Serie A: Juve will advance step by step, one game at a time, Allegri assures
Juventus huffed and puffed but were only able to put two goals past Genoa despite creating about a million chances last night in a 2-0 win. A big part of that was Salvatore Sirigu’s heroics in goal, pulling off ten saves but the Bianconeri finishing was suspect all evening too.
Speaking to the press after the game, coach Massimiliano Allegri was able to find some humour in the situation.
“I think we wanted to reinforce our position when it comes to percentage of scoring opportunities converted into goals! We’re the worst in Serie A, I think, so wanted to consolidate those statistics!
“I enjoyed watching the team play this evening, as I have done in other games, even when we lost. We can only improve our effectiveness in front of goal, that’s for sure.”
Allegri was seen having an ugly touchline spat with striker Alvaro Morata who was substituted soon after a booking.
“He was booked, he was continuing to argue and so I preferred to take him off. It’s disappointing, as Alvaro had played well and so did the whole team.”
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The coach was asked about his thinking behind the 4-2-3-1 formation that he rolled out for this game.
“Rodrigo Bentancur and Manuel Locatelli bring quality and quantity. Manuel is more quality and Rodrigo more quantity, but he is improving in the way he plays the ball, he was accustomed to shorter passes, but we need everyone to be good at short and long passes to get the strikers moving.
“I think many of Paulo Dybala’s goals have been him coming to the edge of the box when the centre-forward lays it off, those are his characteristics.
“The three behind Morata have a certain degree of freedom, maybe less Dejan Kulusevski because he doesn’t want to cross over with Dybala. The important thing is that we had the right mentality throughout the 90 minutes.”
The Bianconeri are working their way to the best of the rest category, a whole seven points behind Atalanta and the top trio of AC Milan, Inter Milan and Napoli.
“At this moment, we are fifth along with Fiorentina. It was important to win today, the top four are doing very well and currently deserve their positions. I don’t know what will happen at the end of the season, if things will change.
“We have our objectives, in Serie A, the Champions League and Coppa Italia, so we’ll get there step by step, one game at a time.”