Nuno Campos: We lacked the right choices in the final third

“It was a match we wanted to win. We’d have liked to create more goal-scoring opportunities and build more play, but we were up against a side who made themselves difficult to break down at the back. Those substitutions we were forced into didn’t help matters.”

You had a lot of possession but didn’t create many chances in the opposition box. What happened today?

“Our aim isn’t to have sterile possession but to create goal-scoring chances. Today the final pass was lacking in several situations as well as the right choices in the final third.”

Did you expect more from your players?

“Everyone tried to give their best but that’s not always possible. The pace of the game wasn’t ideal for several players – Alessandro Florenzi has just recovered from flu, for example. We’re trying to improve from a physical standpoint – we had a lot of the ball today but we lacked incisiveness. This is a process that requires time, but we’re on the right track.”

Playing a narrow Sampdoria side, could you perhaps have made better use of Aleksandar Kolarov?

“To be honest he did get up the pitch quite often but we didn’t always move the ball as well as we could. He got high up the pitch and put in a few crosses. It’s not about individuals – everyone can contribute to decide a match. Let’s not forget that lots of our players were just away on international duty – they need to get back into the swing of our daily work.”