- 3 months ago
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00:00Good morning, everyone. Welcome along to the press conference on the eve of Milan Pisa.
00:06We'll start with Milan TV Marosuma. Thank you, Nicola. Good morning, coach.
00:12Milan are up against Pisa tomorrow night and you're top of the table after your victory over Fiorentina.
00:18And you're also playing before all of the other teams in Serie A.
00:22Does that add pressure on two fronts, coach?
00:26No, more than pressure, it will be a difficult game tomorrow because Pisa, besides the Bologna game where they conceded four goals but they went down to ten men, has always produced good performances.
00:42They have scored goals. They've created chances, like against Napoli. They played well at home against Como.
00:49They're a physical side and if we don't play them in the right way, we could face some real issues.
00:57We also need to do away with this hoodoo whereby we lost our game with a newly promoted side.
01:05So let's try and do better this time.
01:07The zone.
01:07Two very obvious points. We know how last season went and the situations you inherited this season.
01:17And the second thing is you always need time to do things well.
01:20That said, you are top after seven match days.
01:24If you think back to this summer, did you expect this or are you a little bit further along based on what you were planning this summer?
01:30I didn't expect to be top of the table in the summer. I don't know whether we're ahead or further behind of where we should have been.
01:38All I do know is we work day in, day out.
01:41I inherited a team with some significant players.
01:45The club has made some good signings, but we're only at the start of the season.
01:48This is only match day seven. We need to keep going.
01:51Tomorrow we need to do a good job
01:53to approach the game with a lot of respect for Pisa, who, as I said before, are a very physical side.
02:00They have players that can hurt you in open spaces.
02:04And three points would be very important for us because we need to kick on from the results that we've already recorded.
02:10Sky, you can't doubt the numbers.
02:15There's a statistic from Opta the other day said that Milan picked up 16 points from seven match days in the four previous seasons
02:23when Allegri has got 16 points from the first seven matches.
02:27Allegri has won the Scudetto.
02:28I'm not asking you whether this Milan side will win the Scudetto,
02:32but compared with the team that you had, Juventus, what sort of Milan side are you?
02:37Are you there by chance?
02:38Are you more or less experienced, younger or older?
02:42Do you see any similarities and as a Livornese, what do you make of the game against Pisa tomorrow?
02:50Let's leave aside the first question because the team's always different when it comes to statistics.
02:56The same team is different from one season to the next.
03:00In terms of the experience I had in the five seasons at Juventus, we started one way and we finished another.
03:07What matters is finishing the campaign well.
03:09So we're only at the start and we need to keep working, keep our head down, low profile.
03:17We mustn't talk too much and we need to keep our heads down and run a great deal
03:21because ultimately in football, results matter and winning matches matter.
03:26As for the experiences I've had in the 88-89 in Pisa, where I also made my debut against Milan.
03:38So fate and life has brought me back here.
03:41I made my debut against Milan.
03:43I won my first Scudetto with Milan.
03:44So I was a little bit lucky on that score, but I have very fond memories of the president.
03:52We're talking about 38 years ago, 40 years ago.
04:01He was already a visionary at that time and it would have been very curious to see him in the current world of football
04:09with TV rights where everything has changed a great deal.
04:12But it was a very important experience for me, even as someone from Livorno playing in Pisa.
04:17And I had the great pleasure to work under this wonderful president for a season.
04:25Mediaset and then Rai.
04:26Before the game away at Udinese, Max, you spoke about some crucial matches in this season.
04:35I'd like to ask you whether this one could be as well, because there's a unique situation in match day eight
04:40whereby Napoli and Inter meet each other at the Maradona and they're only one point behind you
04:46and Roma will also be in action.
04:48So winning with favourable results elsewhere, could that make it a particular, a unique match day?
04:58Winning is not easy and it would be important above all because you can put more points on the board,
05:06take another step forward in the league table, above all to get closer gradually, step by step,
05:11to what your tally needs to be in terms of finishing in the top four and securing Champions League football.
05:17That's our goal.
05:18So we mustn't think about the fixture list.
05:24Our target is a certain points tally to get into the Champions League.
05:28And as I've already said, in recent years, the Champions League threshold has been 70 points minimum.
