Massimiliano Allegri Says He Expected Frosinone to Provide a Tough Test for Juventus After 2-0 Win

Massimiliano Allegri said he expected Frosinone to frustrate his team following a difficult 2-0 win at the Stadio Benito Stirpe.

Frosinone managed to keep Juventus at bay for 80 minutes as they sacrificed possession for defensive structure. Allegri's side found it difficult to break the opposition down before Ronaldo's late strike. Bernardeschi was able to add another in injury time after the home team committed too many players forward, thus leaving themselves vulnerable to the counter attack.

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Allegri told Sky Sports Italia, as quoted by Football Italia: “We expected it to be like this. Frosinone had conceded five to Sampdoria and we played down to 10 men for 70 minutes against Valencia on Wednesday.

“We just needed to have patience and after many shots, crosses and passes, we found the breakthrough.”

Allegri rested Matuidi, Khedira and Cancelo following their Champions League tie midweek. In their place, Allegri moved Cuadrado to right back and Emre Can to midfield.

Allegri said: “The idea was to give width, but that wasn’t happening, so I put Miralem Pjanic further forward for Emre Can to cover the defence and push Juan Cuadrado further up.

“Federico Bernardeschi then came on very well, we held the ball in more dangerous areas and eventually got the goals we needed.

“With Emre Can in front of the defence, you can afford two midfielders with more quality.”

Dybala also started the game but was unable to be effective often finding himself too deep to impact the play.

“He needs to play. I’ve said since he arrived that his best physical quality is his running, so he needs to play and to move. He had some good moves today, controlling on the edge of the box where there was traffic, but he needs to run at defenders and he’ll do that once his fitness levels improve," Allegri commented.

“Dybala has no need to feel this performance anxiety. You can be the best player in the world, but if you’re not at 100 per cent mentally, the others will get to the ball faster. Mario Mandzukic is always first to the ball, but today he was a little less sharp because of fatigue, it’s natural.”

Juventus next game is Napoli at home on Saturday where Allegri face Carlo Ancelotti.

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“Napoli had over 90 points last season, so of course it’s natural they’d still be doing well, especially after bringing in a talented and experienced coach.

“The others are a little far behind, so we right now need to step on the gas and create a gap before we have the head-to-head clashes.”