Sampdoria boss Sinisa Mihajlovic has revealed that his team will be looking to win their away match against Lazio on Monday but admits that it won’t be an easy task.
The Blucerchiati are currently tied with the Biancocelesti on 27 points and will battle the hosts for third place in the Serie A standings, though they will have to do so without key player Manolo Gabbiadini as the 23-year-old has left La Samp in order to complete his move to Napoli in recent days.
Mihajlovic spoke during his pre-match press conference on Sunday about the importance of beating Lazio and the current state of his squad, while also commenting on his hopes for Sampdoria to find a proper replacement for Gabbiadini in January.
“It is an important game, as we are tied on points and competing for third place,” said the 45-year-old, who had notable stints at both Sampdoria and Lazio during his playing career.
“Based on the staff and squad that they have, they are not a surprise to us, but we can do a bit more. We will go to Rome to play our game.
“I don’t hide that I’m a fan of Lazio, but tomorrow I’ll be looking to disappoint them. They are not in third by chance, I hope that tomorrow will be a good match.
“We’ve been training well in these recent days, I’m confident. The boys have found themselves well, some are tanned and some are not, but all of them are charged.
“I think we are good mentally. We have some problems, we’ve resolved some of them and we hope to resolve the rest before the game.
“Emiliano Viviano is doing fine physically. Lorenzo De Silvestri is suffering with a slight muscle problem.
“Gabbiadini? I hope to have someone to take his place as soon as possible. We are losing a great player and a great guy, I hope the club can get a player equally as good, or maybe more than one.
“We want to strengthen ourselves, not be weaken. It also depends on the markets of the other teams, if we see that they are strengthening then we must do the same if we want to hold our current ranking.
“With our current goals we should be able to improve the squad by 10-15 per cent. Even Gianluca Sansone is leaving for Bologna, and now I’m talking to Francesco Fedato and Pawel Wszolek, players that have offered themselves.
“However, we must still buy someone to add to the squad.”
