Capello stands up for Juve Wednesday 5 April, 2006
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Juventus were booed off the field at the Stadio Delle Alpi, but Fabio Capello has defended their performance against Arsenal.
“I think we put in a good performance against a side that focuses on the counter-attack. We created some chances and didn’t make the most of them, while we gave Arsenal a few opportunities as well, but I complimented my squad and could not have asked for more effort,” insisted the Coach.
The Bianconeri had a mountain to climb after losing the first leg 2-0 at Highbury, but couldn’t go past a 0-0 in Turin and saw Pavel Nedved sent off – their third red card in two Champions League games.
“It certainly isn’t easy to carry on in two competitions, but Arsenal are on fine form at the moment and it would’ve been better to face them a few months ago when they were struggling. Their pace is a particular problem when you’re chasing the game.”
The recent sluggishness has been blamed on Capello’s refusal to rotate the squad, but he claimed the statistics did not back this up.
“I balanced out the squad and the only one who played perhaps too much was Fabio Cannavaro, while everyone else has rested for one reason or another. All the teams who are leading their domestic Divisions are off form at the moment and that is only natural.”
The fans turned on the team in the final stages, unveiling banners urging the players to ‘get out their b…s’ with particular jeers aimed at Zlatan Ibrahimovic and calling for Alessandro Del Piero.
“I hope we can end the season on a positive note. We needed the help of the supporters and there was nothing more we could’ve done, so it was ungenerous of the fans to jeer,” said Capello. “I am very happy with the way Ibrahimovic played. Del Piero is an important player for Juve, so we need the fans to help us rather than create splits within the squad. It’s counter-productive.”
In the absence of the injured Del Piero, Juventus seem to lack ideas and creativity in midfield, relying heavily on the long ball game for Ibrahimovic.
“When you’re playing against a team that puts 10 men behind the ball, it’s inevitably going to become difficult to find space. Towards the end we made a few errors, but before Nedved’s red card we did some good things.”
Capello caused shocks before the game by leaving Lilian Thuram on the bench in favour of ex-Bayern Munich man Robert Kovac.
“I needed a central defender who could pass the ball forward to Ibrahimovic faster, and Kovac is a little more accurate in his passing than Thuram. That’s all there is to it.”
The Bianconeri had insisted in the summer that their primary objective was the Champions League, but once again they have crashed out in sluggish manner at the quarter-final stage.
“When you start the season there are two objectives for a Coach and he always puts the Champions League a little bit higher than the domestic title. It’s not easy to win in Europe, but we will try again. Arsenal are a tough side to face at the moment, so they’re definitely contenders for the trophy,” concluded Capello.
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