Pirlo rates his debut managerial season as 'six out of 10'
Juventus's nine-year reign looks set to end as they are 12 points adrift of Inter, but despite the pressures Andrea Pirlo's side kept their push for Champions League football on track against Genoa.
"My idea of football is to dominate the game, but this season we haven't always managed to put it into action," said Pirlo.
"Every day you feel under scrutiny, me in particular because I'm in my first coaching experience.
"So far I give myself an estimate of six out of 10 because I could do more."
Juan Cuadrado pulled the ball back to an unmarked Dejan Kulusevski to curl in the opener after four minutes.
Juve doubled their lead after 22 minutes when Federico Chiesa forced a Mattia Perin save with a Cristiano Ronaldo follow-up coming off the post before Alvaro Morata sent in the rebound.
Gianluca Scamacca headed in to pull a goal back for Genoa four minutes off the break, with Marko Pjaca missing two quick-fire chances to equalise for the visitors six minutes later.
Substitute Weston McKennie sealed the win after 70 minutes for a valuable three points before next weekend's trip to Champions League rivals Atalanta.
Napoli returned to winning ways after their midweek defeat to Juventus with goals from Fabian Ruiz 10 minutes before the break and Victor Osimhen three minutes from time.
Gennaro Gattuso's side climbed one point ahead of Atalanta who travel to Fiorentina later on Sunday.
Sixth-placed Lazio beat Hellas Verona 1-0 thanks to a Sergej Milinkovic-Savic header in injury time.