April 2024 Review
April 2024 Review
Results
Serie A
Sampdoria 1 - 2 Inter Milan
View attachment 80291
April started with a massive game against Inter Milan. It would see 8th vs 6th in the league and if we lost, we'd probably be out of the running for a European qualification spot. Inter Milan had seen a complete turnaround since Luis Enrique took over - they were struggling in 18th when he was appointed - now 18 games later and they sit 6th in the table, having only lost 3 league games under his reign. The first half was really tight but with us looking slightly the better side. But it didnt work in our favour as it was our opponents who took a 1-0 lead into half time through their only shot of the half. The 2nd half started and Koulibaly got his 2nd of the game to extend Inter's lead and we were really up against it now. But it was only 10 minutes later when Nouri floated in a corner for Denis Alibec to get up above the Inter defence and nod home to make it 2-1....could the comeback be on? Once Inter had gone down to 10 men, we really turned up the pressure and we played some great football, coming close to an equalizer on a number of occasions, but luck just wasn't on our side today and we suffered a gutting defeat in a game we didn't deserve to lose.
Serie A
Pescara 3 - 3 Sampdoria
View attachment 80290
Pescara came into this game on a massive high off the back of a 2-1 victory over AC Milan in their last game. I felt we needed a quick start to knock their high confidence levels quickly and aimed to put them on the back foot immediately. Young striker Samuele Ferrini was given his first start for the club and I was hoping he could make an impact....and he did exactly that as he struck to give us a 12th minute lead with his first shot of the game. To be fair to Pescara, they came back at us and were probably the better side for the remainder of the first half, although they failed to find a goal and we took our lead to half time. In the 2nd half, it was Pescara who started fast and within 7 minutes they were level as Krapikas came racing out of his goal to close down the ball, leaving his goal wide open....the winger passed to his side and striker Sartori had an easy tap in. Poor goalkeeping! Only 4 minutes later and they were in front as the words 'for f*ck's sake' could be heard coming out of my mouth!! Then within 12 minutes of that, Ferrini bagged his 2nd of the game and El Shaarawy got in on the act to give us a 3-2 lead....What an amazing half of football this was turning out to be! That wasn't the end of the action either (unfortunately) as Pescara fought back yet again to level the scores on 83 minutes, Odjer firing in a decent shot after controlling the ball well from a free kick. The game finished 3-3....a great one for the neutrals but a result I was bitterly disappointed with!
Serie A
Sampdoria 0 - 3 Palermo
View attachment 80289
10th placed Palermo were up next. After his 2 goals in the previous game, Ferrini kept his place in the starting lineup and I was interested to see if he could follow it up with another good performance. Well I didn't get it from Ferrini or any of the squad to be honest as we put in what can only be described as a f*cking awful performance. Not happy and tempers were flairing in the dressing room after the game....what is happening - the team has just completely gone to **** over the past couple of months and we've slipped to 10th in the table with this result. Not good enough!!
Serie A
Benevento 2 - 1 Sampdoria
View attachment 80288
Awful again....losing to the team in 19th! No wins in 5! This is becoming a disastrous second half of the season and there will be massive changes this Summer at Sampdoria with a clearout on the cards. I have entirely too many players here who are not good enough!
League Table
Sorry, forgot to screenshot the table but we dropped all the way down to 10th this month with the shocking form throughout the month.
Player of the Month
I refused to hand out a player of the month award this month as the performances have been so awful!
Defenders Earn New Contracts
Roberts Veips has been rewarded for his improved form this season with a new 3 year contract. The 23 year old Latvian centre back has been given a contract as a squad rotation player, worth £12k per week, a £4.5k pay rise on his previous deal. Veips has made 13 appearances for the club this season, scoring 1 goal and achieveing an average rating of 7.12.
Jacopo Sala has signed a new 1 year contract with the club. The 32 year old Italian right back has been handed a contract worth £29k per week, with a squad status as a backup player. Sala has made 17 (13 starts) appearances for the club this season with an average rating of 6.99.
