Allegri: We need all the Juventus players

Juventus produced a gritty performance to tough out a 1-0 scoreline against Fiorentina at home, a result reminiscent of the eight-game unbeaten sequence they had strung together recently.

Adrien Rabiot’s header capped off a first half where the visitors had played better but in all honesty the home side could somehow have been ahead by three. They had to then gut out a second half where it was often counter attacking siege mentality but held their nerve for another clean sheet for Massimiliano Allegri’s side.

Speaking after the game, the coach commented on the tight ending.

“Fiorentina were pouring forward to seek an equaliser, we had chances to go 2-0 up and didn’t take them, then you need to be very focused and careful when it gets a bit chaotic late on.

“It was a hard-fought game, two goals were disallowed for tight offsides, and I can only thank the lads, because it is hard to set targets at this moment in time. Our target now is to climb back up the table and I see a good spirit from the lads.”

After months of the fans clamoring for the grouping of Dusan Vlahovic, Angel Di Maria and Federico Chiesa to start up top, it finally happened today. What did Allegri have to say though about the tendency of both Di Maria and Chiesa to drift to the right leaving big spaces on the opposite flank?

“We created chances, had some good passing moves at pace, opportunities with Filip Kostic as well. It is never easy to play against Fiorentina, as they are very aggressive and play good football, but we did well.

“Federico started on the left, but with Amrabat chasing Di Maria, that could open up spaces for us and I put Chiesa there to attack Biraghi in one-on-one situations. Federico prefers to go down the left, but he is improving in his defensive work, Di Maria sacrificed himself for the team today as well.

“At Milan we played with four attacking players, four at Cagliari too, when I started at Juventus we didn’t even have full-backs, so there are different ways of doing things, as long as there is balance. Not all moments during a season are the same, there are times when we can handle these situations and others when we cannot, it’s up to me to see when those moments are.”

That 15-point deduction is slowing the Bianconeri down, and they could well be in second place right now if their appeal is upheld.

“After the verdict, which came after our defeat to Napoli, there was a strong reaction against Atalanta, but then it hit us with the second wave against Monza.

“We have to take it one game at a time and now we are within a point of seventh place. However, it is important to not mistake the points we have with the points we earned. Those are different, as otherwise we’ll diminish what these lads achieved.

“It is a new experience, it is interesting to go through and we’re sticking together.”

Again the media asked Allegri what he was setting as the new goals for the side with the punishment.

“The Europa League and the Coppa Italia are objectives, along with climbing back up the standings. We can only wait and see where we are at the end of the season.”

There were incredible scenes towards the end of the game as Allegri seemed to lose his mind at someone in the crowd, gesticulating for them to come down to where he stood and say it again, or else to put up and shut up.

“I am disappointed, because most of the crowd is helping the team, then there are a few who decide a player is poor regardless of performance and jeers, like Moise Kean, De Sciglio and at times Paredes too.

“They are Juventus players, we need all of them. I don’t like people coming to the stadium ready to jeer at one or another player, that is disrespectful. By all means jeer when we do badly, but not ahead of time.”