As Coach Cesc reflects: Juventus' reality check to us

Como suffered a heavy 3-0 defeat at the hands of Juve in their Serie A opener.

“I have to rewatch the game and analyse carefully what we need to do. Last season we lost 3-0 to Palermo, but went on to become the best team in the league. We know that we are Como and need to improve, so what we saw was the difference in quality and a bit of confidence,” Cesc told DAZN.

“We won back the ball and couldn’t get the right pass for the counter-attack, whereas they did make the most of those chances. We also gave the ball away too easily to the likes of Kenan Yildiz. That’s not tactics, that is individual quality.

“We had eight players from last season, we are the same team and need to just work hard and relax. Anyone who thinks we’re aiming for the Champions League this season has got it very badly wrong. We know who we are, we need to take it one step at a time, because this is a long-term process.”

He also said: “I got the sensation it was more about quality than anything else, because when (Daniele) Baselli was on the pitch, I didn’t see any difference between the teams. Baselli has quality, timing, character, that is what I am talking about.

“We played friendlies against Wolfsburg, Las Palmas, Cagliari, Al-Hilal and Wolverhampton, we competed well. We need to keep going like this, but it’s true we are lacking something in quality and confidence. I don’t know if it’s courage or what.”