Allegri: Nkunku should ‘smile more’, Milan must respect Sassuolo

Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri says his players must ‘respect’ Sassuolo and feels Christopher Nkunku should ‘smile more.’

Allegri’s Milan host Sassuolo at San Siro on Sunday. The Rossoneri are the Serie A table leaders, level on 31 points with Napoli.

Allegri previewed tomorrow’s game at a pre-match press conference, primarily providing injury updates: “Fofana has recovered, but I’ll leave him at home because he hasn’t trained at all. Athekame has been called up, Gimenez is working, and we hope to have him back as soon as possible,” Allegri said via Milan News.

“Sassuolo can make you struggle at any time, so we must have great respect and order in the defensive phase. If we wander around the pitch, they will cause trouble for you, and the game will become more complicated. Tomorrow we need a serious performance under every aspect; technically, physically and mentally.”

Christopher Nkunku started against Torino, but hasn’t yet scored in ten Serie A appearances.

“He must be more serene, because we all wanted him here,” Allegri said.

“His teammates and the club trust him. I told him he has to smile more. If he does so, things will improve. He’s an important player with technical skills, and I’m convinced he’ll do excellent things.

“He has worked a lot. In Turin, we scored the third goal because he attacked the near post well, freeing he space for Pulisic. He has extraordinary technical qualities and can score goals.”

Allegri has been repeating that Milan’s main objective is to qualify for the Champions League, while Inter and Napoli are the favourites for the Serie A title.

“If I’m not wrong, they finished first and second last season, so normally they are the favourites,” he said.

“We’ve changed many players, and we’ve welcomed excellent players. We are at Milan, so we must have the ambition and the desire to give our best, knowing that we must return to the Champions League. Tomorrow, we need to make a further step forward. We are table leaders, but we still need many to reach our main target, which is to qualify for the Champions League.”

Is it an advantage for Milan not to be involved in any European competition?

“I’d be happy if I could play one game every three days and in the Champions League, because we work for this,” insisted Allegri.

“There are all these rumours about the advantages or disadvantages. I believe the advantage is to have a strong team with strong players, a strong club and an environment that can support physically, mentally and technically a game every three days; otherwise, you can’t be in a top team. I like to play in the Champions League, and we are working for this. I don’t think that playing one game every three days leads to worse preparation, but it’s possible.”

Santiago Gimenez is still injured and hasn’t yet scored in Serie A. Does it mean Milan will look for a new centre-forward in January?

“I must find solutions internally in a group of players who are offering it to me,” insisted Allegri.

“The club will keep an eye on the market, but we must focus on tomorrow’s game. Once we’ve done it, we’ll focus on the Supercoppa.”

Is Ardon Jashari ready to replace Luka Modric if the Croat needs to rest ahead of next week’s Supercoppa?

“Jashari has really improved. Tomorrow’s game is the closest one, so I’ll base my assessments on tomorrow’s match,” noted Allegri.

“After tomorrow’s game, we’ll see the dead ones, the ones who are alive and those who are wounded.”

Milan have won all their big games this season, but dropped points against teams in the bottom half of the table. Fikayo Tomori has had drops in focus, but Allegri refused to blame the Englishman.

“It’s not about Tomori. We all have it as a team. We conceded two goals against Torino, Pisa, Parma and Cremonese,” he said.

“There are situations we must improve; we can’t be two goals down after 12 minutes. It happens sometimes, but we must try to avoid it.

“This is a team that never complains about the work and what we ask them. They have a clear target, they want to seize the opportunity to stay at Milan and leave something important recorded in Milan’s history,” concluded the coach.

“We must remain focused without listening to what is being said. The target is to be in the top four on May 25 because, I repeat, Milan must play in the Champions League next season.”