Pioli admits Milan ‘situations keep repeating’

Stefano Pioli admits Milan are yet again ‘left with regrets’ after the 2-2 draw with Salernitana and recognises injuries, errors and fumbled leads are all recurring issues.

It was a dramatic encounter at the Stadio Arechi against a side rock bottom of the table, as Fikayo Tomori had given them the lead with a header, but Federico Fazio equalised.

At the same moment, Tomori sustained yet another muscular injury and Mike Maignan was surprised by an Antonio Candreva strike at the near post, but Luka Jovic snatched an equaliser to at least avoid defeat.

“We are left with regrets, as we have many times this season. Perhaps the most difficult thing was to break the deadlock, but we did that and were in control, then had some distractions that you cannot get away with at this level,” Pioli told DAZN.

“We fought back and took the point, but this is certainly not the result we wanted.”

The coach admits that when Milan continue to fall into the same traps, evidently it is a psychological weight on these players.

“If these situations keep repeating, then mentality has to be taken into consideration. On the corner where we conceded the first goal, everyone was in position, so we needed more intensity, more focus on the marking.

“We make these little mistakes that are costly, that take away points and confidence. The worrying thing is that many of the dropped points have been from our own errors.”

It was noted that Milan have now conceded 11 goals from set play situations in 2023, so this too is a recurring problem.

“The only positive thing I saw was the reaction of a big team, trying to win right to the end. Considering all the chances we had, we should’ve scored four or five goals. If you cannot score those chances, I don’t think it’s purely a lack of quality, we need something more.

“We tried to the end and created the opportunities to win it, but we let Salernitana back into the game and to turn it around. These are all things a great team cannot afford and therefore it means we have to keep working to become a great team.”

Failing to convert chances or kill off the game is also another issue that Pioli continues to deal with.

“Controlling the game means allowing your opponent very little of the ball and continuing to be dangerous. We had one-on-one situations that we should’ve approached differently, that would’ve given us an easier ending to the match.

“We cannot seem to do that and it is a serious limitation for this team.”

Simon Kjaer had already gone off with an injury at half-time, so there are now no senior centre-backs who are fully fit in the entire squad.

“It is difficult to explain, there are honestly a lot of injuries. Fik was one of those who was in the best shape and playing most often. We must try to resolve it, unfortunately he was on the ground when Salernitana scored the goal.”

Has Pioli changed anything with his training strategy to find out why these muscular injuries keep happening?

“We are trying everything we’ve got in terms of fitness training, prevention, treatment, there are many of us who work at Milanello and so far the results are not what we hoped for.”