Juventus Coach Massimiliano Allegri warns Manchester United have “a squad of strong players”, not just Paul Pogba.
The Frenchman will face the Bianconeri for the first time since returning to England in tomorrow’s Champions League match, but the Tuscan feels there are other players to worry about.
“It’s an important game because if we win we can start thinking about going through,” Allegri said in his pre-match Press conference.
Juventus Coach Massimiliano Allegri warns Manchester United have “a squad of strong players”, not just Paul Pogba.
The Frenchman will face the Bianconeri for the first time since returning to England in tomorrow’s Champions League match, but the Tuscan feels there are other players to worry about.
“It’s an important game because if we win we can start thinking about going through,” Allegri said in his pre-match Press conference.
“They’re a strong team, very physical, and we’ll have to play well technically.
“Pogba side we’ll find a squad of strong players. Tomorrow is also a match between a lot of good young players: they have [Anthony] Martial, [Paul] Pogba, [Marcus] Rashford; we have [Paulo] Dybala, [Federico] Bernardeschi, [Joao] Cancelo, [Rodrigo] Bentancur.
“These are young players who must be the future of world football. Tomorrow is an important test for us, and also for those individuals. Playing in this stadium against a great team is a good test.
“They have technique, speed ahead and physicality. They are a strong team, built to win.
“They also have an experienced Coach [Jose Mourinho] and we need to play well tomorrow.
“We also need to manage games better, on Saturday [against Genoa] we stopped too early and tomorrow we need to be in the game for 100 minutes, because these games are never over.
“You just need to look at what happened against Chelsea when they [United] conceded goals on high balls, an area in which they’re very strong.
“We need to play football, because physically we could suffer.”
Juve are without several important players, could that see a return to a back-three?
“[Mario] Mandzukic wouldn’t have played anyway, even if we’re sorry not to have him, the same for [Sami] Khedira and [Emre] Can.
“For Mandzukic it’s a minor issue, he went over his ankle and was in a bit of pain. We hope to have him back as soon as possible.
“I hope to have Khedira next week, and Emre Can soon too.
“We’ll need to be careful and precise with the ball at our feet, because they can play high balls.
“In the last games we’ve played with four at the back, three in midfield and then the three attackers. But it’s all down to the characteristics of the players.
“We could play with three defenders, but then we could be confused. So we’ll definitely play with four.
“We can’t distort things tomorrow because numerically we’ll be inferior to them in midfield.
“Andrea Barzagli at right-back? In a three he could play that role, but not with four at the back.”
The Coach was keen to stress the Red Devils’ strength in the air, and Juve have conceded four of their six goals this season on high balls…
“These are different situations, because on crosses everyone has made mistakes,” Allegri said.
“We need to put more pressure on the crossers, and mark better in the box. Of the six goals, we’ve conceded four in a similar way.
“On Saturday it was strange, because we thought we’d cleared the ball and then we fell asleep. That wasn’t one person’s error, it was everyone’s.”