Antonio Conte glosses over the rumors concerning Suning, he is aware that the January market will not hold any surprises given the difficult economic situation, he asks for results on the eve of a cycle of difficult games: Roma and Juventus in the league, Fiorentina in the Italian Cup.
Challenges that will have to say what the real ambitions of Inter are, fresh from a defeat against Sampdoria.
The coach remains faithful to the line he has given himself, no controversy and a good dose of diplomacy, he expresses the desire to win and obtain results, to establish himself in a championship where - he explains at the press conference - Roma will be able to have their say.
"It is a strong team - he begins - it is certainly among those who can aspire to the Scudetto or a place in the Champions League".
The next matches, according to the Nerazzurri coach, will be an effective test for Inter to establish the real chances of the team.
Now is the time to get results.
Fonseca: 'Good time to face Inter'
- There are games that can represent sliding doors within a season, Roma-Inter is one of them.
Not for Paulo Fonseca, at least in words.
"We cannot think beyond the match against the Nerazzurri" replies the Portuguese to those who ask him whether or not the Olimpico match has the flavor of a championship match.
The former Shakhtar does not want to overreact and tries to ease the tension: "We prepared the match as always, I see the team motivated and confident."
Words that are reflected in the results because Roma in the league of the last nine games have lost just two.
"The match with Inter arrives at a good time" confesses Fonseca who now hopes to reverse a trend that sees Roma, at least from the point of view of the result, always indebted to the teams on the left side of the table.
It is no coincidence that the two lost games mentioned above are with Napoli and Atalanta, two challengers for the fight at the top.
So the hunt for second place is open and a victory against Inter would give even more awareness to a Roma that still has several absentees, see Fazio, Santon, Pedro, Pastore, Calafiori and Mirante, but finds Spinazzola again.
Probable formations of Roma-Inter.
Rome (3-4-2-1): 13 Pau Lopez;
23 Mancini, 6 Smalling, 3 Ibanez;
2 Karsdorp, 17 Veretout, 14 Villar, 37 Spinazzola;
7 Pellegrini, 77 Mkhitaryan;
9 Dzeko.
(12 Farelli, 63 Boer, 24 Kumbulla, 5 Jesus, 33 Bruno Peres, 4 Cristante, 42 Diawara, 31 Carles Perez, 21 Borja Moyaral, 55 Darboe, 57 Providence).
All .: P. Fonseca.
Disqualified: none Beware: Cristante, Ibanez.
Out: Calafiori, Fazio, Mirante, Pastore, Pedro, Santon, Zaniolo, Inter (3-5-2): 1 Handanovic;
37 Skriniar, 6 de Vrij, 95 Sticks, 2 Hakimi, 5 Gagliardini, 77 Brozovic, 23 Barella, 36 Darmian, 9 Lukaku, 10 Lautaro (27 Padelli, 97 Radu, 11 Kolarov, 13 Ranocchia, 12 Sensi, 14 Perisic, 15 Young, 22 Vidal, 24 Eriksen, 7 Sanchez).
Disqualified: none.
Beware: Brozovic.
Unavailable: D'Ambrosio, Vecino, Pinamonti.
Referee: Di Bello from Brindisi.
Snai odds: 2.90;
3.40;
2.40.