AC Milan's pre-season tour is drawing to a close, with the Rossoneri set to face Xabi Alonso's Chelsea in Jakarta on Saturday in the final friendly before the Serie A season gets under way against Torino.
Speaking to Sky Sport during the build-up, midfielder Ardon Jashari reflected on life under new head coach Ruben Amorim, admitting the squad is still adapting to a fresh way of playing.
"After the holidays there's always new energy. We have a new coach, and it isn't simple because we haven't had time yet to fully understand how he wants us to play. But in these few days I've already got an idea. In Belgium I already played in a two-man midfield, and against Inter, alongside Modric, I was able to make some of the movements I feel comfortable with."
Jashari also spoke about the intensity Amorim wants from his side.
"I like it. It's a dominant style of football, and it's important to be able to play at high intensity. I can't wait, I have a good feeling about the possibility of dominating matches: we're at Milan, we have to play like this and win.
"I have great respect for Allegri, who won six Scudetti in Serie A: everyone has their own style, but I have a good feeling about the idea of pressing high and dominating the game."
Looking back on a difficult first season in Italy, hampered by injury, the Swiss midfielder was candid: "It was my first season at Milan and in Italy, and there was the injury: it wasn't the season I expected, I didn't play much and it wasn't part of my plans."
He was unequivocal about his commitment to the club going forward: "My heart is always red and black."
Amorim, for his part, used his pre-match press conference to stress the importance of taking every fixture seriously as Milan wind down their preparations.
"We have to think about every single match. We have a squad that can win every game, in any competition," the Portuguese coach said, quoted by Gazzetta.it.
Asked about the club's ambitions this season, he did not shy away from setting the bar high: "In the Europa League we have to believe in it and want to win the competition. Then there's Serie A: we know we'll be up against many teams that have been working with their coaches for a long time, so it will be difficult, but I can't come here and say we can't or don't want to win the league."
He added that the scale of the rebuilding job should not be underestimated, given the managerial change and squad turnover, "but when you're at a club of Milan's level, you have to aim for the title."
On team selection for Saturday, Amorim confirmed several key players will see more minutes than in the previous friendly.
"Leao, Modric and Ramos will play more than in the first match. I don't know if I'll use them all together, but we don't have many matches before the start of the season and at the same time we have to manage workloads. So I'll try to field two balanced line-ups."
He added that some players would again be limited to around 60 minutes, while others, including Leao, Modric and De Winter, would play closer to 45 "because they've had two training sessions and a match, and now they're straight back out on the pitch."