Ranieri: “Let’s show everyone what Samp are really about”

Sampdoria will go in search of their first points of the season on Friday night when they face Fiorentina at the Stadio Artemio Franchi – and Blucerchiati coach Claudio Ranieri has called on his side to give a better account of themselves than they have so far this season.

“We don’t have any points on the board yet and we really need some,” said Ranieri, speaking on Thursday afternoon. “We’re up against a team that has strengthened considerably and that did very well in the first two games of the season, but we want to go there to play our game and prove that we’re not the team that you’ve seen in the first two rounds.”

Ranieri believes Fiorentina will pose a tough test for his side, however.

“Fiorentina are a difficult opponent that offer a real threat going forward,” he said. “[Franck] Ribery might be missing but in any case [Beppe] Iachini has a well-constructed team. It’s up to us to focus on playing our game, the way we know how. We need to put the objectives of the team at the heart of what we do.”

The Doria coach also spoke about the club’s transfer business.

“We’ve signed Antonio Candreva and Keita Balde, who isn’t available yet,” said Ranieri. “A few more will come in and others will leave, but thankfully the transfer window is drawing to a close. I’ll need to take everything into account when I name the team to make sure I pick players that will always give me 100%.”