When they started their season with the qualifying stages of the Champions League, Sampdoria would have never believed what kind of nightmare they were about to live. In fact, apart from coach Delneri who had been replaced by Di Carlo, nothing had been altered from the squad that had reached an unexpected fourth standing in the previous season. Up to some stage, Sampdoria were actually quietly surfing in the middle of the table, without any particular ambitions. Then, things started to get worse. First, Cassano ended up fighting with President Garrone and ended up leaving for Milan. Subsequently, it was Pazzini who left for Inter. When the two main stars left, the management did not replace them properly. Maccarone, Macheda and Biabiany arrived but they were never protagonists and thus a neverending and unstoppable fall started. Sampdoria became fragile defensively and literally incapable of scoring. The more the time passed, the more the team seemed to become unable to react. Eventually, Di Carlo was sacked and his place was taken by Cavasin. Unfortunately for Sampdoria, it was far too late for obtaining some positive reaction: the situation became even more dramatic and, eventually, the team was relegated. The departures of Cassano and Pazzini, Poli's and Tissone's negative season, Di Carlo's lack of experience and decision of sticking to a 4-3-1-2 formation while the team was used to a 4-4-2 with Delneri, these are some of the elements that contributed to such an unexpected result. A real disaster for a team that was aiming at a confirm in the top four.
