MN: A joke with Nkunku and a jab at the team – Allegri’s reaction after Fiorentina draw

AC Milan didn’t get the result they wanted from the game against Fiorentina, but Massimiliano Allegri eased any frustrations after the game.

MilanNews recall what happened after the final whistle at the Stadio Artemio Franchi. Allegri, entering the press room, saw Christopher Nkunku who had also been doing some interviews with various TV broadcasters before arriving for the presser.

The coach said to his striker in front of the journalists present: “Oh, thank goodness you scored.” They smiled and hugged, before each of them went to their respective microphones in anticipation. As often happens, the coach used a joke to ease the tension of a difficult match.

There was regret and remorse after Christian Pulisic’s missed chances and Comuzzo’s opener. There was late joy and a late scare after Nkunku’s leveller and Brescianini’s crossbar hit, plus Maignan’s great save on Kean in stoppage time.

Stopping the trend

A point in Florence – where Milan had lost in the last two years – resulted in the gap with league leaders Inter and third-place Napoli unchanged, after they drew last night. There were other positives too, such as Nkunku scoring again and Niclas Füllkrug showing some excellent hold-up play.

However, we saw the exact same mistakes made against Genoa: too many wasted chances, the team not on the same level of performance in both halves, and inattention leading to falling behind undeservedly.

Allegri knows this perfectly well and used the press conference to call his players to account, after warning them post-match on Thursday at San Siro that the flaws seen against Gilardino’s team should be a lesson for the upcoming matches.

“Let’s say that perhaps I didn’t explain myself well to the lads, because we didn’t understand what happened against Genoa and tonight we repeated it. There were seven minutes left, an eternity. We did well for the equaliser, then we rushed, we needed to be calmer to create good things to bring home the win.

“Too many substitutions? We need everyone: we can’t continue with 11 players. We have some valuable ones: Fullkrug, Ricci, Jashari… The squad has excellent quality and we need to make changes, especially in this period of close matches.

“Rabiot wasn’t feeling well after a move against Genoa, I preferred to put him on the bench. Then the substitutions when they came on did well.”

In Como, the regular starters will likely return. But it’s clear that, first of all, the cynical and attentive Milan of a few weeks ago must return, while the coin-tossing attitude seen in the last two games and too often in the last three seasons must be banished.