Spalletti frustrated with Juventus' 'backwards' second-half display

Luciano Spalletti was left frustrated by Juventus' second-half display in their 2-0 win over Lecce.

Douglas Luiz scored and assisted as Juventus got back to winning ways in Serie A on Sunday.

Juventus generated chances worth 0.81 expected goals in the first half, yet after the break, that figure was down to 0.26 xG.

Lecce had 12 shots in the second half and got four of those on target, leaving Spalletti to lament his team's display.

"The players played a very good game in terms of pace and playing openly," Spalletti told Sky Sport Italia.

"We dropped off a bit in terms of our management in the second half and then everything became more difficult because we had less courage. We needed to do the same things as we did in the first half.

"We found this system, which brings solidity, and we're happy with that because we immediately saw a better team performance. The second half, however, we seemed to go backwards."

Spalletti did, though, laud Luiz for his performance.

Luiz was the only player to create more than one chance (two) for Juventus, while he also had the most touches (94), accurate passes (64/78) and passes in the final third (28) of anyone else on the team.

Spalletti said: "He had a great game today, he fought and ran, he battled on all sides, and he helped clean up certain situations when we needed him to."