Peerless at home, hapless away. That just about sums up my first season as Fiorentina manager so far. Time is running out on our quest to qualify for the Champions League, and the five matches awaiting us in April could go some way to either making or breaking our top-four hopes.
You can catch up on Part 9 here if you haven’t already. It truly is unmissable, particularly if you have a keen interest in watching virtual Football Managers screw up relations with their best strikers.
BOLOGNA vs FIORENTINA (Serie A, Match 30)
Having lost our last five away games, I made subtle change of approach for our midweek trip to the Renato Dall’Ara. I reckoned we had been a bit too pensive on our travels, so I urged my players to push a little higher upfield and increase the pace.
While his younger brother Simone was challenging for the scudetto with Lazio, Filippo Inzaghi seemed content to keep Bologna clear of relegation. Lining his team up in a defensive 5-1-2-2 formation suggested that he was more focussed on not losing this match than winning it.
The onus was on our attackers to break Bologna down. Unfortunately, Marko Pjaca broke down in the seventh minute, having twisted his knee in a robust challenge from Filip Helander. Kevin Mirallas came off the bench and almost got himself an assist in the 19th minute, but Gérson‘s header from his free-kick cannoned back off the bar.
There would be more frustration to come in the first half, not least when home forward Federico Santander got the ball over our defence to send his partner Rodrigo Palacio clear in the 43rd minute. The 37-year-old Argentinian powered it into the net, but the referee checked with VAR for a possible offside before confirming the goal.
I tried to get us back in the game by reverting to a lower tempo for the second half. That did help us create more scoring chances inside the area, though finding the target was proving problematic. Gérson’s 53rd-minute header was one of the few efforts that Lukasz Skorupski had to save in the Bologna goal.
Germán Pezzella threatened to score on 66 minutes, but the captain’s header from Gérson’s whipped corner didn’t evade Skorupski either. Pezzella’s central defensive colleague Nikola Milenkovic would be in agony for a different reason nine minutes from time, having injured his knee in a challenge from Santander. Naturally, that had come shortly after I made my final substitution.
Our 10 men still battled for a late equaliser, but Gilberto‘s wayward injury-time volley proved to be our last chance to secure a first away point since January. This had been another match in which our attackers had underperformed, and it would prove to be Mirallas’ last outing for the Viola. The disappointing Belgian was immediately demoted to the Under-20s, where he would see out the rest of his loan period.
After the match, I angrily slated my players and told them that they would be doing intense endurance training the next day instead of resting. Milenkovic couldn’t take part for obvious reasons – indeed, we would be lucky if he played again this season.
At least we still had two solid central defenders in Germán Pezzella and Vítor Hugo, and an adequate third-choice who wasn’t moaning about not playing much footb-
Oh. Right. I have a funny feeling Federico Ceccherini won’t be at Fiorentina next season!
The top three all won in midweek, with Juventus putting five goals past Atalanta, Napoli scoring four against Cagliari, and Lazio only managing a pitiful two against Genoa and their new manager Roberto Donadoni. Inter’s 1-1 home draw against Parma allowed Roma to move closer to that fourth Champions League spot, with Edin Dzeko having bagged a hat-trick against Sassuolo.
FIORENTINA vs ROMA (Serie A, Match 31)
While we couldn’t buy a point on our travels, we seemed to be almost unbeatable at the Artemio Franchi. That latter statement would be put to the test when Roma paid us a visit. If we could complete the double over Eusebio Di Francesco’s men, we would be back to within a point of the 5th-placed Giallorossi.
Although ‘Fullerball’ still appeared to be working fine at home, I was so incensed by our display at Bologna that I changed tack again. We would switch to a 4-2-3-1 and play more direct passing, with Cyril Théréau being given one more chance to lead our attack in place of the suspended Giovanni Simeone.
It won’t surprise you to read that my act of desperation was about as successful as… well, a typical Mirallas shot. In this case, ‘direct passing’ meant directly passing to the opposition, and none of our players – let alone Théréau – could get a single shot on goal. It was just like watching Newcastle United.
Frankly, it was a miracle that Roma didn’t utterly destroy us in the first half. Alban Lafont made some excellent saves to keep the scoreline at 0-0, though he needed his right-hand post to block a volley from Bryan Cristante in the 41st minute. Lafont’s luck eventually ran out three minutes later, with Patrik Schick lethally heading Cengiz Ünder’s corner beyond the Frenchman.
After admitting that my… ahem, experiment had failed, we reverted to playing ‘Fullerball’ in the second half. Our vertical tiki-taka style immediately started to flummox a Roma side who were perhaps believing that we had made things just a little too easy for them before half-time.
