Maurizio Sarri went off into another rant as Juventus fell to a 1-0 defeat against Lyon on Wednesday.
The Serie A champions returned from France with a 1-goal deficit in their books, harming their chances of progressing to the Champions League quarter-finals.
Juve are still confident of going through but the task has been made difficult by a certain extent. “It’s difficult to explain why, but in the first half we moved the ball too slowly so the opposition were going to press, win the ball back and score,” Sarri told Sky Sport Italia.
“We lacked determination and aggression when attacking, and for 15 minutes lacked it defensively too. The second half was better, but it’s not enough for a Champions League match. I don’t know why I cannot get the players to understand the importance of moving the ball quickly.
“This is fundamental. We’ll keep working on it and sooner or later this concept will get into their heads. I continued to tell them, and there were many who were doing it, moving the ball too slowly and therefore getting into the wrong positions. We had training yesterday and the ball was moving twice as quickly as it did tonight. This is the opposite of what should happen. Lately, we’re doing a lot of things opposite to in training.
“When the ball is slow, you lose positions, you allow the opposition to close you down, to be aggressive and steal the ball back. IÂ don’t even think the Lyon pressing was that strong. We just moved it slowly, never varied the tempo, and when you do that, it’s unlikely you’re going to create anything.”
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