Carlo Pellegatti, a well-known journalist who has always been close to the Rossoneri world, spoke this afternoon on MilanNews.it's Twitch channel to talk about current events and everything related to the team coached by coach Pioli, from last night's Champions League challenge against Chelsea to the possible choices of the Emilia coach for the upcoming matches. Below is a summary of his speech, which you can find in full by clicking here.
On the challenge with Chelsea: "Milan's performance should be judged for the first 18 minutes, because then they put heart, soul strength, but on the level of play the match took an unexpected turn. As we were saying very heavy episodes rarely happen in the first 3-4 minutes, because the referee also realizes that there are 70 thousand people coming from all over the world. Even in London, the fans did not enjoy themselves. Sure, they brought home the result but the Chelsea fans did not enjoy themselves. It's good to see soccer matches. From this point of view it was a wretched match, I can imagine those who traveled hours to then see this... The game should be won, drawn or even lost, but it should be seen and played. Yesterday it didn't happen and that I regret. On the referee what is there to add? He is an unfit referee, let's hope Rosetti notices. When a referee in Europe gives 6-7 cautions it means he has lost the game, for every foul he would give a card: a poor one. Insufficient referee, unfortunately it happened to us, let's hope it doesn't happen again around Europe because it is dangerous, in the sense that you never know what he can do."
Milan's European path: "I leave the match with a recrimination: yesterday I needed the match to understand what level Milan has reached in Europe. We didn't see it with Salzburg, it wasn't a good game... Dinamo Zagreb whatever, it wasn't a difficult task at the San Siro. The Stamford Bridge game served us to make corrections, but for now I still don't understand where Milan's path in Europe is. This is my biggest recrimination."
Which Milan was the one at the beginning of the match? "In the first minutes there was an authoritative Milan, a good Milan that was trying to play the game. Someone with hindsight criticized the decision to widen Tomori to allow Theo to go inside the field... Someone stressed it in a negative way, while it had been stressed in a positive way for the match against Juventus."
On the new ones and possible choices for Sunday: "Pioli will put them in when they are needed. The coach put Gabbia in and Gabbia was ready. Now instead there is a bit of prevention for Dest... Many Milan fans are judging... We need calm: now Pioli has put Gabbia in and Gabbia has responded. We have to be balanced. Now we are already looking ahead to Sunday; the defense will be that, in midfield we will have to see if there will be rotation. Up front anything can happen, first of all at the level of the module. Will we insist with the physically strong number 10 or will we go back to a classic Leao-Diaz-Messias? And up front, who will play? Giroud, Rebic or Origi? Giroud in the last two games has worked a lot but the lucidity has come a bit lacking because he is practically playing them all as a starter, including the national team. He needs to get a good Sunday off. Giroud also makes mistakes yesterday because he was lackluster."
On De Ketelaere: "I see all the games, even live, and when I see him little present at Stamford Bridge, little present at Empoli except for the brilliant pass to Leao, and then during the game never little present... Maybe let's give him a rest for a moment, let's give him some confidence. Savicevic they had put him away in September and got him back in December. I would have been very curious to see him yesterday on the right flank. Little by little we are introducing him again. He is an important player, but of a player you don't just remember five things. With De Ketelaere we stopped at the ride with Bologna, the pass with Salzburg, the play with Empoli, the shot with Chelsea and the nice pass for Tonali against Atalanta. Those are few. I am talking about presence, not quality. I expect him, however, without nervousness. Now he has this little problem, we will see him again with Monza, with an affordable opponent on paper before a nice sequence between Serie A and Champions League. He has to find his best form. The other day against Juventus I liked him on the right flank: he had a couple of nonchalant cues."
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