Franckly, Fiorentina will blow Sampdoria away
Fiorentina face Sampdoria in a Friday night Serie A clash Wednesday evening in Serie A in the third game of the league campaign. The visitors have suffered two reverses in a row and have shipped six goals, so they'll make the trip to the Stadio Artemio Franchi low on confidence against a team that will have felt extremely hard done by to get nothing from their thriller with Inter Milan. Have a read of our preview here:
Ribéry's rolling back the years
At 37 years young, legendary French playmaker Franck Ribéry has begun what could prove to be his final campaign as though he was a decade younger, providing two assists versus Inter (one of which had to be seen to be believed), and remains a talismanic presence in between the lines of the massed ranks in midfield and Christian Kouamé up top. Sampdoria's rigid 4-4-2 should play directly into his hands, and really ought to force a rethink by veteran head coach Caludio Ranieri. Even if their opponents find a way to nullify him, the hosts are liable to create plenty of openings down the flanks. An early goal for the men in the iconic violet shirts, and the floodgates could well and truly open.
When an offside trap isn't an offside trap
The reality is that Omar Colley aside, I Blucerchiati have looked decidedly weak in their opening fixtures, especially in defence. Ranieri will need to strike the right balance between remaining compact in the first half without retreating too far into their shells. Sampdoria have their own stalwart in the form of Fabio Quagliarella, who can still be relied on to grab a goal. More pertinently, the defence should forget about deploying an offside trap - they've been simply awful thus far when it comes to positional defensive discipline, and they desperately need to contain that whilst not being overly negative.
La Viola to paint Tuscany purple
Giuseppe Iachini will have his charges chomping at the bit to put the agonising Inter defeat firmly behind them. They couldn't have asked for a kinder fixture with which to dish out some pent-up frustration. Because of their attacking strengths and Samp's defensive frailties, we think a 4-1 win for the home side at odds of 23.00 with betway could well be a savvy, medium-risk punt to make.
