Mirko Vucinic's injury-time diving header gave Roma their first win of the league campaign and inflicted inconsistent Inter's first Serie A defeat after five games.
New coach Rafael Benitez inherited practically the same side Jose Mourinho led to success last term but the sale of Mario Balotelli and the recruitment of untried youngsters like Coutinho means strikers Samuel Eto'o, Diego Milito and Goran Pandev all play at the same time with little option for change.
"There's no lack of quality alternatives in attack. Players like Milito, Eto'o, Pandev and Coutinho aren't easy to find," Benitez told Sky television in a bid to defend his unit.
"I think we should have had more intensity at the end of the game, we shouldn't have let them cross. But the problem isn't the goal at the end, it's that we had 15 shots on goal and should have scored before."
Montenegro's Vucinic was overjoyed to end Roma's sticky patch at an excitable Stadio Olimpico and avenge August's Italian Super Cup defeat by Inter, who narrowly beat the capital side to the scudetto yet again last term.
"It's a goal that's worth so much to me and to the team," the substitute said. "The most important element tonight was the fans.
"We have won against a very good side. But we know we are a good team."
