Carlo Ancelotti insists he will stay on the Milan bench until at least 2010 and the whole team is still motivated to do well this season.
“I have a contract until 2010 with this club and I intend to respect it,” he said in today’s Press conference.
“For five years I have heard my name linked with other sides, so it is not a surprise to hear those rumours now, but what I want is to stay at Milan.”
The Rossoneri are in crisis after their shock UEFA Cup exit against Werder Bremen, a side they were leading 2-0 at half-time in the second leg, and are 11 points behind Serie A leaders Inter.
“Looking my players in the eye after that game, I saw they were motivated. The Werder match showed up physical problems that we certainly cannot resolve in two days. In the meantime we must focus on courage and playing our brand of football.
“The team is not expressing itself as it should and I must try to fix that. Football is not just a physical sport, as the psychological and emotional elements are very important too.
“I too can tell we are going through a difficult time, but the squad and I feel the chance and the desire to achieve our objective – qualifying for the Champions League.”
Ancelotti’s Milan do seem to have odd peaks and troughs, often during the same game, and he puts it down to the injury situation.
“Our dip in form coincided with the 1-1 draw with Reggina, which lost us points and Kaka. Since his injury we have had problems replacing him, especially as Ronaldinho was also sidelined during the same period.”
The two Brazilians are still out of action and have been joined on the treatment table by Massimo Ambrosini, while Clarence Seedorf is highly unlikely to start against Sampdoria on Sunday.
“We have to prepare for the match so we can give a positive sign, proving we are already reacting to our situation in such a difficult encounter,” continued the Coach.
“Right now we are missing crucial players and have to hold out as best we can in an emergency situation, at least until next week’s game with Atalanta. Once we recover our stars, we will rediscover our tempo and quality.”
Ancelotti confirmed he would adopt a 4-4-2 system, as “we are without trequartisti.”
Sampdoria were also knocked out of the UEFA Cup this week, losing 3-0 on aggregate to Metalist.
“Samp have performed well recently and have talents like Antonio Cassano and Giampaolo Pazzini. It’s true they are out of Europe, but the team is in a good period of form.”
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