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00:00Good afternoon, welcome along to this pre-match press conference on the eve of Juventus Milan.
00:07We'll start with Milan TV.
00:10Hello.
00:11It's the third time that Juventus and Milan are facing one another in the last six weeks.
00:16They've always been very tense, even matches, rather unusual games.
00:23What sort of match are you expecting from a Rossoneri perspective tomorrow in Turin?
00:28Good afternoon, everyone.
00:31You're right, they are balanced fixtures, they are even games because there are two
00:35top teams involved.
00:41There are two teams that have some very interesting players, but every match is different.
00:52So we're up against a side that played very well against Atalanta in midweek, and given
00:59how much time we've had available, we have been working on a few details, but they're
01:05actually major issues that we need to improve.
01:12And at this moment in time we don't have a great deal of time to work on all of that,
01:16because there are so many fixtures and there are important games coming up over the next
01:21month or so, up until the start of February.
01:28We play crucial Champions League fixtures, crucial matches in Serie A. If we want to
01:33work our way up the table, we'll be in the Coppa Italia too.
01:36We need to be ready.
01:37We need to have the right attitude to make sure that come the end of the season, we are
01:48ultimately trying to secure our targets.
01:51Sky, good afternoon Gaffer.
01:55That little time available you've had, have you been able to recover Christian Pulisic?
02:02Will he play tomorrow?
02:03I heard your post-match comments about Francesco Camarda the other day.
02:07You've been at Milan now for 19 days.
02:09Do you think he is ready to start for the first team, Camarda, or does he still need
02:13to improve?
02:17Absolutely.
02:18He's a young player, he still has a long way to go, he's got a lot of work to do, but he's
02:23got good foundations, he's got talent, determination, he's hungry, that's already very important.
02:29As for Christian Pulisic, even though I'd like to create some doubt in the opponent's
02:38mind, ultimately news will break in the media tomorrow, I'll tell you that Pulisic is out
02:44of the game.
02:45I don't want to bluff.
02:46It's the same in Portuguese, we say bluff as well.
02:49I don't want to bluff because Pulisic is not available for selection, he's still in a bit
02:53of pain, it's not excessive, but we don't want to take any risks.
02:58We've got important matches coming up, tomorrow is an important fixture, but if he plays anything
03:04more than 20 minutes he might aggravate the situation.
03:06I don't want that to come to pass.
03:08Hi coach, there's still a fortnight to run in the January transfer window, some clubs
03:21have already made some signings, Juventus, who you're up against tomorrow, have strengthened,
03:26other teams have lost players.
03:28What's your take on the next two weeks in the January transfer window?
03:33How will you experience this?
03:35Are you waiting to see whether this group of players can be strengthened?
03:42I'm not going to ask you for any names, but have you pinpointed areas of the pitch that
03:47could be bolstered, but in general terms, what's your experience been of the January
03:53transfer window, because often coaches find it destabilising when you're playing matches
03:58in January.
03:59I'll start with the end.
04:02I don't particularly like the January transfer window, I think it's open for too long, and
04:12emotionally I don't think it's positive for the players, but there are certain situations
04:18that you need to fix and sort out within the squad, that's only natural, and it's a good
04:23thing that we can actually get to this stage, but really it's not the priority for me at
04:30this stage.
04:33On the eve of a big game like we have tomorrow, after the match, I've already spoken to the
04:38senior management, I will speak to the senior management, but we're in agreement as to what
04:42we need, but as you know, it's not easy to necessarily sign players that can actually
04:49give you something extra to what the current squad offers.
04:54There's no time, as I know, but we are trying to have a chat amongst ourselves, I speak
05:02with the senior management, and we are in agreement as to what we want.
05:08Good afternoon Sergio, good afternoon, we're in the January transfer window, so naturally
05:13we speak about transfers.
05:17If you had a wish, a desire, would you prefer a forward, a midfielder or a defender?
05:22No, a win tomorrow night, that's what I want more than anything else.
05:26I want a win tomorrow night, that's what I'm concerned with at this moment in time, genuinely.
05:31I understand your curiosity, that's only natural, because the transfer window is open and ongoing,
05:39we're at Milan, there are a number of rumours that are doing the rounds at the moment, it's
05:44only natural that you're curious, I get your curiosity, but I apologise, my thoughts are
05:49solely on this match.
05:55If I say something, then maybe it's not true, or maybe I'd dance around the issues so as
06:00not to broach it, but there's no point in doing that, let's just talk about tomorrow
06:04night's match.
06:05La Repubblica, good afternoon coach, I wanted to ask you, looking at the Super Cup fixture
06:12against Juventus, and your last match against Coma, I don't know whether you watched the
06:17Juventus Super Cup match back over the last few days, but in both games, you struggled
06:22in the first half.
