Palermo coach admits to nerves after Juventus defeat

Palermo coach Davide Ballardini has admitted to nerves amongst his players on the heels of another heavy defeat.

The Rosanero were pummeled 4-0 at the hands of league leaders Juventus and have fallen to 19th place in the Serie A standings, but despite a state of mental fragility throughout the ranks after a ninth coaching change, players are aware of what they have to do in order to climb out of the relegation zone.

“It is a complicated situation and the players are a bit nervous,” Ballardini admitted to Sky Sport Italia.

“However, everyone remains positive with a desire to continue working and fighting for safety.”

Ballardini then switched his attention to the team’s performance on Sunday afternoon, and the bench boss made a point of taking positives from the match.

“For 70 minutes we were compact and created some problems for Juventus, but unfortunately we came apart near the end,” the 52-year-old noted.

“We were not as bad as the scoreline suggests and a number of the players did well over both halves.

“We are already looking forward to Wednesday’s match against Atalanta.”