Juventus head coach Luciano Spalletti felt the team was unlucky against Cagliari, but he still wasn’t happy with the individual performances of some of his players.
The Biaconeri arrived in Sardinia riding high on confidence. But while they managed to dominate the action from start to finish, they couldn’t find the breakthrough against the resilient Isolani.
On the contrary, the home side snatched the winner through their solitary shot on target, as Luca Mazzitelli placed a well-taken volley to the bottom corner, and Mattia Perin wasn’t able to parry it away.
After the contest, Spalletti admitted that Cagliari deserved to win considering all the effort they put in throughout the match, especially in the defensive phase.
“I can explain why Cagliari deserved it, because they fought for every ball, defended well and tried to break forward effectively,” said the 66-year-old in his post-match interview with Sky Sport Italia via JuventusNews24.
“We probably failed to be ruthless enough in building situations, and there are matches that just go this way — you accept it and move on to the next one.”
The Juventus manager brought in tricky wingers Edon Zhegrova and Francisco Conceicao in the second half, but neither was able to make the difference. The Tuscan thus criticised the duo’s displays, especially with their positioning.
“Even though they have the characteristics to operate in that kind of congestion, they get dragged into the frenzy and lose clarity.
“Conceicao was dropping back to play as a holding midfielder, Zhegrova was drifting away from the danger area, forcing Kalulu and Kelly to cover the flanks. That’s not right. They have to stay in dangerous zones and make the difference.”
Luciano Spalletti (Photo by Enrico Locci/Getty Images)
Nevertheless, Spalletti felt that his team would have come away with a better result had they been a bit more fortunate in some episodes.
“We played the game, kept the tempo high and suffocated every one of their attempts. It was just meant to go this way. Everyone has their head in their hands, but we did what the match required. We need to be better at exploiting a few more moments, like the free kick awarded for the goal.
“They were also a bit fortunate, but in football, these episodes go for you or against you. Maybe next time they’ll fall our way. We have to be sharp.
“Yildiz was then unlucky two or three times. I saw four or five moments where the ball just broke the wrong way. It becomes hard to criticise the players. Like the shot against Lecce: it hits the post, crosses the line and comes back to the goalkeeper.
“These things happen. You congratulate the opponents even if they probably didn’t deserve it. Let’s focus on adding something extra in the next match.”
Spalletti was then asked about Jonathan David and Lois Openda, who failed to inflict the damage inside the box.
“What did they lack? Certainly pace,” said the Juventus manager in his post-match press conference.
“With more pace, they would have carved out more space to shoot and create more.”
Finally, the former Italy boss reserved some praise for Kenan Yildiz, who was the team’s best player on the pitch, despite suffering from the flu.
“He always shows the same level of quality. He did well and produced a very good performance, despite not being 100 per cent because of the flu.”
The post “That’s not right” – Spalletti wasn’t pleased with four Juventus players after Cagliari defeat appeared first on Juvefc.com.
