Soccer
Sergio Conceicao wants to see selfishness from his strikers after AC Milan drew 1-1 at home to Cagliari.
Cagliari shocked Milan with a quickfire equaliser in the 55th minute through defender Nadir Zortea, four minutes after Alvaro Morata broke the deadlock from close range.
The draw means Conceicao’s winning start in charge of Milan came to an end, with the Portuguese coach having guided the Rossoneri to the Supercoppa Italiana title last week.
Milan finished the match with 24 shots, with 11 of those being on target, and 2.14 expected goals to Cagliari’s 0.37, and Conceicao feels his attackers must be more ruthless.
“My feeling is that [the forwards] are altruistic,” Conceicao told Sky Sport.
“That’s fine, I like a player like that. But there are moments when they have to be more simple.
“In front of goal you have to be selfish, a winger has to go one one-on-one with the opponent.
“We look for a difficult [solution] sometimes and I don’t like that, football is simple.”
Rafa on #MilanCagliari #SempreMilan pic.twitter.com/xfZ4ztNoi4
— AC Milan (@acmilan) January 12, 2025
Conceicao was particularly displeased with Milan’s first-half performance.
“I expected much more at all levels,” Conceicao said.
“I’ve been a coach for 13 years, and comparing the quality of this group to what we did, it was the weakest first half since I’ve started coaching.
“We lacked rhythm, quality, and we weren’t that good and intelligent on this level.”
Asked whether the team needed more rules and discipline, the Milan coach replied: “It’s my way of doing things for many years.
“It’s not that I come here and I have to do it by force. For me, it’s the simple things: schedules, training, being involved in the work day by day.
“If I got here halfway through the season it’s because something wasn’t right, and we have to take full responsibility. If we are strict and demanding outside the game then we will be strict and demanding in the game too.”
Milan, who have drawn three league matches in a row at home for the first time since January 2020, face Como on Tuesday before visiting Juventus next Saturday.
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