Massimiliano Allegri spoke to DAZN after Milan - Cremonese 1-2. A bitter return to the bench for Max, who loses the first match of the season. These were his comments:
What did you note in your notebook after tonight?
“I didn’t really note anything. If you look at the performance, we had many shots on goal. The difference comes down to how you attack with intensity and how you defend. We could have been more careful, but fortunately it’s the start of the season and we can work on it.”
Is Milan numerically incomplete? Allegri said:
“Evaluating the squad right now doesn’t make sense. We’ve worked well so far and we’ll continue to do so. In Serie A, you face tough teams like Cremonese, who won fairly. We made two mistakes that cost us the defeat. We need to be more aggressive both when we don’t have the ball and when we do.”
How concerned are you about this lack of aggression?
“It’s never easy; the first game is always complicated, and fitness isn’t optimal. These are matches where you shouldn’t concede goals, but unfortunately we did. We got back into the game, and in the second half we had potential chances to score, which we didn’t convert, and then we conceded this goal knowing they are strong at crossing and good at closing down in the box. We need to work on these situations. As I always say, we can’t concede two goals per game.”
What surprised you tonight?
“Looking at the goals we conceded, the area where we need to improve, and haven’t yet, is our reaction to danger. We didn’t sense it. In the box, we were five against three, and you can’t leave someone to jump alone. Just like Pezzella shouldn’t be trying to intercept a ball at full speed from a deep position. You have to sense danger; if you don’t, you can always concede goals.”
On Santiago Gimenez:
"He’s a bit behind in fitness, but he gave his all and did as much as he could. In the end, he had a great header chance that didn’t go well. But this isn’t just about Santiago—it’s about all of us taking responsibility for how we play and prepare. We absolutely can’t concede goals like this."
Even Napoli lost their first match last year… Allegri commented:
"Regardless of what happened last year, among all the negatives we have to look at the positives. On Monday, when we return, we have to prepare well because we face Lecce, which is a difficult ground. We need to be ready to play messy games; otherwise, if we only play clean matches, we could lose, win, or draw against anyone. That doesn’t give us solidity. We had improved, but unfortunately tonight we fell into these two mistakes."
