Spalletti plays down Juve's title credentials
Luciano Spalletti insisted that his Juventus side is still not on the same level as Inter Milan or Napoli, despite a big win on Tuesday (AEDT).
Juventus thrashed Cremonese 5-0 at Allianz Stadium, with Bremer, Jonathan David, Kenan Yildiz and Weston McKennie all getting on the scoresheet.
The Bianconeri have scored at least five goals in a single Serie A match for the first time since February 2018 against Sassuolo; that game was also played at Allianz Stadium (7–0).
Juventus is now in fourth in the standings, four points behind current league leader Inter and one behind second-place AC Milan.
However, both Inter and Milan, as well as third-place Napoli, have a game in hand over Juventus, with those matches being played across Thursday and Friday (AEDT).
Although Juventus is showing no signs of fading away from the race for the Scudetto, Spalletti believes improvements are still needed.
“I watched Inter-Napoli last night, they showed the top level of football, open and attacking football, with character and ideas, representing their coaches,” Spalletti said.
“I think we need to improve a lot to reach their level, and we need to take those steps quickly.
“I have seen great effort from these lads, so I feel we can make those improvements.”
Since the beginning of November – when Spalletti took over – only Inter (25 points, eight wins) has collected more points and won more matches than the Bianconeri (24 points, seven wins) in Serie A.
No team has scored more goals in Serie A than Juventus (20, the same as Inter) since Spalletti’s arrival.
“When you take on this work, there can always be surprises, good and bad ones, as the pitch does the talking,” Spalletti added when asked about Juventus’s form.
“We were in control, we had a good game and were set out well, we had the right hunger against an opponent that knows what it’s doing.
“Davide Nicola knows the top flight very well and what his squad has to do, so they are well-organised and ready to battle.
“With a bit of good luck, we managed to get the result on track early, but then also had some bad luck with that penalty off the upright. I think all things considered we were in charge, although there were still a few wobbles that are hard to get rid of.”
