06 August 2016
With approximately 24 hours remaining until Juventus take on West Ham for the inauguration of the Premier League club’s new home, London Stadium, Massimiliano Allegri devoted the majority of today’s press conference to tomorrow’s friendly match, whilst also looking ahead to the upcoming 2016/17 campaign.
Here are the Tuscan tactician’s standout quotations from Vinovo’s Media Center:
London calling
“In West Ham, we are coming up against a side that has already started its Europa League qualifying campaign (winning over two legs against NK Domzale) and is well ahead in its pre-season preparations.
“As regards my starting XI tomorrow, I’ll go with four at the back and our line-up will be: Buffon; Dani Alves, Benatia, Rugani, Alex Sandro; Lemina, Pjanic, Asamoah; Pereyra; Dybala, Mandzukic.
“Gonzalo Higuain will get game time too. Indeed, the only players staying behind in Vinovo are Stephan Lichtsteiner, who has picked up a niggle in his back, and Sami Khedira and Leonardo Bonucci, who only returned to training yesterday and will continue their pre-season preparations here over the weekend.”
New season in sight
“We’ve only had a few days to train altogether. Some players returned for pre-season a month ago, whilst others have been with us for the last 10 days or so.
“The club has worked excellently in bringing in five signings so far, all of whom will raise significantly our overall technical quality as a team.
“However that does not mean that we’ve already got the Scudetto sewn up and we’re certainties to make the Champions League final. We need to be aware of our strengths, but also know that we need to roll up our socks and put in the hard yards in order to make sure that we’re fighting on all three fronts come March.”
Claudio on course
“Claudio Marchisio’s recovery process is coming along well. He’s back running and training with the ball. As things stand, I think he can make a return at some point during the month of October.”
