Juventus head coach Thiago Motta has this week moved to defend striker Dusan Vlahovic. This comes amid a fresh wave of criticism being aimed in the direction of the Serbian international, for his last couple of performances.
Vlahovic found himself front and center in the headlines once more on Tuesday night, both during and after Juventus’ Champions League opener against PSV Eindhoven. The Bianconeri ultimately emerged 3-1 victors, owing to goals on the part of all of Kenan Yildiz, Weston McKennie, and Nico Gonzalez.
In truth, though, the scoreline could and maybe should have been an even more one-sided one. Juventus were responsible for wasting a number of presentable goalscoring opportunities over the course of the 90 minutes. And it was star frontman Vlahovic, again, who found himself as the main culprit.
The former Fiorentina man has found himself under increasing scrutiny over the early weeks of the campaign, amid concerns when it comes to not only Vlahovic’s conversation rate, but his all-round game, too.
Speaking to the media in the aftermath of his side’s downing of PSV, it therefore came as little surprise when the name of his misfiring attacker was quickly put to Thiago Motta.
And, in his response, as quoted by Calciomercato, Juventus’ new tactician was quick to defend the 65m-rated Serbian international, explaining:
“Managing Dusan? It’s not difficult. He always shows up in ideal conditions. He didn’t score, it’s true and the striker always wants to score, it’s right that they have this ambition and desire to score. He’s the most advanced player we have, it’s his objective.”
“He does many other things very well, today like everyone else he could have done better. I’m happy with his work, he has to manage the emotional side, and then the goals will come.”
“We have a game that we have to exploit that creates spaces for McKennie or Koopmeiners. The important thing is that he participates in the group and then he will also be happy on a personal level.”
Vlahovic’s place as Juve’s attacking spearhead, for the time being, appears to be safe. But should his performances not improve soon, the 24-year-old could well find himself under pressure from the returning Arkadiusz Milik.
