Sampdoria 2 – 0 Atalanta

Sampdoria grabbed their second win in a row with a comfortable 2 – 0 victory
against Serie A strugglers Atalanta.

The match was played against a backdrop of anger from the home fans towards coach Luigi Del Neri over his treatment of star striker Antonio Cassano.

The talented forward was left out of the squad for last weekend’s victory over Udinese and was left out for this one also.

Sampdoria began on the offensive at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris, with Palombo setting up Cassano’s replacement, Nicola Pozzi, for a shot wide from 20 yards.

Palombo then created another chance when he played in Daniele Mannini but his touch was poor and it allowed Andrea Consigli to save easily.

Sampdoria should have taken the lead 15 minutes in when Mannini took advantage of some poor defending to get on the end of Franco Semioli’s cross but Thomas Manfredini cleared off the line.

Atalanta came close moments later, Ernesto Chevanton seeing his header well saved by Marco Storari, before Samp were on the attack again as Pazzini drew a flying stop from Consigli.

Storari had to be alert again to deny Adriano Ferreira Pinto.

On the 36th minute Sampdoria finally opened the scoring.

Semioli’s cross from the left was cleared by Manfredini but only as far as Palombo, who fired the ball from 25 yards into the bottom corner. A fantastic strike.

Sampdoria doubled their lead just before half time.

Semioli brilliantly robbed Gianpaolo Bellini on the right and crossed for Pazzini to finish neatly into the bottom corner. A fine end to the first half for Sampdoria.

The Blucerchiati started the second half brightly too, with Luciano Zauri drawing a decent save from Consigli.

Atalanta tried to respond but Chevanton could only head wide from close range on the hour mark after Jaime Valdes swung in a great cross from the left.

The same player then shot weakly at Storari while a third opening for the striker again saw him fail to make the most of his opportunity.

Atalanta were pushing hard to get back into the game, new signing Nicola Amoruso drew a stunning save from Storari with a close-range header. Storari was having a fine game.

Padalino fired over at the other end while another chance fell to Atalanta when Gyorgy Garics picked out Jose Leonardo Talamonti, who could not hit the target.

Consigli prevented Pozzi making it three with a header from Padalino’s cross.

Sampdoria were reduced to ten men in injury time as padalino was ordered off for dissent.

The victory lifted Sampdoria up to seventh, boosting their chances of securing a European place, while Atalanta remain 19th.

Sampdoria: Storari; Zauri, Lucchini, Rossi, Ziegler (Padalino 80); Semioli, Palombo, Tissone (Poli 60), Mannini (Accardi 71); Pazzini, Pozzi

Goals: Palombo (36), Pazzini (44)

Sent off: Padalino (93)

Atalanta: Consigli; Garics, Talamonti, Manfredini, Bellini; Ferreira Pinto (Ceravolo 75), Zanetti (Valdes 46), Guarente, Padoin; Tiribocchi (Amoruso 64), Chevanton

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Lombardo

Preview: Sampdoria v Atalanta

Sampdoria v Atalanta
Sunday 31st January 2010
Luigi Ferraris Stadium, Genoa

Sampdoria (10th)

Sampdoria confounded the doom merchants (me included) last week with a surprise victory in Udine. Twice going behind, the blucerchiati showed immense character to win 3-2 without talisman Antonio Cassano. Is he injured or has he fallen out with Del Neri again? And will he get back into the team anyway now the team is coming off the back of a much needed morale boosting win?

Relegation threatened Atalanta at home looks, on paper anyway, a very winnable fixture for Samp. Sampdoria remain unbeaten at the Marassi, but they are nothing if not unpredictable. Those early season home wins have turned into disappointing draws against teams they should be beating. The home fans are unhappy, with violent protests at the clubs training ground and around the stadium in recent weeks. Samps away win at Udinese may have calmed things down a little, but the performance looked suspiciously like a team relieved to be playing away from the pressure of their own fans.

