Pirlo says Juve is ‘work in progress’

Juventus manager, Andrea Pirlo is not losing sleep over the club’s underwhelming display in Sunday’s 2-2 draw against Roma. The former Italy international says they are a team still “under construction”.

The Serie A champions were far from their best in the capital and found themselves 2-1 down at half-time, Jordan Veretout scoring either side of a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty. Juve midfielder Adrien Rabiot was dismissed shortly after the hour mark but Ronaldo salvaged a point for the Bianconeri with a towering header soon after.

Pirlo, who replaced the sacked Maurizio Sarri last month, pointed to a lack of match fitness as the reason for his side’s sluggish performance and expects them to get significantly better as the season progresses.
“Roma attacked with many players like us so it was a different game than Sampdoria (3-0),” he said.
“This was a step backwards but we are a team under construction. We didn’t have time to try any solutions in pre-season so these games are tests.
“But, in the end, it was a point earned. [Alvaro] Morata only arrived two days ago, Arthur has not played for six months and has to adapt to Italian football. [Rodrigo] Bentancur is also starting to feel a bit better. The condition of these important players needs to grow a bit.”

Juve beat Inter to the title by just one point last season, with Antonio Conte’s side responding by bringing in Achraf Hakimi, Arturo Vidal and Aleksandar Kolarov. Asked if Inter’s squad is now stronger than his own, Pirlo said: “I don’t know if it is better than ours, but it is certainly stronger than last season as they brought in players of quality. I think it’ll be a battle to the very end.”