Conceicao discusses penalty miss and starting XI vs. Napoli: “Everything went wrong” | OneFootball

After the defeat against Napoli, Sergio Conceicao spoke to the media and shared his thoughts on AC Milan’s performance, as well as the unusual events leading up to the game.

As seen so many times this season, Milan got most things wrong at the start of the game and only came close to a point thanks to a late push. Conceicao made strange changes to the starting XI, which were heavily criticised by the fans, and it proved to make a difference.

After the game, as transcribed by MilanNews, Conceicao was asked by DAZN about the starting eleven and he revealed that most of the changes were forced. Rafael Leao, for example, had a discomfort and was only able to come off the bench for the second half.

A Milan that created so much in the second half, but in everyone’s eyes, those first 20 minutes were horrendous. Why such a difference?

“Since I’ve been here, more or less three months, I’ve never found excuses for the lack of time to work. Today, everything went wrong. I woke up at 7:30 am, Loftus-Cheek was sick and went to the hospital for surgery. After that, they told me that Thiaw couldn’t play because he vomited, he had a stomach bug.

“Shortly after that, they told me that Leao was experiencing discomfort in his thigh. Then again, they are not excuses, we could have done much more. The first ball they put forward, they scored. We didn’t play the first 20 minutes as we had prepared.

“These things happen, I don’t want to cling to bad luck because we could have done more, but today, everything really happened. Then in the second half, the team reacted very well, it was needed. In the second half, we created so many chances, the right result would have been a draw in my opinion.”

On the many missed penalties… Who should have taken them?

“We have three main takers. Pulisic wanted to give confidence to his teammate who hasn’t scored for a few weeks… We know how things are. It’s not up to me to say something to the players, it’s the three of them who decide based on how they feel.

“But this is a good sign, it’s the sign of a united dressing room. There’s the awareness that we had to do more in the first 25 minutes, there’s great frustration because we didn’t deserve this defeat.”

This team here, with a different attitude, with limited errors, what value does it have objectively? What potential does it have?

“We had already prepared the match without Leao, I’m not saying he didn’t play because the doctor told me something. After the national team, like Santi, he trained twice. Actually, Santi only trained once, because he came back with a very very swollen ankle.

“However, all these things happen at Milanello, people don’t know it. The team has potential, quality. We always talk about this balance, it’s true. If we have to press higher up then we have to stay one-on-one in our defensive line.

“They managed to get out of our pressing too easily in the first half. Then we rectified it and had a different attitude. In football, you need technique and quality, but also courage, desire, and the right attitude to be present. The team has quality, I have a lot of confidence. I have a healthy environment in the group.”

Milan will now have to give their all in the Coppa Italia to secure European football for next season. The Champions League train has definitely left the station, which perhaps can be a weight of the players’ shoulders (as bad as that sounds).