Juventus boss Thiago Motta lashed out at those criticising striker Dusan Vlahovic after he scored twice in the Bianconeri's 3-0 win over Genoa on Saturday.
Juve continued their fine start to life under Motta with a routine victory at the Stadio Comunale Luigi Ferraris, Vlahovic netting twice before Francisco Conceicao added a late third.
They have kept a clean sheet in each of their first six matches of a Serie A season for the very first time, also scoring at least twice in five of their last eight games, having done so only once in their previous eight.
Despite Juve's strong run of form, Vlahovic has attracted criticism from some quarters.
Only Christian Pulisic (six) and Marcus Thuram (five) have bettered his four goals in Serie A this term, though, with the Serbian also helping himself to a brace versus Verona.
Motta heaped praise upon Vlahovic after the win, also hailing his defensive work as he said: "No goals conceded is a team effort.
"Scoring goals starts well with [goalkeeper Mattia] Perin and not conceding goals starts with Vlahovic.
"We have a group that wants to defend to have the ball and recover it. This is very important, a team must be solid to aspire to something great."
Motta then added: "Honestly, I think you pay too much attention to a single player. He has always been very good.
"I understand the expectations and needs of a striker at this level. But as I said from the beginning, he is a positive leader who helps a lot.
"I am happy because he scored but I was also happy when he didn't. He must improve and be more connected with the team because he is an important player in many aspects of our game. He is fine and must continue to work as he is doing".
Vlahovic, who has more games with multiple goals than any other player across the last six Serie A seasons (19), said: "The most important thing is that we won and we want to continue like this.
"It's no problem, people talk. If you score you're the best, if you don't you're the worst. It's up to me to respond on the pitch and I will certainly do so.
"Sometimes there are fewer opportunities. People expect me to solve the games and that's normal, I don't run away. I always do everything 100%.
"I'm super calm and I will always give my all on the pitch. For a striker when you don't score it's difficult, but today we won and that's the only thing that matters."
Girona boss Michel seeking consistency after poor start
Michel wants to see Girona turn in more performances of the level they showed against Rayo Vallecano in midweek, despite the fact they drew that game 0-0.
Winless in four consecutive games in all competitions, last season's surprise LaLiga challengers Girona dominated proceedings on Wednesday with 70% possession, accumulating 2.0 expected goals (xG).
Having gone toe-to-toe with giants Real Madrid and Barcelona for much of last campaign before eventually finishing third, Girona now sit 12th in the LaLiga standings on eight points from seven matches.
They face Celta Vigo on Sunday, and ahead of that match, Michel said: "We shouldn't compare ourselves to last year because we are a different team.
"I really liked the team against Rayo, and if we had that level and continuity before against Valencia (a 2-0 loss) and Barcelona (a 4-1 defeat), I would be very happy.
"Rayo didn't score against us, they were defending the whole game and that's not easy to achieve. I'm convinced that we need to give continuity to the idea we had the other day, only then will we be close to winning more games."
Girona sold LaLiga's top scorer from last season, Artem Dovbyk, to Roma over the summer, but Michel is not concerned by a lack of goalscoring prowess from his side.
"We have the capacity to finish more plays and we have to find the timing to do it now. This is our concern and the training sessions are going in that direction," he added.
The Spaniard was full of praise for Celta, who are 10th in LaLiga with one more point than Girona.
"They have started the league well," Michel said. "They are the best team in terms of ball circulation, and they do things very well.
"They are a team that hurts you with the ball and that's why we have to impose our game, make good possessions and arrive well in the opponent's half and in the opponent's goal."
Rodgers salutes Celtic's 'Champions League mentality' in St. Johnstone rout
Brendan Rodgers paid tribute to Celtic's "Champions League mentality" in their 6-0 rout of St. Johnstone at McDiarmid Park.
Kyogo Furuhashi scored twice, while Paulo Bernardo, Callum McGregor, Daizen Maeda and Adam Idah were also on target for the Hoops, who warmed up for their midweek European trip to Borussia Dortmund in emphatic fashion.
The dominant victory moved Celtic back to the top of the Scottish Premiership table - ahead of Aberdeen on goal difference - as they continued their perfect start to the season, with a sixth win in as many games.
And Rodgers was pleased by the character his players demonstrated.
"I thought this was an opportunity to show our mentality," he told Premier Sports. "All the noise has been about Dortmund, but I wanted a Champions League mentality here, and I thought the boys controlled the game.
"We wanted to keep our rhythm going. You see some of the guys coming in this evening, like Valle coming in at left-back, showing his composure.
"Most were looking at it as a tick-box before Dortmund, but for me, it was to show their mentality. Everyone will be flying on Tuesday night, but I want to see how they do when they’re here, or other grounds. It’s a case of just focusing in on that.
"I thought the variety of our game was very good; everything you'd want from your team."
Looking ahead to Tuesday's clash with Bundesliga giants Dortmund, he added: "[They] are a good team with top players, so we can't get away from that.
"OK, they've lost one or two [players] from last year, but I always say we make sure we press, make sure we attack. It's a tough game, but we'll look forward to it."
Osasuna 4-2 Barcelona: Budimir brace condemns LaLiga leaders to first defeat
Barcelona suffered their first LaLiga defeat of the season after going down 4-2 against Osasuna at Estadio El Sadar.
Ante Budimir scored twice, while Bryan Zaragoza and substitute Abel Bretones were also on target for the hosts, who claimed their first league win over the Blaugrana in nine attempts.
Osasuna were unbeaten in their six previous home league games and took an 18th-minute lead when Budimir nodded home from Zaragoza's cross.
The latter, who is on loan from Bayern Munich, doubled the advantage 10 minutes later when he rounded off a swift counter.
Pau Victor halved the deficit eight minutes after the restart, but Budimir's 72nd-minute penalty put the hosts back in control, before Bretones made it 4-1 with seven minutes remaining.
Lamine Yamal climbed off the bench to reduce Barca's arrears, but it was a consolation for Hansi Flick's side, who dropped their first points this term.
Data Debrief: Flick misses out on matching Martino
Flick was aiming to become only the second Barca manager after Gerardo Martino in 2013-14 to oversee eight straight victories at the start of a LaLiga season.
However, he and the visitors were denied by their inspired hosts, who have now recorded four successive home league wins for the first time since September 2011.
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