De Laurentiis backs Allegri after the 2-0 defeat to Juventus

Allegri's job is safe, at least for now. After the 2-0 defeat in Turin, Aurelio De Laurentiis phoned his coach to give him his support.

The call came after a Sunday that Allegri spent suspended. Marco Landucci took his place on the bench while Allegri watched from the stands, and that is where his anger started. At full time he went down to the dressing room and let the squad have it. He told them they had played without any edge and criticised their attitude in the second half.

The numbers back him up. Juventus had 18 shots to Napoli's 7, and only one of Napoli's was on target. The corner count was 13-4. Napoli's 51% of the ball produced nothing.

The president looks at the treatment room

Besides backing his coach, the president is worried and puzzled by the injuries that keep hitting the squad and shaping both team selection and performances. He has reason to be. Lobotka, Neres, Badiashile, Spinazzola, Buongiorno, Favasuli and Alisson Santos will all miss the game in Porto, and Di Lorenzo and Olivera did not even travel.

But that question has to go to the club. Is a treatment room this full in early November just bad luck? Pre-season training, how players' workloads are managed and the squad assembled in the summer all play a part. The people responsible for those things are not the players now taking the blame.

Putting all the weight on the squad is also open to question. Allegri is right to demand more bite. But the target he set himself is a top-four finish, and after 10 rounds Napoli are eighth on 14 points. They are 9 points behind Como in fourth and 14 behind leaders Lazio. Inter, Roma, Milan and Juventus, the clubs Napoli measure themselves against, are all ahead. After two league titles in three seasons, the fanbase does not judge a coach by how hard he talks in the dressing room.

The board's trust also has an expiry date that nobody writes down. The owners will be following the next games closely, and the underlying message is simple: results come first. A contract with no clauses protects the coach on paper. On the pitch, only the team's performances protect him.

Porto, then Lazio

The squad is already in Portugal. Napoli face Porto at the Estádio do Dragão on Wednesday 4 November at 21:00 CET (20:00 UK, 15:00 ET). Porto have lost all three of their Champions League games but have won all ten of their league matches.

Napoli's European campaign so far reads Napoli 0-1 Arsenal, Villarreal 3-1 Napoli and Napoli 4-3 Bodø/Glimt. On Sunday 8 November at 12:30 CET, leaders Lazio come to the Maradona, and Allegri will be back on the bench after his two-match ban.

The players heard Allegri's voice after Turin. Wednesday will show whether they listened.