Spalletti demands respect and plans to change half his Juventus side

"We have to win back the respect that many people have taken away from us, and that comes above all from mental conviction." That was how Spalletti opened his press conference before Juventus-Napoli, which kicks off at the Allianz Stadium on Sunday 1 November at 20:45 CET (19:45 UK, 14:45 ET).

For him, the game will be decided in the head first. "It will take something unbreakable: the muscles can fade, but the head cannot." He added: "There is only one way to win matches: to want it more than the others."

He called the question about the club's faith in him "a bit provocative", then answered it head-on. "I don't need to be wrapped in cotton wool. I only need a reaction from the team." He ended with a challenge: "If anyone thinks I will step back even a tiny bit from my work, they had better start expecting something different. Whatever the results from here on."

He knows other names are already being linked with his job. He chose to answer bluntly.

Half the team changes

The line to note on the football side was a different one: "I have to make decisions on 50% of the team." After Genoa, then, half of Juventus will change.

He is building around Locatelli, whom he compares to De Rossi, the player he coached at Roma: "He carries out what the coach passes on to the team without fail." He was just as warm about McKennie, who in his view "sees things in a very similar way".

So far this Juventus side have scored 11 and conceded 10. They do not score much, and they give away even less. Against a team like that, every mistake at the back costs you.

A hug for a friend who will not be on the bench

"I would like to have Max on the bench next to mine. After the game I will go and find him to give him a hug, because he is a great friend and a great coach." Allegri will not be there, though. He is serving the second game of the two-match ban he picked up against Roma, so Landucci will again sit in our dugout beside Spalletti's.

There is a strange twist to it. The coach who won Napoli's third Scudetto (the Serie A title) faces Napoli without the man who won everything in Turin, and our side will be run from the bench by the assistant.

"I don't need to be wrapped in cotton wool. I only need a reaction from the team."

Where it hurts us

What matters for us, though, is this. Spalletti is firing his players up on desire and mentality just as we go to Turin with our defence at its worst. We have conceded 11 goals in nine games, Lobotka is out for six weeks, and Rrahmani has been called up despite having the flu.

In Monza, even in a 1-4 win, we allowed 12 shots to a side that had 35% of the ball. Di Lorenzo admitted it too: something is not working at the back.

That leaves one question. A wounded Juventus will come out to bite. Will Napoli play like they did in the second half at Monza, or go back to sitting on a lead? Against a team that scores this little, waiting for them can look like the safe choice. We think it is exactly what Spalletti is hoping for.

The stakes are clear. Both sides are on 14 points, and the winner leaves the other behind. Como, in fourth, have 20. Porto away at the Dragão follows on Wednesday 4 November at 21:00 CET. First come 90 minutes in which, as Spalletti himself put it, the hugs only come afterwards.