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00:02Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome along to this pre-match press conference on the eve of Milan Udinese.
00:07We'll start with Milan TV. Thank you, Nicola. Good afternoon, coach.
00:11Milan Udinese tomorrow. In the last seven matches, four games at home and three on the road.
00:18San Siro, the fans, passion. Can all of that be a factor in the run-in?
00:25Good afternoon, everyone. Yes, it could be a factor.
00:34We've spent the last week where we came back from the Napoli away trip and I think the team produced
00:41a good performance.
00:43It was a fairly tight game. We did have some opportunities that we didn't make the most of.
00:49And of course, the result ultimately then does tend to influence your assessment of the game as a whole.
00:56But ultimately, as it has been the case all season, we need to make sure we strike a balance.
01:04Still got seven matches remaining and we still have some points to get to secure our target.
01:09And we need to take things one small step at a time. Of course, we need to improve.
01:12There is some objective data that says that over the last three matches, we have lost twice on our travels.
01:20Between the Parma game and today, there are three matches in which we failed to find the net.
01:27So these are things we need to improve upon. But over the course of a league season, there's always a
01:30time when you do struggle a little bit.
01:33So we need to make sure that we stay calm, we stay lucid and ultimately what we've done in recent
01:42matches hasn't been sufficient.
01:43Sky, two questions. First and foremost, mentally, what are the team looking like?
01:49Has this been the week where you've been most fearful of maybe not securing your target?
01:57And are you a little bit concerned by the fact that Jimenez, Pulisic, almost everyone is on a long goal
02:05drought?
02:06As for the psychological side of things, when you lose at Napoli, you lose second spot in the league table
02:16and you fall to nine points behind Inter.
02:21Psychologically, of course, the first few days after the game were the most difficult, but we have worked hard and
02:26we need to stay focused on ultimately what our final goal is.
02:34Because it was inextricably linked. First and foremost, we wanted to reach Champions League football and that would mean that
02:41we'd be much higher up in the table.
02:43That hasn't come to pass. Maybe we weren't good enough to necessarily be in an even better league position than
02:49we are and closer to Inter.
02:50So we simply now need to keep working hard day in, day out to get better, but we mustn't lose
02:57sight of what our goal is, namely to qualify for the Champions League.
03:03There are seven matches remaining, there are some teams on the up, so we need to keep an even keel,
03:08we need to stay lucid and we need to make sure we get there.
03:10As for the goal drought, these things happen over the course of a league season. There are times when strikers
03:17are scoring and there are times when they don't find an end.
03:21But I do believe that between now and the end of the campaign, they will score the goals that we
03:26need in order to finish in the Champions League places.
03:28Rai, in light of that, we saw you experimenting with a 4-3-3 and so maybe two wingers with
03:42a centre forward.
03:43Could that be a change that you might enact between now and the end of the season?
03:46If we're talking about these changes, then, you know, those are changes, but as I said, I don't want to
03:54be a broken record, but the difference is that either Salamakas is a winger, a wide attacker or a fullback.
04:05It depends whether you play with Tomori or Atacame and the latter tends to push forward, bomb on a bit
04:10more as a fullback.
04:11It would be so much easier if it simply came down to formations.
04:15You know, it's all about balance, it's about the players' fitness levels as well.
04:19The one thing that we mustn't lose sight of at this moment in time, you know, we might run the
04:28risk of saying, OK, we lost away at Napoli, but over the course of this league season, you don't go
04:33to Naples.
04:35You go to Naples to try and get a result, but you can ultimately lose the match.
04:38It's not necessarily one game which should destabilise a whole season's work.
04:44Come the end of the campaign, we'll sit down and we'll assess the season as a whole from a fitness
04:49perspective, from a tactical standpoint in terms of how we've managed things, things that have been done well and things
04:57that we've got wrong.
04:57But we need to do the sum of all those parts with balance and with lucidity and we mustn't let
05:07individual incidents really run roughshod, otherwise that could become disastrous.
05:16Max, I understand that you're angry about the defeat at Napoli.
05:20You dropped off in the second half, Mina hadn't started the game badly at the Maradona.
05:25I'd like to ask you, what would you like to see tomorrow against Udinese, regardless of the formation, in terms
05:32of your players' attitude and approach?
05:35And how much are you really missing Christian Pulisic and Rafa Liao at the peak of their powers in terms
05:41of the football you want to play?
