New AC Milan coach Cristian Brocchi has vowed to get his team playing the attacking football Silvio Berlusconi craves, after the club's president slammed the style of play of Sinisa Mihajlovic.
Brocchi was promoted from his role of coach of the youth team to replace Mihajlovic, who was fired after less than 10 months in charge earlier this week. He had long since been admired by Berlusconi for the football being played by the youth team, and now he is delighted to have the chance to show that he can do the same in Serie A.
"I have no negative thoughts, I take this opportunity with the great desire and spirit which have always distinguished me," he said at a news conference. "I am not afraid, I know what I can do. I am not saying 100 percent that Milan will win seven games out of seven, but I will give 100 percent.
"I have always wanted my teams to take the initiative and not sit back. But achieving that goal will take time. We will work so that we get to the stage where we control matches and dominate. It won't be easy, but it is an exciting challenge."
That challenge includes trying to get the best out of Mario Balotelli in seven games, including the final of the Coppa Italia, which will be crucial to Milan and the player, whose loan deal from Liverpool expires in the summer.
"I am really excited about the opportunity of trying to get the best out of Balotelli," Brocchi said. "He is a big player and I think he can play even better than he did in the last game versus Juventus. He will be a fundamental player for the team and so will lots of others.
"Each one of my players has to put the team first. A lot of players have a lot at stake in the coming matches, but I have seen each player really determined and focused."
Those words will have sounded like music to the ears of Berlusconi, who was highly critical of Mihajlovic in his latest post on Facebook -- responding to the criticism he has been subjected to for his latest managerial change.
"Dear Rossoneri friends, the decision to give the Milan reins to Cristian Brocchi has raised a lot of discussion," he wrote. "All opinions are legitimate, of course. This decision, driven by my sense of responsibility, is, like any other decision, free to be criticised by anybody.
"What I cannot share, however, is the fact that my love for Milan is being doubted. I have always been in love with Milan and the decisions I have made over the past 30 years as president have always been exclusively in the interests of Milan and all those who are also in love with them.
"I proudly justify all of the decisions I have made, from the first to the last, which is to correct, by changing the coach, a trend in terms of our style of play which is not worthy of the history of AC Milan. Let's be clear about it, disregarding the results we have never seen Milan play this badly.
"Acting this way, we will be able to take decisions in the best interest of our Milan, not now but at the end of the season, evaluating the actual results this decision brings."
Mihajlovic has not yet replied to Berlusconi and he did not wish to discuss his dismissal when given a mock award by a Canale 5 television programme, although he did hit out at the girlfriend of Kevin-Prince Boateng, Melissa Satta, who said that the change in coach was a breath of fresh air to the club.
"I'm not racist, but I don't think women should talk about football because they are not suited for it," he said. "I'd like to thank all the Milan fans who have always been nice, which shows they appreciated Mihajlovic as a man."