Giampaolo: “We must prove ourselves in back-to-back games”
Marco Giampaolo has called on Sampdoria to demonstrate they can be a ‘big team’ by performing consistently well despite playing every three days.
“Six games in three weeks – five in the next fortnight – is a lot,” the coach began, speaking ahead of the trip to Frosinone.
“It’s not easy to prepare for one game, play it, recover and prepare for the next in just a few days but it’s what the big teams do and it’s something we have to get used to if we want to become a big team ourselves.”
Giampaolo went on to discuss his team selection in light of Sampdoria’s excellent 3-0 win over Napoli before the international break.
“People say you shouldn’t change a winning team but often you do, be it because of injuries, someone not being in particularly good shape, or because you want to switch things around based on the opposition.
“We will make a few changes – if nothing else because [Riccardo] Saponara is not available, but we’ll alter a few other things in other areas too because we have a couple of niggles.
“[Dennis] Praet won’t be involved on Saturday. He joined in with the rest of the squad for some of the work this week and I hope to have him back in full training next week because the games are coming thick and fast and we’re going to need to bring in fresh legs from one game to the next.”
The boss is expecting a hard time at Frosinone’s recently redeveloped Stadio Stirpe but is confident his team can deal with anything the hosts throw at them.
“They’re going to be playing their first game in Serie A in their new stadium but that won’t change the way we approach the match ourselves. I’m not worried about the atmosphere because every game is difficult, whether it’s at Frosinone, Udinese or any of the others we have to come.
“Frosinone are quite capable of holding their own. They’re well drilled and they’re a strong side. You can’t afford to give them space and we’ve prepared for that in training this week. Now we just need to reproduce it on the pitch.
“We’ll go there looking to win as we do every game.”
