“I am happy because we are playing good football and note the team has improved and matured compared to last season,” said the Coach.

“Only what happens on the pitch can tell us if we can do even better than this. Scudetto ambitions? We won’t set limits. We’ll just take it one game at a time and see where we are at the end of the season.”

The Friulani currently top the table alongside Napoli and, with the southerners travelling to Milan this weekend, could possibly break away.

They face their own tough test with Genoa, who held Inter to a 0-0 draw at San Siro last week.

“Genoa are a very aggressive side who run a great deal and do a lot of movement off the ball. They played a fantastic game against Inter and can count on both individual talents and excellent tactical organisation,” mused Marino.

“They no longer have Marco Borriello, but Diego Milito is a top class replacement. We’re not looking at our position in the standings, we just want the points.”

Antonio Di Natale missed out on the midweek 2-0 victory away to Catania and remains in doubt with a recurring injury.

“He has not trained since last Sunday. He still has a few problems and has therefore been unable to train consistently, so we will have to see what the response from the final session is.

“In any case, I must always rotate the squad a little to ensure a good balance in the side. There are no first teamers here, everyone is on a par and the situation constantly changing.”