Juventus, who is up and who is down: Spalletti, avoidable jibes and genius, the 20-goal striker, Inter and Roma far away

The table is clearly underwhelming. The margins are tight and first place is only three points away, but five teams still sit ahead of Juventus and two more are level with them: Roma, Inter and Lazio on 13 points, Cagliari on 12, AC Milan on 11, Frosinone on 10 (+5 goal difference), Juventus on 10 (+4) and Como on 10 (+2). It is still too early to draw firm conclusions, we reiterate, but the objective fact is that Juventus finished last season in 6th place and now, after five matches, they are 7th. More than the points tally, the clearest thing is that there are two teams who were already stronger and better equipped than the Old Lady (Roma and Inter), and after the transfer window and the opening matches they seem to have widened the gap over Juventus and the other rivals. The quality on show in the 2-2 at the Olimpico between Roma and Inter underlined the difference that, today, exists between Gasperini's and Chivu's teams and all the others. Juventus, meanwhile, can compete with the other sides currently occupying the upper reaches of the table.

The other significant figure is the number of goals scored. Spalletti's side are currently showing they share the goals around. Plenty of Juventus players score, as they did last season, but not often enough. And above all, there is no sign of a striker who could break the 20-goal mark. In short, Juventus have neither a Malen (already on 6 league goals) nor a Lautaro Martinez (4 goals). That is down to a transfer market that brought Kolo Muani back to Turin. He started the season very badly before showing signs of improvement in the last two matches (NEC and Atalanta), while Woltemade is also coming off a negative season and, like the Frenchman, is more of a second striker (or support striker) than an out-and-out centre-forward.

Among the individuals, those who have stood out most so far have been Nico Gonzalez, Douglas Luiz, Bremer (despite the lapse against Sassuolo), Vicario and Alajbegovic. Zhegrova has produced a few flashes, while Conceicao sees plenty of the ball but too often without much end product, apart from the goal he finally found again in the last match. Lucumì still needs to impose himself with greater authority, while Kalulu seems to have slipped back a little compared to last season and Koopmeiners shows the usual flaws along with a few strengths (one goal and one assist). We have spoken about Kolo Muani, in the laborious search for himself, and Woltemade, still a fish out of water.

That said, one thing to put to one side is the remarkable number of injuries, a factor that, even now, is forcing Carnevali and Massara to look for a goalkeeper among the free agents. That brings this assessment to Spalletti. In his dealings with the media, he could have done without the nasty quip about Kolo Muani after the first match ("He hasn’t played for two years, there must be a reason"), probably fuelled by his frustration at not having the kind of centre-forward he would have liked. The upshot was that, in the next three matches, the Frenchman played even worse before recovering in the last two. On the pitch, meanwhile, the kind of squad the club have put at his disposal, along with the injuries, is forcing Spalletti to rediscover the best version of himself, something we have not seen for a while. "I will not let Carnevali down and I will become what he wants, I will improve," the manager said after receiving the backing of the club hierarchy following the defeat to Sassuolo. Then something new did indeed appear against NEC and Sassuolo, including a back three for certain spells of the match and a midfield four. But more is needed: against stronger opponents, with so many injured players and without top-level stars, particularly in attack, Spalletti is being asked to make the difference with his ideas and his genius, as he did brilliantly at Napoli in 2022-23.