Former Lazio striker Paolo Di Canio is full of praise for Max Allegri: “He is doing excellent things in relation to what he has at his disposal.” The Bianconeri boss has guided the team to second place with a third of the season gone, but faces a tough task this weekend when Juve host Inter. Speaking with Tuttosport, Di Canio talked about the strengths of Juventus coach and why he admires Allegri for what he’s achieved with the team he has:
“I admire him a lot. His Juventus is an anomaly, very Italian: a top team that almost always leaves the ball to the opposition. It is a legitimate way, Allegri is doing excellent things in relation to what he has at his disposal, he is optimising the material he has. But it will be difficult to get to May only through this way, he could do something more.
“But he deserves applause for another reason. Allegri has only two or three true individuals and he is managing them very well. And this is where the youngsters come in, Allegri is making many youngsters play: two almost always play as starters and the others who come in at particular, difficult moments, not at 4-0, also because Juve hardly go up 4-0.
“This is the way to make them grow, not like other coaches do: they put youngsters in at the end of obvious matches or when they have injured players, to complain about absences. Then they say: ‘I threw this one and that one’. No, it’s not like that, so much so that then these youngsters leave or disappear. Allegri on the other hand praises them by fielding them in real matches, he speaks of them as adult players, he uses the carrot with them, but also the stick. This is his great work.”
“Chiesa as a second striker? He doesn’t convince me. As we saw in the national team with Spalletti, Federico needs space, to start wide. In the 4-3-3 Chiesa is an excellence. Of course, then Allegri can say that in the 3-5-2 he can only put him as second forward and that Chiesa has scored his goals, but in the middle he sometimes gets lost and does not exploit his speed.”
