Allegri: Juve have to be ready for any eventuality

Juventus were held 0-0 away by lowly SPAL Ferrara with manager Massimiliano ALlegri admitting his side did not live up to the standards they previously set with 12 consecutive Serie A victories.

“I am not angry or disappointed. SPAL fought hard, we compliment them, and we were coming off a series of wins. The positive thing tonight is that we kept a clean sheet and at the moment still have a five-point advantage.

“We have to learn from this for the games coming up against Crotone and Benevento, because they are fighting for their Serie A survival and we therefore need to face them with a different attitude.

“We have to be ready for any eventuality, it happened this evening, and we are still top of the table. When you don’t have enough mental energy, the opposition will win every 50-50 ball. That’s what happened tonight.”

On the performance of the day’s opponents, his former side SPAL -

“SPAL deserve a lot of credit, they were very aggressive and made many fouls – 29 – to break up our game. The more the ball stays in play, the more the opposition is kept on their toes and not allowed time to take a breather.

“People expected us to drop points a couple of weeks ago against Lazio, we dropped them tonight, these things happen. Now we need some rest, because we are playing on three fronts and we need everyone.

“It’s only human that when you are top of the Serie A table, in the Champions League quarter-finals and the Coppa Italia Final, you can miss a beat and lack energy once in a while.”

Defender Giorgio Chiellini left the game late on but Allegri said it was nothing serious as far as he knew.

“Chiellini has muscular fatigue, but at the moment we don’t have any more on that.”