UC Sampdoria

By: Stephen | 19 Comments

I remember May 16th, 1999 quite vividly. I was a sixteen-year-old football nerd living with my folks in rural Ireland. Up until that day, I was, I am ashamed to admit, a Manchester United fan, even though my football nerdiness allowed me to have a favourite team in every major European league. Samp, of course, were my Italian team. They had been since 1994, since that three-way battle for the Scudetto with Milan and Juve, and those insane European encounters with Arsenal. There was something about those crazy shirts, about Gullit and Lombardo, the funny name and underdog status that I just couldn’t resist.

Out of context, the results of May 16th, 1999 are innocuous.

Manchester United 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur.
Bologna 2-2 Sampdoria.

In context, however, they meant a 12th league win for United and relegation to Serie B for Samp. Instead of celebrating United’s win, I found myself crying confusedly but passionately at Samp’s demise. My heart’s been blucerchiato ever since.

This year’s been a lot like 1999 for Sampdoria. Then, relegation came after the sale of top players and a management situation that was, even by the low standards of Italian football, a total mess. Luciano Spalletti (yes, that one, the one who is actually a very good trainer these days) was replaced by David Platt (yes, that one, who never actually became a good trainer) and Giorgio Veneri (who never worked in football again), who were replaced by Spalletti again. There were incredible moments mixed in with the anguish, like the 4-0 demolition of Inter at the Marassi, with a hat-trick from the legendary aeroplanino Vincenzo Montella and beautiful, beautiful goal from that little bastard Ortega, always there to put the icing on the cake but never to mix the batter.

That 2-2 against Bologna was a killer. The equaliser came deep into an injury time, a penalty from (and the name still spends spasms down my spine) Klas Ingesson. It was never a penalty. NEVER.

When Samp returned to Serie A four years later, I was present for the trip to the Dell’Ara in Bologna. The home fans unveiled an enormous rossoblu jersey with “INGESSON 8“ plastered across the back that took over almost the entire Curva, and the Samp fans went wild with rage. But within the rage, there was satisfaction. We’re back, we were all thinking, back to renew the old rivalries and make sure an unexpected relegation like the one of 1999 never happens again.

But it is happening again. The gap to Lecce in safety of fifteenth after Sunday’s heartbreaker against Genoa (their winner coming in the seventh minute of the six minutes of injury time) is two points. Our last two games are at home to Palermo and away to Roma; their last two are at Bari and at home to Lazio. Our Barese brothers will fight to the death to relegate the Leccese and give us a chance, and hopefully Lazio will still be fighting for a Champion’s League spot, but the fact remains that we need to win at least one of our remaining fixtures. I’m a realist. I don’t think that will happen.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why we have gone from the Champion’s League to relegation in a year. It’s ludicrously simple. Samp had two world-class players and the president of the club got rid of them both. And didn’t replace either. That’s all. Secondary reasons include sub-standard trainers, horrible luck, and fans who confuse support for the team with anger against the board, but even the best trainer in the world can’t make a team without attackers score goals. Luck only gets you so far. Fans are only metaphorically the twelfth man. Good players win games. We, Palombo and Guberti (on occasion) aside, don’t have any of those.

Sunday, 15:00. Samp v Palermo. There won’t be a new Ingesson. Forza Samp.

By: Stephen | 4 Comments

One short month ago, Sampdoria had Antonio Cassano, Guido Marilungo and Giampaolo Pazzini on their roster.

That’s Antonio Cassano, one of the most mercurial and prodigious talents Italy has ever produced, a player for whom the old cliche ‘he can change a game with one touch of the ball’ seemed to have been made for. He plays for Milan now though, and the transfer actually cost Sampdoria money in order to fulfil a sell-on clause in the contract with Cassano’s old team, Real Madrid.

And Guido Marilungo, a young striker named by Spanish publication Don Balón as one of the 100 most important players in the world born after 1989. A player whose 13 goals while on loan at Lecce last season propelled them back into Serie A. A key member of Samp’s double-winning youth team of 2007/8, and Golden Boy of the influential youth team tournament in Viareggio in 2009, featuring teams from all over the world. Marilungo now plays for Atalanta, having joined them in a five-year contact on January 12th for a fee believed to be around €5m. Nice business, Atalanta. I’ve been following this kid for a couple of years now, and he’s going to be big. What exactly Samp were thinking when letting him go for such a paltry fee is simply unfathomable.

