Sampdoria [R]

I think it is too early. I'd wait until February and then we will have a true indication of his value. As long as he never plays Mac, I'm happy.

 

What does WTD mean? Don't you mean WTF? It means "what the f*u*c*k".

It is too early to sack a coach at this stage of the season unless a team has lost something like five out of seven games. It is in January and February where you really see where a team is at. Teams who battle relegation sack coaches at round 14, not teams in the promotion hunt.

IMHO, Sampdoria should be dominating Serie B in a similar vein to Juve in 2006-07. We are still in the promotion race and we shouldn't hit the panic button yet. On one of the Sampdoria forums, the fans think Sampdoria will go to Serie C (or Lega Pro) when Mac plays. The team won't go to Lega Pro but if that scenario occurred, sacking Atzori would make sense. We are equal fourth but even our rivals have had bad losses.

Regardless of who it is, sacking the coach now would be stupid, at least with the results the team has got now. You need to look at the other sides too. Pescara and Reggina will probably drop off or lack consistency. Likewise with Sassuolo. Padova had the loss to Varese and despite the talent they have, the padovani have an ageing midfield. Torino are the only team to have beaten us and they are six points ahead in the title race. The fact we were leading at home is hard to swallow though. As you had mentioned in a previous post, the team isn't playing well and some of the draws should have been wins. You need to keep in my that this is Italy. They don't sack coaches who play ugly football. It is not Brazil, Barca or Real. Even if it is Sampdoria, who usually play a more stylish brand of football than other Italian teams, coaches have left or been sacked because they have got bad results or have gone on to new career paths.

Serie B provides a longer season than the Serie A and even though Atzori isn't the best coach, we still have more depth that the other teams. As I said in my previous post, just as long as Mac doesn't play, results should be in our favour.

 

Sampdoria drew 0-0 with Cittadella. Cittadella sat back and defended and even though we had most of the possession, we struggled to create clear-cut chances. Bertani came close in the first half and he should have had a penalty in the second.

On Manicomio Blucerchiato, they are calling Atzori's head. On www.sampdoria.co.uk most fans are questioning his "gameplan". The team played a with a patient build-up but they needed someone who could play defence-splitting passes. Foggia made some great runs on the wing but his crosses were poor. I'd play him in the hole.

 

Nocerina beat Sampdoria 4-2. I thought that it might have taken the team time to progress but I think Atzori should be sacked now. We had great wins against Gubbio and Empoli, a decent one against Albinoleffe and a lucky one against Ascoli. Maccarone scored two goals but only when Nocerina had a 3-0 lead.

I would like to get someone like Giuseppe Papadopulo. He knows how to get teams promoted into Serie A and his teams play attacking football. At least with him there will be some conviction and flair.

 

I don't think it's strange at all. Italian soccer fans are flexible in these situations.

BTW, I was expecting him to get more of these lacklustre draws and ugly wins. I thought we would make steady progress, even if it wasn't pretty. After the loss to Nocerina, the situation is a lot dire than I thought. If we had another ugly win like a 1-0 or 2-1 win, I'd probably persist with my original idea. If it was a draw, I would be concerned but not as much as I am now. I would just be demanding line-up changes. Losing to a newly-promoted team though is different and they way that we lost was even worse. I could understand if we lost like this in Torino (to some extent) but in this scenario, Atzori is beyond help and I wonder if the players take him seriously. I doubt. Even when we thrashed Gubbio, I saw Atzori arguing with Palombo and the result was in the bag!

Generally speaking, big teams in a division will not go all-out for a whole season. They pace themselves. Maybe your belief on football is different but you have to realise that this is not the EPL, where they run like rabbits. Most big teams are more calculated, especially in Italy. Look at AC Milan last season. The lost to Cesena and had some other poor results. Lazio even lead the title race. Once the winter break had passed, Milan cruised to the title. Their players had gelled and Allegri got his gameplan right. That's why small teams have these early runs, only to fall by the wayside by January and February. That is why I originally stated that Atzori should be given until February. Not all teams have steady runs. I had believed that things would eventually come good and all that was need was time. Having said that, things were great against Gubbio and Empoli but somehow the recent results have been poor and the style of play isn't any better.

I have belief in a majority of players expect for Semioli, Mac and Tissone. Laczko seems to be getting praise on the Samp boards but I'll need to see for myself if he is any good. I don't recall him playing in any wins for us so that's why I'm sceptical. The verdict is still out on Koman, IMO but he hasn't been playing.

I doriani still have the best roster in Serie B but they are playing horribly. At the same time, Serie B is more competitive than I thought. Torino is looking great under Ventura and Padova are still in the hunt. Sassuolo and Bari might fall but they are still getting results. Pescara have Immobile, who is the leading goalscorer in Serie B, Insigne in attack too and Zeman is a great coach. Reggina, Atzori's former team, look like they could be a contender for direct promotion too. They have gone back to the 3-5-2, which suits their players and guys like Missiroli and Ceravolo are on fire. Their roster is weaker than Sampdoria's so if Atzori could have taken them to the play-offs, surely he could have done a good enough job to take us to promotion. Brescia is in a form slump (Reggina thrashed them at home) but I wouldn't rule them out. I would like them to stay mid-table but they still are good enough to be near the promotion zone or play-offs. I'd also keep an eye out for Varese. They sacked Benito Carbone and they reached the play-offs last season so they too could start making a run under their new coach.

