Stankovic: “We can do this”

Dejan Stankovic spoke ahead of his first-ever home match in charge of Samp. From the press room at the Ferraris the new coach thanked president Marco Lanna and vice-president Antonio Romei, who accompanied the Serb at the press conference, for bringing him to the club.

“In football, like in life, you need to have goals. While at Red Star my aim was to win the league here at Samp I’m aiming to secure the club’s top flight status. It’s a new experience for me. It’ll be a challenge but one that’s far from impossible. We’ll all need to pull together, the club and their fans, because we’re capable of staying up.

“We’re taking on Roma on Monday, who’ve got my friend and former coach Jose Mourinho at the helm. I spoke to him before coming here. I think he’s a top coach but when the game kicks off we’ll be fighting on different fronts. We’ll be friends again after the match. We’ve worked well this week and the lads are ready for the game. I want us to show the same attitude as was on display in the second half against Bologna.”