Max Allegri was far from happy with Juventus after reaching the Champions League quarter-finals. “We need to improve the quality of our football.”
Paulo Dybala converted a penalty for the 1-0 win over Porto, 3-0 on aggregate, after Maxi Pereira was sent off for handball on the line.
Max Allegri was far from happy with Juventus after reaching the Champions League quarter-finals. “We need to improve the quality of our football.”
Paulo Dybala converted a penalty for the 1-0 win over Porto, 3-0 on aggregate, after Maxi Pereira was sent off for handball on the line.
“The objective was to reach the top eight, now we’ll see who we end up with. We need to improve the quality of our football, which in the second half today left a lot to be desired, as the result isn’t everything,” Allegri told Mediaset Premium.
“The more you try to force things, the worse they come out. The guys played an intelligent first half without running any risks, but in the second half against 10 men we weren’t giving the moves any pace and defended badly too, as we risked conceding a couple of times.
“We have to do one thing right: either attack and score more goals or decide to keep the ball and do that until the opposition falls asleep with boredom, but today we did neither properly.
“We had to make the full-backs run and then go into the space when it opened up, but instead we had too many short passes, trying to force our way through, and it wasn’t the right way. It also left us open to the dangerous counter-attacks.
“It was the maximum result with the minimum effort, fine, but we didn’t do it well in the second half. If we’re going to control the situation, control it well. Instead we were too hasty and in a way it’s fortunate, as now we can work on it in training and fix this problem.”
Allegri was asked about his decision to replace Juan Cuadrado with Marko Pjaca at half-time.
“Cuadrado was on a yellow card, we were 1-0 up, so I thought it best not to risk. Pjaca is a young player who needs to understand that attacking is all well and good, but defending and working for the team is too. Cuadrado has the same issues.
“Whoever we end up against, we will face with hunger, enthusiasm and the desire to improve ourselves.”