Italiano: ‘Bologna still waiting for change of pace’

“There is time for us to improve, the first half wasn’t bad and we should’ve moved the ball a bit quicker to create even more dangerous situations,” Italiano told DAZN Italia.

“After the break, I was still waiting for that change of pace, but we must keep working on the tempo and intensity, which is what made the difference for us last season. We aren’t doing that yet and the new players are still learning, so we’ve got to get those mechanisms working quickly with the new arrivals.”

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It has been a recurring issue for Bologna this season that their possession has been largely static and sterile.

“We knew that Milan would play with a low block and that we could have the ball at our feet for long periods, but we weren’t quick enough changing from one side to the other, and didn’t get enough one-on-one situations to take men on down the flanks,” continued Italiano.

“I was convinced we could push more in those zones in the second half, especially against those Milan players who were already on yellow cards. We’ve got to improve, gain sharpness and intensity. I wanted to see something more with the ball at our feet, we had some of that in the first half, but not enough.

“We don’t have enough crosses into the box and not enough bodies in there either, we can do much better. Jens Odgaard was particularly good at that, but he had some difficult surgery and will take a while to find his full fitness.”

The sterility is also becoming a problem considering Bologna have scored just one goal in the first three Serie A rounds.

“We did face three very good opponents and must try to create more scoring opportunities, get bodies into the box, and get the finishes away quicker. These are intelligent lads, they’ll know all that when we work in training next week,” concluded Italiano.