Two-thirds of the way through Juventus’ busiest portion of the 2026-27 season to date, things are … not great.
It doesn’t take an expert to tell you that. We don’t need expansive tactical breakdowns to tell us that. We don’t need to hunt for things that they eye test may be telling for some sort of hope that there’s a turnaround on the horizon. Juventus have proven, on the field, that this team is currently a mess — and there’s no avoiding it or reason to think otherwise right now.
For the past couple
of days, Juventus have been in ritiro because of their struggles — the latest attempt to try and find some sort of short-term respite for the situation they find themselves in. Luciano Spalletti is on the hot seat, with reports swirling about just how long he might have at the helm. Juve CEO Giovanni Carnevali had what has been described as a rather stern chat with the squad following Wednesday night’s loss to Genoa — which has seen the club slump to a place in the standings where they are the same 11-point differential away from the bottom of the Serie A standings and the league leaders entering Matchday 10.
So, yeah … about this weekend.
In what is usually hyped as a big game for reasons that involve competing for the top four or even more, Napoli’s trip to Turin to face Juventus on Sunday night is more about two clubs — one of which one the Scudetto all of a year and a half ago — trying to get their seasons back on track to some degree. It’s especially true for Luciano Spalletti and Juventus, who have ended the day on Saturday in ninth place, seeing a club like Bologna — who was in the relegation zone when Raffaele Palladino took over as manager in mid-September — sit even with them on points and “little brother” Torino all of a point behind them in 10th place.
The fact is, we have absolutely zero clue about how going into ritiro will actually help a Juventus squad that is completely devoid of positive vibes these days. It feels like one of the last attempts Spalletti may have left in his arsenal to try and keep his job — especially with an international break looming after next weekend’s trip to Florence. (Remember that another trip to the Franchi was one of the final games for another recent Juve manager before an international break arrived.)
It may be something that helps this team regain any sort of focus — something they didn’t show against Genoa.
It may be something that doesn’t help a bit and things just end up being more of the same — something that wouldn’t surprise many of us considering what we saw against Genoa.
Either way, the odds of Juventus looking bad yet again feel a lot more likely than the opposite of that.
The thing is, Juve will be lining up against a Napoli squad on Sunday that, on the whole, haven’t all that great themselves so far this season. The move to bring in Max Allegri — who will be serving the second game of a two-match ban this weekend — to replace Antonio Conte hasn’t totally worked out the way that it did when it happened in Turin more than a decade ago. As I write this, Napoli sit on the same 14-point total through their first nine league fixtures, only two spots ahead of Juventus in the standings because they have a better goal differential. Their Champions League campaign — you know, the European competition Juventus aren’t part of this season — hasn’t gotten off to a good start, either, with just one win in their first three games.
In short, these are two teams that need a win in the worst possible way.
For Juventus, it may just be a thing that helps the current manager keep his job a little while longer as reports continue that he has the support of the club’s front office but the job security ain’t what it was a few weeks ago. Or maybe a win is what prolongs the inevitable and Spalletti becomes the latest manager to see the Juve backslide chew him up and spit him out just like it did what Thiago Motta and Igor Tudor before him.
We know Juventus need a win — especially against a rival like Napoli — in the worst possible way. It could be a relegation battler rolling through the Allianz Stadium this weekend and I would be saying the same thing. At this point, it doesn’t matter who it is, they just need to win. That’s something we usually reserve for the latter parts of the season the last couple of years as Juve try to qualify for the Champions League with a top-four finish. But now, with so much going wrong and things looking like they’re on the brink of completely falling apart under Spalletti, Juventus are reaching the kind of inflection point where they either start getting points or see the top four get so out of reach that even a strong resurgence under Spalletti or somebody else wouldn’t be enough to overcome the terrible start to the season.
At the very least, every single Juventus supporter wants to see what we didn’t against Genoa — a sense of wanting it, a sense of playing for the club that has so much history behind it, to prove that they are better than what they’ve shown. Essentially, we want to see the 11 players who take the field from the opening whistle against Napoli do the opposite of what we saw on Wednesday night at the Marassi.
And if that happens, then maybe things can potentially get a little bit better. Lord knows Juve need it in every possible way you can think of right now.
