Juventus ordered to camp over dire form

(ANSA) - Rome, October 29 - 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".