Max Allegri believes Juventus conceded a ‘chickenshit’ goal against Inter and explained why it was Dusan Vlahovics’ best performance for the Bianconeri. The Bianconeri took the lead through the Serbian international but were pegged back by a slick Inter team goal, scored by Lautaro Martinez. Speaking in the post-match, Allegri analysed the match as he saw it:
“We conceded a bit of a chickenshit goal, especially after five minutes, but already after the goal we missed two or three chances. I’d say we could have done better, but when Inter have an open pitch they have great technique and in open spaces they have an easier time making plays. Unfortunately Lautaro did well to score this goal, maybe we should have fouled him earlier”.
“Having said that, the team gave a really good performance. It wasn’t easy, I think it had been three years since Juventus had played for first place in the standings. So it wasn’t easy for everyone, including me, who hadn’t played a game for the lead for four and a half years. We must remain calm and work, we can still improve in many things. Now on Friday we have a difficult game against Monza, which must be prepared in the best possible way”.
“The Scudetto? The objective is to get into the top four. In the meantime, however, we have maintained the nine-point lead over fifth. Then it was a fair game, done in the right way, against a team that was waiting for us to make a mistake to score, instead the team showed maturity even in that sense there. Unfortunately we conceded this goal that we could have certainly avoided, but we were playing against a great team so it fits.
“Do I see it as a step forward? Absolutely yes, you have to be brave because luck helps the brave. Then be compact, attack forward, at this moment we are finding the balance compared to the first games where we defended 3 against 3 in an open field. See Udine, Bologna, Sassuolo. We have been working on this because we have to be patient”.
“On the goal they were good, those who could have made up for it were Bremer and Rugani. In my opinion Gatti had to be better in the forward attack. These balls they play at the back are deadly, we could certainly have done better, but I’d say Federico played a good game anyway and it wasn’t easy”.
“I think today Dušan played his best game since he arrived at Juventus. Apart from the goal, just technically. Physically he overpowered de Vrij and then playing alone, because Chiesa was starting very wide, he definitely had advantages. I’m very happy, because he’s a player who hasn’t scored a goal in the last two months, but he has to stay calm, relax and he can only grow, because he’s still 23 years old.”
‘Transfers? The January market does not exist. I am very happy with the team, teams are made in June and not in January. So it’s fine even without reinforcements, our goal is to take one step at a time. In the meantime, staying two points behind Inter is a good goal on a psychological level, today it was important more than winning not to lose. Maybe it would have hurt us, because it’s a path we’re on and so we have to grow slowly.