And then, and most sickening and sickeningly predictable of all, Giampaolo Pazzini has just joined Inter. Pazzo had scored 48 goals in 87 appearances for Samp, averaging more than a goal every other game. He signed for Doria almost exactly two years ago after a nightmare spell in Florence, costing €9m plus Emiliano Bonazzoli. So, after being one of Serie A’s most reliable goalscorers for two years, it’s quite reasonable to expect that his price should increase quite a great deal, right? Wrong. Inter have signed him for €12m plus Jonathan Biabiany, a kid who can run really fast but, it appears, little else. I really hope he proves me wrong. How it occurred to no-one at Samp that a €3m profit for a player who completely turned around his career while wearing the blucerchiata shirt is utterly perplexing. Then again, it’s not like we don’t have history in this area.

Our wonderful president, Riccardo Garrone, couldn’t resist a parting shot at Pazzini as he packed his bags – “He wanted to leave…it’s difficult to resist the lure of Inter, even if I thought he’d stay until the summer.” Well, Mr Garrone, you know that he’s got a contract, right? And if you receive a pathetic offer for him, you can also just reject it, right?
The the fans who, quite reasonably, I would argue, are upset at the club’s perceived lack of ambition also got a ticking off from Garrone, “I understand that they are disappointed, but if this goes any further, I will sell the club…if people aren’t happy with how we are working, they have short memories.”

Well, today we’re off to Napoli. Our new striker, Massimo Maccarone, is expected to make his league debut. He’s scored consistently for Siena over the last three years, but as a fan of English football, I just can’t get the picture of him in a Middlesborough shirt out of my head. He wasn’t very good there, you see, so I’m sorry Massimo, but I just don’t see you being anything close to a replacement for Cassano, Pazzini or even Marilungo. And since we’re in the middle of an injury crisis (Franco Semioli, Daniele Gastaldello, Stefano Lucchini, Daniele Dessena and Nicola Pozzi the victims) and have scored only two goals since the beginning of December, only a fool would bet against Napoli picking up all three points this afternoon.

Nonetheless, I can just about force myself the whimper forth a ‘Forza Samp!’.

By: Stephen | 3 Comments

When your team hasn’t scored a goal in over a month and your star striker has just left, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that you might need to pick up a new striker somewhere. Which, surprisingly, is exactly what we did, with Manchester United’s nineteen-year-old kiddo Federico Macheda being loaned la maglia blucerchiata for the next six months. He’s a tough looking chap, and has popped up with amazing and amazingly important goals for United over the last couple of years, but whether someone with 220 minutes of league football this season can fill the Cassano-shaped hole in the Samp attack remains to be seen (feel free to insert your own pastry-related quip here). Apparently there is no option to buy at the end of the season, and the sounds from Old Trafford indicate that he’ll be coming back regardless of what happens at the Ferraris over the coming months. So we have six months of Chicco, and six months only.

Chicco getting friendly with some fans…

When Macheda came on with thirteen minutes left to play against Roma earlier this afternoon, Samp were confusedly trying how figure out how best to make use of their extra man after Roma keeper Julio Sergio’s sending-off, still smiling gratefully at being allowed back into a game that had seen the bare minimum in the way of creativity, urgency and cutting edge from the men in blue. Mirko Vucinic had blasted Roma into the lead early in the second half, single-handedly rampaging his way through the somnambulic Samp defence into the box before pounding a shot past Curci.

While Macheda’s contributions were by no means spectacular, his introduction sparked a surge in passion and drive from Samp, as though the three-month Cassano circus had finally been put to bed and the players eventually remembered that they are, in fact, football players rather than barely relevant pawns in the torturous Cassano/Garrone charade. He distributed the ball well, and moments after glancing a diving header wide of the post, Guberti capitalised on Juan’s second calamitous back-pass of the afternoon (the first had lead to the red card and penalty that restored unmerited parity) to sneak the ball under the baffled keeper Doni. The wild celebrations that followed were further proof that, despite the evidence presented over the first seventy minutes, there is still plenty of desire and passion in this slumbering blucerchiato beast. After the game, Guberti spoke of his satisfaction at having scored against his former club, and Macheda illustrated his desire to do the same against his former employers, Lazio, next Sunday. Worringly, the trip south will be undertaken without Samp’s first choice central defence after both picked up red cards in the dying moments of the game.

