AC Milan boss Sergio Conceicao was pleased with our 2-1 win over Como, but conceded that there is still a lot of work to do to improve.
The Rossoneri were poor in the first half as we struggled to impose ourselves and play with any real quality, and that was punished as Assane Diao gave the hosts the lead on the hour mark.
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However, there was an important response from Milan shortly after once again, as goals from Theo Hernandez and Rafael Leao within a five-minute spell turned the game around as we successfully launched a comeback.
Having secured three important points, that’s a solid foundation on which to continue building as Conceicao registered his first league win since taking charge, but there were many aspects of the performance that still need to improve as this was far from a convincing display.
As he has done since he took the job, the Portuguese tactician spoken candidly after the game as he gave his opinion on the victory, but remained critical of how we’re not yet executing his ideas and game-plan efficiently enough.
“It’s not easy because we prepare the matches with videos and a whiteboard but on the pitch it’s missing, many things are still missing in different departments,” he told Sky Sport. “We need to be more present in duels, but there was a good reaction and there’s a good atmosphere. It’s easier to work on positive results and we try to get them, but we need to improve a lot.
“We need to be more solid as a team. There are some things that aren’t going well and I have to say it, we need to work to change certain things. If we don’t concede goals, with the quality we have we can then create four or five opportunities.
“There is still a lot to get out of this team. We have been down for three games and we have managed to win. The character is there. We can improve the players physically, tactically, technically. But in terms of attitude I can talk to them for two hours, but if they don’t get certain things into their heads by themselves, it’s difficult.
“Bennacer and Fofana still have to find their measure, in terms of the space they occupy with or without the ball they have to improve. The players were not used to a certain work, they think that by pressing high you run more, but instead you run less. You recover the ball high and you are closer to the opponent’s goal, and these are my ideas of play. Some players do not have these characteristics but we try to change them and we have everything to gain. But it is the team that has to work on this plan, not just Leao, Morata and Pulisic who are the first to do this high pressure.”
Conceicao makes an excellent point in that it’s easier to work with positive results, and the character of this team can’t be questioned as we produced another comeback win after our heroics in Saudi Arabia to lift the Italian Super Cup.
However, character can only get you so far, as it needs to be matched with quality to progress and evolve into a top side, and so hopefully that ongoing process starts to show results as we’ve seemingly not yet seen his influence and ideas fully come across on the pitch.
The Milan boss will now benefit from having a few more days to prepare his team before we travel to Turin on Saturday evening to take on Juventus, and that promises to be another tough challenge as we look to close the gap on the sides at the top end of the Serie A table.