Roma coach Claudio Ranieri insisted his team was not in crisis despite losing for the third game in a row in the 3-2 Champions League defeat at home to Shakhtar Donetsk.

The Italians were made to pay by Shakhtar's speedy Brazilian forwards who combined for three goals and ensured the Ukrainians have a handy lead to take back home in three weeks time.

But following on from league defeats to its title rivals Inter Milan and Napoli that virtually ruled it out of the scudetto race, this defeat leaves Roma's season hanging by a thread.

But Ranieri, who vowed not to resign, remained defiant.

"Do you see a team in crisis? I don't see a team in crisis. I see a team that is playing, fighting, that created many chances," he said.

"We played very well and I have nothing to reproach the players for despite losing.

"The lads pushed hard, in the first half after we scored we should have been more careful but we conceded after 45 seconds.

"That's easy to say but it's different on the pitch. There was a double deflection on their first goal.

"Maybe we needed to be more clinical but Shakhtar knew how fast they were, the three forwards: Jadson, William and Douglas Costa were very quick and have a lot of quality, we should have closed them down better.

"But there are games where things don't go well. We could've equalized at the end with our captain (Francesco Totti).

"But patience, I can't complain with how we played or how much we gave. You can't just look at the result when you evaluate the game, you also have to look at the other team.

"They topped their group and they beat Arsenal, this is a great team with great players."

However, Ranieri did admit his team is having problems in defence having conceded 10 goals in its past three matches.

"When I came here last season I said we had to improve our defense and we finished the season with one of the best defences in the league," he said.

"But this season we have lost some of that solidity so those criticisms (against the team's defence) are justified."

Agence France-Presse

(China Daily 02/18/2011 page24)