Samp paper over the cracks but suffer striking lack of quality

Strange to say about a side that shipped seven goals in it’s first two outings of the season but, judging by Sunday’s performance in their home win against Torino, Sampdoria’s problems appear to be in the final third.

Defeats in their opening three games – you can add a 2-0 loss at Napoli after a 3-0 drubbing from Lazio and a disastrous 4-1 reverse at coach Eusebio Di Francesco’s former club Sassuolo – had left the Blucerchiata at the foot of the Serie A table and looking up at such luminaries as Lecce, SPAL and Udinese.

A 56th-minute strike from former Southampton forward Manolo Gabbiadini at least got La Samp’ up and running in the sheeting rain at Stadio Luigi Ferraris on Sunday, and hoisted his side off the bottom courtesy of Fiorentina’s draw at Atalanta.

However, Gabbiadini’s goal – which arrived after he mugged hapless Torino central defender Lyanco and which required VAR to confirm no foul had taken place – will have to done little to assuage any concerns Di Francesco may have about his side’s otherwise feeble attack.

Colley towers

In open play at least, the hosts seemed solid enough, with Omar Colley a commanding presence at the heart of the back three, although Torino did not provide the most searching of examinations until late in the day.

That reassurance tended to waver from set-pieces – goalkeeper Emil Audero’s handling was safe enough but the players in front of him looked nervy under a stream of crosses and corners which came to nought.

Further forward, La Samp’s problems became manifest. The hosts started brightly enough, striker Fabio Quagliarella sweeping the ball out to namesake Depaoli on the right, whose smart shot was pushed away by Salvator Sirigu to Gabbiadini, who saw his follow-up deflected behind.

That attack, within the opening 40 seconds, would prove to be as close as the hosts got to the Torino goal until Gabbiadini swooped to break the deadlock.

This website last week noted the alarming lack of guile in the midfield’s of Genoa and Atalanta and the same was evident on Sunday – when Ronaldo Vieri cut in from the left flank in the 18^th minute. His blue shirted colleagues had concertinaed into a front six lined up across the edge of the area, each flanked by at least one Torino marker and leaving the England under-21 international nowhere to go.

Depaoli default

Perhaps that explained the hosts’ predilection for sweeping the ball out to Depaoli despite the fact the right wing-back failed to deliver a telling ball time and time again. Or maybe Sampdoria had identified visiting wing-back Ola Aina as a weakness.

On the rare occasion a ball finally did get into the danger zone, there was no-one there to apply the coup de grace. Gabbiadini, so effective upon his arrival on the English south coast, was more Teflon than Velcro as a holding man, conspicuously failing to keep hold of the ball when playing with his back to goal.

Quagliarella made headlines last season as a striker who couldn’t stop scoring and ended the season as a 36-year-old capocannoniere, but he was anonymous here and appeared a player who knows the Indian summer to his career is behind him.

Papering over the cracks

When Depaoli finally supplied an inviting delivery – in the 63^rd minute – Vieri’s finish permitted Sirigu to get down to his right and make a sprawling one-handed save. The Italian international repeated the feat seven minutes later to deny Albin Ekdal and prompted an almighty scramble in the area which culminated in three blue shirts dallying on the ball within five yards of each other and unable to get off a shot.

By that stage, of course, Gabbiadini had struck and the home players were able to celebrate in front of their tifosi but unless coach Di Francesco can find a solution other than hoping Quagliarella’s killer instinct returns, it could be a long hard season for the Blucerchiata.

To put a more positive spin on things: there is nothing that can’t be addressed by the addition of a more commanding midfield presence, penetration on the flanks and a 20-goals-a-season striker. In other words, the same problems that dog almost every football team on earth.