Lucchini’s crime was failing to dematerialise as Vucinic knocked the ball past him outside the Samp box. It is endlessly baffling how defenders are expected to simply cease to exist as bodies of matter once the ball has been tapped past them – an attacker simply has to not alter his trajectory in any way in order to win a free kick and have his opponent booked. Lucchini was shown his second yellow card, as was Gasteldello moments later for a high foot.

Nonetheless, Doria held on to record their fourth home league win of the season, and the first victory against a team not battling against relegation since mid-October. It would be premature to suggest we’ve turned the corner, especially with Lazio, the phenomenal Antionio Di Natale’s Udinese in the cup, Juve, the rescheduled Derby della Lanterna and Napoli all coming up before the end of the month. But with our very own ‘import’ from the Theatre of Dreams, there’s no harm in hoping, right?

By: Stephen | 4 Comments

When Alex Ferguson ended the Manchester United careers of David Beckham, or Ruud van Nistelrooy, or Jaap Stam, or Paul Ince, no-one saw it coming. Not the media, not the fans, and probably not even the players themselves. They were all shipped out to clubs abroad (also no coincidence – he didn’t want them coming back to haunt him) with barely enough time to register a bemused look on their faces. That’s how you know that no player is bigger than a club. And that’s how you know you have a boss whose only interest is the well-being of the club.

When Riccardo Garrone began his one-man crusade to show the world that Antonio Cassano is not bigger than Sampdoria last October, he went about it in exactly the opposite way. Media from all over Italy (as if the world cared) set up camp in the ridiculous Sampdoria circus as Garrone huffed and puffed about principles and pride. What he utterly failed to comprehend was that he was sending out the very clear message that Antonio Cassano, due to all his efforts to prove the contrary, was, in fact, much, much bigger than the club, and that Sampdoria are nothing more than a small-minded provincial club with a pompous, self-important president suffering from a enormous dose of hubris.

The saddest thing of all is that Cassano is Samp. We love him. We love players like him. We loved Mancini and Flachi, and there will be another hot-headed fantasista before too long for us to worship. When you think of Cassano, you don’t think of the Galletto on the Bari shirt; it was always inevitable he would leave his hometown. You don’t think of his tantrums in Rome, or his diet of pastries and women in Madrid. You think of the Blucerchiati, how Cassano plays when he is loved; you think of that impish smile; of him being battered by Genoa in the Derby della Lanterna and not reacting once; of that game against Palermo in 2007 that I had the privilege of attending – that day, he was simply unplayable; of the idolation from the Gradinata Sud; of him settling down in Genova; of his endless declarations of love for the team even after being forced out in the most undignified manner possible.

The details of Cassano’s transfer to Milan will involve Samp, Cassano and Milan all paying one third of the €5m owed to Real Madrid. Can you imagine how much money Samp would have earned had Garrone had taken a leaf from the Ferguson book and had the presence of mind to keep his fit of hubris under wraps until the next transfer window? €10-15 million would be in the Samp coffers, to invest in a couple of defenders and a new attacker. Instead, we take a monetary loss, and a loss on the pitch calculable with a quick look at recent results – two wins since October (they came against Serie A’s bottom two teams), and failure to score in six of the last ten games.

The future is bleak. We’ve handed over our European place with barely a whimper yet again, and when Pazzini doesn’t score, Samp doesn’t score. Is there any incentive for him to hang around any longer? To any world class player, Sampdoria is not a club with ambition and not a place for big, big players and their proportionate egos. And who could blame Pazzini if he wants to leave? He’s not like Cassano; he doesn’t need to be mollycoddled at a smaller team. His style of play could suit any European league, and he’s only twenty-six. The mid-table obscurity for which Samp are bound is no place for a player of his talents.

