Maurizio Sarri was not happy at Parma keeping Juventus under pressure. “I prefer to concede on the counter than spend 10-15 minutes in our own half.”
The Bianconeri are now four points clear at the top of the table – although Lazio have a game in hand – after Inter were held by back-to-back draws by Atalanta and Lecce.
Ronaldo scored either side of an Andreas Cornelius header, taking his tally to
11 goals in his last seven Serie A games.
“There were some hiccups along the way, but in general we were doing well this season. We had the chances to close the game today and didn’t take them, so naturally Parma started to cause us problems towards the end because it was still open,” Sarri told Sky Sport Italia.
Aaron Ramsey started in the trequartista role, while Gonzalo Higuain came off the bench to briefly use the all-star trident, until Paulo Dybala made way for Douglas Costa.
“I saw players who were tired after the Coppa on Wednesday and had to change things.
I wanted to send a signal to my team and balance things out again with Douglas Costa, because it was still open.
“Adrien Rabiot and Ramsey arrived from very different leagues, had a lot of fitness problems in these first few months and haven’t been training as much as they wanted to, but both lads are improving as the season goes on.
“We can improve in the way we read the game, especially in the final stages, as
I do not like us passing it around in our own half. As I tell my players, I’d prefer to concede on the counter rather than sit there under pressure for 10-15 minutes. If we have the chance to close the game, we have to take it.”
Andreas Cornelius scored a temporary equaliser with his header from a corner.
“We had improved on defending from set plays, but tonight we conceded against one of the specialists in this scenario. It’s about staying alert and making the interception before the ball gets there.”
Ronaldo has scored 11 goals in the last seven Serie A games, so Sarri was asked about being a coach with someone so decisive in the squad.
“
You have a world class player who might cause you a few problems every now and then, but can also resolve 100 of them. So you have to take him into account and work around his characteristics.”
Juventus are now on 51 points, followed by Inter on 47 and Lazio 45, but the Biancocelesti have a game in hand and are currently on a run of 11 consecutive Serie A victories.
Sarri was asked who he saw as more dangerous out of Inter and Lazio?
“Lazio are in such spectacular form right now, that we can only hope it doesn’t last!”
RANDOM THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS
- It’s rather hard for Dejan Kulusevski to try and impress Juventus fans watching his every touch of the ball when he barely gets a touch on the ball. He touched it all of 20 times in the first half — and that’s it.
- There were more than a couple of times that Kulusevski saw himself suddenly closed down by Matthijs de Ligt. They pretty much ended the same kind of way, too: the 20-year-old winning out over the 19-year-old. Juventus might be in win now mode with Ronaldo around, but it was pretty cool to see two future building blocks in Turin going up against each other.
- I think we can officially declare de Ligt as settled in. As good as Ronaldo has been in 2020, de Ligt has been the defensive equivalent to that. The sheer numbers might not be all that impressive for de Ligt against Parma, but he has really stepped up his game a level or two since came back into the lineup. That time off — which Maurizio Sarri will continue to remind us was injury related — really seems to have done him some good. Our young Dutchman is thriving, folks.
- Who finished with as many tackles as de Ligt? Danilo ... because of course he did.
- Speaking of 2019 summer signings thriving, the aforementioned Rabiot continues to get better by the game. He is certainly making quite the argument to get some playing time even with Rodrigo Bentancur coming back into the fold after his three-game suspension.
- Speaking of another 2019 summer signing thriving, Aaron Ramsey was really good in the first half. With Ronaldo and Paulo Dybala drifting out wide, he had a lot of room to roam in the center of the field, and his runs into the box might not have resulted in goals, but they certainly made some things happen. Juventus need more of that going forward.
- With the way this game started, did you expect Wojciech Szczesny to finish with more saves than Luigi Sepe? Because he did.
- Even with Parma’s late-game surge, they managed all of eight shots. That speaks to how little they did in the opening 45 minutes.
- I know Paulo Dybala got the assist on Ronaldo’s game-winning goal — and it was a really nice assists at that — but watch the run that Leonardo Bonucci made to open up just that much more space for Ronaldo. You don’t exactly see Bonucci that advanced outside of corner kicks, but that was a nice little wrinkle to arguably Juve’s best combination of the game.
- In conclusion, LOL INTER!
Ronaldo - 29 goals in 30 games this season. This guy is almost 35 yrs old. Mamma mia
Around 25 away fans from Parna. They decided not to come because the ticket at 43€ was too expensive. Fair. Just so you know... we are asked to pay 66€ in Napoli in that sector.
#juventus
