Maurizio Sarri believes the Juventus team ‘didn’t respect their duties’ and is insistent that “the red card changed everything.”
The Bianconeri slumped to their first defeat of the season in spectacular fashion, losing Rodrigo Bentancur to injury, having Juan Cuadrado sent off before ultimately losing 3-1 to Lazio.
“I thought we had a good first half, doing very, very well, but unfortunately allowed that goal right on the stroke of half-time,” Sarri told DAZN.
“The second half was dominated by incidents, most of which went against us, but when it was 11 against 11, we did very well.
“We didn’t respect our duties, because players were in the wrong position, it was a distraction and you pay for that. We had decided before the game on certain positions, and we didn’t cover them.
“The red card? I do not entirely agree that it was a clear scoring opportunity, as the ball was going wide. I thought a yellow card was the right ruling, as the red was a little harsh, but the fact remains that is out of our control and we made a mistake to create the situation in the first place.
“Bentancur will have the tests tomorrow, the collateral ligament seems to be involved to some degree, we’ll see how much. Bentancur is a decisive player for us at the moment, so we missed him a great deal once he came off.
“Sami Khedira will be out for three months, so we’ll have to work something out over the next few weeks and see if we can resolve other situations quickly.
“Federico Bernardeschi and Aaron Ramsey could probably be used in that role, so we’ll see about some tests there.
“I didn’t see many mistakes in the first half, we passed it around well and had the chance to make it 2-0 with Cristiano’s header. We were perhaps a little slow to react on the corner, which sparked their goal.
“In the second half, when the game seemed to be in a more balanced state, the red card changed everything. We lost the match, but to be honest, I saw improvements in my team.”
