Milan, Pioli: "Growing team. From Leao today I expected more"

© photo by DANIELE MASCOLO / PHOTOVIEWS

The Milan coach Stefano Pioli talked to the microphones of Sky Sports after the defeat against Lazio: "We are not in a maze. The team in my opinion is growing. Of course, for our confidence and for our environment it was very important to try to win but the team did the performance. We looked for to retaliate against a strong opponent. The road is the right one and we are approaching a high level. We are losing to the strong teams in this league but the performance was ".

Is it more difficult to work from a technical or mental point of view?
"Today I saw a team that fought for 95 minutes. The change in the outcome also changes the mental attitude but I didn't see a team that gave up. We made mistakes and we have to be cleaner. As soon as I arrived, maybe I found a a little scared team, now I see the convinced players. We are back, there is a lot of work to do ".

Leao?
"I expected more because his entrance had to give us depth, snatches and one-on-one situations. We have to work more as a team because the boys have been beaten. He is a boy with a great potential but he has to do more. L his contribution to the team was not up to its qualities ".

Attacking on the left is a strong point but at the same time it becomes a weak point like on the first goal.
"In the first goal, yes. When attacking, those who remain under the ball become decisive. If you now go to analyze this situation, as well as on the second goal, we are still in numerical superiority: it is that we do not read the situations. These are situations that we must interpret with more speed. That Theo Hernandez is a player to be exploited in the boost phase is right but we have to have the right balance after losing the ball ".

Did you expect a different attitude from Leao and Rebic?
"You have touched the right key. It is not the time to point the finger at anyone. Only with the attitudes of sacrifice can we collect points. We will not have so many champions but we are all excellent players: working with even more passion and collaboration we can still take away of satisfactions. We are young-mature who must understand how to approach a game both as owners and as substitutes ".

However, there are many inaccuracies.
"I talked about a team that believes in it and the team believed in it. We had as many opportunities as they did. A team that is doing a performance like that should not make those mistakes. The team left the field and was in the locker room with his head low for the defeat but also convinced to be a growing team ".