AC Milan head coach Stefano Pioli has conceded that his side were not at their best in tonight’s 0-0 draw against Sassuolo, pledging that the performance in the derby will be better.
It was a disappointing game for Milan in Reggio Emilia against Sassuolo as the performance was subdued and in the end the result was only 0-0 thanks to a first half penalty save from Mike Maignan to deny Domenico Berardi.
Pioli spoke to DAZN to comment on what happened at the Mapei Stadium and to reflect on his side’s performance in view of Saturday’s game against Inter, with his comments relayed by MilanLive.
“There was a lack of clarity, we need to better read the situations and what the opponent allows. We had a good start in the first half, then when Sassuolo lowered we put in too much frenzy and little quality, especially in the movements. The game became dirty and with many interruptions. There was a lack of rhythm,” he said.
The coach also comments on the choice to put Charles De Ketelaere as a centre-forward in the last part of the match.
“With Origi and Rebic we would have had more solutions. De Ketelaere has already played as a striker. Sometimes we got the last step wrong. From 70′ onwards we played as if there were a minute left, too much frenzy.
“At the beginning we had spaces against Sassuolo, then they want deeper and the game changed. We have also granted a few counters too many. A mature team like ours should better manage certain situations.
“Too many times we had five players under the ball ready to attack the space in behind, when two is enough. We had too much desire to win and play the game, so this makes us lose our clarity. Today I didn’t like the game, too many half fouls and many whistles. We need more rhythm.”
Despite the frustrating performance and result, Pioli is positive in view of the derby at the weekend.
“The boys in the locker room are aware of the difficulties they have had and why. Wasting too much time analysing the match that has already ended is not my goal, in the derby it will be a whole other game.
“We have to prepare it well on a tactical and physical level. I wanted to do more rotations today, but I missed some players. This result does not heat up the derby even more. The derby is the derby, it goes beyond the standings. We know the importance of the match and we will prepare it as it should be prepared.”
Right, Pioli explaining again that analysing the game is a waste of time, then proceeding to repeat the same mistskes again and again.
That explains what Diaz is still playing, also why we don’t bring another RW.
We’ve heard about the lack of clarity before, and nothing is being done to address it. We’re just hoping it goes away.
This man just they joke with our point
Thank you @A, I was beginning to get worried that Pioli didn’t knw what and how to manage the team he is personally paid to manage, but YOU giving your comment clears up everything, and I’m sure the Milan team reads the comments here will also take your recommendations into account in the near future!
C’mon A… who the hell are you? Pioli’s JOB is to analyze the game… it’s a different mix of players and they got too desperate to try to get a goal too quickly from about the 70 minute mark and that’s a fine observation by Pioli and it’s a natural instinct for players on the field to start getting desperate. He will talk to the boys about it and they will learn and stay more calm in future games when it’s tied and play our style of movements instead of desperate long balls and too many guys trying to run in behind.
The biggest issue is the fact that they have decided that the cheap players can not be replaced. If salaemekers and Messias are cheap options. Sale them and bring in someone with potential that can have a go. does two have hade to long and to many chanses to prove they are good enough.
But this one is all on Pioli. Making changes is one thing but if the quality is not there you cant make changes like that. Pobega as a pilot in Kjaer first start in 10 months. Florenzi was a waste and we dont need to mention the attack at this point.
Pioli is a nonsense Coach
Yeah. He resurrected milan from a mid table team to champions by fluke. The team coached themselves and had no support from him.
Smart anology einstein
The basic problem of this team is the decision making when they get to the 18 yard box instead of sending a searching cross in which will create a better scoring oportunity some of the players want to do it all by their self, an example is leao, and this is were inter have the edge over us otherwise inter dont play beta than us. and the few times leao sends croses in u will notice the team scores more. Pioli needs to fix this, our right wing is another problem, they dont know how to send croses in n when they do they are mostly poor
Guys Pioli’s major mistake (that he does often), is to underestimate weaker opponents. He did that last season and he is doing it again.
He went to a rotation against a strong team…Whoever watches Serie A, knew today it would be a difficult game.
On the other hand, Milan’s board gave crumbles to Maldini for him to build a stronger team….Maldini had other targets,but due to budget cut, he had to adjust and go to 2nd options.
Pioli rotates because the team will play 5 matches in just two weeks. He can’t field the same player or they will be burnout and injured.
And of course Pioli knows it will be a tough match more than you and anyone in here feels. He’s the fvckin coach.
I do not think pioli talk to these guys in a way coach should do, I think he talks to them as if they are his kids which is good but sometimes he needs to manup and talk to their faces……
Leao have always been highly selfish with his play, disinterested without the ball, standing still in deadballs, always roams off from his wing which disbalances the team….he have done this for the 4 games and there have been no changes, which means pioli is not talking to him about that…..I do not care about what anybody thinks, Leao is far overrated, he doesnt even dribble much anymore, seems like he shys a way from it.
Moreover, sassuolo just packed the bus, they did nothing spectacular, they just packed the bus and hoped for the best
Sassuolo doesn’t normally park the bus. They only had 3 clean sheets ENTIRE season last season; so it was a big surprise to our team. Kjaer even said it in his post game interview. They basically played for a draw/low scoring match and it worked out for them.
And I agree with whoever above said Pioli needs to rotate. We have something like 7 matches in 20 days. This year because World Cup killed half of November and all of December, every league and Champions/Europa/Conference Leagues are all so packed. So many players on all teams will get burnt out and there will be many injuries. World Cup should never again be during club season. Only summertime.
Parking the bus is a tactics.
I mean how can we give excuses that they were surprised about the opposition tactics?
Really?
Is there no reactive tactics to neutralise the parking bus tactics?
Which team goes into a match not expecting the opposition to adjust tactics at whatever point?
Sincerely, I’m struggling to comprehend this argument, with all due respect, without trying to insult you or anyone, but I find this a very dumb and lame thing to say about an opposing team.
We need to rotate, but why play 3rd best AM (Diaz) when the 2nd best AM (Adli) had not have heavy workload so far? His performance against Udinese is just like a broken clock that correct twice a day. His future is return to Madrid, we should prioritize game time to CDK and Adli.
Well you got what you asked if you watch the match. Diaz got replaced at 57th by CDK and Adli replaced Giroud at 73th where he plays as AM. But the result is still a draw.
The problem here is not who plays first as AM but the whole team needs time to get click between old and new players and it’s not easy.
Good point there @forzamilan
Draw away win home if we gonna keep this pattern maybe gonna win scudetto
Play Diaz = ordering frenzy