightness and naturalness…

“I agree, the second goal changed our mentality. It’s not easy, we weren’t able to stay as a team as we usually do: at these levels you pay dearly for it.”

On the subs…

“Because I need to give minutes to those who come back from injuries and I need to rest those who are playing a lot. in this hectic moment I thought it was the right choice.”

Milan will face Juventus at the weekend and then Chelsea against next week. They will be hoping to get at least a draw at San Siro and thus remain in a good position in the group, which is very tight.

Tags AC Milan Chelsea Stefano Pioli

18 Comments

  1. It’s good to have a system. But it’s better (and wiser) to have different approach and alternative facing many injuries like this. It’s not a sin when we have to adapt to a different approach. Just look at the previous Atalanta Milan match, where they went full defence, contrary to their usual gameplay. And it resulted with a point.

    1. Milan can’t afford to go into a game to Play defensively like inter did vs Barca. The CBs Tomori and Kalulu will get exposed in that kind of set up. They are very good in an aggressive style of defending when they press the ball carrier but if they play traditionally, sit back, allow cross after cross you’ll see what you saw tonight with Tomori. A lot of us were begging for a tall, physical but mobile CB to be signed to be a starter but people got too excited from seeing Milan keeping clean sheets vs some of the serie A worst teams and they overhyped Tomori and Kalulu. They are both short. This is why Maldini the greatest defender of all time wanted to sign Botman

      1. Not saying that we have to go full defence, just a different approach. The today’s gameplay was exactly the usual Milan gameplay. Expecting Fode and Dest (at least for the time being) capable to do the same like Theo and Davide to lubricate that usual gameplay is just nonsense.

        And yes, been saying that I’m not a big fan of Pierre & Fik duo over and over again in this forum, and the response was ragingly wild here.

        And yes, I also support the Batman signing while many of the members here keep saying that it’s only invented by the medias.

        1. Kessie is also missed. He didn’t give much on the ball and going forward, but defensively he provided great protection for the CBs and cleaned up a lot of mistakes.
          The game vs Juventus is very problematic If they start both Vlahovic and Milik vs Tomori- Kalulu. Both are big and great in the air especially with Kostic sending those crosses playing against Dest and most likely Cuardado on the other side vs Ballo Toure.
          Luckily Di Maria won’t play

          1. Oh don’t get me started with the ‘K’ word. Many hot headed members here will get subjectively triggered bringing up about ‘K’ fanboy, how we can’t get over him, and such. My intention is always towards the player’s role, not the player in particular.

            Been saying that we conceeded far too many goals and one of the reasons is that we didn’t find a replacement for his role. And because of that, it’s better to pair someone like Kjaer with Pierre / Fik. Someone that won’t press too far, knows how to do zone marking, has higher defensive intuition, knows how to command. And now Kjaer is injured..

            And so far, the system haven’t changed yet. We don’t find replacement, we don’t change, we don’t adapt. What to expect?

          2. They can get triggered as much as they want. The fact is that this is basically the same team from last year except for Bennacer stepping in for Kessie and that defense has gotten worse.

          3. True. And we won Scudetto last season by being a team with the best defence, not by being the most productive team. That’s why it’s worrying to see our defence in this early season.

  2. Charles de Ketelaere need to backup this year he maybe talented player but he is lost in the pitch and he doesn’t understand milan system i don’t care if we pay a lot to get him he is not ready to be starter and he broke the system of play Brahim Diaz is the answer this year
    and game like this show why we need to train our team to more system of play like 433 man city style or 352 modern system that everyone in love with those ,
    and losing important player like kessie gonna hurt us in big games i still hope we not gonna miss him to much

  3. Pioli, again, Is not tactician. He would be better with 4-3-1-2 not this mishmash we saw formation to hold Silva from advancing. We all know Leao doesn’t retracted to defend. With addition midfielder then Resse James wint think to go beyond midfield. Giroud is useless upfront. Midfield should be Tinali/Ben and Ku. DEK AMF behind leao amd Rebic. Dest ot for Kaluluand Gabbia partner Tomori. At the end Milan went to have draw. Dead meat at the end

    1. Chelsea spent 258 million this summer BUT you failed to point out Chelsea had SEVEN academy players playing a part in the game.
      1. Reece James
      2. Mason Mount
      3. Ruben Loftus-Cheek
      4. Trevoah Chalobah
      5. Conor Gallagher
      6. Armando Broja and on the AC Milan team
      7. Fikori Tomori

      NOW THAT IS IMPRESSIVE, Chelsea have spent big to replace key experience that left the club, but they have academy players to step up, not to mention Tammy Abraham at Roma and Ethan Ampadu at Spezia

  4. Its clever moves actually,potter knew milan would put on high press,so they stretch out wider,and when they lost the possesion,they instantly put pressure on milan’s heavy first touch.

  5. Imagine getting outmanaged by Harry Potter. Unreal. Piolo is not good enough for our club if we consistently want to challenge for titles and in Europe.

    1. You can claim Pioli is not good enough for Milan, if he have the same luxury like Harry Potter who got expensives players that almost reach £300 million where the quality for starter and bench are equally.

      And not just Pioli didn’t have the same luxury like Potter, but his important players like Mike, Theo, Calabria, Ibra, and useful subs like Florenzi, Alexis, Messias are absent because of injuries.

      Expecting Pioli can win against full squad Chelsea or other big clubs with Balo Toure and Dest in the back is the same as expecting Pioli can split the red sea like Moses.

  6. Why should we blame on injuries while someone like Adli considered waste? I have been expected the result, but 3 0 still hurting if we look at how Chelsea played.

  7. I expected Gabbia, tomori, kalulu and toure to start against juv. Pioli should stop picking players base on feelings. CDK should be kept on the bench.

  8. Krunic on the right wing was a disaster. He kept moving towards Bennacer and left an open space which Dest foolishly ran into, leaving Kalulu exposed.

    The right side was a disgrace.

    If not for Kalulu being the only ray of hope in the defence, it should have been a massacre

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