Abhay Singh
Juventus coach Thiago Motta, acknowledging the burden of accountability, bravely shouldered the blame for his team’s disappointing display during their initial loss of the season.
The defeat, a narrow 1-0 setback suffered at their home ground against VfB Stuttgart in the Champions League fixture held on Tuesday, prompted Motta to reflect on the areas needing improvement within his squad.
The outcome clearly signified a call for internal evaluation and a renewed strategy moving forward.
Juve was dominated by Stuttgart
Juve, which had just won two Champions League matches, was dominated by Stuttgart and may have lost more if it weren’t for goalie Mattia Perin’s heroics. In terms of attack, Juve only mustered one shot on goal.
With Nico Gonzalez, Teun Koopmeiners, Gleison Bremer, Arek Milik, and Douglas Luiz out due to injuries, Motta feels his team needs to get better in every way.
Motta said “I agree we need to do more in attack to compete with a team like Stuttgart, but in order to play well we need to be much better in defending than tonight, We struggled to build anything and were not in a condition to do well. A team has to defend well so it can recover the ball and then use it well.”
He also added “We suffered out of possession, while the most we managed in attack was a few counters. I take responsibility for that, we must improve for the next games.”
“I don’t think we go slow in Italy”
When asked about the physical state of his team, the former Italy international denied that Italy’s teams’ pace differed from that of other teams in Europe’s top club league.
He said “I don’t think we go slow in Italy. Certainly today in this match, we struggled with their rhythm and their game, There are many things to analyse about Italian and international football … teams that want to have the ball, high rhythm and low rhythm. This is the level.”
Third-place Juventus will try to recover on Sunday against Serie A champion Inter Milan, who lead the Turin team by one point.
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