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00:00Good morning. Welcome along to this pre-match press conference on the eve of Atalanta-Milan.
00:06We'll start with Milan TV. Thank you, Nicola. Good morning, coach.
00:11Talking about football on paper, because we've seen that every match is important and every match is a potential banana skin.
00:18For fans, looking at things on paper, you go into a run of big games on paper.
00:24Atalanta-Roma-Palma away, which has traditionally been a difficult game for Milan, then the international break, Inter-Lazio and so on and so forth.
00:34How are the Rossoneri team looking ahead of this run of difficult games, coach?
00:40First and foremost, good morning. We know that the fixture list up until the next international break features tricky matches, but they're all tricky games, difficult matches.
00:54We made life hard for ourselves on Friday against a good Pisa side, but we certainly could have done a better job in terms of getting maximum points.
01:02That said, it is important to focus on tomorrow's game. Ruben Loftus-Cheek will be available for selection tomorrow.
01:08The other guys, I don't think we might be able to get Pulisic in time for the Parma game.
01:16Pervis Estupinian should be available for selection, we hope, for the Roma game.
01:21And over time, gradually, we are recovering these players and we should have the whole squad to pick from come after the next international break.
01:30And that's what matters. We have a fairly limited number of players available, but there are enough players to pick from for the three games between now and the international break.
01:43Sky, a limited number of players, but your third game in nine days, but you've played the last 12 to 13 players.
01:51Does this third game weigh heavily and physically? And in terms of fitness levels, could Christopher Nkunku start again, which is still a little bit further behind?
02:04As for Nkunku, his fitness level is improving. Since he came back from the international duty, he did have a few days out of action because he had that issue with his big toe.
02:15He had an opportunity on Sunday. He's a very skillful player and we expect a lot from him.
02:22I need to decide whether to start him tomorrow night or not.
02:24As for the fact that the same players are playing, they know each other better, so they might actually play better as a result.
02:34Physically, we'll have fewer training sessions and we'll recover better ahead of matches.
02:40And that's the right approach to take because this is a dangerous period when it comes to injuries because there's a real build-up of matches between league matches and international games.
02:51But we're focused on tomorrow's game against Atalanta. They've got terrific technical and physical ability.
02:57It's always very difficult to go to Bergamo and it is a six-pointer because Atalanta will be one of the teams competing for Champions League football.
03:07Duzone, hi coach. In the last 10 league seasons, the team that's won the Scudetto has always had a striker that scored 25 goals.
03:18You had Tevez, Dybala, Ronaldo during your times with Juventus.
03:23Apart from Lukaku last season, do you think Rafael Liao could become your 15-20 goal-a-season striker?
03:30I think Liao can score that number of goals. Rafa's fitness levels are improving. He's certainly producing some convincing performances in terms of his skill set as a forward because when you're a forward, you need to score goals.
03:50He needs to improve inside the penalty area because he has had some big chances in the box and he hasn't necessarily made the most of them.
03:57In those situations, he needs to be a bit more clinical. In fact, he's very good when he scores goals from outside the box, but he has to improve a great deal inside the penalty area.
04:09But he's fit again and he can still get fitter just like the rest of the team as a whole can.
04:16Mediaset.
04:16Hi, Max. I'd like to press ahead with the talk of forwards. Santi Jimenez, eight league appearances, no goals, but a bubble, very few opportunities.
04:29He made an impact against Fiorentina. He won the penalty. He showed some good signs away at Juventus, but do you expect more from him?
04:36Those are his statistics for the time being. For the time being, that is the case, but it's easy for a striker tomorrow. Things could change in the blink of an eye.
04:48I think Santiago's doing a good job because he does work hard for the team. He really puts in hard graft for his teammates.
04:56And it's not a case of he comes on against Fiorentina and he does well and therefore Santi Jimenez needs to play.
05:01And against Pisa, he doesn't play well, so Santi Jimenez needs to be left out. A player is either good or they aren't.
05:08Santi Jimenez is a good footballer. He's an excellent striker. He's always scored goals.
05:14And he will also start scoring goals here at Milan too.
05:18Rai. Hi, Max.
05:21At the end of the Pisa match, you said this could also be a significant point over the course of a league season.
