Massimiliano Allegri noted his displays at a recent press conference (h/t Football Italia) and particularly the 22-year-old’s effort against Inter last weekend:Pogba didn’t play very well in the first half on Sunday. After the break he did decidedly better, but it’s not a problem anyway. This is a period in which he has to find himself and start doing the simple things again, the ones he knows how to do so well. I tell him this all the time. He is an important player for Juventus, a player who has to give us a great deal and I expect a lot from him too. OLI SCARFF/Getty ImagesKey BattlePerhaps the battle that will decide this match up will be between Marco Sportiello and the Juventus attack.
”OLIVIER MORIN/Getty ImagesDate: Sunday, October 25, 2015Time: 2 p. m. GMT (10 a. ET)Venue: Juventus Stadium, TurinTV Info: beINSPORTS (USA)Live Stream: beINSPORTS Connect (USA)Form Lines: Last 5 domestic results:Probable FormationsLineUpBuilder. comJuventus (4-3-3): Gigi Buffon; Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini, Alex Sandro, Stefano Sturaro, Hernanes, Paul Pogba, Juan Cuadrado; Mario Mandzukic, Paulo DybalaUnavailable: Martin Caceres, Stephan Lichtsteiner (both injured)Atalanta (4-3-3): Marco Sportiello; Andrea Masiello, Rafael Toloi, Gabriel Paletta, Boukary Drame; Alberto Grassi, Marten de Roon, Luca Cigarini; Maxi Moralez, Mauricio Pinilla, Alejandro GomezUnavailable: Marcelo Estigarribia (injured)Player to Watch As Juventus look to build on their recent good form, they undoubtedly need Paul Pogba to deliver much better performances than he has thus far in 2015/16.
Netting two goals against Genoa back in September, the French midfielder has otherwise made little impact in a campaign that is his to dominate. OLIVIER MORIN/Getty ImagesHaving seen Andrea Pirlo and Arturo Vidal move on, Pogba took the coveted No. 10 shirt and appears to have been somewhat overawed by it.
Pier Marco Tacca/Getty ImagesHis coach Edy Reja echoed those comments, telling RAI Sport (h/t Football Italia) that his team would “try to make life difficult” for Juventus. To do so would reverse recent history, however, with the Bianconeri having won their last six meetings with Atalanta and outscoring them by 14 goals to two in that period. May 2009 marks the last time they dropped points to the Orobici in Turin, and coach Massimilano Allegri will certainly be hoping to seal three points here as his side look to climb the table as quickly as possible. “Slowly but surely we’ll force our way back into the title picture, ” he told a recent press conference, adding that they would only do so “by remaining calm and building up some consistency in our results.