Allegri: ‘Juventus are wounded, not dead, it will be very hard for Napoli’
Massimiliano Allegri has warned that Juventus are “wounded, not dead” ahead of Napoli’s trip to his former club on Sunday, and confirmed that Stanislav Lobotka faces around six weeks on the sidelines.
With quotes via TuttoMercatoWeb, the Napoli coach spoke at Castel Volturno before the clash at the Allianz Stadium, which kicks off at 20:45 CET [19:45 GMT]. Allegri will not be on the touchline, as he is serving the second game of his two-match ban, so assistant Marco Landucci takes charge.
The two sides go into the game level on 14 points. Napoli won 4-1 at Monza on Wednesday, while Juventus were beaten 2-0 at Genoa and have spent the last two days on retreat at the J Hotel.
“I agree. I’ve heard that in the media they’re giving Juve up for dead, but Juventus rarely die,” Allegri said. “They’re a strong team with a good coach, and in moments like these they pull together, so it will be very hard for us. We’ll need a great technical and physical performance, and a pinch of luck.”
He is also expecting a reaction. “It won’t be easy, because tomorrow is a head-to-head against a team built to fight for the top four. They’re like us, they have the same points, but we’ll face a wounded, angry team. We’ll need fighting spirit and technique. We won’t find the team that’s being described.”
Allegri confirms Lobotka injury
Lobotka is the latest addition to Napoli’s injury list. “We’ve lost Lobotka, who’s an important player. In our misfortune we were lucky, because he should be back in six weeks. Thankfully his foot wasn’t planted, otherwise it would have been a disaster,” Allegri said.
“After the break we’ll get Spinazzola, Neres and Favasuli back, while Alisson may be further behind. De Bruyne can play there, and Gilmour is the natural replacement, but there will be games where we play with two holding midfielders, so we’ll take out whoever plays in the middle. We’ll see. Now we’re thinking about tomorrow against a strong team.”
Amir Rrahmani and André-Frank Zambo Anguissa have both been ill this week. “Rrahmani had the flu. He trained yesterday, and today we’ll see how he is, because we also play on Wednesday. If he’s well enough he’ll play, otherwise it will be one of Marianucci and Beukema,” he said. “Anguissa too… there’s a flu virus going around, every now and then it knocks one of them out. If he’s fine he plays, otherwise someone else does.”
He praised Rasmus Højlund, who opened the scoring at Monza. “He’d always played well and had important chances he unfortunately didn’t convert. The other day he scored a beautiful goal and had a good game.”
Allegri dismissed any suggestion of a new approach after the Monza win. “There’s no new philosophy. We’ve scored a lot of goals in the last four games, but let’s not forget we’ve conceded plenty. Some match situations need improving, with and without the ball. We need to occupy the whole pitch better, and our ball management needs to be better, with more clarity about when to slow down and when to speed up. There are two phases: when you have the ball and when you don’t.”
“Every day we work on improving. The lads won a good game at Monza against a side that caused us problems. At 2-1 Milinković-Savić made a great save, so it wasn’t a simple game. Right now there has to be balance. There’s no point making proclamations, we need to keep very quiet and work. Quiet regardless, but even more so now because we’re behind in the table.”
Allegri on Napoli struggles in big games
On Napoli’s struggles in big games: “It’s hard to say. Sometimes you could say it’s the defensive phase. Against Roma we were 3-2 up and then conceded to make it 3-3, and we could have done better, like in Milan. We need to keep working and improve both phases. The team has excellent technical quality and needs to improve in managing the ball when ahead.”
He also rejected the idea that beating Juventus would rescue Napoli’s season. “Yes, I feel it when I’m out in the city, I understand the fans. But for a club like Napoli, in the top four for 15 years, it’s very reductive to boil it down to one game. The objective is to get to the end of the season in the top four, which won’t be easy because there are well-equipped teams, to get through in the Champions League and to stay in the Coppa Italia. Then we can say the season is good. If we’re satisfied with winning one head-to-head, we don’t take a step forward, and I don’t think it’s good for the club or the fans to reduce it to that.”
Finally, on the high-scoring start to the Serie A season: “There are many factors. There’s more effective playing time, and when you’re most tired you either defend with the ball or without it. The other thing is that we’re at the start. Points count, but I’m curious to see what happens in March, when points are needed to get into the Champions League or avoid relegation. It changes psychologically then. There will also be a difference in the way teams play and in players’ characteristics, but I think the numbers will find their balance.”
