Roberto Mancini seems to have finally silenced the knockers in the Italian media who said he would never coach a club to the league title.
On Sunday evening his Inter Milan side dominated provincial upstarts Palermo at their Sicilian stronghold to win 2-1 and stay four points clear at the top of Serie A.
It was Inter's seventh straight win in the Italian league and their ninth consecutive victory in all competitions - the longest winning run in the club's history.
And it was garnered with a series of masterstrokes that pundits said showed Mancini has come of age as a tactician.
The first of these was to play Brazil forward Adriano up front instead of in-form Argentine Hernan Crespo.
Mancini, who celebrates his 42nd birthday Monday, saw that Adriano was fired up after returning from a leave-of-absence in his homeland to get over the blues caused by a long goal drought.
The gamble played off. Adriano was irresistible, laying on the goals by Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Patrick Vieira that won the game.
Mancini also shuffled his cards superbly to make up for the loss of the injured Olivier Dacourt in midfield.
He fielded Dejan Stankovic in front of the back-four, rather than in the hole behind the strikers, where the Serb international played superbly against Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Stankovic served up an outstanding performance from the new position, disrupting Palermo's rhythm with endless tackles and providing a platform for Inter's forays forward at the same time.
"Dejan can play anywhere," Mancini said after the game. "There was no one better than him tonight".
Mancini replaced Hector Cuper on the Inter bench in the summer of 2004, after stints as coach at Lazio and Fiorentina.
His first two seasons at the club were disappointing, with Inter finishing third in Serie A and failing to make an impression in the Champions League.
Mancini was blasted for tinkering with his line-up too often and failing to instil his side with the character to prevail in the big matches against their championship rivals.
Two Italian Cup triumphs, a trophy he also won as coach at Lazio and Fiorentina, were scant consolation.
When Juventus were relegated to Serie B and AC Milan were punished for the Calciopoli referee-rigging scandal, Mancini's Inter were awarded the 2005 scudetto.
But pundits predicted Mancini would be fired if he failed to win this year's title race 'on the field'.
A promising start to the campaign failed to totally dispel the criticism.
Although the results were good, observers said Inter would have to play more attractive soccer if they really wanted to go the distance.
The performance in Palermo was a resounding reply.
It means Mancini has beaten both of his main title rivals, Roma and Palermo, away from home, and defeated Milan in the derby too.
Furthermore, Inter remain the only side in the championship with an unbeaten record.
The only team who look capable of contending the title with them at the moment are Roma, who beat Sampdoria 4-2 in Genoa on Sunday afternoon to leapfrog Palermo into second place.
It was Roma's fifth consecutive win.
Roma's cross-town rivals Lazio are also in good form, recording their third victory on the trot Sunday by beating Ascoli (19th) 3-1 to move up to seventh.
On Saturday night Milan (15th) ended a five-match winless spell with a 1-0 win over Messina (12th).
Empoli (5th) beat Cagliari (11th) 1-0, while Catania (6th) and Chievo Verona (17th) secured 2-0 home wins over Parma (16th) and Udinese (10th) respectively.
Torino (13th) came back from Bergamo (8th) with a 2-1 victory over Atalanta.
Reggina (bottom) and Livorno (4th) drew 2-2, while the Tuscan derby between Siena (10th) and Fiorentina (18th) ended 1-1.
