Spalletti vents Juventus frustration: ‘Can’t change 18 out of 25 players’
Luciano Spalletti vented his frustration with Juventus after beating Lecce, warning they ‘don’t have someone else with Dusan Vlahovic’s characteristics’ and yet ‘we can’t change 18 players.’
It had seemed like this was going to be a rout when Juve opened the scoring within 12 seconds at the Stadio Via del Mare, as Vlahovic found the net immediately into his first start since November 29.
However, that proved to ultimately be the only goal, as two others were disallowed for offside, chalked off for Vlahovic and Pierre Kalulu.
Spalletti frustrated with Juventus mistakes
“We’ve been saying for a while that we keep doing this, we score early and then don’t finish the games off, it’s like a cut and paste of previous mistakes,” Spalletti told Sky Sport Italia.
“We dominate whole areas of games, it seems like we are in total control, and then there are moments of superficiality where we lose our way, misplace passes that are just incredible for the level of football we are playing at.
“We cannot seem to maintain that concentration, determination and grit for the whole game. Once we make those mistakes, the tension and fear sets in, the match goes back into the balance.
“Then we get annoyed with ourselves, go and grab the game by the scruff of the neck and put it back on track. A game like this one cannot end 1-0, we barely allowed them to get into our half, there were so many situations where we had two attacking options and always went for the third worst one. That’s just what we are like.”
Spalletti was visibly fuming on the touchline after certain situations, shouting angrily at his players for not moving the ball around the way he wanted.
Considering they keep making the same mistakes, will Juventus have to change quite a few of these players, or does he believe they can learn?
“I had already talked about this in the press conference, really,” replied the coach.
“The media act as if we are going to change 18 of the 25 players in the locker room, but you can’t do that. This is a serious project, so that means many of these players have to be involved, because it’s tough right now to change that many.
“Juventus also spent a fair amount over the last two seasons, so it’s not like they can keep digging into their pockets. There are some situations in football where you need to keep up with the times, but first and foremost these players must grow within themselves,” ranted Spalletti.
“They need to realise that many of them will stay here. We missed Vlahovic terribly because we don’t have someone else with his characteristics. A winning team needs a physical, strong centre-forward. Even if he’s not that tall, he still needs to be able to hold off defenders, deal with the physical duel.
“Jonathan David can score goals, but when it comes to the duel, the physical impact, that is where he struggles.”
So can these players remove the dips in concentration?
“That is not easy. Staying on their toes for long periods is to do with the determination and character of these players. Those players who are creative and can take men on are unfortunately also the same ones who need to take a breather and charge themselves up before sparkling. They just are,” shrugged Spalletti.
“We still have to work on it and train that. This evening, the team played well in so many ways, but if Di Gregorio didn’t make those two big saves, it would be a different result. We have got to build out better from the back, absolutely, that is something we simply must improve.
“Of course, it’s different when you’ve got Vlahovic, because he has different characteristics to the other strikers in the squad. Last time there was talk of the quality midfielder, but the one who translates the pass from the back into an attacking situation, we are missing that figure a little.
“I said the other day we need a bus with two levels, because for all the players that people say we’re going to buy, there won’t be enough room on one bus,” concluded Spalletti.
The 1-0 victory still provides a huge boost for Juve’s hopes of qualifying for the Champions League, as they temporarily surpass Milan in third ahead of their match with Atalanta on Sunday, and break away from Roma.