The first game vs Fiorentina has been postponed as a consequence of the desaster of the Morandi bridge in Genova. The game will be played on September the 19th.
Milan had more shots on goal (Samp I believe had two, which came from Musacchio and Calabria losing their position plus Quag's class). Not much between the sides in possession (Milan slightly edged it). So why you lol? I don't want to sound antagonistic in your forum but honestly I thought Milan were the better team.
Be antagonistic as much as you want. If you have watched the game you know Sampdoria weren't outplayed in spite of the huge difference in quality which is highlighted by the duel Suso vs Jacopo Sala. Milan deserved to win, they are by far the better crop of players, but the better "team" in the sense of playing better football? No way. Gattuso deserves credit for fielding the players who could defeat Sampdoria, but that's it. Face a better opponent than Sampdoria, who also play good football, and Gattuso goes home. Easily.
That game was a real disappointment, and I continue to claim that Samp had a better team last year. I love Saponara, though. Kownacki seems quite useless, as we've mentioned here before. I'm afraid that if Quagliarella got seriously hurt, this team could be relegation candidates. The entire attack seems to go and come with him. I wish we still had Zapata.
What do you think - is the Europa League realistic, or is it just another season of mid-table obscurity?
That game was a real disappointment, and I continue to claim that Samp had a better team last year. I love Saponara, though. Kownacki seems quite useless, as we've mentioned here before. I'm afraid that if Quagliarella got seriously hurt, this team could be relegation candidates. The entire attack seems to go and come with him. I wish we still had Zapata.
What do you think - is the Europa League realistic, or is it just another season of mid-table obscurity?
The past season told us that even a brilliant season can become a disappointment. The start of this season was very good, the way it was in the past season, hopefully our team won't repeat the results of the last season (and of the previous one... and of the one before it!) in spring.
Awful performance today vs Torino at Marassi. A game I want to forget.
Ratings:
Audero 5 - a clumsy foul on Belotti for the penalty, not so convincing on Iago's goal, static on the goal line when the ball dances inside the goal area before Izzo kicks it inside the goal
Bereszinski 4.5 - one of his worst performances, he is owned completely by Aina
Tonelli 5 - poor on Belotti who jumped over him for the first goal
Andersen 5 - his peculiarity lately is that you hardly realize he is on the pitch, contrarily to his fellows defenders. You can't hide!
Murru 4 - destroyed by De Silvestri, who isn't Garrincha, but crossed 122,238 times
Praet 5.5 - gained the penalty and tried something but not enough
Ekdal 5 - destroyed by the midfield of Torino
Barreto nv (Linetty 5 - back to disappointing standards)
Saponara 5 - very poor tonight (Defrel 5 - the injury surely affected his performance)
Caprari 5 - an unlucky shot in the first half is not enough. Another player who is back to his disappointing standards (Kownacki 5 - the usual 10 minutes of nothing)
Quagliarella 5.5 - a lot of fans want him out, but I wonder whether they understand that without Quagliarella we are even worse!
I don't want to be harsh with a 21 yo goalie but I believe he is average at best. He is a goalie with two obvious deficiencies: saving close to the ground shots and coming out of the goal line. He will never be Juventus material, that for sure, and there is no way Sampdoria would make it a full transfer for 10+ million euros, according to agreements. The two clubs might arrange another year loan, but honestly I hope Sampdoria move on to a different goalie at the end of this season, unless Rafael or Belec gains the starting spot before and Audero goes back to Juventus in January.
Ouch.
I didn't see any part of this game, and didn't have the heart to watch the highlights. But it must have been disgusting. I hope it's just an aberration.
I didn't watch this game but when I read the starting lineup I know it could hardly be anythng different from a defeat. No Quagliarella, no Saponara, no Ekdal, no Tonelli... I read Ronaldo Vieira did well and so Colley, but in attack Caprari was completely useless and Ramirez was the disappointing player we are getting accustomed to.
See you in two weeks for the Derby della Lanterna, a game of desperate clubs, the way it happens most of times, the one (two indeed) satisfaction in the season for the supporters of the club who wins it (them).
It's the result I would have predicted, but the performance of Sampdoria was disappointing. Unfortunately I fear we overrated the quality of the roster after a few brilliant performances at the beginning of the season.
Audero 6 - provoked the pk with the usual blunder, a misunderstanding with Andersen this time (one blunder per game is not a good thing!), but made at least three great saves afterwards
Bereszynski 6 - in terms of fighting spirit he hardly disappoints
Tonelli 5 - lately he often does the most stupid thing. Lost.
Andersen 5 - see Audero for the blunder. A few more defaillances.
