D’Aversa: “We’ll need determination and resilience against Cagliari”

“Let’s continue where we left off,” was Roberto D’Aversa’s message in his first press conference of 2022. He stressed that the clash with Cagliari is certainly not one to be taken lightly: “We’ll need to perform at our best,” explained the boss. “We’ll need resilience. We have to think about who we are and the difficulties we’re facing at the moment can’t be excuses. We’ll have to take to the pitch with the right determination, with everyone giving 200% to get the right result.”

With Sampdoria on 20 points at the halfway stage, D’Aversa explained the turning point against Salernitana and the way he views the second half of the campaign. “Ever since the game in Salerno, we set ourselves the target of going up a gear and approaching the remainder of the first half of the season as a mini-league. Now we have the whole second half to come and everything resets.

“We’re straight up against a team that beat us earlier in the campaign. We’re still disappointed about that match, but we can’t make the mistake of looking at where Cagliari are in the league, but we should note the quality of [Walter] Mazzari’s side and approach the game in the same way as we did in the derby and against Torino in the Coppa Italia.”