25 September 2015
Speaking to the media at Juventus Center today on the eve of Saturday’s clash with Napoli, Massimiliano Allegri reiterated his faith in the qualities of his squad and expressed his belief that the Bianconeri will soon start earning the results that their domestic performances so far have perhaps deserved.
While acknowledging that “football is a results business, and every team should be judged on their league position” and improvements need to be made in the coming weeks, the Tuscan remains convinced that this Juventus side is capable of great things this term.
He began: “My confidence in my team won’t wane because of a last minute corner (against Frosinone) that we shouldn’t have conceded in the first place. We’ve dropped points so far when perhaps we deserved more but all the same we need to improve and start defending better.
“After the international break, when we have the likes of Claudio Marchisio, Mario Mandzukic and Sami Khedira back in the first team setup, we’ll be back to full strength and have a very competitive squad.”
Joining Mandzukic, Marchisio and Khedira on the sidelines for tomorrow night's game will be Martin Caceres while Alvaro Morata and Simone Padoin are in the frame for starting places.
"Alvaro is available for tomorrow night but Caceres won't be, we're looking at getting him back to fitness for Wednesday against Sevilla. Padoin is in contention to start against Napoli, he performs well wherever he plays and he's an option for us at full-back."
In order to reach their goals for the campaign and to come away from the Stadio San Paolo with maximum points, Allegri honed in on one key factor: composure.
In an opening to the season that has seen his team dominate possession and create plenty of goalscoring opportunities, the Juve boss went on to call for composure both on and off the field, more of which will put the Bianconeri in good stead for another important seven days of domestic and European action.
“We’ll be judged on our results and rightly so but ultimately it’s the quality of your performances that win you points. We were fantastic in Manchester but if Gianluigi Buffon hadn’t made that excellent save when we were 1-0 down then our display could have been viewed in a very different way.
“It’s a very important week with Napoli, Sevilla and Bologna on the horizon and we need to approach these games with clear heads. If we stay calm and play our own game we’ll soon be back in the position that we expect of ourselves.”
As an experienced head though in a business where “criticism is part and parcel of the job,” the Tuscan’s primary message this afternoon was one of confidence in a young team that still has plenty of time to grow and to start displaying the qualities in keeping with Juventus sides of the past.
“Wins are the only thing missing. What the boys have shown on the field so far, for me, deserved four or five more points. These are young players with excellent potential and soon they’ll learn to manage games better as previous Juventus sides have done so well.
“It’s still too early to say what the table will look like come May but for now we have plenty of time to dust ourselves down, start moving forwards as a team and pick up victories.”