Doria have a number of attacking players rated as doubtful for the game, including Cassano, Semioli and Guberti. Gastaldello in defence is suspended. So check team news before the game.

Atalanta (19th)

Bergamo’s finest got off to a terrible start to the season, failing to win in their first seven games and they have since gone on to win only four times all season. Second from bottom, Atalanta are in a relegation dogfight. They have showed signs of life in their last three matches, getting a creditable win at home to Lazio and a point in Bologna. However last time out they slumped 2-0 to Genoa in the Marassi.

Atalanta have similarities to Fulham in England, they are traditionally very strong at home but don’t travel well. This season however the opposite is true. A reasonable away record contrasts with the leagues worst home record. This looks like a team who are most dangerous on the counterattack, and this may cause problems for Samps plodding defence.

Samp cannot underestimate the neroazzuri who have taken points from both Milan sides this season.

Legendary Atalanta forward Cristian Doni looks likely to miss out and will be replaced with Javier Chevanton.

Opposition dangerman

Javier Chevanton. With Doni out, much of Atalanta’s attacking ambitions rest on the Uruguayan strikers shoulders.

Head to head

Sampdoria have an excellent record in this fixture having won 5 of the last 6 league meetings in Genoa. Last seasons result was a 1-0 victory thanks to a Pazzini goal set up beautifully by Cassano.

The Odds

Wouldn’t it be just like Sampdoria to follow up a shock victory in Friuli with a loss at home to strugglers Atalanta. And the neroazzuri aren’t bad away from home. If Cassano is out that is a blow, but equally Doni is a huge miss for Atalanta.

The most likely result is a home win, but Sampdoria are odds on with the bookmakers and are not a team to be trusted as favourites…often succumbing to a draw when expected to win at home. However, I make a home win 55% likely which means that any odds over 4/6 look to be worth taking. With bookies pricing up Samp at 9/10 this looks a good price. But its a brave man who backs Samp at odds on in their current form.

The draw is a possibility here as Samp are now struggling to put teams away at home, and at 12/5 this may have a tiny shade of value about it but too risky for me.

Atalanta can pull off a shock here but I’d want to see prices closer to 6/1 for that.

You can also get Pazzini to score anytime at prices of around 11/8 or 5/1 to score first. The marksman is on penalties now, and is the main man with Cassano possibly out, so this looks a reasonable price for fun stakes.

Prediction

SAMPDORIA WIN

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MUG_OUFC

Atalanta 0 – 1 Sampdoria

Sampdoria have miraculously maintained their winning start to the season, with a narrow victory over a very unfortunate Atalanta side that remain without a point.

Sampdoria were down to 10 men before a well struck goal from Daniele Mannini and some fine saves by Luca Castellazzi and the home teams goalposts, dealt a cruel loss to the Bergamo side who certainly deserved at least a draw.

The sides played an open and entertaining first half but entered the break with scores still locked at 0-0. Early in the second term, Sampdoria had midfielder Tissone sent off for a second bookable offence. Del Neri resisted the temptation to bring a forward off, while Atalanta went on the attack. At the other end however, a counter attacking Antonio Cassano – in scintillating form – drew six defenders and fed the ball across to Mannini, left un-marked on the edge of the box by the transfixed Atalanta defence. The Left-winger made it two goals from two starts with a delightful curling shot that split two covering defenders before sliding past the keeper and inside the far post.

Del Neri made his move soon after and took off the goal-scorer, replacing him with the more defensively minded Reto Zeigler, but kept two upfront. Persisting with two strikers even after the second change when he swapped Pazzini for fresh signing Nicola Pozzi. Only when Cassano came off in the 85th minute did he relinquish his attacking objective, bringing on youngster Poli in mid-field.

In the ensuing avalanche of attacks, Atalanta hit the post twice and saw the Sampdoria keeper save everything else, handing the home team it’s third straight 1-0 loss while Sampdoria march alongside Juventus on top of the table with a full quota of 9 points.

Doc