Pioli reflects on game of two halves vs. Lecce: “In the first half we did everything wrong”

AC Milan head coach Stefano Pioli has praised the response of his side in tonight’s 2-2 draw against Lecce but admitted the team fell victim to ‘avoidable mistakes’.

Milan made the worst possible start to the game against Lecce as they trailed by two goals after less than half an hour, the first being an own-goal from Theo Hernandez and the second a Baschirotto header from a cross.

However, the second half fightback earned Milan a point as Rafael Leao first halved the deficit with a curling shot from a narrow angle and then Davide Calabria headed home from close range to set up a grandstand finish, but neither side could find the winner in the final 20 minutes or so.

Pioli spoke to DAZN after the game to reflect on the performance and the result at the Stadio Via del Mare, with his comments relayed by MilanNews.

On the start of the match: “In the first half we did everything wrong that we could do wrong. We made avoidable mistakes, then the match got complicated. We had a good reaction, we could have even won it in the end, but we have to do much better.”

On the Supercoppa: “Wednesday’s match didn’t affect it. Also because we didn’t come from a victory, but from disappointing results, I expected a different start. We must have the quality and lucidity to keep the pitch better, as we did in the second half.”

On Theo: “I could have changed many other players at the interval. I tried to change to improve my game on the flanks and therefore I removed Theo and Saelemaekers.”

On the team: “It’s always difficult if the team is too worried or too light. A little worry is fine for me before the match. We missed the impact of the match. We are in line with last season, but ee certainly could have done better since the restart of the season.

“We have to do better, be more precise and avoid trivial mistakes which then complicate your games. We have to improve. Tonight’s performance needs to be analysed to understand what didn’t work.”

On playing two up front: “In some games it can be a solution, even if it’s not easy to play with two centre-forwards and Leao as well on the wing. You can do anything, you just need to have the availability and energy to tolerate this type of game.”

On Giroud: “Was he tired? He didn’t seem tired to me.”

On the market: “The club has already expressed itself. We are recovering the players, I also hope to recover Rebic for the Supercoppa to have more solutions. Origi is fine now, I hope to recover Ibra soon too.

“We are ready, we have no shortages in the squad, we are stronger and more convinced as a whole. We are lacking players who are also leaders. Now we have to analyse the first half and start from the second half.”