AC Milan boss Filippo Inzaghi understands that his team may have a tough time in their away match with Cesena on Sunday but insists that the Diavolo will be pushing for a victory.
The Rossoneri are coming off of disappointing results in their past two Serie A matches and the tactician admits that the San Siro outfit still have a lot of work to do when it comes to improving certain aspects of their game, though he’s maintaining a positive outlook for a successful season.
Inzaghi spoke during his pre-match press conference on Saturday about the meeting with Cesena and the condition of his players ahead of the game, while also commenting on AC Milan president Silvio Berlusconi and the club’s goals for the campaign.
“The away games against newly promoted teams like Cesena are always difficult,” said the 41-year-old. “But we are Milan and we always want to win.
“I try not to think of where we’re playing, I just watch the game. I would hope that we have a lot of fans there for this game.
“I’ve told the team to remain calm after our first two wins because there’s still work to do, though we have the desire to do well.
“We have the best attack in the league and this is important but we still have to improve our defending. I’m seeing a lot of positive things despite our need for improvement.
“The system we developed in defence is the best so far and it has made us play better, but I will still determine which tactics to use ahead of every game.
“We learned some lessons from our draw with Empoli and we must avoid conceding goals that could have been prevented. We need to be better on defending set pieces and I believe that the focus on this will be better tomorrow.
“Berlusconi? He’s reassuring. He visits us with incredible energy, he always wants to talk to the players. For us he’s a source of motivation, we want to make him happy.
“I’m still assessing who will play tomorrow. We lost Marco van Ginkel, but we have Michael Essien back in the squad to help in the midfield.
“As for defence, Alex has been training well. Daniele Bonera could be useful, he’s been here for a long time and always does well in training. I make my choices based on who does the best and will give us the most security in a position.
“Mattia De Sciglio has been having good games, he’s a very serious professional. We will give him time to continue improving and get used to his role so he can shine. We are very calm with him.
“Stephan El Shaarawy is a great player but was hurt for over a week after our victory over Lazio. I have great confidence in him because I know his value, he must only find the brilliance he displayed against Lazio. Him and De Sciglio are very strong together.
“AC Milan’s goals? I’m not looking at the standings now, we still have to grow day by day, but obviously our main goal is to return to Europe.”
