Draw specialists Juventus being held back by stalemates, says Motta

Juventus boss Thiago Motta conceded that Juventus' growing tally of draws is seeing the club fall short of expectations across all competitions this season.

Motta watched on as his side were held to a 1-1 draw by Scudetto-chasing Atalanta at the Gewiss Stadium, as Pierre Kalulu's opener was cancelled out by Mateo Retegui.

The result leaves Juventus down in fifth place in the standings, 13 points behind leaders Napoli, with a tantalising tie against AC Milan up next for the Bianconeri.

Juventus became the second side to draw at least 13 of the first 20 games in a Serie A season in the three points for a win era, after Inter in the 2004-05 campaign (14).

They have earned 34 points after 20 Serie A games this season compared to 49 last term. That 15 point difference is the worst among sides to feature in both campaigns.

While Motta is the second manager in Juventus history to remain unbeaten in his first 20 Serie A games, he was left to rue yet another league stalemate.

"It's clear that we can't be happy with the result. We go on the pitch to win," Motta told reporters. "We played well, created some interesting situations, but we weren't good enough to score.

"It's true that we have drawn a lot this season and are not happy about that, we cannot be happy with a draw. However, they (the players) performed well. I have to acknowledge the effort and the performance.

"Now we have an important match against a great team, we need to recover well," he added, referring to the visit of seventh-placed Milan on Saturday.

Motta also failed to confirm whether Dusan Vlahovic would be ready for this weekend's clash with Sergio Conceicao's side.

Vlahovic, who has scored 12 goals in 23 appearances across all competitions this season, missed the draw against Atalanta with muscle fatigue.

The Juventus boss also brushed aside rumours in the Italian media that wantaway Paris Saint-Germain striker Randal Kolo Muani had signed a six-month loan deal.

"I do not talk about the transfer market. Dusan is recovering, he is not at 100%, and we cannot risk losing him for longer, so we’ll see what happens over the next three days," Motta said.

Kalulu, who became the third French defender to score for Juventus in Serie A after Lilian Thuram (one) and Patrice Evra (three), also acknowledged his side must improve.

"A good evening at the beginning, then this goal conceded overshadows everything a bit. We always have to do something more to get points," the defender said.