AC Milan manager Sergio Conceicao has urged his strikers to display more selfishness in front of goal after watching his side fail to capitalize on their attacking dominance during a 1-1 draw with Cagliari on Saturday.
Cagliari stunned San Siro with defender Nadir Zortea’s 55th minute equalizer after Milan’s veteran striker Alvaro Morata put the Rossoneri in the lead with a close-range finish in the 51st minute.
The draw ended Conceicao’s perfect start as Milan’s head coach, coming just days after he led the team to victory in the Supercoppa Italiana. Despite dominating the match, Milan were unable to convert their superiority into a win.
They registered 24 shots on goal, getting 11 on target, but the Rossoneri ultimately failed to convert more than the odd goal even after creating five clear cut chances during the game.
After the match, Conceicao expressed frustration with his attackers, emphasizing the need for greater ruthlessness in front of goal; “My feeling is that [the forwards] are altruistic,” he 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-on-one with the opponent. We look for a difficult [solution] sometimes and I don’t like that, football is simple.”
The Portuguese boss was far from pleased with his team’s performance during the opening 45 minutes, going as far as labelling it the worst opening half he had witnessed in his entire coaching career.
“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.”
Conceicao will certainly be looking to see an upgrade on Saturday’s performance from his charges when they take on Como on Tuesday, January 14 at the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia.
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