“In the five games before this, the team has always played good football,” coach Gattuso told Sky Italia after the match. “We’ve had highs and lows, we’re not very consistent, often having a great first half and falling away in the second. We dominated Empoli and could’ve had a 4-1 result there, but Pietro Terracciano made five or six great saves. If we want to become a great team we have to find consistency, but then there are also the opponents who sometimes play great games.
“At this moment, our defensive movements aren’t as good and it’s not just about the defenders, but the protective shield and going too deep. That is our weakness. We don’t press the opposition on the edge of the area, just sit back as a shield and don’t go towards them. We had four or five through balls that caused us a lot of problems, but we know that is something we have to improve on.
“We have little time but it’s not everything to throw away. The team does many good things and this result can help us gain confidence in everything we’re working on. The victory brings tranquility? It brings a bit of peace and conviction in what we do. But a single victory is not enough.
“When you wear the Milan jersey and work at a glorious club like this, which wants to get back to the top, there is pressure. We have to be good at working, it’s not all to be thrown away. People aren’t so much interested as performances as results and the table, but I knew this team was alive and had promise. I am the one responsible and the important thing is to give these guys time to grow.
“The concept of a winning mentality? It means that when you have the advantage then sometimes you need to kick a few balls outside the stadium, you believe in suffering and look for other goals. We’re lacking this. The team plays well, they know what they want but when the team begins to lose its safety, going for second balls, it becomes vulnerable and sometimes suffers from the opponents.
“Suso? In order to complete his growth process, Suso has to get to know Higuain better, he must give the ball that he gave against Atalanta more often. If he cuts inside slightly less, he can be like Insigne at Napoli. Suso can score goals, because he has that in his locker.
“But above all, Suso can create many goals for others like Higuain. The striker position? We hope to recover someone, but the fact of having Cutrone limping less is important, he had less trouble with his ankle. It’s better to have everyone available. We play on Thursday, then against Chievo on Sunday it’s never easy and then there’s a break. I hope to finish off these two matches as well.
“André Silva [who is the La Liga top scorer now with 7 goals for Sevilla]? He didn’t want to stay. There were Higuain and Cutrone so when I heard that, I knew you couldn’t convince him and I couldn’t promise 25-30 games. I had no doubt he was a great striker. We did everything to make him stay but he made a choice. But nobody sent André Silva away. He wanted to go.”
Speaking in the post-match press conference, Rino said: “The goals from outside the box? It’s not something you can prepare before. Also against Empoli we had many shots from outside the box and Terracciano had 4-5 miracle saves. We have created many chances this year. The score was missing just Çalhanoğlu who was knocking on the door. He got there many times against Empoli but wasn’t precise. We did well to know how to suffer, then our quality came out.
“What I liked less? This team needs to improve in what we don’t like doing: too many times we struggle and leave too much space, when we start the play from the back, for instance. We took the lead five times and if the matches had ended in the 70th minute we would be talking about an entirely different story. This is what we need to improve.
“Higuain? I hope to have him back this week. I don’t want to put too much pressure on his recovery. I haven’t studied medicine, I had a hard time graduating, so I don’t understand anything about medicine, but I don’t want relapses. He’ll have more tests tomorrow and see how he is.
“Castillejo? He did very well, he found the space behind the defenders and allowed us to catch our breath. Apart from the goal, I think he made the right movements. We alternated him with Çalhanoğlu at the start but the Turk feels more comfortable on the left than in the middle. I could’ve risked Cutrone but I didn’t want to because every time he takes a blow he has pain for 4-5 minutes.”
Gattuso also had an interview with RAI: “We must definitely improve the aspects that have penalized us up until now, a winning mentality is needed and this comes slowly. When the results don’t come then the fear takes over. So it’s not a coincidence when even the great players do errors.
“We have three competitions and I need everyone. If I have all available then it’s more difficult to make choices. Against Sassuolo we lacked one of our most important players in Higuain, who had a little problem. Fortunately Cutrone is a bit better.
“I’m very angry because we conceded a goal again, I was hoping not to concede. If you can close the goal for 2-3 games then we can grow on a mental level. We are happy to have won but the performances were never lacking, even if we’ve had highs and lows.
“If we continue on this path then we can have a good campaign.”