Giampaolo expects Samp to live up to top-six status at Cagliari

Marco Giampaolo wants Sampdoria to prove they are one of Serie A’s best six teams when they visit Cagliari on Saturday evening.

After a flying start to the campaign, back-to-back defeats in the league have clipped Samp’s wings somewhat but the boss insists that while the points may have been lacking the performances have not.

“We must pick up from where we left off against Lazio – performance-wise at least,” Giampaolo told the gathered media at a news conference on the eve of the Week 16 fixture.

“If we play as well as we did last Sunday, and with the same intensity, we’ll stand a good chance of coming away with a result.

“We go to Sardinia sixth in the table and we have to perform at the level of a sixth-placed team. We’ve been playing well enough, even though we’ve lost our last two league games. We’re in good shape.”

Cagliari has proven to be a particularly difficult place for Sampdoria to pick up three points over the years. The Blucerchiati have triumphed just five times in 41 attempts and haven’t beaten the Sardinians in their own back yard for over a decade (since November 2007).

To make matters worse, the current Cagliari side have been reinvigorated since Diego Lopez took over at the end of October – collecting three wins, a draw and three defeats – and Giampaolo knows exactly what to expect having coached the former Uruguayan defender during his stint in the Cagliari dugout a few years ago.

“Lopez was a player of mine and my captain too. He was a real leader on and off the pitch. We’ve remained on very good terms and it will nice to see him again tomorrow.

“It’s going to be tricky because Cagliari are a decent side who give the best of themselves at home.

“We do miss our fans when we play away from home but we must be good enough to cope with playing in different surroundings. That’s an area where we can improve.”

Hear more from Giampaolo ahead of Cagliari v Sampdoria in the subtitled video below.