AC Milan head coach Stefano Pioli was frustrated with the way his players managed the game during their 1-1 draw against Udinese at San Siro tonight.
Milan came into the game looking to right the wrongs from last weekend when they were held to a 2-2 draw by bottom-placed club Salernitana, hoping to put pressure on Inter and Napoli by holding their place atop the table.
The first half went according to plan as Rafael Leao’s goal sent the Rossoneri in 1-0 up at the break, but the second half saw Milan return to their nervous, error-laden ways in Salerno and they surrendered the lead in the 66th minute when Isaac Success finished from close range.
Pioli spoke to DAZN to reflect on what was another frustrating night for his side, with him comments relayed by MilanLive and translated below. He commented on the handball incident (read more here), but also admitted that the performance was poor.
On Udinese’s goal…
“There is no doubt, a clear handball. The referee didn’t see it, but that VAR failed to see it is difficult to understand. This is a serious mistake, it decided the outcome of the game, even if our performance wasn’t great. VAR exists to avoid mistakes, it’s not good. We have been penalized several times.”
On their performance and what’s missing…
“It’s a situation that I’m evaluating. These games are usually hard to unlock, we unlocked it early and served more attention. We lowered ourselves too much and stopped moving forward, we favoured our opponents. It has already happened in other matches, we need to improve.”
Pioli on why Milan are struggling to kill games…
“We are used to moving forward. In general, if you lower yourself, you will have dangerous situations. We had to do better and we will try to improve from the next match.”
Did taking off Giroud have an impact?
“I don’t think so. He and Ante have different characteristics, they must be used differently. We had to be more precise.”
Does the Scudetto pressure affect?
“The team is young. We have to manage these pressures, they are a privilege. Experience will help them grow further.”
On the Coppa Italia clash vs. Inter…
“Now let’s think about Inter in the Coppa Italia, an important match for many reasons. We will prepare it in the best possible way.”
READ MORE – Player Ratings: AC Milan 1-1 Udinese – attack struggles again; one clear flop
No more excuses, we are lacking many things to win the league. I won’t be surprised if we go out of top4 if we continue for another 3 or 4 matches like this. Especially inter, Napoli also drop points. Should been in a clear advantage.
It’s not acceptable as we are playing one game for every 5days and all players available except Zlatan.
Now the stats without Zlatan are worse
Pioli is joke and loser
MR PIOLI YOU ARE A REAL LOSER AND BIG JOKE THE MISTAKES LEADED TO INTER WIN SCHODETTO LAST YEAR ARE THE SAME MISTAKES YOU STILL DOING THEM THIS YEAR, KINDLY CAN YOU TELL US WHAT YOU DO IN THE TRAINING SESSIONS HOW IS YOUR TEAM STILL MAKE THE SAME MISTAKES EVEN THE IMPROVED PLAYER AFFECTED BY THE RESULTS AND THEY LOOK FRAILE AND TIRED I THINK MR PIOLI HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH WINING TROPHIES HE CAN BE GOOD WITH LAZIO OR FIORINTINA BUT HE STILL DID NOT REALIZE HE IS MILAN COACH AND OTS GREAT CHANCE FOR HIM TO BE IN THE CATEGORY OF TOP COACHS HE DECIDED ALREADY TO AN AVERAGE COACH
WHO IS SUITABLE FOR MILAN COACH JOB WITH LOW INCOME IS QUESTION MR GAZIDIS WITH HOS STINGY SPENDING CAN ANSWER MILAN FAN
Just because you play poorly, doesn’t mean you deserve to lose. Even the best teams in the world have won games they played incredibly poorly for. We just want the rules upheld. Milan have lost a CLEAR FIVE POINTS this season to amateur refereeing that should only happen in U18 or amateur leagues. We have VAR. No need for mistakes. Yet, here we are, 5 points taken from Milan this season that were clear and obvious.
Yes you are right, team who win important moments will win the match. But neither we are winning the moments nor we are playing well. And it’s not happened just 1match but I think at least 6 to 8matches we have played very badly which is not acceptable when we are aiming for Scuddeto and also most we play only league now and all players are available at the coach disposal except Zlatan. We are playing a match for every 5days which is pretty good compared to Inter, Napoli etc.,
Referee mistakes happens in every league with top teams also. It’s not fair to show it as a reason of our performance and determination if we have to win Serie A
If we take the refereeing mistakes out of the season, this is how Milan looks. Pretty good, huh? That is essentially where Milan SHOULD be right now if it weren’t for the ridiculous Spezie referee f*cking up, and the VAR messing up the game here against Udinese. How do you not use 4K HD replays to see an obvious mistake?
1 Milan 27 19 5 3 62
2 Inter 26 16 7 3 55