AC Milan coach Vincenzo Montella praised the impact of Nikola Kalinic who marked his full Rossoneri debut at San Siro on Sunday afternoon with a brace.
The Croatian’s double handed the Rossoneri a 2-1 victory over Udinese and Montella sang the praises of the forward in the post-match press conference.
“Kalinic is settling-in quickly,” he began. “I am not surprised though, that he did so well, and of course I am very happy. We also have others in attack who can do well such as [Patrick] Cutrone. He came on and had a good 20 minutes. He has improved a lot. Suso can also play as a support striker as he did today.”
Coming off the back of a thumping win against Austria Vienna, Montella didn’t feel his side were put under any major moments of difficulty against the Zebrette.
“I am very happy with the performance,” Montella went on. “The team did what was asked of them and we could have wrapped up the win earlier. I never felt we were on the ropes today or in difficulty.
“We were solid and compact. This is a win that we can learn from. Today, we had a number of obstacles to overcome but we did it. We can always do better but I am happy that we won with a good performance.”
VAR was again in the headlines, ruling out two goals during the game, and Montella feels it is only a positive for the referees.
“I think VAR is very useful,” he continued. “Thankfully it is now being used less compared to the first games of the season when the match officials were still getting to grips with it. I have watched back the goal ruled out from Kalinic but not the one from Lasagna.
“It’s very hard to say whether it was offside or not. It’s borderline but I am convinced who is in charge knows what they are doing.”
Montella also jumped to the defence of Alessio Romagnoli whose error allowed the visitors back into the game.
“Errors happen,” Montella said. “I am pleased though with how he reacted after his error. He has to keep playing as he has been doing though and he should not let this error worry him. Davide Calabria and Leonardo Bonucci were excellent.’
Opposite number Luigi Delneri on the other hand was disappointed not to take anything from the match.
“I was angry at the end of the match because I wanted us to get at least a draw for the way we played,” the Udinese coach said. “The performance is not enough for me and I am disappointed with the result.
“Milan have built a team to compete at the top of the table but despite that I feel we matched them. We afforded them chances but also had chances of our own to score.
“Fofana had a good opportunity and so did Bajic. There have been lots of new additions to our squad who are young. We will get back to our best soon and we will have our say this season.”
