Andrea Pirlo has admitted that Juventus have underperformed since he took over as head coach last summer.
Juve were held to a 1-1 draw with Fiorentina in Serie A on Sunday and have now dropped points in 14 games in the Italian top-flight.
The Turin side are 13 points behind leaders Inter and are set to miss out on the league title for the first time since 2012.
What has been said?
Pirlo, who was initially appointed coach of the Under-23 team last July but took over the first-team just nine days later, says the season has not played out as expected.
“It is different, as the initial expectations both for me and the team were different. I don’t believe that we worked the way we wanted to," he told Sky Sport.
“You learn with every game that goes by, but I am not happy considering the initial expectations and I don’t think the club is either.”
Could Pirlo be sacked?
Despite the disappointing season the Bianconeri have had, sporting director Fabio Paratici insists the coach will remain in charge as long as they seal a place in next season's Champions League.
"With the qualification in the Champions Pirlo certainly remains," he said. "But honestly we don't even think about not finishing in the top four, also because we have great confidence in our team and our coach."
But Juve are not guaranteed to finish in the top four places this year.
Napoli, who are currently fifth, are just three points behind with a game in hand while Lazio are eight points adrift and have two games to catch up.
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