'Campiomatto' (mad championship) blurred the main headline of Monday's Gazzetta dello Sport following defeats to Juventus and Roma and a slump in form for Ronaldinho and Milan who were held to a goalless draw by Cagliari.

Ten-man Juve were beaten at home by Palermo and Roma finished with nine men as they went down to Siena. Champions Inter, meanwhile, are topping the standings along with unfancied teams Lazio and Udinese, a mere point ahead of other less favourite sides Palermo and Atalanta.

Roma are stuttering badly. They only have seven points from six matches. The misfiring Juve are two points better off for their worst start to a season in many years.

Juventus are 11th in the standings, level with Genoa and just ahead of Siena and Lecce - two sides many expect to battle it out against relegation this season.

Life has not been easy for Juventus in the Champions League either as they struggled to beat Zenit SP at home last month and had to come from two goals down to avoid an embarrassing defeat against BATE Borisov last week.

But what is going wrong with Juve this season?

A section of the fans want coach Claudio Ranieri out. Others are blaming the club for not having bolstered the squad enough in summer but the more moderate are pointing fingers to a long list of injured players.

Juve's woes emanate mainly from all these elements. For instance, the club should have invested more on new players to add to Ranieri's options. Juve badly lack inadequate cover in key departments like central defence. The home setback to Palermo on Sunday brought to surface Juve's suspect rearguard, particularly when Giorgio Chiellini and Nicola Legrottaglie are unavailable.

A few days ago, sporting director Alessio Secco stated that Juve's major challenge on the transfer market for next season should be to find an adequate replacement for Pavel Nedved.

But this move should have been effected this year because the Czech midfielder is already 36 and one doubts whether he can be consistent enough in a jam-packed 2008/09 campaign at home and abroad.

The absence of regular 'old guard' players like Cristiano Zanetti, David Trezeguet and Legrottaglie has had devastating effects on the performance of the team. At the same time, newcomers Olof Mellberg, Dario Knezevic, Christian Poulsen and Sebastian Giovinco are still looking to settle down in their new environs.

Also, Ranieri has to decide which position to deploy Giovinco. On Sunday, it was clear that Juve cannot afford to have the U-21 star as a schemer behind the strikers because with a three-man midfield, the team looked in disarray and there was little protection to the defence, particularly after Mohamed Sissoko was red-carded just before half-time.

The break coming up for the World Cup qualifiers could not have come at a more opportune time for Juventus and other teams lacking consistency in their play, like Roma and Milan, for that matter.

Ranieri has to go back to basics and rediscover the team's winning touch of last season.

He has to bring the confidence back in his lads and the club should make sure that the dressing room is united. The return from injury of key players will also help Juve lift their game as they take on Napoli, Real Madrid and Torino next.

Serie A statistics

2nd win - the first since February 18, 1962 (4-2) - for Palermo in 23 visits to Juve's home ground as the Sicilians interrupted the Turin team's unbeaten start thanks to a 2-1 victory. The arrival of new coach Davide Ballardini has changed Palermo's fortunes to the better... four wins and a defeat in five outings. Walter Zenga's Catania pursued with their positive start as they held on to their first draw in Reggio Calabria against Reggina. So far, the Sicilians collected five points more with respect to last season.

2 defeats for Roma in their last two visits to Siena. On Sunday, the Giallorossi continued to fall further off the pace as Siena collected their first win after two draws and a defeat. Joint-leaders Lazio left it late to salvage a home draw against Lecce. This was the first drawn result between these two sides since December 2004 (3-3). Atalanta were in a class of their own as they beat Sampdoria 4-2. The upset was Samp's third in a row in Bergamo.

5th straight defeat for Bologna as Daniele Arrigoni's side were beaten by Inter 2-1. Not that Bologna played badly on Saturday but Zlatan Ibrahimovic and co. made all the difference as the visitors confirmed their dire record at the San Siro, where they have last prevailed on February 8, 1998 (1-0). Genoa maintained their 100 per cent home record as they overcame Napoli 3-2 in a pulsating match. Napoli's last win in Genoa came on August 24, 2001 (2-0 in B).

5th game in a row (two draws and three defeats) without a win for Torino as they were undone by a goal in each half by high-flying Udinese. This was Torino's third straight defeat at the Friuli Stadium. Udinese, with only three goals conceded, possess the best defensive record in Serie A.

9 players - Daniele Dessena, Pietro Accardi (both Sampdoria), Francesco Scardina (Chievo), Marco Rossi, Sokratis Papastathopoulos (both Genoa), Mohamed Sissoko (Juventus), Michele Paolucci (Catania), Philippe Mexes and Christian Panucci (both Roma) - received marching orders. Two penalties were awarded by referees last weekend. Adriano made no mistake for Inter from the spot and Antonio Cassano scored his second of the day from a penalty. Lazio possess the most prolific attack with 14 goals to their credit. By contrast, bottom side Cagliari have only one goal to show in six outings. The Sardinians, who together with Sampdoria and Reggina are still without a win, have not scored since a 31st-minute strike against Lazio (1-4) by Joaquin Larrivey on the opening day. Following the slip-ups by Juve and Napoli last weekend, there are no undefeated teams in the Serie A.

26 goals were scored on the sixth day: 15 coming from the hosts and the remaining 11 from the visitors, who managed two victories. Foreigners contributed with 11 goals while there were 12 first-half goals. Total number of goals scored so far is 134. Neither hat-tricks nor own goals were registered. Fabio Quagliarella (Udinese), Sergio Floccari (Atalanta) and Antonio Cassano (Sampdoria) grabbed a brace each. Simone Inzaghi (Lazio) and Levan Mchedlidze (Palermo) came on as substitutes and scored. For Inzaghi this was his first Serie A goal in four years. Mauro Zarate, of Lazio, still leads the scorers' list with six goals (two from penalties). The Argentine is followed by Diego Milito (Genoa) and Fabrizio Miccoli (Palermo), both on the five-goal mark.