Juve's Champions League hopes are no longer in their hands as they head for 11th-placed Bologna needing a win and hoping rivals Napoli and AC Milan slip up.
"The fact that it has been so long raises expectations. We are a top club and we know we have worked well and prepared well for this game," Pioli told a news conference.
"We must be mentally prepared. These matches are always complicated and never simple."
"The project is on stand-by. The project exists, but half of them have left, tired of what they have heard over 24 hours, saying they don't want to continue," said Perez.