AC Milan's head coach, Ruben Amorim, spoke to the journalists present at San Siro in a press conference after the Rossoneri 2-0 victory against Venezia.
A good win, but too many chances conceded?
“Conceding all these chances means that sooner or later we will concede a goal, and at that point it will become difficult to turn the situation around. But this is currently the way we defend: we leave a huge amount of space, and that is difficult for my players. Sometimes, while we are attacking, it is difficult for them not to simply watch the ball, but to think about what they should do in case we lose it. These are all details that we need time to work on.
“Now we are defending in a completely different area of the pitch, with one half of the pitch left completely open and often finding ourselves in one-on-one situations. If we want to get this message across, we have to do better, especially when we have the ball: when we are in possession, we already have to be prepared for the possibility of losing it. It is something we need to improve, as is the way we defend crosses into the box.
“We already knew this would be a difficult match at San Siro, against a team that rotates its players a lot, wants the ball, and has a stadium that pushes them to press extremely aggressively. Sometimes we have to be intelligent and understand that a match has different phases. My feeling during the game was that we are doing many good things, but there is still a lot to improve if we want to become a truly very strong team.
“We already knew this would be a difficult match at San Siro, against a team that rotates its players a lot, wants the ball, and has a stadium that pushes them to press extremely aggressively. Sometimes we have to be intelligent and understand that a match has different phases. My feeling during the game was that we are doing many good things, but there is still a lot to improve if we want to become a truly very strong team.”
At the final whistle, you went straight to the dressing room... Is that something you need?
“When the match ends, regardless of the result, especially when we win, I go straight to the dressing room because I need to calm myself down, knowing that I am the face of the team. I always take responsibility, whatever the result. For me, it is essential to take a moment to analyse the game and let the adrenaline come down, because I am just like you, a bit like Italians: a very passionate person. I really need those five minutes for myself.
"My first thought was that we still have an enormous amount of work to do. At the end of the game, the feeling was that we are still a long way from the level required to be a truly very strong team. At the same time, though, I was really proud of the boys because they are showing courage and working hard."
“My very first feeling was happiness at winning, but I was already thinking about what I would have to say here in the press conference and what we will need to work on in the next training session.”
Amorim, what needs to be improved?
“At the moment, everything that happens is a step forward, never backwards, because even the difficulties help us understand what we need to work on. So everything that happened today is extremely useful for taking another step forward," as relayed via Milannews.it.
“These were two completely different matches. Torino are a team where you already know what to expect: it is system against system, so it is easier to understand what will happen on the pitch, even though sometimes it is more difficult to control. In this match, on the other hand, there was much more rotation among their players. As a result, we had to constantly adapt, accepting that they would be left in one-on-one situations, sometimes even with 30 metres of space behind us."
“All these details help me understand what is difficult or less difficult for my team. So I say that it is a step forward because we won and we clearly understood what we will have to work on next week.”
How is Christian Pulisic?
“He has great talent, and I said that in the press conference as well. I simply have to manage my players’ workloads, and I understand that at the moment we need to win and bring more intensity to every match.
"So it is difficult for Pulisic to find space at the moment, but he remains a very important player for us. He is returning from an injury and has only had one week of training behind him, so sometimes it is difficult to manage both the individual player and the match, because the priority is always the team. The priority is always winning."
How did you see Gonçalo Ramos at half-time? Did he say anything to you? Amorim said:
“With Gonçalo Ramos, this is where you see the great players, and I mention him because he has won everything at PSG. Ramos missed two chances, but on the third one he remained calm: he was not thinking about the mistakes he had made previously.
“That is a quality that comes with experience and ability. So I did not say anything to Ramos: he did an extraordinary job, and I was already sure that he would score the next chance. He played a great match. Thank you.”
