Sunday's 2-1 defeat against Palermo brought to an end Juve's unbeaten run this campaign and saw them drop to 11th in the standings, four points behind the Serie A lead.

"It's a difficult time for us," admitted Cobolli Gigli. "But I am confident that soon we will come out of this situation.

"As for Ranieri, we have no doubts in our minds regarding his job."

The Turin giants have failed to impress this campaign, with a lack of goalscoring having hindered the Bianconeri, whose biggest margin of victory so far has been 1-0.

After domestic draws against Catania, Sampdoria and Bate Borisov in the Champions League, Ranieri had hoped for a better outcome at Turin's Stadio Olimpico but it was not to be.

Juventus captain Alessandro Del Piero had cancelled out Fabrizio Miccoli's opener.

The Bianconeri then suffered a setback after Mohamed Sissoko was given his marching orders before the interval leaving Juve to play a man light for the entire second half.

Palermo took advantage with Levan Mchedlidze scoring the winner nine minutes from time.

"This defeat at home is a blow," admitted Ranieri. "We really wanted the victory after three consecutive draws but it became an uphill battle.

"I don't want to give any excuses but to play with 10 men is not easy and I think my players did the best they could."

Ranieri will be under pressure to win at Napoli on October 19 when Serie A resumes after the international break.