05:29And in match day eight, we've seen that at the top end of the table, anything can happen.
05:36Any situation can be overturned.
05:40So you can stay up in the hunt because there's not necessarily a favourite one team wins.
05:45The following weekend, someone else wins.
05:48Is it a really open league season?
05:52Serie A is open.
05:53At this moment in time, it's open.
05:56But we'll see which team is able to be consistent in terms of results and they'll stay up at the summit.
06:02If you're not able to get consistent results and that's why Friday night's draw, of course, on paper it's two points dropped.
06:09But in terms of the way the game panned out, it's a point gained.
06:14That will help us in the future.
06:15We need to be consistent.
06:17It won't be an easy game tomorrow in Bergamo.
06:19In fact, it'll be very tricky.
06:20We need to be very neat and tidy technically against a very physical outfit.
06:24And that said, we also need to be very clean technically.
06:29But we need to get a result and prepare well for Sunday's game against Roma.
06:35Correa della Sera.
06:36Hi, Max.
06:37It was a difficult weekend for referees.
06:44In almost every game, all sorts of things came to pass and there are a number of mistakes and even those mistakes were admitted by the powers that be.
06:53So what is the issue?
06:55How do we get away from this?
06:57Is there an issue with quality in terms of match officials?
07:00Are there laws of the game that aren't necessarily clear enough?
07:03How can we come through this?
07:04Because you can't go ahead like this.
07:06No, we need to go ahead because you can't go back in time.
07:12Officiating is not easy.
07:13Refereeing is very difficult, especially in the modern game when it's so fast.
07:19It's crazy.
07:19There are so many challenges.
07:23It's difficult to necessarily spot when fouls have been made or not.
07:29VAR has improved a great deal of things.
07:31But that said, when decisions become subjective, it does spark debate.
07:38Because in my opinion, it was right.
07:40Someone else thinks it was unfair.
07:42Someone else isn't sure.
07:43Also, we need to allow them to officiate.
07:46They make mistakes just as we make mistakes.
07:48We all make mistakes.
07:49What matters is we do need to stay a little bit calm and be relaxed in terms of accepting decisions.
07:56But as I said after the Fiorentina game, when things go your way, we're happy and you close one eye.
08:04But when things go against you, then you almost have a third eye on things because you see things from the opposite perspective.
08:11But that's only natural.
08:15Referees are good.
08:17They're young.
08:18They need to get experience.
08:19Just like young players that haven't got too many games under their belt.
08:22They need to get more experience.
08:24But everything will sort itself out and it will all get better.
08:28Hi, coach.
08:31I wanted to ask you, earlier on you were talking about the busy fixture list that Milan have coming up and the international duty as well.
08:38So, the combination of all of these games and how do you manage Luka Modric in the midst of all of this?
08:46Because he'll not only be involved in these games with Milan, but he's also captain of Croatia.
08:52How do I manage things?
08:54Luka's very good on that score and he's such a good footballer.
08:58Above all, in this new position, which is new to him because he's playing in front of the back four where he's never played before.
09:05And it feels like he's actually running more because he runs so well that it feels like he's running more.
09:11But he also plays wonderful football.
09:13And the more he's out there, the better.
09:16For everyone, including the fans.
09:20Il Giornale.
09:20Today, I was reading about the Italian Referees Association, their take on Pisa's second goal.
09:33The rugby tackle on Gabbia wasn't enough to disallow the goal.
09:39So, I wanted to ask you whether you plan to actually run some drills on this debate.
09:51Given it wasn't enough, what can we do with that?
09:53I don't know how to answer this question.
09:55What I can say, and this is very important and it pertains to the team.
09:58I said it post-match and I spoke to the team yesterday.
10:03We need to improve because we need to look at what we must do out there on the pitch.
10:07And then things that happen and refereeing decisions, you need to accept them in good and bad.
10:12Occasionally, it's difficult when they go against us.
10:15It's difficult, but that's only human.
10:19The last five minutes that we played against Pisa, and five minutes are a lot, especially in the latter stages of the game.
10:29You need to keep a clear head.
10:31You need to stay relaxed to build three chances, to create three chances, because you can also have 10 to 15 passages of play in five minutes.
10:40Three goal-scoring opportunities, just like the last one with Alexis Salamakas.
