Sampdoria Vs. PSV Eindhoven preview

Posted Wednesday, December 01, 2010 by Sportschatplace.com

The Europa League returns for Matchday 5 where many of the groups are still up for grabs. This match takes place in Group I, as Sampdoria host the group leaders PSV Eindhoven in a must win match.

The Italian sides form in this competition has been rocky to say the least, they have been struggling to score goals and as a result have only picked up 1 group stage win. That being said, they are coming off a 1-1 draw against AC Milan in a game they could have easily not shown up for.

With the whole Antonio Cassano situation pretty much unfixable, this team needs the likes of Giampaolo Pazzini to step up and stand out. He leads the team with 5 goals and will need to become the primary option in the attack.

Look for the midfield and players like Fernando Tissone, Stefano Guberti and Vladimir Koman to pick him out on every opportunity, another player to watch is captain Angelo Palombo, his hard nosed style and leadership will be called on in this match. Coach Domenico Di Carlo unfortunately will be without Marco Padalino for six weeks with an ankle injury, on the face of it this might not be such a big miss because he has barely featured this season but Samp need all hands on deck.

As for PSV, they are clearly into the knockout stages gathering 10 points in 4 matches. However, their only dropped points of the group stages came against Sampdoria in Matchday 1. Coach Fred Rutten has this team top of the Dutch Eredivisie but they are coming off a pretty shocking 4-2 defeat to NAC Breda.

The players to watch on this team are Ola Toivonen, Balázs Dzsudzsák and Ibrahim Afellay, these three players are major threats from anywhere on the pitch and have to be defended if Sampdoria are to have any success.

Kamal’s Prediction: I’m going with PSV in this one, I know Sampdoria need this win but without Cassano it’s been a real struggle in the goals department. Also I really like the chemistry of the attackers on PSV, especially Ola Toivonen who if he’s not already will be targeted by the big clubs.