Mister Massimiliano Allegri spoke to DAZN after the 1-0 defeat at the Olimpico against Lazio. Here’s what he said.
What didn’t work today?
“We were aware, first of all, of the difficulty of the match. Today, Lazio fans were returning to the stadium. For them, it was a very important game, playing against Milan, and they don’t have much to ask from the standings… They played an important match, especially in the first half. We just needed to be a little more organized in the first half and not concede a goal the way we did. But above all, we made a lot of technical mistakes. They ran a lot, then they slowed down, and we had a good second half, but we didn’t score. Unfortunately, this is football; some matches just go like this. We need to reset immediately. Everyone was talking about the Scudetto… Yes, after Inter’s draw, everyone talked about the title, but we have to be realistic. I believe Milan is doing good things this year, and we need to stay focused on our Champions League goal, otherwise we risk destroying what has been built in six months.”
Allegri, what happened with Leao during the substitution?
“He was a bit nervous because there were situations where he could have been served better, and he wasn’t. There were two possible scoring opportunities, and he was a bit upset. These things happen during a match; all the guys wanted to win because, first of all, it would have allowed us to extend the gap over those behind. Como is six points back and Juventus seven, if I’m not mistaken. The season is still long. We need to stay calm and work on improving the situations we didn’t handle well.”
Today you started less aggressively. Was that a strategy?
“I think in the first half we made a lot of technical mistakes with many players ahead of the ball. We were exposed to their counterattacks. Even the goal: we were set up against a long ball. Even before the goal, the field was always open. We had eight players ahead of the ball. They were very clever; compared to before, Lazio has less possession and plays more vertically. Goals like that shouldn’t happen, but they do. Near the box, we missed many final passes. They ran a lot in the first half, and the opponents were also active. They marked well, closed the spaces. In the second half, we increased the tempo, had many favorable situations, but we couldn’t score.”
Did the team suffer because of this cautious approach?
“It’s not that we were meant to wait. Or maybe I misread the first half… I think we conceded more counterattacks tonight in the first half than in the entire season. If you lose the ball in build-up in the opponent’s half, you either recover it immediately or you get countered; there’s no way out. In the first half, we lost many duels and challenges. There was one between De Winter and Maldini… When you’re slow to the ball and lose duels and tackles, it’s hard to take the lead. In the second half, we won almost all duels, and that’s why we were often in the opponent’s half.”
And why did this happen? Allegri commented:
“Hard to explain. The guys prepared well, even mentally. In the first half, we made many technical mistakes, and we weren’t organized at that moment. When you’re disorganized and lose the ball… We were in one-on-one situations for fifty minutes. Tonight we tried to accept this one-on-one approach to counterattacks; we couldn’t do anything else. There were eight players ahead of the ball, sometimes nine with De Winter behind against Maldini.”
