Sampdoria under the coaching of Marco Giampaolo have placed an emphasis on youth but there are two more that deserve to feature more often in the starting line-up.
Karol Linetty and Gianluca Caprari have been impressive when they have played for the Doriani in recent weeks and they deserve to start matches ahead of Edgar Barreto and Gaston Ramirez in their respective positions.
On Tuesday evening, Giampaolo decided to start Barreto in one of the central midfield positions while Ramirez began in the trequartista role behind strikers Duvan Zapata and Fabio Quagliarella.
The match against Inter was played just three days after Sampdoria had defeated Crotone 5-0 so the Blucerchiati coach perhaps felt compelled to rotate his squad but his selections did contribute to Samp losing 3-2 to the Nerazzurri.
Barreto is 33-years old and he has a wealth of Serie A experience which he has gained since arriving from Dutch club NEC Nijmegen in 2007 but he should not be a player that Giampaolo depends on.
Although he is an energetic footballer, his touches on the ball can be very heavy and that is not ideal for a team which plays with great fluidity. It was his reckless tackle against Udinese in Round 7 that got him sent-off and Samp lost 4-0 due to being down to 10 men for over half of the match.
The Paraguayan veteran was replaced 20 minutes into the second half against Inter on Tuesday by Linetty and the game swung in favour of Il Doria once the Polish starlet came on. In addition to proving stamina and energy in midfield, the 22-year-old has great football intelligence than Barreto and he is a more direct player too.
Not only does Linetty have a great work ethic, he also has shown the ability to score goals as he had found the back of the net in the two games prior to the Inter defeat including the sealer from a near impossible angle in the 3-1 victory against Atalanta.
While Giampaolo made a mistake with his box-to-box midfielders, he got his choice in attacking midfielder wrong too. Ramirez has shown flashes of brilliance since he joined from English club Middlesbrough in the summer but he has not scored a goal in nine Serie A appearances and Caprari would have been a better choice in his position.
The former Pescara forward replaced Ramirez at half-time against the Biscione and he was able to influence the game more than the Uruguayan international. The 24-year-old exchanged passes with Quagliarella, who then crossed for Polish youngster Dawid Kownacki to pull the score back to 3-1.
Like the aforementioned Linetty, Caprari also scored in the two matches prior to the Inter clash, with both goals featured him making late runs into the penalty area and he was also involved in the build-up for Linetty’s goal against Crotone.
Sampdoria can be content with their position in the Serie A table as they are in sixth place with a game in hand and they have exceeded most people’s expectations so far.
Defeating Inter would have been a remarkable task on Tuesday evening including Linetty and Caprari might have improved their chances of collecting at least a point.
