Roma are currently considered the anti-Inter, a team which invigorates itself with spirit in the sole purpose of defeating Inter Milan. And while last season started all wrong, Ranieri picked up the team and drove them to a resounding 2nd place. So plenty of fans are now hoping that starting with Ranieri this season will end Inter’s run. But it’s important to note this, you can’t have blackouts, or lapses of focus when you compete with Inter. Because slipping up for just a couple of match-days can end your hopes of being able to fight for the scudetto. Roma will need determination, skill, and luck, as they hope that this will be the season in which they end Inter’s run.

New signings

The big signing for Roma has to be Adriano, the former Inter player came from Flamengo in hopes of returning to his golden days. He’s not in the best physical shape, and he might be used to the easier Brazilian football, but you never know whether he can become an important player for the giallorossi. Another important signing is Simplicio from Palermo, the midfielder should one day replace Pizarro and provide solididty and grit in the midfield. And a strange signing from Roma is Burdisso, and I’m not talking about Nicolas Burdisso who’s at Inter, I’m talking about his younger brother, Guillermo Burdisso. The 22 year-old was bought from Rosario Central, probably in hopes of attracting his older brother back to Rome.

What’s missing

Roma is currently missing another defender, who will probably be Nicolas Burdisso from Inter. They’ve tried to sign him but they weren’t able to reach the requested fee from Moratti’s club. Know to get the Argentinean defender, they’ll try putting Julio Baptista into the deal, hopefully appealing to the nerazzurri.What’s also needed is a left-back who will eventually replace Riise in the future, or in case the Norwegian gets injured. Right now it seems like it could be Behrami from West Ham, and interestingly enough, the Swiss left-back previously played for Lazio, and if bought could heat up the Rome derby.

Formation

It’s unsure what formation Ranieri will use, while he tried a 4-3-3 using Vucinic, Totti, and Adriano up front against Olympiacos, they lost that friendly 5-1. Right now Ranieri is unsure whether to use a 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3, or a basic 4-4-2, which with time could become a 4-2-3-1. The keeper is sure to be Julio Sergio, and there will probably be a back line of Cassetti, Mexes, Juan, and Riise. In front of them you’d have Pizarro and De rRossi in central midfield with Menez and Taddei on the wings, all supporting Totti and Vucinic.

Roma’s goal this season is to win the scudetto, to do this they;ll need to have a good start, unlike last season, and maintain a winning mentality. Roma will also have to put in a good performance in the Champions League, especially now that Sampdoria has been eliminated by Werder Bremen in a qualifying tie. While I don’t want to say whether they can do it or not, I think that if Roma get their stuff together, they can certainly scare Inter.