Stefano Pioli refused to allow Milan “alibis” after their home defeat to Genoa and confessed there is not much he can do about the “chaos” at his club.
“Clearly, playing without a crowd isn’t football. That is true for all the teams, even more so for the hosts,” the coach told DAZN following a 2-1 defeat.
Stefano Pioli refused to allow Milan “alibis” after their home defeat to Genoa and confessed there is not much he can do about the “chaos” at his club.
“Clearly, playing without a crowd isn’t football. That is true for all the teams, even more so for the hosts,” the coach told DAZN following a 2-1 defeat.
“Besides all that, we had the chance to prove our quality, that we had the strength to go past all of these issues and still win it, but we didn’t win, and it was largely our own fault.
“When we left our training ground on the bus to get here, Parma-SPAL had not yet kicked off and we didn’t know if it was going to. Clearly, that wasn’t helpful, but we were in the same situation as our opponents, so again, that cannot be used as an alibi.
“As to whether Serie A should continue, there are people who know far more about the situation than me.”
Milan have been in chaos over the last few days, with Chief Football Officer Zvonimir Boban fired, Paolo Maldini in the balance and only Ivan Gazidis in the stands today.
“We need no alibis or justifications, not for being behind closed doors, nor for any difficulties within the club or debates. We should’ve been more determined in certain key moments of the match.
“I can’t say we didn’t play, because we did, but out of 22 shots on goal, only a couple were on target. I want us to be more determined in certain moments and then we made errors conceding the two goals as well. If you concede a goal when there are more of us in the box than them, it means our attitude is wrong.
“We have no alibis, we ought to do much better than this. It’s difficult to say you didn’t play well when you spent most of the game in the opposition half and had 22 shots on goal. It was not a technical or tactical issue, it was a lack of determination.
“It was such a good opportunity to prove that we felt strong and could overcome the obstacles, but it was a surreal situation for our opponents too. We failed to show determination at the right moments and that has nothing to do with playing behind closed doors or chaos within the club.”
Boban said today that Milan had already agreed a deal with Ralf Rangnick to take over back in December, so Pioli is a lame duck.
“I read it, to be honest, I have to remain concentrated on my work. I am not worried about my future, I don’t know what will happen, this is part of the job. This is a prestigious club and we have to end the season as well as possible.
“It’s not my decision, all I can do is work well and try to end the season as well as we can. The rest of that is not something I can really discuss.”