The message from Turin, delivered a day after the defeat at the Mapei Stadium, was that the coach stays.

“Changing coaches is not in my nature; we must try to program and build; we must give time and be patient, knowing that we will have to swallow some bitter pills,” Carnevali told Sky Sport Italia.

Carnevali went further on Spalletti personally.

“Luciano is an extraordinary coach, one of the best there is.”

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Adzic winner puts Spalletti under scrutiny

Juventus lost 3-2 in Reggio Emilia on Sunday, 13 September, with Vasilije Adzic, a Juventus loanee at Sassuolo, scoring the winner in the 94th minute after Edon Zhegrova had twice pulled the visitors level. It was the club’s first defeat of the Serie A season.

Carnevali also framed the result in a wider context.

“In football, there are cycles; there are periods when you are at the peak and others when you go through difficult times. Our goal is to win. Talk counts for very little,” he added in the same interview.

Spalletti’s start to the campaign now reads two wins, one draw and one defeat from four Serie A matches. On the club’s ambitions, Carnevali said the plan was clear.

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“Season goals? To win, then we can finish in the top three or four,” he told Corriere dello Sport.

Carnevali took over from Damien Comolli as chief executive earlier this year and has spent the summer overhauling the squad Spalletti now works with. The next test comes at the Allianz Stadium on Thursday, 17 September, when Juventus begin their Europa League campaign against NEC Nijmegen at 9pm local time. A Serie A meeting with Atalanta follows on 20 September.

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