Juventus, season over in October: Spalletti at the end of the road, no longer in control of the team. Del Piero needed as president

Defeat to Genoa brings Juventus face to face with reality, and changes are now urgently needed

"Serie A title? Juventus' ambition is always to win." John Elkann said it on 17 August this year. By the end of October, Juventus' title hopes are already over. An unwanted record. Juventus still have the Coppa Italia, the Europa League and a fourth-place finish that would secure Champions League qualification to pursue. After the disastrous defeat to Genoa, so similar to the loss to Lazio ten days ago, those goals look unrealistic today.

Elkann is right: winning is in Juventus' DNA and must always be the ambition of the club, the manager and the team. But today Juventus are light years away from being a winning team.

The management aren't there yet. They arrived only a few months ago and are still searching for direction. Nor is the manager (any more?): he never seems to have recovered from the shock of his spell with the national team and looks a world away from the man who captivated Napoli. The players clearly aren't there either, as Spalletti himself has now made clear. How many Juventus players would start for Inter, Roma or Como today?

How can they turn things around? They can't change all the players, so they must first take a hard look at Spalletti. In recent weeks, several signs have suggested the manager has lost control of the squad, both tactically and in terms of cohesion and shared purpose. Important matches loom, with no margin for error: the Tuscan manager's fate hangs on the matches against Napoli, AZ and Fiorentina. Then comes the break, a good time to make a change.

Beyond the manager, this Juventus side have neither a soul nor an image supporters can recognise as their own. They need a recognisable face who embodies the club's identity and represents Juventus. A Del Piero instead of a Ferrero.