New Bologna coach Sinisa Mihajlovic wants to give his team's poor season a boost by beating Roma on Saturday.

The former Lazio midfielder was this week given the task of sparking Bologna's season into life after club president Francesca Menarini ended the tenure of Daniele Arrigoni.

Arrigoni had enjoyed a largely successful spell with the Rossoblu after leading the club to promotion to the top flight last season, but poor results in the opening weeks of this term have left Bologna floundering in the relegation zone.

Mihajlovic is an experienced campaigner and served as assistant coach to Roberto Mancini at Internazionale during their Scudetto-winning campaigns of the past three seasons, but will be making his debut as a head coach in Serie A this weekend.

"For me this is a great opportunity," said Mihajlovic. "I am confident we will avoid the drop but we must start to get points, beginning with our game against Roma.

"A victory against Roma would give us a big morale boost."

Bologna, who sit 19th in Serie A, have lost eight times in 10 league games and have the worst defensive record in the competition alongside rock-bottom Reggina, both sides having shipped 19 goals so far.

Mihajlovic is therefore expected to make a number of tactical changes for the sell-out game at the Renato Dal´Ara stadium, with a return to a four-man defence on the cards.

Defeat for Roma on Saturday would see them drop into the relegation zone and bring the future of coach Luciano Spalletti under further scrutiny.

However, Spalletti appears to have bought himself some more time with his side's superb 3-1 win against Chelsea in the Champions League in midweek.

That result ended a run of five consecutive defeats, and Spalletti believes it could mark a turning point in the season.

"With this win the lads will have a further motivation to continue to get results," he said. "Against Chelsea they showed the quality that we had displayed in the past.

"Now we are more confident of ourselves, although considering our situation in the Serie A standings it's important not to be too calm."

Roma have won only twice and suffered six defeats in nine Serie A games this term, and last weekend's 2-0 reverse at Juventus left last season's runners-up just one point clear of Bologna.

Equally worrying for the Giallorossi is their goalscoring record in the league, with just one goal registered in their last four outings. In the same period, the Roma backline has been breached 10 times.

Spalletti is set to stay loyal to the same formation that defeated Chelsea, with David Pizarro supporting attacking duo Mirko Vucinic and Francesco Totti.

Mihajlovic, meanwhile, is sweating on the fitness of midfielder Sergio Volpi who has a muscle problem.