Stefano Pioli admits Milan ‘lacked sharpness and made too many mistakes’ in their 3-1 defeat to Sassuolo.
The Rossoneri suffered their second consecutive Serie A loss after a 4-3 away to Fiorentina, the first at San Siro in the league this term.
Alessio Romagnoli’s glancing header on a short corner had put them in front, but it was turned around by a Gianluca Scamacca screamer from distance, another Scamacca effort that deflected in off Simon Kjaer and Domenico Berardi’s angled drive.
“We lacked sharpness, because we made too many mistakes. We had so many half-chances that we didn’t take because of the wrong choices.
“When we did take the lead, we didn’t hold on longer than three minutes, and those are the crucial moments of the match. Clearly, something didn’t work.”
Pioli made some rare squad rotation choices in midfield and they did not pay off, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Ismael Bennacer providing no protection in the first half.
Milan have now conceded seven goals in two Serie A games, losing 4-3 to Fiorentina last week.
“I didn’t see a lack of concentration or determination. I think mentally we just weren’t sharp and made the wrong choices.
“Our approach to defending does require one-on-one situations, it’s just that we lost several of them today against quality players like Scamacca and Berardi.
“It’s never just about the defence, we gave the ball away too cheaply and certainly shouldn’t have conceded the third goal.
“I don’t believe it was the wrong approach, we just made bad choices. We are aware of our strengths and our weaknesses, so we need to keep working. We had a very strong start to the season, then in recent games have fallen away a little due to various situations, but we can get back on track.
“This squad was built for two tournaments and we hope to remain in the Champions League for as long as possible. I used five players who weren’t starting in Madrid precisely so we’d have fresh legs and minds, but Sassuolo are a technically-gifted and quick side who created real problems.”
Pioli had a final tribute to pay for the ultras at San Siro, especially after so many of them travelled to Madrid for the midweek Champions League win over Atletico.
“I want to send a message to our Milan fans, who really were pushing behind us from start to finish. They never let us down and with them we will go far.”
The last goal was Kessie’s fault for sure.
Gave the ball away twice in a minute to Sassuolo players.
That said, Pioli needs to try some other midfield combinations, Kessie and Bennacer won’t be here for AFCON, why not test out Tonali-Bakayoko today?
@Roro.
Needed to rest tonali as he started vs Fiorentina and Atléti. he’s not a robot. Tomori and rebid are critical to this team. I agree that tonali and bakayoko is a good combination. The problem isn’t just one player. Lots of players are making individual mistakes.
I thought the team were petulant today, lacked discipline. That’s what cost us and SAS thoroughly deserved their win. Bakayoko wants too much time on the ball. The 3rd goal was a calamity of errors.
in this type of games whet the team is exhausted we need to win ugly – like juve in its goog years. defence, ugly game and 2-3 counter attacks to kill the game. we need a plan b – we cant be always beautiful
Shame on you !!!! This was horrible performance. You should return money for tickets to all fans!
Deserved win for Sassuolo. We could play them 10 times and lose every single one. Milan slipping and losing players to AFCON (and injuries) in January will be a disaster.
I love you guys as you just keep on giving.