Juventus vice-president Pavel Nedved insists Max Allegri ‘needs time’ to understand his players, but they do need more goals against Hellas Verona to get over the ‘shock’ Sassuolo loss.
“We did think that we’d have a few more points at this stage of the season, especially considering the performances we have been putting in,” Nedved told DAZN.
The latest setback was a surprise 2-1 home loss to Sassuolo, decided deep into stoppages by Maxime Lopez on the counter-attack while Juve were pouring forward to seek the winner.
“The defeat to Sassuolo was a knock we were not expecting. I saw the faces of the players after that game, they were really shocked.
“It can happen that we don’t start the season well, as we’ve had some bad luck and of course time, as we are on our third coach in as many years.
“Allegri needs time. It’s true he has the advantage of knowing Juventus and what to expect here, but he also has to get to know the players who weren’t here the last time he was in charge. He’s still getting to understand their characteristics.
“We were on the right track until that defeat to Sassuolo, and one game cannot change what we saw in the seven previous performances.”
Another of the issues for Juve this season is the lack of goals, which some have put down to Allegri’s rather defensive approach that tries to win 1-0.
“I agree we haven’t scored many goals, I think 13 in 10 rounds, but there were reasons for that,” added Nedved.
“Paulo Dybala was out for a long time, then Alvaro Morata, now Moise Kean. We moved Federico Chiesa into a more advanced role and he got hurt too.
“We’re working on it and I do expect more goals.”