Mihajlovic: “I am only partially satisfied, Milan should’ve scored more, Balo lacks match-fitness”

Sinisa Mihajlovic is happy to have won against Alessandria but says his team must be more clinical in front of goal.

 

Mihajlovic started many bench players in the Coppa Italia semi-final last night as the Rossoneri played Lega Pro’s Alessandria and despite the win (1-0 thanks to a Mario Balotelli penalty kick), it was far from impressive by the Rossoneri.

 
“I am only partially satisfied. We won the match, but we could have killed off the contest and scored more goals,” Sinisa said post-match. “We created clear-cut chances which we didn’t take. However, the positive to come is the fact that the players who have played less this season have got some much needed playing time.
“Alessandria gave a good account of themselves, but we should have wrapped up the result sooner. It’s a similar story in Serie A too whereby we create a lot chances but don’t score enough. We should have done better and we allowed Alessandria to try and get back in the game by not being clinical enough and leaving the result hanging in the balance. We must improve on this aspect.
“There is still a while to go before the return leg so for now our focus will turn to Serie A. Come March however we will switch our sights again to Alessandria. As I have said, had we capitalized on our chances we would have put the game to bed sooner. They grew in confidence because we didn’t add a second.
“The opinion changes based on the result and the second half performance, but even in the first half we carved out a number of great chances where it was easier to score than miss. We are one of the teams that has the most shots on target and creates the most opportunities, but clearly we like to make life hard for ourselves and that is something that needs to be addressed and improved upon.

 

“Balotelli? I expected Mario to still be lacking in match-fitness. Boateng? He has done well on the occasions that he has come off the bench recently but he is also behind in match-fitness. We wanted to give them game time to build up their fitness levels. I need them available and so have to give them a run-out.
“The commitment was there from the team, but the fitness levels can’t be at their peak for those players in the squad that don’t play as often and it is not easy for them. Diego Lopez? He isn’t yet fully fit. He is still having a few problems with his knee and the other day he went to Belgium for a check-up. Diego still needs a bit longer and he isn’t as yet training with the rest of the squad.
“We’re all aware that this match should have been put to bed earlier but we weren’t able to do that. However, we will get our heads down and stay calm and focused.”