Allegri: Juventus ‘left’ the game

Juventus faltered in their bid for AC Milan’s record of 13 straight wins to start a season, drawing at home 1-1 against Genoa following ten straight wins before today.

After the game, manager Massimiliano Allegri was in no mood for platitudes.

“It’s very simple, we left the game. Genoa did well to stay in there and instead of scoring for 2-0, we conceded for 1-0.

“This shouldn’t happen, because the Scudetto is won and lost in games like this. In the second half, our minds were on Manchester United and we fell asleep.

“After the equaliser, we then went from sleeping to frenetic desperation, and neither of these attitudes is acceptable. We should’ve had our mind on the job at hand.

“A good 10 minutes before the goal, we were already drifting out of the game. It was coming, we could see it from the touchline. I think it’ll be good for us, as this is a wake-up call so everyone can remember that nothing is to be taken for granted.

“The ball was bouncing around for three or four seconds, so we had all the time needed to go and mark the players in the box, but we’d been drifting for a while beforehand.

“Every match has to be won on the field throughout 90 minutes. Nothing is guaranteed or won before we’ve stepped on to the pitch.”

It wasn’t all negative though after an opening period where the Bianconeri dominated.

“It was a decent first half, even if we were a little impatient there too and kept trying to immediately find the goal rather than pass it around to create spaces. We had a lot of possession, but were never really in control of it.

“I have to say, it was in the air, as some of the training sessions weren’t great either. It’s not as if we could finish the game off and go home, we had to play the entire 90 minutes regardless of the result.

“It’s a pity, as we could’ve put more pressure on Napoli and broken away at the top, but instead we dropped points.

“It’ll be very different with Manchester United, as they’ll play to win and so will we. Genoa did well today to play in defence and try to stay in the game, but I have to say this was the biggest example of drifting out of the game that I’ve seen in my years at Juventus.”