Max Allegri insists Juventus were never Scudetto contenders and are ‘here to challenge for the top four’ after their home defeat to Atalanta. ‘Once we are realistic, we take the pressure off.’
It was another painful defeat for the Bianconeri after the midweek 4-0 humiliation at the hands of Chelsea in the Champions League and leaves them seven points adrift of fourth place.
Duvan Zapata pounced on a defensive error and fired in off the underside of the bar, while Paulo Dybala’s free kick bounced off the top of the same piece of woodwork in stoppages.
“It was a performance similar to the one against Lazio, with Fiorentina and Milan,” Allegri told DAZN.
Serie A | Juventus 0-1 Atalanta: Duvan Zapata dooms the Old Lady
“We don’t make the most of the chances we create, Atalanta had only one shot on goal from our error, and as I said yesterday, it’s the goal that counts.
“There is some anxiety, the players are hasty and rush things, but we must keep working on the performances and try to win games to get that confidence and calm back.”
Allegri was asked if this Juventus squad was over-rated by the media and fans?
“I think it’s a very good squad, there are moments when we struggle to score goals, but people said at the start that this was the strongest squad that simply had to win the Scudetto and I always noted that was inaccurate.
“We are here to challenge for the top four. I cannot complain to my lads after this performance, I can only congratulate their efforts, then the rest is down to those of you who talk for a living.”
Allegri’s Juventus are seven points worse off at this stage than Andrea Pirlo was last season, and 15 points worse than under Maurizio Sarri.
“I think we must be realistic. If we are in this position after 14 rounds, it means this is what we are worth right now. There’s a long way to go, but in terms of performance, I only saw us get it really wrong against Verona, Sassuolo and Empoli.
“Once we are realistic, we can take the pressure off and work better in a calmer environment. All we can do is try to get the best out of ourselves.
“We are Juventus and people seem to think that means we must automatically be Scudetto favourites. What we need to do is keep working, try to calm down and score some more goals. At this moment we are struggling to score and in my view it’s because we have lost that sense of calm and confidence.
“There’s no point thinking of ifs and buts. We have to start from scratch, put everything behind us and be prepared to fight it out on level terms with Salernitana, then add our quality on top.”
Atalanta beat Juventus in Turin for the first time in Serie A since 1989! 👏😳 pic.twitter.com/VqQVkaiy1m
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) November 27, 2021
Mr. Allegri needs to look in the mirror and realise that playing a dire brand of football is not suited to the game of today. When you play so slowly and show no effort any team can and has figured out what we are limited to. Do us a favour, see out till the end of the season and do not take the money for another 3 years. Have the dignity and honour to resign in May and take a pundit job on the tv. I feel so sorry for Pirlo as he had the same players and issues with players, but we did not suffer as bad as this. Agnelli will always be a man I respect for taking us back to the summit, but the man has lost it.
Allegri and his team are really disappointing. I expected better! So frustrating right now! No glimmer of hope from any angle and Allegri isn’t helping matters with his formation and player selection. Why on earth is he still playing morata and rabiot from start of the match when it’s obvious they re out of sort. Allegri is too rigid with his approach to games and he’s selections. He doesn’t out faith in younger players and it’s not inline with modern day football. This is the worst Juve team ever. Can we bring back Marotta and start afresh again? The situation on ground shows how much he’s work and achievements were underrated.
It’s pathetic and strange the way Allegri is bullying Dejan K,a skillful,creative player so much needed in todays Juve,lacking of fantasy and winning structure
“If we are in this position on the table at the moment, it means that right now, this is what we are worth, which includes everyone, including the manager. We need to be realistic, take the pressure off to work as calmly as possible. We must continue based on our performances. Let’s reset everything and start again in Salerno, where it will be a very difficult on the field.”
The man is right. We are a mid-table team right now in every respect (ownership, manager, players etc). The sooner we except it, the sooner we can move on from it.
Juventus squad is much better than mid table it’s him who is a below par and dragging juve down it stands out a mile.
He needs to resign and let smarter and in sinc coach who knows what is needed in 2022 not someone who hangs on to the past
Gasperini, Ajax manager,
De Zerbi, Fonseca Pochetino are just a few who have been or could be available
He’s right. No point comparing this squad’s points to the last 2 seasons because CR7 makes up those points. That’s the difference. We have no midfield and the attack doesn’t score. You don’t need to be a genius to realise that’s a problem. It has nothing to do with the style of football otherwise you just attack and leak in tons of goals – see Zeman.
The midfield is awful, Alex Sandro is a joke. The team lacks a center forward and too much pressure on Chiesa and Dybala. NEED signings in January or it is Europa League.
How can you blame Alegri? Klopp or Pep would do no better with this 2nd rate squad and the loss of CR7 2 days before the transfer window ended.
4 years of bad transfers caused this
Allegri is very clever by stating ” Juventus were never Scudetto contenders and are ‘here to challenge for the top four”, by doing this he is trying to deflect the pressure away from himself and the team. It is total bs and everyone can see that this team is better than the position they are in. It is his tactics and man management that has caused this demise. He needs to grow some and admit he is not good enough now to be the manager.
As of this moment, 8th place and out of Europe is Juves level. No two ways about it.
The Corruption investigations might kill the club too.
Could see Juve in Serie B or C next season.
LOL. RUBE has better squad than milan and napoli yet allegri keep insisting they not challenging scudetto since beginning.
he keep playing rabiot on 4-4-2 formation on left MF is really beyond my logic. why not playing 4-4-3 with locatelli, rabiot, and arthur/mckennie/bentacur/etc. and playing chiesa, dybala false 9, and bernadeschi/cuarado/kulusevski.
ANYWAY paratici last 3 seasons and now allegri must stay as long as possible at rubentus to destroyed them until they relegate. that really fun to watch
It is not Juve squad that overrated, but the coach himself.
The squad are more than enough to challenge, even in Europe, but with the idea from the coach it iwll automatically dropped down.
You must resign to make a stop for another coach who simply better, and i think that’s many who can do better than him
How can he said, squad with dybala-morata-chiesa-bonucci-de ligt-locatelli are mid table team?
Chris, you say ‘how can you blame Allegri?’. Well Allegri selects the side and formation and at this point both are not working. You say Sandro is a joke – so that’s on Allegri for continually selecting him over Pellegrini who is younger and hungrier and certainly no worse than a pitiful Sandro. Same applies to Rabbiot, Bentancur and Bernadeschi. This is on Allegri and why didn’t the clown say that the team is a mid-table team at the start of the season when he was signing his $9M a year contract? Now he comes out and says it to use as an alibi. He trains the team, and as Capello said the other day – you play as you train. Allegri is a dinasour who continues to play boring, reactive, defensive football with no results to show for it – Yes, the front office is to blame for most of our woes, but Allegri is not the answer for rejuvenating Juventus and bringing it back to the summit. Allegri kills young talent!!!
When your club elect a fraud like dybala for number 10 and captain armband, you know you dont have hope.