Allegri pays the price for underestimating Inter
After the game, Allegri told the press that he hopes Juventus can benefit from this defeat and keep their feet on the ground in the following games.
Defeat to Inter’ came just three days after Juventus had been held to a 0-0 draw by Sevilla in the Champions League on Wednesday night. Against Inter, Juventus put down their worst performance of the season so far with Allegri responsible for making some controversial choices ahead of the game.
First of all, he benched Gonzalo Higuain, who is not only Serie A’s most expensive transfer ever, but also Juventus’ top scorer so far this season with three goals in five appearances. Allegri gave Mario Mandzukic a chance to shine in the most important game of the season so far; one of those matches when one would expect big signings to play, especially if their recent performances have matched expectations.
Mandzukic was anonymous thanks to a wonderful display from Inter defender Joao Miranda and even though he was never assisted properly by his teammates, the Croat never won one single aerial duel with the Brazilian centre-back who was ably assisted by Jaison Murillo.
Higuain entered the contest in the 73rd minute, five minutes after Icardi’s opener and five before Ivan Perisic’s winner, but couldn’t produce any clear-cut chance, suffering from the same problems Mandzukic had experienced.
Another ambiguous call by Allegri was the positioning of Miralem Pjanic who was deployed in front of the defence with Kwadwo Asamoah and Sami Khedira completing the centre midfield. Pjanic had made just two appearances before today’s game, both as a central midfielder, not playmaker, a role covered by Mario Lemina in the previous four games of the season.
The Bosnian international impressed in his previous Serie A game against Sassuolo, having scored his first goal of the new campaign as well as creating many other goal chances.
Allegri has always said that he believes Miralem Pjanic can play in that position and Pjanic’s performance against Sassuolo was testament to that leaving Allegri no option but to play the former AS Roma man in that position against Inter.
Do not believe however, that Sassuolo are a small side. If it wasn’t for a victory over Pescara later reversed to 3-0 loss, they’d be on top of the table, two points clear of current Serie A leaders Napoli, three ahead of Juventus.
Pjanic failed to come to terms with the pressing of Inter’s midfield and lost 12 of the 78 touches he made. Mario Lemina would have struggled to produce any more quality than the former AS Roma star, but choosing to suffocate Pjanic’s dynamism in midfield, was one of those decisions that cost Juventus the game.
The Italian tactician’s choice to play Pjanic ‘out of position’ came after Allegri had made another controversial one in the previous game when he benched the Bosnian international in the opening Champions League clash against Sevilla.
Juventus were held 0-0 by the Spanish side, but created most of their clear cut chances when Pjanic entered the pitch to replace a mediocre Asamoah, who was surprisingly confirmed in the starting XI against Inter. Deploying Pjanic as the playmaker for the first time ever this season in such a crucial game, was another key decision that Allegri got wrong.
The Old Lady will now play four games in the next two weeks, three in Serie A and one in the Champions League so it’s understandable that Allegri wants to conserve his best players to have them all ready and fit for all the following games. However, he seems to have underestimated Inter, especially after watching their 2-0 Europa League defeat at hands of Hapoel Be’er Sheva just three days earlier.
He is probably also guilty of underestimating Inter’s desire to put things right in front of a rabid Meazza crowd, as well as all the main members of Suning group were present in the directors box. Inter ‘s victory was a shot in the arm for under-fire coach Frank De Boer, who also made some smart tactical choices to stifle the impact of Paulo Dybala thanks to the endless running of Gary Medel, who made La Joya’s life a misery.
Allegri thought that a couple of tactical changes wouldn’t have been enough for Inter to bridge the gap in quality with the Serie A champions; his mistake however, was to make the tactical changes of his own.
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