Sarri urges Juventus to be more ruthless

Maurizio Sarri urged his Juventus side to be more ruthless after they won 2-1 at Roma to go top of the Serie A table.

The Bianconeri were two up inside 10 minutes at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday, with Merih Demiral and Cristiano Ronaldo on target.

But Roma got a goal back through Diego Perotti’s penalty in the second half, setting up a nervy finish as Juve failed to add a third, seeing a Gonzalo Higuain strike ruled out for offside.

Sarri felt they should have put the game to bed long before full-time.

“We did well for an hour, and a little suffering playing against Roma here in Rome is inevitable given their characteristics,” he told Sky Sport after seeing his side move two points ahead of Inter.

“But what I did not like was the management of the result.

WINTER CHAMPS! #RomaJuve #FinoAllaFine #ForzaJuve pic.twitter.com/d7YJIIOVDr

— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) January 12, 2020

“We are happy for the three points at a very difficult place, making a good performance for large stretches, but we have to improve our game management when we are ahead.

“We kept the ball in our half when we had to look for the third goal.”

Paulo Dybala appeared unhappy when he was substituted for Higuain with just over 20 minutes remaining, having had a hand in both Juventus goals.

But Sarri was delighted with the Argentina international’s performance and is not concerned by an “angry” reaction to being brought off if he continues to play well.

“I couldn’t care less. He’s doing well,” Sarri added. “If he gets angry and responds on the pitch, it’s fine. These are things that are normal.”