Luciano Spalletti said Juventus' defeat to Genoa was "difficult to accept" as he questioned the attitude of some of his players and their willingness to "battle for the ball". 

Spalletti watched on as Juventus were beaten 2-0 at the Stadio Comunale Luigi Ferraris on Wednesday, with Kingsley Ehizibue and Tommaso Baldanzi on target in the first half. 

The result saw Juventus lose three of their first nine Serie A matches of a season for only the third time in the three-points-per-win-era (from 1994-95), after 1995-96 and 2015-16.

Juventus are already 11 points adrift of league leaders Inter, piling the pressure on Spalletti, who has failed to build on last season's momentum so far this time around. 

However, Spalletti pointed the blame towards his players, telling DAZN Italia: "We have to apologise to the fans for this performance, first and foremost. 

"Anything we say right now can seem wrong, so we need some time to get a clear idea of the situation.

"It's tough to talk about the fact Baldanzi dug out a position behind our defence, as we never found the right balance with him.

"We also did our own fair share to help Genoa with their two goals, while we had a couple of really big chances that we were unable to convert.

"It's difficult to accept the level of running and intensity of challenges, because we lost duels in attack, in defence, we lost them all over the place.

"Sooner or later, we need to figure out what's going on and raise the physical level, the willingness to battle for the ball."

FT | | The game ends. @EASPORTSFC #GenoaJuve https://t.co/2iZGKVb65l

— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) October 28, 2026

Things do not get easier for Juventus either, with Spalletti's former side Napoli the visitors to the Allianz Stadium this Sunday. 

Napoli have also made a stuttering start to their Serie A campaign, with both teams level on 14 points, but Massimiliano Allegri's side are one place higher on goal difference. 

"I will experience this as always, with great emotion, because I have a strong sense of humanity and sentiment towards the people of Naples, a city it is impossible not to love when you are inside it," Spalletti said of facing Napoli. "If you manage to win a Scudetto, naturally that is magnified by a thousand."

Juventus' form in Serie A has been in stark contrast compared to the Europa League, with the Serie A giants taking seven points from their first three games in the competition.

Spalletti, though, remained concerned about his team at this stage of the season. 

"What worries me is that I am struggling to let the players understand football has changed. Before anything else, you need to win these duels, deal with being harassed all over the pitch, because that's what football is now," Spalletti said.

"When we try to replicate it in training, we struggle to get them to achieve this level.

"That's partly because we don't have time to train now and have very few alternatives, so the fatigue piles up. That worries me a little.

"Every time we need to take a step forward, try to do something different, but we need the time to make it work, and we don't have that."