Sassuolo coach Alessio Dionisi prepares for his first match in charge at the Mapei Stadium against Sampdoria on Sunday and announced Domenic Berardi will not be available.
Dionisi started life at Sassuolo with a 3-2 win over Hellas Verona last time, but stressed the Neroverdi must improve to continue with another positive result against Sampdoria this weekend.
“We started off on the right foot,” Dionisi said at a press conference. “We know that we can do better in terms of performance, but it will not be the last game where we will have to battle.
“It will probably come already in the next one and we must be good at overcoming them like in Verona.
“The lads did well because they never gave up, we made our lives a bit complicated. I don’t like talking about the episodes, then I can be proven wrong.
“It’s still the first in the championship, there are another 37 to play but what interests us now is the second game against Sampdoria.
He then confirmed Berardi will not be called up for the match on Sunday.
“Domenico will not be available tomorrow, he’s recovering,” Dionisi said. “We hope to have him for the next game.”
Sampdoria changed coach too this summer and Roberto D’Aversa has a habit of giving the Neroverdi trouble.
“It’s a difficult game,” Dionisi continued. “Sampdoria are doing well, they have physical players, they have quality attackers, there’s [Fabio] Quagliarella who I think is the Italian with the most goals in active play and this speaks volumes about the quality they have in their attack.
“They have important players in the middle of the field too, players who win defensive duels. We must ‘worry’, we have to respect Sampdoria as a team.
“D’Aversa has always been a combative opponent against Sassuolo, I have little doubt that he will be the same tomorrow as well.
“We must respect, understanding that we have the qualities to give them a hard time and tomorrow we will try to put them in difficulty.”