Pirlo: Juventus continuing to improve

Juventus got two goals from the returning Cristiano Ronaldo to pull away from Spezia in the second half to win 4-1 away.

Speaking after the game, coach Andrea Pirlo talked about how his side should really have had this one wrapped up early on.

“We played a good game, we should close it in the first half, we created a lot. If you don’t do it you risk against any opponent.

“We wanted to win it and Ronaldo helped us.”

Cristiano Ronaldo finally tested negative for COVID yesterday, and was included in the matchday squad for today’s game, coming on as a substitute for Paulo Dybala.

“We changed our system little bit, we knew Arthur would have been more free to play a little behind. Ronaldo is improving and we were waiting for him.

“Both him and [Paulo] Dybala are improving, let’s see how everyone feels in the coming days.”

Pirlo has shown that he prefers to play with a back four so far, here’s what he had to say about that.

“We always play with four defenders in the defensive phase. I had these players available, when everyone will be back we’ll see how we can play but the setting will be the same.”

Juve finally got a win after a couple of draws and a defeat against Barcelona midweek.

“We are improving, some players are coming back from injuries and we’ll have time to work on our ideas.

“Slowly, we’ll see in games those situations that we are preparing during trainings. We need to pick up the players between the lines, once we do it, we only need to think about attacking their area.

“I’m trying to simplify the defensive phase with two tight lines, we need to be more aggressive once we lose the ball, it’s less tiring to run five meters ahead rather than track back for 70 meters.”