Max Allegri admits Juventus beat Zenit 1-0 in the Champions League with ‘a bad performance’ and explains what Dejan Kulusevski still needs to learn.
Champions League | Zenit 0-1 Juventus: Kulusevski to the rescue
It is the fourth consecutive 1-0 victory for the Bianconeri in all competition, keeping their Champions League perfect start intact with a third win out of three.
Kulusevski came off the bench to nod in the Mattia De Sciglio cross in St Petersburg late on.
“It was important for the points, it wasn’t easy as Zenit clammed up in defence and we made a lot of errors in the final third. We slowed it down too much and allowed too many shots on goal with counter-attacks by losing the ball,” Allegri told Sky Sport Italia.
“We should’ve controlled it more once we went 1-0 up, too. It was not a great performance, but we got the result and that puts us in a very strong position.
“We needed to create width today and play between the lines. At times it went well, at others it didn’t.”
Elsewhere in the group, Chelsea thumped Malmo 4-0, including a brace of Jorginho penalties, but lost Romelu Lukaku to injury.
Kulusevski confessed it is his own fault if he’s not playing more often, as he still needs to learn what Allegri wants.
“He is a Sweden international, but hasn’t played many Champions League games. He must learn how to control the game, when to speed up, when to slow down. He has the talent, he just needs to make better choices and he’s more than capable of that.”
Juventus go into a Serie A showdown with Inter on Sunday evening, so what mood are the Bianconeri in?
“We got a good result with a bad performance, so the perfect combo to be fired up and play well this weekend,” smiled Allegri.
Absolutely horrible to watch, and I am someone who is ok with horrible. If we play like this against the Big Boys, where will we end up?. It’s the same old ‘where is my gun’ feeling when I see Allegri football, especially in the final third where the team looks absolutely clueless.
Juventus under allegri play better against bigger team, struggle against minnows and average team. Juventus could have been champions of Europe 2-3 seasons ago. Ajax and Porto shouldn’t be a problem for allegri. Now, he have to start again. I believe In next 2 seasons juventus will play another champions league final. I respect allegri. Fonza milan
Big goal for Kulusevski + big win for Juve. I hope it gives him + them a bit more confidence moving forward. They seem to be getting that vital knack back of winning even with below bar performances! But they’re improving, Allegri will find the right mix + for now another 1-0 win is good enough.
Look a win is a win and we kept a clean sheet. Anybody thinking this side can win the CL is delusional. We know this team is in transition and a lot of the players are not the Juve calibre of old. I really do not care how we win as the personnel will not change at least until next summer. As long as we do not get embarrassed against the real contenders and we can at least finish 3rd, it will be a bad season with a limited squad. Allegri has never played champagne football so why are people thinking he would change. In my opinion we should have stuck with Pirlo but judge Allegri when he gets better players.
Like Allegri said in and around the Torino match, he pretty much knows he plays boring unattractive calcio. Or was it the Chelsea match? Maybe the latter.
It’s an ugly team to watch for sure. This is obvious.
Say get rid of McKinnie and Ramsay for a couple of used training bibs and a 5-man Free Kick Wall Mannequin used in Training and take back the 2 Nicolò’s — Nicolò Rovella who we’ve loaned out to Genoa and Nicolò Fagioli who we’ve lent to Cremonese.