A half-time dressing down from head coach Sinisa Mihajlovic inspired AC Milan to beat Chievo 1-0 on Wednesday, according to midfielder Andrea Bertolacci.
The Rossoneri failed to create many chances of note in the first half and went into the break scoreless.
Stern words from Mihajlovic at the interval had the desired impact, Luca Antonelli netting the only goal of the game as Milan secured a first clean sheet of the Serie A campaign.
"In the locker room we received a bit of a dressing down from the coach," Bertolacci told Corriere dello Sport.
"What was going wrong? A little bit of everything: we were too passive, we didn't go and press Chievo.
"In the second half we made things hard for them, though, and in the end we deserved to win by a bigger margin."
Bertolacci has been struggling to make much of an impact in his first few months at Milan - who travel to Lazio this weekend - after his transfer from Roma, but he is confident he will find his feet once he is full settled.
He said: "It's always taken me time to get into peak condition, even with my former teams.
"But moving from Genoa to Milan [via Roma] has certainly played its part.
"However, this is all part of my growth process as a player and my form has clearly improved lately."
