Ranieri despairs over Roma defeat

Claudio Ranieri has questioned his Roma team’s title credentials following a disappointing defeat at the hands of Palermo on Sunday.

Roma were steadily climbing the table after a slow start to the season but their revival ground to a halt with a 3-1 defeat at the Stadio Renzo Barbera.

Ranieri believes his side were beaten by the better team on the day but he knows that Roma’s slim title hopes can ill afford many more defeats throughout the season.

“I don’t know if we can achieve the miracle (winning the title), as we need the kind of consistency that we should’ve found in tonight’s game,” Ranieri said.

“If we had won, it would’ve been a clear signal to the rest of the league.”

“Palermo were better on the night, but I’d only be worried if we were always like this.”

“There really is only one way of analysing this match. We didn’t do so badly in the first half, though Palermo always had good counters and we were a little slow.”

“After the break we really did badly and Palermo deserved the victory. We were sluggish and the only times we did break rapidly, a foul would stop us in our tracks. I’d only be worried if we were always like this, but that is not the case.”

“We were coming off a midweek game and Palermo prepared very well for this match. Still, there were no signs pointing to a night like this.”

“I’d rather say we didn’t get the wrong approach, but that Palermo were simply superior this evening.”

Palmero boss Delio Rossi is adamant that there is still plenty of room for improvement, despite recording a win over last season’s runners up.

“I still see that we’ve got so many defects as well as reasons to be happy,” Rossi said.

“Our team spirit and way of holding the field has improved, but as a Coach I can say it’s easy to get 90 percent of the way to a great side. It takes years and details to get to 100.”

“We struggled a lot in the opening 20 minutes. After the break the team did very well and deserved the three points.”