Vincenzo Montella believes Milan “will learn” from their Coppa Italia defeat to Juventus. “We are on the right track.”
Once again, the Rossoneri were trailing 2-0 within 21 minutes to a Paulo Dybala volley and Miralem Pjanic free kick, but Carlos Bacca’s splendid strike got them back into it, despite Manuel Locatelli’s dismissal.
Vincenzo Montella believes Milan “will learn” from their Coppa Italia defeat to Juventus. “We are on the right track.”
Once again, the Rossoneri were trailing 2-0 within 21 minutes to a Paulo Dybala volley and Miralem Pjanic free kick, but Carlos Bacca’s splendid strike got them back into it, despite Manuel Locatelli’s dismissal.
“The opponents pushed hard, they did well to take two chances with their quality. We were slow in the first half and kept a lot of possession because they allowed us to while sitting back, not giving us any spaces to break into.
“If we played every game the way we do the last half-hour, we’d win a lot more often…” Montella told Rai Sport.
“We have shown many times that our strength is we don’t give in. I am satisfied with the lads, we’re on the right track and laying the foundations at the start of this project.
“Obviously we’re not at Juve’s level yet, but we are on the right track. I don’t think we got the wrong approach this time, but Juventus started very strong indeed, so it’s not quite the same as other games.”
Gerard Deulofeu was given his debut just a day after arriving on loan from Everton.
“He’s a winger, we were too deep and Bacca was tired, so I tried to introduce his pace. In fact, he did create a good scoring opportunity when cutting in from the wing.”
Locatelli saw red moments after Bacca’s goal for a second bookable offence on Dybala.
“From the bench he seemed to get the ball, but in any case he is 18 years old and will learn from this to dial back some of his vehemence in the tackle.
“I hope that I am a realist more than an optimist. We earned our place in the quarter-final, come home with a defeat, but the team is picking up a certain mentality and I think we’ll have some positive lessons from this.”
M’Baye Niang has been given the all-clear to undergo a Watford medical tomorrow, so can Montella explain what went wrong?
“My job is to watch the players every day and evaluate them. As I’ve said, the lad is very sensitive and he tried really hard, so the lack of progress presumably hit his confidence and he regressed. I hope he can find consistency elsewhere.”