Sampdoria play Crotone soon and Palombo will be benched for Soriano and Fornaroli will start. I hope they can make an impact and maybe they can somehow make Atzori look good.

Possible line-up:

Romero;
Rispoli, Gastaldello, Costa, Castellini;
Foggia, Soriano, Obiang, Semioli;
Fornaroli, Bertani.

Bench: Da Costa, Volta, Padalino, Accardi, Palombo, Pozzi, Maccarone

 

Sampdoria won 2-0 against Crotone. I still think that the team will still struggle for now but maybe the changes paid off. Lazcko came off the bench and Foti too. The latter scored the second.

If Palombo stays on the bench, I reckon that he will be on his way to Inter come January.

 

0-0 against Brescia. At least Mac didn't play and even though they weren't exciting, Samp apparently showed more spirit than in other games.

Ratings:

http://www.tuttomercatoweb.com/sampdoria/?action=read&idtmw=306103

 

Heard about that. It's one thing to raise funds for charity but I hate to associate with people who celebrated our relegation with a fake funeral procession. If anyone of those six people were Genoa fans, I hope they are burning in hell. Not only that, with a captain like Marco Rossi at Genoa, how could Sampdoria agree to this? That fake funeral was an insult. This is their punishment. Doria-haters!

 

Sampdoria face Vicenza on Sunday afternoon local time and apparently Pozzi will start. Laczko, Koman and Romero are away on international duty.

Palombo might be leaving for good come January. He isn't making the starting line-up any more.

 

I'd rather get Iachini and it seems that he will get the job. Donadoni is in the USA and I reckon he lacks the balls to be a good coach. I think Iachini is ideal for the Serie B anyway.

A bit of both, IMO. Even while we were winning convincingly against Gubbio, both of them were still arguing. I also think that Palombo hasn't been that great in terms of his ball use either. He works hard but on the ball, Obiang has been much better.

 

It's official. Iachini is Sampdoria's new coach.

 

He rarely played it at Brescia. He seems to use formations that suit the players. He mostly used the 3-5-2 at Brescia and the 4-3-3 at Chievo. I actually hope that he uses the 3-5-2. IMO, it suits most of the players and Foggia can be used as a #10.

 

That may be the case for the fans back in Genoa but I can't respect fans who chant "Doria merda". Apparently the Derby della Lanterna is one of the very few derbies in Italy where the police don't have to be as active as in other derbies.

I was in Genoa in early September and even though Genoa is a nice city, I was disgusted by the graffiti that had "B" and "Doria merda". To me, that is like insulting me and my relatives. These people don't understand that the Doria family contributed a lot to Genoa's history. It is because of a family like the Doria family that Genoa became known as "La Superba". The acts of the last 12 months have shown what scum the Genoa fans are, Ultras or not. I've never heard of the fans in Milan, Turin or Rome do that to their rivals.

For the record, the Doria family will always be great and Dorias are great people. It is the Garrone family that is making us look bad and Preziosi look good. I'm not attacking you as a person but Genoa fans have a pair of "coglioni" for doing some of the things they have done. To me, this is more than a sporting rivalry. Saying "Doria merda" is worse than saying "Samp merda" or "ciclisti".

 

These aristocratic families are either gone or they have no influence now in the dealings of modern Genoa and Rome.

In modern times, I've never heard of people with surnames like Fieschi, Pallavicini and Spinola. They were powerful Genoese families too. The Grimaldis have been in Monaco for centuries. If I am a Doria though and my relatives are Dorias, we aren't necessarily extinct, are we?

 

It's the use of "Doria merda" from Genoa fans. Obviously I'm not from Genoa but when those two words are put together, it's still offensive to me. As I said before, it is different to saying "Samp merda". That's a clear attack on the team. Saying "Doria merda" is different. It can still be used to insult any Doria, regardless if it is the ancient family or someone like me.

Doria isn't a surname like Pugliese, Milanese or Bresciano. I can understand if those families didn't have a sole ancestor that they were related to. Anyone could have those surnames. A surname like Doria is different. The only way for someone not to be distant relative of the Dorias that lived in Genoa centuries ago is for someone to have changed their original surname. Perhaps that is something I need to check the next time I go to Italy. Apparently I had an ancestor that moved to Calabria in the 17th or 18th century but I haven't got sufficient evidence to prove it.

You are right about the sporting teams. The old Andrea Doria club was named in honour in him and no person bearing the Doria name has had any financial input or control over what happens at Sampdoria.

To move slightly off topic, I reckon it would be great if a Doria had a say in Sampdoria's invents and I'm talking about any Doria in general. For instance, I was born in Australia and my dad is from Calabria. IMO, the club should be used as a source of pride. Even if the aristocratic family has disappeared, there are still Dorias around the world and there must be something special if a sports team can be named after a Doria. No other family can have that claim. When I went to the Sampdoria Point store in Via Cesarea to buy my ticket for the Gubbio match, the staff were surprised when they found out my surname was Doria. When I got into the taxi and I told him why I supported Sampdoria, he was pretty amazed too.

They were formed due to a merger but as mattteo said, the old Andrea Doria team was named in honour of him. Even a number of ships have been named after him and you might see the odd street or two bearing his name.