A Fiorentina blog for Viola fans
It happened. It finally happened. A historically slumping Fiorentina finally took some accountability and started firing those responsible. Your favorite Fiorentina podcast idiots recorded this in the smoldering rubble of the Lecce game, before Stefano Pioli had been officially relieved of duty, but the writing was already on the wall, so we discussed his and […]
Pre-match Spare a thought for Mainz, which is 2nd-last in the Bundesliga and missing so many defenders that manager Bo Henriksen had to pick Kacper Potulski in his first senior team action to start. The home fans, despite their team’s dire form, were very impressive: loud, coordinated, and producing a brilliant tifo ahead of kickoff. […]
Late news Mainz (2nd-last in the Bundesliga but 2/2 in the Conference League) has a spectacular injury crisis at the back (4 senior players unavailable), leading manager Bo Henriksen to call 18-year-old youth player Kacper Potulski up from the youth side for his first-ever start. Fiorentina is somehow even more chaotic, sitting at the bottom […]
Fiorentina announced this morning that the club has relieved head coach Stefano Pioli of his duties and thanking him for his 115 days in charge of the team. The mister’s fate was sealed following his display at the end of Sunday’s loss to Lecce: while his players faced the fans’ displeasure, Pioli hustled off the […]
Pre-match In his first match without Daniele Pradè as his supervisor, Pioli leaned into a young team: Pietro Comuzzo, Niccolò Fortini, and Simon Sohm all came into the side, as did Old Man Edin Džeko. Eusebio di Francesco left Riccardo Sottil and Youssef Maleh on the bench. First half Fiorentina started brightly, pinning Lecce back […]
Late news Stefano Pioli leans young, picking Pietro Comuzzo, Jacopo Fortini, and Cher Ndour in the XI. Edin Džeko partners Moise Kean up front. Lecce boss Eusebio di Francesco has Viola loanee Riccardo Sottil on the bench; Ricky’s just recovering from injury but would love nothing more than to add to the ongoing crisis at […]
Fiorentina fans haven’t had much to cheer for this year but, 2 days after a defeat to Inter Milan that confirmed the worst start in team history—winless through 9 Serie A games—the club announced that it’s “mutually parted ways” with sporting director Daniele Pradè, much to the delight of some supporters. Pradè, 58, served his […]
Player grades David de Gea—9: None of the goals were his fault and he made 5 saves ranging from very good to utterly incredible. What a waste of a vintage, spectacular performance. Mattia Viti—3: Got put in a bad situation on his red card by Fazzini’s failure to deal with a bouncing ball but he […]
Pre-match Stefano Pioli set out a very odd XI with Pietro Comuzzo and Mattia Viti as the outside centerbacks (maybe he read my hit piece on Marin Pongračić) and Rolando “Please don’t use me in a deep midfield role” Mandragora as the regista behind Simon Sohm and Cher Ndour. On the plus side, at least […]
Late news Both managers rotate their sides after midweek matchups. Christian Chivu’s moves—Yann Bisseck, Petar Sučić, Francesco Pio Esposito—all make perfect sense. Stefano Pioli’s however, do not. Critical fans will highlight Rolando Mandragora at regista as a mistake if it doesn’t work. At least Pietro Comuzzo and Mattia Viti get rare opportunities in defense, albeit […]
Now that we’re 2 months into the season and Fiorentina has yet to win a Serie A game, it’s probably time to figure out what’s going wrong. While there’s no single reason for the team to be quite so ass, my diagnosis is that a lot of the ass starts at the back. I’m specifically […]
After a chaotic and unimaginably lucky draw against Bologna in the Derby dell’Appennino on Sunday, Fiorentina hits the road again, hoping to earn its first win in Serie A this season. Given that Inter Milan is the opponent, that’s the least likely outcome, but we’re all idiots and can’t help ourselves hoping for better. The […]
Player grades David de Gea—5.5: His early tip on Juan Miranda’s belter was really good but that was his only save on the day, although you can’t fault him on either goal. His distribution, however, was a problem, allowing Bologna to win the ball and keep Fiorentina pinned deep for long stretches. Marin Pongračić—3.5: Participated […]
