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Motivation may be an issue at Sassuolo, claims Allegri

SoccerNews in Serie A 28 Jan 2017

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Massimiliano Allegri says Juventus must not let a potential lack of motivation impact on them in Sunday’s trip to Sassuolo in Serie A.

The reigning champions produced a commanding performance and a 2-0 win over high-flying Lazio last time out in the league, seeing them bounce back from a 2-1 defeat to Fiorentina.

Allegri’s men followed that up with a 2-1 win over AC Milan in Wednesday’s Coppa Italia clash, with the coach changing his system and deploying an attacking 4-2-3-1 formation for both triumphs.

But Allegri expects Sunday’s encounter with Sassuolo to be somewhat more difficult and wants his men to be wary of complacency.

“We won games in Serie A and the Coppa Italia with this system, but it’s ‘easy’ to win against Lazio after we got slapped in the face by Fiorentina,” he said in Saturday’s media conference.

“It’s much harder [against Sassuolo] when we must prove that even when games are less motivating on paper, we can still give the same determination.

“Sassuolo are in good shape and have important players coming back from injury. They played very well against Roma and we’ll need a strong showing.

“In my first year at Juve we drew at Sassuolo and last season we lost, so it’s about time we got the three points.

Allegri revealed that he has plenty to consider with respect to his team selection on Sunday and is relishing his wealth of options.

“The 4-2-3-1 isn’t entirely new to me, as I used this system at Spal,” he added. “I changed because I no longer had the players suited to it.

“Tomorrow I have some decisions. I need to choose between [Marko] Pjaca and Juan Cuadrado, then Tomas Rincon or Sami Khedira.

“Miralem Pjanic is a great football player, but clearly if you play 10 metres further forward, it’s a different type of effort required.

“Claudio Marchisio can fit into the new system because he is a great player. He is available, but I don’t believe he’ll start tomorrow. All the others are fit.”

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