Ranieri demands battle ready Samp in survival fight

After his first home loss since becoming Sampdoria coach, Claudio Ranieri rued a poor first half hour from his team, which handed Parma the initiative on Sunday evening.

“What we saw in the first half hour was a backwards step from how we usually perform,” the coach said.

“We did better at the end of the half and really pushed in the second period, but we were a bit haphazard. When you’re in this battle you need certain qualities – these aren’t qualities Samp have needed in recent years, because they’ve been in a safe league position.

“I don’t want to believe in bad luck, even though things aren’t going are way at the minute,” he continued.

“We need to find our own luck – we cannot accept things going wrong. If things aren’t going right, we need to be more determined, to make sure they turn our way. We’re in a battle here – we need to be more decisive. We can make mistakes but we mustn’t ever give up.”