Viola reflect after poor show

Fiorentina's convincing 3-1 victory over Lecce at the Via del Mare Stadium in midweek led many to believe that the team from Florence were indeed good enough to launch a serious challenge for the honours after a barren spell of several years.

The success down south came only three days after Fiorentina's emphatic home win over Udinese, a team that, like Fiorentina, are ex-pected to battle it out for a Champions League berth.

The back-to-back wins were preceded by a vital home win against Sampdoria on the opening day and a 2-2 draw at Messina.

In those first four outings, Fiorentina gave a clear impression that they were a much-improved side than last season. From that point of view, the weekend clash with Inter was of fundamental importance for Cesare Prandelli's men because their true potential was under scrutiny.

But, Inter dominated from start to finish, created numerous scoring chances and had control of the game.

Fiorentina looked a modest mid-table outfit with the sole aim being to limit the damage.

This is the exact opposite of what Prandelli had in mind. His attack-minded teams have one common characteristic - they always go all out for victory. So what went wrong at the San Siro?

Was it a case that Inter were too strong or is it that Fiorentina are strong with the weak and weak with the strong?

It will not take long before we will have clear and precise answers for these pertinent questions because in their next two outings, Fiorentina are due to meet Livorno and Lazio.

Then, in the space of 14 days, starting November 20, they host Milan, before travelling to the capital to take on Roma and then back home to clash with rivals Juventus.

Prandelli is likely to view this sequence of fixtures only as an opportunity to test his wits against the other contenders for the top spots in the Serie A standings.

Positive thinking has rampaged through the club ever since he succeeded Dino Zoff at the helm of Fiorentina.

The ex-Parma mentor is striving to deepen the club's ambitions. Very few Italian soccer followers would have expected such exploits from Prandelli, who only some years ago was sacked by strugglers Lecce and Venezia after a few months in the job.

Prandelli made a name for himself when he was at Parma.

There, he launched the career of various emerging talents among whom Adriano, Mutu and Gilardino.

Prandelli has a trace of the maverick in his character and a breach with convention has its value at a club in the habit of under-achievement. Despite spending a fortune on the transfer market, Fiorentina came within a whisker of being relegated to the Serie B last season.

They only managed to stave off the drop on the very last day following a clear 3-0 home win over Brescia. In summer, Fiorentina have been the main protagonists of the transfer wheelings and dealings in Italy.

Christian Brocchi, Giuseppe Pancaro (both from Milan), Alessandro Gamberini (Bologna), Luca Toni (Palermo), Michele Pazienza (Udinese), Sebastien Frey (Parma), Marco Di Loreto (Perugia) and Stefano Fiore (Valencia) were the major signings of an otherwise revolutionised squad.

Prandelli must have reflected profoundly after Sunday's setback.

Although the poor showing in Milan was a step behind nothing is lost for Prandelli's band. Fiorentina have everything in place to finish high in the standings.

They still look to be on the right track but will they reach their pre-determined objective?

Serie A statistics

1st win for Chievo in five league visits to the Luigi Ferraris stadium. Giuseppe Pillon's side caused the biggest surprise of the day as they overcame Sampdoria, who were coming from successive wins over Reggina, Milan and Treviso. Chievo went all out in search of a win following their midweek home upset to Inter. And so was it as the visitors recorded their second away success following the 3-1 win over Reggina on the third day. Champions League hopefuls Udinese continued to show signs of strain as they went down to an unexpected 0-2 defeat to strugglers Reggina. This was Udinese's third straight defeat and the second game in a row in which striker Vincenzo Iaquinta was left out due to a dispute over the extension of his contract. Siena bounced back from defeats against Milan and Palermo and a lacklustre draw with Ascoli as they beat Messina for the first time in over three years.

