Juventus Coach Massimiliano Allegri reveals he will not field a 3-5-2 in tomorrow’s Coppa Italia semi-final with Fiorentina.
The Bianconeri are trailing 2-1 from the first leg in Turin, and while the tactician doesn’t say whether he’ll go with a 4-3-3 or 4-3-1-2, he will not start with a back three.
“I think that we’ll assess things today,” Allegri said when asked about his formation in his pre-match Press conference.
Juventus Coach Massimiliano Allegri reveals he will not field a 3-5-2 in tomorrow’s Coppa Italia semi-final with Fiorentina.
The Bianconeri are trailing 2-1 from the first leg in Turin, and while the tactician doesn’t say whether he’ll go with a 4-3-3 or 4-3-1-2, he will not start with a back three.
“I think that we’ll assess things today,” Allegri said when asked about his formation in his pre-match Press conference.
“We’ll play with four [at the back] tomorrow, with an extra attacker, because last time I went to Florence we tried a surprise, we played three and [Fiorentina Coach Vincenzo] Montella knew.
“So someone must have told him. So before anyone can tell him, I’ll tell you [the media]. It will definitely be four. I want to give you the advantage on Montella.
“You’ll all be on your phones trying to find out the formation, and rightly so, that’s your job. So therefore, let me tell you, you know tonight.
“We’ll have four, and then in midfield and attack we’ll see.”
The bigger sides traditionally field weakened teams in the Coppa Italia, will Allegri do that tomorrow, the chance of making the final?
“I’ll put my best team out on the field. [Marco] Storari will play in goal because I gave [Gianluigi] Buffon two days off to spend Easter with his family.
“It was the right thing to do, because he’s played a lot of games. It’s important to work, and it’s also important to rest.
“Storari will play, and as for the rest I’ll decide in training, I’ll see who does well in training to better understand who should play tomorrow.
“We had the international break, we’ve recovered a bit of energy so the team is doing well mentaly and physically.”
The former Milan Coach then reiterated his call for patience from his team, assuring that they do not have to score early.
“In the first leg we did badly on the [first Mohamed] Salah goal. We conceded to a good counter-attack of 60 metres, a solo run, which already happened against Torino [with Bruno Peres].
“It’s a matter of attention, we couldn’t move a metre forward, we moved 100 back the way, and we conceded.
“Playing against Fiorentina is never easy, because they’re a team with good dribblers who keep the ball well, so we have to be patient and know how to take advantage of the opportunities we create.
“Then it depends on how the game evolves and develops. When you’re playing cup games, and especially when there’s a result to overturn, football is not like 30 years ago.
“The passback to the goalkeeper has been removed and changed the game of football.
“Before, in the last quarter of an hour people would leave the stadium, now in the last quarter of an hour in games, anything goes.
“So we have to be very patient, and play our game knowing that we need at least two goals to go to extra time, and then we’ll see what happens.
“It’s not easy, but we have the opportunity to overturn this result.”