Milan Coach Cristian Brocchi discusses Silvio Berlusconi – “I’ve always respected my superiors”.
The former midfielder has been promoted from his position as Primavera Coach after Sinisa Mihajlovic was sacked yesterday.
It has been suggested that the Serbian was dismissed as he wouldn’t allow the club President to interfere in team selection, and the new man was asked about Berlusconi’s input.
“I want you to know one thing,” Brocchi told journalists in his presentation Press conference.
Milan Coach Cristian Brocchi discusses Silvio Berlusconi – “I’ve always respected my superiors”.
The former midfielder has been promoted from his position as Primavera Coach after Sinisa Mihajlovic was sacked yesterday.
It has been suggested that the Serbian was dismissed as he wouldn’t allow the club President to interfere in team selection, and the new man was asked about Berlusconi’s input.
“I want you to know one thing,” Brocchi told journalists in his presentation Press conference.
“I’m not offended and I’ll never be offended if you ask me questions like that. It’s not about being a ‘yes man’, it’s about respect.
“I’ve always respected my superiors for my entire life. The sharing of ideas is fundamental, I think part of growth is comparing ideas with other people.
“The relationship I have with the President is this: it’s a relationship about exchanging views, and it will stay that way, as with Mr [Adriano] Galliani and everyone at Milanello.
“You can learn from everyone.
“The President, despite his many activities, has always expressed the desire to follow Milan at every level.
“I think the fact that he’s spoken well of my style of play over the years means he was intrigued and started getting information.”
The Diavolo face Juventus in the Coppa Italia final at the end of the season, and Brocchi was asked how he’ll prepare for the game.
“Before that there’s a crucial place in Europe to be won. You can’t think about the final straightaway, we have to prepare the matches before that in the best way.
“In those games it’s normal that we’ll try to build for the match with Juventus, trying to establish a strong relationship with the team. We’ve been trying to do that since yesterday.
“It’s normal that we can’t put everything in place in two days, but we can put one or two things across every day, both on the pitch and off it.
“At a time like this you need to have the balance and the intelligence to know how to do many things.
“Don’t forget that in the teams I’ve Coached, the players have often all been changed. I want my team to play like in training.
“We don’t have much time, so we must ensure that every day we’re taking steps forward.”
The new Coach was then asked how his team will approach games.
“The mental aspect is crucial,” Brocchi explained.
“I always ask my teams to attack and not be passive. It’s a journey, it’s normal that you can’t get everything right straight away, but I started talking about it with the lads yesterday.
“It won’t be easy, it’ll be a tough task, but it’s exciting for me and I hope it will be for the players too.
“For me this squad is definitely of a good level, and I’ve said that to them. The thing I’ll do is try to give awareness to every player and make them feel stronger than they do now.
“That’s not because of Sinisa, I want to stress that, but personally speaking I think some haven’t made it as far as they could.
“They must believe more in their ability as a group, rather than trying to change games single-handedly.
“The goal should be to have an attacking mentality, and keep the ball as much as possible. It’s normal that to do this we need the whole team.”
Brocchi’s appointment hasn’t exactly been greeted with enthusiasm by Milan fans, but the tactician is not concerned.
“I’m calm, I know it exists. I know that, and I can understand it too, but at the same time what am I supposed to do? Should I stop because a lot of people think I’m not the right choice? Absolutely not.
“Everyone is free to express their opinions, I’ve never looked for help or cheerleaders. Many of you know that I never did that.
“I always conduct myself as a Coach the way I did when I was a player. I don’t think I’m smarter or more stupid than anyone else.”