05:38So we need to be focused on that without thinking too much about Napoli and Inter.
05:42We're thinking about winning tomorrow, which is not easy against a team
05:45that's very difficult to come up against.
05:48And they've shown that in the games they've already played.
05:51No, we can't pull clear.
05:53No, you can't pull clear.
05:54This is match day seven.
05:56You need to stay very calm and we need to keep our feet on the ground.
06:00We need to do a good job in terms of winning matches, savour those wins and celebrate them,
06:08and then immediately think about the next game.
06:09Because between now and the 9th of November, or 8th of November, when we're playing away at Parma,
06:15we'll have tomorrow's game.
06:16Then we've got the game at Atalanta on Tuesday.
06:19Then we host Roma and we finish up away at Parma.
06:21So we have this mini cycle of games, which will take us up to the final international break.
06:27And then when we go again, we'll have a number of months up until March,
06:33the next international break, without any stop.
06:36And I've already said that November is a significant month, so too is October,
06:41just as January and February will be.
06:44So we need to do a good job and focus to make sure that we're in a position in January and February
06:50where we can compete.
06:52And then in March, we want to be in the best possible position in order to compete for the top four.
06:59Hi, Max.
07:01Good afternoon.
07:01I wanted to ask your opinion.
07:06The Spanish La Liga has taken a step back now due to the player protests,
07:12due to the Barcelona Villarreal game being played in Miami.
07:17But there's now also pressure to make sure that Milan Como stays domestically.
07:24Mignon Rabiot have spoken out about it.
07:25What do you make of it?
07:26I can say what I think, but it only matters to a relative perspective because I want a decision
07:36to be made as soon as possible, that we're informed about it, and then we'll act accordingly.
07:41So if we stay and play the game in Italy, so much the better.
07:46But if we go to Perth, then we'll organize things in such a way where we're ready to play.
07:50It's an important game.
07:51Three important points for our run in the league.
07:55Correa de la Sera.
07:56Hi, Max.
08:00You always talk about your return to the Champions League football as your season's goal,
08:05and clearly that's something that you share with the club.
08:07And then you say, we'll see where we are in March, and then we'll think about things after that.
08:11But of course, the fans are now dreaming because you're top of the league.
08:14So I'd like to ask you, who better than you can know?
08:19What are the prerequisites to win the Scudetta?
08:21What do you need in order to raise the bar from finishing in the top four to winning the title?
08:26What does your Milan side need in order to really strive towards that goal?
08:34Milan needs to concede between 20 and 25 goals throughout the season in order to compete for the Scudetta.
08:39The fans can dream.
08:42We need to keep working hard.
08:43But above all, we, the players and I, need to get lots of wins.
08:49We need to keep the fans very passionate because it's important to keep the stadium full.
08:56The supporters gave us a huge helping hand against Jurantina in the crucial moments of the game.
09:01And the same needs to go for tomorrow.
09:03So we need to maintain this enthusiasm.
09:06We need to do so with an even keel.
09:08We need to be very responsible about it.
09:11And we know that tomorrow another game will begin nil-nil.
09:16And that Pisa are a difficult team to play against.
09:20And above all, we need the three points.
09:23And we need to secure those three points by having a very focused technical display.
09:29We need to be switched on defensively.
09:31Nkunku will certainly be available for selection on the bench tomorrow.
09:37Loftus-Cheek will have a fitness test today.
09:40And over time, we'll also get some more players available for selection.
09:44But tomorrow is another small step forward that we need to take with, again, an even keel.
09:49Hi, I wanted to ask you a question from a footballing perspective in terms of what we saw in the last game against Jurantin.
10:01Namely, using Rafael Liao up front.
10:05And in the first half, clearly he was operating as a center forward with Salamakis as a second strike.
10:12And then Jimenez came on.
10:14And from center forward, I think that role was played by Jimenez.
10:22And Rafael Liao had a bit more license to roam.
10:24He scored two goals.
10:25Maybe that came about by chance.
10:27But do you think that the experiment that began in the summer, namely converting Rafael Liao into a center forwarder number nine in this 3-5-2 that you played throughout the summer,
10:40is something that could still be carried forward?
