AC Milan failed to extend their winning streak in the league as well as bouncing back from the UCL defeat mid-week. Instead, they almost made it two consecutive defeats but were saved by Zlatan Ibrahimovic in injury time.
The Rossoneri made a crucial mistake in the first half, courtesy of Tiemoue Bakayoko and Ismael Bennacer, and that resulted in the opener for Udinese. From there on, they struggled heavily and didn’t really create much.
Fortunately, in injury time, the ball dropped to Ibrahimovic and the 40-year-old managed to score the equaliser with an acrobatic finish. However, the draw still means Milan could drop to third place once this round is over.
Speaking to Sky Italia and DAZN after the game, as cited by MilanNews, Stefano Pioli shared his thoughts on the performance and what they need to improve. They have clearly struggled lately and something needs to change.
On the game…
“Pioli’s Milan doesn’t count, our style of play counts. We weren’t able to have the clarity in the decision-making to get through such a compact defence. We didn’t create clear chances but we often entered the box. We could have drawn level earlier and tried to get the win.”
On the goal conceded…
“We are conceding goals, almost all from our buildup because we make a mistake in the decision-making. You pay for these situations. We have to be more careful and better when the ball is in our possession.”
On the team…
“My boys are aware, both in the successes and in the defeats. We come from two not so exciting performances and we have to do better in many situations. Tonali’s words are important because there is ambition.”
On Tonali not starting…
“Both in the league and in the UCL we played well and won with all four midfielders. The goal was born from an error. In addition, we are in the seventh game in 20 days and playing three days after a match in the Champions League takes away mental energy.”
Point gained or lost?
“When we don’t win we can’t be totally satisfied, but the point is a sign of how much the team wanted to not lose. Unfortunately, we left the Champions League, now let’s start with small goals. Last year we scored 43 points in the first round, now there are two games left and we have 39: we will try to do even better.”
On Bennacer and Bakayoko…
“The problem is that Bakayoko didn’t have to stay between the lines, our midfielder shouldn’t receive it there with his body facing the goal. Today we tried to build with Isma lowering himself between the two centre-backs, but he didn’t always succeed in a precise and fast way.”
On Brahim Diaz…
“It’s not his best time. He’s had his chances. If you score goals, you go up even in performance, he must find the best condition. By training as he is doing he will return to his levels.”
READ MORE: Nightmare for Milan’s kitman as Messias has his name spelt wrong
Fucking Pioli defending his decision to field a Bennacer-Bakayoko pairing, just own your fuck up and try yo do better next time, quit being suck a clueless p***y. This interview was disgusting.
Mr pioli doesnt have any tactical solution for this typical kind of game, not once but many times and not only this season but since last season too. He depend to much on his players and when the player not perform well he only subtitute with other player, the formation and strategy are always the same. The problem is milan only have some mediocre players in the bench with average skill who can’t effect the game so the result is almost predictable.
I thought Milan would be giving up the lead after Napoli game, but here we are. Inter will deservedly take the lead today. They are playing way better than we are since the past few months. Let’s give up the scudetto dream again and hope for a top 4 finish.
Milan will lose next week as well and we might be down to 4th place after that game. With the current form, top 4 finish looks very difficult as Juve have started winning games and are would be the one to finish top 4 at our expense. It’s Milan or Juve at the end who will be fighting for the final top 4 position. Atalanta does quite well and are almost always better placed than us that top without any top stars in their team.
Juve have been winning games including the Venezia game played yesterday….. SMH….. We know we always struggle against Udinese, Sampdoria and Sassuolo. U all are pessimists!
Milan know how to lose a 7 point advantage over 3 games, with the current form, I will not be surprised if they lose the 11 point gap over Juve over the season. Battle for the final top 4 team between Milan and Juve is on.