adminAC Milan coach Sinisa Mihajlovic slammed the stuttering Serie A giants after a third defeat of the season left the Rossoneri six points adrift of leaders and bitter city rivals Inter Milan. Milan travelled to Genoa’s Luigi Ferraris stadium looking to make it three wins in a row following 3-2 successes against Palermo and Udinese.
But the visitors were a goal down after 10 minutes when Blerim Dzemaili beat Diego Lopez with a deflected free-kick and Milan were reduced to 10 men when Alessio Romagnoli was sent off on the stroke of half-time for a second bookable offence.
On what was Mario Balotelli’s second start since returning to the club and in the presence of Italy coach Antonio Conte, the on-loan Liverpool striker missed the target from a free-kick and then hit an angled drive straight at goalkeeper Eugenio Lamanna.
Milan’s third reverse of the season dropped them to 10th place, and they could fall nine points behind Inter if the leaders win their later top-of-the-table clash at home to Fiorentina.
“In every game we play we’re only playing for one half, and that’s not good enough,” said Mihajlovic.
“We played better when we were down to ten men, we had two or three chances but just couldn’t score.
“In these kind of games it’s not enough to rely on the fact we’re called Milan. We’ve to dig deep and be a bit more ruthless.”
Fiorentina, three points behind Inter, dropped one place to third as 10-man Torino went the other way following a 2-1 win at home to Palermo.
Roma, who humiliated league new boys Carpi 5-1 on Saturday, sit six points behind Inter in sixth place.
Champions Juventus, meanwhile, are down in 15th place already 10 points off the pace after a 2-1 defeat at Napoli left them with just one league win all season.
In an interview with Sky Sport Italia, goalkeeper and captain Gianluigi Buffon said: “We’ve to put aside all talk of the scudetto for the next few months.” — AFP
Online Reporter