Marco Giampaolo is happy with what he’s seeing from his players so far as Milan take on Benfica tomorrow.
After losing 1-0 to Bayern Munich, Milan play Benfica in their second International Champions Cup game on Sunday at Gillette Stadium (21:00 CEST kickoff).
The Rossoneri will welcome back a few players who were unavailable against Bayern (Romagnoli, Musacchio, Suso and Rodriguez are all expected to start), so at least on paper they should be stronger than they were on Wednesday.
Coach Marco Giampaolo today sat alongside Fabio Borini and spoke to the press ahead of the game:
“I always expect growth compared to the last game. There are so many things to fix and it never ends. Now we are working on macro-principles, then we’ll also have to go into detail. The games we play will give us information on how to work on the details. That’s the process we have to follow until the first game of the season. It will be important to integrate those who are on holiday, those who train at Milanello and those who have just arrived. At the moment I am satisfied and confident, the group is curious and attentive. I see guys who want to challenge themselves, who don’t spare themselves. There are the conditions for putting one brick on top of another.
“If the road taken is the right one? Things go hand in hand between what will be the stimuli that will reach the players and the answers they will give. I know where to go and the direction to take. But to get to my vision and where I want, it takes a lot of work in terms of behavior, mentality and attitude. This is the most important moment for the construction of the team as no one gives you time. Now we have several pieces that are missing, and Borini has given me great availability. Bonaventura has done a session and a half with the group, Krunić has done two. The construction process is long, but the road is mapped. I have found great availability. The players have worked very well and never threw away a training session. We must all share an idea together that must lead us to achieve important results.
“The game against Bayern Munich? I liked the dedication and the fact that the guys played with faith, trying to retrace the lines of thought that we were trying to develop together. Having said that, the phases of possession and non-possession must be done better, as well as recuperating the ball. You have to fix some things, it’s normal and we’ll make it. I would have been worried if I hadn’t seen what I was saying earlier. I see confidence and commitment. We were reshaped but we were competitive, those who played put quality and experience into it, even if those who played were not the last to arrive. We were short in substitutions, we risked losing a few players due to injuries and we had to pull some players by the neck, letting them play 90 minutes when it wasn’t. However, fortunately, apart from Theo [who picked up an injury], it went well. Everyone kept a fight until the end.
“At what point is the squad? I’ve always contested that the transfer market should be open until the start of the league. I don’t get it and I will never get it. But nobody cares about the work we coaches have to do because we are in the most total business. My job has become increasingly difficult, but as long as my passion drives me – I’m in.
“If I feel at home? As for the conditions of my work, absolutely yes, you could say I feel at home already. They’re all very helpful and I’m not lacking anything, the conditions are favorable. My home was Milanello for 10 days and I felt good.
“The player’s appreciation? You have to earn credits every day from all the people who work in this great club, every day you are under examination. I never take anything for granted. I know what the responsibilities of my job entail and you never stop earning credibility, because you put your face out there every Sunday and it’s a different game. I’ve never deluded myself about anything, I have to work hard and I know I have to be on point because it’s important the club has put me in the best conditions to work.
“The ICC? High quality matches allow you to better measure yourself. This is an important tournament and we hope to make the people of Boston feel more Italian. In Italy, football is a national sport, in America it still isn’t and it will take time.”
Rafael Leao, Correra, Durate in.
A. Silva and Cutrone out.
Still we have no midfielder to play behind our strikers. Paqueta is better off as a mezzala. With him, Kessie and Bennacer our midfield is set. We have Krunic as CAM sub and Bona and Chalha as CM subs. With Genoa’s interest in Biglia we might need CDM as well.
We steel need to sell Laxalt, Strinic, Borini, Suso.
You have our full support coach, don’t let us down. The journey to success is usually rough and tough, but we never give up. We know finances aren’t the best in Milan, but be trust in your ability. To make our players better and tactics spot on.
We want to celebrate with you at the end of the season.
Forza Milan
correa scored a great goal against madrid few days ago, he will fit our style of play, time will tell whether he will justify his 45m price tag. Bennacir is fantastic signing and krunic is smart buy for 8m, hernandez is also a great buy, he showed that before he was injured. My biggest issue is selling cutrone for Lille’s Leao. I wouldnt have sacrificed one of the best young CF in europe, not for 22m which is peanuts compared to the 35m we are paying for Leao. It appears we also have not agreed a buyback or sell-on clause… Read more »
I think there are a bunch of eyebrows raised about the leao connection and cutrone sale. I feel it isn’t an upgrade monetarily nor ability. Time will tell.
