Cagliari head coach Claudio Ranieri was full of praise for an AC Milan team with ‘great champions’ but also for the way his side approached the game.
Things were goal well for Ranieri’s men after half an hour with Zito Luvumbo’s second goal of the season making it 1-0 against the run of play, but Milan answered back through Noah Okafor and Fikayo Tomori before the break.
Then, Ruben Loftus-Cheek joined Okafor by getting his first goal for the club with an excellent strike from distance and that ended up being the decisive one, with the Rossoneri switching to a more reserved style after.
Ranieri spoke to Sky after the game to analyse what was a tough evening for his side but one with positives given the chances they created and the fact they went a goal up, with his comments relayed by MilanNews.
What did you think of the game?
“Milan have great champions, Loftus-Cheek’s goal was one of great champions. But we played the match entirely. I’m proud of my guys.
“We wanted to chase them out of there and go on the counter-attack, then you have to accept things when you play against these great champions.
“I’m not saying that we’re not doing well, I’m not talking about bad luck or good luck, but we have to be more organised and incisive. Let’s not give up.”
How are Luvumbo and Nandez?
“Luvumbo still takes a little too much of the ball, we need to break him down little by little. Nandez is a force of nature.”
Did you like the first half more or the second half more?
“Both of them convinced me. Milan is the team that has the most possession in their own half of the pitch, while in our half of the pitch they don’t dribble at all and go vertically..
“We tried. If we didn’t concede those two goals in the first half, we had the game in our hands. They had the ball, but it’s not like they had who knows what opportunities.”
He didn’t realize that Pioli’s weakness is teams who sit back. He has no idea how to break them down. Cagliari opened up and got killed.
Even opposition coaches are more complimentary than Sacchi.
I dont think sacchi is totally against Milans strategy. He knows what it means for a team to try out a new style of play. It’s going to take awhile for the players to get used to it… The major thing he was critical about was Leao’s attitude and style of play and he was right about it. Leao is becoming full of himself and gets carried away alot. His body language and attitude off the ball is going to affect the team when we play in Europe. Remember it’s a team effort. I love him alot but he needs to start seeing himself as a leader and leaders always lead by example and sacrifices a lot for the team. It’s not about him alone but the whole squad.
Love this guy. Such a class person who isn’t like crying and making excuses like some other Serie A coaches.