Sarri slams ‘passive’ Juventus after Napoli defeat
Juventus were slow and passive during their 2-1 defeat to Napoli on Sunday, according to manager Maurizio Sarri.
Piotr Zielinski and Lorenzo Insigne both got on the scoresheet in the second half to give Napoli the victory at the Stadio San Paolo, with Cristiano Ronaldo’s effort a mere consolation.
With his side producing a lacklustre performance against his former club, Sarri produced a scathing assessment of his team’s efforts after the result which left Juve three points clear of Inter Milan at the top of the table.
FT | ⏱ | Finisce la gara al San Paolo. La vince il Napoli, con il punteggio di 2-1 #NapoliJuve pic.twitter.com/DulxPPtzlL
— JuventusFC (@juventusfc) January 26, 2020
“We were passive for the entire match, thought we could play with a slow tempo, taking five touches, always distant between areas, extremely bland,” he said. “It was a bad game, we had the wrong approach, intensity and psychological interpretation, which was followed by physical interpretation. This cannot be us, evidently.
“We put Napoli into a situation where they only had to do the bare minimum to beat us. We were always late to every ball. It was as if we were in slow motion and nothing worked, it was all through the team.”
Juventus will have to wait until Sunday to put things right after the disappointment of Naples, as they prepare to host Fiorentina in Serie A.
La Viola have endured a tough first half to the season and currently find themselves down in 13th place in the table with the Tuscan outfit only winning six of their 21 Serie A games this season.