Well, that’s a discussion for a later date. Today, Antonio Cassano is going to sign for Milan, and it’s a sad, sad day for Sampdoria.

Here’s what we’re losing.

By: Stephen | Add Comments

Thursday’s defeat at Parma was drab and bleak. If you feel like punishing yourself for three minutes, you can have a look at the highlights here. Or, I could sum it up for you and save you the bother – Samp looked dreadfully ineffective going forward, and Pazzini, on the few occasions when a chance did come his way, looked a long, long way short of the Pazzo of last season.

Today, we face Mimmo Di Carlo’s old side, Chievo. They have scored a grand total of zero goals in their last three games, and Samp have scored one. By all accounts, it’s not shaping up to be a classic, especially when one considers that both teams will be missing their captain and main goal threat – Sergio Pellissier fulfills both roles for Chievo and is currently injured. We all know why our main goal threat is absent, and Angelo Palombo is also missing due to injury. I might jut sit this game out, as I can think of better things to do that watch a match that will almost certainly be utterly, utterly drab. Bets on for a 5-4 thriller then.

The latest in the Cassano mess was an appeal from the man himself to his teammates for support, and talk that a massive fine might get him back into the Samp good books. Garrone, however, seems as stubbornly unmoving as ever. Sigh. If you want to read more about it, have a look at this post in the Serie A blog.

By: Stephen | 2 Comments

We’re back to Serie A action tomorrow after Thursday’s frustrating encounter with Metalist in the Europa League. The goal simply wouldn’t come despite Samp laying siege to the Ukrainian box – there were goalline clearances, penalty claims denied, slips at crucial moments and, in the end, a 0-0 draw that means the PSV game at the beginning of December will decide whether we advance to the next round or not.

The Cassano saga is rumbling on. Former Samp legend Vincenzo Montella has added in his two cents, suggesting that the simple fact that Cassano has been apologising so genuinely means he’s deserving of a second chance. Samp fans, interestingly, are divided down the middle on this issue. A survey on sampdorianews.net suggests that nearly 37% of the 592 that voted fully support Samp President Riccardo Garrone in his efforts to get Cassano out, whereas about 39%, yours truly included, are with Fant’Antonio. Pop along and share your opinion.

As for Sunday, we’ll be hosting Catania without Franco Semioli and Nicola Pozzi. This is likely to mean a start for young Guido Marilungo, provider of an excellent assist for Pazzini’s late winner at Cesena last week. The Italy U-21 international was on loan at Lecce last season, and his thirteen goals were pivotal in the giallorossi’s promotion from Serie B. Such form comes at a price – attention from Roberto Mancini at Manchester City. Maybe when he finally gets sacked, the constant speculation linking City with just about every in-form Samp player will come to an end.

Guido and Antonio getting to know each other

Our lack of options up front also mean a place in the squad for Bruno Fornaroli. The Uruguayan hasn’t appeared in a Samp shirt for almost two years due to loan spells in Argentina and Spain with San Lorenzo and Recreativo Huelva respectively. Perhaps the semi-regular football he saw back in the Spanish-speaking world will have prepared him for life back in Serie A.

As for Catania, they are winless since September and winless on the road since February. The recent goalfest in the Coppa Italia against Varese aside, their games have been decidedly low-scoring – only sixteen altogether in the nine Serie A games to date. Samp’s recent encounters have been similarly sparse on the goalscoring front – couple that with our depleted strikeforce and you’ve got a game that’s going to be decided by a single goal, if at all.

By: Stephen | 5 Comments

Here we go again. It’s time for the latest installment in the never-ending Cassano soap opera, and I doubt I am alone in being both bored and depressed by it.

Long story short – Samp President Riccardo Garrone asks Cassano to go to an awards ceremony to accept an award. Cassano refuses, and decides to insult Garrone quite badly. Cassano’s refusal to apologise in the way Garrone wanted led Samp to take steps to have Cassano’s contract terminated. Cassano begins to frantically backtrack, apologising left, right and centre, offering to take massive wage cuts, declaring his love for Samp and how he wants to stay with us forever. Garrone’s unmoved. Cassano’s clinging on by his fingertips.

