Mihajlovic demands fast Milan start

Sinisa Mihajlovic has urged Milan to come racing out of the blocks against Serie A’s bottom club Verona in a bid to improve their fortunes in front of goal.

Milan were poor in the final third in a disappointing 0-0 draw at Carpi last time out and have failed to score in three of their past four league matches – although they did put four past Sampdoria in their last outing at San Siro.

Head coach Mihajlovic believes the attacking talent at his disposal should do better, starting in Sunday’s contest against the strugglers.

“We need to come racing out of the blocks and aim to give our all,” he said.  “The players are fully aware of this and if you don’t give 100 per cent you cannot beat the so called smaller sides. 

“We have the third-best defence, the fifth-best attack and we have lost just once from the past eight matches which was away at Juventus.

“In the past couple of matches, however, we have struggled to score despite having four forwards in the team. This is something that needs to be improved upon. 

“Should we beat Hellas, we would maintain the points average that last season was good enough to qualify for the Champions League. After a slow start, we are recovering, but we must take things one match at a time.

“We know we dropped points last weekend versus Carpi and that’s our fault. We simply cannot afford a repeat of the first 20 minutes of that match and we need to make a strong start.”

Milan’s goal threat is set to be boosted by the imminent return of on-loan Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli, who took part in training this week as steps up his recovery from a groin injury.

“Balotelli is on the comeback trail. He has started to train again with the rest of the squad,” Mihajlovic added. “He is doing well, but isn’t yet ready.

“Let’s not rush things for the sake of a few days. Mario is an important player for us and when he’s back we will have more options in attack and we will be more dangerous as a team.”