Atalanta vs Cagliari preview - Cellino puts faith in Ficcadenti

Posted Sunday, November 06, 2011 by PA

Cagliari president Massimo Cellino has handed coach Massimo Ficcadenti a vote of confidence ahead of the game at Atalanta.

The Sardinians have won just once in their past seven games and reports in Italy suggest the club are considering potential replacements for under-fire Ficcadenti.

However, Cellino rubbished the rumours and insisted Ficcadenti will remain in charge.

He said: "I have no intention of dismissing Ficcadenti. He is a good coach and a wonderful person.

"Of course, we are not happy with our recent results but I'm confident the team can bounce back."

Ficcadenti, meanwhile, has demanded a drastic improvement from his players in Bergamo following a 3-0 home defeat to Lazio last time out.

That result saw Cagliari drop to ninth place.

"We need to be more aggressive in attack," Ficcadenti said. "If we want to win games, we need to score goals.

"To have found the back of the net just once in our last four games, is simply not good enough. We must do better."

Atalanta also head into the encounter on the back of a defeat. Last weekend's 3-1 loss at Bologna was the Bergamaschi's second slip of the campaign and left them in 15th place.

Atalanta remain unbeaten at home and club defender Daniele Capelli is confident his side can return to winning ways on Sunday.

"We were disappointed with our performance at Bologna," Capelli said.

"But I'm confident we will bounce back immediately and get a good result against Cagliari."

Atalanta coach Stefano Colantuono will be without midfielder Simone Padoin, who serves a one-match ban this weekend.