Giampaolo preaches caution: “League position improved, I’ll be satisfied when we hit target”

As Serie A makes its return this weekend, Marco Giampaolo’s Sampdoria will be looking to continue their positive run from before the international break against Sassuolo on Sunday.

“The international break gave me the opportunity to take stock mentally,” the Blucerchiati coach began in today’s news conference, “but it’s taken away so many players. We have to manage the internationals and make do with this situation. For me, work starts again when the whole squad is back available. Once everyone had returned, we were able to start preparing for the game this morning.

“Everyone came back in good shape,” Giampaolo added about Samp’s international contingent, “apart from a few players who had some niggles. I told the lads that they have an incredibly important job to do as soon as they return. It’s up to them and to me that we all switch onto the game immediately, fully aware of the opposition we have to face.”

Speaking of the opposition, the head coach was full of praise for Sassuolo: “They are a decent outfit, a properly run provincial club that has made it into the Europa League. They’ve added to their squad at every opportunity. They’re quality and have played together for years. This season they’re having to fight on three fronts and it isn’t easy, plus they’ve had a few too many injuries.

“Sassuolo suffered a tough defeat just before the international break,” Giampaolo continued, “so they’re coming here to play their game. I don’t agree that the difficult cycle of fixtures is over. The cycle never ends and it will be a hard game, just like they all are in Serie A.

“We haven’t achieved anything yet. We’ve got these results, but we have to keep on improving and improving. I can work with these results but I haven’t won anything yet. Things can change extremely quickly, so I’m taking things day by day. I’ll be satisfied at the end of May, but now we have to approach things one at a time.”

For once, the managerial position doesn’t appear to be in question at Sampdoria, but Marco insists he’s not getting ahead of himself.

“I’m always under discussion. I’ve been coaching for years and I know how football is. The law forbids lifetime contracts, so the maximum I can sign is for five years and only when the president offers me one.

“The January transfer window worries me,” Doria’s manager concluded by saying. “I build my teams in June and July, so in the upcoming window I can either strengthen further or offload players who haven’t featured much. I cannot sell players to big clubs because I’ll weaken my line-up. That transfer window is there to improve and add depth to the squad, not necessarily in the starting line-up.”

You can hear more from the coach in the video below!