A Fiorentina blog for Viola fans
The international break is always a good time to check in on Fiorentina’s loanees, especially since it’s been nearly 2 months from the previous look. These are the games that most determine a player’s fate for the following season because everyone’s had time to find their feet and, as the season winds down, the stakes […]
Italy’s failure to qualify for the World Cup is astonishing. It’s an indictment on the current players, the staff, the FIGC, and calcio as a whole that FIFA’s 12th-place nation can’t make a 48-team tournament. The accusatory eulogies are pouring in and will probably continue for a couple months as the Azzurri apparatus releases stale […]
Paolo Vanoli has Serie A’s most thankless job. If Fiorentina avoids relegation, it’s because the team has too much talent to go down. If the Viola don’t survive, he’ll shoulder most of the blame, having been the boss for the majority of the season. Despite spending a couple years in Florence as a player, the […]
Moise Kean was Serie A’s best striker last year. He finished second to Mateo Retegui for capocannoniere but he was more important to his team’s success and warped opposing defenses due to his supercharged threat in behind in a way Retegui doesn’t. Expectations were sky-high for the man crowned Italy’s number 9 heading into the […]
Late news Paolo Vanoli must be delighted to have Moise Kean fit to start his first Serie A in 2 weeks. Rolando Mandragora picked up a late calf issue so Cher Ndour steps into midfield. The rest of the team is as expected. Cristian Chivu has also gotten some big names back from injury in […]
The big win at Cremonese might have exorcised some demons but if you think Fiorentina isn’t still possessed by the same malign forces that have seized its body and mind all season, this game ought to disabuse you of that notion very quickly. Fiorentina holds the slimmest of margins over Raków Częstochowa in the Conference […]
Pre-match Relegation maestro Davide Nicola didn’t have Jamie Vardy but did trot out a couple of Viola exes in Federico Ceccherini and Youssef Maleh. Paolo Vanoli only had Moise Kean on the bench and so started Roberto Piccoli; with Manor Solomon injured, it was something approaching his first-choice XI. First half Cremonese came out firing […]
Late news Davide Nicola is the king of escaping relegation so I’m pretty sure his decision to start two Viola exes in Federico Ceccherini and Youssef Maleh is on purpose. With Jamie Vardy out, he’s also added the massive Milan Ðurić as a battering ram up front. Paolo Vanoli’s picked his usual XI, with Moise […]
From Michael Kayode to Gianluca Mancini, from Federico Chiesa to Nicolò Zaniolo, we’ve seen quite a few players go from developing at Fiorentina’s academy to thriving in Europe’s top five leagues, and the latest to do so could very well be Niccolò Pierozzi. Born on September 12, 2001, Pierozzi was 10 years of age when […]
Pre-match Paolo Vanoli rested as many of his starters as he could but the number of absences meant some of the regular starters had to go as well. Oliver Christensen retained his role as Conference League goalkeeper, while Niccolò Fortini, Pietro Comuzzo, Giovanni Fabbian, and Jacopo Fazzini all got opportunities. Raków Częstochowa boss Łukasz Tomczyk, […]
Late news Paolo Vanoli’s gone with a surprising number of starters in this one. Maybe he’s hoping to arrest the string of poor performances but it’s more likely that injuries and absences have left him with few other options. Oliver Christensen, Niccolò Fortini, Pietro Comuzzo, Giovanni Fabbian, and Jacopo Fazzini are the notable additions to […]
With 1o games left in the Serie A season, Fiorentina’s fate is still dangling. While the Viola are fully out of the relegation places on points rather than head-to-head for the first time since match day 7, the Viola lead Cremonese by a single point in the race for safety, setting up what will probably […]
When we last recorded two weeks ago, things looked pretty good. Fiorentina had won back-to-back Serie A games for the first time all season and had easily dispatched Jagiellonia Białystok in the Conference League to boot. Butterflies fluttered in the sunlit meadows and the badgers danced their most joyful dances. To the unwise, it seemed […]
Following a cowardly but necessary point against Parma at the weekend, Fiorentina’s forced to stop thinking about its possibly terminal Serie A campaign and focus again on the Conference League round of 16. The Polish opposition is Raków Częstochowa, 4th in the domestic league and a point behind Jagiellonia Białystok. As an amusing aside, if […]
Pre-match Robin Gosens, Cher Ndour, Albert Guðmundsson, and Roberto Piccoli all came into the XI, although Ndour’s inclusion was the only surprise as the other three were all replacing absent starters; Moise Kean and Manor Solomon were in street clothes in the stands alongside the suspended Fabiano Parisi. Also in the stands was a banner […]
Late news Paolo Vanoli reverts to the 4-3-3ish shape that had been working. Robin Gosens fills in at leftback. Cher Ndour gets the nod ahead of Marco Brescianini. Roberto Piccoli starts up front because Moise Kean isn’t fully fit, although he might be able to feature off the bench. Carlos Cuesta’s also dealing with some […]
Fresh off a 3-0 humiliation at Udinese, Fiorentina staggers back to the friendly confines of the Stadio Artemio Franchi hoping to regenerate some positive momentum after grinding to a halt with successive defeats last week. The opponent is Parma, which has 33 points and has achieved the pleasant security of the mid-table bourgeoisie for now. […]
In a tradition nearly as storied as the Festival di Sanremo, the calcio press is picking through the rubble of how Serie A sides did in European competitions this year. The Champions, Europa, and Conference Leagues have all set their matchups for the round of 16. As usual, everyone’s trying to figure out what it […]
Amidst even more smoldering wreckage from this accursed Fiorentina season, here’s a little distraction for you. It’s the attacking cohort of that inexpressibly fun 2012-2013 Viola team that rocketed to 4th place behind a bunch of charismatic players and a tactical approach that made them shine. Federico Bernardeschi made the bench for several games but […]
Pre-match With Dodô suspended, Paolo Vanoli took the extraordinary step of reformatting the entire team into a 3-5-2 with Daniele Rugani in the heart of defense and Jack Harrison at right wingback. Albert Guðmundsson got the nod alongside Moise Kean up top. First half It was instantly apparent that the return to a back 3 […]
Late news Kosta Runjaić opts for a 3-5-2 featuring old friend Nicolò Zaniolo up front with Keinan Davis, who may not be fit for the full 90. Using Poland international Jakub Piotrowski feels a bit pointed given that the Viola are an honorary Ekstraklasa team now. Paolo Vanoli has gotten wacky at the back, handing […]
As the business end of season looms, Fiorentina enters a stretch in which it desperately needs maximum points to escape relegation. Back-to-back Serie A wins for the first time this season have generated a bit of momentum and even hoisted the Viola out of the drop zone, albeit only on tiebreakers. The trip to Udinese […]
Every fan base criticizes its team for its transfer policies. Fiorentina fans have had a stronger case than most of late, given the catastrophic failure of the summer mercato. We’ve talked through that enough and I’m tired of it so I decided to investigate what I perceived as a Viola-specific transfer failing: the club’s obsession […]
After back-to-back wins in Serie A for the first time this year and a resounding Conference League triumph thrown in there for good measure, your favorite Fiorentina podcast idiots are in a fine mood and ready for a rare positive episode. And yes, we realize that this is probably why that second leg of the […]
Pre-match Paolo Vanoli went with another odd lineup in the cup, including Dodô at right wing. Adrian Siemieniec picked his strongest XI, including Taras Romanczuk and Afimico Pululu, who were both suspended for the first leg. It was very clearly an opposing set of ideas, with the hosts hoping to hang onto the lead even […]