Stefano Pioli concedes Milan were ‘frenetic, distracted and made mistakes’ in their 2-2 draw with Salernitana. ‘It’s positive we got it back for a draw, but we came here to win.’
The Rossoneri had taken the lead early on through Junior Messias, but rock bottom Salernitana making their debut under new coach Davide Nicola refused to give in.
Federico Bonazzoli equalised with an acrobatic overhead kick after Mike Maignan’s howler, then Milan Djuric turned it around through his diving header.
Another Maignan error almost gifted Bonazzoli, denied by an Alessio Romagnoli goal-line clearance, but Ante Rebic drilled in from distance for 2-2.
Serie A | Salernitana 2-2 Milan: Leaders scrape a point at rock bottom Salerno
“The team did not play well in terms of technique and choices. We were frenetic, not clean in our passing, didn’t make the most of the spaces and paid a heavy price for some naïve errors,” the coach told Sky Sport Italia.
“We had started strong and took the lead, but we should’ve been more balanced on their goals and read the situations better. We were too frenetic and had several big chances to restore our lead after the break, but didn’t take them.
“We are disappointed because we didn’t play our usual football. Of course, we are disappointed, because we could’ve played better. The worrying thing is we started well, but then made mistakes that lately we haven’t been making and this frenetic energy took over, we were distracted on the goals with the preventative marking.
“It’s positive that we got it back for a draw, but we cannot deny we came here looking for the win. We’ve got to learn from our mistakes and do better next time.”
Salernitana were making their debut under new coach Nicola, their third tactician of the campaign.
“I was on the Salernitana bench almost 20 years ago. It feels like a lifetime ago.”
Rafael Leao had a big chance to put Milan 2-1 up, but hesitated and was caught out by Ederson.
“I told him off because he kept coming too deep to get the ball and I wanted him to attack the space. He tried to take men on, but a lot of our players weren’t having a good night.
“Mind you, if he had scored with that overhead kick, we’d be talking about him and the game differently. I was on the bench and I swore that was in…”
FT: Salernitana 2-2 Milan
Ante Rebic’s long-range strike saves a point for the away side, who lose ground in the title race against Serie A’s bottom side! 😳 pic.twitter.com/fPHe887Ycs
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) February 19, 2022
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We don’t deserve the title. Come on! What a disgrace.
We keep losing points against teams who probably will play in Serie B next term! LOL.
This is why only Ibra, Theo and Leao deserve pay increases.
Everyone else can’t handle Salernitana FFS!
Yeah you were distracted from the european mid week match! LOL
Salernitana are fighting for their Serie A survival.
Watch them play the same way against Inter in 2 weeks time.
Inter will handle them with ease as they have grit, are proven and have a winning mentality brought to them by Marotta and the chief moaner Conte. If Milan cannot get the job done now like last year, it will be more of an uphill battle next term. If Juventus make a few more changes, knock Allegri on the head and Inter build on their project, Milan will only fight for top 4 places.
Reza, Inter surely showed winning mentality against Milan and Liverpool! LOL! They are a poor team that got lucky last year because Juventus took a year off. Inter has no project and will collapse due to financial issues, just matter of time.
@SMH, you are missing the point. What is the point of winning a derby to then throw games away to teams like Salernitana with all due respect. Correct me if I am wrong, didn’t Milan lose to Liverpool twice? Juventus did not take a year off, they are in transition and will be back. Like it or not they always have to be considered every year so Reza is absolutely correct. If Milan cannot make the most of that it will become harder to get their hands on the title. Milan have also suffered financial collapse as well, so what comes around goes around, blame Silvio for selling to a con man.
Maignan the hero against inter saving 2-3 sure goals against the best team in Italy but against rock bottom salernitana one of the worst teams to play serie a in years, he costs them a goal and almost another which bonazzoli should have scored. Football is a funny game
A Botman in defence would’ve been really ideal yesterday to deal with the aerial threat of the opposition. Tomori was not only dwarfed by their striker, but he wasn’t awake enough to get ahead when the cross came. Overall a disappointing night for the defensive department. Maignan made a misjudgment that cost one goal yesterday, one goal too many. The attack could’ve easily scored another goal yesterday. Even the midfield was uncharacteristically off yesterday. Considering Rebic’s goal one point is not a complete disaster, but should not happen too often…
@ SMH juventus with 70 milion just to draw against small team what kind a joke..juve will finish fifth. and inter has just extend contract of all director..inter will win a lot in the future as well
Milan can match the top teams because they gave Milan space. If a team defends in numbers we’re doomed. We can’t even break down a few dummies put together close on the pitch and it’s mainly Diaz’ shortcoming. He’s supposed to be that spark of creativity but he can’t. Inter AND Juventus can win these games by spamming crosses into the box and eventually scoring with all those tall players who are experts on heading. Something Milan are unable to do, partly because we don’t have the tools for it.
@smh
You are delusional hahaha
I have said it before if we can’t beat teams like this we don’t deserve to win the league, I’m a Milan fan from day one but as everyone has pointed out, no point winning the derby to make this title race interesting when we crumble under pressure if this was Inter they would of taken the 3 points even if it was a relegation battle for Salernitana. I was totally disappointed in the performance yesterday…just give Inter the title if they can’t handle the pressure of competing for the league! Inter were once 7 points behind so that says a lot for Milan mentality.
@JCee I think the management need to understand Milan will not win the league or any trophy if you have a coach like Pioli and players who are too inconsistent partly due to the coach. Look at Hakan at Inter for example. I pointed out that when Inter were behind by 7 points they were still producing great performances but Milan were scraping points. Inter will get their revenge from the derby defeat in two legs Coppa matches. By then it’ll be very clear what is the level of Milan. But there are still so many matches with the potential to drop even more points