Stefano Pioli understandably wasn’t happy with how AC Milan’s game against Roma came to an end. Despite leading 2-0 with just a few minutes left of normal time, the Rossoneri came away with just one point.
Milan played really well for most of the game and certainly dominated possession. Pierre Kalulu opened the scoring with a nice header in the first half and Tommaso Pobega then doubled the lead towards the end of the second half.
However, Roma scored in the 87th and the 93rd minute to make it 2-2. Both goals came from set pieces and Pioli was asked about this after the game. Speaking to DAZN, as cited by MilanNews, he admitted that it was a real shame.
On the substitutions…
“I wanted to add fresh energy. I also wanted to raise the team’s height. Not having won a game played so well is a real shame.”
On what he will say to the team…
“That we have to continue playing like this, but also that the matches finish in the 95th minute. We had put people in to raise the squad, but we needed more attention. It’s difficult to talk to the team now, there’s disappointment.”
On the importance of details…
“Dybala looked for the foul and Vranckx was a little too aggressive. The final minutes changed with the 2-1. Then they tried until the end, we had to defend better in those situations. We’re sorry we didn’t win, we prepared it well and played it well. We’ll analyze the matches calmly.”
On recovering the injured…
“I’m not sure, I hope to recover someone. The team is doing well, they play every three days, but we worked with care and attention also from a physical point of view. Playing straight away, the loads couldn’t be too heavy. We played two excellent games, even if today’s result wasn’t what we wanted. We have to improve in certain situations.”
On the standing…
“We’re not looking at it. We’re only looking at our performances, but we know that to fight for the Scudetto we have to win many games.”
On the renewals of Bennacer and Leao…
“I want to stop talking about contracts and injuries and I will talk about matches. I see happy guys who always give their best, this is the important thing.”
Milan will face Torino in the Coppa Italia on Wednesday and there will probably be some rotation. Sandro Tonali was booked today and that means he will miss the league clash against Lecce next week.
This game a bit similar like we loses against Napoli huh? Dominating almost all aspects but the result is very disappointing
Gabbia is ‘only’ 185cm. If you want to add height, Thiaw would’ve been a better opt. And he looked very confidence in the air too from several games that he got.
Milan always difficults play against player like tammy or lukaku…
Pioli did lots of mistakes yesterday:
1) Taking off Bennacer meant no one in midfield could recover the ball or keep the possession. I know he had a yellow but Pobega, Tonali & Vranckx simply could take the ball even once from the opponents.
2) Adding Gabbia in the CB mix. That only created chaos and nothing more. Milan couldn’t attack – or even keep possession – anymore.
3) Saelemaekers off and Gabbia on? WTF? Maybe should have put Dest instead and kept the original formation. The 3 CBs was a mess.
His greatest mistake was telling the team to slow down. In the 2nd half, Milan spent a lot of time passing the ball back.
“Dybala looked for the foul and Vranckx was a little too aggressive.” That statement worries me… How can you single out that one instance but say nothing about the fact that we are in the bottom 3 of defending set pieces in the leauge is beyond me.. That is a huge problem for the whole season now and if our main coach can’t acknowledge that even after a cluster fuck like this, that is a reason to be seriously worried.