Couldn’t have put in a worse performance than this: Pirlo slams players after defeat

MILAN: Juventus manager Andrea Pirlo has slammed players after suffering a defeat against Inter Milan and even went on to say that his side “couldn’t have put in a worse performance than this”.

Inter Milan secured a 2-0 win over Juventus in Serie A here on Monday. Arturo Vidal scored a goal in the first half before Nicolo Barella added another goal to Inter Milan’s tally in the 52nd minute.

Analysing his team’s performance, Pirlo said Juventus were “too fearful of Inter’s attack”. “Our attitude was all wrong from the very beginning and when you lack anger and determination in matches like these, it’s an uphill struggle,” the club’s official website quoted Pirlo as saying.

“We dropped deep and were too fearful of Inter’s attack – we were entirely preoccupied by our defensive work, without even being aggressive, but in these sorts of contests you need to match your opponents for competitive desire,” he added. The defeat leaves Juventus fifth on the Serie A table with 33 points while Inter Milan are placed on the second spot with 40 points, same as table-toppers AC Milan.

Pirlo wants his side to pick themselves from the defeat as they now shift focus to the Supercoppa Italiana.

“Over a long run, these slip-ups can happen and it’s a shame because we came into this in good form, however, a team like Juventus can never show that kind of attitude. In our preparations for the match, we focused on their switches of play and the forward runs of their central midfielders, and that’s exactly where their goals came from. However, if the team fails to do what we rehearsed, it’s my responsibility. We couldn’t have put in a worse performance than this but now we need to pick ourselves up because we’ve got a cup final on Wednesday,” Pirlo said. (ANI)