Maicon stars as Roma regain top spot

“I might make mistakes but nobody can ever criticise me for not giving everything”.

When the starting eleven were announced for this match, there was a bit of concern from a number of Inter fans. Inter have managed five 1-0 in the 10 matches played in the Serie A this season. While both of these decisions seemed unusual at first as the match progressed it became clear why Mancini did what he did. “It wasn’t easy, but I hope Inter will play better from now on, that way it’ll be easier for the strikers to do well”. Dzeko forced a terrific save from Handanovic with a powerful header.

While the 29-year-old admitted he has not been happy with his performances for Roma so far, he is more focused on helping the club win their first Scudetto since 2000-01.

Don’t dwell on this one too long, we’ve got Bayer Leverkusen and Lazio on the weekend to worry about. Nagatomo and D’Ambrosio dropped deep and stuck to their task, tracking Roma’s wide men with dogged determination.

Roma, which has finished runner-up to Juventus the past two seasons, is now 11 points ahead of Massimiliano Allegri’s team.

Torino returned for the second 45 minutes in much more determined fashion, earning a free-kick on the edge of the box shortly after the restart which helped pull them level.

Lucas Biglia’s free-kick gave Lazio the lead in the 16th minute but the hosts were thrown a lifeline when Dusan Basta inadvertently turned the ball into his own net midway through the second half.

Frustrations were boiling for Roma fans when Rudiger just narrowly missed a header for an equalizer and a minute later Pjanic received the second booking for deliberate hand ball, and was sent off. As time went on though he got a handle on his marker and once he made sure the wingers weren’t already behind him his work was solid.

“Are Roma and Napoli stronger?”

“Roma are a great team”. The Nerazzurri, meanwhile, opted to use middle of the park, with Adem Ljajic and Stevan Jovetic exchanging passes and positions in an attempt to shake Radja Nainggolan off his moorings and increase the space between Antonio Rüdiger and Kostas Manolas.

Defeat left the “Old Lady” in 12th place with 12 points from 10 matches. This was apparent by watching the game.

The Frenchman said that he was pleased with his side’s overall display – from the defense to the front three.