Veretout unsatisfied with the performance

“It’s a disappointing result for us," the midfielder said. "We need to do better. Sampdoria have just changed coach and we saw a more aggressive team out on the pitch. We weren’t good enough in the first half. but did slightly better after the break. We need to do more in the final third. Our passing was too slow at times. We need to work hard, together, because we’ve got a tough match coming up on Thursday.”

How did you find it in midfield with Javier Pastore?

“Javier was playing in a position he’s not used to but we did good work during the week. I felt good playing with him – we spoke to each other a lot on the pitch.”

At the start of the season you were more aggressive and that’s subsided slightly. How come?

“We need to be more aggressive in our pressing. We should have done more – we allowed too many dangerous counters. We need to be more decisive when we’re on the ball ourselves.”

Why did you manage so few shots on goal today?

“We moved the ball around a lot, but we should have taken the initiative more often, to get into the box. We midfielders need to take more shots too.”