Arrigo Sacchi believes that AC Milan will benefit from the World Cup break as it will allow the squad to sharpen up having shown some fatigue in recent games.
It must be said that Milan have not dazzled quite as they did during their Scudetto winning season last season, with some disappointing results coming such as the 2-1 away defeat against Torino and the 0-0 draw against Cremonese in the last month.
The Rossoneri did go into the break with back to back home league wins against Spezia and Fiorentina, but the winning goal against the former came in the last minute of normal time from Olivier Giroud and it took a 93rd minute own-goal to beat La Viola on Sunday.
Sacchi spoke in his weekly column for La Gazzetta dello Sport and was asked for his assessments of his former side, with his comments relayed by MilanNews and translated below.
“Milan can benefit from this break because I have seen many tired Rossoneri players with their tongues sticking out. But Pioli will have to be good at exploiting this period to find the team that allowed him to win the Scudetto last season,” he began.
“Milan must return to play with eleven players in an active position both when attacking and when defending. Now, however, when the opponents have the ball, there are always two or three players who participate little.
“Pioli will try to correct this defect to recreate that compact and cohesive group, tight and short, which can guarantee pressure and speed of execution. He is an intelligent coach, he knows where to put his hands. It is to be hoped that his boys will follow him with blind trust.”
