13 January 2017
“New club, new city, new team-mates, new system, new coach, all I needed was a bit of time. All good players must learn to adapt and that’s what I’m doing.”
With seven goals and nine assists in all competitions this season, few would doubt that Miralem Pjanic has indeed now truly settled into life at Juventus Stadium.
Operating in behind the strikers, Pjanic is now starting to produce his very best form since swapping Rome for Turin in the summer and in timely fashion too as the Bianconeri face up to a crunch run of fixtures in Serie A in the coming weeks.
Speaking to the Sky and Mediaset cameras this afternoon, the Bosnian had this to say of his gradual acclimatisation to his new club, his flourishing partnership with Paulo Dybala and of course Sunday’s testing trip to Fiorentina:
A new home
“All I can do is make sure that I’m ready to produce my best every week. I came to Juventus after five great years in Rome and I have had to work hard to adapt here but now I feel right at home.
“Everyone faces the critics at some point in their career but I don’t let anything that is said off the field affect me. The coach has shown great faith in me and the lads have given me a fantastic welcome, just as they have for all of the new signings. There was a transition to be made and now I want to kick on and raise my game.”
Pjanic and Paulo on song
“I’ve been playing behind the strikers recently and I’m enjoying my football at the moment; both Dybala and I have got license to roam and we fit together very well. It’s a true pleasure playing alongside Paulo, we work the space in tandem and can sense each other’s movements automatically.
“We’ve changed things up throughout the season just as all good sides need to. The very best teams have the tactical awareness to be able to shift between systems not only one from one game to the next but even in the middle of matches.”
Atalanta? Lessons to be learned **
“We need to keep our intensity as high as possible and not take our foot off the gas prematurely like we did on Wednesday night against Atalanta. (Almost letting leads slip) shouldn’t happen and this is an area that we must improve on.
"We are talking about very fine margins, we are still playing well, picking up results and bouncing back from our mistakes if and when we make them.”
* *
Focus on Fiorentina…
“We have great respect for Fiorentina, they are an excellent side with talented players and a good coach. The Stadio Artemio Franchi will be a cauldron.
"Even before arriving at Juventus, you can see how important this fixture is for both teams. As ever, we’ll go there looking to continue our great run of form without underestimating la Viola. It will most likely be an encounter decided by the smallest of margins so we are preparing as best we can for every eventuality."
…with an eye on the Champions League
“Winning the Champions League is a huge objective for us. From now on there are no easy games, beginning with Porto in the next round, but Juventus are at home on the big stage and are used to going deep into every competition. As the game approaches, we’ll afford it its due attention and focus.”
