“We have to react,” says Ranieri

Claudio Ranieri put on a brave face after a chastening loss at the hands of Fiorentina on Sunday.

Speaking after the match, he said: “Sometimes this is the way games go; their first three crosses yielded an own goal and two penalties.

“The boys fought until the end, even though we couldn’t get back into it. We have to react now – we need more determination and perhaps a bit of luck.”

Meanwhile, on the VAR interventions during the game, the Samp coach said: “They know whether those incidents were looked at. It’s always hard to make a judgement and I’m not interested in doing so – it’s a waste of energy.

“The good I saw today was the desire of my team not to give up. Obviously, we wanted points today, perhaps following up the win in Turin with another, but incidents define games.

“We need to pick ourselves back up – we scored a goal and let’s hope it bodes well for our next game, against Inter.”