Spalletti: ‘Juventus tension was building, our radar must always be online’

Luciano Spalletti explained some of the ‘tension’ with Juventus fans during tonight’s 2-0 win over Benfica and where his team must improve. ‘Our radar must always be online.’

The Bianconeri took a while to break Jose Mourinho’s Benfica down in Turin, but thanked their midfielders Khephren Thuram and Weston McKennie for finally finding a way through.

They were also grateful for the state of the Allianz Juventus Stadium turf, because it fell apart beneath the studs of Vangelis Pavlidis, who slipped when taking a penalty that could’ve opened it all up again.

“At times I am a little afraid we won’t make it, but that’s just what I am like,” Spalletti told Amazon Prime Video Italia after some irritation with supporters in the stands.

“It was an important match, things get thrown in your direction if you don’t bring these results home, so there is a lot of tension that builds up.

“We had started well, then it was balanced with us sitting a little too deep, we lost the ball a few times far too cheaply, and that added even more pressure on us that was unnecessary.”

Spalletti introduced Francisco Conceicao for Fabio Miretti after the restart, and things did improve.

“We had some difficulty too at the start of the second half, but then we got back to playing our football. Benfica had chances in the first half, but so did we with Miretti and McKennie.

“It was in the balance, if they had converted that penalty late on then it could’ve been a tense finale, we could’ve avoided giving that spot-kick away, because you don’t have to go in for the tackle every time.”

Check the Football Italia Player Ratings for Juventus 2-0 Benfica

Spalletti took over Juventus mid-season from Igor Tudor and has made a lot of changes, but where does he still think they need to improve?

“I expect to see a quicker reaction, a quicker prediction of when the opponents are going to come back at you, because that ferocity is part and parcel of modern football now.

“We’ve got to have our radar always online, instead we lost the ball too often because we were frenetic, we made the ball ‘cough’ with our stuttering passes.

“Benfica tried to attack us, these are things we’ve got to get used to if we want to play at a certain level, although I have to say I’ve seen definite improvements.”

Jonathan David was again used as the centre-forward, but he missed a sitter with a weak free header.

“David knows how to play football,” replied Spalletti. “He might not have that determination and ferocity, in his view every match is the same, he has this nice boy aura, but maybe he needs a bit more experience to be more determined. That is where he has to improve.

“Apart from the goal, the match is a box you need to fill with other things too, otherwise the opponents force you to scramble in defence.

“Kenan Yildiz is the ‘alien’ of the team, the one who really stands above, but his defensive movements are not going to be the same as those of McKennie. Knowing how to do certain things and not others isn’t enough anymore, you have to complete your game and help the team.

“David at times has to hold the ball up and work for the team, the same goes for Openda.”

This result means Juve are on 12 points and in 15th place in the Champions League table, going into the final game away to Paul Pogba’s AS Monaco.

They have now essentially secured a spot in the play-offs, but are hoping to be top seeds in the draw.