Murru 6 - no mistakes
Praet 4.5 - after the renewal of the contract and the increase in the wages everyone expected another kind of performance
Ekdal 6 - he is not Torreira, but this is not his fault, he is alone in the midfield and again it is not his fault
Jankto 4 - now it should be clear to everyone the reason why Giampaolo prefers Barreto and Linetty
Ramirez 6 - we expected Saponara to play but in the end the one who started was the Uruguayan player. Not always precise but one of the few who tried (Saponara 5.5 - probably unfit, in a quarter of hour showed us the reason why Ramirez started)
Quagliarella 7 - he is always the one we can rely on, one goal for him
Defrel 5 - a ghost (Caprari 5 - another ghost)
It's HT of the Bologna game. I turned it on literally 15 seconds before Bologna's goal. I guess there isn't much to say - Bologna's defense is so bad, anybody could score a bunch on them. Still, Samp need some momentum however they can get it, so it's good. 4-1 seems to be a popular score recently, so maybe this time it will be in the Blucerchiati's favor (did I spell that right?).
It's the first time I've seen Ronaldo Vieira, I guess he's in for Ekdal. Also, Caprari starts instead of Defrel. So far both of them look pretty good.
The announcer mentioned that the last time Bologna won at Samp, Kennet Andersson had a hat-trick, and Montella and JS Veron scored. How's that for some nostalgia?
Well, I got the 4-1 I was looking for. Loved Quagliarella's finish on the last one - so nonchalant. Let's hope it's the start of better things, even if next week's trip to Lazio looks daunting, to say the least.
Yep.
Good performance, large win, but awful opponent to be honest. The next serie A game will be a completely different matter, but do not forget the Italian Cup game vs SPAL before, next Tuesday, Natan.
It's half-time at Lazio. Well, 1-0 is a great scoreline, and Murru's assist was really good. But, besides that, it's been a rather amateurish game. Both defenses are looking very fragile, and Audero, of course, had his weekly gaffe. Lucky for the alert linesman. The replacement for Tonelli (Colley, is that his name?) doesn't exactly inspire confidence, does he? Also, Praet is going unnoticed. I like Ekdal's game, though. And Caprari always looks close to pulling something off, but then his pass is an inch or two away from where it should be.
Wow, what a finish! First off all, that penalty was ridiculous. No way that's handball. 10 of the 11 Lazio players certainly thought so. So, Saponara's equalizer was really just justice being done. Surely the only reason he doesn't start is fitness, right? He's ten times better than Ramirez. But, I must say, that, had Samp lost, they could have no complaints. That was an awful game. Audero was inconsistent, Colley wasn't good, Bereszynski was weak, and Lazio had so many chances. I don't know how they didn't score at least 3 goals. To me, the bottom line stays the same: this team is scrappy, they give it everything they have, they can play well at times, but they just aren't good enough to really make serious noise in the league table.
Yep. Everything true and unfortunately Saponara's problem with fitness too. Giampaolo is a huge fan of Saponara and was the one who wanted him at Sampdoria so if Saponara played just 10 minutes (20 indeed ) it means he just had those minutes in his legs.
Quagliarella is a true lion. He is clearly more intelligent and brave than the average player which allows him to continue playing at this level producing respectable results. If he was 25-30 I bet he would get another call-up to the NT.
Parma parked the bus in front of the goal and in the first half Sampdoria failed to create chances to score. In the second half Sampdoria pushed a lot and after a quarter of hour a quick play earned us the goal of Caprari. Few minutes later the usual goal of Quagliarella sealed the win.
I strongly doubt that selling the best players every time can lead to the success. It can be a success for a while if the club manages to replace the players who were sold with better players, but it cannot happen every season. For example I doubt Sampdoria replaced Torreira properly. I also doubt they replaced Zapata properly. Saponara is a huge improvement on Ricky Alvarez instead.
Anyway, a win on Empoli is giving us the 6th spot and the next game is at Marassi vs Chievo. This is the kind of game which will tell us more about our dimension. More than the final game with Juventus, which should be a mission impossible.
Only saw highlights, but what a goal from Quagliarella. He's done it again! As if the Napoli goal wasn't enough. I'm glad it wasn't a repeat of the Benevento game last year.
But, why are they playing on the day after Christmas? I don't think that used to happen in Italy. What is the general opinion on that? Do people like it? It seems kind of an un-Italian thing to me.
Comical penalty awarded/invented by Valeri today for juve against Samp to make up/compensate for the correct penalty awarded by VAR against juve in the first half. When in difficulty juve can always count on refs to save them, VAR or no VAR.
⏰ Finisce 2-1 a Torino. Con un rigore discutibile di #Ronaldo e l'aiutino del #VAR #JuveSamp si conclude con la vittoria dei bianconeri. Doria beffato.
3-3 at Franchi with Fiorentina, a wasted chance because we were leading both in terms of result and men on the pitch. Unfortunately our defense was very poor today, Muriel was on fire instead, in his debut with the shirt of Fiorentina.