Amorim: ‘Milan players unavailable, Bournemouth were not better than us’

· FootballItalia

Ruben Amorim explains his Milan choices against Udinese, reveals he spoke to Mike Maignan about...

It kicks off at the Bluenergy Stadium in Udine at 19.45 GMT (20.45 CET).

The Rossoneri were shaken by Thursday’s 3-0 Europa League defeat at Bournemouth , a game that barely got started before the Mike Maignan red card ruined their plans.

On top of that, Adrien Rabiot, Mario Gila and Diego Moreira sustained injuries, with Samuel Chukwueze, Matteo Gabbia, Alexis Saelemaekers and Pietro Terracciano already out of action.

Amorim forced to reshuffle Milan pack

> “They cannot play, it’s just not possible. We need to manage the players, and there are players here today too where we need to manage their minutes,” Amorim told DAZN Italia when asked if some of those were precautionary decisions ahead of the midweek round.

> “With this schedule, it’s impossible to use everyone at the same time. Because we need to try to win every game, we need to balance everything, and they are not available for today.”

Fikayo Tomori and Sankhoun Diawara get their first Serie A starts of the season in a revamped defence, while there are suggestions this might be a 4-4-2 formation.

> “We know that Udinese have five players at the back, so we try to play in a different way,” noted Amorim.

> “What matters is the rotation, I try to choose the players that are available physically, and then look at their characteristics. If I had all the players then I might play a different way, but today my feeling is this is the best starting XI for the game. It won’t be the line-up to finish, but it’s the best to start.”

Maignan was sent off for a shove on Bournemouth player Tyler Adams as a corner was coming in, a naïve error that proved very costly indeed. Has Amorim spoken to Maignan about that incident?

> “The players are not boys, they are men. Maignan understood right away he cannot do that, we cannot put ourselves in that position,” replied the coach.

> “I had a conversation with him, but I had a conversation with everyone. I felt what happened at the beginning with Bournemouth was nothing to do with tactics or technical qualities, because they were not better than us on a technical level, they were more competitive.

> “That is something we see in the first halves in the league too, it’s about how competitive we are. Sometimes we need to forget about playing really nice, we need to approach the game in a different way.”

Milan are still unbeaten in Serie A this season, but have too rarely looked convincing, held to draws by Juventus, Lazio and Sassuolo, then almost fumbling a 3-0 lead in their 3-2 win over Atalanta.

> “Goncalo Ramos is ready to play, otherwise he wouldn’t be here. He had a problem midweek, he has recovered, everyone here including those on the bench are ready to play,” concluded Amorim.

The next week could be crucial for their campaign, as there is a midweek round against Bologna before Saturday’s Derby della Madonnina with Inter.

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