Cagliari vs Juventus preview - Allegri: Juventus need to wake up

Posted Wednesday, December 17, 2014 by PA

Massimiliano Allegri has ordered Juventus to snap out of their toothless slumber with a convincing victory at Cagliari on Thursday evening.

The reigning Serie A champions have allowed title rivals Roma to cut their advantage at the top to a single point by struggling through back-to-back draws with Fiorentina and Sampdoria.

Allegri's men were uncharacteristically sluggish against Samp and conceded a second-half equaliser in Turin.

Their next opponents, who are coached by the notoriously attack-minded Zdenek Zeman, will also be keen to respond to a rare goalless game having drawn a blank in Parma at the weekend.

Juve boss Allegri must watch the encounter from the stands of the Stadio Sant'Elia after earning a one-match touchline ban for insulting officials during the Samp game and, while he could still succeed in an appeal against the suspension, he is keen to get his message across to his players as soon as possible.

"They have a lot of attacking options, like all Zeman's teams do: they will be a difficult challenge," he said of Cagliari at his pre-match press conference.

"Tomorrow we have to return to winning ways with a really good performance.

"We created lots of opportunities against Samp but we didn't exploit them as well as we could have.

"My suspension? I'm still surprised about it. My behaviour around the officials was, as it always is, proper and correct."

The Bianconeri are almost at full strength with only injured defenders Andrea Barzagli and Kwadwo Asamoah giving Allegri any real cause for concern.

The former AC Milan coach will most likely partner Giorgio Chiellini with Angelo Ogbonna in central defence.

Zeman is without Sebastian Eriksson, Marco Sau and Simone Colombi as he makes plans to snap a seven-game run without a win, an outcome which would lift Cagliari out of the relegation zone.

The islanders are unlucky to produce the shock triumph they need, but their Czech coach remains optimistic based on Juve's recent shortcomings.

"Right now we cannot afford to do any favours for other clubs," he told La Gazzetta dello Sport. "We have to play for ourselves.

"It's true that Juventus have only lost three or four league games in the last two years but anything can happen in football and so we have to try."