Internazionale coach Roberto Mancini was full of praise for Sampdoria ahead of tonight's Italian Cup game at the Stadio San Siro.
A legend during his days as a Sampdoria player, Mancini says Sinisa Mihajlovic's side are enjoying a healthy campaign and fully deserve to occupy the fourth place in the Serie A.
"Sampdoria is doing incredibly well," Mancini said.
"They play with no pressure at all and deserve to be where they are [in the Serie A table].
"As for us - with the only exception of the Empoli game - we should be satisfied with the improvement in our team over the last few weeks.
"One bad game every now and then is understandable and it shouldn't be a reason to believe that we're going backwards.
"Also it was important not to lose a game which we could have easily lost, it's positive."
Between the Serie A and cups the Nerazzurri will play six games next month but the Italian is confident he has enough depth in the squad to deal with the added pressure.
"We play on Wednesday [today] so there is enough time to recover," the 50-year-old said.
"Also we will soon be in action in the Europa League so the players have to get used to be involved three times in a week."