05:44Unfortunately, Pulisic and Liao have suffered a series of injuries this season and that's meant that they haven't necessarily been
05:51100% fit.
05:52But they have scored goals in Serie A and they've been significant strikes.
05:57Santi Jimenez is now coming back and after two good weeks it's only natural that his fitness levels drop off
06:04slightly.
06:05Christian Fulcroft, meantime, has produced some increasingly good performances, lest we forget he only joined in January, it's a new
06:12league.
06:13He had been out of action for a while and he's got down to work and knuckled down.
06:20I think the whole club needs to stay focused on the goal at hand, even when the going gets tough.
06:29Our goal has always been the same, but even more so. Now we need to really focus on the target
06:34at hand.
06:35Whether you play with six strikers, eight strikers, one strike and no centre-four, that doesn't matter.
06:41What matters is having a positive approach, trying to win matches.
06:45Where do we need to improve? Sure, at Napoli we did have some opportunities in and around the penalty area.
06:53But I think this is very realistic and of course results ultimately dictate the assessment of the performance as a
07:03whole, but that's only natural.
07:05We need to actually assess how we played. It's not, had we drawn or won in Naples, then our performance
07:12as a team would have been better or worse.
07:14There were still the same mistakes over the course of the 90 minutes. The difference comes with the results.
07:20So you need to have more of that killer instinct.
07:23No, there are times when we're not able to find the back of the net. There are times when there
07:28are some players that just lose the opportunity to get a shot away.
07:33But we've got Nkunku, Jimenez, Liyao, Pulisic, Salamakas, Fulkrug. We've got a lot of attacking options so we need to
07:43be confident about all of that.
07:44What matters is staying calm and tomorrow we have a tricky, difficult game because Udinese are a physical side. They
07:51close you down aggressively.
07:54They cover every blade of grass. So we need to make sure that we're very neat and tidy. We're playing
08:02at 6pm tomorrow night and the temperature has completely changed compared with what it was three weeks ago.
08:09So now matches are completely different. It will be a slower tempo because it's the end of the season, results
08:16are becoming more important and we've got less time to recover.
08:20So we need to focus on what we have to do.
08:26Good afternoon, coach. I'd like to give you a couple of statistics.
08:31Milan had 42 points after 19 games, 32 goals scored and 15 against.
08:36You've got 21 points in 12 games in the second half of the season, less than Atalanta, Como, Napoli, Inter,
08:44the same number of points as Juventus, 15 goals scored.
08:47Can you explain why you're scoring fewer goals? Is it simply the case of certain games going for you or
08:54against you or did you play beyond your expectations in the first half of the season?
09:01Trying to explain football. I only believe in one thing. I think you need to try and work hard and
09:07try and get better.
09:07And you mustn't lose sight of balance and the strength of a team as a whole.
09:13At the start of the campaign, when we started the season, there was a huge turnover in terms of players
09:20and the players knuckled down and got down to work.
09:22And it's an incredible group of players in terms of their work ethic and also in terms of their technical
09:26ability.
09:28They're good guys.
09:30But it's difficult to say why or what's happened, but that's what's great about football.
09:37Ultimately, though, I don't want to, you know, you're asking me questions, but ultimately what matters are results.
09:48So what matters?
09:53Because ultimately, come the end of the season, football is a wonderful sport. It's an unpredictable game.
10:00But ultimately, if you don't get a result, you can play the most wonderful football in the world.
10:06But ultimately, there's one thing you need to do. You need to win football matches.
10:12How you win matches. Sometimes you play well, sometimes less so, but you need to win matches.
10:16And that's ultimately what makes the difference and what shapes public opinion.
10:25I wanted to say the following, regardless of the lack of goals, and that's a statistic we've been looking at
10:35for a while now.
10:35But we have noticed the fact that some of the players that were playing well in the first half of
10:44the season,
10:45maybe up until the Bologna game, which I really think was the peak of your season, players that performed really
10:50well up until that stage,
10:52I'd like to ask you, therefore, regardless of whether there's this debate about a 4-3-3, a 4-4
11:01-2, and so on and so forth,
11:02is now the time to maybe make some changes in terms of personnel? Or do you believe that it's not
11:11currently the time to actually
11:16show less faith in the players that have really got you this far?
11:21First and foremost, everyone is available for selection, including Matteo Gabbio.
11:26He will be part of the matchday squad. He trained at the start of this week with the squad, but
11:32he's not yet 100% fit.
