Juventus coach Antonio Conte bemoaned the “cold shower of humility” poured on his team on Sunday, as the Serie A leader surrendered a 2-0 lead and two points at HellasVerona. Carlos Tevez scored twice in the first-half to give Juve a comfortable lead, only for Luca Toni and Juanito Gomez Taleb to respond in thesecond half from set pieces.
“It’s inexplicable,” Conte told Sky Sport Italia after the 2-2 tie. “The game lasts 90 minutes, not 45. It’s not acceptable to bepunished by two set plays on two distractions. It wipes out all the good work we did until then. We could’ve done a lot, lot better. It leaves me perplexed how we could dominate the game for thefirst half and then end up like this. We had a similar problem against Inter, as one goal and we panic.”
He added: “We concede far too many goals from dead ball situations andwe’ve got to be focused, as there’s little I can do in tactical terms or studying opponents. It’s a question of concentration. It’s a shame we drew this game against a Veronaside that created few opportunities. I have to compliment them for their determination.”
Despite surrendering two points, second-place AS Roma did not fare any better against city rivalLazio, as the 0-0 draw ensured that the top two remained unchanged in Italy.