10:44At that moment of the game, we played badly because we were too hurried and we all got into the opposition box.
10:50There were nine of us and twice there was one Pisa player that was in our half of the pitch.
10:59I was thinking about Spezia because Enzola played for Spezia, but Enzola was twice free in our half.
11:07And if the ball had been cleared, then we could have risked losing the game.
11:11And we'd be here thinking about the damage that we've done.
11:15That's why we mustn't think about refereeing decisions, but we need to think about how to improve those game situations.
11:22As I said, you need to make sure that a strong team is relaxed.
11:25They have the belief, they know that they're a good team.
11:29They're not smug or arrogant, but they know that they can win a game in the space of five minutes.
11:33And that's where we need to work in order to improve this situation.
11:38As for the rest, these are all the controversial debates that we mustn't get sucked into.
11:46Corrierello Sport and Milan News.
11:48Hi, coach.
11:52Arden Yashari has been out for almost two months.
11:55When can he be available for selection again?
11:57When is the match that you've pinpointed for his return?
12:01Is it Roma or Parma?
12:05So, does that mean that Pulisic could be on the bench for the Roma game, given you said he'll be back for Parma?
12:11No, he definitely won't be available for Roma.
12:15But we hope to have him on the bench for the Parma game.
12:17Things are progressing well.
12:18As for Yashari, I think he can start to join up with first-team training from Wednesday onwards.
12:27It will take him time.
12:28We'll try and organise a friendly during the November international break.
12:31But lest we forget, I think he signed in early August.
12:35He played just 45 minutes in a friendly in Dublin.
12:38And after that, he got injured.
12:40So, it's been three and a half months since he played a game of football.
12:43So, he needs to get used to the game again.
12:45And it will take him time.
12:46But it's nice to have him back within the squad environment.
12:51Great for him above all.
12:52Because it will be nice for him to get his fitness levels back up to speed.
12:57Calciomercato.com
12:58Regardless of what you were explaining with regards to the closing stages and not keeping cool heads in terms of managing those situations against Pisa,
13:08What did you like most about the Pisa match and what did you like less?
13:12And how much could this two points drop to actually impact your maturity?
13:22It can actually help us a lot if we're able to improve these situations.
13:25We managed the game after the one all-equalizer because the team created a number of opportunities.
13:32In the last five minutes, we were a little bit rushed.
13:36And unfortunately, when you rush things, you make mistakes.
13:40And then we started to toss the ball into the penalty area with 20 players inside the box.
13:44And you can only then suffer counter-attacks.
13:48And fortunately, we didn't suffer too much.
13:51And now we had that last chance with Salimacos.
13:53But we need to improve those situations because at those stages of the match, once you're back in the game,
13:58you mustn't then risk losing the game again.
14:04That was a game that if we were to draw the game, it should have ended 1-0, not 2-2.
14:08Good afternoon, coach.
14:12Let's go 15 years back.
14:1515 years ago in January, Van Bommel and Antonio Cassano signed for the club.
14:20And you won the Scudetto.
14:22I wanted to know whether you expect something similar in January,
14:25whether you've already spoken about this a few minutes ago.
14:29It sounds like Igor Tudor has been sacked at Juventus head coach.
14:34Could you comment on that as a colleague?
14:38If he is sacked, I'm very disappointed for him because he's a lovely guy and he's an excellent coach.
14:44As for 15 years ago, Milan currently have a good squad.
14:48And unfortunately, these situations do come to pass, unforeseen circumstances.
14:55We had four players that came back injured from international duty.
14:59Plus, Yashari was out as well.
15:02So we are getting those players back available for selection.
15:06Those that are playing are performing well because we beat Fiorentina.
15:10We weren't able to beat Pisa.
15:12We have another match tomorrow.
15:14But we are fit.
15:15And we've also produced some good performances technically.
15:18So we mustn't think about what's missing because we've got other players that can step in,
15:27very good players that can do a good job.
15:28And it's just a case of them recovering energy.
15:31It's not because we're missing five players that we win or lose matches.
15:34It's simply a case of recovering energy.
15:36Milan have a strong squad.
15:38And when we have everyone available for selection, all we can do is get better.