Childish, isn’t it? But then again, that’s part of having Cassano on the books. We know what he’s like. We know that this sort of thing is always possible. Until now, his performances on the pitch made the volatility acceptable, and even though he’s on form – top scorer for both Samp and Italy so far this season – this seems to be the straw that broke the camel’s back.

But what I absolutely cannot understand, what is utterly bizarre and lacking in reason, is that Samp want to terminate his contract rather that cashing in and selling him for €15m+ in January. He’s damaged goods, but that’s exactly what he was when Samp came in for him. The only difference between now and then is that his market value has increased massively. Liverpool are sniffing around, as are Palermo and a host of others.

While any real Samp fan will understand that no man is bigger than the club (no matter how much we love the abusive wee scamp), we’re also justified in wondering why the hell we should bother paying for tickets, merchandise, etc when the club has such scant disregard for the value of its main asset. And when that asset is offering to take a 50% pay cut to show his dedication to the club, that really should count for something.

To conclude: yes, he’s a twat, and a baby, and an idiot. But he’s got skills, and he does genuinely love Samp, even if the red mist still descends on occasion. He’s apologised. Let’s see reason and give him one last chance. And then sell him for big money if he screws up again.

As for events on the pitch, we’ve been solid and hard to beat over the last six weeks. We’ve also been finding it hard to win games though, which is why we’re only in sixth spot despite losing only one league game all season. The wins over Fiorentina and Cesena were interesting in that they featured late winners for Samp, rather than the concession of late goals, which had sullied the games against PSV in the Europa League (athough we were played off the park) and Napoli.

I’ve been especially impressed with the contribution of Vladimir Koman, a young Hungarian midfielder who spent last season on loan at Bari. He’s most at home on the left of midfield, has a lovely touch and scored in the defeat to Metalist in the Europa League last month – a defeat we have a chance to avenge on Thursday as the Ukrainians arrive in Genova. We’re currently two points adrift of Metalist in second and three behind PSV, so a win on Thursday is imperative.

By: Stephen | 2 Comments

It’s hard to decide which is more correct. For spells of today’s game against Juve, Samp overran their hosts, and at times seemed to be clinging on by their fingertips.

Samp started brightly, twice denied by their former keeper Marco Storari in one-on-one situations – Pozzi and Cassano the guilty parties. However, the pair combined to atone for their misses shortly afterwards, Cassano’s cross from the left cleverly dummied by Koman to allow Pozzi to slot home from the edge of the box.

Juve were perhaps fortunate to get a foothold in the game just before the break, the lively Krasic heading down Del Piero’s cross for Marchisio to smash home. Samp’s defence was worryingly slow to react to the loose ball, and worryingly pedestrian about attempting to get a block on Marchisio’s thumping shot.

Samp’s defence was again shaky as Juve completed the turnaround just after half-time. Curci reacted fantastically to keep out Gastaldello’s goal-bound interception from that tricky bugger Krasic’s cross, but the ball fell to Pepe and Quagliarella, both completely unmarked at the far post – Pepe managing to bundle it over the line with surprising difficulty.

Krasic was quite the Pavel Nedved throwback, his blonde hair bouncing as his thrusting runs from the wing caused all sorts of problems for the Samp backline. Curci denied him a goal from a chance all of his own making, but despite Juve asserting their dominance, it was Samp that struck next. Palombo’s chip over the Juventus defence was divine, and Cassano’s run exquisitely timed. His first-time sidefooted volley was just accurate enough to squeeze past Storari for the equaliser.

But once more, flat-footed defending was Samp’s undoing, as no-one but Fabio Quagliarella reacted to Pepe’s shot rebounding off the prone Curci’s near post. It was the second simple tap-in for Juve and the third sloppy and avoidable goal conceded on a day when our attacking play was incisive, direct and effective, as illustrated by Pozzi’s equaliser – long pass wide to Marilungo on the right, cross to Pozzi in the centre, decisive header from the big man.

All in all, a pleasing afternoon. We showed we can mix it with the big boys away from home, are unafraid of attacking and, aside from two early chances, we took our opportunities well. It was also pleasing to deny DelNeri and Marotta their first Juventus victory – goes to show, boys, trying to buy success generally isn’t as effective as building from the ground up.