We were well and truly back to our best by the 62nd minute. A string of first-time passes ended with Valentin Eysseric‘s weighted ball into the Roma area finding Théréau. The much-maligned veteran’s shot had Robin Olsen soundly beaten, giving him just his second goal of the season!
Our football continued to captivate in the final half-hour, though we couldn’t create any further chances of that quality. Indeed, it was the Giallorossi who finished strongest. A strong rearguard display from captain Pezzella helped us to survive their late assaults and retain our unbeaten home record. I wasn’t too disappointed with a point in the circumstances, even if it did extend our winless streak to four games.
Though we were always staying 6th regardless of the result, this latest slip-up allowed 7th-place Milan to move closer to us. The Rossoneri’s 2-0 win against an increasingly forlorn SPAL side left them just one point behind the Viola. Mind you, Milan effectively needed another point to overtake us, because of our superior head-to-head record.
Elsewhere, Lazio returned to the top after Luis Alberto’s 60th-minute goal ended Juventus’ recent unbeaten run. Inter laboured to a goalless draw with Atalanta, while Napoli inexplicably collapsed to a 5-1 loss at Empoli, dealing a huge blow to their hopes of ending a 29-year title drought.
FIORENTINA vs PARMA (Serie A, Match 32)
The Franchi was quickly readied for another home game four days later, with Parma providing the opposition this time. The Crociati had outclassed us at the Ennio Tardini earlier this season, so vengeance was very much on our minds.
Parma had won just once since the turn of the year, blowing them away from mid-table safety and into a relegation storm. With confidence at rock-bottom, there was little chance of Roberto D’Aversa’s men replicating their November heroics here. Indeed, they wouldn’t even muster a single shot on target.
Federico Chiesa had Parma on the back foot as early as the 14th minute, when his free-kick was caught by Luigi Sepe. Simeone was also thwarted by Parma’s goalkeeper midway through the half, but it was Bryan Dabo who arguably came closest to breaking the deadlock before half-time. His swerving shot from a 35th-minute pass by regista Christian Nørgaard came back off the corner of the goal frame.
Edimilson Fernandes missed a clear-cut chance on 56 minutes, flicking Chiesa’s right-wing cross wide from inside the six-yard box. With us repeatedly failing to take our chances in a one-sided contest, another frustrating home draw looked to be on the cards.
Just like against SPAL in February, though, one defensive error was all it took to change our fortunes. Six minutes from time, as Eysseric swung a corner into the box, Simeone went to ground after an apparent push from Riccardo Gagliolo. The referee consulted VAR before pointing to the spot.
We now needed Simeone to continue his excellent penalty record. The Argentine did just that, confidently powering the spot-kick past Sepe for his fourth conversion in as many attempts. That goal was Gio’s 14th in Serie A this season, equalling his haul from the previous campaign. More importantly, as far as I was concerned, it ended a frustrating run of four games without victory!
Thank goodness for Simeone’s penalty. Milan would have barged us out of 6th place otherwise, thanks to their 2-0 away win against a freefalling Frosinone side. Our late victory also saw us move within a point of Roma, whose six-game unbeaten run in Serie A was halted by Udinese.
Juventus returned to the summit, having comfortably beaten Cagliari 4-1 after Ivan Perisic’s 71st-minute strike for Inter dealt Lazio their first league defeat since Boxing Day. 3rd-placed Napoli only just defeated Sampdoria, with Raúl Albiol’s injury-time winner sparing the Partenopei another poor result.
ATALANTA vs FIORENTINA (Serie A, Match 33)
When we last played at the Atleti Azzurri d’Italia in January, we left with our Coppa Italia hopes in tatters. I hoped our next encounter with Atalanta would be rather happier, and with the mid-table entertainers struggling for form, I had reason to be optimistic.
We started very encouragingly, with our vertical tiki-taka putting Atalanta on the defensive and giving them little time on the ball. The pressure told after 12 minutes, when Pjaca was pushed in the box by Rafael Tolói. Simeone stepped up to take his second spot-kick in successive matches… and his FIFTH successful penalty of the season got us off to a strong start.
We continued to attack with regularity, though we were occasionally caught on the counter by a resilient home team. In the 27th minute, Emiliano Rigoni cleared our defence with a 30-yard ball to Duván Zapata, and Lafont did superbly to palm the Colombian’s shot off his line.
La Dea had more good fortune with another attack early in stoppage time. 20-year-old forward Musa Barrow’s cross from the left wing was met by the head of Argentine-born winger Rigoni, and Lafont wasn’t quite able to keep it out.
That felt like a kick in the teeth, but less than two minutes later, our own Argentinian hotshot would make sure we did take a lead into the interval. Simeone’s 16th Serie A goal of the season was a delicate header from a left-wing delivery by Maximiliano Olivera, who had been sent off here in January.
