Max Allegri admits Juventus “are not sharp right now, but our season starts in November” after a 2-1 victory over Sporting.
Alex Sandro’s own goal had put the Portuguese side in front, but Miralem Pjanic’s free kick and a late Mario Mandzukic header turned around the Champions League tie.
Max Allegri admits Juventus “are not sharp right now, but our season starts in November” after a 2-1 victory over Sporting.
Alex Sandro’s own goal had put the Portuguese side in front, but Miralem Pjanic’s free kick and a late Mario Mandzukic header turned around the Champions League tie.
“We are not sharp right now, as some players were out for a while, others returned from international duty in bad shape, so we must continue to work,” Allegri told Mediaset Premium.
“Last season is in the past, so to remain at a certain level, you must fight and work every single day. I thought Gonzalo Higuain played very well tonight with character, quality and physicality.
“It’s never easy to win in the Champions League, we’ve made a step forward, but there’s a long way to go and we must try to reconnect, as some of our elements are a bit disconnected.
“It’s one season up to November and another after that. After the next break for international duty is when the Juventus season will really begin.
“We made some technical errors, especially in the opening 20 minutes, then at the end we were running a lot of risks rather than locking down the result.
“We had many more chances to score and we didn’t take them. At this moment we need to rediscover our solidity, which I think we did have tonight when Sporting had the ball, but naturally our fitness levels and sharpness must improve and we can only do that via training.”
A positive result was sorely needed after one point from two Serie A rounds.
“I am happy with what we did in some moments of the game, but glad we fought to the end. Of our last few games, we won this one and I think it was our worst performance compared to Atalanta or Lazio. We missed penalties, had black-outs that proved costly, but tonight I saw more consistency.”