Max Allegri believes Juve’s 1-0 loss to Sassuolo rests with the whole team, not just Nicolo Fagioli. The youngster gave away the ball in the Bianconeri box for Sassuolo’s only goal of the game and was promptly substituted. Speaking to DAZN after the game (as quoted by TuttoJuve) Allegri gave his own assessment of the match and explained why he believes the blame for the loss rests with the entire team:
The first shot on target came in the 58th minute….
“Definitely it is something we have to improve, today was a game we did not do well for 60 minutes, then after we got the slap, we reacted. It was an important step for the championship, because we had a chance to put the Milanese clubs at 11 and 9 points away, instead it did not happen. We come from two defeats, two away games, two defeats, we definitely have some difficult games, Lisbon, then we have Napoli, the Coppa Italia, so we have to pick ourselves up, work on the mistakes we made and above all try to play chunks of the game differently.”
Is it possible that subconsciously the players focused more on the cup competitions?
“No, we were supposed to focus on the league, then on Thursday on the Cup. It’s that we have players who are regaining condition, Chiesa, Pogba, who came in better today, players who have played so many games. This should not be an alibi or an excuse, we definitely have to do better, in the approach to games above all: we had those moments, where we then suffered a blow, where we were careless on corners.”
In the second half you switched to 4-3-3 and the team found itself better……
“Yes, we did a little better in the final part, but I have to consider that Chiesa played 90 minutes last game and today he was not in the condition to start again. He was loaded on his legs, he did little and nothing yesterday. Today he came in doing well also. Pogba is still behind in condition, today better already than last time, but he is still behind. Then you can see he is a different player and we all see that. Then there are players who have played so many games, Right now we just have to be quiet, try to work and get out the energy we have to try to get through the round with Sporting and then we will think about Napoli.”
What do Fagioli’s tears mean?
“They mean he is a responsible guy, mistakes in a game everyone makes, he made that mistake there, but it is not that he is guilty of the game we lost. We are all responsible, we played a game that was not up to par, a game that would have allowed us to make a leap forward and that was not the case.”
What did those 10 minutes of Pogba tell you?
“What did they tell me-that he is a strong player, but right now he is not in the ideal condition to play a 90-minute game. Slowly we will take him to half an hour and then try to take him further. The important thing is that he’s training steadily, the knee is responding well and we’ll see.”
What are your feelings about Wednesday?
“My feelings matter very little, I told the boys that today was an important step for the championship, because for our ranking we had to put the Milanese clubs at 11 and the other at 9 points, so it was not, it is a leap forward that has to be made because otherwise we will never be able to fight to be competitive because there are games that Juventus does not have to play, but has to win.”
