Allegri calls for young Juventus side to improve their understanding in games

Massimiliano Allegri warned that his Juventus players sometimes become too relaxed as he implored for improvements after defeating Udinese.

Goals from Paulo Dybala and Weston McKennie saw Juve claim a 2-0 triumph on Saturday, lifting fifth-placed Juve onto the same points as Atalanta, who occupy the last Champions League qualification spot.

Atalanta do have two games in hand, however, as the race for the final place in Europe’s premier competition hots up.

Despite Juve’s victory, Allegri outlined his reasons for frustration with some parts of the performance at the Allianz Stadium.

“We held out mentally and technically for 120 minutes on Wednesday, but there was a moment tonight when we just left the game,” Allegri told Sky Sport Italia.

“That’s not right, we always have to be fully focused, especially when there aren’t enough fans to keep us on our toes, because for 10 minutes we ran some big risks.

“The thing we absolutely cannot do without is intensity, tempo and aggression, because if we don’t drop the intensity level, then we don’t get distracted and can make our technique count.

“I looked at the line-up, we had Matthijs de Ligt born in 1999, [Dejan] Kulusevski 2000, [Moise] Kean 2000, [Luca] Pellegrini 1999, the oldest was [Juan] Cuadrado and the others all between 20 and 23 years old. 

“You can lack some experience and understanding in those moments of when to hold off and when to control it.”

300 – Massimiliano #Allegri reached tonight his 300th game as #Juventus manager and he won his 208th match: among the three coaches who have reached this milestone for Juventus (Trapattoni and Lippi the others), he is the one with the highest percentage of wins (69%). DNA. pic.twitter.com/vzxq3uGxuX

— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) January 15, 2022

Allegri assured, though, that with experience will come the understanding of how to control such moments in any given fixture.

“We made a mistake in the second half, thinking we were relaxed and in charge, so we drifted out of the game. It’s not about finding a leader, it’s about the general maturity as a whole,” he said.

“You need experience in every profession, nobody is born knowing everything.

“We need patience. I did get very angry at that moment, but I talked to them afterwards and tried to make them understand. The important thing is they understand quickly and it has to be done on an individual level, whether they are at Juventus or elsewhere.”

Juve are next in Serie A action on Sunday when they travel to face Milan.