Juventus head coach Thiago Motta was impressed by Napoli's courageous showing as the pair shared a goalless Serie A draw on Saturday.
Motta's team started their campaign with two convincing 3-0 wins against Como and Verona but have failed to score in the league since, recording three 0-0 draws so far in September.
The Napoli result marked just the fifth time Juventus have been held to three straight draws in Serie A history, with the last such instance coming in May 1992 under boss Giovanni Trapattoni.
It also proved just the second occasion this decade of Juventus failing to find the net for three games in a row in Serie A, along with a run between February and March 2011 with Luigi Delneri in charge.
Motta apportioned some credit to Antonio Conte's visitors, though was frustrated with parts of the hosts' showing.
"I expected this attitude, although they played at our home and I didn't expect them to be as courageous as they normally are," Motta said at the post-match press conference.
"[Whether it was] their strategy or our merit, we found ourselves with the team with a low defensive block in the penalty area and therefore difficult to attack.
"It's not a question of filling [the box] but of attacking it at the right time.
"We faced a team that knows how to defend the penalty area well. When a team closes up, it's not easy to score.
"In my opinion, we did better than in the match against Roma. Inside the box, it was difficult against a team that defends well. We had a good performance but not enough to win."
Juventus finished the game with only one shot on target and striker Dusan Vlahovic, goalless in his fourth consecutive game across all competitions, was substituted at half-time.
"It's difficult to win without scoring, we needed an extra contribution from us midfielders too," said Bianconeri midfielder Weston McKennie.
"[Vlahovic] won't be happy but the whole team must put him in a position to score."
Juventus travel to 11th-placed Genoa next Saturday before they visit RB Leipzig in the Champions League on October 2.
Presentation College close gap at top of SSFL Premier Division to four points after 2-0 win over San Juan North
Presentation College closed the gap between them and leaders St. Benedict’s College in the Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) to four points with a 2-0 win over San Juan North Secondary on Saturday.
A second half double from Vaughn Clement gave Presentation the win and moved them to 28 points from 11 games with a game in hand on the leaders.
Clement’s goals came in the 56th and 89th minutes.
Leaders St. Benedict’s dropped points after being held to a 1-1 draw by Signal Hill Secondary. The prolific Derrel Garcia gave St. Benedict’s the lead in the 55th minute before Kyle James equalized for Signal Hill 20 minutes from full time.
Defending champions Fatima College were the biggest winners of the day, 5-1 over East Mucurapo Secondary.
Liam Gooding (41’) and Michael Chaves (43’) scored in quick succession to give Fatima a 2-0 lead going into the halftime interval before Keysan Haynes gave East Mucurapo life in the 60th minute to make it 2-1.
That hope was quickly dashed as Seth Hadeed (64’) made it 3-1 before Josiah Gobin (74’, 86’) completed the scoring. Fatima remain third in the standings with 26 points from their 12 outings.
Other results on Saturday:
Arima North Secondary 2-0 St. Mary’s College
Miracle Ministries Pentecostal High School 3-2 Malick Secondary
Queen’s Royal College 4-1 Trinity College East
Speyside Secondary 0-1 St. Anthony’s College
St. Augustine Secondary 3-1 Naparima College
Calabar, Camperdown play out 1-1 stalemate to end preliminary round
Calabar High School and Camperdown High signed off the preliminary round of the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Digicel Manning Cup on a positive note as they played out a 1-1 stalemate in their final Zone D encounter at Red Hills Road on Saturday.
Jahreem McKenzie fired Camperdown in front in the 25th minute, but that effort was cancelled out by Jayden Perry (30th), who ensured Calabar remain upbeat heading into the second round for the first time in seven years.
With the point, Calabar ended second on 23 points, two points behind STATHS, who blanked Haile Selassie 5-0 in the other group contest. Vauxhall (13 points) ended third ahead of Camperdown (12 points), Haile Selassie (12 points) and Kingston Technical (zero).
Calabar’s Head coach Andrew Price was pleased with the effort of his fringe players.
“It was basically an audition for some of the players that didn’t get any playing time throughout the round. So we took a look at them as we go into the second round, and I must say well done to the team for this round, but the work just begins now; we have to be steadfast and resolute in our preparation for the second round because we know we are going to come up against tougher opposition,” Price said in a post-game interview.
Despite already being through to the next round of the competition, Calabar were in no mood to relent, as they were spirited at the start and looked more threatening in open play of the early exchanges. They created a few half chances but couldn’t get on target.
That allowed Camperdown to break the deadlock against the run of play when McKenzie got on the end of a through pass and confidently finished his third of the season.
However, the lead was short-lived as Calabar pulled level when Camperdown’s goalkeeper Roshawn Gilroy failed to advance to a loose ball and Perry capitalised with a close range finish to also register his third of the season.
The second half offered very little to write home about, though Calabar asserted their authority on the contest and bossed possession. Still, chances were at a premium, as the Red Hills Road boys only had a couple half looks on goal, which amounted to nothing.
The stalemate left Camperdown’s coach, Karume Huie, beaming with pride at the strides made by his young team, though they missed out on the second round.
“Yes, disappointed that we didn’t make the next round, but in live you see a light at the end of the tunnel and so I am proud of my boys. I gave some 13- and 14-year-olds a chance to play in this game, so it’s a work in progress, and we will bounce back stronger next year,” Huie declared.
Saturday’s results
Calabar 1, Camperdown 1
STATHS 5, Haile Selassie 0
Mona 1, Charlie Smith 0
Vauxhall 6, Kingston Technical 2
Jamaica College 7, Bridgeport 1
Troubled Roma still prove a great challenge for Inter, says Inzaghi
Simone Inzaghi still expects Inter to put their best foot forward as he anticipates a tough test against struggling Roma on Sunday.
Roma have won just two of their nine games across all competitions this season, though Ivan Juric's side are unbeaten in their last three home outings.
Inter, meanwhile, slipped down to third following Juventus' win on Saturday, and are looking for a fourth win on the bounce following their 2-1 derby defeat to Milan.
And even though they face a side still in search of their best form, Inzaghi has warned Inter that they cannot let their guard down.
"We know what kind of opponent we are going to face," Inzaghi told Inter TV on Saturday.
"We've faced [coach Ivan] Juric many times in recent years, he is clearly bringing his philosophy to Roma, and we must be ready to put in a good performance, both with and without the ball. [Achieving] it will take a great Inter."
Inter will be without injured midfielders Piotr Zielinski and Kristjan Asllani, though the pair have featured minimally for Inter so far, with the former only playing 68 minutes in Serie so far this season.
"The international break shouldn't influence us. Before the break we had three wins, we need to continue on our path," Inzaghi said.
"We've got many players who have played many minutes, others like Lautaro [Martinez] and [Mehdi] Taremi who have flown far but come back in quite well, all except Zielinski who returned with a slight injury and will not play.
"Asllani picked up a slight knock to his knee and also won't be available, but [Thomas] Berenbruch will be in the squad, a promising talent from [our under-19 team], so we won't have any issues."
Inter have a busy week ahead of them, returning to Champions League action on Wednesday to face Young Boys before hosting Juventus in Serie A next weekend.
Despite the packed schedule between the two international breaks, Inzaghi is determined to take it one game at a time.
"We know that we're about to play seven games in 20 days, so we need to do well but at the moment, the only concern for myself and the squad is to prepare well for the game against Roma [on Sunday]," he added.
"We will try to draw on the entire squad knowing that many of the lads try to cause me and my staff trouble on a daily basis when making our selections."
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