What's wrong with Juventus? Examining Massimiliano Allegri's post-Ronaldo struggles early in Serie A season

Juventus had to fight hard to avoid defeat at Spezia and earn their first three points of the season on Wednesday

At least Juventus now have a win to their name. A 3-2 victory over Spezia moved Juventus up to the giddy heights of 13th in the Serie A table, the gap to leaders Inter Milan eight points with five games played so far in the new Italian season.

An ignominious place in Juventus' history was just about avoided -- only the team of 1955-56 had gone five games winless to start a new season, ending it in ninth -- but the crisis is not over in Turin simply because they beat a side who finished last season in 15th. Massimiliano Allegri will not need reminding of how close he came to slipping deeper into the mire.

Perhaps jokingly, before the game he described the trip to Liguria as a relegation battle. Had Manuel Locatelli not blocked Janis Antiste's shot off the line with Spezia 2-1 up, he might not have found it so easy to make merry about his side's lowly standing in Italy.