‘We wanted to win’ – Tomori praises Milan performance and references Allegri motto

Since last season, AC Milan have been Allegri-fied. It is clear as day and the team has bought into their manager’s ideology. 

Whoever manages your team, the players need to buy into their ideas. With Paulo Fonseca and Sergio Conceicao, the players didn’t. There were signs that they might’ve at points, but the overwhelming feeling was that neither coach had inspired the players.

Of course, their tenures went how they did as a result. However, a coach like Massimiliano Allegri demands and earns respect from the off – which helps – and his style of play is recognised across the footballing world.

So, when he came to Milan, it was clear what would happen.

Allegri’s mentality ingrained

Since joining, the Rossoneri have become a much stronger team defensively, restricting chances massively and the focus is often on not losing, rather than winning by any means necessary. It is not always attractive, but it works.

If that mentality had not been shown already, Fikayo Tomori spoke to TeleLombardia last night, as MilanNews relays, and his words show the transformation as clear as day.

A tough match?

“It’s a tough match, we knew it before it started. We can be happy with the point. We wanted to win, but from the perspective of our path, it’s an important point.”

As the coach says: when you can’t win, you shouldn’t lose…

“I think it was a balanced match, they have strong players. We should have been careful about their threats, but we played a great game. We have to focus on the next one now.”

The feeling is that this last week, even around the coach, there’s been a sense of calm…

“After Napoli and Udinese, we needed to make a change, and we’ve gotten back to the basics because perhaps we’d lost them a bit. In the last two games, we’ve defended well, as a team. Today we didn’t manage to win, but it’s a good point for our journey, and we need to continue.”