11:33Ruben Loftus' cheek is fully recovered now, so everyone's available for selection, so I do have the opportunity to make
11:41some changes.
11:43Yeah, but first and foremost, I have a bit more fresh mental energy in there. La Repubblica.
11:50Hi, coach. I wanted to come back to the Napoli game and looking at the approach that the team had
11:57going out there on the pitch.
12:00It felt very similar to the approach they had against Lazio. Those were two key games in this phase of
12:07the season
12:08that they could have steered the season in a certain direction. And in both matches, the team were disappointing, regardless
12:17of the result, but even the performance wasn't outstanding against Napoli.
12:21How do you explain that? How do you explain why they got that game wrong without necessarily going back to
12:27the Lazio game, because clearly that performance wasn't up to scratch against Napoli?
12:33I don't agree. I don't agree about the team's performance, as I've said. The same performance. Had we come away
12:44with a positive result, would you have assessed things in the same way or would your opinion change?
12:50OK, so ultimately it comes down to the result. Sure, we can certainly play better, no doubt about that. But
12:59we played a game whereby we only had a Spinazzola shot in the first half where we defended badly 1v1.
13:08We afforded them a counterattack, but I think they were offside when we lost the ball in our own midfield
13:13area. In the second half, there was the Mike Mignon save from Giovanni, and that came from a move where
13:25we didn't take a shot in the opposition penalty area.
13:28And then there was the goal. Of course, you can debate as to whether we needed to get a result,
13:36and ultimately you need to try and get a result, but you're up against opposition as well.
13:41Sure, we could have done better, I completely agree with that, but the game away at Lazio in the capital
13:47was a worse performance than the Napoli display in terms of how we actually played.
13:57We need to do a little bit more at this moment in time, because if we've done a great deal
14:01up until now and we've been lacking results in recent times, that means that we're lacking that bit extra.
14:07The fact that Spinazzola got that shot away, we need to be more switched on in our own penalty area.
14:12These are all small details, fine margins that make the difference.
14:16But ultimately, the Napoli result must in no way mentally condition or influence the entire club, because the lads are
14:26having a good league season.
14:27At this moment in time, we are in the top four positions in the table. We need to have the
14:36strength and the lucidity to make sure we stay in those Champions League places, because that's our target.
14:43That's what we set out to achieve. It's a league where there are seven or eight teams that have the
14:49ambition to finish in the top four. Tomorrow we're up against Doudinese, and once we've played against Doudinese, we'll prepare
14:55for the Verona game.
14:57It's not that the Serie A league season finishes after tomorrow's game, whether we're in or out of the top
15:04four. There's still six more matches after that. We'll prepare as best we can. Be in sport.
15:09I'm doing a report on the new Italy head coach. Can I definitively rule out Allegri? Ah, the Italian national
15:17team. Can I rule your name out in football and in life? You never know.
15:25Before the head coach, I think they need to actually elect a new president of the FA, and after that
15:31then they'll decide.
15:34Hi, coach. You said that Salemakers is the player that provides a balance for this Milan side based on his
15:43position on the pitch, but recently he's not been at the peak of his powers.
15:47He was angry with himself when he came off the pitch in Naples. Do you think that his performances could
15:56actually have an impact on how much Milan produce in the final third?
15:59And why are there so many fines for coming out late in the second half of matches? Occasionally we are
16:08a little bit late out and so everyone's late out, but we're not doing it deliberately.
16:12No, it's not superstition. Absolutely not. No, it would be a very expensive superstition.
16:22I've already paid a lot of fines already for my touchline bans. What's the first question? Ah, about Salemakers.
16:30Alexei has come on leaps and bounds as a footballer and as a young man. He is now reaching maturity
16:40in his footballing career and as a human being and he still occasionally has these reactions whereby he just loses
16:49a little bit of tempo.
16:51And when he loses that tempo, he can then make mistakes. He needs to keep improving in terms of what
17:01he's already achieved in terms of how he manages himself, how he conducts himself.
17:07Sport Italia, if you could go back in time with the time machine, what would Max Allegri ask for in
17:13the summer transfer window and in the winter transfer window in terms of being able to achieve more?
17:20More than thinking about the past or looking back, you know, you always make mistakes.
17:25When and if, no, let's look forward because the world has changed. The players have changed, young people have changed.
17:35Players' physiques have changed, everything has changed a great deal, so we need to look forward.
