Milan will face Sassuolo away in Serie A January 5th at 16:00 UTC(CET) on October 12. Head coach Amorim attended the pre-match press conference, and this is the fourth part of it.

Daniele Longo (Calciomercato.com): Good afternoon, coach. When you first joined, you clearly expressed in your press conference a strong desire to control games, pursue victories, and lead Milan back to its peak, which is exactly what the long history of this great club demands. I want to ask you, the sample size for the first half of this season is still very limited, only 5 games. Does this require a longer-term building process? Are you now firmly convinced that this Milan team is capable of winning championships and reaching the pinnacle? In addition, what phenomena in Serie A this season have surprised you the most, in both positive and negative ways?

We always start with the core belief of pursuing championships. In my first few months coaching Milan, I repeatedly reiterated that my purpose for coming here was to win trophies. I cannot precisely predict how long this building process will take, but you must keep a clear mind to plan the development path and steadily go through each stage.

However, when you work at such a top club, you can never tell the outside world that "we can or must compete for the championship in two or three years." You must always maintain the determination to win right here, right now, in the present. For such a great club, this is a natural requirement. Of course, objective laws also require us to follow the stages and steps of development.

Serie A has many strong opponents, and this season's Serie A has a different look compared to the past. Perhaps due to changes in refereeing rules, or a reduction in the frequency of medical teams entering the field, all these reforms have significantly increased the overall pace and tempo of the game, leading to a substantial increase in effective playing time.

In the past, many people often complained that Serie A was full of 0-0 draws, but look now, teams are scoring a lot of goals, and almost no team will passively defend in a low block for the entire 90 minutes. Look at the standings, although Venezia is temporarily ranked 20th, this is only due to their specific results so far. If you watch Venezia's games, you will find that they are a team constantly seeking high-pressing across the entire pitch.

I am incredibly surprised by the extremely high tactical quality displayed by Serie A players, coaches, and the game itself. I am very honored to be here to coach. I really like Serie A, and I am eager to do my best to promote football development here and, more importantly, to lead my club forward. I feel at home in Milan, and I am deeply honored to be here.

Serie A is an excellent top league, and sometimes people don't even give it enough credit. Although facing teams with different styles and tactical systems every weekend gives me endless tactical problems to process in my mind every day, I really enjoy the process of preparing for these matches. Again, I am incredibly proud and happy to coach Milan.

Francesco Letizia (Sportitalia): Good afternoon, coach. I want to revisit the topic of the four-man defense. What specific details did you observe in the first five or six games of the season that prompted you to reconsider and switch to a four-man defense? Were these details something you failed to detect during the summer preparation period—because the current squad is largely not structured with a traditional specialist right-back? Also, looking back, is it possible that Zachary Athekame, who is currently performing exceptionally well at Olympique Lyonnais, could be recalled early in January, or as a future tactical option? One last curious question: you've been here for four months, how is your Italian language learning progressing?

I'll start by answering the last question. For me, mastering a new language indeed presents many difficulties. If I were an ordinary player or an employee in another club role, expressing myself in Italian might be much easier and more casual. But as a head coach, my public statements and external communication are extremely crucial.

I must be highly cautious with every word I say, so I need to ensure I am absolutely comfortable and precise when speaking. After every match, I have to go through numerous intensive media interviews. I know it would definitely be better if I could communicate directly in Italian, but I absolutely cannot allow my original meaning to be distorted or over-interpreted and sensationalized by the media due to imprecise language. I am working very hard to learn Italian, but good communication is a core part of my daily management, so I sincerely apologize to everyone here.

As for the change to a four-man defense, this is purely for the sake of improving the team's fluidity. I noticed that our players were a bit too rigid on the field, seeming to be stuck in fixed positions. Therefore, this formation change significantly optimized our smoothness in playing out from the back and during the build-up phase. In fact, even before this, we often alternated between a three-man and four-man defense when building up from the back; we have never truly used a fixed five-man defense this season. This adjustment gives players greater positional freedom, helping them perform at their best.

In the match against Benfica, although we had a lot of possession and pressed the opponent hard, the lack of dynamic movement in the team made me deeply realize that we had to make some changes in our organization—not necessarily to be better than before, but to show different tactical dynamics. This was the original intention of making this change. As for whether we will stick to this system in the future, it is just another tactical tool we use to win games, and everything will depend on the specific opponent.

Regarding Zachary Athekame, we have been closely monitoring his performance and that of all our loaned players. He is a very good player. At the beginning of the season, I primarily viewed him as a wing-back—similar to Diego Moreira's role—but with the current changes in the tactical system, anything is possible in the future. He is performing very well under Fonseca, and we will continue to closely follow his development and evaluate him in the future.

Michael Como (Radio Lombardia): Good afternoon, coach. There is currently a lot of discussion about Milan's strikers and goal-scoring issues, yet data shows that Milan currently scores an average of two goals per game. For a head coach who places such importance on overall team football, what does this data mean?

This is the magic of football. Yes, that's right, we currently score an average of two goals per game. When answering these kinds of questions, I could simply use "we score two goals per game" as a shield, but this cannot be the sole basis for evaluating our overall offensive performance.

I am very clear about the current situation: we are not creating nearly enough clear chances in the opponent's box, and we have too little effective touch time in the opponent's box. It is well known that 98% to 99% of goals in modern football occur inside the box. Therefore, only when we get the ball into the box more frequently through more one-on-one dribbles, attacking tactical combinations, and precise through balls, and increase our touches inside the box, can we create exponentially more scoring opportunities. I will never hide behind the superficial data of "10 goals" and be complacent or satisfied. I don't just look at the final score; I focus more on the overall process and actual performance of the entire team during the match.

Objectively speaking, in terms of the quantity and quality of attacking chances created, I am not yet satisfied with the team's current offensive performance. Therefore, we will invest a lot of training in this area to improve. We are indeed scoring goals constantly, but I firmly believe that our team has enormous potential to do much better than now.

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