06:24Have you got an idea as to what is lacking in your team, is it a mental factor, or does
06:32it simply come down to approaching the game differently, tactically?
06:39Tactically, when you're talking about defensively, offensively, that's something that we work
06:44on day in, day out, that's what I was saying earlier on, these are details, because occasionally
06:50we concede goals and it comes down to fine margins, and that's what we need to work on,
06:54we need to be more solid as a team, we mustn't afford the opposition too many opportunities.
07:00In matches, we need to think, okay, you can either win or lose a game right from the first
07:06minute, and we need to have that responsibility, because if you look at the history of this
07:09club, there were some superstar players at Milan, they came through in the past, the
07:16real superstars that won seven Champions League titles, 19 domestic Scudetti, those are the
07:24real stars, every win, every piece of silverware here at Milan just gives you a taste of victory,
07:34it's a fleeting taste, but then you know that the next match is important to secure the
07:38next piece of silverware and so on and so forth, no, it's not a case of, oh, we won
07:43a title four years ago, you know, now we've won the Super Cup with the greatest of respect
07:47for the EA Sports FC Super Cup, but right from the first whistle, we need to consider
07:52it as a cup final, if we actually want to be up to Milan's history and we want to achieve
07:57something.
07:59Everyone needs to grasp that, but everyone, this is not a message for the players per
08:03se, it's for everyone here that works at Milanello, all of the various infrastructure, all the
08:07facilities, all of our members of staff, they're good people, but we all need to think
08:12that working hard, every fine detail and fine margin is very important, and I'm fighting
08:19for that, this is not only a message for the players, it's also for the players, but it's
08:24for me, for my staff, for everyone working at the club, we always need to be absolutely
08:29boiling in terms of our spirit, red hot, otherwise it's going to be tricky, because these days
08:35the other teams prepare well, even Como, who we played in our last match, they've got good
08:40players, they've got a very capable coach, it's not like it used to be, there's a lot
08:46of information, there are a number of people that get football, that work well, if we want
08:51to get above them, besides the technical ability that we have, you need fitness levels, you
08:59need tactical awareness, and of course, the mental perspective, you know, I shouldn't
09:04necessarily need to be here and come up with these big proclamations and these team talks,
09:08OK, we earn good money, we represent a big club like Milan, so we automatically need
09:13to be motivated, otherwise what are we doing here?
09:16Il Giornale, hi Sergio, good afternoon, good afternoon to you, I wanted to ask you, after
09:25the Como game, do you believe that Benasser and Fofana tend to trip over one another in
09:33the central midfield, that they don't necessarily dovetail well, and how do you plan to resolve
09:39this?
09:40With hard work, that's my job, that's the job I have to do, I need to put every player
09:47in the right position, on and off the ball, in and out of possession, we need to make
09:51sure that they are on the same wavelength, that's how you build a team, I don't think
09:56that Isma Benasser and Youssef Fofana can't coexist, no, quite the contrary, both of them
10:06will play tomorrow in the double pivot, I never break my team news, typically I never
10:13do it, I never normally say who's going to start the game, normally what you read in
10:23the Gazette, it's always right, it's perfect, spot on, I'm not criticising you, it's a statement
10:30of fact, therefore I say that they can coexist, but they need to understand the way to operate
10:40when we have the ball, when we're in possession, there are two or three midfielders that we
10:43have at that stage of the game, they need to understand what they need to do in order
10:49to get forward and attack, because I like them to attack, not with a handbrake on, but
10:53we need to make sure we strike that balance, we want to see shape in the team, so when
10:57we have possession, we need to make sure that we don't suffer transitions from the oppositional
11:02counter-attacks, because those can be very dangerous.
11:05Another question, go ahead, if they ask you to do a pre-match interview tomorrow night,
11:14will you do it with someone else, no, no, no chance, no chance, I can't even get my
11:22thoughts all in a row, because I'm thinking about other things, other things running through
11:26my mind, I've said that to Nicola as well, okay, we are organising things differently.
11:34L'Equipe, good afternoon, bonjour, a question about the captain and this involves two French
11:44players, you said a number of players need to step up, but you gave the captain's armband
11:49for Mike Mignon, maybe because of his charisma, but not all coaches want to necessarily make
11:55their goalkeepers captain because of the practicalities of not being able to speak to referees, at
12:01this stage, given that Teo Hernandez is improving, have you had positive response from him, do
12:07you think he's playing with more freedom without having the captaincy burdening him?
