ITALY/ AC MILAN, Allegri: "Pato will be starting the match tomorrow"

© foto di Federico Gaetano

No time to rest for Serie A following the weekend's matches because there is another round of midweek fixtures and it all starts tomorrow evening with Palermo-Milan, round 10 of the season.

In the pre-match press conference Massimiliano Allgeri spoke about the threat that the Sicilian side posed despite their poor start to their season and their 18th place in the league table.

"Palermo are doing very well now, Gasperini's sides have always played good football and at home they transform. they have players like Miccoli, Ilicic and Brienza who can cause all sorts of problems. It will be a very tough game for us, we have to defend very well against these three players."

The coach was delighted with Milan's fist win in four Serie A games on Saturday thanks to stephan El Shaarawy's late goal. At the moment, the just turned 20-year-old, is the first name on the starting sheet.

"El Shaarawy is doing very well but he still has a long way to go and can still improve technically. He is a well balanced lad, he helps out a lot in defence and he is a quality finisher as he is demonstrating. He is in excellent shape at the moment and he has lots of energy - he is just 20 after all."

"Pato will be starting the match tomorrow while Boateng has a problem with his achilles tendon and hasn't bee called up but it is strictly an injury problem. Abbiati is better but tomorrow Amelia will once again start. Muntari is doing well also but it is too early for him to be playing competetive football. Mexes should have started again Genoa but arrived ten minutes late to training and so I kept him out. He will start against Palermo."

The most pleasing aspect for Allgeri is that the team are playing better football, even if results have been hard to come by, and they continue to create chances on goal.

"The team always give 100%, we have to improve in the last 30 meters but it isn't always easy. On Saturday Genoa defended very well with ten men behind the ball. We are not playing at all badly, we concede very little and let's hope it continues that way. We will improve in the last third of the field as the players mature together. The strikers have a lot of goals in them and we just need to be a little luckier."

The rossoneri have been heavily criticised over the last month with mounting pressure on the coach's shoulders but Allegri believes that satying calm is essential to turning the tide of negative results around.

"In these moments of difficulty the coach cannot panic. The game on Saturday could have finished in a draw but the performance would still have been the same. In football the only thing that matters is the result."