Why Samp keep travelling in circles

Last season, Sampdoria enjoyed a most positive campaign as their sixth-place finish amply testifies.

New coach Walter Mazzarri and playmaker Antonio Cassano were key to Sampdoria's significant improvement from the previous year. The 1990/91 Italian champions won no fewer than 11 points more than in 2006/07.

Before the start of the current season, the Blucerchiati were widely expected to maintain their momentum but, with the 2008-09 trek just past its halfway mark, Sampdoria have been struggling for consistency. Why?

As things stand, Samp, who later this month take on Metalist Kharkiv in the UEFA Cup, are 15th in the Serie A on 24 points, just six points above third-from-bottom sides Torino and Chievo.

Samp are closer to the danger zone than they are to sixth-placed Roma who have a massive 13-point gap on Mazzari's side.

Retaining their Serie A status has become Sampdoria's top priority in view of their troubles to make inroads into the upper places of the standings. However, if Samp are to qualify for next season's UEFA Cup, they have few avenues left open.

Unless they make a strong comeback in the second half of the domestic campaign, Sampdoria's best chance of European football is to win either the Coppa Italia or the UEFA Cup.

Sampdoria will face long-time leaders Inter in the semi-finals of the cup competition. But in the lead-up to their first leg match against Inter, Sampdoria have a series of tough league fixtures against Siena, Juventus, Atalanta and Milan, not to mention their UEFA Cup commitments.

Sampdoria have been very erratic away from their Luigi Ferraris Stadium as they have only won once on their travels, vs Reggina 2-0, and obtained three draws, vs Siena 0-0, Udinese 1-1 and Chievo 1-1.

At home, they have been more solid but three teams, namely rivals Genoa, Fiorentina and Palermo, had the better of Samp at the Marassi and another three, Inter, Chievo and Juventus held them to a draw.

Scoring goals has been one of Sampdoria's major weaknesses as they only managed 20 goals, the same as Catania.

Only Chievo (15), Siena (16) and Reggina (19) have scored fewer than Samp (and Catania) until now.

Cassano, like the remainder of the team after all, has not been at his best. Having found the net only six times in 21 appearances, Cassano must improve by leaps and bounds if he is to convince Italy coach Marcello Lippi to recall him to the Italy squad in the build-up for next year's World Cup.

Former Italy U-21 striker Giam-paolo Pazzini, Samp's expensive signing from Fiorentina in the January transfer window, is still finding his feet, albeit he scored in his third appearance for the club in last Sunday's match against Chievo.

Sampdoria need to put together a winning run to climb up the table and, possibly maintain their march in the Coppa Italia and UEFA Cup.

It looks like an uphill task but if Mazzarri can get the best out of his players, like he did in his first season in charge, then Samp can turn their fortunes around.

Serie A statistics

1 point from a maximum 12 is Lazio's meagre return from their last four matches. On Sunday, they suffered a third straight defeat (vs Cagliari 1-4, Sampdoria 1-3 and Milan 0-3). This was Milan's fourth away win this term. It was also Lazio's fourth upset at home. Their latest win in Rome over Milan dates back to February 8, 1998 (2-1).

2 braces were recorded in the last Serie A programme. Roma's David Pizarro found the net twice in the 2-2 draw away to relegation strugglers Reggina on Sunday. Romanian striker Adrian Mutu, returning from a three-week lay-off with an elbow injury, also notched a well-taken double in Fiorentina's 3-1 win away at Bologna on Monday.

3rd consecutive draw (vs Lecce 3-3, Reggina 0-0 and Inter 1-1) for struggling Torino who held out for an unexpected 1-1 draw at the San Siro. This was the first drawn result between these two sides in the last seven years. Torino have not beaten Inter in Milan since February 14, 1988. Roma forfeited a 2-1 lead at Reggina and remain three points behind Genoa ahead of next weekend's clash in the capital. Bottom-of-the-class Reggina are winless in their last nine outings (four draws and five defeats) whereas Roma are unbeaten in their last five (three wins and two draws).

10 positive results in a row (five wins and five draws) saw Genoa climb to fourth place. On Sunday, Genoa outplayed Palermo from start to finish but had to wait until two minutes from time to hit the winner. Chievo came from a goal down to share the spoils with Sampdoria at home. The last three Serie A clashes between these two sides in Verona all finished 1-1. Chievo have not beaten Sampdoria at home since a 3-2 win on March 26, 2000 (in Serie B). Chievo, who clash with Torino away on Sunday, are undefeated in their last five outings (two wins and three draws).

29 goals were scored on the 22nd day. Foreigners contributed with 14 goals and the total scored so far is 548. Milan, Fiorentina and Cagliari were Serie A's highest scorers after all netted three goals in their victories over Lazio (3-0), Bologna (3-1) and Juventus (3-2) respectively. Udinese hit back to salvage a 2-2 draw at Napoli on Saturday. For Udinese, Antonio Di Natale hit home with a 32nd-minute penalty. Guillermo Giacomazzi was the only red-carded player. Marco Di Vaio (Bologna) is still the leading marksman with 15 goals.

40 years had to pass for Cagliari to record a win in Turin. On Saturday, they left it late to hand Juventus their second home upset of the term (following the 1-2 reverse to Palermo on October 5). Juve's second successive defeat coincided with Cagliari's fourth consecutive victory after they had beaten Udinese (2-0), Lazio (4-1) and Siena (1-0). Atalanta returned to winning ways after back-to-back defeats to Siena (0-1) and Bologna (0-1) as they edged Catania 1-0. The Sicilians, together with Torino, are still searching for their first away win this season. From 11 away fixtures in the 2008/09 campaign, Catania have drawn four and lost seven.