Pepe: Conte has improved me

Juventus winger Simone Pepe feels he has made huge strides with his game in 2011, claiming he is a far more mature player.

The 28-year-old has been a key figure in Juve’s strong start to the Serie A season, with Antonio Conte’s men unbeaten and joint-top at the winter break.

“My year was a bit like that of the team, a little shaky in the first half and fantastic in the second,” Pepe told the club’s official website.

“I want to remember the last five months of excellent work that we spent on top of the table. I have certainly grown, especially thanks to coach Antonio Conte, and I think this was the year I reached football maturity.”

“I even learned to score goals,” said Pepe, who has netted five times in 16 league appearances this term.

“The coach hammered me right from the summer, saying I had to go deep and run towards the box, which is what I’ve been doing.”

“I was a striker at the start of my career, so I had these characteristics, but Conte really helped me to refine them.”

“After all, it’s always said a player reaches his peak between the ages of 27 and 30. I am now 28.”

“All I ask from 2012 is to stay at the top and continue doing well. The rest will come as a consequence of that.”

The Turin side are level on 34 points in Serie A with rivals AC Milan, who are slightly ahead on goal difference, but Pepe believes Conte’s leadership will see Juve bring home the Scudetto.

“Perhaps Milan have more quality in their team, but we are hungrier and you can see that by the way we step on to the field,” he said.

“Conte is also decisive in giving us his will to win. He did it as a player and is trying to bring us that mentality in training and during a match. We mustn’t give in.”

Juventus get their season back underway when they travel to Lecce for a league match on January 8.