17:39First and foremost, we're going to try and secure our goal, Champions League football. When the campaign is then over,
17:43we'll see, as I said earlier on, it's very simple.
17:47We need to analyse what we've done well, and we need to analyse what we've got wrong, all across the
17:53board.
17:56But this is something we need to do when everything's been said and done, because when you're still in the
18:02midst of the league season and the ball's flying all over the place,
18:11then ultimately your opinion isn't real and it isn't lucid because it's dictated by results. That's why I say to
18:17the players, let's win matches because then we'll have a nice week, morale will be up and so on and
18:22so forth.
18:23Tomorrow we have the opportunity to do so and we hope we do a good job.
18:28Hi, coach. Milan's being knocked out of the title race, not mathematically but realistically, and also the negative mood following
18:40Italy's elimination.
18:42There's a lot of criticism from Antonio Cassano, for instance. We've often quoted him. We haven't necessarily wanted to do
18:50so.
18:50But Cassano, even when it's far in saying that it's your fault that the Italian national team has failed from
18:57the years of Allegrismo and after the Napoli game.
19:00Allegri doesn't know how to coach. Do you want to respond to Cassano or will your results speak for themselves?
19:07Because a number of colleagues have already responded on behalf of you.
19:14I was fortunate enough to coach Antonio Cassano, who was a very gifted footballer.
19:27I think he was the Italian player that got closest to Ronaldinho because he was the only player that could
19:35actually see where to play the pass and Antonio was very good on that score.
19:38As for what he said, I respect everyone's opinion. I think he's been very complimentary because if I've been responsible
19:47for absolutely everything, that means I've really had an influence. I'd like to thank him for that.
19:55Hi, Max. Good afternoon.
20:02You quoted the Napoli game and also the Lazio match, but do you not think that you matched them in
20:10terms of football?
20:11But given all the strikers that have played in these matches, all of your strikers lack that cutting edge. Other
20:19teams got into shooting positions quite quickly when they've had the chances to do so.
20:23But a number of times, do you not think that you're lacking that determination, that killer instinct, that cutting edge,
20:29the desire to kill off the game by taking shots in a determined fashion?
20:37Let's hope to do so in the next seven matches. We did have two or three openings at Napoli, but
20:43in the other games as well.
20:45And I think our strikers do have that skill set. And I think between now and the end of the
20:49season, we need to make sure that we are confident because I'm sure they will give us a big helping
20:55hand in the final third when it comes to scoring goals.
21:01Hi, Coach. I'd like to come back to the conversation about the attackers. I know we've spoken a great deal
21:07about them in this press conference, but I wanted to talk in general terms before then addressing an individual.
21:13But a number of teams that have won the Scudetto, they've often done so thanks to a striker getting into
21:19double figures or necessarily in Lukaku last season, Victor Ossiman, Olivier Giroud got into double figures the last time Milan
21:31won the Scudetto.
21:31So every season Milan looked for a number nine. You're talking about the investment in Santi Jiménez. At this stage
21:38of his career, can Santi Jiménez really withstand the expectation of playing number nine for Milan?
21:47Because it does feel like he occasionally suffers with pressure. And in order for him to take the next step,
21:52do you think you really need a great number nine for Milan to take the next step?
21:59As for Santi Jiménez, I joined the club. We worked for a fortnight. Then he injured his ankle. He was
22:07out for six months. Now he's on the comeback trail.
22:10He had two very good weeks and it's only natural now that he does drop off physically and mentally. It's
22:20physiological that.
22:24So you can't talk about whether Jiménez can be the Milan centre-forward, Liao can be the Milan centre-forward.
22:31We need to look at what we currently have at this moment in time.
22:34And we need to try and harness the skill set and the fitness levels of every single player where everyone
22:41needs to offer a bit more than what we've already contributed thus far.
22:49Because how long is left? 30 days of the season. So a large portion of the season has been and
22:55gone one small step at a time.
22:57We need to look at the ordinary again first and foremost. But I've got the utmost faith in the attributes
23:03and qualities of the players that we have to pick from in the final third.
23:07But lest we forget, midfielders can also score goals. Defenders can also find the net. So we need to make
23:15sure that we are very solid and sturdy united between now and the end of the season.
23:22The going will get tough and there will be some tricky matches because everyone wins before a ball is kicked
23:28but then ultimately you get the final score and it's a different kettle of fish altogether.
