Massimiliano Allegri announces Juventus players will have a day off tomorrow and praises Paulo Dybala after the Old Lady’s 4-2 win against Zenit.
The Bianconeri have qualified for the Champions League round of 16 with two games to spare.
The players were supposed to be in training retreat until Saturday after suffering back-to-back defeats against Sassuolo and Hellas Verona.
However, they will be given a day off tomorrow, so technically, the training retreat is over.
“I am a coach, not a watchdog, we trained very well yesterday,” Allegri explained to SportMediaset.
“Tomorrow, the guys will have a day off, but on Thursday, we start again because we must recover the lost ground in Serie A, on Saturday we have a tough game against Fiorentina.”
The Old Lady have collected 15 points in 11 Serie A games and are 16 points off leaders Milan and Napoli.
Paulo Dybala scored a brace and provided the assist for Alvaro Morata against Zenit with Federico Chiesa who also wrote his name on the scoresheet.
“We played well technically, with great intensity, but we conceded a goal in the final five minutes and we must improve,” Allegri said.
“That’s when we conceded goals against Sassuolo and Udinese.
“We wanted to score the fifth goal, but we put the result in danger, running the risk to concede on the counter-attack. We had to finish the game with the ball at our feet.
“Dybala played a great game, but everybody played well,” the coach continued.
“We have reached the first target of the season, we have an important match on Saturday, but not more than this.
“I congratulated the guys tonight, but we need to improve, especially in the final five minutes.”
“I am a coach, not a watchdog,” I disagree as it is this very retreat that instilled the turnaround, keep the retreat, repeat it every month.
Ive always hoped he say these words.. He has regained some sort of my respect
Allegri is never the problem. The players need to know what it means to fight for this shirt. Today, they showed sacrifice and fought continuously with intensity. They have the quality to get themselves out of a hole.
Bravo Juve!
This is only the 2nd time Dybala and Chiesa play together this season. At Juve-Zenit game, there has been much improvement in terms of link-up play between the two. I love it! Not to mention Allegri is starting to know his line up. 4-4-2 with Chiesa and Bernardeschi as wingers and Dybala-Morata upfront. Rabiot the useless Juve’s CM so far will become Berna’s sub as LM. I still believe in Juve can go far this season. The key is Dybala and Chiesa. They must fit and stay away from injuries. Otherwise, Juve will struggle.