Spalletti credits Tudor for the win, admits feeling the pressure at Juventus, explains Scudetto comments | OneFootball

Luciano Spalletti enjoyed a winning debut at Juventus, as his team edged past Cremonese on the road, but he admits that the pressure is already on.

The Bianconeri announced the appointment of the former Roma, Inter and Napoli boss on Thursday, just three days following the sacking of Igor Tudor.

The 66-year-old made his bow in Cremona, and managed to return to Turin with all three points in the bag, thanks to goals from Filip Kostic and Andrea Cambiaso.

Luciano Spalletti opens up on Juventus Scudetto chances

During his unveiling on Friday, Spalletti insisted that Juventus still have a chance to storm into the Scudetto race.

Therefore, the manager was asked to double down on these comments following the 2-1 win over Cremonese.

“I’m already with my back to the wall. I said it because it has to be said,” said the Tuscan in his post-match interview with DAZN via JuventusNews24.

“We have a very long road to get there, and we definitely need to improve, even though we played a great game, because we created so many chances.

“However, creating them and then squandering them like we did, that’s good on one side, but we need to work on the other. All in all, we’re satisfied.”

Luciano Spalletti (Photo by Marco M. Mantovani/Getty Images)

Spalletti also paid tribute to Tudor, as he credited his predecessor for the well-prepared team he inherited, while admitting that coaching Juventus entails dealing with immeasurable pressure.

“I found a team in good shape because you can see Tudor, even on the bench, is someone who encourages the team to run, someone who has coached the team well.

“Then you start feeling some of this pressure, this level that Juventus has from a historical perspective, and from what the future will hold, because Juventus has potential everywhere and probably someone still has to reach that level, that depth, to be comfortable in this shirt.

“But today, I think we played a good game, and I’m very happy. There were situations where the ball swung in front of the goal four or five times, and no one was able to put it in. But we got there, we pressed in the final minutes, we moved up, we were in the game.”

Spalletti impressed with Koopmeiners’ attitude in new role

The manager raised eyebrows by replacing Lloyd Kelly with Teun Koopmeiners in the left centre-back role, so he took the opportunity to hail the Dutchman for his composed display in such unfamiliar territory.

“Koopmeiners can play there, he’s already done it with the national team. These must be his intentions; more than anything, it served as a message to the lads: we don’t go out to defend a game, we have to want to play.

“I liked his attitude more than his performance, because he constantly directed those up front, he told them how to position themselves, he was aggressive, he was defensive, and if we had used him more in passing the ball, in the low perimeter when building from the back, he would have advanced to the middle of the park to create numerical superiority.”