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AC Milan head coach Massimiliano Allegri believes that Saturday’s game against Udinese is one of four key matches that happen throughout a league season.
Milan will head to Udinese on Saturday night hoping to make it three wins on the spin in Serie A. After victories against Lecce and Bologna – without conceding a goal in either game – the response has been positive following the opening day defeat to Cremonese.
Allegri will endeavour that his side build on the positive trend defensively, with the Rossoneri leading Europe in a couple of categories. Despite this, he will not be the one barking orders from the sidelines at the Bluenergy Stadium.
Instead, the coach will have to serve a suspension after he got a red card during the game last weekend. He protested a decision that the VAR team reached, overturning a penalty awarded for a foul on Christopher Nkunku, but what has come out since suggests he was right.
The pre-match press conference
Allegri still took ok the media duties on the eve of the match at Milanello, and the comments from his presser were transcribed by MilanNews.
Milan are coming off the back of two wins. How important is it to continue this streak?
“I don’t know where we stand. The team is coming off two wins, and tomorrow we face a very difficult match. Udinese have seven points, they’re a very physical team, and playing in Udine is very difficult.
“Tomorrow is an important test for us, we’ve talked about it: we need to build on the two wins we’ve had. Tomorrow we know we have a chance against a very physical team that’s difficult to beat.”
Are the team healed?
“The pitch will tell. Tomorrow is a very important test for us. It’s not like we’ve all become good and beautiful just because we’ve won two games. Tomorrow night, when the match starts, we have to turn the switch on, otherwise we’ll hurt ourselves, especially against a team like Udinese.
“There are four key matches in a season, and tomorrow is very important: we need to approach it with a great sense of responsibility, playing a game of great compactness and technique.
“There will be little space, we’ll have to take advantage of the opportunities we get: we need to improve our chances, which are currently very low. We need to be ready.”
Can you give us an update on the injured players?
“Leao is progressing well, we hope to have him back next week and available for Napoli. He’s been out for a long time, we’ll have to evaluate him. Maignan is fine, he’s calm. He’ll be in goal against Lecce on Tuesday.”
Is balance important to you? Is that why Fofana plays a lot?
“It’s not a question of imbalance right now or in two months. Maybe in two months we’ll even change the way we play. Our condition and confidence will improve, it depends on the moment. The team needs to know that during the match we can play in different ways.
“Fofana is a great player, an important one, but he needs to score more goals. We’re working with everyone on that. We need to forget about the wins, we need to focus on what we have to do. Of these four, between Lecce, Napoli, and Juventus tomorrow, the most important one.”
Do you want goals distributed throughout the team?
“When you get to the end of the season, you have to have a striker, a midfielder, etc. I think we have very good and capable strikers: Leao, Pulisic, Loftus, Nkunku – all of whom have goals in their legs. Midfielders, with their runs, defenders with their headers, can give us a hand.”
How can VAR be improved?
“I don’t know what needs improvement, I can only say that VAR is a tool that has reduced errors in matches. It’s normal for VAR to be subjective in many situations. Mistakes have happened, are happening, and will happen again. It’s normal.
“The situation we need to address is when there’s an objective offside and then a corner: it’s an objective thing and there’s room for improvement. I struggle with picking the right team… they need to make it as objective as possible.”
It was a tough night for Gimenez against Bologna…
“He had many chances, he must stay calm because he has always scored goals and will score them.”
How are Pulisic and Leao?
“Leao is progressing well, we hope to have him available against Napoli. He definitely won’t be available against Lecce. Pulisic is much better, he came on well. He’s a truly good player. Tomorrow I’ll decide whether to start him, on Tuesday we have another important knockout game.
“The subs, when they came on, made a very important contribution to the team. Ricci and the others did very well. The important thing is the final objective: to get into the top four, taking one small step at a time.”
The jacket came off again…
“I took it off very carefully, I didn’t want to tear it. But I made a mistake and in fact I won’t be on the bench tomorrow.”
Even your critics are speaking highly of your Milan. Isn’t it time to make a point in the dressing room to avoid this climate of excessive optimism?
“There’s no need, I have a group of responsible and serious players. Tomorrow is very important to maintain consistency in our results. We’ll arrive at the match in the right mental condition.”
When will Ricci be able to start?
“Since his arrival, Samuele has been constantly improving, physically, technically, and mentally. He did very well in the preseason. He’s always ready, he’s a reliable player. When you build a team that’s fighting for certain goals, you need a lot of mentally reliable players, and Samuele is one of them.”
Are you pleased with the defensive phase?
“First of all, we have 10 new players out of 19. Knowledge says the more time passes, the better we get to know each other, the better we’ll do. Against Bologna, there were moments when we made poor pass choices because we needed to manage things differently.
“We shouldn’t think that our defence isn’t resolved as a team, not just the defenders, but as a team. As a team, we make it harder for opposing players to score.”
Luis Enrique watches matches from the stands, like you could tomorrow…
“I’ll try it tomorrow. Luis Enrique is very good at it. I don’t know if I can do it, but let’s hope so.”
Who will be the captain tomorrow?
“Gabbia is 99% the captain. So you’ve discovered someone who plays!”
Do you feel like you have a title-winning team when you see the small things?
“There’s one detail: when the team scores, the celebration… Both at Lecce and against Bologna, we had the feeling of starting to become a team, with a goal in mind.”
Last year, the cooling break incident. This year, a united group. Do you feel like the team is finally together?
“We need to be united for the players; they’re the ones who win us games. I try to help them and do as little damage as possible. We need to keep a low profile: when we’re at Milan, winning games is the norm. Winning two games should be the norm, not the exception.
“The exception is when we lose one game. There can’t be this up-and-down. We need to have the mental strength to understand that we still have 35 games to go to get there. We need to get to the goal step by step; we’re missing a certain number of points, and we have to do it.”
Where does Modric rank among the players you have coached?
“I’ve also been lucky, I’ve coached many. Modric is a Ballon d’Or winner, there’s no need to say more. It’s a pleasure to watch him play. He’s a man who makes himself available to the group with great willingness.”
Saelemaekers has become key…
“Alex is an important player, he has the quality to become very strong. It’s an issue that he remained mentally balanced the whole match against Bologna.”
Against Bologna, we saw a 3-5-2 and a 4-4-2…
“You’re making me uncomfortable with these numbers, I’m struggling. Alexis, Estupinan and Tomori played with great poise even after being booked. This is a very important step forward, more than the team’s technical and tactical progress.”
Is Pulisic better off the bench?
“Christian was out for a while with his ankle, then he returned from international duty. He’s a strong player, he can play 30, 60, 90 minutes. He’s strong, but when he’s on the pitch he’s a heavy player.”
Is this team capable of conceding the right amount of goals to win the Scudetto?
“We’ll see in the end. He has one important quality: he works every day to improve the skills of the individuals. Then we’ll see how many we sign: if we sign a few, it will mean the boys have been very good.”
Milan have the best defence in Europe for xG conceded and shots conceded. How did you manage to reach such a significant level of defensive focus in such a short time?
“By working hard and, above all, by making sure our players have important qualities available. The key is the quality of the players; if they don’t have quality, then it’s difficult. We’ve only played a few games, we need to keep our feet on the ground.
“I understand this is an explosive environment; I try to avoid the bombs. We need to live normally, and Milan’s normal routine is to win games – the exception is to lose. We’re only in the third game, and we still need 85 points to reach the top.
“We’ll have to suffer, and seeing this team spirit on the pitch is important: when our fans are at home, they give us a huge boost. I repeat: tomorrow is one of the four most important games of the season.”
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