Sampdoria appoint Cavasin as coach after sacking Di Carlo

MILAN (Reuters) -- Sampdoria, who have sunk like a stone since selling Antonio Cassano and Giampaolo Pazzini in January, pinned the blame on coach Domenico di Carlo on Monday and replaced him with Alberto Cavasin.

"Di Carlo is a great person but we couldn't do anything else given results," club president Riccardo Garrone told reporters following Sunday's 3-2 home defeat by lowly Cesena.

"I don't know yet if Cavasin will just be a caretaker. Only results count now."

Garrone fell out with firebrand forward Cassano late last year and offloaded him to leaders AC Milan while fans were stunned when he also allowed fellow top striker Pazzini to join Inter Milan.

They were replaced at the Genoa-based club by on-loan Manchester United forward Federico Macheda, Marco Maccarone and Jonathan Biabiany but all three have struggled to make an impact as Samp, fourth last term, slipped down to 14th in Serie A.

Di Carlo, who arrived at Sampdoria from Chievo in the close season after Luigi Del Neri quit for Juventus, may feel unlucky to be sacked given all the upheaval but the board has acted with the side just three points above the drop zone.

Cavasin was last in charge of Swiss top-flight side Bellinzona and counts Fiorentina among his many other coaching jobs.