Vincenzo Montella thanked reporters for giving away Juventus secrets ahead of Fiorentina’s 0-0 draw. “You can’t hide anything!”
The Bianconeri have been playing with four at the back regularly for a month now, but switched back to 3-5-2 at the Stadio Franchi.
Vincenzo Montella thanked reporters for giving away Juventus secrets ahead of Fiorentina’s 0-0 draw. “You can’t hide anything!”
The Bianconeri have been playing with four at the back regularly for a month now, but switched back to 3-5-2 at the Stadio Franchi.
“You can’t hide anything nowadays and I’ve noticed that as soon as you test something out in training, it emerges. I had half a thought it might’ve been a trick, but fortunately the reports were right!” Montella told Sky Sport Italia.
“Both teams lacked that final move. I think the statistics show we were equal in everything and that’s a positive confidence booster for us, as we technically and tactically were on a par with Juventus.
“Towards the end Juve began to impose their physicality on the game, but we held out well. They are certainly a stronger team, so we had to give something more to match them. In mentality we did that, but in midfield we were getting over-run as time went on, so I introduced another midfielder.
“Our characteristics mean we have to press opponents high up the field, as we are not suited to sitting deep and counter-attacking.”
There were few scoring opportunities and Mario Gomez again seemed far off the pace, but Montella stood up for his players.
“Joaquin’s quality is extraordinary and recently he has been proving to me he has the same enthusiasm and motivation as when he was a kid. This is a player who could’ve done so much more in his career and I thought he had a great performance again tonight.
“Gomez worked very hard to help out in defence too, as when playing a stronger opponent you must ask sacrifice from your forwards and that inevitably takes something away from you in attack.
“I didn’t feel it right to introduce Marin at the end, as this was a very intense game and I don’t think he has settled in enough yet to understand the atmosphere around this fixture.”
Juan Guillermo Cuadrado hobbled off towards the end with a bruised hip.
“Cuadrado had a knock, I don’t know if it hit the buttock muscle or hip, so we’ll see tomorrow what the medics say.”