Spalletti: ‘Juventus were passengers, Napoli made us chase them’

Luciano Spalletti admits Juventus were ‘passengers’ in the defeat to Napoli, but explains what went wrong with his audacious tactical decisions for the starting XI.

This was Spalletti’s first defeat since taking the Juventus bench from Igor Tudor, ending his run of four wins and three draws between Serie A, the Champions League and Coppa Italia.

“It’s true, Napoli pushed harder from the start, we were too timid moving the ball around, then lost it cheaply, so they made us run after them,” Spalletti told DAZN Italia.

“They are in good shape, so if you don’t keep the ball, they make you run all over the pitch with their strength and quality.”

The Bianconeri coach surprised everyone by dealing with the Dusan Vlahovic injury by leaving both Jonathan David and Lois Openda on the bench, starting Kenan Yildiz in a False 9 role.

The Turkish talent did score a temporary equaliser in their first and really only major chance of the whole game, but Rasmus Hojlund bagged a brace to secure the 2-1 Napoli victory.

“I feel Yildiz and Conceicao can do those roles, as they pass the ball around well. Locatelli sat a bit too deep and didn’t maintain the position I wanted in midfield, then the two forwards had little mobility and we kept getting bogged down in the middle. We didn’t pass it around quickly or make the numerical advantage count in midfield,” noted Spalletti.

He introduced David for Juan Cabal at half-time and there were improvements.

“We did better in the second half, as we went man for man, but still suffered with the pace and quality of the Napoli counter-attack. So yes, we went man for man, but then they did well to create problems.

“After the equaliser, we took control of the match, but again we were too obvious, too predictable, didn’t force through the situation as a team. We didn’t try to do something extra, so we clearly need some progress and quickly, otherwise it becomes difficult.

“We’ve done some good things, but we have reached a stage where we need to analyse the situation.”

Spalletti had said this was an important test for his Juventus against the reigning Champions of Italy, but there seemed to be a big difference between them.

“We can do better than we did today, as we gifted an incredible number of passes. If you don’t control the game, you end up being the passenger for the others making decisions for you.”

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There is a defensive weakness in the Juventus squad, as they often struggle with crosses to the back post, and it was already the case under Tudor.

“Napoli block to create space and we kept falling for it every time. We needed more communication, we made it also a bit easy for them to put the crosses in, these are all decisions that are made in the moment.”

It was always going to be an emotional evening, as it was his first return to the Stadio Maradona as an opponent since winning the Scudetto in 2023.

“Of course, when the fans sing these songs that I know off by heart, it is spectacular, an atmosphere that only the Stadio Maradona can provide.”