After the 1-0 loss against Juventus, AC Milan manager Stefano Pioli spoke to the media about what went wrong for the Rossoneri. He admitted that Malick Thiaw’s red card was poor defending, but also from his teammates.
Milan started the game well and nearly took the lead through Olivier Giroud, who was denied by a great save. In the 40th minute, however, Thiaw was sent off after a poor challenge with Moise Kean.
Speaking to DAZN after the game, as cited by MilanNews, Pioli shared his thoughts on the game and the red card. He stated that the Rossoneri did well even with ten men and that they could have brought home the three points.
On the match…
“I don’t speak to the team after the matches, there is still too much tension and even disappointment. We played a match with 11 and 10 men, we could have been more attentive, and we weren’t inferior even when we were one man down.”
On Pulisic’s substitution after Thiaw’s red card…
“I removed an attacker to maintain the same defensive structure that we had prepared during the week. We started well in the second half, we had to be more intense and attentive in our half of the pitch to try to bring home a positive result.”
On Leao…
“I expected Weah to mark Leao more than Gatti. Gatti committed a lot of fouls. If you commit repeated fouls, you should get a yellow card by regulation. We played our game, but we had to fill the penalty box better in the first half. On the sending off, we committed individual and departmental naivety because we should have been tighter. It’s a shame because even with 10 men we weren’t inferior. A positive result would have been fairer.”
On the red card to Thiaw…
“He should have stayed put and not tried to advance. The full-back also made a mistake because he had to stay tighter. Thiaw was also unlucky because he slipped, but he could have done better.”
On Jovic…
“He entered well, he held the ball well. His condition is improving, Okafor can also play in that role. But if you need a player who holds the ball Jovic has different characteristics than Okafor who does better in other game situations.”
On the defeats against Inter and Juventus…
“It doesn’t take anything away from us. We have to try to do better. The team is aware of its qualities, then every match tells us where to improve. Becoming more concrete is certainly an objective.”
Milan will take on Paris Saint-Germain next and will have the likes of Theo Hernandez, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Mike Maignan back. After two draws, the Rossoneri need to win at least one of the two games against the French side.
