Pirlo takes full responsibility for the 3-0 defeat to Milan
In the race for a top-four finish, Juventus and Milan locked horns in a Serie A match at Juventus Stadium on Sunday.
Although the reverse fixture ended as a 3-1 Juventus victory at San Siro, goals from Brahim Diaz, Ante Rebic, and Fikayo Tomori, gave Juve a humiliating 3-0 home defeat to one of their arch-rivals in a game that Milan mostly dominated the match.
Despite having the majority of possession, Juve was unable to make serious attempts while Wojciech Szczesny saved a penalty from Franck Kessie.
Pirlo told
Sky Sport Italia: “I said yesterday that the team looked good during the week, we trained with the right mentality and concentration. The team was alive and convinced it could put in a great performance.
“Instead that was not the case. We had actually started fairly well, but we lost our way and this was the final result. It’s difficult to explain now. There were many components that didn’t work. When you lose such an important game 3-0 it means many things didn’t work, but I need to evaluate it and then talk it over with the lads with a calm head.”
Then Pirlo went on to discuss his future at Juve, rubbishing the possibility of resigning from his role at Bianconeri.
He added: “No, I won’t step aside. I took this role with a great deal of enthusiasm amid certain difficulties. I am at the disposal of the club, there are still three games to go, so I will continue doing my work as long as I am allowed to.”
Currently fifth place on 69 points, behind Napoli on 70, Milan and Atalanta on 72, Pirlo still believes he can ‘adapt’ his project with Juve players.
“I had a different project in my mind and thought I would have a different group at my disposal. I had been working on some concepts, but then I had to make changes in order to suit their characteristics and had to adapt.”
Asked whether Juve players are resistant to change, Pirlo said: “It’s not that this team is resistant to change, but if you have some things in your mind and they become more difficult with certain players. If I cannot get the best out of these players, that is my fault and I certainly need to do better.
“If something didn’t go right, I take responsibility. This squad is made up of great players, clearly something did not work.”
On his players' attitude, he added: “We have talked it over a lot, because this sort of thing happened many times this season. I asked the lads to pull something out of their guts, to honour the shirt and show pride, because we are part of a glorious club and these performances cannot happen.”
Then the Italian was asked about the Super League controversies’ effect on Juventus performance.
“The club gave me great freedom to do my work and we were never affected by things happening off the field. If we didn’t do well on the pitch, that was purely our fault and mine, as I am at the head of this team.
“We trained well, but at times some players don’t achieve 100 per cent in their performance. When you have two or three players who struggle in this type of match, that brings down the whole performance of the team.
“The lads have always followed me, during good and bad moments, so I have nothing to reproach them for in that sense.”
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