AC MILAN COACH MIHAJLOVIC: FOCUSED ON CARPI

AC Milan

 

Sinisa Mihajlovic was joined by Riccardo Montolivo in the press conference for the TIM Cup match against Carpi

MILANELLO – Sinisa Mihajlovic was joined by his captain Riccardo Montolivo in the press conference ahead of the TIM Cup match against Carpi tomorrow. The Milan coach spoke of his desire to make it to the next round of the tournament. He said:“A win would mean we move on in the Italian Cup. We know Carpi well, we know they are a team that fights for the entire 90 minutes and they never give up. We need to take our chances and go through to the next round. The goal for tomorrow is to stay on our feet and go through to the next round. If we play like we did at Roma then we have have good chance of winning. Against Rome we played badly for 15 minutes then we got to grips with the game and it was an even match. Conceding a goal after only three minutes could have fallen apart but the players rallied together. In the end we played an excellent match and we deserved to win. We are not an unlucky team, if we create a lot and don’t score that much then it means it is one of our problems that we have to work on. I am relaxed, as always, and the rumoours do not bother me. I am just focusing on one game at a time. This side, when we have the entire squad fit, can compete for a Champions League place and we deserve a little more on the pitch. The only game we drew and didn’t deserve to was the game against Atalanta. We the points we deserved to have we would be a lot closer to the top teams. We must be more clinical and determined in front of goal. For me as a coach the way we play is very important no matter what the result is and if we continue to play like this then we will also obtain the results.”

“I will decide the line-up after the training session. Maybe Luiz Ariano will play alongside Niang and Bacca will be rested. I told Luiz Adriano to go and mark De Rossi when he was not in possession and he did that very well and he also asked for the ball a lot. Even Boateng, when he came on, did very well. The players always try to out into practice what we work on in training. Boateng from the very first minute is an option, it is the third game in seven days and some have played more than others, some will play all three games, we’ll see. Balotelli is available and has been called-up for tomorrow if nothing happens today. Menez has been working with the ball and with the rest of the squad for the last two days. What’s important is that he doesn’t feel pain anymore and I hope to have him available as soon as possible, by the end of January if there are no further complications. Since arriving the club have always supported me. When the results don’t come then we are the first to be disappointed but the president is the one who suffers the most. We all feel the club is sticking close to us and I spoke to the president yesterday so everything is fine.”RICCARDO MONTOLIVO:
“Carpi have been doing well lately. At the start maybe they took some time to adjust to the top flight. We have to clear our minds, we have to concentrate only on tomorrow and play a good game. There is nothing anyone can say about our desire and work ethic but we still haven’t taken that extra step. It is obviously our fault if we do not take the chances we create and of course we get angry. The president has always been very close to the players and team and it is only normal that there is some criticism out there. I am the Milan captain and today we are eighth so it’s only normal to hear some negative things. It is better if they criticise me rather than others, so the others can have less pressure.”