15:43P in sports, I'd like to remain on refereeing matters, a specific question.
15:50What do coaches need to do to help referees?
15:55I make mistakes as well because I get angry.
15:58I should get a little less angry.
16:00I'm talking about myself.
16:01I need to get a little less hot under the collar and often do so.
16:06But I'm also human and I can occasionally go off track.
16:11But I need to try and contain myself even in those moments.
16:15Bressi.
16:16Hi, coach.
16:18I wanted to come back to the next five matches because you often talk about March as the key moment of the season.
16:26But at the end of November, after these five matches, could that be a key stage of the season to the same extent as March?
16:34Because if you were still up near the top of the table after these five matches, it could be very important, couldn't it?
16:41No, not after these five games.
16:43But let's take things one step at a time.
16:45Tomorrow we've got Atalanta.
16:47Let's try and make sure we go into the November international break in the best possible form.
16:51And let's try and make sure that come the end of December that we're in a good league position.
16:56I think Milan's season will be decided in two months.
17:01January and February, where in those two months there, we need to make sure that we stay in touch
17:07with the top four Champions League places to make sure that in March, over the last three months, we can compete for our goals.
17:16So we need to keep an even keel.
17:20We weren't world beaters before Pisa.
17:24We're not a terrible team after the Pisa game.
17:29The players have terrific technical, physical and moral attributes.
17:34And we need to make sure that we manage things when things go against us.
17:39We mustn't become worse when things go against us.
17:41We need to keep working hard to improve those.
17:46In football, you need to win matches.
17:47So you need to do things as opposed to talking.
17:50Talk is cheap.
17:53Milan vibes.
17:54Hi, coach.
17:56What have you liked about Ricci in the last few games?
17:59And where does he need to improve?
18:09Samuel is playing in a position that isn't necessarily his.
18:12But at this moment in time, he's doing a good job.
18:15And I'm very happy with him.
18:17In certain situations, he needs to improve in terms of how quickly he moves the ball.
18:22But I think he will succeed over the next few years.
18:28And I think in future years, he will be able to play in front of the defence.
18:34Hi, coach.
18:40Fofana seems to be struggling since Rabiot has been out of the side,
18:43because I think he covers even more of the pitch.
18:45You see him out wide, up top, in back.
18:49Since Rabiot has been out of the side, have you asked more of Fofana?
18:53Fofana is also improving defensively.
18:58He's come on leaps and bounds tactically, and I think he's got incredible potential.
19:03And Yusuf himself needs to be very demanding, needs to have very high standards of himself,
19:10because in terms of his physical and technical abilities, he can do even a lot more.
19:17Pelegatti, three very quick questions.
19:19That way, it seems like one, and the press officer won't get angry.
19:22First, I read yesterday, is it true that you asked for a smaller squad?
19:27And if that is true, do you regret having asked for a small squad?
19:32First question.
19:34Are you on the same side of Conte?
19:37I go out there and speak after issues, or you prefer the senior management to do so.
19:42The third thing yesterday was at Catania Benevento, and Domenico Toscano was up on his feet asking for a penalty,
20:00and then the penalty was given.
20:01Would you like to play a starring role?
20:03So, the squad, Conte, and in Lega Pro, in the third tier, there is this opportunity to appeal for a penalty.
20:12That could be an opportunity, because if we brought in the VAI, I think it does make sense to actually have one trump card to play.
20:21Second, as for Conte, he's spoken about things.
20:26I think there are times when the head coach needs to speak, and then the club needs to come out and say things.
20:31They've always been there as well, and everyone also needs to look at their own matters.
20:35As for the first question, the squad, the number of players I have to pick from that we've decided, along with the club,
20:43the number of players that we have, is sufficient to approach this season.
20:49Unfortunately, had I had a crystal ball where, in October, I know that the five players would have come back injured from international duty,
20:59then maybe the club would have brought some more players in, but we couldn't have known that.
21:02You need to accept that.
21:03We need to look on the bright side.
21:04At this moment in time, I've seen that Davide Bartesaghi is a player that could have a future in Milan.
21:13Coni De Vinta is a Milan player, that Samuel Ricci can also play for Milan.
21:21So there are also some positives to come out of this.
21:24So that's all good.
21:25Thank you very much, everyone.
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