Juventus coach Max Allegri explains his tactical decisions in the 1-1 draw with Inter, seeing it as ‘a good point’ to earn in the Scudetto race.

Serie A | Inter 1-1 Juventus: Dybala pen decides Derby d’Italia

The Old Lady was able to leave San Siro with a point thanks to the late Paulo Dybala penalty, awarded using VAR for a high Denzel Dumfries foot on Alex Sandro.

Inter had taken an early lead through Edin Dzeko, reacting on the rebound from a Hakan Calhanoglu effort, but the hosts tried to protect their lead and sat increasingly deep as the game wore on.

“The first half performance was good, the second even better. We had a few chances that we should’ve done better with, then we pushed up with more confidence against a very good Inter,” Allegri told DAZN.

“Let’s not forget the Nerazzurri are strong technically and physically, so we needed a performance like this. We were a little too frantic at the start in the press, but that too is another stage in the growth process.”

This result means Juve are now 10 points off joint leaders Napoli and Milan after just nine rounds.

“It’s a good point, it keeps us within three points of Inter and allows us to continue this positive run of results, while we have the opportunity to close up on the leading pack before the break for international duty.”

Allegri was asked about his surprising tactical choices, mirroring Inzaghi’s 3-5-2 and leaving Federico Chiesa and Matthijs de Ligt on the bench, in favour of Dejan Kulusevski and Giorgio Chiellini.

“I knew it could be quite a physical game to start with, so I needed someone like Kulusevski to put more pressure on Brozovic. As the tempo dropped, I put on Dybala and Chiesa, the confidence was growing too. It’s a good point, but now we absolutely must win on Wednesday against Sassuolo.”

Inter scored the goal when Juve were a man down, as Federico Bernardeschi was on the sidelines after dislocating his shoulder and urged them to wait before making the substitution.

“It was just a coincidence. Even down to 10 men, we could’ve avoided conceding that goal, it was quite fortuitous. It was a hard-fought game, very physical, we need to finish our moves better because when the ball goes into the penalty area, we have to finish the chance.”

After a run of 1-0 victories in Serie A and the Champions League, did going behind leave Juventus struggling to be more attack-minded?

“We dropped eight out of nine points in the opening three rounds, so we had to start again from the foundations. The foundations are organisation and a solid defence. We needed to build from that first, then we’ve been moving more forward, a bit more, and in time with more confidence, we will be more attacking.

“We had kept four straight clean sheets, so that was progress, today we allowed Inter very few chances. The problem is that everyone has to be aggressive, from the forwards to the defenders, otherwise the team struggles.”

There was a curious moment when Kaio Jorge came on as a late substitute, as he handed Leonardo Bonucci a note, which the defender then tucked into his socks.

“I didn’t write it, that was my assistant! It was about set plays and that’s Landucci’s territory. Maybe that’s why he keeps telling me to delay substitutions, so he can write…”

13 thought on “Allegri explains Juventus choices against Inter”
  1. This guy is a complete joke. In the biggest game of the season against your most hated opponents, he decides to leave his best player on the bench (Chiesa) and have Kuludeschi and Bernadeschi in the same line up. One has not scored a goal since the moon landings and the other is just lost. Kuludeschi was even bullied off the ball by a 5ft midget in Barella. This coach only won so much because Conte laid the ground work for him. As was to expected he does not know how to build teams rather polish what was started. It was predictable to see them play a 1970’s style game tonight moving the ball slowly, backward and sideways without being able to string more then 2 passes together. You have a Real and City reject, Bentancur with two ox feet, Weston half a hit Mccrappy, Kuludeschi and good old Alex Sandro who cannot go past a man and cross a decent ball. Barella dominated their clown midfield and bullied the weak Juve players like Kuludeschi making Locatelli look like his understudy. The Ole Gunnar Allegri approach is to not concede a goal with every man sat deep and then try to do a smash and grab. At least he was sensible not to go to Real or the PL as they would not tolerate his medieval oil lamp approach.

  2. Chiesa is exhausted. It’s evident in the last 2-3 matches. Throwing him in a tough and physical match from the start wouldn’t accomplish much. It’s actually better to put him in later into the game when the opponent is tired and gaps between the lines are appearing. Basically the same way he was using Douglas Costa. Of course if Chiesa is at 100% then he should start the game but he’s not right now.

  3. I think whoever wrote previous does not have a clue about juve defo a juve hater we had a near perfect game we dominated but I would of started bentancur mckennie should be benched and Bernardeschi
    Chiesa must play also we must play Kai Jorge more alongside Arthur we are the only team in Italy with champions rest are absolutely rubbish full of b grade flop pensioners who are past it well look in Europe what happens to all of them barring juve it’s not fact seria a is competitive again it’s fact juve we’re not firing on all cylinders

  4. The Master,

    That’s all fine if Allegri said that’s his reasoning but he didn’t. He tried justifying it using fuzzy matu and tactics only he understands.

