Pioli praises Thiaw and insists Milan ‘have never had physical problems’

AC Milan coach Stefano Pioli spoke in defence of Malick Thiaw and his team’s fitness after the 1-0 victory over Torino on Friday night.

Speaking during his press conference on Friday night at San Siro (via Milan News), Pioli showed that he was pleased with the way that German defender Thiaw performed in the new system.

“He did very well. In Schalke he played a lot in 3, in the national team in 4,” he said.

Given Milan were on such a poor run of form that saw them fail to win since January 4, many questions were asked about the physical condition that the players are in.

Pioli stressed that the team never had a physical problem, but the poor results took away their confidence.

“Milan never had a physical problem, but one of play. It was first tactical and then mental. The negative results took away our confidence and today’s goal unblocked us. Today it’s not over and it’s not that we have fixed everything, but we have a great opportunity: we focus on the Champions League, because the level is rising and we have to raise it too,” Pioli said.

When asked about how important the victory is, Pioli said: “Oxygen, broth, boh… We can use any adjective. We are trying to come out of a delicate moment. We worked hard as a team and I liked that a lot: we won deservedly.”

It took a long time in the game before Pioli made any changes to the personnel on the pitch and he suggested that this was because he could see a goal was coming.

“We all deserve this victory because it is the group that works. At the end of the first half I had imagined a couple of changes, then I saw things that made me wait,” Pioli explained.

Speaking specifically about Theo Hernandez, who assisted Olivier Giroud for the goal, he said: “We were all different in the post-match. Players live on emotions. Theo missed the World Cup final and that leaves an aftermath. I wanted to rest him more, but now he’s recovering and he’ll be the overflowing player we know.”