What is Sampdoria’s secret?

The fact that Sampdoria are on top of Serie A after six rounds may be surprising to many people. Some will say it is luck. Some will mention Cassano as the power engine of the team that makes others better players and some might say that Samp used the starting failures of big clubs and things will eventually fall into place.

Perhaps it is so, but we see Del Neri as the cause of everything. Doriani boss is probably the most underestimated expert in Italy. After the miracle he made with Chievo, he went to the wrong club, took over Porto right after they won the European title and sold the team out.

His time spent in Roma was also an uncertain venture, as the Romans wanted Prandelli who was struck by a family tragedy so he couldn’t take over. Del Neri arrived at a completely wrong time, when the team he chose was already on the downtrend waiting for a turnover.

Two years in Atalanta revived his career while the campaign in Samp is his doctoral thesis. Luigi Del Neri is one of rare people in Italy that is trying to win with attractive play. He is simply looking for space to play, trying to win by scoring more goals. This is often misunderstood, but the situation is different in Sampdoria.

Samp can’t play defensively. They simply don’t have the players for such an approach and defense hasn’t got the quality for the top part of the standings. Therefore, already this summer it was clear what Del Neri needs for his tactics to work. First of all, he needed two strong defensive midfielders to watch the back for wingers when they attack. One is captain Palombo, the other one, Tissone, Del Neri brought when he signed for the club. He found one of his former pupils, Semioli and also brought Mannini, who was forgotten in Naples. And that was it, few missing pieces to complete the puzzle.

Things must work when you have system and Sampdoria obviously have one, which is why they win so easily.

Most importantly, each Samp’s triumph is a triumph of attractive football that celebrates the play.

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