Impressive Roma striding away

By Paolo Menicucci

"If they continue playing as they are doing now, I will take my hat off to them," said Juventus FC coach Marcello Lippi. And he is not alone is admiring AS Roma as they took a six-point lead at the top of Serie A and reached the Christmas break unbeaten.

Superb form
Roma have eleven wins from their 14 games, and only Juve's 1949/50 side had previously taken as many victories at this stage of the season. Fabio Capello's side have conceded just four goals and scored 31, a far cry from their disappointing eighth-place finish last term.

Right blend
The summer signings of Christian Chivu from AFC Ajax and Valencia CF's John Carew proved a fillip, and former Atalanta BC goalkeeper Ivan Pelizzoli has left his disappointing first season at the Stadio Olimpico behind him.

Great skills
Walter Samuel is as solid as ever in defence, Emerson and Olivier Dacourt are in great form in midfield, while Antonio Cassano is finally showing his great skills consistently up front. However the key man behind Roma's success has been captain Francesco Totti.

'Extremely strong'
Playing behind the two forwards, Totti is the natural leader of the team and has already scored nine goals and created as many. "We deserve to be first because we are extremely strong this year," he said after scoring both goals in Saturday's 2-0 win at Empoli FC, Roma's seventh consecutive win. "We can win both the Italian title and the UEFA Cup."

Milan setback
Second-placed Milan, who have a game in hand, also looked set to reach the break unbeaten but on Sunday were edged out 2-1 by Udinese Calcio. However, Andriy Shevchenko is the league's top scorer with 12 goals, Alessandro Nesta and Paolo Maldini have been typically mean in defence and Carlo Ancelotti has added the talent of Brazilian midfield player Kaka to a squad looking more than capable of defending their UEFA Champions League crown.

Champions stumble
Juventus are level on points with Milan, but Marcello Lippi's side have not shown the defensive solidity which allowed them to win the Scudetto in the last two seasons. They have already leaked 15 goals in their 14 games, having only let in 23 and 29 goals in their recent 34-fixture title-winning campaigns.

Mixed fortunes
FC Internazionale have had an even more mixed season, and are the only Serie A team to have changed coaches. Alberto Zaccheroni has picked up 19 points in eight Serie A games since replacing Héctor Cúper, but his team were eliminated by Arsenal FC and FC Lokomotiv Moskva in the Champions League, the key result a 5-1 home loss against the Londoners. Indeed, that result summed up Inter's erratic season, since they had previously won 3-0 at Highbury.

Bubbling under
S.S. Lazio are level on points with Inter after a 2-1 victory against the Milanese club at the weekend, but also lost their place in the Champions League to AC Sparta Praha. However, bubbling under are Udinese and newly-promoted UC Sampdoria. Udinese's Dino Fava and Sampdoria's Fabio Bazzani have both been in the goals, and along with Parma AC the clubs have hopes of earning a Champions League berth.

Winless duo
AC Perugia were tipped to surprise many after cruising through the UEFA Intertoto Cup without conceding a goal, but while they remain in the UEFA Cup and Coppa Italia, they are yet to win a league game and are in the bottom four with nine points. Newly-promoted Ancona Calcio are also without a victory, lying bottom having drawn just four times.