Juventus coach Andrea Pirlo was pleased with their 3-1 defeat of Sampdoria on his debut.

Dejan Kulusevski, Cristiano Ronaldo and Leonardo Bonucci scored for Juve.

“It's important to dialogue with players, as I was a player until a few years ago and I always liked to discuss with them. It's important everyone knows what they want and think," Pirlo told Sky Sport Italia.

Pirlo started 21-year-old Gianluca Frabotta with only his second Serie A appearance, with Weston McKennie in midfield and Aaron Ramsey given more freedom to roam.

“It was a good first half, a pity we didn't score more than one goal. Our fitness levels dropped towards the end, but we stayed sharp and controlled all the situations, including the Sampdoria counter-attacks.

“Frabotta had a good game. Alex Sandro picked up an injury, so I chose the Under-23 lad who is training with us very well. I didn't consider it a risk at all to use him.

“The American arrived having started pre-season training in Germany, so was in better shape than some others. He made a few errors in his passing, but it was the first game, we can forgive him for that.

“It will take time to get all the various ways of playing together. I don't want to just copy and paste anyone's ideas, I have my own ideas, and want to adapt from the teams that inspired me.

“We haven't had much time, as the pre-season started late and then they were away for international duty. We had only one friendly too, but it was a good debut and we'll keep working on it."

The defence also started with three, moving to four when under attack, even though the Juve official graphics had it as a 5-4-1.

“We have four central midfielders who in my view play better in a two-man midfield. We are therefore trying to use that system, defending with four defenders, then in attack we're more of a three plus two."