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Ciro Ferrara told his players not to ‘take off that helmet’ before Sampdoria’s match with Bologna. His team has achieved back-to-back wins, following up on its Derby della Lanterna win by defeating 10-man side from Emilia-Romagna. Andrea Poli was the hero again, scoring the winner after 61 minutes after a one-two with Brazilian striker Eder. It wasn’t the prettiest win but i doriani climb up the table and Ferrara still has his coaching job.

Ferrara’s team started with a 4-5-1 formation and it dominated possession in the first half. Bologna had a man sent-off in the fifth minute when Archimede Morleo fouled Mauro Icardi. Despite having an extra man, Doria couldn’t find a breakthough. Pedro Obiang could have scored with a spectacular cross-shot but Bologna keeper Federico Agliardi pulled-off a good save.

Eder came on at half-time for Gianni Munari and the formation changed to the 4-4-2. The home side created more chances and after picking-up a loose ball, Poli went on a run, combined with Eder and slotted the ball home calmly.

Bologna was a man short for 85 minutes but Stefano Pioli’s men still put up a good fight. The bolognesi had their chances to equalise, especially from substitute Cristian Pasquato but Sampdoria survived, getting the three points.

Poli had a go at his old club Inter Milan after he wasn’t a part of their off-season training. He said: ‘They told me that I was 100 per cent going to be signed on a permanent basis after the loan spell, but then they changed their minds and dealt with the matter in an absurd fashion.’ He seems to be happy to back in Genoa, playing a vital part in these last two wins.

Sampdoria is now in 11th place and Ferrara’s players ‘kept their helmets’ on. They will need to stay on next week when i doriani play against in-form Fiorentina away. La viola is being coached by ex-Sampdoria star Vincenzo Montella and his team is winning the plaudits of neutrals this season. I doriani will have a tough challenge ahead of them in Florence but if they can play like they did in the derby or against Milan, Ferrara’s men might get another surprise result.

Even if Sampdoria can get their third win of the season, it will likely be without the services of Eder. His muscle injury has been causing him problems, forcing him to miss the Fiorentina match and perhaps the match after that against Udinese.

Sampdoria has had problems with its attack this season, forcing Ferrara to use the 4-5-1 formation in recent weeks instead of the 4-3-3 formation he used as Azzurrini coach. The absence of Maxi Lopez hasn’t helped either and as a result, Sampdoria might try and get Italo-Swede striker John Guidetti. Owned by Manchester City, the striker is also sparking interest from Siena and even a return to Dutch giants Feyenoord is on the cards, possibly pairing up with ex-Sampdoria striker Graziano Pelle`.

If Guidetti does come to Sampdoria, he could play alongside Icardi, possibly creating something similar to what Alessandro Melli and Tomas Brolin did at Parma in 1990/91. The young attacking duo helped Parma to equal fifth place in that season despite the media criticising them for their age.

In other matters, Sampdoria president Riccardo Garrone announced that he wants to build a new stadium. ‘The next stage now is to get everything cleared legally. And then once that's done, we can then go to the city council,’ he said. In a time which most clubs don’t want to hire stadiums from councils, it would be great for the doriani to have a stadium of their own. The Luigi Ferraris is named after a former Genoa player who died in WWI. Hopefully Sampdoria can have its own stadium named after one its heroes.

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