FILIPPO INZAGHI has said that he doesn’t look at the position in the table but of course wants to win tomorrow and also declared: ‘I believe Mattia De Sciglio is the new Paolo Maldini.’
Milan are currently in 5th place, two points behind Napoli, who played earlier today and managed to beat Roma, but tomorrow they can conquer the Partenopei’s third place if they beat Palermo.
“Negative memories from Palermo? I tend to forget the hardest and worst moments,” Pippo told MC. “It was a dramatic moment when I ruptured my cruciate ligament. Pleasant or bad moments, it doesn’t matter; we’ve an important match. All of the matches in Serie A are difficult.
“The championship has got more balanced. It’s great for the spectacle but it means we will have to really work hard tomorrow. Palermo have an excellent mentality, they’re committed, have desire and quality. They have some important players like Dybala, Vazquez, Belotti, Barreto, Maresca. They’re a tough side to face.
“Palermo defend well and use the counter-attack well. We will have to be attentive. We will have the San Siro behind us. Let’s think about keeping this position in the league table, which for us is a dream. The absentees tomorrow? Bonaventura won’t play. He took a knock and it’s pointless risking him. Whoever comes in for him will do so in the best way possible.
“I will evaluate the most suited playing formation today. There could be a chance for players who have played less likeRiccardo Saponara or Marco Van Ginkel. We need to be patient with them. Fernando Torres? He is fine. Unfortunately a striker is judged by his goals, but a coach looks at a lot more. He works hard for the team and this for me is very important.
“I’m very calm. We have a squad of 28 and some won’t play as much, but there’s a lot of respect here and I try to be clear with everyone. The atmosphere is very good. Those that haven’t had many opportunities, will have the chance to do so elsewhere in January. We have a very responsible group and so the words of Jeremy Menez don’t surprise me. When you miss out on 2 weeks of training, in a tough league like ours, it’s not easy to get back to your best right away. It happened to El Shaarawy and it’s happening to Menez. This squad is going beyond all of our expectations. We’re unbeaten in 6 games.
“We have to continue in this manner, we’re doing lots of positive things while taking into account that we have to improve in many other aspects.” After the interview with the Milan Channel, Inzaghi spoke to the journalists in a presser.
“I’m not looking at the league table, even if we’re happy to be there. It all depends on us,” the 41-year-old said. “All of this was perhaps unthinkable at the start of the season. I have to focus on the performances. It was hard at Cagliari, but we had 48 hours of rest less than them. We didn’t have many choices to make, for a question of balance. If Muntari had scored at 1-1, perhaps the match would have changed. We struggled, but also brought home the sixth positive result in a row.
“Palermo are a tough side and will be difficult to take on. However, we’re at the San Siro and we want to pick up the 3 points on offer, by giving everything that we have. The side’s performances and results lately? An evaluation can be made as of tomorrow evening. It’s positive however. We’ve perhaps not produced as much upfront, but we’ve worked well in defence. We have the best attack in the league and I’m not worried in this sense. We’ll get back to scoring goals.
“The President was very kind with me and I hope that he is even happier with me at the end of the season. We’re proud of our scores that he gave us, but aware we have to improve, starting tomorrow. We want to win for him against Palermo.
“The possible formation against Palermo? I’m not ruling anything out. We tried a 4-2-3-1 during the match. We’re without Bonaventura and Muntari tomorrow. We have excellent and reliable alternatives. Saponara and Van Ginkel come off the back of serious injuries and I have to get them in the best condition possible for them to be at their best out on the pitch.
I haven’t yet decided in defence. We’ll see if we get Alex back. In goal, I was thinking about bringing back Diego Lopez at Cagliari, but then I decided to go with continuity. If Diego Lopez is well, he will come back. For me Mattia De Sciglio had a very good game at Cagliari. I’m happy with him. I believe De Sciglio is the new Maldini, but we have to be cautious.