Luciano Spalletti said Juventus were inferior to Lazio after their 3-0 home defeat on Sunday (October 18) and admitted he was surprised by their performance. The assessment, reported by Football Italia, comes days after the Bianconeri beat Celta Vigo in the Europa League.
“Lazio” punished the straight game of “Juventus”.
Juventus rarely threatened to recover in Turin as Oliver Provstgaard gave Lazio the lead, Gustav Isaksen added a second with an angled finish and Fisayo Dele-Bashiru sealed the result on a late counter-attack. Spalletti said he returned from Vigo at 4am on Friday after his team’s 2-1 comeback, then had time to recover with the performance squad.
He made six changes but felt Juventus were slow in both body and mind. His criticism included a lack of pace, ideas, running and willingness to work, as well as the team’s weakness in duels and reaction when things went wrong. These concerns followed the previous Juventus defeat, which led to an investigation into the team’s competitive response.
Spalletti says changes are needed
Spalletti was absent from the touchline due to a ban following a tussle with Cagliari’s Fabio Pisacane; deputy assistant Marco Domenichini. “Juventus” is eight behind the leader with 11 points after 7 league rounds. “Football Italia” noted that Igor Tudor’s team collected 1 more points and Thiago Motta’s team 13 points at the same stage last season.
The fans who stayed until the final whistle mocked and insulted the team. Spalletti said the answer now has to come on the pitch rather than letting the players succumb to events, and identified two areas for review: how he communicates with the team and his working method. He said he had to examine his relationship with the players and decide what needed to change.
Speaking to DAZN Italia after the match, Spalletti said that “Juventus” neither controlled the game nor showed a clear idea of how the game would be shaped. He considered the performance unacceptable and said that he would think about it carefully. His next task is to determine whether the adjustment is in his approach to the group, to the work itself, or to both.