AC Milan boss Stefano Pioli has revealed his belief that Jens Petter Hauge can improve even more despite his fantastic recent form.
Hauge netted his third goal in four games and his fourth for AC Milan in total as he gave his side the lead against Sparta Praha, one they would end up holding to win 1-0 and finish top of the group.
He picked up the ball on the left and darted inside before opening his body and sidefooting it inside the far post. It was deja vu of the goal against Celtic at San Siro in many way.
Pioli was interviewed by Sky Italy after the game, and began by discussing the quality and potential that the Norwegian has.
“He is doing very well, he can still grow a lot, he has great qualities, we are very satisfied with his performance,” he said (via MilanNews).
“His best quality is 1v1, he releases his speed more with the ball, he has to improve even without the ball, he can’t always have the ball with him. He must also attack the defender from behind.
“There are many things he can improve on, he is doing important things, we had glimpsed the qualities, the club did well by immediately signing such an interesting guy.”
The win means that Milan this season in all competitive matches have played 19 games, win 15 of them, drawing three times and losing only once. They have scored 42 goals in that period, conceding just 20.
“Since I got to know my players well, I immediately had confidence, the group has quality, then it is clear, it was not easy to think about all these results,” he said.
“We are good at preparing matches, playing them to the maximum and quickly forgetting them. I am very satisfied, the players we have used less have allowed us to maintain a high level of training and tonight they confirmed it. I have a serious group with high moral qualities.”
Pioli was also asked about Inter, who will now face the league season without any distractions in Europe.
“I don’t think about what our opponents will do, we have to think about our path, prepare us for the match against Parma which will be very difficult, it’s a team that can hurt if it has space. The opponents are strong. Inter, Juventus, Naples, Rome, Lazio, Atalanta… We have to try to improve on last year’s season.”
