Cagliari vs Sampdoria preview - Mihajlovic wants more consistency

Posted Saturday, October 18, 2014 by PA

Sampdoria may be punching well above their weight in Serie A but head coach Sinisa Mihajlovic is demanding a better goal return from striker Manolo Gabbiadini.

After six games of the new season Samp are riding high in third place, having won four and drawn two of their games, but Italy international Gabbiadini has only notched three times.

The Genoa club travel to Cagliari on Sunday and goals are likely to flow given the Sardinians' new-found dedication to relentless attacking football under veteran boss Zdenek Zeman.

The Czech's opposite number Mihajlovic is therefore urging Gabbiadini to seize the opportunity and start realising his true potential as a top-quality Italian hitman.

Following the home victory over Atalanta, Mihajlovic told La Repubblica Sport: "Gabbiadini was good today, but he's still offering very little compared to what I expect from him.

"He has so much potential and can do so much more. He needs to be consistent and more decisive for the team.

"He sacrifices himself well to cover the defence, but he needs to be more decisive in attack."

Alessio Romagnoli, Nenad Krsticic and Vasco Regini are missing through injury while Cagliari are without the suspended Luca Rossettini.

Sebastian Eriksson and Simone Benedetti remain on the treatment table but influential midfielder Albin Ekdal is fit and available after recovering from injury to play for 75 minutes with Sweden without incident.

Cagliari have struggled to get going thus far and a rare display of toothlessness in front of goal last time out saw them slip to a 1-0 defeat at Hellas Verona.

But left-back Danilo Avelar has promised Samp they can expect a real contest on Sunday afternoon.

"I'm happy with how the season is going so far," the Brazilian told the Corriere dello Sport. "We're working really hard.

"We're looking forward to what will be a huge match against Sampdoria. They've started brilliantly but we are preparing for the match in the best way possible."