Desperately seeking victory. Against Sampdoria, Milan are looking for a success to get out of the crisis and, who knows, begin their climb up the standings. Which, according to Massimiliano Allegri, will arrive within the Christmas break, when the Rossoneri, according to him, will be in the top half again.
“This year I was very confident about our good start, but that wasn't the case, so I decided not to look at the standings, I'll do it under the Christmas tree when our position is different – the coach reiterated. – My conviction comes from the trust I have in the boys, they are working well: in terms of play we are ahead of last season, we only pay for the inattention”. The Rossoneri coach is confident, perhaps also helped by the low coefficient of difficulty of today's advance.
It's okay that Milan are going through a complicated moment, but then what about Sampdoria, third from bottom in the standings with just two points? “Instead, I think we'll have to be very careful – replied Allegri. – They played an excellent game against Roma, beating them will be difficult, but we will have to do it by playing good football like with Napoli and Bologna”. There would be some discussion on the assessment of the Dall'Ara match, but not for the coach: “Milan must defend better because we conceded too many goals, but in Bologna, despite everything, we scored three. The ones we take are linked to situations, we must learn to read them. We are working hard in this direction”.
Certainly the absences have not given a hand, so many in recent weeks. Even tonight there will be many unavailable, but the emergency is about to end. “Montolivo and El Shaarawy will return next week – said Allegri. – Ajax including where, among other things, Balotelli will be there. And Kakà is also much better, he is working well ”. For the Brazilian, however, it will be discussed again only after the break, and so the role of attacking midfielder will again be occupied by Birsa. “He's a tactically intelligent player, he has good qualities – the coach cut short, who then also spoke about the formation. – In any case, since the emergency continues, we will be the ones on Wednesday. I believe in Robinho, he can allow the team to make the leap in quality. I have to evaluate whether to change something in midfield to make someone recover in view of the Champions League. DeJong? Permanent holder even if he is warned and next Sunday there is Juve”.
And then it could be Poli who rests, with Nocerino who would thus make up the median together with the Dutchman and Muntari. Up front, in addition to Birsa and Robinho, there will be Matri, highly criticized after the match in Bologna. “With Napoli he made himself available to the team, at Dall'Ara he had three important opportunities – Allegri defended him. – He must remain serene, the goal will come, he is someone who travels in double figures ”. Just like Balotelli, but he won't be there tonight. Speaking of Super Mario, he still causes discussion in the interview released Thursday at Milanello, in which he apologized (in his own way, of course) to the club, teammates and fans for last Sunday's expulsion. “It would be appropriate to close this episode definitively, it no longer makes sense to talk about it – the coach snorted. – Now he has to train for Ajax and carry on his purpose on the pitch. We have to help him and put him in the best conditions to play, he has to think about training and making himself available to the team. We just have to hope that the disqualification makes him grow." Inevitable first step to move up the standings. The other comes from the results, starting from tonight.