10:44Or do you think that when you pick a front two, Liao will be able to give his best like he did in the second half against Jurantino?
10:55Against Jurantino, Rafael Liao scored a goal from a central position of the pitch because he picked the ball up close to the center forward in the middle of the pitch.
11:04It's not me converting Liao.
11:06Liao has a certain skill set.
11:08I think Rafa can play as a center forward and a second strike.
11:11And maybe I'm wrong on that.
11:14The more he's part of our game, the better it is.
11:18The more centrally he is, the more chances he'll have to shoot on goal.
11:22Of course, he can wander left where there are situations where he can go 1v1 against opposition defenders.
11:29But I think Rafa can do a very good job both at center forward and second striker.
11:35He can be partnered with Santi Jimenez, who is a center forward, with Pulisic, with Nkunku.
11:42So we have four attacking players in that position that can happily team up with one another.
11:48That's the most important thing.
11:49Good afternoon.
11:54I wanted to ask you, do you believe it's par for the course?
12:05What happened after the Milan-Fiorentina game?
12:09Or do you think it's rather unusual?
12:13Have you found that unusual?
12:15No, I don't think anything unusual or particular has come to pass.
12:22In Italian football, things have come to pass, still happen and will happen in the future.
12:29There's always a bit of confusion about decisions.
12:31There will always be confusion about decisions because these are subjective decisions, subjective calls.
12:36So one person might think it's a penalty, someone else might disagree.
12:41But you need to take them for what they are.
12:45Of course, we're delighted when they go away.
12:47We're less happy when they go against us.
12:50But that's part of football.
12:51And I think with how quickly the game's moving and how quickly the game is played, they're on the pitch, even for referees to actually make decisions.
13:04And therefore, the VAR is watching from the outside looking in.
13:08There was a UEFA statistic whereby 30 to 40 years ago, players had two seconds to think about things when they received the ball.
13:21Now they have half a second.
13:23So think about how the pace of the game has changed completely.
13:26The physicality of players compared with 30 years ago.
13:29The players are 10 centimetres taller.
13:32Physically, they're stronger.
13:35So it's a completely different style of football.
13:39Just as basketball has changed completely.
13:41Same goes for that.
13:45The centre used to be 1.7, 1 metre 78.
13:52Now they're 2 metres tall.
13:53Magic Johnson was a star player 2 metres 40 years ago, playing as a centre.
13:59And that's what we're going to do today.
14:02Torniamo da Manti con Pietro Mazzara.
14:04Tutto Sport, per favore.
14:09Hi, coach.
14:15You have coached the team for three months now.
14:18And as my colleague reminded you, you actually inherited a team that had lost that Milan mindset.
14:26At what stage are you at with the reconstruction of the mentality based on the results and based on what the team produced on the performance?
14:34It feels like the team are certainly once ambitious again.
14:39And you're using young players like Atikami and Bartesaki, who produced some good performances above all.
14:47Bartesaki in the last three times he's been picked.
14:51First and foremost, I inherited a team with some good footballers, some excellent players.
14:55And along with the club, we decided to introduce some other players.
15:01Last year, Milan still made the Coppa Italia final.
15:05They won the Super Cup.
15:06And there are certain seasons where things go well and other campaigns that go a little less well.
15:12So, what I can say is that when we started this season, the working group that we're with, not only the players, but everyone that's working at Milanello,
15:22they're all very responsible.
15:26They're responsible for the season that we've embarked upon and they are willing to work hard to make sure we can lay the ground to be successful.
15:34As I said, our target is to come to March.
15:37The first six months are all about laying the groundwork for the final portion of the season, which is the most important bit of the campaign.
15:44But in order for that to be significant, we need to work well for the first eight months.
15:48So, we need to make sure that we stay quiet, keep our heads down, keep working and make sure we're in the best possible league position come March.
15:55La Repubblica.
15:56Hi, coach.
15:58I wanted to come back to the controversy that followed the Fiorentina game, focusing on Santi Jimenez.
16:05He was accused of a simulation of staying down too long.
16:10What have you seen from him this week?
16:14Has he been affected by all of the chatter around him?
16:17And do you think he's getting closer to scoring goals and starting a new cycle?
16:24How close do you think he is to that?
