Another win, and against another top team too. After AC Milan, it's Lazio's time to lose against Inter, who have won the last seven games in Serie A; still six points from the top but Nerazzurri now have only three teams above: Juventus 41, AC Milan 40, Udinese 38.

With Milito back to his usual scoring standards and Sneijder fresh, motivated and inspired again, apparently everything looks promising for Inter. To be honest, the Scudetto remains a mirage.

It’s simple maths. With three teams ahead, rather than just one, Inter need to keep winning all their games, which it is not credible. The lack of rotation means this team is going to face huge problems in the next few weeks.

The Lazio game can be seen as a metaphor of Ranieri's policy: postponing the inevitable. Inter's coach decided to replace Thiago Motta in the most complicated way: moving Zanetti alongside Cambiasso, and placing Alvarez and Nagatomo on the flanks. No wonder Inter lacked order and ideas in centre midfield. If you don't start with Poli in that position in a situation like this, probably you never will. And this explicit non vote of confidence in youngsters - who seem only allowed to play in Coppa Italia - will harm Inter's chances in three weeks time, when the Champions League restarts and the forgotten players like Ranocchia, Obi, Coutinho, Castaignos, Zarate (if he stays...) could suddenly become necessary. Vital but not trusted and these guys know.

Lazio played better than Inter for most of the first half, when Tommaso Rocchi beat Lucio and Samuel twice. Two shots: one post and one goal for Lazio's skipper, the kind of player who always knows where the goal is. Inter's equaliser came from Diego Milito's intuition: the Argentinian striker created a chance out of nothing, dictating a one-two to Alvarez, who did his part in giving the ball back to the Prince, who made no mistake in front of Marchetti and notched his fourth goal in the last four games.

A 1-1 draw at half time was a generous score for Inter. In the second half the two coaches’ choices made the difference: Reja inexplicably left out Hernanes (one the most lucid with Ledesma) in favour of Matuzalem, whereas Ranieri replaced Alvarez and Chivu with Sneijder and Obi, and finally Inter's shape looked more coherent and logic. The best things of the second half came from Sneijder but the winning goal was marked by Pazzini at the minute 63, who lobbed Marchetti after a Lucio header.

At the end of the game Reja said: "That goal should have been disallowed, because Pazzini was clearly offside". Clearly is a big word. Only TV cameras' reply showed that Pazzini's boot (yes, the boot...) wasn't on side. Two minutes later, Klose combined with Rocchi to imitate Milito-Alvarez's one-two but this time the outcome was different as the German's shot was easily blocked by Julio Cesar.

At the end of the match Claudio Ranieri said: "The only thing I can take from this game is the result, we couldn't even put three passes together". He should take even some notes: 1. Maicon and Alvarez can't play on the same side: they give their best when attacking, asked to provide cover to each other means they go forward less and less freely (Maicon & Zanetti is still the best option on the right). 2. On the left the Chivu-Nagatomo pair is a more plausible choice but simply less effective than Nagatomo-Obi, as the introduction of the young Nigerian proved later. 3. In 45 minutes Sneijder not only showed far more than Alvarez in the last four games [it wasn't so hard] but he also looked more brilliant and focused than in the first part of the season. A start is due now.

Serie A 2011-12 / Day 19

INTER-LAZIO 2-1 (1-1)

Inter: Julio Cesar; Maicon, Lucio, Samuel, Chivu (46' Obi); Nagatomo, Zanetti, Cambiasso, Alvarez (46' Sneijder); Pazzini, Milito (70' Faraoni). Coach: Ranieri
Lazio: Marchetti; Zauri (73' Cissé), Biava, Dias, Radu; Lulic, Ledesma, Gonzalez (66' Konko); Hernanes (46' Matuzalem); Rocchi, Klose. Coach: Reja

Referee: Rizzoli
Goals: Milito 44', Pazzini 63'; Rocchi 30'