Juventus manager Max Allegri: We must do even better to catch Napoli

Home side Juventus dominated the bulk of the game but visitors AS Roma looked like they had done enough to earn a valiant point. However, as he has done many times this season, starlet Paulo Dybala had other ideas and his late score sealed the game for the Bianconeri, and possibly quashed any chances the Romans had of staying in the title race.

Manager Massimiliano Allegri was not all praise for Dybala though -

"Juventus must have balance. It was a difficult game because Roma closed us down.

"We did well in the opening 20 minutes, but Dybala and Mario Mandzukic weren't finishing off the service. Dybala kept going too wide on the right in the first half and wasn't finding the spaces.

"Of course at the end he did score an extraordinary goal. It's not easy to get 11 consecutive victories in Serie A, especially after we used up a lot of energy against Lazio in the Coppa Italia on Wednesday."

Juve remain two points behind leaders Napoli, who also won over the weekend. The gap between the Old Lady and Inter & Fiorentina, tied in third place is now four points. All this seemed a distant dream in the beginning of the season as the Turin club wallowed mid-table after collecting just twelve points from their first ten Calcio games.

"The club evaluated the situation, changed a lot of players over the summer and brought in youngsters, so it needed a bit of patience. In the same way, we need balance during this moment of 11 straight wins.

"Napoli are doing exceptionally well, we must try to do even better to catch and leapfrog them."

The opponents of the day Roma were stubborn defensively, and Allegri complimented the Giallorossi.

"Roma were defending in a very organised manner. In the opening 20 minutes we didn't make the most of our quality, then when Radja Nainggolan moved on to Claudio Marchisio's shoulders, our avenues were blocked.

"We had about 80 per cent of our attacking moves down the right and we didn't move it around enough.

"I am sad to leave many players on the bench, including Simone Zaza, Alex Sandro and Stefano Sturaro. If we are to go all the way in three competitions, we need everyone.

"The important thing is to maintain this physical and psychological condition."

On a lighter note, when asked if the manager would care to emulate Paul Pogba's leopard-print hairstyle, Allegri commented -

"I don't have enough hair for that. These lads have seven or eight hairdressers who come and go. It's not like in my day..."

When questioned about his future, and the persistent rumors linking him to Chelsea, Allegri said -

"Do I speak English? Yes, a little."

"I have no suitors, I have a contract with Juve until 2017, I hope to do well in both the Serie A and the Champions League. It's nonsense to talk about contracts, I don't like to; we have obtained a long series of win, when the team had some difficulties, I was no good... You need balance in football".