TEAM NEWS
- The big talk in the 24 hours or so before kickoff has involved if Spalletti will again change formations following the loss to Genoa. A back four could be set to return, with Lloyd Kelly possibly being fielded as a left back amidst the ongoing struggles of Andrea Cambiaso and the general sub-par level of Juan Cabal.
- Of course, all of this comes as injuries continue to be a consistent theme as the games go by. Not available to face Napoli are the following players: Kenan Yildiz, Manuel Locatelli, Khephren Thuram, Francisco Conceição, Zeki Çelik, Nico González and Kamil Grabara.
- You may notice that a name that has been on that list is not there anymore. That is because Jeff Ekhator has returned to training and could well be available to face Napoli on Sunday. If that’s the case, then it at least gives Spalletti another option at striker off the bench.
- Spalletti said at his pre-match press conference that he has “decisions to make about 50% of the team” when it comes to his starting lineup, but added “there are plenty of players I can rely on.”
- Also, in case you were wondering, Spalletti confirmed at his pre-match press conference that “I want to win matches.”
- Sunday will be Juventus’ 129th birthday. Let’s see if it actually ends up being a successful one.
JUVENTUS PLAYER TO WATCH
In all honesty, with the way Juventus are going these days, it doesn’t really matter who I choose for this section. They are team that looks to be sputtering about and with no real idea how to recover from the situation they find themselves in at the moment.
I could try and say that Randal Kolo Muani or Nick Woltemade need to do something they’ve barely done in Serie A this season — you know, score goals — and that would just be a repeated line from weeks on end now. Or that Douglas Luiz needs to be more like the player we saw against Lecce rather than the one from the loss to Genoa.
But, at the end of the day, Juventus don’t have a chance to win if they keep leaking goals. So, we let’s talk defense and the biggest summer signing, Jhon Lucumí, that was supposed to bolster that area of the field.
Napoli may not be the kind of team that they were under Conte a couple of years ago — at least domestically — but they still have a talented squad. And, in case you haven’t noticed, they are a team that has scored six more goals in Serie A this season than Juventus have — which is certainly quite the development when you remember that their manager is somebody who loves himself a 1-0 win if he can get one.
So as Gleison Bremer continues to be up and down, Juventus need Lucumí to be the steadying presence that he can be against the Rasmus Højlund-led attack for Napoli. It is pretty simple, ain’t it?
Like pretty much all of his teammates, Lucumí was not good — at all — against Genoa. We saw misplaced passes, we saw him struggling with his marking, we saw him struggle to recover with Juventus’ high line against Genoa on the counter. It was, simply, not very good from him (and everybody else in a pink jersey). While Bremer will likely be the main man marking Højlund on Sunday night, Lucumí will definitely get his crack at the Danish striker and the other attackers that Napoli have. If we see a repeat of Wednesday, then it’s going to be another rough outing for Juventus as they try to turn this spiraling season around.
While Juventus still, stastically, have one of the better defenses in Serie A so far this season, it doesn’t feel that way. The advanced metrics tell us one thing, but the eyes tell us something different. And especially with Juve’s attack being completely inconsistent and struggling to score goals, they are going to have to rely on Lucumí and the rest of the defense to try and get them through this rough patch.
The problem is, like the attack, we have absolutely no idea if they can turn their fortunes for the better.
MATCH INFO
When: Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026.
Where: Allianz Stadium, Turin, Italy.
Official kickoff time: 8:45 p.m. local time in Italy and across Europe, 7:45 p.m. in the United Kingdom, 2:45 p.m. Eastern time, 1:45 p.m. Central time, 11:45 a.m. Pacific time.
HOW TO WATCH
Television: Telemundo (United States); TLN (Canada), TNT Sports 1 (United Kingdom).
Online/Streaming: Paramount+, Peacock, Telemundo Deportes En Vivo (United States); DAZN Canada; fuboTV Canada (Canada); DAZN UK (United Kingdom); DAZN Italia, Sky GO Italia, NOW TV (Italy).
Other live viewing options can be found here, and as always, you can also follow along with us live and all the stupid things we say on Bluesky. Engage with Black & White & Read All Over’s match threads from your phone with the new SB Nation app. Commenting and interacting with your communities is easier than ever before with the Game Chat feature. The app is available currently in the U.S. on iOS and Android devices.
