Giampaolo: “I can’t imagine Marassi without the fans – I want to see them there”

Marco Giampaolo has appealed to the Sampdoria fans to turn out in numbers to support the team when they take on Fiorentina at Marassi on Wednesday.

Groups of fans from the Curva Sud have decided to boycott the game on account of it being played at 19:00 CEST on a weekday, but the Doria coach has stressed just how important their support is to his players.

“I hope we have even more fans than usual,” said Giampaolo, speaking at his pre-match conference. “None of the teams should have played after the Morandi bridge tragedy, and if that had been the case then tomorrow wouldn’t have been the first available date for the game to be rescheduled. That said, I hope to see the fans at the stadium. I’ve always said that we need them. We need the oxygen that comes from having our people there and I can’t imagine Marassi without them.”

The Blucerchiati enjoyed a stunning 5-0 win over Frosinone in their last Serie A game, but Giampaolo was quick to call on his team to forget that result and focus on the Fiorentina match.

“We’re always being tested and that continues until the last day of the season and you’ve achieved something,” he said. “Tomorrow we need to put ourselves to the test. We haven’t achieved anything yet so we need to live day by day.”

Samp have a hugely demanding run of fixtures coming up, with Inter visiting Marassi on Saturday before Doria head to Cagliari on Wednesday and finally welcome SPAL on Monday 1 October, but Giampaolo insisted that his team has to adapt.

“We’re not used to playing five games in just over two weeks,” he said. “It’s tough to recover in time. You have to be able to reset and go again because you barely have time to train before the next match. We’re not the type of team that hangs back – our football is quick, technical and high intensity so we might be feeling the effects by the end of this run of games. Obviously, I hope that’s not the case.”

Fiorentina have enjoyed a good start to the season, beating Chievo Verona 6-1 and Udinese 1-0 at home before losing 1-0 to Napoli at the San Paolo last time out.

“Fiorentina play good, expansive football, keep hold of the ball well and have several players who like to take their man on,” he said. “We’re going to be up against a good side and we’ll need to play to the best of our abilities. I think it’s going to be a good game.”

Giampaolo also issued some team news ahead of the visit of the Viola.

“Vasco Regini and Riccardo Saponara are the only players out – the rest are all available,” he confirmed. “I have six central midfielders and I’ll need to make the most of them over the next two games. I know I can rely on all six of them. We want to have 22 starters, not just 11. If we want to competitive, we need to have multiple options. That might throw up the odd headache for me, but the important thing is that we have as many good players as possible in all positions.”