In the aftermath of A.C Milan’s 1:0 victory over Internazionale in the Coppa Italia quarter finals fixture on Wednesday, a defiant Gennaro Gattuso has charged his team to build on the morale boosting win.
Gattuso, who was brought in as permanent replacement for erstwhile coach Montella, has seen his appointment denigrated because of his obvious lack of experience as manager of a top side. The former Italy International’s coaching career, prior to Milan, had seen him perform underwhelmingly at clubs of lower reputations which has led to supporters questioning the rationale behind his appointment with Milan obviously in need of a top quality manager to bring the best out of their expensively assembled first team squad.
The former skipper of the Rossoneri, admitted to the assembled press following the win that he may be the “worst coach in Serie A,” but believes his team have the perfect platform from which to build, in view of their narrow win at San Siro.
“Perhaps I am the worst coach in Serie A, but I always want to win, even playing in the garden with my son,” Gattuso told Rai Sport. “I want my lads to prove that what I saw tonight was not a fluke, then we’ll take it one game at a time”, the former tough tackling midfielder is quoted to have said.
The Rossoneri needed a Patrick Cutrone extra-time winner to defeat their crosstown rivals, and now Gattuso wants Milan to take that form into their upcoming league matches.
“Now there are two difficult games coming up in Serie A and we need points to climb the table.
“I didn’t see much difference between this performance and the defeat to Atalanta. Some might call me crazy for saying that. We had the game with Verona in hand too until we conceded the first goal like dummies.
“This is a team that does well until it runs into the first hurdle and today we overcame the hurdles.”
AC Milan currently sit 11th in the Serie A table, 21 points behind leaders Napoli, with games against Fiorentina and Crotone set to come in the next seven days.
“We were coming off a negative period, so this game was fundamental,” Gattuso said.
“I knew from day one what I was going into with the Milan job. It’s a big club that won for many years and changed a lot of players recently. We are struggling, but this side has quality and was at times missing that bile. We showed tonight that we can battle it out and then the quality emerges.
“I want to compliment all the lads. I won everything as a player, but as a coach I’m well aware that I’m just starting out. I worked in Cyprus, at Pisa, I’ve been through it all, but I am happy at Milan and the club is planning things very well.
“In January I’ll turn 40, so I still think like a player, believing that with hunger and a sense of belonging, you can go far. I don’t hold back, if I have something to say to someone, I’ll say it to their face. There’s a lot of work to be done, we’d be hypocrites to say this victory resolves all our problems, but it does give us some breathing room.”