Giampaolo: “This is the Samp I want to see”

On the day he celebrated his 100th match in charge of Sampdoria, Marco Giampaolo made no attempt to hide his satisfaction with the team as they produced a thoroughly convincing display to defeat Parma.

Second-half goals by Gianluca Caprari and Fabio Quagliarella sealed a 2-0 victory, although the result rarely looked in doubt.

“We were absolutely brilliant today,” the coach beamed. “This is how we aim to play – as we did today. We never really came under any pressure and I think the lads enjoyed themselves. Now we must keep improving.”

The boss reserved some words of praise for Jacopo Sala, who has come in for some unfair criticism of late.

“I know Jacopo very well. He’s excellent on the ball and having a player like him in that position is ideal for a team who want to take the game to the opposition. He put in a great performance today and I’m very happy for him.

“The lads moved the ball around well and wore the opponents out. We look like a team who want to achieve great things but we must keep our heads down and not get carried away.

“We have to keep it up at Empoli and then against Chievo [on Boxing Day], which is our last home game of the year. It will be a big day and I hope all our fans come to get behind us.”