Massimiliano Allegri has made it clear he has nothing against winning ‘poorly’ after Juventus squeezed past bottom-half Spezia 1-0. Alvaro Morata finished off a quick counter-attack midway through the first half to take his side’s unbeaten run in Serie A to 14 games.
Despite taking all three points against a spirited Spezia side, Juventus’ performance at the Allianz Stadium flattered to deceive. The record-time Italian champions barely had any saying in the front third beyond half-time, completely surrendering the ball to Thiago Motta’s team as part of their bid to defend a slender lead.
Allegri’s defensive approach did not go down well with the Juventus faithful. The Allianz support booed the Bianconeri players for failing to produce anything meaningful in the attack throughout the second 45 minutes. Indeed, Juve got lucky to walk away with the points as Spezia had a few promising chances to cancel out Morata’s winner.
It seems that Allegri’s Juventus have developed a habit of picking up victories without offering too much in terms of entertainment. However, the Italian manager is perfectly okay with how things are going for his team. He again emphasised the importance of winning despite unwatchable performance in the aftermath.
“It was a good start, we should’ve had more than two goals in the first half. Then some fatigue set in, which can happen when you have so many players out and cannot rotate,” he said, as relayed by TUTTOmercatoWEB.
“If you want to reach your objectives, you have to play these games with suffering and it was important to bring home the three points. We need to prepare for Sampdoria, then Villarreal, and continue this cycle in the best possible way.“
Juventus have restored a six-point lead on fifth-placed Roma as they again look to be in pole position to secure Champions League football for next season.