Abbiati: “Annoyed by teammates who answer back to the coach’s instructions, our attitude was wrong”

Christian Abbiati didn’t spare his teammates criticism after the 0-0 draw with Chievo: ‘we must all play to win’.

Abbiati was brought on from the bench on Sunday in the 19′ minute, replacing Gianluigi Donnarumma (who is fine and should be available for the next match).

Christian, 38, kept the Rossoneri in the game with some good saves but Milan failed again to win the three points and while assistant coach Nenad Sakic thinks his boys showed good things, Abbiati doesn’t believe the attitude was there today.

“Abate protested against the team’s attitude in the heat of the moment? Yes, the attitude was wrong today and it was wrong against Sassuolo too,” Abbiati said in a post-match interview with Mediaset. “In the past two months we played like Milan and got the results. We played nine matches without losing but we didn’t solve everything. I have no words for the start of today’s match, for the first 30 minutes.

“It’s not that we don’t work, it’s precisely the attitude that was wrong. We had to get on the pitch with a lot more hunger like we did in the second half in which we played a good game.

“I won’t speak of individuals but it annoys me when my teammates answer back when they’re getting instructions [from the coach during matches]: they take it as criticism when it’s just constructive. We must all play to win because even if one of the 11 doesn’t have a winning attitude, we won’t get the result. 

“This has been lacking in the last two games and I don’t want to cause drama because we’re coming off two months in which we did well. Unfortunate incidents that didn’t allow us to get the three points? Those are part of the game. If Bertolacci had scored when he hit the bar surely we would’ve won but the wrong attitude of the first 30 minutes of this game and of the match against Sassuolo would still remain.

“The objective of this season? We have reached the final of the Coppa Italia but the league is not over yet. We are Milan we must not be content with 6th place, we must target reaching the teams that are ahead of us. There are still nine league games and a Coppa final [which takes place after Serie A ends].

“We shouldn’t pull the plug because we’re all wearing a heavy and very important jersey.” Abbiati, like Miha, Sakic and all the fans will hope to see Milan play a completely different match next Sunday.