Who is to blame for Roma's poor campaign?

This time last season, Roma were involved in a neck-and-neck tussle with Inter in possibly one of the most exciting title run-ins in many years.

Eventually, Inter went on to retain their crown but only on the final day. Roma took some measure of revenge a few days later when they claimed their second successive Coppa Italia at the expense of Inter, to wrap up a satisfactory campaign.

However, Roma have failed to build on that success and their current position in the standings, with only a place in the Europa League to play for, came as no surprise to the soccer pundits in Italy.

But, what has really contributed to Roma's freefall?

As things stand at present, Roma are six points adrift of fourth-placed Fiorentina and five behind Genoa. Cagliari and Palermo are also chasing a place in Europe and both snapping at Roma's heels in the standings.

Contrary to the last four years, when they always managed to reach the final, Roma were ousted from the Coppa Italia in the early stages. Their showings in the Champions League never reached high standards even if they were only eliminated from the competition by Arsenal after a penalty shoot-out at the Olimpico.

Roma's debacle this year owes to a multitude of reasons, in my opinion.

Coach Luciano Spalletti's season has panned out along the same lines as that of his Juventus counterpart, Claudio Ranieri. Spalletti, formerly of Udinese, had to do without some key players at various stages of the campaign. One has to bear in mind that Spalletti, unlike Inter's Jose Mourinho, cannot count on reserves of strength.

The club opted not to spend big last summer and players like Amantino Mancini, Matteo Ferrari and Ludovic Giuly were left to go without bringing in adequate replacements.

Simone Loria, John Arne Riise, Julio Baptista, Jeremy Menez and Souleymane Diamoutene were not good enough to help Roma bridge the gap with the big guns in the Serie A.

The up-and-coming Marco Motta proved to be a valuable addition but was only signed from Udinese during the January transfer window.

The absence of a lethal striker, good enough to score between 15 to 20 goals in a season, left its toll on the side as well. Spalletti has been advocating for a long time the need to sign such a player but to no avail.

Another consideration to make is Francesco Totti's feeble contribution to the team's cause in recent months.

The World Cup-winning midfielder has been hit with repeated injuries and, sooner rather than later, Roma will have to admit that a time will come when they will have to do without their talisman for good.

Totti is well past his prime and it will be a huge mistake if Roma were to build the foundations of a new team on Totti whose new role should resemble the one Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs are given at Manchester United at the moment.

Roma's awful defence has also contributed considerably to the team's failure to mount a series quest for honours. They have let in 52 goals in 33 league matches this season. Only relegation-threatened Reggina (53), Lecce and Bologna (57) have conceded more goals than Roma.

Compared to the 37 goals Roma let in in 2007/08, the decline becomes even more glaring.

Roma also had several red-carded players this season, denoting some instability and unrest within the squad. Most of these dismissals were the result of player dissent.

This glorious club's future, however, depends mostly on the intentions of the Sensi family, Roma's owners.

Reports say there might be a change in ownership but if the Sensis do not sell at least a stake of their shares, then it seems pretty difficult for Roma to assemble a new team considering their already-restricted budget and the lack of income if they fail to qualify for the Champions League.

Serie A statistics

1st win for Roberto Donadoni's Napoli since beating Catania at home on January 11 as the Southerners left it late to hand Inter their first upset after nine wins and four draws. Sunday's victory was Napoli's third straight win at home over the champions. Following the weekend fixtures, Milan have now reduced the gap on Inter to seven points.

2nd consecutive defeat for Genoa as Gianpiero Gasperini's side went 2-0 down away to relegation-threatened Bologna. This defeat followed Genoa's 0-1 home upset to Lazio the previous weekend. For Bologna this was their first win after five defeats in a row. In a basement clash, Torino edged Siena by a solitary Rolando Bianchi goal to remain one point clear of third-bottom Bologna. Torino's first home win over Siena coincided with the Tuscany side's second successive setback, following their 0-2 home reverse to Chievo.

3 heavy defeats - vs Juventus 1-4, Lazio 2-4 and Fiorentina 1-4 - in their last five outings dented Roma's chances of a top-four finish. On Saturday, Roma were outplayed for long stretches by a determined Fiorentina side, now fourth in the standings. This was Fiorentina's third successive home win. Meanwhile, Atalanta caused one of the biggest upsets of the weekend as they conquered the capital thanks to a 1-0 win over Lazio. For Lazio, this was their first defeat after beating Roma and Genoa in the Serie A and ousting Juve from the Coppa Italia to reach their first final in five years.

3 points collected by Juventus out of the last-available 12. On Sunday, Claudio Ranieri's team failed to beat Reggina (2-2) to slip to third place in the standings as they were leapfrogged by Milan. Juve have lost three out of their last five visits to Reggio Calabria while Milan extended their positive run to seven games (six wins and a draw) after beating Palermo 3-0.

6 penalties were taken last weekend. Kaka scored a penalty in each half to help Milan to a 3-0 home win over Palermo. Marco Di Vaio broke the deadlock for Bologna in their home match against Genoa by scoring from the spot. Alessandro Del Piero equalised for Juventus against Reggina, also from a penalty. Gaetano D'Agostino opened the score for Udinese from a penalty and Robert Acquafresca was on the mark for Cagliari in a 3-3 draw against Sampdoria. Cesare Bovo (Palermo), Fabio Sciacca (Catania), David Pizarro (Roma) and Antonio Langella (Chievo) were all red-carded during the weekend.

29 goals were scored on the 33rd day: 19 coming from the hosts and the remaining 10 from the visitors. Foreigners contributed with eight goals while there were 13 first-half goals. Total number of goals scored so far is 826. Kaka (Milan), Alberto Gilardino (Fiorentina), Guido Marilungo (Sampdoria) and Gaetano D'Agostino (Udinese) grabbed a brace each. Massimo Gobbi (Fiorentina) and Marcelo Zalayeta (Napoli) came on as substitutes and scored. Bologna hit-man Marco Di Vaio is the current leading marksman with 21 goals.