Barella after the derby: “The approach isn’t working for us, we need to improve”

With Lautaro still out due to injury, the captain’s armband in the derby went to Barella, who spoke to Sky Sport and commented on the defeat against Milan without holding back on self-criticism.

“We are paying for mistakes that, beyond the goal from the free kick, are individual errors and then team errors,” explained the Nerazzurri midfielder. “I had said it even after the games we won: our approach is not working as well as it should. We need to improve on this. A derby is a match of its own and it doesn’t matter how you come into it. We need to analyze and improve especially in this aspect, because when we score and unlock ourselves, we totally control the match.”

On the alternating performances in derbies, Barella admitted: “There have been derbies where we played well and didn’t win, others where we played badly and managed to draw. We are not consistent. Regardless of the derby, every league match is worth three points and is important. Today we had to do better.”

The midfielder then explained the difficulties related to the tactical management of the match, with Chivu forced to do without a striker: “We were in an emergency. Bonny had a fever and Pio as well during the week. Probably not having fresh substitutes in attack influenced the coach’s choices.” The team tried different solutions, relying on the runs of Diouf and Sucic between the lines, but the result did not come. “We were not used to those formations,” Barella acknowledged, adding however that “attitude matters more than formations.”