Parma vs AS Roma preview - Zeman expects Roma response
Posted Wednesday, October 31, 2012 by PA
Roma coach Zdenek Zeman has insisted the weekend collapse against Udinese is only a temporary setback and his team remains on target to reach their goals this season.
Roma blew a 2-0 lead to go down 3-2 at home to Udinese, losing to an 88th-minute penalty from Antonio Di Natale.
On Wednesday they face another tough test with a visit to a Parma team unbeaten at home and only two points behind them in the table, but Zeman is not worried about Sunday's stumble.
"I do not believe that our development has been reset with the defeat on Sunday night," he said. "Both against Bologna (Roma's other league defeat this season in September) and against Udinese we played good football, but paid, unfortunately, for careless mistakes."
Both of Roma's defeats have come at home, and are the difference between them and their stated aim of top four.
"Unfortunately we have thrown away six points against Bologna and Udinese at the Stadio Olimpico," Zeman added. "With victories there we would be a lot better off in the standings.
"In these two matches we had good performances in my opinion, but unfortunately they did not last the 90 minutes.
"We have made mistakes that have affected the results."
Mistakes will need to be kept to a minimum against a Parma side riding high on the back of two straight wins that have moved them into seventh place, two points behind Roma.
The last two wins have helped to paper over a tough start to the season, in which they won only one of their opening seven matches.
Club president Tommaso Ghirardi is happy with the team's position and insisted the slow start never led to questions over coach Roberto Donadoni.
"We are very content," he told Radio Anch'io Sport. "We had a very difficult start to the season, against Juve, Napoli, Milan, Fiorentina, Catania, but we are satisfied with Donadoni, we stay calm and we can a have a look at the league table and be happy."
Amauri has been key to the strong start, with three goals in six appearances since his return to the club, all of them in the previous two victories.
The striker moved back from Juventus in the summer with Sebastian Giovinco going in the opposite direction, but Parma have not missed a step as Amauri has rediscovered his scoring touch.
"Amauri is one of the best players in Italy, maybe something went wrong last season at Turin," Ghirardi said.
"Unfortunately there are certain mechanisms and if you start criticising a player, they get damaged. At Parma there is a different culture: Pabon is not yet in the best form, but when he enters the pitch there is encouragement from everybody."
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