The Juventus coach is disappointed by the draw with the Salento team, which complicates the race for fourth place, but does not blame the Canadian attacker: “I’m with my players, with those who made him take the penalty and with him who kicked it”
“I’m with my players, with those who made David take the penalty and with him who kicked it: if the performance is this one, we’ll take home a few more matches.” Luciano Spalletti chooses the carrot to comment on the home draw against Lecce, which moves Juve away from fourth place and slows down the Bianconeri’s streak of consecutive victories. It’s clear that the main issue is the Canadian’s missed penalty. “You had to beat him – the Juventus coach immediately replies to Dazn -. David is a penalty taker, who beats them very well: he made the right choice, but he wasn’t able to raise it those 15-20 centimeters to overcome the figure of the goalkeeper”.
shoulders on David’s penalty
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What is also causing discussion, however, is the choice of Locatelli and Yildiz to leave the batting to the ex-Lille Canadian, who, in Serie A, has not scored since August. “And what if someone else had missed it – Spalletti replies again -? Maybe even the person who didn’t shoot it was a bit afraid, they decide there and then: probably next time I’ll intervene too, because every now and then I also like to decide, but it’s difficult to go to clear out. This is how it happens in the emotionality of the match: in my opinion it wasn’t a concession from his teammates just to let him score.” Spalletti also has no doubts about David’s psychological state. “The fact that he decided to take the penalty is already a symptom of his personality – the Juventus coach’s caress -. I look more at situations in which the ball has passed into the small area or has been blocked at the near post and you have to choose something different and carve out some space. It’s in those 2-3 tackles and those things that we can improve because it depended on us. I’m with David who beat him and with those who made him beat him.”
shoulder pads after Juventus-Lecce 1-1
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In fact, it is above all other situations that have not satisfied Spalletti. “When we are in the area we have to predict where the ball goes, not chase it after it has passed – he explains -. We crossed and put it in the box 10 times in the first half and also in the second but we never found the man capable of correcting it on goal. We need to improve our choices in the area, but we played a very good game and some steps forward were made. Then the result always makes the difference and we didn’t win.” And for Juve, as per the more than one hundred year old motto, this is no small thing.
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