Juventus coach Claudio Ranieri insists there's no panic over their preseason form.

"The set-backs that we have encountered were to be expected," the ex-Parma tactician insisted. "In order to grow you need weaknesses to emerge early on so you can address them."

The main focus of recent criticisms has been the defence which has looked disorganised and uneasy at times.

"It's just normal that the defence will take a while to get used to each other," Ranieri continued.

"The midfield needs to help more with the defending as when Tiago Mendes and Sergio Almiron play together in the middle of the park they both have a tendency to go forward.

"Against Hamburg I asked Antonio Nocerino and Cristiano Zanetti to cover more and the result was immediately evident."