Juventus, Allegri: “I accept the criticisms, but you can’t discuss the facts”

“When I went to see my grandson there was a sign he wrote that said ‘Grandpa, not 1-0’. He already got it all figured out”! The best way for Max Allegri to defuse the controversy is to joke about it, also taking the opportunity to talk about the emotion of becoming a grandfather, an experience the Juventus coach had yesterday. On the eve of the match against Spezia, who sacked Gotti and will be led by Lorieri while waiting for the new coach, Allegri appeared serene and full of energy, striking again with the weapon of irony but also recounting the moment experienced by Juve: ” In Salerno, I told the boys that I hoped to win 3-0, because I want to see my nephew grow up.”

The anxiety generated by the 1-0 draw is an unwelcome emotion for the coach, who also returned to the polemics after Nantes and his outburst against De Grandis, who arrived a few days after the argument with a fan who had booed Kean beforehand: “I’m not nervous, it happened that someone booed regardless and I think it’s not right. The other evening was a reaction, perhaps wrong, but I can be criticized on many things. But not on one: on the facts. school is questionable. mathematics is not: 1+1 equals 2 and not 3. There’s no arguing about that”. Also explaining that the concept of “short muzzle” has been distorted with respect to its original meaning, the one born in an afternoon in Ferrara after the match against Spal in response to those who asked him why Juventus hadn’t won the Scudetto with so many points advantage: “Short nose is simple, it was aimed at the championship. This thing here has been transformed into a valid concept for a single game, it has been disguised and turned around. Then I have fun. I’m sorry for the reaction the other night, though about certain things…”

The former referee Calvarese and the Juve-Nantes penalty: “The Var? The more you slow down the image, the more the contact seems to be a foul…”

February 18, 2023

Church retired for La Spezia, Kean, Rugani and Perin titular

In La Spezia there will be no Chiesa, who has just returned from two games in four days, an effort from which the attacker, who has returned after a long absence and not yet at his best, has not yet recovered. The injured Miretti, Milik, Pogba and Kaio Jorge will also be missing and, in view of the return with Nantes, Allegri will make a turnover: “The three sure to play are Kean, Perin and Rugani, because Bremer is suspended and Bonucci is not in optimal conditions , he’s fine but he won’t play from the start. Then I’ll have to evaluate the others, but there will be some changes.” The goal is always to climb as many positions as possible without thinking about penalties and appeals, investigations and a classification that currently sees Juventus in ninth place but which leaves no certainties for the future: “Regardless of what happens outside, we have to work on the points scored in the championship, i.e. 44 without the penalty, and continue pursuing our mini objectives. We have Toro and Udinese ahead, Monza on equal points. Having beaten Fiorentina, they are now on 5 points, we have these two teams ahead and we have to be able to reach them as quickly as possible.It’s difficult in La Spezia, the pitch is difficult, the team creates a lot even with Napoli, against whom they had important chances, and Atalanta, with whom they took the lead. The matches never end there, you need the right match.” Turnover that will help to recover the most squeezed players in recent weeks and make them recover in view of next week’s return to Nantes, a key step for Juventus: “The Europa League is not compromised, winning is always difficult and football is strange Even though we could do better, we had important chances, we didn’t exploit them, we have to raise our goal percentage.”

First Spezia, then head to the Europa League

Thursday’s match in Nantes will be a key match, but first it’s essential to think about Spezia. Although the return of the Europa League play-offs is a fundamental step for the Juventus season, the match at the Peak is just as important. In the growth path set by the coach, there are some problems to solve, first of all the lack of accuracy in front of goal, which has conditioned the results and the journey of the bianconeri. In sixteen games, Juventus have conceded goals and only managed to win twice, highlighting also character problems: “We’ve thought about this, reflected on it, it needs to be improved and it’s a mental thing. Impossible to think of never conceding goals, but when it happens you have to be lucid and understand that there’s plenty of time to be able to win. On Thursday against Nantes, there were 30 minutes left plus recovery, so we had to remain lucid: instead we lost balance, after conceding the goal we went stronger than necessary”.

Going back to the season complicated by off-field issues, Allegri underlined the closeness of the club, denying those who claim that he is a lonely man, abandoned by the club intent on defending himself in legal proceedings and before the sporting justice: “The club never fails because Juve are the strongest club, they have achieved results with many coaches and with different players. The big clubs make the results, then you need good players but the club is the reinforced concrete base, now more than ever. Understanding from the environment? No, we mustn’t need understanding. We must do better, in the championship we must make an important climb, score a certain number of points regardless of what happens away from the pitch. There are no easy games in Europe , we have to go to Nantes to play the right game to go through and then we have the semi-final of the Coppa Italia”. Without forgetting the match in La Spezia, a key step in the run-up to qualifying in Europe.