    I actually didn’t mind to see an energetic Chiesa off the bench but his reasoning is full of hot air. He overthought this one.

  5. Inter are league champions and much further ahead in their preparations than a Juve that Allegri is rebuilding from shaking foundations. If Juve have problems, they are due to Paratici’s ineptitude, not Allegri’s. Inter were at home and couldn’t win so this draw weighs more heavily on them compared to Juve. The critics of Allegri forget that he has a formidable track record. Your experience on PES or FIFA doesn’t count as real-world expertise. Forza Allegri!

  6. The game was a very heavy game for both teams and I think both of the managers had a game wining tactical strategy, but in the end the end result was a fair one. As a Bianconeri supporter I agree with “The Master” because Chiesa was exhausted and you could clearly see that through the last two games. I just dont understand why he started Berna?? He should have never started. Anyways I think the result is a fair one. Its a good result for us. This was only the 9th game and away to our arch rivals. If we continue with this spirit we will eventually be putting pressure on Milan and Napoli as they are not used to this kind of pressure. I still dont think we will win the league, but the development is promising. To me this felt like a victory because we drew a very good team with all their regular starters. I can finally see a competitive Juve again. We fought to the last minute and that is the big difference from the past two previous seasons.

  7. He made a good point about Inter being a physical team. First few seconds of the 2nd Half, Dzeko just bodied McKinnie out of the way like a ragdoll.

  8. Honestly reading some of these comments made me laugh. Juventus didn’t create anything for 90 minutes, we couldn’t hold the ball. Arthur and Locatelli should be starting. McKennie is probably the worst player I’ve seen in a juventus shirt. Bernarderschi is terrible, how is this guy getting so many games. Allegri plays to avoid losing not to win games. This is the ugliest Juventus I’ve ever seen!

  9. Why is it so hard for these people to give at least a little compliment? rather than constant critics (more like an insult) to Allegri. How hard is it to realize that Juve is in construction mode? In the past (under Sarri and Pirlo) we would lose this kind of game. Juve’s midfielders are not that good but somehow Allegri can steady the ship with his leadership skills and experience. Thanks to him, Juve slowly has their identity back. I guess the internet is full of sick people and an ungrateful community.

  10. Allegri still have no XI team because he uses different players in every match that is why i said.
    Juventus need more players like LOCATELI in the midfield AND CHIESA in the attack

  11. ha ha ha I got to give it to @el cid. The guy is a complete clown but this might have been his best post. It too puzzles me as to why Chiesa was benched. He did not have an injury and it is the equivalent of putting Barella on the sides. Allegri is to blame. Not for the players he has at his disposal but the fact that he changes the midfield more times than his underwear. If you look at all the top teams like Liverpool, Bayern, Chelsea and City they have a consistent structure. Yes the club is in transition but it has been like this for 3 years. They got away with the last few titles due to the fact that the other clubs were also in transition. Man Utd are another club that changes personnel especially in the midfield every week and finding a right formula will always bring mixed results. The fact is Inter did not do enough and tried to hang on to the lead. If they pushed further they could have won by a much bigger margin as they are the better team. Juventus on the other hand looked confused. McKennie is not up to standard. He had a few games last season where he looked decent, but the club only bought him as buying an American is now fashionable and he is is woke. He was bullied by Dzeko and even Barella. The passing is slow but more importantly they have no fluidity. For those who say they see progress it is far too slow and not enough energy or the will power to make something happen. You see it only in Chiesa and Cuadrado, the two players who always look to run, take a man on and try. Sandro is Mr. SaFE, never takes a risk and it is true his crossing is horrendous. Every time Inter put the ball into the box you could sense danger. With Sandro you know it is going into row Z

  12. forza allegri,chiesa is weak wot did he play in last 2 game he need rest or 2 wacth game 4rm d bench we need a tactic midfield, and physical one mckennie is out only locatelli and bentacur that are playing i realy miss pjanic alot

  13. You all need to blame your self entitled owner Agnelli who decided that buying CR7 was the way to win the Champions’ League in 2018, and spend £99 million to do this. He then allows Nedved and Paratici to mastermind a 6 time scudetto winning manager and 2 time champions’ league runner up to leave the club rather ruthlessly, in favour of a weaker, more inflexible coach in Sarri, who could not build a team around Ronaldo to win the holy grail. They then get Pirlo, and completely ruin the foundations built by Conte and Allegri over an 8 year period in just 2 years.
    Winning a championship is extremely hard to do unless you have a manager who genuinely understands what is required and has a proven track record of winning or getting promoted in the lower league football. When you have the evidence that both Conte and Allegri can do this 8 times between them in under one decade, you need to show respect and keep these men in your business, not get ungrateful about it. Futhermore, Agnelli caused the biggest disrepute to European football by trying to scrap national league football for a European Super League 18 months ago and failed with this too. Agnelli is a self entitled rogue owner who only wants to corrupt the current European league structure and ruin great managers careers..

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Tickets Kit Collector