12:13This is an interesting question, because I saw before I even came to the club that there
12:19was a bit of controversy about the captain's armband, who's captain, who's not skipper,
12:23I don't think that's particularly important, whether it's an 18-year-old or 35 or 36-year-old,
12:29the players need to have the same responsibility to do their job and everyone needs to speak,
12:33it's not a case of, no, you need to be quiet and everyone else needs to speak, no, no,
12:37everyone needs to make themselves heard.
12:40The armband, the captaincy, okay, last year, Diego Costa, who was the Porto goalkeeper,
12:47he was captain for a number of years under me, so I don't necessarily look at the position,
12:51I made a decision, I chose the captain, it could be Mike Mignon, it could be Teo Hernandez,
12:56it could be Davide Calabria, but that's not the most important thing, if I'm perfectly
13:00honest.
13:01The guys, first and foremost, need to think, you know, the captain, if they're thinking
13:07about this, that and the other, then they forget what they need to do, because Mike
13:10needs to focus on not conceding goals, that's the first target for a keeper, after that,
13:15then he has other roles and responsibilities.
13:18He's got personality, big character, that's what I like, because he's a winner, the same
13:23goes for Teo, because lest we forget, Teo has secured some incredible numbers here at
13:29Milan in terms of goals scored, it's incredible, he's even gone beyond a legend like Paolo
13:36Maldini, so Teo is a top class player, he's an international player, so it's nice for
13:43me to be able to coach these players, but there are other things that we need to add
13:46that we've already spoken about.
13:48If you ask me who's wearing the armband, if it's that important for me, it's not, quite simply.
14:04Good afternoon, coach, thank you.
14:06I wanted to ask you a question about the transfer window and about a player that used to room
14:12with your son, Rodrigo Conceicao, Joao Felix, but don't worry, I'll ask you tomorrow.
14:19Oh, no, the way you posed that question, my son sleeping with another player, no, I prepared
14:30an anecdote, but I'll ask you tomorrow, no, I'll talk about footballing matters.
14:37In your career, above all at Porto, you've always been able to improve full-backs, Manafa,
14:44Joao Mario, Alex Telles, Riccardo Pereira, do you think you're a bit short in terms of
14:57full-backs pulling wide, because are you working a lot with the full-backs?
15:04Yes, we're also working on that, because we have three central midfielders, so I do want
15:12us to stretch the pitch as wide as possible, occasionally a wide player or a winger might
15:16give you that width, whereas on other occasions it must be or should be full-backs, but occasionally
15:22it can be midfielders as well, it depends what I want, but it is important to stretch
15:27the pitch wide, yes, you're right to ask a question about that.
15:31Good afternoon coach, in recent years Teo Hernandez and Rafael Liao have objectively
15:45been Milan's best players on paper in terms of ability, but their issue has always been
15:50consistency, you've been here for more than two weeks now, have you found the magic formula
15:56to make them more consistent over the course of 90 minutes and between matches?
16:02I think consistency is always tied to performances, the way that you work day in, day out, and
16:10it's hard, because they recover matchday plus one, matchday plus two, then we do a bit of
16:17training, but then matchday plus three is already the eve of the next match, so it's
16:23not easy to work on that, but we've spoken about it, we've also shown them, I've spoken
16:30to Rafael and I spoke to him today, I can share it with you, because Rafael is incredible
16:36in terms of fitness tests, and there are some data here that shows that he can do a lot
16:45more, he can do a lot more at this level, and if Rafael Liao works on this within his
16:53game he will certainly improve in terms of his ultimate numbers and statistics, which
16:58is important, I don't want Rafael to be happy because he scored 10 goals, if he scores 10
17:03I want him to work towards scoring 20, in order to become one of the best players in
17:09Italy and in the world, as a lot of people have said, and even I said it myself after
17:14the Super Cup, Rafael knows what he needs to improve upon, because I've spoken to him,
17:19of course it's better to speak to him and then go out there on the pitch, but it's difficult
17:23to get on the training ground at this stage, because we've got too many games as we've
17:26already said, but Rafael has accepted it, he understands what he needs to improve upon,
17:31that's already a good start if you ask me.
17:33Just two questions, Longo and Embresi, thank you.
17:39Earlier on you were talking about fitness levels which are crucial in terms of him showing
17:44his football, and at times against Como my feeling was that some of the players don't
17:50necessarily have the best fitness levels, but of course you're winning games coming
17:57from behind, but some games are actually struggling, like Fofana and Reinders who've been playing
18:01so much since the start of the season.
18:05With regards to the transfer market, do you not think that you're short in the middle
18:09of the park, or do you think you're well stocked in midfield?
18:13Is Fikawa Tomori going to stay at Milan?