April 2024 Review
Results
Serie A
Sampdoria 1 - 2 Inter Milan
View attachment 80291
April started with a massive game against Inter Milan. It would see 8th vs 6th in the league and if we lost, we'd probably be out of the running for a European qualification spot. Inter Milan had seen a complete turnaround since Luis Enrique took over - they were struggling in 18th when he was appointed - now 18 games later and they sit 6th in the table, having only lost 3 league games under his reign. The first half was really tight but with us looking slightly the better side. But it didnt work in our favour as it was our opponents who took a 1-0 lead into half time through their only shot of the half. The 2nd half started and Koulibaly got his 2nd of the game to extend Inter's lead and we were really up against it now. But it was only 10 minutes later when Nouri floated in a corner for Denis Alibec to get up above the Inter defence and nod home to make it 2-1....could the comeback be on? Once Inter had gone down to 10 men, we really turned up the pressure and we played some great football, coming close to an equalizer on a number of occasions, but luck just wasn't on our side today and we suffered a gutting defeat in a game we didn't deserve to lose.
Serie A
Pescara 3 - 3 Sampdoria
View attachment 80290
Pescara came into this game on a massive high off the back of a 2-1 victory over AC Milan in their last game. I felt we needed a quick start to knock their high confidence levels quickly and aimed to put them on the back foot immediately. Young striker Samuele Ferrini was given his first start for the club and I was hoping he could make an impact....and he did exactly that as he struck to give us a 12th minute lead with his first shot of the game. To be fair to Pescara, they came back at us and were probably the better side for the remainder of the first half, although they failed to find a goal and we took our lead to half time. In the 2nd half, it was Pescara who started fast and within 7 minutes they were level as Krapikas came racing out of his goal to close down the ball, leaving his goal wide open....the winger passed to his side and striker Sartori had an easy tap in. Poor goalkeeping! Only 4 minutes later and they were in front as the words 'for f*ck's sake' could be heard coming out of my mouth!! Then within 12 minutes of that, Ferrini bagged his 2nd of the game and El Shaarawy got in on the act to give us a 3-2 lead....What an amazing half of football this was turning out to be! That wasn't the end of the action either (unfortunately) as Pescara fought back yet again to level the scores on 83 minutes, Odjer firing in a decent shot after controlling the ball well from a free kick. The game finished 3-3....a great one for the neutrals but a result I was bitterly disappointed with!
Serie A
Sampdoria 0 - 3 Palermo
View attachment 80289
10th placed Palermo were up next. After his 2 goals in the previous game, Ferrini kept his place in the starting lineup and I was interested to see if he could follow it up with another good performance. Well I didn't get it from Ferrini or any of the squad to be honest as we put in what can only be described as a f*cking awful performance. Not happy and tempers were flairing in the dressing room after the game....what is happening - the team has just completely gone to **** over the past couple of months and we've slipped to 10th in the table with this result. Not good enough!!
Serie A
Benevento 2 - 1 Sampdoria
View attachment 80288
Awful again....losing to the team in 19th! No wins in 5! This is becoming a disastrous second half of the season and there will be massive changes this Summer at Sampdoria with a clearout on the cards. I have entirely too many players here who are not good enough!
League Table
Sorry, forgot to screenshot the table but we dropped all the way down to 10th this month with the shocking form throughout the month.
Player of the Month
I refused to hand out a player of the month award this month as the performances have been so awful!
Defenders Earn New Contracts
Roberts Veips has been rewarded for his improved form this season with a new 3 year contract. The 23 year old Latvian centre back has been given a contract as a squad rotation player, worth £12k per week, a £4.5k pay rise on his previous deal. Veips has made 13 appearances for the club this season, scoring 1 goal and achieveing an average rating of 7.12.
Jacopo Sala has signed a new 1 year contract with the club. The 32 year old Italian right back has been handed a contract worth £29k per week, with a squad status as a backup player. Sala has made 17 (13 starts) appearances for the club this season with an average rating of 6.99.