12 August 2016
Having celebrated his 49th birthday yesterday, Massimiliano Allegri has just over a week to wait until attempting to wrap up what would certainly represent a well-received present in the form of three points against Fiorentina in his side’s Serie A curtain-raiser next Saturday at Juventus Stadium.
Stressing the importance of a strong start to the 2015/16 campaign was indeed where the Tuscan tactician aptly opened today’s exclusive interview with club channel Jtv before touching on Juve’s transfer business, season objectives and what they need to do in order to achieve them.
Sights set on Scudetto no.6
“We’ve put together an excellent side with many quality players joining our ranks, but this doesn’t mean that we can take things for granted.
“It’s imperative that we hit the ground running in the league this term. We need to work hard and be on top of our game in order to win a sixth successive Scudetto, as we’ll be coming up against several battle hardened opponents.”
Excellence at both ends
“Having the best defence and top goalscorer from the last campaign at our disposal certainly makes for a formidable combination. There’s just one problem: we start on zero points like everyone else and we need to take each game at a time with the aim of accruing the necessary number of victories.
“One thing is for certain: in order to win titles you need to have the meanest defence in the league. The statistics confirm that. Juve and the other top teams typically score 70 goals on average per season, so it’s at the other end of the pitch where the difference will be made.”
Four fronts to fight on
“A club like Juventus needs to have plenty of strength in depth in order to fight on all fronts. Everyone needs to do their part in helping us reach our objectives, namely to win a sixth consecutive and record-breaking Scudetto, to go all the way in the Champions League, even if in the last two years we’ve managed to get to the final and played very well against Bayern Munich in the round of 16. Then there’s the Italian Super Cup and Coppa Italia.”
Pogba and Pjaca
“Pogba’s transfer to Manchester United is obviously an enormous deal in financial terms. I wish him all the best and, who knows, maybe our paths will cross again somewhere down the line.
“Paul played an important role in previous seasons, developing his game considerably and he’s still got room for improvement in the future.
“In Marko Pjaca, we’ve a superb talent with great potential, who’s hit the ground running from the word go and I believe he’ll be a revelation for us.”
All eyes on Espanyol
“Saturday’s match in Modena will be a good run out for the boys, just like all of the pre-season games we’ve played so far. We need to keep improving our physical condition, but we’ve worked well over the past week and from Monday we’ll devote our undivided attention to the league.”