23:34I was really struck by what you said. We watched the Bordeaux Cam report on DAZN and you said you
23:43mustn't make mistakes in terms of your approach.
23:47What did you mean by that mentally, tactically? It's very simple. Because when you play a game like that, when
23:54the game is very tight,
23:56ultimately one big episode can decide who wins the game. There have been some matches where we had things pan
24:07out our way and Napoli did a better job on Monday to make sure the game went in their favour.
24:13They made the most of the situation and scored a goal. Last two questions. Good afternoon, coach. I wanted to
24:19come back to tomorrow's game, which will be an important match for the continuation of Milan's league season.
24:26So what sort of fixture are you expecting? And above all, how important will it be to immediately find that
24:32tempo to try and push them back into their own half so you can maybe get an immediate start on
24:38the game?
24:42First and foremost, we need to make sure we don't afford them counterattacks. They're very good on that. They've got
24:47some technical and physical players in the final third in midfield and above all defensively.
24:53So the ordinaries, again, will be a very challenging fixture. We're looking good physically. As I said, we mustn't try
24:59and overdo things tomorrow because we need to make sure that we go out there. The game will last 100
25:06minutes. We need to make sure that we're neat and tidy technically and we mustn't make too many mistakes.
25:13Where you go, Carlo. Good afternoon. Two things. You made a mistake this time because you said we need to
25:20think about the future. I'd like to ask you a question about the future, not the past. I was hearing
25:25Maurizio Compagnoni's commentary on Tuesday, Real Madrid against Bayern Munich.
25:34And I said, I don't want to hear Compagnoni in April on the TV. I want to be in that
25:41game. Given that you've been a protagonist in the Champions League, you've played a starring role.
25:49For Milan to be in the Champions League, Europe's top table in April, of course, first and foremost, you need
25:53to qualify for the competition. How long will it take? Is it still a long way off for you to
25:59be consistently?
26:00That great Milan side in the latter stages of Europe's Premier Club competition.
26:05As I said, we need to try and make sure that we work hard on planning for next season as
26:11and when we've succeeded on finishing in the top four.
26:15On Tuesday, if I'm perfectly honest, it was a wonderful football match. Technically, the way the players move the ball
26:23quickly and precisely, it was incredible.
26:26And I think we only noticed the goalkeepers in terms of the saves they made.
26:32And I think the goalkeepers didn't touch the ball a great deal with their feet.
26:38When the referee blew for full time, I was very disappointed because I would have liked the game to have
26:43gone on.
26:45Because when you see that technical ability, when you see the right passes being played quickly, players shifting the ball
26:53quickly, I think that's what's great about football.
26:55We need to work to make sure that if we were to qualify for the Champions League, we need to
27:03make sure we have a great European campaign because at Milan, everyone strives for the utmost.
27:10So, as I said, we need to focus on the here and now and then we'll see what to do
27:14after that.
27:15Personally, meantime, last season, when I spoke to you on the phone before you joined Milan, you said,
27:21I always like to learn things year in, year out. We're almost at the end of this season. What has
27:28this season taught you?
27:29What have you learnt from this season personally and from a footballing perspective?
27:35On a personal level, it's constant growth because you meet new people, I've come into contact with new people and
27:45people always give you something new and that's been great.
27:50I'm a very curious person when it comes to meeting people and listening to people because they always offer you
27:56something.
27:57As for from a technical, technical, tactical perspective, we've worked this way this season, whereas maybe next season we'll do
28:06the complete opposite of what we've done this term and that's what's great about football ultimately.
28:15I'm not particularly a routine person when it comes to football. I'm not going to go over every league season,
28:24but my staff and I need to have a look at absolutely everything we've done this season.
28:31There's a really good group of individuals that work at Milanella, the training ground, some consummate professionals. And if we
28:38were to finish in the top four, then of course, we need to try and improve everything across the board.
28:45It's the end of the press conference. Could the thing that you take away the fact that you've had a
28:53season with Modric? I'd say just one thing.
28:59Every player that I've coached, and there are some top class players, when I speak about them, when I'm asked
29:07about those players, it always brings a tear to my eye.
29:11I always get very excited because it's exciting still to see the clips and the videos of some of the
29:19technical ability, the skill of great players. That's ultimately what's great about football is players' individual ability, technique and flair.
29:26You can't play football without that.
29:27Thanks very much. Have a great day.
29:30You
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