"Juve without ideas, running, willingness" was Luciano Spalletti's verdict after Juventus's 0-3 home defeat to Lazio on 2026-10-18. He also admitted he does not know whether the squad still follows him, and that is landing at a bad moment for a side sitting eighth in Serie A with 11 points from 7 matches.

Spalletti's warning

The defeat to Lazio came with Juventus already carrying a modest league return. They have scored only 9 goals and conceded 8, so the problem is not confined to one end of the pitch.

Spalletti's own words have sharpened the pressure because they go beyond a bad result. Speaking to TuttoMercatoWeb, he said: "there are no tactics if you do not put your heart into it." He followed that with the line about not knowing whether the team now follows him.

That is a coach sounding uncertain about the state of his own dressing room, not just frustrated with one performance. The club's next 6 matches before the international break, 4 in the league and 2 in the Europa League, now sit in that context.

Conte in the frame

Juventus are still publicly backing Spalletti. Di Marzio said there is "currently no Conte plan" inside the club, while another report said Juventus remain convinced Spalletti is still the right coach and that no other options are being considered.

At the same time, Antonio Conte keeps coming back into the conversation as the leading alternative if results worsen. Other names mentioned in that wider discussion include Stefano Pioli, Simone Inzaghi and Francesco Farioli, but Conte remains the one most often attached to the job.

The key point is that Juventus are not acting like a club ready to make a sudden move. They are also not behaving like a side with much room left for more flat performances. Eighth place, 11 points and a 0-3 defeat at home have already made the margin for error small enough.

The immediate test is the run before the international break, with 6 games split between Serie A and the Europa League. If Juventus steady themselves there, the support for Spalletti stays in place, but the talk around Conte does not disappear easily.

Written by Daniel Hartley with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 5 outlets. How we work →