Juventus head coach Luciano Spalletti made a mea culpa following Sunday’s dramatic last-minute defeat in Sassuolo.
The Bianconeri had the chance to temporarily climb to the top of the Serie A table while awaiting Inter and Roma’s results on Monday. But on the contrary, they returned to Turin empty-handed.
The Serie A giants were wasteful in the first half, which ended goalless. After the break, it was the hosts who took the lead, much to the delight of the home supporters at the Mapei Stadium, with Sebastiano Esposito opening his account for his new club.
Edon Zhegrova finally broke his duck by netting an equaliser for Juventus in the 83rd minute, but Kieron Bowie surprisingly restored Sassuolo’s lead in the 89th minute, capitalising on a defensive blunder from Gleison Bremer.
And yet, the drama was far from over, as the added minutes of play were equally feisty. Zhegrova dragged Juventus to the game with another equaliser, but when the Bianconeri players pushed forward in search of a winner, they were caught short at the back and were punished by their very own Vasilije Adzic, who scored against his parent club from the final kick of the game.
Instead of celebrating his winner, the classy youngster immediately apologised to the black-and-white supporters.
Luciano Spalletti: Too many Juventus players pushed forward
After the game, Spalletti felt responsible for the defeat, as he had encouraged his players to push forward in the final minutes, and too many of them answered the call.
“The team could have won it at the end. We deserved to turn it around, but we lost our balance and the sense of going for the win by attacking with eight players,” explained the 67-year-old in his post-match interview with DAZN (via Gianlucadimarzio.com).
“If you look at the situations beforehand, we could have scored even earlier. The players tried to go and win it, I was the one who encouraged them. But perhaps they followed my instructions too literally; too many of them threw themselves forward to try to win it.
“However, we also have to look at the positive side of this. It all comes from the desire to go and finish the game. We left spaces and we are responsible for that. This is something we have to improve.”
Spalletti on Zhegrova & Kolo Muani
Spalletti also reserved special praise for Zhegrova, noting his ability to make the difference, especially when playing in tight spaces.
“Zhegrova has this quality of becoming unpredictable when he creates these one-on-ones in tight spaces. Sometimes he holds onto the ball for too long, and then he might lose the ball.
“But if you play an attacking game and manage to play in the opposition half, you are incredible.”
Finally, the Juventus manager urged his players to find Randal Kolo Muani more often.
“We need to play through him (Kolo Muani) more. You play into the striker by having him hold the ball up and playing close to the opposition.
“We have played like that very few times. But he needs to be more aggressive.”
