Gennaro Gattuso Admits Milan 'Lacked Desire' After Letting Lead Slip in 1-1 Draw With Parma
Milan manager Gennaro Gattuso admitted his side's performance 'lacked desire' as they were held by Parma to a 1-1 draw at the Stadio Ennio Tardini.
Samu Castillejo headed the visitors into the lead on 69 minutes, as the Rossoneri had failed to carve out any clear-cut chances up until then, but had to settle for a point when Bruno Alves equalised three minutes from time with a stunning free-kick.
Speaking after the game to the club's official website, Gattuso was extremely critical of his side's limp first-half performance, as well condemning their failure to see out what would've been their second successive win.
He said: "It wasn’t easy, just as we knew it wouldn't be. Our performance was sub-par during the first half. We were playing too straight and couldn’t find any outlets. Meanwhile, we upped the tempo in the second half but conceded foolishly at the end. We could’ve done a lot more.
"They didn’t worry us after Castillejo’s goal. We were always defending with six against two. It was only one incident that caught us out. We should’ve dealt with the final minutes differently but this is part of football."
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Despite the draw, Milan remain fourth in Serie A following AS Roma's draw with Inter, who would've leapfrogged the Rossoneri had they won at the San Siro.
To Milan's credit, they improved somewhat in the second period, mainly due to introduction of both Patrick Cutrone and Castillejo. It resulted in a change in formation to a 4-4-2, but Gattuso admitted the tactical change wasn't enough because of his side's lack of desire in the game.
Of the formation change, he added: "We’d already tried it and we’d had success with it. However, let’s not think about the formation but rather on how we’ll approach our next few matches in the best possible way, without any excuses. It was hot out there, but this was also the case for them. Today, we lacked the desire to get on the ball."
Next for Milan is the second leg of their Coppa Italia semi-final against SS Lazio, with the tie finely poised following a goalless first leg, although Gattuso hopes his side produce a better display on Wednesday.
He said: "We must take it game by game. We’ll now focus on Lazio and I know that there will be more than 55,000 fans in attendance. We can’t put in another performance like that of our first half against Parma."