2 teams - Juventus and Livorno - are still unbeaten. Finding Juventus perched at the top of the table is no big news but the fact that Livorno are currently third in the standings after five games is a surprise. On Sunday, Roberto Donadoni's men were not up to their best but still managed to squeeze past newcomers Ascoli. The turning point of the game was the sending-off of Ascoli defender Mirko Cudini after only 28 minutes. Ascoli's most recent of two draws in six league visits to Livorno came in November 1960 (1-1 in Serie C). Roma continued to fall further off the pace as they could not go beyond a goalless draw against a makeshift Cagliari side. This was the sixth draw - the first since November 28, 1993 (1-1) - in 27 Serie A meetings between these two sides. Runners-up Inter, who cross swords with Juventus on Sunday, recorded their third win on the trot after handing Fiorentina their first defeat of the season. The last time the Viola conquered Inter's Giuseppe Meazza stadium was on May 7, 2000 (4-0).

2 nd straight win for Empoli after three defeats, thanks to substitute Nicola Pozzi's first goal ever in Serie A. Empoli-Lecce was heading to a goalless draw until Pozzi's goal midway through the second half. This was Empoli's first home win against Lecce since April 1998 (5-1 in Serie A). Although the visitors had their moments and created some decent scoring chances, Empoli were slightly better and deservedly claimed a much-needed victory that helped them come out of troubled waters. The same cannot be said of Lecce. They have only one point to show so far. Moreover, Lecce have a truly dire record in Tuscany against Empoli against whom they have never won in 11 league clashes - three draws and eight defeats.

5th win in a row for champions Juventus as they came from a goal down to beat Parma 2-1 away. The hosts were the best team in the first half as Juve coach Fabio Capello opted to leave out regulars Emerson, Pavel Nedved and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Mario Beretta's Parma deservedly took the lead early on through their seasoned striker Marco Delvecchio but failed to close the game as they did not take the scoring chances that came their way. Against the run of play, just before the half-time whistle, Juventus equalised through Mauro Camoranesi. In a bid to win this game, Capello introduced Emerson, Nedved and Ibrahimovic after the break. The move paid dividends as Patrick Vieira won it for Juve eight minutes from time. Juve have won all their first five outings but Treviso have no points to show so far as they remained pointless after succumbing to their third home setback. This time, Treviso's executioners were Milan who scored a goal in each half to record their first away league success since beating Fiorentina (2-1) on April 30. This was Milan's second consecutive win and also goalkeeper Nelson Dida's second clean sheet in a row.

20 years had to pass for Lazio to return to winning ways against Palermo in the capital. In a pulsating encounter, the southerners were by far the best team in the first 50 minutes as they dominated for long stretches and built a seemingly assuring double lead. The omens were all there for Palermo to conquer Lazio's Olympic Stadium for the second successive time in less than a year... they had won 3-1 on their last visit on January 16. But two soft goals, conceded in less than a minute, changed the tide in favour of Lazio as Delio Rossi's side scored two further goals to record their third win in as many home outings this season. These two sides have last shared the spoils on September 14, 1980 (1-1 in Serie B).

26 goals were scored on the fifth day: 16 coming from the hosts and the remaining 10 from the visitors, who managed three wins. Foreigners contributed with only seven goals while there were 11 first-half goals. Total number of goals hit so far amount to 126. Fiorentina's Luca Toni still leads the goalscorers' list with five goals. Neither own goals nor hat-tricks were registered whereas three players - Thomas Locatelli, Enrico Chiesa (both Siena) and Tommaso Rocchi (Lazio) - grabbed a brace each. Three players - Mariano Gonzalez (Palermo), Nicola Pozzi (Empoli) and Simone Cavalli (Reggina) - came on as substitutes and scored a goal. Two penalties were awarded by referees from which Cristiano Lucarelli (Livorno) and Andriy Shevchenko (Milan) made no mistake to help their respective sides cruise to important wins against Ascoli and Treviso respectively. Meanwhile, Fausto Rossini (Udinese) and Mirko Cudini (Ascoli) were the only players to see red in the past weekend. After the latest fixtures, Treviso, Lecce, Cagliari, Ascoli and Messina are still seeking their first win. Eight teams - Juventus, Inter, Sampdoria, Chievo, Udinese, Empoli, Reggina and Treviso - are still to figure in a draw. Ezio Rossi's Treviso have the poorest scoring record in the division with only one goal to their credit.