Allegri: ‘One step at a time for Juventus’

Max Allegri admits Juventus ‘almost couldn’t believe’ they had ended their winless streak by beating Bologna 3-0, but wants them to keep a ‘low profile’ and take the Scudetto comeback ‘one step at a time.’

The Bianconeri had only won two of their nine games between Serie A and the Champions League this season, but broke through all those taboos with a 3-0 domination of Bologna.

Filip Kostic scored his first goal in the Juve jersey, followed by a Dusan Vlahovic header and spectacular Arkadiusz Milik volley.

Allegri had said this game represented the start of a new season and it certainly felt like a rebirth.

“I liked the spirit, the solidity of the team, apart from at the end of the first half, when we got a few attacking moves wrong. We should’ve slowed the tempo and kept the ball more in those situations,” Allegri told DAZN.

“We hadn’t won in a month, so it was good to have a clear and commanding victory. Now we need to keep a low profile, remember we’re still a way back and above all have to get our Champions League back on track.”

Milik has made an extraordinary impact at Juventus since his late arrival in the transfer window, especially as it had seemed as if Memphis Depay would make the move from Barcelona instead.

“It was difficult to predict quite such a strong impact, but we already knew Milik is a player who moves well, is intelligent, shakes off his markers and can play well with Vlahovic.”

The midfield looked more solid with the return of Adrien Rabiot and Manuel Locatelli from injury.

“These are very important returns, as will be Di Maria and Chiesa. Rabiot is a player with a different engine to the others, he got into some good battles and played more forward passes. He’s in a good period of form and is the right age to really deliver a strong season.

“It was a good performance, I told the lads there is this desire to prove yourselves and try really hard, but that can be counter-productive. We needed patience and focus to build the performance and get the result.

“We hadn’t won in a month and almost felt like we couldn’t believe it when we got back to the locker room.”

It is also safe to say that despite their awful start, Juve are still in seventh place, one point ahead of historic rivals Inter, so could repeat the comeback surge they had last season.

“We need to take it one step at a time and hopefully we can close the gap. We closed it last season, we can do it again. It needs to be one small step at a time, we can’t make up that difference all in one go.”

Allegri seems to have chosen the 4-4-2 formation now after starting the season switching between three and four at the back.

“I am accustomed to picking the line-up based on the players that I have at my disposal. When I had everyone at my disposal, there was more choice. Now we have these players who have specific characteristics and when I say we need more players, it is also about having options and rotating the squad to stop them getting tired.”

There was certainly tension before kick-off, as Allegri’s name was jeered by fans when read out by the stadium announcer and there were chants against the coach too.

“At this moment, we need clear and cool heads. It was a disastrous month and in particular a week that started with an event we could not have ever predicted. It all unravelled from there, but we also take responsibility for our own mistakes.”

The event he referred to was the 2-2 draw with Salernitana, with a last-gasp Milik winner that was incorrectly disallowed using VAR because Antonio Candreva was in a camera blind spot, so there was no offside.