Juventus head coach Massimiliano Allegri has blasted his players after Wednesday’s defeat to Sassuolo left then in 12th place in the Serie A table.

The Old Lady have won the Scudetto for the past four seasons but, after 10 games of the campaign, find themselves down in 12th place in the table with just 12 points to their name.

Juventus are already 11 points adrift of table-topping Roma and seemingly with little or no chance of retaining their title.

The champions were forced to play 50 minutes of the match with only 10 men after centre-back Giorgio Chiellini’s dismissal and went down to a first-half strike from Nicola Sansone.

There are similarities with how Premier League side Chelsea have fallen from grace this season, with both coaches seemingly under-pressure to keep hold of their job.

Whether Jose Mourinho is still at Stamford Bridge in May and Allegri remains at Juve only time will tell but the former Milan chief pulled no punches in his assessment of the mid-week display.

“I’m very disappointed with the way we approached this evening’s game,” he told the club’s official website. “There was no need for us to be tense and commit fouls near our area,” he said.

“There’s absolutely no excuse for it, we must grow quickly and take responsibility. We are Juventus and our approach needs to be different.”

Juventus are next in action on Saturday when they take on Torino in the Turin derby, and are priced at 1.62 to take the points with Giampiero Ventura’s side on offer at 6.00 to pull off a shock victory.