Team Focus: Delio Rossi's Sampdoria

Delio Rossi keeps insisting: "I'm not Padre Pio." No kidding. Holier than thou he most certainly is not. Transgressions, yes, he's had a few, from fighting Adem Ljajic in the dug-out at Fiorentina, an incident that led to his dismissal, to sticking his middle finger up at Roma centre-back Nicolas Burdisso last month, an act that brought the former Lazio coach a two-match touchline ban and a fine. 

But since his appointment at Sampdoria in the winter, Rossi has worked miracles. 

He was brought in following the dismissal of Ciro Ferrara. Samp had been relatively patient with him, mindful perhaps of how well he'd started the season. An opening day win over Milan at San Siro and a five-match unbeaten run was a false dawn. Ferrara's time at Samp would prove to be an almost exact replica of his brief spell in charge of Juventus: quick out the blocks only to stumble, fall and not be able to pick the team up again. 

Victory in the so-called Derby dei Disperati with rivals and fellow strugglers Genoa had earned him a brief stay of execution after seven straight losses, a run so poor that there wasn't precedent for it in the club's 66-year history. The worst perhaps was over, the club thought. Best give him the benefit of the doubt. Only Samp began losing again and after Catania turned them over 3-1 at the Massimino, Ferrara was out. 

The choice of Rossi as his replacement was curious. For one thing, he'd worked at Genoa before. "I won't deny anything," he said at his unveiling. "I had a great relationship with your cousins." Then there was his part in Samp's recent disappointments. It was Rossi's Lazio side who beat them in the Coppa Italia final in 2009 and his Palermo who sent them down in 2011. 

Rather than the rancour you might expect towards Rossi there was respect instead. It was reciprocal. He too had been struck by how the Samp supporters had applauded his Lazio players four years ago and by the number of them who had stayed behind to clap their own team on the day of their relegation two years ago. "Paradoxically," Rossi told La Gazzetta dello Sport, that was also the moment when coaching Samp sometime in the future crossed his mind. "I thought to myself: 'You can work in this place'."

Reaching out to Rossi made sense from Samp's point of view. On the one hand, if someone keeps beating you then why not appoint them yourself? On the other, Rossi had the profile they were looking for: that of a coach with a reputation for developing young talent. They'd decided to go down this path after their relegation in 2011. Ferrara had been hired on that basis last summer following his work with Italy's Under-21s. And Rossi was too, in light of how he had helped bring through the likes of Mirko Vucinic at Lecce and Javier Pastore at Palermo among others. 

The situation he inherited was perilous and things would get worse before they got better. Defeat to Lazio in Rossi's first game meant they spent Christmas and the winter break only two points above the drop zone. 

His second match was away to champions Juventus. Only Inter had won in Turin since the Juventus Stadium's inauguration and things didn't get off to a good start for Samp there. They fell 1-0 down, conceding a penalty which Sebastian Giovinco converted. Samp fans could be forgiven for thinking it was game over after one of their defenders Gaetano Berardi was sent off after half an hour. No one gave them a prayer. Improbably, though, Mauro Icardi capitalised on a mistake by goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon to level the score at 1-1 and then found a winner.

It was a great start to 2013 and from that day onwards Samp haven't looked back. Only Milan have collected more points [21] than they have [18] since the start of the New Year. Four wins and two draws over their last six games mean they're the division's form team. It's been a remarkable turnaround. 

"I don't have the philosopher's stone," Rossi claimed. And yet he could quite easily be mistaken for an alchemist. Striking the right balance is beyond most managers, but that's exactly what Rossi has done at Samp. He has blended youth with experience. 

The composition of the defence and it's configuration has changed since Ferrara's departure. It's older and wiser, a back-three rather than a back-four. Midfielder and captain Angelo Palombo has been brought back into the middle of it with the experience-hardened Daniele Gastaldello and Andrea Costa either side of him. 

Lorenzo de Silvestri and Marcelo Estigarribia get through a lot of running as wing-backs and so Samp are pretty well-covered. If the defence is ever breached then goalkeeper Sergio Romero comes to the rescue. He hasn't conceded in 285 minutes and even more impressively has contributed to six clean sheets in eight games. For the record Samp's defensive record is now the third best in Serie A.

They wouldn't have climbed from 15th to 10th, however, if they couldn't play a bit too. And Samp's midfield can do just that. Exuberant, comfortable in possession, able to pick a pass and willing to run; Pedro Obiang [20], Nenad Krstičić [22] and Andrea Poli [23] are the light in the port city's Lanterna. Krstičić's in particular is a great story following his long battle with an aggressive form of lymphoma.  

Up front, Rossi has put his faith in Icardi, who only turned 20 at the end of last month. Boy oh boy, has he been repaid. Perhaps the revelation of the season in Serie A, the striker plucked from La Masia by Samp's former chief scout Ricardo Pecini, has scored eight times in 2013, that's more than anyone else in Serie A this calendar year. 

Holding onto Icardi amid reports that Inter are pushing hard to take him to San Siro next season, to say nothing of Poli too, who is attracting interest from Juventus, will preoccupy Samp this summer. "If you want to improve," Rossi told La Gazzetta dello Sport, "you can't sell your best players." 

The good news, though, is that both Obiang and Krstičić penned new long-term contracts this week. An extension for Rossi should be next on the agenda. He was appointed on a six-month deal and while there's a clause within it that foresees a meeting in the summer to discuss a renewal, many feel he has already done enough to deserve the job over a longer term.

Rossi has been the one to put it off though. "First I'd like to have the certainty of playing in Serie A next year," he said. 

Padre Pio he may not be. Saviour from relegation? Well, he could be that and more.