Mihajlovic: “I apologize to the fans, we have reached the limit, if we’re not able to turn things around…”

Sinisa Mihajlovic shouts to his players during Atalanta-Milan at Stadio Atleti Azzurri d’Italia.

Sinisa Mihajlovic said there is nothing else he can do right now other than a training retreat after his team lost yet another match to a team that is inferior than them on paper.
The dream of the Champions League is long-long gone but Milan could very well miss out of the Europa League as well after losing to Atalanta this weekend.
The Rossoneri hoped to honor the death of club legend Cesare Maldini with a win but looked poor for the most part of yesterday’s match and that led Mihajlovic to decide on a training retreat which will go on at least until the match with Juventus on Saturday.

“I would like to pass on my condolences to the Maldini family first of all. He was above all a great man before a great player. I send condolences to Paolo, his mother and brothers,” Mihajlovic said at the end of the match at the Stadio Alteti Azzurri d’Italia.

“The match? We won two points from four games against teams that are behind us in the table and that is unacceptable. I apologize to the fans and I take the responsibility. I’d warned the team that they had to deal with this match in a different way.

“We took the lead and we had to close off the game but we didn’t manage to do it. If after 31 games we always talk about the same things that it means that we have some limitations. Now we have to look ahead and on Sunday we have a difficult match against a team that is stronger than us.

“The choice to go into retreat? There’s been a lapse in concentration and sharpness, not a physical one. There are clearly areas that even with training and commitment we’re struggling to improve. We are going into a training retreat to sort things out and try and find a solution. I don’t know if it can help but we have reached the limit, there is nothing else we can do at this point. I take responsibility and the club agrees.

Mattia De Sciglio reacts during Atalanta-Milan

“Atalanta prepared for the match better than us, but we had to prepare without a lot of international players. But if you don’t fight, you cannot win. We weren’t determined or spirited enough. This match speaks for itself and it’s pointless repeating the same things.

“We were lucky to take the lead but we then should have stepped things up a gear and killed off the contest. We didn’t do that and it’s not the first time this season. Our problems? This Milan lacks a bit in personality. You have to win certain games. We’re also lacking in sharpness and at Milan it can’t happen.

“We have so many international players and that means that we have strong players but they have to prove it on the pitch. We’ve lost so many points against teams that are, on paper, inferior to us.

“The standing? We are in the position that we deserve. Surely we could do more but for what we did we deserve this place in the standings. It’s also true that we deserved to win a lot of games and we didn’t win become of lack of sharpness.  We now have a duty to try and cut the gap to the sides ahead of us in the table and we cannot let the sides behind us catch us.

“We all have to show that we’re worthy of being at this club. At the end of the season we will assess the situation. While I am here, I will try and get the best out of this team and myself.

“Juventus are clearly stronger than us, but it doesn’t mean we cannot beat them. We will spend the next six days together preparing as best as possible for the match. We will then see what happens. We will be in a training lockdown until at least Saturday. The right attitude has to always be there.

“I think Kucka and Honda can recover in time for the Juve game. Locatelli? He is a good player that has come from the youth sector. He is not yet ready for the pace and intensity of first team football. He does however have the intelligence and the abilities. El Shaarawy (who scored in the derby for Roma on Sunday) and Suso (who scored a hat-trick for Genoa? I’m not talking about players that I don’t train.

“My future? Right now I have more serious problems than that. We must try to close the season well and win the Coppa Italia. In the end we’ll make the decisions. If we’re not able to turn things around, we won’t win any of the matches from now until the end of the season.”

With how Milan have looked in recent weeks, it’s difficult to imagine that they will be able to beat Juventus on Sunday. The Rossoneri are risking even the 6th place in Serie A.