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00:00Good afternoon everyone, welcome along to the pre-match press conference on the eve
00:05of Milan-Coma. Let's start with Milan TV. Thanks Nicola, good afternoon Gaffa on the
00:09eve of Milan against Coma. I wanted to ask you the following. It's the second week without
00:15any mid-week commitments. How useful is that for you? How much are you sowing? How many
00:24signs can you see from the players, from the team, in terms of the work that you've put
00:30in over the last two weeks without necessarily having a match, recovery, pre-match, etc.
00:38But actually doing work on the training ground. Good afternoon everyone. It's hugely important.
00:43This is the second week where we haven't had any mid-week commitments and it's been very
00:52important for us to be able to work on certain match situations and also on fitness level
01:00where we needed to. The lads' response, the players' response has been superb in terms
01:07of their spirit. I like to see the spirit that they have. Even at the end of a training
01:15session with a training game, they're happy, they've got a smile on their face. We are
01:22having them work on things that they've never worked on together as a unit and that's absolutely
01:26crucial. Sky, watching from the outside looking in when the lads walk by is that all you needed
01:35was the three goals and three points for the fire to come back to them. I'd like to ask
01:43you this. As a footballing man, you said we'll keep fighting until the end of the season. Maybe
01:47numerically it's impossible to qualify for the Champions League but do you still have that as
01:52your target? Winning tomorrow and potentially with some favourable results elsewhere. Gaffer,
01:59do you still think it is feasible or do you think we need to look elsewhere in terms of targets? No,
02:04we're battling and fighting day in day out in order to improve, to evolve as a team. That's
02:11what's important as a side because if you do evolve as a team, then the results will get
02:17better as a consequence. What we think is the here and now and in the here and now we have a
02:23very challenging match against an excellent Como side tomorrow. Therefore, I don't need to
02:30necessarily think too far ahead. We need to work day in day out as the players are currently doing
02:36very well. You correctly said that. You can see that that happiness, that joy that they bring to
02:41the workplace and now we are really hammering them on the training ground because over the last two
02:46weeks we've really been able to do so and the players are happy. The squad are looking good
02:50and we're trying to harness that on the pitch. They've shown on the training ground, they've
02:56given us an excellent response over the last two weeks in terms of spirit and character just as we
03:01saw at Lecce. So we need to press ahead and we'll see where we are come the end of the season.
03:05The zone. Gaffer, I'd like to come back to the three points coming from behind to beat Lecce.
03:12But after you came back to beat Como, you came back to beat Parma, you've always had some defeats
03:20on the back of that. So have you been able to work on hunger, motivation, the players mindset
03:25because it feels like the players can't back up for two games running. We're trying to work all
03:31across the board physically, tactically, emotionally as well. So we've done that work
03:36and I'm very pleased with this work's training just as I was with last week's work. We started
03:47the Lecce game very well I think we had four or five clear goal scoring opportunities in the first
03:52half. The first time that they scored, they had a shot on goal, they scored, we needed to be
03:56stronger and afterwards we were that. In the second half we created a number of opportunities,
04:01we scored three goals, we could have even scored more. But Lecce just like other teams do boast
04:07quality. There are some excellent coaches working with these teams. No game is easy here in Italy
04:17and Serie A. Maybe back in the day that was the case where you could just rock up and you could
04:24speculate as to by how many goals Milan or Juventus would win by. I think it's different now, it's more
04:29balanced, it's more even and it's tougher as a result. Rai, good afternoon Gaffer. I wanted to
04:34ask you about this unusual week whereby a lot has been said. Just this week? No, I've been hearing
04:47things for the last six weeks, last month and a half since the Super Cup. If I'm completely honest
04:52but you can confirm as much. So it's only natural then? Yes, for me it is. Because now we're talking
04:59about Milan in June, the new head coach after Sergio Conceicao and no one's talking about this
05:05much. I can't control what other people say nor what they think. All I can control is my players,
05:13what we do on the training ground, preparing games and the rest is what it is. Pepe said to me,
05:23yes I'm a footballing man, yes I always have been for a number of years ever since I started
05:26playing football since I was nine. I'm used to everything. At times maybe there is a slight
05:31lack of respect for people that are still here working at the club but hey that's it. That's
05:36football and I'm used to it. Let's head back towards Monica Colombo. Good afternoon Gaffer.
05:43Now I'm going to ask you a question. I don't want to lack any respect.
05:52In your opinion, are you additionally motivated tomorrow in terms of trying to beat Como given that
06:03there's a young coach like Cesc Fabregas whose name has already been linked amongst
06:10the panoply of names that have been linked with Milan over the last few weeks?
