Allegri: 'Mandzukic stats clear'
By Football Italia staff
Max Allegri said Mario Mandzukic’s “numbers speak for him” after Juventus secured a 3-0 win in Palermo.
They notched up a fourth consecutive Serie A victory and showed no signs of slowing after a midweek Champions League win over Manchester City.
“It was a good performance in terms of intensity, especially coming so soon after a difficult challenge with Manchester City,” the Coach told Mediaset Premium and Sky Sport Italia.
“November has been very good for us and we recovered some essential points in the Serie A table.”
The Bianconeri are now in fifth position, just four points adrift of Roma, although Sassuolo can leapfrog them with a win over Fiorentina tomorrow.
For the second game in a row, Mandzukic was chosen to start instead of Alvaro Morata and opened the scoring.
“Morata is a first choice player, he just needs to improve his condition at the moment and be left free of pressure.
“Mandzukic won the Champions League, he played for Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid. He might not be the classiest player with the best technique, but he has characteristics that are useful for this team.
“He gave his contribution, the numbers speak for him. Obviously he prefers these crosses to the back post, but he works for the team and holds the ball up.
“Dybala is playing better as a support striker connecting the midfield and centre-forward, as he has great technique, while Mandzukic like Morata tends to attack space in the box. Depending on the moment and the characteristics of the game, I choose between these various elements.
“This squad is capable of learning several different systems and approaches, but we still have lot that can be improved.”
Napoli-Inter is tomorrow night, so a draw would take Juve closer to the top of the table.
“I am looking at the fact we have Lazio coming up and they will be furious at recent results, so extra determined and ready to throw everything at us.
“At this moment we can see the team has improved physically, we are sharper and can change tempo at the right times. The only problem today was that we gave the ball away too cheaply.
“When I said that I didn’t like the air around Juventus this summer, it was because some people felt as if four years of Serie A domination meant we could just walk on to the pitch and win.
“We struggled with that for a month and a half, then everyone realised we have to fight hard and work to win every single point.”