Giampaolo laments late draw: “We weren’t at our best”

Marco Giampaolo refused to point to Fiorentina’s last-minute equaliser this evening as an excuse, opting instead to analyse Sampdoria’s performance as a whole.

“We weren’t on our best form out there,” the coach said pulling no punches, “but we still had a chance to take home the points. The result is a fair one, it’s frustrating for us because we were in the lead until very late on in the game, but it’s still a fair result.

“Mentally we weren’t sharp or reactive enough. Rather than concentrating on the individual episodes, I’m assessing the substance of our play and this is how it was.”

There was a pervasive feeling that, regardless of the exhilarating spectacle, the team weren’t quite firing on all cylinders.

“Our approach to this game was wrong,” Giampaolo continued, “we made too many mistakes. That’s not just from one individual but a number of players – it can happen.

“During half-time I told the lads that we were playing at 30%. Clearly, I went wrong somewhere during the week.”

The game featured a couple of braces on either side, scored by Fabio Quagliarella and former Samp hero Luis Muriel.

“We saw some superb stuff from a couple of top-quality players,” Giampaolo concluded. “Fabio’s goal was typical for him: a great touch to get it out of his feet and a bit of individual skill. Muriel also showed his worth with those strikes, he can hit them like that.”