Ranieri: “We’re hungry for points”

Sampdoria are determined to get back to winning ways against Torino after a five-match run without victory, says Claudio Ranieri.

“We’re hungry for points because we’ve only got two in our last five games and that doesn’t reflect how good we are,” the coach began. “We did very well at Bologna: we battled, had 20 shots and played some good football but unfortunately conceded two goals from lapses and ended up with zero points.

“We’re close to our objective and we need to push. Torino are a very good side who are on the up again. They have a battling spirit and it will be very difficult: we need to watch out for their counter-attacks, crosses and set plays.

“We must keep our guard up. We’re in a good position for now, but this is a very tricky game.

“The fitness tests we’re doing show that we’re in better shape than we were last year. We have weekly match reports and it all shows that we’re basically in perfect shape.”

Ranieri ended with a message of support for the Lega Serie A and UNAR Keep Racism Out campaign: “The fight against racism is crucial and we all need to be aware of it. The stadiums are empty at the moment but racism does happen in society. We’re all the same.”