AC Milan Primavera boss Ignazio Abate had some rather honest words for his side after they lost against Genoa on Saturday afternoon.
The Primavera headed into today’s clash against Genoa with a bruised confidence after the disappointing 3-3 draw against Sassuolo in which they conceded three late goals to throw away a lead.
Unfortunately, they failed to bounce back with a win, instead losing the clash 2-1 with Vittorio Magni’s 77th-minute equaliser not enough as Genoa scored four minutes later.
Abate spoke to Milan TV at the end of the match against Genoa and reflected on what was another negative result for his team which compromises the Scudetto push.
“It was the match we expected: they were very deep behind the line of the ball. The first half was balanced, we kept control of the game, but we struggled to find spaces,” he said.
“We only took a risk on an inactive ball. We could have been faster, there were few spaces between the lines and we had to make more use of the flanks.
“Then in the second half too it was a balanced game, an incident broke it open and we conceded two photocopy goals following clearances from the goalkeeper.
“We showed little malice, little defensive solidity and we paid a high price for this. After the draw the match seemed to give us positive sensations, it seemed to tell us that we could go on to win.
“Instead we conceded another photocopied goal. It should make us reflect. There’s a lot of work to do, you have to keep your head down because the road is long.
“We need to find a bit of humility, because they are all difficult matches, we play against teams bigger than us who are much more skilled, but to bring them home, especially when you are in command of the game and are exposed to the counter-attack, we need to be more clinical.
“Difficult matches are coming now, but they are all complicated. They will be different matches to play, but we must look at ourselves first and rediscover that malice, that humility and understand that to become footballers the road is not short and simple, not everything arrives immediately.”
Hire Abate! /s