16:25Things clicking for him.
16:28Santi has trained very well over the last three days because we played on Sunday and we're playing tomorrow.
16:33And that's quite nice because that means that games are a little bit closer to one another.
16:38Clicking in a fresh start.
16:40Santi Jimenez came in a little bit later because he came in on the 5th of August having played an international competition with Mexico.
16:48Now he's in a good physical condition.
16:51That's important.
16:52And I think he's a much more relaxed and calm.
16:54He does have excellent technical ability.
16:58There have been some favourable circumstances because against Fiorentina, besides winning the penalty, he also had that header where De Gea had a wonderful save.
17:10He played very well against Juventus as well and sooner or later he will score a goal.
17:15Hi, coach.
17:19If we were to find a shortcoming in this team, where would you look at that?
17:26What's not working at this moment in time?
17:27You're top of the league.
17:28A good run of results and good performances.
17:31But I know you're a perfectionist.
17:33What would you change if you could?
17:36No, I wouldn't change anything.
17:38We need to improve.
17:39We need to improve by saying, for instance, having produced a good result, a good performance against Juventus and the final moment of the game, Kostic's cross, we weren't well said.
17:54It was 3v1 and you can't ruin 95 minutes of play because of a bit of laziness right at the end of a certain passage of play.
18:02That's what came to pass against Fiorentina at the end.
18:05And if I'm not mistaken, Ricci did a very good job to get back into the box and to head up all clear and then Bartisaki defended very well.
18:15In those situations, you need to be very switched on because the end of a game where you're tired, where you're a little bit less focused, there is the risk that you can concede a goal.
18:25That's why you need to improve in those areas and in those moments because those are decisive moments.
18:33You no longer have any time to recover things.
18:36If you make a mistake and give the ball away, you can jeopardize not only the game, as I say, but at Milan, it's not every ball that decides a game actually decides the course of a season.
18:48That's why we need to raise the bar and our self-belief in that area.
18:53Good afternoon, coach.
19:01Yesterday, I heard the interview with Thikao Tomori and he said five or six times in the ten questions, as the coach says, as the coach wants us to do, the coach does this, that or the other.
19:15How have you got into the players' hearts and minds so quickly, given it feels like they all follow you very closely?
19:23Is there something unique or have you had unexpected responses?
19:27No, nothing unique or particular.
19:29Fortunately, we're a good group of lads that all work hard.
19:32And this happens because we all have one goal in mind, namely to have a good season.
19:38And as I've said, we want to lay the ground so that in March we're in a position to play in the Champions League next season.
19:48That's Milan's natural habitat.
19:50In order to do so, you need to be very responsible.
19:52You need to be very passionate about what you do.
19:54And above all, you need a lot of self-belief because it's thanks to self-confidence and belief you can do things that you're not necessarily able to achieve if you don't have that.
20:05But I am happy.
20:06I'm very pleased to have this group of players.
20:09Besides them being excellent footballers, they're all very responsible young men.
20:14There are some less experienced players who are, however, developing thanks to the more seasoned campaigners like Tomori, Rabiot, Modric, Mike Mignon.
20:28And so those are certainly the players that can lead the way for the others and drag them forward.
20:36Calciomercato.com
20:37Hi, coach.
20:38I wanted to come back to what you've just said about the improvement of certain players thanks to the experience of the more seasoned campaigners.
20:47Pavlovich, for instance, he had a bit of a mixed bag last season.
20:53He was a little bit loose in terms of his man marking, but he's improving a lot this season.
20:58And I wanted to know how much room for improvement does he have, what work you're doing on him as a left centre-back.
21:05And I think De Vinta was excellent off the bench against Fiorentina.
21:08Will he get an opportunity tomorrow?
21:11As for De Vinta, he could have an opportunity.
21:14I'll assess everyone again because we have another game on Tuesday.
21:18As for Pavlovich, he's improving just as everyone else is.
21:22He's a player who's already played a lot of matches for Milan, but he's only 23 years of age, if I'm not mistaken.
21:28So he does still have room for improvement.
21:31We need to try and imagine him four to five years from now when he really reaches his peak and have played a number of games, both at domestic and international level.
