Stankovic: “Vialli in our hearts. Marassi must become our fortress”

On the eve of Sunday’s match against Napoli, Dejan Stankovic began his media conference by commenting on the passing of club legend Gianluca Vialli.

“Our first thoughts obviously go to Luca Vialli. I fondly remember the messages he sent to welcome me to Sampdoria. He sent them with love and respect and they went straight to my heart.”

The boss then discussed what his side can expect when they host the league leaders at the Stadio Ferraris.

“Napoli have shown how good they are since the start of the season. They’re the title favourites and they’ll be favourites to win tomorrow.

“We produced a good performance against Sassuolo. We played well and maintained our focus but we must strive to improve with every game.

“We’ll be facing an excellent team with a fantastic coach and we have a lot of respect for them but we’ll play without fear. We’re playing at home and we must honour the Samp shirt. We’re ready. We won lots of duels against Sassuolo and we’re going to need to win lots tomorrow as well.”

Stankovic then provided some fitness updates before commenting on recent comings and goings at the club.

“We’ll have [Filip] Djuricic back. [Omar] Colley is still recovering from a nasty bout of flu and [Bruno] Amione is suspended but we’re not complaining. We have our cards and we’ll play them. We must keep playing every match as if it were a final.

“I want to thank [Bartosz] Bereszynski – he’s a great lad and a consummate professional. He gave a lot to Sampdoria and honoured this club with a top performance in his last appearance. I wish him all the best. The same goes for [Francesco] Caputo. If they can be happier elsewhere, it’s only right to let them leave because they’re smashing lads.

“[Alessandro] Zanoli is a powerful, technically gifted footballer who’s determined to make his mark in the game. I want to have a look at him but if he’s in good shape he’ll play.”

Finally, the coach addressed the topic of Samp’s home form, which has seen them unable to pick up a first win on home soil so far this season.

“Over the last few weeks we’ve been working on the idea that Marassi is our home. We must be able to draw strength from it so that we can achieve unexpected results. That has to change. You can make 100 mistakes on the ball but we mustn’t get our attitude and our approach wrong. That’s what Doria fans want to see. From now on, Marassi must become our fortress.”