06:16On a personal level, does that give you
06:22that desire to show what you can do and maybe get your own back more than the three points
06:27that are on the line? If that was where the motivation came from then I would be sick
06:35and I'd need to go to hospital. No, quite frankly no. I'm motivated by trying to win
06:41a match against a good team with an excellent coach and staff. They're doing an excellent job
06:47with some very exciting young players and they've got quality as a team. So our motivation is to try
06:53and come away with three points whether that's against Como or another team, it doesn't matter.
06:58What we do need to do is, yes, study their strengths and their weaknesses as well.
07:07That's where we need to start. We need to do our job. We need to focus on what we have to do. That's
07:11the priority because if we set up well in the match and if we do what we've been working on
07:18with a greater or lesser amount of difficulty then we will be closer to winning the match.
07:23That's what we're most focused on. It's Milan against Como, it's not Consecao against the
07:29opposition coach. That doesn't matter at all. Two very quick things. Hearing you speak about
07:37the work that you've done, that you've been able to do over the last two weeks, I'd like to ask you
07:42whether your greatest regret at this moment in time is the fact that you didn't join the club
07:47at the start of the season in order to really make your mark right from pre-season in terms
07:53of the way you want to work and to convey your footballing ideas as well. That would have certainly
07:58been easier for you to convey those ideas from pre-season as opposed to coming three days in
08:04before your first competitive game and then playing every three days. That's the first question.
08:08Secondly, I'd like to ask you about Rafael Liao. In the last six matches in Serie A, Liao has almost
08:16always had an impact either by scoring goals, winning penalties or providing assists. But
08:21there's a statistic that says that when he comes off the bench, he scores or provides an assist
08:28every 52 minutes, whereas when he starts matches, it's 183 minutes per goal or assist.
08:36All that is to figure out whether or not Liao will start tomorrow or not.
08:41I got that, I understood that. You are a very experienced, excellent journalist
08:50because you have a very cheeky, friendly way of getting to the point that you want to ultimately
08:56arrive at. There is no regret because when I joined the club, I knew all about the fixture list,
09:04I knew that it wouldn't be easy at all coming in mid-season with a squad that was already in place.
09:11The footballing principles had already been implemented by a different coach with a different
09:18philosophy, but I already knew that. So that's the reality of the situation. As for Liao,
09:23I don't like to talk about individual players. As you know, Rafa is, in my opinion, one of the
09:29best players in Serie A. He might even be one of the best players in the world.
09:33And I've already spoken to him. He's working hard. He is available for selection. He's willing to do
09:38his bit for the team, whether it's from the first whistle or from the 40th minute or from the 90th
09:44minute. He's very hardworking. I'm very direct with him and so is he to me. We've got a fantastic
09:49relationship. What matters is he's available to help the team out. Good afternoon, coach. I wanted
09:56to ask you two very quick things. First, the feeling is that you're still trying to strike
10:03that balance within the team as a unit in terms of where you attack, when you defend,
10:09and maybe that's why you've been experimenting in midfield with different personnel. So at Lecce,
10:15it was Bondo and amongst others that started. So I wanted to ask you, how close do you think you are
10:21to finding the solution that you think is the best fit for this Milan side, maybe even
10:26being helped by the last two weeks on the training ground? Another quick thing,
10:30Chimenez hasn't scored for almost a month now. You've already explained to us
10:37that it will take him time to settle in. How can you help him to get the best out of his game?
10:45And what have you done specifically with him over the last two weeks to try and
10:49allow Chimenez to score more goals? I'll start with the end. Over the last two weeks,
10:56we have had time to work on other things and the forwards have definitely done some specific work
11:02in their units, just as the defensive line has done so and the midfield unit as well.
11:10And balance and shape, it comes down to the defence as a whole. It's not just down to
11:14defenders or midfielders or attackers. It's about the unit when we lose the ball, how we react to
11:19the turnover, whether we're high up the pitch, you need balance defensively, but not even necessarily
11:25in terms of numbers. You need to be close to the opposition forward, who needs to provide the
11:33defensive cover. That's all part of the way the team works. When you attack, it's not just a case
11:42of how the attackers behave. You have to start attacking with the goalkeeper. So you need to
11:46work in all of the different units, all the different areas of the pitch as a team in order
11:50to strike the balance, to get the shape. Not only me, but all coaches want that.
11:54No, we are working to get closer to what I want to see. It's not that we're just here doing any
12:03old thing. We're trying to strike that balance. We do want to be dangerous offensively and
12:09defensively. We also want to stop the opposition from easily getting near to our goal.