21:40Pavlovich is a player that still needs to improve a great deal defensively in terms of his timing, but everyone is working on that score.
21:48Hi Max, coming back to traditional playmakers in terms of their physique, Luka Modric really has a bit of a throwback.
22:00But I wanted to ask you, he's an extension of you on the pitch.
22:07He always knows what to do and he's an example for his teammates.
22:10Do you just leave him to his own devices because you know he'll play well?
22:17Luka doesn't make too many mistakes, he doesn't misplace too many passes, but he's an incredible footballer, he's world class.
22:24He's a player who's quicker than everyone else in terms of passing the ball, in terms of his vision.
22:31And above all, I think he's very comfortable in that position.
22:35He really enjoys it as well.
22:36Giovanni Delia.
22:38Giovanni Delia.
22:40Hi coach.
22:45A lot has been talking about the legislation when it comes to the laws of the game in the last few days.
22:52Do you think Milan are mature enough now to put aside all of that criticism and focus solely on footballing matters?
23:01I'd like to ask you that because Milan were top of the league and there was a controversial handball from Pulisic and Milan were top and then they tumbled down the table.
23:13Do you think that Milan are currently mature enough at this moment in time to put all of that chatter to one side?
23:21I don't know whether it comes down to maturity.
23:24Of course, we need to be mature tomorrow because maturity tomorrow is not only about a certain controversial incident or what's happened, what's been said and stressed again.
23:37We need to be mature tomorrow because we're up against a team that will come to Milan in order to play their own game to get a result.
23:46Alberto Gilardino, for instance, is very good at organising teams, above all defensively.
23:51It will be difficult to score against them, so we need to do a very good job to make sure we don't afford the many chances and we always control things defensively.
24:02We're active in the defensive phase, that's the most important thing.
24:06It's never easy to win games because you always hear people say, you know, there's no such thing as an easy game.
24:12You need to play games and win them.
24:14Once we've done what we need to do, namely to win the game, after that we'll then focus about what we need to do on Tuesday.
24:21But we need to show a lot of respect.
24:24When you play matches such as these, the most important thing is to actually be on an even footing with the opposition, so run as much as the opposition.
24:32When we've run the same of the opposition, ultimately then the technical golf comes to pass, comes to the fore.
24:41Hi coach.
24:44Seven of your 11 goals have been scored in second halves.
24:47Why, statistically, does your team react better in the second half of games?
24:51I don't know.
24:56I think we're also improving physically in terms of our fitness level and the fact that we are able to show greater intensity in the second half of matches
25:05means that we are fit.
25:10Above all, the players that come off the bench have given us a big helping hand thus far and they need to keep doing so because you can't have a league season with 11 players.
25:28You need 20 to 22 players over the course of a campaign.
25:30It's been proven that in the last 30 minutes of matches they're completely different games because the players that play the last half an hour, not the guys that come off the bench, they play a completely different game, which is a decisive match.
25:43Last two questions.
25:45Hi coach.
25:46At the start of the season I was struck by one of your lines which was we're a group and we need to become a team.
25:54You have become a team.
25:56Is Milan a complete team now in terms of the character or are you still missing something in order to reach that level?
26:02There's no such thing as maintenance.
26:06You need to get better or get worse and we need to keep working hard to get better because we still have a number of things to improve upon because up until today, as I've said, I'll be boring with this, but we have 16 points in the table and with 16 points you can't even stay up.
26:23So the first target is to get to 40 points.
26:28Hi coach.
26:30I wanted to ask you, how pleased are you with in terms of Davide Bartesaghi's improvement both against Juventus and Fiorentina on Sunday?
26:40He's produced an excellent performance and he very rarely struggled with the opposition apart from against Chico Conceição, which is only natural.
26:49So where is he at, the kid?
26:52I'm very pleased with the boy because first and foremost, he's a kid that comes from the Milan Academy and that's very important.
27:00He also has certain qualities.
27:02We need to give him a bit of peace because he's only played three games.
27:06He's got some important physical qualities and I think he certainly has what it takes to play at Milan and he's nice to see as well.
27:16Nice to watch.
27:20And so he's certainly got that on his side, but there's a number of things he needs to improve upon.
27:24Thank you very much, everyone.
27:28Thank you very much.
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