Montella: "AC Milan trip is a big test"

Vincenzo Montella is expecting a tough game when Fiorentina take on AC Milan at San Siro in Week 6 of Serie A on Sunday night.

“I think we’ve done better than the five points we have,” began the Viola coach, speaking in his pre-match press conference on Saturday. “It’s a big test against a side that is improving quickly compared with their first few games, especially in terms of their play. It will be a demanding match but it promises to be an exciting test.”

Montella was pragmatic when asked about how his side is dealing with an intense run of matches going into the clash at the Meazza.
“It’s our third game in a short period of time but thankfully that’s the case for AC Milan too,” he said. “I think they’ve made a lot of changes over the course of these games. We’re on even footing in that regard. When you’re playing three games a week, especially at the start of the season, I don’t worry about the fitness because the players are able to recover. You have more time to recover at the start. It’s harder for the players that haven’t played much or at all. The mentality is the key: how much you’re able to put into the game. That’s the hardest thing and it’s what shows the different in the level of the players.”
The Viola boss called on his side to show more maturity during matches in order to ensure they don’t let results slip.
“We have a lot of room for improvement, particularly the way we manage matches at specific periods in the game,” he said. “If we want to achieve the ambitious targets we’ve set ourselves, we need to manage games better.”
There was praise for Federico Chiesa, who has been in blistering form in recent matches.
“Federico has been amazing in the last two games,” said Montella. “He’s put in top performances both technically and physically despite them being close together and very demanding. That shows that he can maintain that level over 38 games. That’s what we want and we hope that he can achieve that. He has everything in place to be a top player in Europe.”
Another player attracting attention is Gaetano Castrovilli, but Montella urged the youngster to keep his head down and focusing on building on his early-season form.
“Castrovilli is improving and showing consistency, but he still needs to get better,” he said. “Given the type of player he is, he doesn’t get enough shots away or provide enough assists. He has room for improvement and plenty of objectives to strive for.”

Published: Sun, 29 Sep 2019 10:29:00 +0200

Source: Fiorentina Official website en.violachannel.tv