Samp fans should be satisfied with the season behind
If they only manage to find solution for away games in the first half of the season, Sampdoria would enter Champions League battle. Still, UEFA Cup is not a bad result and everyone in the club has been pretty happy with it. Arrival of Walter Mazzari was the good sign as it looks that the fans and the board have not been satisfied with another midtable season. They looked for the new step and former Reggina coach proved to be a good solution. He managed to integrate Cassano in the squad and to control his temper, as well as to give the chance to a couple of players that have been forgotten. Even Montella injury was not big problem for Mazzari as he found the way to make results without one of his key players. Dorians are the team with the future, they are excellent at home and it is good start for the next step. They are playing without many oscillations, scoring easily against weaker rivals and Mazzari insists that we still did not see everything his team has to offer. It is obvious that the team have not been changed during the summer. The job has been done with the fact that Cassano is still at Marassi. His talent is something that separates Samp from the rest of the league. Still, without Volpi and Maggio, midfield will be weaker. We thought that Sampdoria will be more active during the summer at the market, but since Marotta announced that he is still trying to bring some quality it is possible that we will see some new signing before the end of the week.
Ultimate goal is to repeat the results from last year
Mazzari even talked about leaving the club as he was not satisfied with the club intentions as it did not looked like they want to fight for more then they already achieved. He was looking for clear plan of the board and answers to the questions about Samp future. It was obvious that he had offers from abroad as it is one of the best young managers and the man they already made a mark in Calabria. The ultimate condition was to keep Cassano. Also, Sampdoria did good job by signing U21 international Dessena (Parma) and Litvanian international Stankevicious who had excellent season is Serie B and is extremely useful for 3-5-2 formation. At the moments that is all about new signings. It looks like the team lacks classic 9. Belluci and Cassano as similar types and Mazzari is looking for someone who can break the cattanacio. Also, the team lacks one quality player in the midfield who will replace Volpi and Maggio. Sampdoria is targeting Argentinian international Banega who is talented but with bad temper and who had problems in Valencia. Also, they want Crespo or Suazo upfront, as one of them will probably be out of favor in Inter.
In
Stankevicius (Brescia), Dessena (Parma), Bottinelli (San Lorenzo), Fornaroli (Uruguay), Padalino (Piacenza)
Out
Montella, Volpi, Maggio, Zenoni, Sala
Our tip
It is still not clear how the squad will look like. If we assume that there will be no new signings, especially upfront, it is hard to expect them to fight for Europe. Team has potential, but Cassano will be under big pressure. Away games could be the major problem for this team as the team and Cassano are playing much better at home. Also, another problem can be Belluci's injury. He will miss the start of the season. Sampdoria is looking like the team that will not be able to replace first team players if something happen. It is obvious that Mazzari is not satisfied with the transfer window so far and in his press conferences he insisted on adding new players. Also, he stated that he hopes for injury free season. It is big question is excellent coach is enough for Top 6, especially cause Napoli, Genoa and Udinese are looking much better. Without key signings in last week it is hard to imagine that Samp will earn more then midtable position
Our tip: Samp to finish in bottom half
Odds 5.50
Bookmaker: Bet365
CL
CLQ
UEFA
RELEG
