This AC Milan team lack courage - Inzaghi

The Rossoneri coach says his 10 men paid the price for sitting back against Torino after taking an early lead at the Stadio Olimpico

AC Milan coach Filippo Inzaghi said his team lacked courage and dropped too deep in Saturday's 1-1 Serie A draw at Torino.

Milan took the lead through a Jeremy Menez penalty after three minutes at the Stadio Olimpico but were reduced to 10 men on the stroke of half-time when Mattia De Sciglio received a second yellow card.

Inzaghi's side were outplayed for much of the match and conceded an 81st-minute equaliser when defender Kamil Glik headed in from a corner.

“The big mistake was that we went too deep," Inzaghi told Sky Italia. "The strategy was to put three forwards on three defenders and it went well until a certain point.

"We must have courage because we are Milan, but when this team runs into difficulty it lacks confidence. It’s up to me to improve that.

"This side lacks some character and belief, as once they go in front they ought to gain confidence, but instead tend to get nervous."

The draw leaves Milan in seventh place, four points off the Champions League qualifying places, and Inzaghi admitted he was not currently thinking about a third-placed finish.

“We must not talk about this anymore,” he said. “We have to focus on playing, improving and getting more character into the team when we go in front."

The former Milan striker did have some praise for his team, who showed some battling qualities after De Sciglio was sent off.

The 41-year-old said: “If it weren’t for a late corner, we would’ve won a game with 10 men and that would be a great achievement.

"I brought on Alex because I saw we were struggling in the air, but straight after putting on our best header of the ball we conceded from a corner again. We have to do something about that.

"We could have done better when it was eleven against eleven. We held out as well as we could with 10 men.”

Milan have only won two of their nine league games on the road this season.