12:21Hi coach. A question and something else I'm curious about. The question is as follows.
12:27Both at Lecce and in other situations as well, on other occasions, Milan kept conceding goals
12:36because, as you keep stressing the point, because of a lack of shape.
12:43According to Luca Marchegiani, a former Lazio player, he was my teammate.
12:48Okay, he was your teammate at Lazio. He said that I get the sense that Milan don't know how to
12:54defend. So I'd like to ask you, besides all of the tests, the work that you're doing on the
12:59training ground, from a defensive perspective, do you understand why this team keep conceding
13:07goals pretty much in the same fashion, in the same way?
13:11Okay, maybe it's just a feeling, but when the opposition score, it's always a mistake.
13:20It's always a mistake as a team and at times it's an individual error. But that happens
13:26everywhere. It's not only at Milan that these things come to pass. You need to work on details.
13:30Before I came in here, I had a meeting with some videos on defensive shape. I showed them where we
13:36need to improve. We have to do that on the pitch. I like to work on the training ground and then
13:40strengthen that, emphasize that with some video clips and what we haven't done well. At times,
13:46it isn't a case of necessarily attack to defense transition, that they don't do it. They do do
13:52that transition. You need to understand how to stop an opposition counter-attack, an opposition
13:58fast break. And even when you've got even numbers, you can do so, we can do so and we need to do so
14:04because we've got some excellent quick defenders. And that's what we're working on. We're working
14:09to try and strike that balance as a team on a daily basis. I'm very happy, as I said at the
14:16start, to work on situations that were very difficult to work on. All we could do is work
14:23on the video or on the chalkboard, whereas now we can actually get out there on the training
14:26ground and it's different because the players actually see the space. They know exactly what
14:31it is they need to do. And it's not necessarily you click your fingers and you can be 100% perfect
14:37from one day to the next. No, because even if you work on this for years, you can't be perfect.
14:41There's something to improve day in, day out. There's something to do better that we didn't
14:45do well on the previous game that you need to work on. But that's what we're doing.
14:49The second thing is something a bit more curious about. In a previous press conference,
14:54you told us that you had texted Derigo Sacchi and he hadn't replied to you. Has he since replied
14:59to you or has he spoken to you? That's a question for Andrea Ramazzotti, no? That's not for me,
15:05no. It's Andrea Ramazzotti that speaks to Derigo Sacchi. No, I've got the utmost respect for him.
15:14And all this stuff about texting is for young people. He doesn't even see
15:19these texts. I'd like to send him my best regards. He was my coach in the past
15:25for 18 months and he's one of the great names of Italian football down the years.
15:32Good afternoon, coach. I was interested to know about Ruben Loftus-Cheek's fitness levels. You've
15:41only had him for 13 minutes, the final 13 minutes of the derby. That might be a good sign. From one
15:47derby to another, could Ruben Loftus-Cheek be a weapon for you at the end of the season with
15:53Milan's main target, which is the Coppa Italia? Yes, I've known Ruben from how he got on the
16:00previous seasons and I've never had him available for selection due to injury. Now he's 100%
16:04fit. Sure, physically he's still not ready to withstand 90 minutes, but I do really like him.
16:12He's a very powerful midfielder who's good at breaking into the opposition box.
16:21He's a beast physically, as we say. So I hope he can be available for selection for the end
16:26of the season so that he can help out the team. He scored 10 goals across all competitions last
16:31season, if I'm not mistaken. So he really is a top class box-to-box midfielder.
16:41Good afternoon, coach. Two things regarding a couple of individuals. First on Teo Hernandez.
16:49We saw him in a slightly more advanced role against Lecce. It was almost like a back three
16:53with Teo Hernandez as a left wing back. Was that what allowed him to be a bit more effective and
16:58could that be an option going forward? Second on the strike force, Santi Jimenez and Tammy Abraham,
17:05because the latter was decisive in goalmouth situations, albeit he wasn't necessarily in the
17:10box. Could the solution be Santi Jimenez alongside Abraham as a front two? It depends on the fixture,
17:17it depends on the game plan that we have or what we're opting for in a certain match.
17:23I like to play with two strikers up top, two target men. I don't think it can necessarily
17:36work from the start at this stage. As for Teo Hernandez, I can't curb Teo's attacking instincts.
17:49I need to try and channel it to find that balance. We are doing so, we're working on that,
17:55trying to harness it to make sure that he can offer what he did at Lecce, assists,
18:03so that he can be a match winner in the final third because that's the quality he has.