Roma look not to fall off the pace

The 3-0 victory at the Olympic Stadium last weekend gave Roma coach Luciano Spalletti some respite after starting the season rather shakily.

In August, Roma went down to Inter after a penalty shoot-out in the Italian Super Cup and that upset was followed with a home draw against Napoli (1-1) and back-to-back defeats vs Palermo (1-3), in the Serie A, and Romanian champions Cluj (1-2) in the Champions League.

On Saturday, Roma were a pale shadow of the team that entertained the crowds in the Serie A last season even though they were still good enough to beat lowly Reggina. Roma were unconvincing for long stretches and had it not been for Christian Panucci's goal on the stroke of half-time and Alberto Aquilani's superb strike a few minutes into the second half, they would have probably dropped further points.

But what is going wrong at Roma this season? Their unimpressive start is owed to a number of factors in my opinion.

Spalletti's team still has to reach their optimal physical state.

A year ago, Roma were off to a flying start. This time, it seems, that Spalletti has modified his plans in a way that the team will peak later on during the campaign.

But, in the meantime, the Giallorossi cannot afford to lose further ground with respect to the front-runners in the Serie A and also in the Champions League group.

Spalletti was unable to field his best team so far this season. At times, he had to do without some regular players including Francesco Totti, the team captain, defenders Philippe Mexes, Max Tonetto and Juan, and midfielders David Pizarro and Simone Perrotta.

Their replacements did not leave their mark.

Roma's new signings, Julio Baptista (Real Madrid), Jeremy Menez (Monaco), John Arne Riise (Liverpool) and Simone Loria (Siena), are still finding it hard to settle, so Spalletti cannot expect great things from these players at this stage.

Besides, one has to admit that it was never going to be easy for the new recruits to replace players of the calibre of Ludovic Giuly (Paris SG), Matteo Ferrari (Genoa) and, particularly, Amantino Mancini (Inter).

One also has to consider the fact that whereas Roma were quite inactive on the transfer market last summer, their major rivals for the scudetto signed top-notch players to bolster their respective squads in a most significant way.

Roma have become less and less competitive with respect to Inter, Juventus, Milan and Fiorentina not to mention the big guns of football in Europe. But does this imply that Roma are already out of the reckoning this season?

One cannot rush into conclusions and state that Roma will figure only among the also rans in the Serie A. It is simply too early to judge.

However, the early indications are that Spalletti's team will need to perform heroics this season to repeat, or improve, on the feats of the past two years -the runners-up spot in the Serie A and winning the Coppa Italia.

Serie A statistics

1st win of the season for Milan as they bounced back from their opening two defeats vs Bologna (1-2) and Genoa (0-2) by beating Lazio 4-1 at home. The hosts were always in command even though Lazio never threw in the towel until they conceded the fourth goal. Over 19 years have passed since Lazio's most recent win (1-0 thanks to a Paolo Maldini own goal) at the San Siro. Since then, all Lazio have to show from their visits to Milan are draws and defeats except for a Coppa Italia semi-final victory on February 5, 2004 (2-1).

2nd straight win for Palermo as the Sicilians eased their way past Genoa thanks to a goal in each half. It was only in the dying moments of the game that Genoa managed to make the result more respectable. Palermo's second win from as many games under the charge of new coach Davide Ballardini coincided with Genoa's second upset in two away games played so far this season.

3rd consecutive defeat for Cagliari as the Sardinians went down to Juventus at home for the second year running to remain pointless at the bottom of the table. Cagliari played their best game so far this season but it was still not enough to see them getting their first positive result. Cagliari have not beaten Juventus at home since a 1-0 success on January 31, 1999.

4th home win on the trot for Roma against Reggina as the team from the capital bounced back from their opaque performances and defeats of late with a 3-0 victory. For the record, Roma and Reggina have never shared the spoils. Roma claimed seven wins and Reggina conquered the Olympic Stadium twice... 2-0 in March 2000 and 2-1 in April 2005.

8th straight away win for Inter against Torino as the champions went on top of the table, level on points with Juventus, after annihilating the Maroons 3-1 away. Torino's last home win over Inter dates back to February 27, 1994 (2-0). Inter, Juventus and Napoli are the only three sides still unbeaten this season.

22 goals were scored on the third day: 14 from the hosts and the remaining eight from the visitors, who managed two victories. There were five home wins and one goalless draw. Foreigners contributed with nine goals and there were 10 first-half goals. Total number of goals netted so far amount to 70. Two players - Simone Perrotta (Roma), Elvis Abbruscato (Torino) and Fabio Caserta (Lecce) - came on as substitutes and scored. Torino defender Marco Pisano committed the only own goal of the day. Napoli defender Fabiano Santacroce was the only red-carded player. Lazio's Mauro Zarate still leads the scorers' list with four goals (one from penalty).