Despite a comfortable 3-1 win over Udinese, Juventus coach Maurizio Sarri admitted his anger given in the latter part of the match, which saw the Bianconeri give up their clean sheet.
Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring early on for Juve, then doubled the lead 37 minutes in, before Leonardo Bonucci got a third just before half time. Ignacio Pussetto grabbed a consolation at the death for Udinese.
“The last 20 minutes made me a little angry,” Sarri told the press, “we had to do a lot better as a team.
“When 3-0 up the team was almost split in two, which shouldn’t happen.”
Sarri was full of praise for striking trident Ronaldo, Paulo Dybala and Gonzalo Higuain, though admitted it depends on the opponent’s tactics as to whether they play together in a match.
“They [Ronaldo, Dybala and Higuain] are due the kind of game they had today,” Sarri said. “They are all fine physically, and mentally.
“Seeing that Udinese go for long balls, we felt we could afford to play all three.
“I think with teams that keep the ball well, and start play from the back, we can play as we did against Udinese when they lack intensity.
“Against teams who play more direct and launch long balls, we can play as we did, even more. However, everyone must be in good physical condition.
“It all depends on the characteristics of the team we’re facing. If Liverpool played directly to the striker then we could play the three [Ronaldo, Dybala and Higuain].
One of the standouts for Juventus, alongside the front three was Merih Demiral who was almost flawless at the back.
“I chose Demiral as he did well against Leverkusen,” Sarri stated, “and we needed a player like him to counter the speed of [Kevin] Lasagna.
“Sometimes he is too instinctive, but I believe he is on the right path and doing well.”
