Under-fire Miha: "I pick the team!"
With the Corriere dello Sport labelling the Serbian a dead man walking (“Il Signor No”) if Milan were to lose to Torino tonight, there’s been talk that Rossoneri president Silvio Berlusconi has been trying to meddle with team selection, something he is hardly unaccustomed to.
Mihajlovic, however, is having none of it.
"I decide who plays,” Mihajlovic told the Gazzetta dello Sport.
“I read that I've been asked to change formations. I talk to Berlusconi and Galliani, but the final choice is mine.
“I’ll do things my way and take responsibility. I like pressure, though sometimes people do exaggerate. Pressure stimulates me, I’m not the kind of person who thrives in sleepy environments. That’s why I gave up coaching the national side, I missed being under pressure every single day.”
Mihajlovic recognized that his position was a rather difficult one, however.
“Obviously, who coaches a big side has less time, I’m aware that without results I won’t be here long.
“But those who think that I may quite have never met me, that word doesn’t exist in my vocabulary. I will keep going, confident and serene.
“Our team is a bit fragile from an emotional perspective, but I’m sure that by working hard we’ll get ourselves out of this.”
With Milan’s football coming under a lot of criticism, talk has turned to the Serbian coach’s occasionally questionable tactical choices. Mihajlovic, for his part, seemed to hint that the blame lay with the players’ mentality.
“There’s no specific formation that guarantees wins, if the team doesn’t go into the game with the right mentality and a hunger to win, the formation makes little difference”.