Next up is a trip to Holland to play PSV on Thursday evening. It will be interesting to see whether Mimmo Di Carlo will choose to rest a few first-teamers, or whether the Europa League will be recognised as a priority for Samp. I, for one hope so, and not only because the final will be in Dublin next May.

By: Stephen | Add Comments

Well, after predicting a slow start for Samp on the first game day against Lazio, I have finally got around to clearing the egg from my face. Doria recorded an impressively businesslike 2-0 victory with a penalty from Cassano and an opportunistic lob from Guberti after a mistake from the Lazio keeper.

The team shrugged off the heartbreak against Bremen in remarkably professional fashion, but Sunday’s visit to Turin to play Juventus will be a much sterner task. It’s a meeting with a couple of old friends, with Gigi DelNeri pulling the strings on the bench for the Bianconeri, and Marco Storari and Fabio Quagliarella likely to make the starting line-up. Juve failed to impress in their single Serie A game to date – a 1-0 defeat against a solid Bari side. In their defence, a squad with so many new signings is always going to take some time to gel, so we could be making our trip to Turin at the perfect time. We’ll have to watch out for the tricky Miloš Krasić on the wing – he’ll have a point to prove to his new side after being hauled off at half-time on his debut against Bari, and of course that wily old goat, Alessando del Piero.

As for Samp, we’ve got Italy star Antonio Cassano raring to go. That sounds good, doesn’t it? Italy star Antonio Cassano. He’s out of the international wilderness and was instrumental in turning around a tricky situation in Estonia with a rare headed goal, and a gloriously Cassanoesque flick to set up Bonucci for the winner. He notched up a beautiful strike from outside the box against the Faroe Islands, as well as being generally very menacing any time he had the ball. Of course, Estonia and Faroe Islands are hardly the most illustrious of opponents, but seeing Cassano back in the Azzurro is all that matters at the moment.

One of our other Azzurri stars, Giampaolo Pazzini, is a doubt for the Juve game with a back injury – Nicola Pozzi is ready to enter the fray if Pazzini doesn’t make it. Also absent will be Fernando Tissone and Andrea Poli, with Semioli and Dessena ready to complete the midfield alongside Palombo and Guberti.

This is a big game – last season’s fourth place against one of the teams determined to wrest that privileged position away from us. Mimmo Di Carlo believes we can strike an early blow against them, and I do too. Forza Samp!

By: Stephen | 1 Comment

I’m still far, far too distraught to write anything coherent about that Bremen game. This most probably makes me a terrible blogger, but my utterly subjective fandom far outweighs my desire to think about something that made me weep like a little child. From all the supportive comments on the last post, it seems as though I wasn’t the only one that had my carpet of jubilation ripped out from under me last Tuesday. Thanks for the support, Samp fans.

If you didn’t see the game, here’s a summary: after 13 minutes, deficit overturned with Pazzini header and magnificent Pazzini header. Icing on the cake added with five minutes to go by Cassano. Thirty seconds to play – Bremen aggregate equaliser. Extra time – Bremen away goal killer punch. Me on the floor, switching unpredictably between tears of despair and screams of sheer disbelief.

So Europa League it is, and our opponents will be PSV of the Netherlands, Debrecen of Hungary and Metalist of Ukraine. On paper, it looks doable, but progress depends on how seriously Samp take the Europa League, and how the team bounces back from the heartbreaking Bremen defeat. I have a niggling fear that that was the sort of game that can shatter a season before it has even started.

On Sunday, we welcome Lazio to the Marassi for the Serie kickoff. Lazio had a miserable year last season, but managed to turn their form around towards the end of the campaign to avoid getting stuck in a relegation dogfight. They’ve got a solid coach in Edy Reja and should be a lot more organised than last year. As I said, we’re going to need to show our ‘boucebackability’ in a big way over the coming months. Pazzini’s wonder goal won’t have gone unnoticed, and we simply must keep hold of him until the transfer window closes at the end of August. We’ll have a big battle to keep hold of our fourth place this year, with Juve looking particularly menacing. A victory right from the off is a must to build up momentum.

Forza Samp!