Pioli hails Milan’s ‘mental strength’ after hard-fought Spezia victory

The Italian coach told 

 after his side’s 

: 

“It’s a great victory, because we played well, but not very well, and getting the result anyway shows mental strength.

“This is a young squad, but they believe in themselves, in the team and in our approach to football. We mustn’t lose our humility, but it’s only right they feel able to handle certain pressure and win any game.

“The pressure and expectations have increased around us this season, but we are showing that we can handle that.

“We knew that we could attack the space with the full-backs or wingers, but we didn’t break them down many times in the first half. It took a while for the spaces to open up and we largely dominated the game.

“I was worried about this game, because the pitch is not a size suited to our style of football and frankly I think it’s unfair that different stadiums in Serie A have different sizes of pitch.”

Daniel Maldini

 made his first start for the Rossoneri and scored the match’s opener. On the 19-year-old, Pioli added: 

“The important thing about Daniel is that he has talent. He has technique, a good vision of the game, but needs to be quicker and more intensive in shaking off his marker. Bourabia was keeping tight to him and all he needed was another couple of metres to get away from his marker and open up those spaces.

“His first start was against Rio Ave a year ago playing as a False 9, so this was really his first start. He has the quality to make an impact in future and can only get better.”

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