AC Milan defeated Lecce 3-0 at home in the 5th round of Serie A. Head coach Amorim attended the post-match press conference.

This victory builds on two excellent performances by Milan early in the season. Now the goal is for the team to maintain this level of play and control consistently when facing stronger, higher-ranked opponents in the future?

Absolutely. We want to play dominantly in all situations. To reiterate, we only struggled to establish dominance against Juventus and in the first half against Lazio. But in the second half against Lazio, a team in excellent form recently, we showed very clear dominance.

Of course, going forward we need to demonstrate greater stability and consistency in controlling the tempo. We understood exactly what type of match we faced today—an opponent patiently waiting for our mistakes—but our performance today was significantly better, and our runs behind the defense were very effective for the team.

Good evening, Coach Amorim. This is our first question for you. I'd like to ask: as you build this Milan team according to your tactical philosophy—particularly regarding possession, high pressing, transition speed, and quick counterattacks—what percentage of your ideal state do you think the team has achieved? Is it 50%? 60%? 40%? Or 70%? How close is it to your optimal level?

You're too focused on where we are now (laughs). In reality, we're only at the very beginning.I fully understand the enormous pressure at a club like Milan, and I understand the rumors circulating about my so-called promises—though I never promised things like big wins in every match or an immediate transformation upon arrival—these rumors don't reflect reality.This kind of building takes time.

After the upcoming international break, we face a congested fixture schedule with barely any time for proper preparation, and I'm well aware that any minor setback or issue will likely be exaggerated by the outside world and become a major focal point of public discussion.

Good evening, Coach. There's a sense that almost all players, or at least many of them, can play multiple positions and take on various tactical roles. For example, we saw Pavlovic frequently joining the attack against Benfica, and Saelemaekers covering different areas across the field. Of course, each player also acts according to their own technical characteristics. Is this the tactical effect you're aiming for from everyone? What feedback have you received from them?

I think we're still finding the ideal squad and the best starting eleven. We learn more about this group daily. Preseason friendlies were too short, and early in the official season it's difficult to see everything clearly, especially for players who were involved in late stages of the World Cup and returned late.

Today's match was very effective because we used a different approach to building from the back, which really helped us break through—this positional adjustment allowed us to effectively create space against the opponent's relatively fixed defensive structure.But inevitably, opponents will gradually understand and figure out our attacking methods and game organization in the future. When that happens, we must be able to make changes and adjustments at any moment. I always believe players shouldn't rigidly memorize a specific tactical schema, but rather deeply understand the principles of football itself and work to implement this understanding with their teammates on the pitch.

Good evening, Coach. I want to ask: when you started this new chapter at Milan, if you'd been offered a five-match unbeaten run—including three wins and two draws, with those two draws being away draws against Juventus in the closing moments and against current league leaders Lazio—would you have accepted such a result beforehand?

I don't think this result is poor, but at the same time I feel slight disappointment because if you analyze the specific flow of these matches carefully, we had chances to earn more points. However, if you look at public opinion last week, it seemed like we went five games without wins rather than five games unbeaten.

I'm doing everything I can. I believe the players are constantly improving, and I believe our tactical intent and fighting spirit are clearly present in every match. Sometimes we play very well, sometimes not perfectly, but I repeat: this is still early in the season and we must look ahead to the next stage. After the international break, we face a congested fixture schedule with barely any time for proper preparation, and I'm well aware that any minor setback will likely be exaggerated by the outside world and become a major focal point of attention.

Coach Amorim, I have a quick question. I know you usually don't like talking too much about rigid tactical schemes, but I hope you'll explain: tonight we saw a 4-4-2 formation on the pitch, including Pulisic and others. Why did you make this decision? What specific additional benefits did this formation bring to the team? Sometimes discussing tactical schemes can be quite interesting...

To reiterate, coaches in the Italian league are very, very intelligent; they have an extremely thorough understanding of football's tactical aspects. I know they sometimes anticipate and wait for our game patterns and build-up play to become rigid and fixed. To be maximally effective in a specific tactical formation, your squad needs players whose technical characteristics perfectly suit that system. The deep lesson I learned at Manchester United was never to mechanically repeat the same actions, blindly expecting different results. Today's more aggressive tactical approach worked very well; we successfully controlled the tempo throughout the match and naturally earned this victory.

Переведено ИИ.

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