Massimiliano Allegri held his usual pre-game press conference this afternoon. The Milan coach talked about how the Rossoneri are doing in this busy period, set to come to an end with the upcoming match against Domenico Di Carlo’s Sampdoria.
MILANELLO – Below is what Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri had to say in his press conference ahead of the Rossoneri’s match against Sampdoria:
ON THE MATCH TOMORROW:“The match tomorrow evening is quite delicate, because we’re coming off of a physically and mentally exhausting period, as we’ve had to play every three days. It's taken a lot out of us. But this busy period is coming to an end on Saturday, so it will be very important to do well.”
ON SAMPDORIA:“On one hand, it’s good that they will be without Cassano, because he’s a great player, but on the other hand it’s worse, because teams without their best players become more compact and those who play give their all. Teams like that are dangerous. So it will be a difficult game even without Cassano.”
ON MILAN’S FORM:“We always have to be patient, because games last 95 minutes. There’s no hurry to decide them early on, also because at the moment we’re a bit tired mentally. But from a physical point of view we’re doing well and we’re ready to play a great game”. “Some players definitely will be tired, I’ll make the decisions on the formation after today’s training session accordingly. Unfortunately, Pirlo is not available for selection, even if I counted on him. I don’t believe that Antonini will be available, either, but we’ll see how he’s doing this afternoon. The rest of the team is fine. Now we have to make a last big effort and then we’ll have a whole week to recover.”
ON THE MARGINS FOR IMPROVEMENT:“When you win and obtain great results it’s difficult to spot flaws, but in certain moments of our games we have to play better. A lot of work needs to be done in order to make these improvements, but fortunately now we’ll have more time to train. We need to improve our offensive manoeuvres in the last 30 metres. As long as we play in a certain way we make the right moves, but then we tend to play the wrong way, thus failing to take advantage of the characteristics of our players. Anyway, I have to say that it’s a problem that rarely emerges and I’m satisfied with how the team is playing.”
ON THE ROLE OF THE PLAYMAKER“Nesta and Thiago are doing well also as playmakers, however, Pirlo can give more in that role. He can make all kind of plays, he’s very gifted, because of this he’s fundamental for us. In any case, in the last five games we found a way to play well even without him, mainly thanks to Ambrosini, who despite being a different kind of player, is doing very well in Pirlo’s position.”
ON HIS WORK AT MILAN“It’s not Allegri’s Milan. We’re working on laying the foundation of a winning team, but for winning the players have to be very motivated, which is the case here at Milan. Then we all know the individual qualities of my players, and when the team plays well they really can emerge“. “It’s normal that people were a bit sceptical about me at the beginning and doubted if I was up to the task of coaching Milan. But my objective has always been to reach the highest level professionally and I was fortunate enough to join Milan after only two seasons in Serie A. Now I’m satisfied, but we can and have to improve even further and for this we need to work a lot.”
ON RONALDINHO:“I prefer not to have players who are satisfied when out of the team, also because those coming off the bench need to have the right mentality and have to help their teammates on the field. Dinho did well against Auxerre, as did Boateng and everyone who came off the bench. This makes me satisfied. I haven’t decided yet if Ronaldinho would play tomorrow, but it’s a possibility.”
ON THE MATCH TOMORROW:“The match tomorrow evening is quite delicate, because we’re coming off of a physically and mentally exhausting period, as we’ve had to play every three days. It's taken a lot out of us. But this busy period is coming to an end on Saturday, so it will be very important to do well.”
ON SAMPDORIA:“On one hand, it’s good that they will be without Cassano, because he’s a great player, but on the other hand it’s worse, because teams without their best players become more compact and those who play give their all. Teams like that are dangerous. So it will be a difficult game even without Cassano.”
ON MILAN’S FORM:“We always have to be patient, because games last 95 minutes. There’s no hurry to decide them early on, also because at the moment we’re a bit tired mentally. But from a physical point of view we’re doing well and we’re ready to play a great game”. “Some players definitely will be tired, I’ll make the decisions on the formation after today’s training session accordingly. Unfortunately, Pirlo is not available for selection, even if I counted on him. I don’t believe that Antonini will be available, either, but we’ll see how he’s doing this afternoon. The rest of the team is fine. Now we have to make a last big effort and then we’ll have a whole week to recover.”
ON THE MARGINS FOR IMPROVEMENT:“When you win and obtain great results it’s difficult to spot flaws, but in certain moments of our games we have to play better. A lot of work needs to be done in order to make these improvements, but fortunately now we’ll have more time to train. We need to improve our offensive manoeuvres in the last 30 metres. As long as we play in a certain way we make the right moves, but then we tend to play the wrong way, thus failing to take advantage of the characteristics of our players. Anyway, I have to say that it’s a problem that rarely emerges and I’m satisfied with how the team is playing.”
ON THE ROLE OF THE PLAYMAKER“Nesta and Thiago are doing well also as playmakers, however, Pirlo can give more in that role. He can make all kind of plays, he’s very gifted, because of this he’s fundamental for us. In any case, in the last five games we found a way to play well even without him, mainly thanks to Ambrosini, who despite being a different kind of player, is doing very well in Pirlo’s position.”
ON HIS WORK AT MILAN“It’s not Allegri’s Milan. We’re working on laying the foundation of a winning team, but for winning the players have to be very motivated, which is the case here at Milan. Then we all know the individual qualities of my players, and when the team plays well they really can emerge“. “It’s normal that people were a bit sceptical about me at the beginning and doubted if I was up to the task of coaching Milan. But my objective has always been to reach the highest level professionally and I was fortunate enough to join Milan after only two seasons in Serie A. Now I’m satisfied, but we can and have to improve even further and for this we need to work a lot.”
ON RONALDINHO:“I prefer not to have players who are satisfied when out of the team, also because those coming off the bench need to have the right mentality and have to help their teammates on the field. Dinho did well against Auxerre, as did Boateng and everyone who came off the bench. This makes me satisfied. I haven’t decided yet if Ronaldinho would play tomorrow, but it’s a possibility.”
