Juventus coach Maurizio Sarri admits they weren't at their best for their 2-1 win at Champions League opponents Lokomotiv Moscow.
A last-gasp Douglas Costa winner earned victory, after Leonardo Bonucci's goal-line clearance had kept out Joao Mario.
It was not one of our best performances," admitted Sarri to Sky Sport Italia.
We were too open to the many counter-attacks and we knew that they would take this sort of approach to the game. We were too open in the first half, lost the ball too cheaply, so it was impossible to immediately go and win it back.
After the break, we had too many men in front of the ball and the passing was too slow, which created the big risks we'd lose it and get caught on the counter.
At least I saw good character from the players, as they really wanted the win at all costs and achieved it with Douglas Costa's moment of magic, in conjunction with Gonzalo Higuain.
Douglas Costa has only just returned from a long injury, so he's not yet the player he was. He's still a little timid on the acceleration, but still has so much quality that he can play in any area and make the difference.
We needed to rest some players, because we had six games in 18 days. We knew Aaron Ramsey and Douglas Costa didn't have 90 minutes in them, so preferred to alternate them. We wanted to avoid fatigue."
