Motta defends Juventus talisman Vlahovic after Genoa brace

Juventus boss Thiago Motta lashed out at those criticising striker Dusan Vlahovic after he scored twice in the Bianconeri’s 3-0 win over Genoa on Saturday.

Juve continued their fine start to life under Motta with a routine victory at the Stadio Comunale Luigi Ferraris, Vlahovic netting twice before Francisco Conceicao added a late third.

They have kept a clean sheet in each of their first six matches of a Serie A season for the very first time, also scoring at least twice in five of their last eight games, having done so only once in their previous eight.

Despite Juve’s strong run of form, Vlahovic has attracted criticism from some quarters.

Only Christian Pulisic (six) and Marcus Thuram (five) have bettered his four goals in Serie A this term, though, with the Serbian also helping himself to a brace versus Verona.

Motta heaped praise upon Vlahovic after the win, also hailing his defensive work as he said: “No goals conceded is a team effort.

“Scoring goals starts well with [goalkeeper Mattia] Perin and not conceding goals starts with Vlahovic.

“We have a group that wants to defend to have the ball and recover it. This is very important, a team must be solid to aspire to something great.”

Motta then added: “Honestly, I think you pay too much attention to a single player. He has always been very good.

“I understand the expectations and needs of a striker at this level. But as I said from the beginning, he is a positive leader who helps a lot.

“I am happy because he scored but I was also happy when he didn’t. He must improve and be more connected with the team because he is an important player in many aspects of our game. He is fine and must continue to work as he is doing”.

Vlahovic, who has more games with multiple goals than any other player across the last six Serie A seasons (19), said: “The most important thing is that we won and we want to continue like this.

“It’s no problem, people talk. If you score you’re the best, if you don’t you’re the worst. It’s up to me to respond on the pitch and I will certainly do so.

“Sometimes there are fewer opportunities. People expect me to solve the games and that’s normal, I don’t run away. I always do everything 100%.

“I’m super calm and I will always give my all on the pitch. For a striker when you don’t score it’s difficult, but today we won and that’s the only thing that matters.”