Stefano Pioli does not want Milan to look back over the season with regret, but instead focus on where they can ‘still have our say’ after a 3-1 victory over Roma.
The Rossoneri came flying out to take the lead after 11 minutes with the first Yacine Adli goal for the club, thanks to a smart dummy moving it from the right foot to the left, then Olivier Giroud nodded in from a well-worked corner.
Leandro Paredes converted from the spot to get Roma back into it, but Theo Hernandez combined with Giroud to smash his finish off the underside of the bar.
“Clearly, at 2-1 anything can happen. We had wasted chances to get the third goal and were starting to feel tired, but we got there eventually,” Pioli told DAZN.
“Playing against Roma’s 3-5-2, we make the full-backs and wide men work hard. We tried at times to wait for them to come forward, as otherwise it would leave spaces for El Shaarawy and Lukaku, while we didn’t follow Pellegrini’s run on the penalty incident. These are small things that need to be improved, I thought we were overall balanced tactically.”
Pioli received a great deal of criticism after the midweek Coppa Italia quarter-final defeat to Atalanta, so does he feel the expectations are excessive?
“I am honestly not worried, irritated or easily offended by criticism. We raised the expectations ourselves with our performances over the last four years, so naturally people expect us to go further in the Champions League, to reach the Coppa Italia semi-final.
“The season is still very long and we still have the opportunity to show that we are a quality squad that can challenge for the top.”
Does that mean Pioli believes Milan are still in the Scudetto race, considering they are only nine points off top spot?
“No, take us out of that. We have to focus on ourselves and the objective is very clear, we did fairly well in the first half of the season and want to do better in the second half. I don’t think 39 points is too bad a tally at the midway stage, but we’ve got to step on the gas now.
“Considering all that we had said over the summer, we believe that we could’ve had more points. The games where we dropped the ball were against Juventus, Napoli, Udinese and Lecce, picking up only two points despite not playing all that badly.
“There is no point thinking now about what might’ve been, we have Serie A and the Europa League and can still have our say in those competitions.”
Milan still concede too many goals and while Matteo Gabbia was brought back from his loan with Villarreal, will they sign any more defenders in the January transfer window?
“The club knows there are some requirements, they are working. We’ll see if there are any opportunities we can take to fill the gaps that are caused by injuries.”
Club owner Gerry Cardinale was in the stadium and entered the locker room with advisor Zlatan Ibrahimovic for a pep talk before kick-off.
“Cardinale motivated us before the match in the locker room, said that the owners are by our side and will try to support our ambition, but above all with intelligent investment. I couldn’t talk about the budget for January, as I don’t know what it is.”
#SerieA I @acmilan, #Pioli: "Toglieteci dalla lotta scudetto. Voci sul futuro? Non mi infastidiscono" https://t.co/ObkGWnyceP
— Gianluca Di Marzio (@DiMarzio) January 14, 2024