Praet: “We didn’t play the way we wanted to today – let’s kick on”

Dennis Praet admitted that Sampdoria were not at their best against Sassuolo on Sunday, despite an eye-catching individual performance from the Belgian.

“My performance isn’t important – the team is what counts,” he said after the full-time whistle. “We wanted to get back to winning ways today and play the way we know how to. We didn’t perform as well as we can today – it wasn’t one of our best games. We didn’t even create many chances.

“They packed the centre of the park and we found it really tough going. We should have found another way through.”

Next up for Sampdoria is a trip to table-topping Napoli, but Praet is unperturbed by the challenge in store for Doria.

“Let’s look ahead – it won’t be easy in Naples but we know how good we are and we want to get back on track,” he said.