“They Deserve Credit For Taking Control”

After a recent setback for Italian giants, Juventus, a 1-1 home draw against Lecce at the Allianz Stadium over the weekend, they eventually returned to winning ways with a 3-0 thumping of Sassuolo away from home to return them back into the top four in the Serie A table.

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Apart from the result and win, the fact that Jonathan David also got on the score sheet was also a source of joy for the club, relieving the pressure on the Canadian forward after his gaffe against Lecce, starting with missing clear cut chances and culminating in a missed penalty that would have given them the win.

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For Luciano Spalletti, he believes that Jonathan David ‘sensed’ the Juventus squad protecting him after the ‘insults’ over his missed penalty, but the coach is still not satisfied with a 3-0 win over Sassuolo as the coach had been adamant in his defence of David after the criticism that rained down over his failed Panenka penalty.

That paid off, as the Canadian started again against the Neroverdi and finally broke his 16-round Serie A drought with a goal and an assist for Fabio Miretti, after Tarik Muharemovic had deflected Pierre Kalulu’s cross in during the first half for a comfortable win against a bogey team for Juve.

Notably, the entire squad ran over to celebrate with David, including Spalletti and everyone who was on the bench. “Everyone had taken a firm stance, because it’s different when you are inside a situation, so when you receive all those insults and comments, I would’ve been surprised if the team hadn’t acted as a shield to protect him,” Spalletti told DAZN Italia.

“He sensed that during the last few days, and put in a great performance tonight. Seeing as he scored a goal too, that just confirmed how many friends he has in the locker room.” DAZN’s pitchside reporters had noted that Spalletti and his staff were discussing substituting David only a few minutes before he made that strong impact with an assist and goal in the space of 90 seconds.”

It was a dominant overall performance from the Bianconeri, who kept Sassuolo pinned back into their own half. “The team worked well when Sassuolo tried to build out from the back, we prevented them ever having superiority in midfield, though of course this means running some risks when defending.”

“We have some very strong defenders and can afford that, but what made the difference was dominating the game, so when Sassuolo did attack, they were tired and had been chasing us around, so weren’t that effective. At times we played without a centre-forward, as David would drop further back and create the space for Miretti to run into, so they did that very well.”

This result means Juventus are still in joint fourth place with Roma, although Como are only three points behind and have a game in hand, so the fight for a UCL spot remains very tight. “The last two performances have been great, but we still need to understand certain things, and do it as quickly as possible, because there are times when our attitude is no better than the bare minimum,” insisted Spalletti.

“We tend to only show 80 per cent of our capabilities and no more, we don’t go determined enough into the challenges, we had three or four corners where we didn’t even manage to get it into the box. When you are away from home, you can’t be so wasteful, as we have players who are so good in the air and aren’t getting the service on set plays.”

Spalletti had joked last month when asked why David had not been invited to a team dinner that it was because the Canadian wanted Parmigiano cheese on his pasta with clams. So have they changed their minds? “Ah we always have it now, we enjoyed his intuitive cuisine in creating new dishes,” laughed the coach.

Meanwhile, for Fabio Grosso, he gave credit where due even if the Neroverdi went into this game with limited options, as Domenico Berardi, Cristian Volpato, Filippo Romagna, Daniel Boloca and Edoardo Pieragnolo were injured, plus Woyo Coulibaly at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Kristian Thorstvedt then went off before half-time with a shoulder injury and they were unlucky on the opening goal, as Muharemovic’s deflection took a Kalulu cross past Arijanet Muric, who it seems Juventus knew would stray off his line and leave the net vulnerable.

However, Juve dominated throughout with numerous chances, making it stick in the second half with Fabio Miretti and Jonathan David pouncing on defensive errors. “We had prepared it in a different way to how we actually played, but Juventus deserve credit for that,” Grosso told DAZN Italia.

“We emerge defeated, but it is part of the growth process, we will recharge our batteries and learn from this. We’re very pleased with how the season has gone so far, but obviously not pleased with this evening’s performance. Juve deserve credit for taking control, as in these games you need to raise your level and hope the opponents are not at 100 per cent.”

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Sassuolo are still fairly comfortable in mid-table, but are now without a home victory in over a month, which is starting to become a problem. They also managed only three draws from their last five Serie A games. “We’ve got to learn from difficulties and know how to stay in the match, even when it is not going our way, because an incident can change everything,” he concluded.

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