Pirlo: Important for Juventus to bring the intensity to the game

Juventus put together a composed performance without looking entirely convincing, but had enough to dispose of Bologna 2-0 though they could have had a hatful more were it not for Lukasz Skorupski in the visitor’s goal.

Speaking after the game, coach Andrea Pirlo was pleased to get a second win on the trot after lifting the Supercoppa Italiana midweek.

“We won an important game against Napoli, we wanted to show we were not the team witnessed against Inter.

“It was not difficult to prepare this game, we saw where we made mistakes and we tried to solve them. We are strong team, we know it all depends on us.”

Juve pressed Bologna hard, especially in the first half and created a number of chances off the turnovers.

“It was important to bring intensity to the game, which we above all did in the first half and could’ve killed the game, but if you don’t finish it off, then the match will always be in the balance.

“Bologna attacked us very high, we did well to make the most of the spaces they left us.”

Midfielder Arthur has had some difficult times since joining the Bianconeri, but looked better in today’s early game.

“We talked, he prefers to play in a slightly more advanced role and leave the defensive work to others. He has great vision, keeps the ball and sets the tempo when we have to pass our way out from the opposition press.”

Pirlo stuck with the forward pairing of Cristiano Ronaldo and Dejan Kulusevski, with Alvaro Morata coming on in the second stanza.

“We decided to deploy another striker, we had many more spaces and we knew a player like Morata would have helped us.

“It’s normal, we’d like to always dominate the games, today we had 20 shots on target and we should have killed off the game earlier.”

Club captain Giorgio Chiellini made a fourth straight start and looked like a younger, hungrier version of himself while goalie Wojciech Szczesny picked up his second clean sheet in a row.

“Giorgio’s return was important, he hadn’t played four games in a row for long time, Szczesny is a great goalkeeper and is always ready.”