Stefano Pioli was happy with how AC Milan played during their 1-1 draw against Bologna yesterday, but was disappointed to concede the early goal.
Pioli chose to make 10 changes to the starting line-up with an eye on the second leg against Napoli next Tuesday, and though Milan conceded after 34 seconds they equalised before the break through Tommaso Pobega.
The Milan boss did an interview with Milan TV after the game to talk through what was an encouraging performance from his side but ultimately more dropped points.
On the early goal: “That’s where the crux of the match is. We did well to try to win the match, we prevented Bologna from doing everything. Conceding a goal like this was a serious mistake, and afterwards we weren’t calm.”
On the performance: “I’m satisfied with how the lads turned out, if I made this choice it’s because I see them every day and I know their qualities, but we had to win. Everything will rest on the match in Naples which can determine an important moment in our season.”
On if the glass is half empty or half full: “Everything is full for the performance. When the team suffers less, they create a lot. It’s full. But we want to improve our position in the table and we’re sorry we didn’t succeed. But the team are fine, now we want to give everything in the match against Napoli.”
On the mistakes: “Sometimes we filled the area well but the ball wasn’t given in the right time, then the opposite, especially in the second half. These are situations that are penalising us a little too much and for how much we create and for how little we suffer, we had to win the last few games.”
The team remarkably well together considering they’d never played together in a competitive game.
It actually points to some incredible individual ability for those players, who I repeat had never played a competitive game together, to have controlled the game the way they did.
We should’ve won. There was a penalty plus some guilt edged chances in the box.
I was particularly impressed with Pobega and also thought Vranckx did well.
I’m not sure what’s happened to Rebic or Origi – it’s not that both players are playing just badly, but they’ve gone from being big game match winners to chokers.
Not sure what happened to Rebic. He was a fan favourite just a few years ago, even eclipsing young, inconsistant Leao and scored a lot of important goals.
Heck, he even started THIS season well!
The miss against Bologna where the ball rebounded off his face sort of summed it up…..
The miss against Bologna where the ball rebounded off his face sort of summed it up…..