Soccer-Pirlo laments carelessness as Juve drop more points

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CROTONE, Italy, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Juventus coach Andrea
Pirlo was left to fret over two more dropped points and the
"carelessness" of his team on Saturday after they were held 1-1
at promoted Crotone, who had lost all their previous Serie A
games this season.
Just as they did in the 2-2 draw at AS Roma three weeks ago,
Juve had a player sent off midway through the second half --
this time Federico Chiesa -- leaving them with an uphill battle.
"Unfortunately, in the last two matches we have been reduced
to ten men due to our carelessness so we had to battle through.
But we are a young team that needs more work," said Pirlo.
Pirlo was handed his first coaching role in August after
Juve sacked Maurizio Sarri and said he had still had little time
to work with his team which includes several young new signings
such as Chiesa, Dejan Kulusevski and Weston McKennie.
American midfielder McKennie was missing on Saturday having
returned a positive test for COVID-19, as was Cristiano Ronaldo
who tested positive on duty with the Portugal national team.
"We have worked very little in these first few months, the
players have been on the national team and the youngsters need
to gain experience playing these first games," he said.
"So there are going to be moments of carelessness, it
happens -- we have a young, quality team which is still under
construction, so we need time and the youngsters need to make
mistakes. We haven't had time to oil the machine."
Juventus, chasing a 10th straight title, have eight points
from four games and have dropped four behind leaders AC Milan.
"We knew there would be many teams fighting for the title,
it will be a battle day-by-day," said former Juve midfielder
Pirlo. "We have to pick up points. Unfortunately we are losing
some on the road but we will be back in front soon".

(Writing by Brian Homewood; Editing by Ken Ferris)