Spalletti: ‘Must not tire Juventus forwards out with defensive work’

Luciano Spalletti explains some of his attacking choices as Juventus face Torino in the Derby della Mole, insisting they must not ‘tire them out with too much defensive work.’

It kicks off at the Allianz Juventus Stadium in Turin at 17.00 GMT.

You can follow all the build-up and action as it happens from today’s four Serie A games on the Liveblog.

The Bianconeri sacked Igor Tudor just under two weeks ago, winning one match under caretaker manager Massimo Brambilla, then beating Cremonese 2-1 on Spalletti’s debut.

However, there was another step backwards in the midweek Champions League 1-1 draw against Sporting CP, meaning they are still without a victory in Europe this season.

“I thanked the players for how ready they were to listen and work from the start, as that is fundamental,” Spalletti told DAZN Italia.

“As you move forward, good performances mean you always want to add a little extra every time. It can be dangerous to try to do too much at once, as it creates confusion, so we have to take it one step at a time. So far, the responses have been very positive.”

While so much focus has been on Teun Koopmeiners dropped into the back three, the new coach has also started using Kenan Yildiz and Francisco Conceicao supporting centre-forward Dusan Vlahovic.

“The first thing we must do is give these players an opportunity to stay in the opposition half, because if you tire them out with too much defensive work and tracking back, you risk losing out in terms of sharpness and quality,” explained Spalletti.

“These are players with pace, technique, who can take men on, and they provide you with many more attacking solutions. So far, we’ve shown that we can support this system with two players in support of Dusan, then we’ll evaluate as we go on and see what happens.”

Vlahovic and Khephren Thuram had knocks during the draw with Sporting CP, but both of them are in the starting XI for Juventus this evening.

“There are always doubts after a midweek game, you wonder about fatigue and using up your substitutes, but I saw the need to repeat the same formation and build on that at this time.”

Spalletti was impressed with the lightshow in the pre-match preparations at the Allianz Juventus Stadium, which was not seen in the Champions League, so this was his first experience of it.

“It is beautiful because the crowd is so close to the stadium, you can feel their love for the shirt. It makes everything more beautiful.”