Allegri calls for calm as Juve looks for victory
Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri has emphasised the need for calm and focus as the Bianconeri look to end their winless run this weekend.
Having been held 1-1 by Empoli while down to 10 men and then beaten 1-0 by Serie A leader Inter Milan and Udinese, Juve went a fourth successive game without victory last weekend with a 2-2 draw at Hellas Verona.
Allegri’s side is second on the table, nine points adrift of Inter having played a game more, ahead of its next game, which is at home against Frosinone.
Allegri said: “We have worked well, as always, and tomorrow we have only one goal – to return to winning ways.
“Periods like these in football happen, I’ve been through them before and the boys know it too. We have to stay calm and focused and think about the months ahead, with two big goals to achieve – qualification for the Champions League and trying to win the Coppa Italia.
“There are some matches, like in Verona, where we struggle. It is precisely in these kinds of matches that we have to maintain greater compactness and great concentration.
“If I think back to our last performances, with Inter and Udinese I saw good things, with Verona less so. However, I am convinced that this period will do us good.”
Since Allegri returned to Juventus in 2021 for a second spell in charge, he has overseen the team finishing fourth and then seventh.
He previously had five years in the job from 2014 to 2019, which saw Juve crowned league champion in all five campaigns, part of a sequence of nine consecutive titles for the club.
Allegri added: “Winning at Juve is something that is always demanded and criticism is the order of the day – if you win 3-2 you have conceded too many goals, if you win 1-0 you have scored too few.
“But if I analyse our history, I see that Juve has gone through only two cycles of great and consecutive victories, winning five Scudetti in the 1930s and nine in the last period.
“This means that winning is not something normal and taken for granted. We have the goal of getting back to winning ways and for this the club has started a path and a project that is going forward, also aiming to grow our own players.
“For this, qualifying for the [UEFA] Champions League is fundamental, as it is a competition that we have not missed since 2011, which is also something that cannot be taken for granted.”
Frosinone, which was last season's Serie B champion, is three points above the relegation zone with 23 points from 25 games.
Coach Eusebio Di Francesco said: “We deserved the points we got, we probably also demonstrated something more.
“And we have to go and get those points back. Starting from the next one and not being a sacrificial victim of a team like Juventus because we go to play with them. Knowing that sooner or later something has to come back to us.”
