‘In Italy the most important thing is winning’.

A frank and truthful statement from Fabio ‘Il Capitano’ Cannavaro. However, despite the improvement in results in the past week, the level of performance is far from desirable. What seems to be the root of the problem? Is it irrelevant that the team is playing so poorly if the positive results continue? One thing is certain, with Sampdoria travelling to Turin on Wednesday, Ciro Ferrara will need to see a drastic improvement from his troops.

As the full-time whistle sounded in Siena on Sunday, the Bianconeri moved into 3rd place in Serie A, four points adrift of leaders Inter. Amauri’s header proved to be enough to seal the win for Juve, who now look as though they are finally putting a disastrous set of results behind them.

Having lost ground on table-topping rivals Inter in recent weeks, through disappointing draws against Bologna and Fiorentina, coupled with the loss away at Palermo, it looks as though perhaps they have now turned a corner. However, the news of Vincenzo Iaquinta requiring knee surgery will come as a blow, his goals have proved significance up to this point. There should be enough strength in depth in this squad to cover his absence, especially with Amauri finally finding his goal-scoring touch. Juve now have a real threat up front with a player full of confidence.

Yet his efforts aside, the Bianconeri have looked distinctively average, with the treatment room seemingly witnessing more action than the Juve faithful. Battling 1-0 victories over lesser opponents such as Siena and Maccabi Haifa have kept us satisfied, but much more is expected. As the old adage goes, ‘a true sign of champions is to win when not playing well’...we most certainly hope that this is the case. My only worry would be that, no disrespect to Siena, against a better side, the result on Sunday could so easily have been different. After an immediate impact in his first few games in the famous black and white striped jersey, his two assists in as many games aside, Diego has failed to drive this team forward in the way some would have hoped. It was always a dangerous tactic to employ by resting so much hope on the shoulders of one man. Perhaps the system needs to change, the personnel are sure enough up to the challenge but something isn’t quite clicking just yet.

As we look forward to entertaining surprise package Sampdoria in Week 10, the question is...will we have enough to defeat a team currently labelled as the best footballing side in Italy. With forward-trio Antonio Cassano, Giampaolo Pazzini and Daniele Mannini running riot this season, it will be a tough task to prevent, maintain and attack. Through this difficult period, there have been more questions than answers regarding Ciro Ferrara and his team. Are they strong enough, or perhaps even good enough to win the Scudetto this year? With Inter beginning to find their stride and consistently getting the job done, Juve really need to up the ante and show what they’re made of. There is an abundance of time left this season, but to play catch-up with Inter for the next 29 weeks may prove too difficult and eventually turn out to be a fruitless challenge.