Fiorentina’s wacky (read: tragic) start to the season continues, with the added wrinkle of apparent competence in the Conference League. Here to talk about it are two-thirds of your favorite Fiorentina podcast idiots. We dive deep into a maddening performance against AC Milan and honestly bum ourselves out a little bit before turning to happier […]
Pre-match There weren’t any surprises in either lineup, although it’s worth noting that Vincenzo Italiano was absent, hospitalized for pneumonia (get well soon, big guy) and sent his assistant Daniel Niccolini to run the show, just as he used to in Florence. Speaking of Florence, the fans provided an atmosphere worth of the Derby dell’Appennino, […]
Late news Neither manager has sprung any surprises—the XIs are both exactly as predicted—so we don’t have to waste any time analyzing how some clever wrinkle could impact the game. We can just jump straight into the Derby dell’Appennino and let the animus between these two clubs surround us like a nice, warm soup. Lineups […]
Fiorentina showed a pulse for the first time this year in the win at Rapid Wien on Thursday, but the Derby dell’Appennino is always a different beast entirely. Adding to the drama is the fact that Bologna manager Vincenzo Italiano has been hospitalized for pneumonia and will miss this one; whether that leads to a […]
Player grades David de Gea—6.5: Made one superb save on Matthias Seidl’s howitzer and a couple other rather more routine stops. His issues with kicking out from the back are real, though, and are part of what’s troubled Fiorentina this year. But he still saves goals that maybe 5 other goalkeepers on earth can make. […]
Pre-match Both managers had deal with the absence of a star striker: Chancy Mbuyi for the hosts and Moise Kean for the visitors. Stefano Pioli rotated quite a bit, bringing in Pietro Comuzzo, Mattia Viti, Niccolò Fortini, Fabiano Parisi, Cher Ndour, Edin Džeko, and Roberto Piccoli. Tommaso Martinelli, however, apparently isn’t the cup goalkeeper anymore […]
Late news Peter Stöger shuffles things quite a bit. Some of it is due to injury—losing striker Claudy Mbuyi, for example—but some of it’s tactical as well. Stefano Pioli’s also missing his top striker in Moise Kean, so it’s Roberto Piccoli and Edin Džeko to lead the line; Albert Guðmundsson remains glued to the bench. […]
Fiorentina gets to put the disappointment of another blown lead in Serie A behind it with a trip north to keep the Conference League dream alive; indeed, that’s pretty much all that’s giving us fans any life at all right now. The opponent? Rapid Wien, currently 3rd in the other Bundesliga. Rapid started the season […]
Player grades David de Gea—6: Can’t blame him for the penalty but he was slow to react to Rafael Leão’s first, although he was unsighted by Pongračić. Did make a very good save on Santiago Giménez in the second half. Luca Ranieri—6.5: Came up nails when the team needed someone to step up with the […]
Pre-match Max Allegri had a ton of absences: Christian Pulisic, Christopher Nkunku, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Adrien Rabiot, Ardon Jashari, and Pervis Estupiñan were all in the stands, leaving him with a front two of Rafael Leão and Alexis Saelemaekers. Stefano Pioli—making his 500th Serie A appearance as a head coach—surprisingly started Moise Kean up front, claiming […]
Late news Stefano Pioli gets Moise Kean back despite an injury suffered while international duty and goes for an all-midfield edition, leaving Roberto Piccoli, Albert Guðmundsson, and Edin Džeko on the bench in what could be something like a 5-4-1. Max Allegri’s got a raft of injury concerns of his own, leaving Rafael Leão and […]
As you’ve probably noticed if you hang out around these parts, Fiorentina has yet to win in Serie A this year and sits in 17th place in 3 points, just leading Hellas Verona on goal difference to avoid the drop zone after 6 games. That’s the worst start in league play since 1976 and the […]