Spalletti Leading Juventus to Historically Slow Start

Luciano Spalletti strengthened his grip on the Juventus bench by beating Napoli convincingly, but he and the team were unable to build on it, dropping two more points against Fiorentina a week later. The Bianconeri have yet to prevail in back-to-back Serie A matches.

They were unable to take advantage of a pair of big games elsewhere to close the gap. According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, the Old Lady had started this slowly just twice in the last 20 years. In 2015/2016, when they staged had an incredible comeback, ripping off a 15-game winning streak and winning the Scudetto. Then, in 2021/2022, when they sprinted late to qualify for the UEFA Champions League.

Juventus currently sit six points behind Milan, with Como and Frosinone in between. They hadn’t been this poor early even in their worst seasons in recent history, with Ciro Ferrara, Alberto Zaccheroni and Luigi Delneri in their dugout.

A year ago, they had done marginally better at this stage of the competition, picking up 19 points, but they were closer to their rivals. They already have a double-digit gap from first place. If they don’t improve their current point average, 1.64, their projected tally would at most suffice for a sixth- or seventh-placed finish.

It’s been groundhog day, as they have had strong displays only against small teams or when the sky was falling and the coach seemed on the verge of getting the boot, prompting decent reactions. They have been hit hard by injuries, but that’s not an acceptable way to go. Plus, they are rarely in control of matches, given their deficiencies on both ends.