Sarri: Juve need to be more determined in front of goal

Juventus take on Genoa in a midweek game tomorrow, and manager Maurizio Sarri knows that there’s still room for improvement despite his side sitting on top of the Scudetto after nine games played.

Speaking during his pre-match press conference, Sarri said -

“We are adapting to a new style of football, so it’s only natural that it will take a little while to perfect. We can improve a great deal and are on the right track.”

The manager also provided an injury update on his side, with both Miralem Pjanic and Gonzalo Higuain doubtful for the game tomorrow.

“Pjanic does not have a muscular lesion, but we’ll see how he does. Yesterday, he was not in a condition to play. Higuain had a violent knock to the lead and was not in good shape yesterday, he had stitches and was shaken up, but again we’ll see the situation today.

“Douglas Costa is returning after 45 days out and only had one training session with the squad, but we’ll see if he is able to play a few minutes.

“If Higuain can’t make it, then it’s very unlikely we can make a 4-3-3 work.”

Goals have been hard to come by for Juve, who are fifth highest in terms of goals scored.

“We have a very low average of shots finding not just the net, but the frame of the goal. In my view, it’s more of a mental issue than anything else.

“I expressed my fear with the players about that and we’ll try to prepare some training exercises to help, but we also need to be more determined in front of goal.

“We are still the best defence in Serie A. This league has changed, the average goals of all the teams has gone up and in general it is a more prolific tournament. Besides which, lately we conceded pretty much exclusively from penalties, so we need to keep an eye on those situations.”

Genoa won their first game over the weekend with new manager Thiago Motta with all three substitutes scoring, and will provide a challenge for the Bianconeri.

“This is bound to be a tough game and we must never take anything for granted. Genoa have a surprising amount of quality in the side and it looks as if the new coach has found fertile ground to work with. We also went back and viewed some of his matches for the PSG youth team to see what Thiago Motta might come up with.”