Massimiliano Allegri reveals Federico Chiesa and Paulo Dybala will start against Sassuolo tomorrow and admits he ‘made a mistake’ against Inter, who ‘remain Serie A favourite.’
The Bianconeri host Sassuolo at the Allianz Stadium at 17.30 UK time tomorrow.
They are unbeaten in seven Serie A games, but sit ten points behind joint-leaders Napoli and Milan.
“Alessio Dionisi won the title in Serie B with Empoli, so that’s an added value for him. Sassuolo play really well, they have good players,” Allegri said at a press conference.
“We have recovered Adrien Rabiot, Moise Kean and Federico Bernardeschi are out. The rest, more or less, are all available.
“Paulo Dybala and Federico Chiesa will play, so everybody is happy. You write and I make you happy,” Allegri said, referring to journalists who had criticised him for not starting any of the two against Inter last week.
“Dybala has important technical qualities. He is different from Kulusevski, but he [Kulusevski] played a good game in Milan in the first 60 minutes.
“Chiesa is a top player, he’s played many games already. On Sunday, I was wrong, but I had read the game in a different way, with Kulusevski man-marking Brozovic.
“It’s not a problem if a player starts on the bench, there are many games. Chiesa didn’t go on the bench because he deserved it. I had read the game in a certain way. Eventually, when he was introduced, we needed more quality and he had a great impact.
“Federico is a reference point for the national team and Juventus, but if I use the same players all the time, I’ll need 20 new players in January.
“We hope we’ll play 57 games this season and sometimes players must rest. They can benefit from it, physically and mentally.”
“Will Morata start? Now you want too much, Perin will play in place of Szczesny and De Ligt returns [to the line-up]. Cuadrado can play with Morata, Dybala and Chiesa. Anything can happen.”
Allegri is satisfied with Juventus’ developments but insists they are not the main candidates to win the title as he sees Inter as the favourite for the Scudetto.
“There is a general growth from everybody and a better physical condition. This helps me to change something because we play a game every three days,” the Tuscan tactician said.
“The players are knowing each other, the new ones are settling in, there are good perspectives for the future, but we must win tomorrow.
“We had a bad start, so there is no room for mistakes. The draw against Inter is important, but only if we win tomorrow.”
Juventus collected just two points in the opening four Serie A games, losing to Empoli and Napoli and collecting draws with Udinese and Milan.
They partially recovered by winning the following four games in a row against Spezia, Sampdoria, Torino and Roma.
“Football is opinable. Everybody has different opinions. For me, we didn’t play well against Zenit, but we played well against Inter. It has to do with the opponents too, the opponents must be taken into account,” the coach added.
“Inzaghi won’t admit it, but Inter are the favourite to win Serie A. Then anything can happen in football, but they remain the favourite.”
The Bianconeri have four more games before the November break. They travel to Verona after the match against Sassuolo and then host Zenit and Fiorentina at the Allianz Stadium.
He is always making bizarre choices just to make people think he is some sort of sophisticated genius. Dybala I can understand as he was injured and just recovering, but Chiesa was not injured. I do not want to hear he was tired as he is a young man and it is the biggest game of the season. Barella is also an Italy starter and around the same age playing every game and he was not tired. Playing McKennie was also a mistake against Inter. It is fine to play him against smaller teams but against the big boys you play your best players which they only have 2 (Chiesa, Cuadrado)
This is ordinary Allegri… or most of Italian coaches, too conservative.
Tell me any other nations where coaches don’t play their best players because “they read the game differently”? Other than Italian coaches?
This is why players like Chiesa cannot compete against the best in the world because they get benched or subbed in the biggest games of the season. Look how the best coaches in the world identify their best players up top and make sure they get games, goals and assists. It improves their game week after week.
Chiesa will not develop if he is preferred ahead of the likes of Berna or Kulu because their function is to man mark other players, not to attack or score goal but to stop others. I used to rate this guy but he is exactly what is hindering Italian football from developing. We are stuck in the 90s while the rest of the world has learned from us and improved.
Do u think it was easy to get a draw against inter at their home? If u dont like Juve n Italy then do not open this page n comment. Just watch epl. Tired to see all the whinning, you dont know what the history of Juventus
He read the game wrong, he admits.
He said elsewhere that Inter play physical so he set up a team to combat that. What does he do? Starts McKinnnie who was literally swatted away by Dzeko 10 Seconds into the 2nd Half.
He does make a good point about needing to rest players, that is true. But the midweek match versus Sassuolo is the match to do it, not against Inter.
Reading the game differently is just for media. The fact is that Chiesa played two bad games probably due to tiredness and he wanted to rest him a bit so that we can reap his full potential
@tony, you talk full of ***t. I tell you what, Allegri is a genious with 5 scudetti and 3 coppa. And you my friend is simply NOTHING in football. A type of annoying fan who thinks himself knowing better than the rest. I bet you’re avoided by fellow fans in pub.