18:19You started so well talking about football, then you finished the question badly, you
18:22started asking me about football and then you ended by talking about what you wanted
18:26to, which is the transfer market.
18:28As I said earlier on, we're not going to talk about the transfer market today.
18:32Yes, the physical side of the game is important, there are a number of players that have been
18:37playing but we're only six months into the season, there's still six months to go, it's
18:40not the end of the season, the players are prepared.
18:43These days I think we've got 80 people working with us here at Milanello on various areas
18:50to try and focus on recovery, nutritionists, how they sleep, we've got everything we need
18:56here so three days after a game they're all fully recovered.
19:04It's what we mentioned earlier on, right from when I came in here, it's the mental side
19:08of things, but we're also working on that, you can also work on the mental side of things
19:12and we're also working on that.
19:19At times you don't necessarily realise the potential that you can tap into because you
19:24never actually step out of the comfort zone, you never push your limits, so maybe you get
19:31to that threshold but actually you've got a limit which is beyond that, you can get
19:35even higher, you need to try and keep pushing the bar, otherwise it becomes very difficult,
19:41you know, if you think, oh, okay, I'm now at Milan, I'm going to try and enjoy my time
19:45here.
19:46No, Milan is a step forward in my career so I can have success, so maybe one day I can
19:50go somewhere else, having been a success, I don't want to think, okay, now I'm at Milan,
19:55okay, no, that's not good and that's the most important thing.
20:01Physically it's important but what is important is that everyone speaks to themselves in terms
20:05of what they can do more, how they can give more and at times you can give more, you can
20:10give more in matches, even if you're not necessarily at the peak of your powers physically.
20:14Good afternoon, coach.
20:20In the three wins of the four matches that you've taken charge of, you have come from
20:24behind every time you've picked two up front, two strikers.
20:28In the short term, do you think that you could start with two up front and with two strikers,
20:35do you think Milan can play with two strikers and two attacking wingers like Pulisic and
20:39Raphael Leal?
20:40That's the point, that's exactly the point.
20:44It's not necessarily with two strikers, we end up playing 4-2-4 and the team are not
20:49prepared for that at this moment in time, when we need to run a few more risks, I do
20:53run risks because I want to win games, I don't want to draw, I think drawing is dropping
20:58two points, so I do run a risk but when you risk things, you know that you're also leaving
21:07something uncovered defensively and that's not good because it's very important to strike
21:11that balance and have the right shape.
21:13At this moment in time, in terms of the time we have available to work on the training
21:17ground, I think it is difficult but in time, it certainly could be something we see because
21:22it's a formation that I like, I've played many times like this for years at Porto, during
21:27my time with Nantes in France because I like it, it's very balanced but the attributes
21:34of the players that we have in this system need to be in line with what I want, otherwise
21:39it wouldn't be very necessarily an intelligent thing, OK, I like the shape and the players'
21:42qualities aren't suited to that, that wouldn't be a very wise move.
21:47One final question with Carlo Pellegatti at the back, I didn't see him.
21:52Good afternoon Carlo, good afternoon.
21:55I wanted to ask a question about the film, but you've got to pay the fine because you
22:02turned up late, but I'm OK weight-wise, don't worry about that, I wanted to ask a question
22:11about Fofana because Fofana has played 26 matches but you've already spoken about that,
22:18so I'll ask a question about Juventus Milan, you are the Milan head coach and two or three
22:26days on you came up against Juventus, now you're taking charge against Juventus again
22:31two weeks later, what would you like to see from that win over Juventus and what would
22:36you not like to see or review from that game against Juventus from a mental, tactical or
22:44technical perspective?
22:45That's a good question.
22:50What do I want to see?
22:51What I was talking about earlier in terms of defensively, I think in the first half
23:01in terms of defensive shape, I think we struggled a bit more than we wanted to and we're working
23:07on that, so I don't want to see that again.
23:10What I did like about the game against Juventus, beyond the response and the reaction that
23:15we had because we took the handbrake off and we started to attack, even though it's true
23:24a number of times in the second half we allowed Juventus to get near our box very easily because
23:30they've got some very talented young players, the Bianconeri, so we need to be careful because
23:35we conceded a goal against Como where we should have simply covered things with the full-back,
23:44we shouldn't have conceded that goal, we're talking about the full-back just covering
23:46five yards, we are working on that card, it's these small details, five yards, ten yards
23:52but that's a great deal in football, I think that's a lot in football because if you close
23:58down in a space, then maybe they wouldn't have scored there but if you don't close down
24:01the space, he cuts in and he scores, it's already very different.
24:05I'd like to see a slightly more solid Milan team defensively tomorrow, albeit still with
24:11this desire to attack the opposition goal.
24:13Thank you very much everyone.