AC Milan boss Stefano Pioli has revealed that he is ‘angry’ with his players for ignoring their defensive responsibilities during Sunday night’s defeat to Inter.
Milan let a two-goal half time lead slip in Sunday’s Derby della Madonnina against Inter, eventually losing 4-2 after a roaring comeback.
After 45 minutes it looked as though the Rossoneri were heading for a rare ‘away’ derby success as goals from Ante Rebic and Zlatan Ibrahimovic had put them in a commanding position.
However, Inter came out and drew themselves level soon after the break, scoring first through Marcelo Brozovic and then through Matias Vecino.
Stefan De Vrij made it 3-2 with a header from a corner before Romelu Lukaku added a fourth and final goal deep into injury time.
Pioli was interviewed by Sky Italia after the game, and his words were transcribed by MilanNews.it.
“The first half was born from the strategy studied during the week, in the second half there were two episodes where we had to do much better,” he said.
“We were strong in the game, the two goals changed the game. Then we had the chance to equalise, but in those first two goals our carelessness weighed. We penalised an important performance.
“The games change and we had to be much more careful, Inter are much more experienced than us and used to playing certain games. They also had a bit of luck, we hit two posts.
“I was angry with the players because we had defensive tasks. It was the best performance, we put a strong opponent under pressure who had 19 more points. With more attention we would now be here to talk about a different game.
“We had a great game, it is absolutely the best first half of the season. We lost badly in the second half but we have to start from the first half. The performance must be analysed well, I am absolutely convinced of the quality of my team, but we must insist about carelessness.
“We can’t leave Brozovic alone to shoot, not read Sanchez’s cut … It was a shame not to be able to equalise with Ibra’s chance.”
On pressing: “It is clear that you cannot always be aggressive in the opponent’s half. It was unthinkable to have Inter play the whole game in their own half, the team knew that the game was not over after the first half. Two carelessness they complicated the rest of the race.
“I have to be bitter, I have to make these players understand that if we want to stay at a certain level, attention and lucidity are too important.
“We worked well, from here we have to start again, removing those carelessness that have jeopardised a great performance.”
