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Nine consecutive wins no mean feat: Juventus coach Allegri

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Juventus coach AllegriJuventus coach AllegriTurin:Juventus head coach Massimiliano Allegri has lauded his team for jumping to the second spot with a ninth consecutive win in Serie A.

Juventus beat Sampdoria in Genoa on Sunday to take their points tally to 39 points from 19 games — same as Inter Milan but ahead on goal difference. Inter Milan were removed from the top spot following a 0-1 loss to Sassuolo, while Napoli demolished Frosinone 5-1 to be the halfway leaders with 41 points.

It was the defending champions’ ninth win on the trot and now they are back in title contention despite a poor start that saw them lying at the 12th spot with four losses and three draws in the first 10 matches.

Coach Allegri said thet they believed that they can turn things around even when things were not going in their favour.

“Achieving nine straight league victories is no mean feat,” Allegri told juventus.com. began.

“We believed that we could turn things around because we just simply had to improve and now you’re seeing completely different players from the ones you saw at the start of the season,” the 48-year-old added.

However the former Milan tactician was quick to stress that there is still room for improvement for the reigning champions.

“When individually the guys start growing, the team as a whole will follow suit. We need to manage the game slightly better and not try and force the play when we don’t need to,” he felt.

“As for tonight’s game, we should have closed the game out instead of letting them back into it, however good (Antonio) Cassano’s finish was. Credit to him, he was excellent throughout.”

Moving on to the qualities of his own squad, a goal apiece for Paul Pogba and Sami Khedira and a solid return to action for Hernanes deputising for the suspended Claudio Marchisio ensured Allegri would reserve special praise for his midfield trio, paying particular homage to the Brazilian’s promising showing in front of the back four.

“If (Hernanes) continues to improve in that position in front of the defence then he will be a very important player for us and I thought he was very good both offensively and defensively tonight. I’m pleased with the performance of the whole team even if we didn’t control the game as we should have done,” Allegri said.

“Pogba and Khedira are excellent at breaking the lines and bursting into the box and with (Alvaro) Morata and (Paulo) Dybala making great runs in front of them, we are always going to create chances and find space in the final third. The more fluid they become together the better we will be.”

 

 

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Sunil Gavaskar gives his opinion of GT allrounder Rahul Tewatia

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The left-handed batsman from Haryana is garnering praise from all quarters for the way he’s finishing games regularly in the most exciting IPL season.

Gavaskar reckons Tewatia’s whirlwind knock in Sharjah (in IPL 2020) where he smashed West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over, gave him the confidence that he belongs to the big stage.

Speaking on Cricket Live on Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “That assault on Sheldon Cottrell in Sharjah gave him the belief to do the impossible and the confidence that he belongs here. We saw the impossible (he did with the bat) the other day as well. There’s no twitching or touching the pads (which shows a batter’s nervousness) when he bats in the death overs. He just waits for the ball to be delivered and plays his shots. He’s got all the shots in the book, but most importantly his temperament to stay cool in a crisis is brilliant.”

Gavaskar has also nicknamed the 28-year-old cricketer the ‘ice-man’ and lauded Tewatia’s ability to remain unruffled during the tense moments.

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