Giampaolo satisfied with Crotone draw: “We did well to get back into a hard game”

Marco Giampaolo had predicted that Crotone would be a tough customer and the Sampdoria coach proved to be exactly right.

“It was a complicated match just like I expected,” he said in post-match. “The team did well to come back into it for the umpteenth time this season. Ever since Crotone have come back to the Scida, they’ve been difficult to face.

“We’ve picked up a decent point in a game where we should have gone about things differently.”

The Blucerchiati manager was content to focus on the positives from an afternoon that was far from perfect.

“Aesthetically it wasn’t pretty,” Giampaolo continued, “but we were solid. We found it difficult to get into the right spaces in the first half because they were very tight. However, I have to say we did well. We understood the dynamics of this contest, which were different from all the others so far.

“We’re at home for the next two weeks and we’ve always been able to perform at our best at the Marassi thanks to our support.”