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Wednesday’s Supercoppa Italiana ended in high drama, with Inter Milan beating Juventus 2-1 after extra time with the winning goal coming in the 120th minute (well, 121st minute) from veteran forward Alexis Sanchez. It’s been another difficult season for the club; after winning nine straight Serie A titles from 2011-12 to 2019-20, they’re mired outside the title race for a second straight season, sitting fifth in the league 11 points behind leaders Inter.
While Juve will invariably need time to get over the painful manner in which they lost to their rivals on Wednesday night, Gab Marcotti points out some things the struggling superclub should do to reclaim their status as Serie A’s top team.
1. Figure out who you are…
In part, they’ve already answered this. They are a blue-collar team that’s willing to work and fight for Max Allegri. The uptick in results since late-November — six wins, two draws and the only defeat coming on Wednesday night against Inter in the Supercoppa Italiana — is a testament to this.
Over the past seven Serie A games, they’ve averaged 1.36 xG and conceded 0.62 xG. Hardly earth-shattering, but a distinct improvement over their first 14 league matches, when they were registering 1.14 xG and giving up 0.89 xG. They tightened up defensively, found some sort of balance and stuck to what they’re good — or if not good, better — at. Right now, that means a side with a midfield that protects the back four, that doesn’t give up and that punishes opposition errors.
You can’t expect Max Allegri to fight fires and build another superteam at the same time. For now, that’s fine. Embrace it.
2. … and who you want to be…
It made sense to go all-in with pricey experienced free agents after committing some €350 million over four years to Cristiano Ronaldo. (Though, with hindsight, not the ones they did get, like…
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Source : espn
