The Juventus coach enjoys the second consecutive victory in a big match and the move towards fourth place and praises his team for their spirit
A double success. Not only because the second consecutive in Serie A in a big match after the one against Dall’Ara last day, but also because it helps to increase the self-esteem of his Juve. “Winning these matches here are half feats, because they are good on the pitch and have the pace that crushes you if you are not good at holding the ball and restarting – Luciano Spalletti celebrates on TV -. Getting the victory by learning things that you can fetch becomes a double leap in knowledge. These are the victories that instil confidence and give awareness of being able to play on an equal footing with the others. And tonight we did it. In the first half we suffered in terms of pace and substance and we were unable to restart in those 10-12 balls won back in which there was the possibility of overturning. Their constant pressure makes you lose clarity and not have much breath to make counterattacks. In the second half we were more in the game, Yildiz improved and we had the chance to create important opportunities.”
shoulder pads after Juve-Roma
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The Juventus coach also spares no compliments to his players for the attitude shown against Roma. Thus, after exhorting the Turk to believe more in himself (“his opponents know how strong he is more than he himself”), he praises the spirit of sacrifice of the Bianconeri. “You also have to do more uncomfortable things, for example Yildiz came to do a job that isn’t part of him, but when you play football against strong teams and with a coach who puts them well on the pitch, if there isn’t also the covering phase of players like Yildiz and Conceiçao they dig out the extra man and come inside you – explains Spalletti -. Zhegrova can’t and doesn’t know how to do it, she doesn’t have that quality there. She will never be able to do it in a solid way, it doesn’t have those characteristics: it becomes a liquid thing in the defensive phase, it fits into a position, but there’s also the fact that you have to attack the opponent’s shirt and he doesn’t have it. The problem is always the same: if I manage to keep the ball to allow him to only make the last 20 metres, otherwise you pay the price.” And to those who try to present him with a slow calendar (the next opponents against Pisa, Lecce, Sassuolo, Cremonese and Cagliari), the Tuscan coach responds with a grimace and a joke. “Don’t talk like this because I’ll bite you… All the matches are difficult now.”