Max Allegri explained why he stormed off the pitch after Juve’s 1-0 win over Verona: ‘We didn’t play a good game.’ A Moise Kean goal was enough for the Bianconeri to secure three points and close the gap to the Champions League places, but the performance was lacking and they failed to close out the game earlier.
Speaking with Sky Sport Italia (as quoted by TuttoJuve), the Juve boss explained his frustrations with the performance but saw the positives in being able to field so many youngsters from the clubs Primavera squad:
“We knew the difficulties of the match because Verona are physically strong, the first half was difficult, we had favorable situations and we could have scored at the end. After the goal we could have doubled our lead – we didn’t, but this win puts us at 59 points on the pitch, at +9, it was important to do well because then we have inter, Lazio and important games coming up.”
“4 points from the Champions League spots? In football if you get a string of results it is normal to make up points on the opposition. It’s still a lot because someone will start winning, we have to do well because now we have important matches starting with Lazio.”
“What was I angry about? The difficulties of the competitions led us not to play a good game, in the last five minutes we had to go for goal without forcing the plays, we had to close the game because at the end you risk conceding a goal. It was an important win to get, we have to improve many things, after the break the first match is always a bastard and these are the classic dirty matches that the team was good at bringing home.”
“Kean, Milik and Vlahovic? One starts with the other and the third stays on the bench. Vlahovic is having important games, I understand that from the outside he turns out to be the one who had to solve Juve’s problems but playing here is different from Fiorentina, This year he is doing better from a technical point of view, he just has to stay calm and can only improve as Kean is doing. Let’s not forget that we had 5-6 players on the field today who were born in the 2000’s. There are all the conditions for the striker to do well. Milik has different qualities from the other two, who are more finishers.”
“Juve underrepresented in the national team? Mancini is so good that he will have made his assessments. We work to get the best people to play, several young players have come up who will need to gain experience who will surely be national team players in the future.”
“Is there a difference from players coming from the Next Gen team or the Primavera team? The quality of the players matters, at the physical level they arrive more ready. In the spring there are 2-3 very good players and they have been moved to Next Gen. The one from the second team is an important investment and players are coming through. To have 5-6 of them is something important, it is something that benefits the clubs, I give you the example of Manchester United who have 8 coming from the youth team, they help you in terms of cost, the problem is that now they want to raise the age of the Primavera. But I don’t think it’s fair, because in the Primavera a 20-year-old can play, in fact it should be lowered.”
