Luciano Spalletti, a lifeline from the former Juventus coach: “What about the players? What about the club?”
Luciano Spalletti is in the hot seat, and Ciro Ferrara—who was both a player and a coach for Juventus—speaking to DAZN while commenting on the Bianconeri’s loss at Genoa, tries to take some of the heat off the veteran Tuscan coach. “When situations like this arise, we can’t assume that one person is more responsible than another,” he observed. “Right now, the coach, the players, and the club are all equally involved. Everyone must be willing to take responsibility.”
“Tonight, Juventus made some glaring mistakes, but they also faced a lot of counterattacks. Genoa looked like they could have gone beyond the 2-0 lead, and that should give us pause,” adds the Campania native.
The defeat at Marassi, which came on Matchday 9 of Serie A, followed a first half best forgotten: Ehizibue opened the scoring in the 12th minute thanks to a deflection off Cambiaso, while Baldanzi doubled the lead in the 28th minute by capitalizing on a serious mistake by Kalulu. In the second half, Spalletti changed the team’s dynamic by bringing on Woltemade and Zhegrova, but Juventus failed to get back into the game: Boga, Kolo Muani, Bremer, and Koopmeiners all tried their luck, with Koopmeiners even hitting the crossbar. For the Bianconeri, this marks their second loss in their last three matches, following their 2-0 victory on the road against Lecce.
In the standings, Juventus remains in eighth place with 14 points, 11 points behind the co-leaders Inter and Lazio, and has been caught by Massimiliano Allegri’s Napoli, which won 4-1 at Monza. Daniele De Rossi’s Genoa, coming off a 1-0 win over Venezia, climbs to 10 points. Rumors have been swirling for days regarding a possible replacement of Spalletti with Antonio Conte, who clarified in an Instagram post that there are currently “no negotiations at an advanced stage.”
The coach had to face the away match with a host of injuries, without Yildiz, Thuram, Ekhator, Locatelli, Grabara, and Conceição, while Celik and Nico Gonzalez were listed as doubtful. On the offensive front, where Woltemade and Kolo Muani—who have each scored only once in the league so far, against Cagliari—have fallen short of expectations, management is considering a major signing in January: according to Tuttosport, the names being tracked include Folarin Balogun and Antonio Raimondo, while Antonio Cabrini has called for the arrival of “a world-class midfielder and a world-class forward.”
Meanwhile, the Bianconeri fans have made their voices heard on social media, with hundreds of comments filled with bitterness. Some supporters are calling for an immediate coaching change, while others point to the club and the quality of the roster as causes of the team’s current struggles, noting that three coaches have come and gone in three years. There are also those proposing to boycott the stadium in protest, while others, though disappointed, assure that they will continue to support the team.