im totaly against selling cutrone. specialy for the price in the other hand why only such ‘low’ clubs want him rafael leo seems not a ‘expensive buy’ as it looks like here some info ; Leão, who was previously wanted by Borussia Dortmund, Juventus and Manchester City, who were according to reports willing to pay £30million to sign him in 2018, ended up joining Lille OSC. “He has impressive technical and physical qualities that make him one of the most attractive and promising young players in world football. We feel that his signature is a rather exceptional event for LOSC.… Read more »
Cutrone is a poacher, like piatek with no skill or ability just an eye for goal. This is not what we need. Obviously if the coach wanted to keep him he would have but there working on something more. What’s the issue, everyone is crying he is our gem our homegrown yeah and why are they selling him, ask yourselves is he really good enough. Leao is class. So much potential yes the price is high but so are many talents these days. This is football.
Nice
My question is would you say the same about inzaghi? Cutrone has improved his gameplay with little game time to do it. We don’t need our cf to be zlatan, we need them to score. What happens when piatek gets hurt? We will just be playing with 2 ss. Oh and neither of them are natural goal scorers that make runs that a forward is supposed to make in order to create space for himself to score. Also what happens if piatek is a one hit wonder? Selling cutrone was a extremely stupid move. He’s shown with consistent game time… Read more »
Haha dude don’t compare inzaghi and cutrone inzaghi is my fav player so please just stop. A second striker needs skill speed passing like shevchenko and crespo together were amazing the good old days of milan
It figures you didn’t even bother to go into detail about why I can’t compare them when cutrone is a carbon copy of pippo. Cutrone has more skill and his movement event keeps him onside more. Both are Fox in the box players. So i ask again, if we had a young pippo now, would you say we should sell him. My point is you can’t base anything when you don’t even get to start more than a few games sporadically, and when you come in you play 10 min. Cutrone is the ONLY one that can sub piatek in,… Read more »
Really nice comment 🙂
El Pharaoh, you are entitled to your opinion but if cutrone is similiar to piatec doesnt it make sense to keep him as backup? If we play with 2 striker, he likes one to be a targetman/poacher and the other to be skillful. For this reason, i can understand why are signing correa. I also understand why we are selling silva but i dont understand why we would sell Cutrone when we have no backup as pure CF to piatec. Laeo is not an upgrade to Cutrone. Laeo scored 8 + 2 assists in 26 games in French league, Cutrone… Read more »
Cutrone doesn’t want to play as a backup to Piatek. He also wanted the #9 jersey and that’s when Leonardo had to step in and make a statement that it will have to be earned. Giampaolo cannot start both Piatek and Cutrone according to his style of play and Giampaolo has also made remarks about players having the right attitude. Whether we like Cutrone or not doesn’t change the fact that Milan will have to stand firm and remind players that they are not bigger than the club. The writing was on the wall from last season for Cutrone as… Read more »
Nick, valid points and fair analysis. However, i still think Leao attitude is also untested, what makes it ok for us to spend 35m on him? Furthermore, i would understand the logic of selling cutrone provided we inserted buyback option if he proved us wrong and was actually worthy of starting alongside or replacing piatec. his 21 so he has ample time to prove us wrong like auba and recently verdi. Also, why aren’t we including sell on clause entitling us to future transfer fee? we can all agree he will remain or retire at wolves. if he makes a… Read more »
I’m sure when Maldini and Boban sign players they advise them of the code of conduct and expectations at Milan. As a matter of fact some players have a an appearance clause in their contract for a certain amount of appearances which is tied to their bonus. So I highly doubt any new players arriving will have an attitude problem or else we wouldn’t sign them. This is why I believe Milan did not consider Keita Balde even though he would be a good signing for a 2nd striker and he costs less than Correa. Some players cause disruption in… Read more »
Maybe I’ll sound crazy here and I like cutrone but maybe he wasn’t what we all expected. His first season was incredible and his flair and fire on the pitch was unmatchable. But my biggest worry as with many Italian strikers and also milan strikers is that they are a one season wonder than fall off the charts. With cutrone, I felt that last year. I understand he had less game time and become inconsistent but it became evident that he doesn’t have the characteristics to become a top striker for milan. While similar to piatek in many ways, piatek… Read more »
Those of you calling Rafael Leao the next Niang know nothing about a Niang type player. That guy looks like the next Mbappe to me, i may be wrong but he is definitely good. He is not a clinical as Cutrone in front of goal but overall, he has better qualities which suits Giampaolo’s ideas. Scoring 8goals in 24 games = scoring 1 in every 3 matches played, either as a sub or starter. I think he will do well for us. I’m completely against the sale of Cutrone as I expect him to be Piatek’s brilliant sub. I want… Read more »