Inter Milan coach Walter Mazzarri refused to be down after their 3-0 reverse to AS Roma.
Francesco Totti bagged a brace and Alessandro Florenzi added a third before half-time, ending the Nerazzurri's unbeaten record this season.
"As you know, I look at the performance beyond the result," Mazzarri told Sky Sport Italia.
"Football is based on incidents, which some weeks go against you. Since I arrived, the plan was to improve this side and grow their confidence, which I'd say is succeeding.
"Overall I'd say we were not inferior to Roma in terms of our play. The team played well, but Roma have excellent quality with players like Francesco Totti who can turn a game at any moment.
"Paradoxically, we played better tonight than we did when beating Fiorentina 2-1. We laid siege to Roma in the second half, but it never went in and at that point I realised we were never going to score a goal tonight."
