Stankovic: “We played with bravery and pride”

Coach Dejan Stankovic was keen to look at the positives after Sampdoria succumbed to a 2-0 defeat at home to league-leaders Napoli.

“There are two ways we can look at the game: the way the match went and how we fared. It went badly because we lost, so that’s a fact. There were some incidents that I don’t want to pass judgement on because I was to focus on the players. When we were in the game, we were doing well, we were well organised and aggressive. We played with bravery and pride, so that’s what I’ll take away with me from tonight. There was something positive to be seen from everyone. You can’t compare two teams with different objectives.

“As I said to the players, we come out of this with our heads held high. We’ll take the positives because until their first goal and the sending-off in the 38^th minute, we were in the game. It then became twice as difficult. We waited and tried to strike on the counter-attack or get something from a set-piece, but Napoli gave very little away. We could’ve scored in the first 20 minutes through [Sam] Lammers or [Manolo] Gabbiadini if we’d been a bit calmer.”

Next up for Sampdoria is a Coppa Italia tie away to Fiorentina on Thursday.