Max Allegri maintains Juventus are ‘looking a bit more like a team now’ after their 4-0 demolition of Empoli and reiterates his advice for strikers not to be ‘desperate’ for goals.
The Bianconeri seem to have finally turned a corner with back-to-back Serie A victories for the first time this season, and with two clean sheets too.
They beat Torino 1-0 in the Derby della Mole, but this was a far stronger performance, the early breakthrough from Moise Kean, then Weston McKennie’s header on a corner and the late Adrien Rabiot brace.
“We are looking a bit more like a team now. We started well this season, then got a week completely wrong and that is what’s holding us back in Serie A, so we need to recover that gap,” Allegri told DAZN.
“It was not easy, as for 60 minutes Empoli really make you suffer, they press and pass constantly, we could’ve doubled our lead and also risked an equaliser. Then in the second half we stepped up a gear, Empoli fell away a bit, and it became a very entertaining match with lots of chances.
“We are improving, the fact the team kept a different tempo after the break shows our fitness levels are improving. We worked well in training, now on Tuesday we have a big game and must go to overturn this result.”
It is the best possible way to prepare for Tuesday’s Champions League showdown with Benfica in Portugal, as failure to win there could seal their early exit from the tournament and potentially rule them out of even getting the Europa League spot too.
“There was a moment when Kean was struggling, but he got back in shape, above all psychologically. He had lots of chances against Torino, many more this evening. Strikers are like that, in fact I told Milik tonight, he needs to be calm and not so desperate to score, as that is what leads him to waste clear chances.”
Juventus seem to have settled now into a 3-5-2 formation with more crosses coming in from Juan Cuadrado and Filip Kostic.
“It’s natural that with Cuadrado and Kostic on the wings, we need to make the most of them, especially as Empoli play very tight and we needed to spread their defence a bit.
“I think we didn’t pass it around enough down the right in the first half, as McKennie has a good engine, but his characteristics aren’t so much in creating moves. We did better after the break.”
Leandro Paredes was left on the bench for the fourth consecutive Serie A match, so has something gone wrong with one of the big summer signings from Paris Saint-Germain?
“Leandro was not in great physical shape when he arrived, but he played six games because we had Locatelli and Rabiot injured. He came on tonight when we needed quality, technique and the tempo had dropped a bit. I explained all that to him last night.
“In these games, we need one of the three-man midfield to be more defensive and physical, so Locatelli fulfilled that role.”
got to give it to him, he is right, today was a team performance, impressed by everyone, especially kean-energectic and more direct today, unlucky not to have scored the header in first half for 2nd goal.
1 bad point – should have let fagioli to come on – barely getting any minutes
PhD Max is a genius. A new lifetime contract must be drawn up and signed tomorrow without delay. Empoli should be routine not the delusion as if it was a CL final. If this were Real Madrid, they would not even blink at such a milestone of defeating such a side.
Let’s see if he can string five or six wins in a row together!!! Far too early to say if they are playing like a team!!!
It is far too premature but I saw an improvement. Pickup the next 21pts out 21 then rewrite the article. And no offence to Empoli but teams like this should be battered week in week out.
Benfica away from home beat Porto 1-0 almost at the same time, and absolutely ready to snap on this more like a team side. Congratulation to Kean !
Yes, far too early and it’s Empoli. There was more speed in attack and the movements were much better. But still… It’s Empoli.