Ranieri relief at Roma run

Roma boss Claudio Ranieri believes his players are finally producing the form they are capable of after an indifferent start to the season.

With just one win from their first six matches and with rumours of player discontent swirling around the club, there was speculation regarding former Chelsea boss Ranieri’s position at Roma.

But with wins from their last four matches, Roma are up into fifth position – although they are still nine points adrift of league-leaders AC Milan ahead of Wednesday’s clash with Brescia.

“I usually make evaluations on what I feel and on what I can see through the players,” Ranieri said.

“Even if we have lost, I’ve found a compact and determined team willing to achieve a positive result, regardless of whether we have got a result or not, since there is no guarantee that you will get a result.”

“But I’ve found the team again and my words have proved to be right and we are now competing for the three cups.”

Ranieri said he will be wary of the threat posed by Brescia, who on Sunday replaced coach Mario Beretta with his predecessor Giuseppe Iachini – the man who guided them to promotion from Serie B last term.

“Tomorrow it is going to be a difficult match. The team has called back the coach who got them in to Serie A. He knows his players very well and knows how to get the best performances out of them,” he said.

“I don’t want difficulties. We all know that there could be a decrease in concentration when playing against smaller teams, but this would be the biggest mistake we could make right now – never relax.”

“The opposing team is battling to stay in Serie A and they will do everything to cause us problems, make us lose focus and hit us on the counterattack like they did in the home match (which Roma lost 2-1 in September).”