Juventus players will start
their pre-match training camp for Saturday's Turin derby a day
early on Thursday as punishment for their poor showing in
Wednesday's 1-0 loss at Sassuolo.
The defeat, sealed by a spectacular freekick by
Sassuolo's Nicola Sansone, is the fourth that the reigning
champions have notched up in 10 Serie A games so far this
season.
It leaves them trailing leaders AS Roma by 11 points in
12th place in the standings.
"In the first half (against Sassuolo) we did not respect
the Juve shirt," France full back Patrice Evra told Sky on
Thursday.
"But I guarantee that we'll have the right attitude in
the derby (against Torino).
"We deserve the training camp. Maybe some players do not
realise how bad things are. We are responsible for this
situation".
Being in a training camp means players must spend 24
hours a day with their team mates without returning home.
Italian clubs' sometimes use camps as a punishment for
poor form.
Last week Juventus Chairman Andrea Agnelli said that the
changes to Juventus's squad in the close-season could not
justify their current plight.
The Turin giants bade farewell to Argentine striker
Carlos Tevez, Italy playmaker Andrea Pirlo and Chile midfielder
Arturo Vidal in the summer - cornerstones of the team that won
the last four scudetti and reached the Champions League final
last season.
They also signed several quality reinforcements though,
such as Croatia forward Mario Mandzukic, Brazilian midfielder
Hernanes and Argentine striker Paulo Dybala.
"Mitigating circumstances must never become an alibi,"
coach Massimiliano Allegri said on his Twitter account,
@OfficialAllegri.
"A change of attitude is needed at once".
Some Juve fans are calling for Allegri's head, saying
Juve's success last season - when they also won the Italian Cup
- was down to the playing mechanisms imposed by his predecessor,
Italy coach Antonio Conte.
Juve won three consecutive Serie A titles under Conte
before he quit last year.
But Italy and Juve captain Gianluigi Buffon said the
players must take responsibility.
"If we don't want to sweat and fight, we risk worse
embarrassments than this," Buffon said.
"We played for 45 minutes without emotional intensity,
without bite.
"At 38 years of age I don't want to suffer this sort of
embarrassment, like many of my team mates.
"Now we have to show that".
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