Stefano Pioli admits it will take time for Fikayo Tomori to settle in completely and reveals why he didn’t sleep after Milan’s defeat against Atalanta.
The Rossoneri signed the 23-year-old from Chelsea on loan with an option to buy.
“Tomori is a very intelligent and curious lad, he comes from a different football, the language is a barrier, my English is good but not great, but he pays attention and many of his teammates speak good English,” Pioli told Milan TV.
Stefano Pioli admits it will take time for Fikayo Tomori to settle in completely and reveals why he didn’t sleep after Milan’s defeat against Atalanta.
The Rossoneri signed the 23-year-old from Chelsea on loan with an option to buy.
“Tomori is a very intelligent and curious lad, he comes from a different football, the language is a barrier, my English is good but not great, but he pays attention and many of his teammates speak good English,” Pioli told Milan TV.
“He has interesting qualities and characteristics but he’s only trained twice with us and will take a bit longer for him to settle in completely.”
Milan lost 3-0 at home against Atalanta this past week-end.
“I didn’t sleep because I re-watched the game and because I believe in my job communicating with the team the morning after is very important. I usually don’t sleep much after games, whether we win or not because I think being able to say the right things to the team is what matters,” the coach revealed.
“We don’t have much time and play a lot, so communication needs to be immediate. I made my considerations and shared them with the team the morning after."
Tomorrow evening they face Inter in a Coppa Italia Derby and Mario Mandzukic could be ruled out of the game with an injury.
“We picked up 43 points in the first half of the season and 41 in the second half of last season, which is part of our progress, so ours is a solid team, a competitive team, but the team is aware it has to battle other equally competitive teams, worthy in terms of quality and intensity and last Saturday reminded us that if we can’t maintain our level, we run the risk of losing against these opponents,” Pioli said.
“Our objective is to make an even greater effort to maintain our standing till the end of the season.
“We know what the outside pressure is, but the internal ones we create ourselves are more important, we want to be ambitious and win all our games, when we don’t, we work even harder to make sure the same situation doesn’t happen again. That’s why the pressure is a privilege we must live with.
“Or rather, we must want this pressure because we’re at a great club and pressure and expectations are a part of that.”