Leonardo Bonucci hopes the defeat to Napoli will “serve as a valuable lesson” for Juventus and revealed why the second goal was a risk of zonal marking.
“Napoli gave more than 100 per cent, they were so determined on every ball and every knockdown. We gave 99 per cent and paid the price for that,” Bonucci told Sky Sport Italia.
“I hope this will serve as a valuable lesson for us that quality isn’t enough if you don’t put in the maximum effort too. You have to give everything to win and we didn’t do that tonight, we weren’t aggressive enough, didn’t make enough vertical passes between the lines and were slow in our pressing.
“Napoli gave their all. I know Rino Gattuso and the way he prepares matches like this, he gives his soul.”
The centre-back does not believe the use of the trident attack with Paulo Dybala, Cristiano Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuain left them over-exposed.
“Timing is fundamental in football. If the ball moves slowly, your opponents can read the pass and adjust to cover. We ask Paulo to work extra in helping the defence, which can leave him a little tired when going forward, but he did both fairly well this evening.”
Fabio Capello in the Sky Sport Italia studio asked Bonucci if Juve were asked to defend zonally on the situation of the Lorenzo Insigne goal or to keep an eye on the opponents?
“The coach asks us to defend purely zonally. Looking at it back, we were almost perfect in our positioning. Lorenzo did well with the volley and De Ligt was unlucky with the deflection, but it’s a risk you take when defending zonally.
“De Ligt is young, we know it’ll take time, but he did well this evening against quality opponents. He’s starting to lead the team from the back, which is important for a defender, and is growing gradually.”
Source: m.allfootballapp.com