Spalletti: ‘David felt team protect him, but Juventus still at 80 per cent’

Luciano Spalletti believes Jonathan David ‘sensed’ the Juventus squad protecting him after the ‘insults’ over his missed penalty, but the coach is still not satisfied with a 3-0 win over Sassuolo.

The coach had been adamant in his defence of David after the criticism that rained down over his failed Panenka penalty in the 1-1 draw with Lecce.

That paid off, as the Canadian started again this evening and finally broke his 16-round Serie A drought with a goal and an assist for Fabio Miretti, after Tarik Muharemovic had deflected Pierre Kalulu’s cross in during the first half.

Notably, the entire squad ran over to celebrate with David, including Spalletti and everyone who was on the bench, despite the rumours he hadn’t bonded with his teammates.

“Everyone had taken a firm stance, because it’s different when you are inside a situation, so when you receive all those insults and comments, I would’ve been surprised if the team hadn’t acted as a shield to protect him,” Spalletti told DAZN Italia.

“He sensed that during the last few days, and put in a great performance tonight. Seeing as he scored a goal too, that just confirmed how many friends he has in the locker room.”

DAZN’s pitchside reporters had noted that Spalletti and his staff were discussing substituting David only a few minutes before he made that strong impact with an assist and goal in the space of 90 seconds.

It was a dominant overall performance from the Bianconeri, who kept Sassuolo pinned back into their own half.

“The team worked well when Sassuolo tried to build out from the back, we prevented them ever having superiority in midfield, though of course this means running some risks when defending. We have some very strong defenders and can afford that, but what made the difference was dominating the game, so when Sassuolo did attack, they were tired and had been chasing us around, so weren’t that effective.

“At times we played without a centre-forward, as David would drop further back and create the space for Miretti to run into, so they did that very well.”

This result means Juventus are still in joint fourth place with Roma, although Como are only three points behind and have a game in hand, so the fight for a Champions League spot remains very tight indeed.

“The last two performances have been great, but we still need to understand certain things, and do it as quickly as possible, because there are times when our attitude is no better than the bare minimum,” insisted Spalletti.

“We tend to only show 80 per cent of our capabilities and no more, we don’t go determined enough into the challenges, we had three or four corners where we didn’t even manage to get it into the box. When you are away from home, you can’t be so wasteful, as we have players who are so good in the air and aren’t getting the service on set plays.”

Spalletti had joked last month when asked why David had not been invited to a team dinner that it was because the Canadian wanted Parmigiano cheese on his pasta with clams. So have they changed their minds?

“Ah we always have it now, we enjoyed his intuitive cuisine in creating new dishes,” laughed the coach.