Match Coverages
Allegri: ‘Kulusevski, De Ligt, De Winter and Ranocchia are proof of the good work done by our academy’
Massimiliano Allegri has previewed the Joan Gamper Trophy game against FC Barcelona for the official Juventus channel. Allegri spoke about the match itself, but also about a potential formation for this season and the players who impressed him most during the first weeks. Max Statman has selected the most important quotes from his interview.
Joan Gamper Trophy
On the third of August the last players, Bonucci, Chiesa and Bernardeschi, returned to Continassi. “We’ve had a week with everyone training together, including the last guys back”, said Allegri. “They have trained well and are in good spirits. It’s the midway point because we then have another friendly before the season starts, against Atalanta next saturday. It’s a big match between two huge clubs. We have to take it seriously, as Juventus do every match. It will be useful for me to assess the fitness of certain players, both those who arrived first and the more recent arrivals.”
Allegri made clear that there will be some suprises in the starting line-up on sunday. “First and foremost, I’d like to see us playing as a team, both when we have the ball and when we don’t. I also hope to see improvement from certain players because we’ll see a few, not experiments, but players in midfield positions that I want to take a look at tomorrow.”
As reported by @emaxstatman1 Paulo Dybala will not play against Barcelona. Allegri explains the decision. “Dybala won’t because I’d rather he got another couple of days’ training in him. He’s only just started training with the team. It would have been risky. I spoke to him and we agreed that it would be better for him to stay here and train. The others will all be coming and they’ll all be involved, some more, some less.”
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Formation
Allegri was also asked if he had a specific formation in mind for this season. “There’s no specific formation: it depends on the players I pick. However, their positions are pretty much clear. I have just a couple of doubts: I want to see if certain players can play in certain positions.”
Allegri thinks the squad he currently has is excellent. “They won two trophies last year, qualified for the Champions League and reached the Champions League last 16. I have to build on the work done by Andrea (Pirlo) and try to improve what I have here. But to do that, we need a great work ethic. To achieve the goals we have for May, winning Serie A, the Champions League, the Coppa Italia and the Super Cup in December or January, we must be willing to roll up our sleeves every day. That’s part of Juventus’ DNA and it’s what will bring us results.”
Youngsters
When talking about players that impressed him most, Allegri mainly talked about the youngsters. “Kulusevski, De Ligt, De Winter and Ranocchia are proof of the good work done by our academy. All of them are very willing to work and determined to win back the Scudetto. The youngsters have plenty of room for improvement. I’ve told them that it depends entirely on the desire and ambition they have to improve and to be succesful. We have a year to improve them individually so they can help the team.”
Max Statman will provide a liveblog of saturday’s match for those who are unable to watch it.
Allegri hinted at a suprise player in midfield. Who do you think it could be?
