Allegri: ‘Dybala plays tomorrow’
Max Allegri confirms Paulo Dybala will play for Juventus against Genoa, but it’s “difficult” for Mario Mandzukic and Mattia De Sciglio to recover for Roma.
The Bianconeri face the Grifone in the Coppa Italia tomorrow, but their squad has been devastated by injuries.
With a clash with the capital club to come at the weekend, the Coach began his Press conference by talking about two of the injured players.
“These are two difficult recoveries, both for De Sciglio and Mandzukic,” Allegri admitted.
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Mandzukic has had 13 stitches and De Sciglio has a problem with his flexor, and we’ll evaluate him in the coming days.
“It’s difficult for him to be available against Roma though.
“
As for tomorrow, Dybala, [Daniele] Rugani and [Federico] Bernardeschi will play.
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Claudio] Marchisio is another player who could be part of the game tomorrow. Tomorrow is a game, an important objective, because it’s a competition which is worth as much as the league and the Champions League.
“It’s a competition Juventus compete in, which the lads have won for the past three years so we need to try and go as far as possible, create the conditions to reach the final.
“If we go through it will give us an important boost to face Roma on Saturday, these are four very important days between tomorrow and Saturday with Roma.”
Giallorossi Coach Eusebio Di Francesco praised Allegri’s European record, and the Juve boss was asked if he’d like to return the compliments.
“Di Francesco absolutely does not need my compliments, because he did really well with Sassuolo and now he’s doing really well with Roma.
“Roma is a complicated, difficult environment but he knows it because he played there. It’s a well put together squad with important players, and above all he’s been good at giving them balance, which means Roma give up very few scoring chances.
“As I said in the Press conference last week, the Roma goalkeeper doesn’t make many saves, he hasn’t made very many saves in these league games and, if I’m not mistaken, they’ve won 1-0 five or six times?
“So it will be a nice game, but we’ll think about it from Thursday, and I think we’d do better to face it with qualification in our pocket.”[DOUBLEPOST=1513701612][/DOUBLEPOST]
Allegri: ‘Dybala should get 20’
Juventus Coach Massimiliano Allegri warns Paulo Dybala should be getting “15-20 goals” a season, as well as getting assists.
La Joya has been dropped for the Bianconeri’s past two games, but it has been confirmed he’ll start in the Coppa Italia against Genoa tomorrow.
“First of all, the Coppa Italia is a very important competition,” Allegri said when asked about that choice in his pre-Genoa Press conference.
“It’s not like in two days he’s recovered his condition, he’s worked hard and on Sunday he came on and did well.
“But tomorrow is a game to be played like all the others, a game to win, and maybe it’ll be a game which will unlock him, to get back among the goals.
“The goal shouldn’t be a problem,
I repeat: Dybala is a player capable of 15-20 goals in the league, when he gets 20 then he’ll have done a lot.
“And his characteristics go beyond that
, Dybala is a player who must provide assists and score goals because he’s not just a poacher, that’s what Paulo should not do.
“Like the others Paulo is an intelligent player who knows that tomorrow is an important game for him and for Juventus.
“We’ve had a different system of play [4-3-3] in the last few games and I pulled him out, it’s very simple. If Paulo plays, we need to exploit the characteristics he has.
“In this system, the role he can play is as a centre-forward.
"That's another thing I have to decide, whether to play Higuain in tandem with Dybala or play Dybala as a centre-forward.
"No-one is under examination tomorrow, because I see them on the pitch every day. They've trained well, so tomorrow is an important test for them, but also for all of us.
"We'll have the chance to make changes on the bench but, aside from two or three, these players have more or less always played.
"[Stephan] Lichtsteiner has played a lot of games, [Daniele] Rugani has played a lot of games, [Andrea] Barzagli and [Giorgio] Chiellini have always played.
"[Kwadwo] Asamoah has played, [Rodrigo] Bentancur has had his games, Marchisio has played his games.
"Then if Dybala, [Federico] Bernardeschi and Douglas Costa play they're players who have always played, so there's no problem."
Marko Pjaca is back in the squad after a serious knee injury, could he feature at some point tomorrow?
“In my opinion Pjaca could do well as a centre-forward, maybe playing as a pair with another striker, because he’s a player who has speed, technique and movement; and someone who attacks the space well.
“As far as tomorrow is concerned, our goal is to go through and whether Pjaca or someone else plays is all relative.
“The important thing is for Juventus to play a good game tomorrow.
“To the team I’ll simply say - well, I’ve already said it but I’ll repeat it tomorrow - that the Coppa Italia is one of our objectives and we have to go onto the pitch to win.
“Against Roma on Saturday we’ll have the right motivation, we’re all ready to play a great game, but tomorrow is a game where there’s a slight risk of dropping off.
“That cannot happen, because Juventus must play to win tomorrow and to reach the next round. There are absolutely no excuses or alibis of any kind.
“Talking about Roma now is pointless, we have a difficult game tomorrow which we have to tackle in the best way.
“Fortunately, from what I’m told, the stadium will be almost full and that will give us a major boost to tackle what is, I repeat, a possible elimination tomorrow.
“If we are eliminated tomorrow we’d face Roma in a different mood, because we’d be out of a competition which Juventus must play to win.
“It’s very simple, tomorrow we have to go through with our performance.”[DOUBLEPOST=1513701642][/DOUBLEPOST]
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pure BS.