Max Allegri explains why he knew Dusan Vlahovic would return to the scoresheet in the 3-0 victory over Salernitana, but still wasn’t entirely happy with the Juventus performance and had mixed messages for Angel Di Maria.
The Bianconeri never let the result be in doubt at the Stadio Arechi, taking a 2-0 lead into half-time with a Vlahovic penalty and his assist for Filip Kostic.
They added a third with Vlahovic’s second of the match straight after the restart, also rattling the woodwork twice with Angel Di Maria and Moise Kean.
Nonetheless, Allegri was visibly furious throughout the second half on the touchline, determined to keep that clean sheet in what he had called a ‘relegation dogfight’ with only two points separating the teams going into this game.
“I look at the reality of the situation. We amassed 41 points, but we’ve got only 26, so to reach 40 and safety we need another 14, then we’ll see where we are. Now I think we’re level with Monza, the objective is to get into the top half of the table,” Allegri told DAZN.
The coach also refused to watch Vlahovic taking the penalty, turning his back to the pitch.
“The lads gave a strong response, we had a good 60 minutes, but got a bit superficial after going 3-0 up and allowed too many shots on goal. We were static in our positions, didn’t move around enough and the players know we must absolutely do better.
“This is the step we need to take. The team did well for an hour, was aggressive and pressing, but when we started controlling it in our own half, passing it back to Szczesny, taking too many touches, we let Salernitana back into the game. That is not acceptable. We saw this too many times this season, for example against Monza and Salernitana earlier this season, where we didn’t have the right approach.
“The first 10 minutes we tended to pass it too much down the right, so we need to improve our passing, be smoother and keep it simple.”
This 3-0 result was the biggest away victory for Juventus in Serie A since May 2021 under coach Andrea Pirlo.
The only negative of the night was seeing Fabio Miretti stretchered off with a sprained left ankle, visibly distraught and in agony, but players like Vlahovic, Federico Chiesa and Juan Cuadrado are now returning to fitness.
“We need everyone, the young lads have done really well so far, but with a game every three days those who come off the bench are just as important to keep the tempo up.
“We have a lot of players with many months on the sidelines and very little football in their legs, so they need time to fully recover.”
Allegri had said in his press conference yesterday that Vlahovic looked different in training and he knew that the striker had shaken off the groin injury that was plaguing him for months.
“You can see physically, he just moves better, looks sharper, he also played well on a technical level today. Di Maria was delightful for 45 minutes today and if he can keep that up for 60 minutes, it gives us a big advantage.”
However, when asked if Juventus fans can dream of seeing Chiesa, Di Maria and Vlahovic all starting together, Allegri was evasive.
“It’s not about having a certain number of strikers, it’s about them being ready to do the work. Di Maria did really well helping the defence for the first half today, for example.”