The second half couldn’t match the first for intensity, though our positive football did yield several chances to pull us further clear. While Jordan Veretout was pulling the strings in midfield and Chiesa was a constant threat out wide, their shooting accuracy left a bit to be desired.
Our wastefulness would be punished four minutes from the end. After substitute Dabo had given away a free-kick close to our goal, Rigoni chipped the set-piece into our box. Up rose Arkadiusz Reca, whose header saved a point for Atalanta. While we still halted a run of six away defeats that had begun right here, there was still some disappointment that we hadn’t held on for the win.
The Serie A title race was blown wide open after Juventus were held by Napoli, and Lazio suffered their first home league defeat this term against Bologna. The Biancocelesti were knocked down to 3rd by Napoli, who beat Torino 2-1 and moved just a solitary point behind Juve. Inter were also firmly in contention after overcoming Cagliari by the same scoreline.
As far as we were concerned, failure to beat Atalanta saw us lose ground on 5th-placed Roma, who recovered from conceding the first goal to win 2-1 against Parma. Milan missed a great chance to take 6th place from us, with Gonzalo Higuaín’s apparent injury-time winner against Chievo being cancelled out even later on by French youngster Mehdi Léris.
Also, I’m sure you noticed that Pjaca came off injured very late on at Atalanta. The Croatian wideman had twisted his ankle, which meant his season on loan from Juventus was effectively over:
Ceccherini also appeared to be done for the season after straining his calf in training. That left us with Pezzella and Vítor Hugo as our only fit centre-halves, though Milenkovic was still hoping to recover from his injury earlier than expected.
FIORENTINA vs LAZIO (Serie A, Match 34)
There was the small matter of an all-Roman Coppa Italia Final at the Olimpico in midweek. Thanks to Marco Parolo’s first-half double, Lazio defeated Roma 2-1 in a violent encounter that saw 10 yellow cards and two reds handed out. That meant Simone Inzaghi’s Biancocelesti arrived at the Franchi four days later somewhat tired, but on an emotional high.
Our French legion quickly sought to exploit any fatigue in the Lazio backline. Eysseric hit the side netting with a first-minute free-kick, and a 12th-minute volley by Veretout rebounded off the crossbar. Sadly, after just over half an hour, Jordan’s game – and perhaps also his season – was ended by an ankle injury sustained in a challenge from opposing wing-back Patric.
Though we bossed possession and were much more assured with our passing than Lazio in the first half, the visitors did create a few opportunities of their own. Perhaps the best of them came Luis Alberto’s way three minutes from time, but the Spanish playmaker whipped it wide.
Five minutes into the second half came the breakthrough we had been waiting for. Left-back Cristiano Biraghi’s short cross was spread out right by Eysseric to Chiesa, who cut inside and hammered in his fifth goal of the season!
Our vice-captain’s delight was brief, as Lazio got themselves back on terms within a couple of minutes. Left-back Riza Durmisi and winger Cristiano Lombardi had only just come off the bench when they teamed up to make an instant impact. Durmisi’s byline cross found Lombari at the back post, and the 23-year-old’s header looped over Lafont before rustling into the net.
Lombardi could have turned the match well and truly on its head a minute later, when he struck Patric’s right-wing cross on the volley. Lafont wasn’t to be caught out that time, producing an assured save.
With an increasingly disgruntled Simeone struggling to make an impact at the other end, I brought on another Frenchman in Cyril Théréau for the final 20 minutes. Cyril was handed a massive opportunity to put us 2-1 up midway through his cameo, when Stefan Radu’s clearance was intercepted by Fernandes and nodded into the Lazio box. Théréau took the ball and composed himself… but Thomas Strakosha’s quick reactions kept him at bay.
However, another lapse from Lazio in injury time would be punished. Nørgaard cut out a slack throw from Patric and passed first-time to Théréau, who drilled the ball through the tiniest of gaps between Strakosha and his near post! The Viola tifosi went bonkers as an unlikely hero produced one of our best victories this season!
We might just have wrecked Lazio’s title hopes with that result. The Biancocelesti had now dropped to 4th place – six points behind Juventus, who battled past Sampdoria 2-0. The defending champions now held a three-point lead on Napoli, who needed a 96th-minute strike from Amadou Diawara to salvage a point against Milan.
Inter’s late surge continued as they put four goals past Empoli to record a third straight win and go 3rd. Roma then left it late to beat SPAL, thus consolidating 5th place and giving the Giallorossi fresh hope of bumping their city rivals out of the top four.
And that sets things up very nicely for the final four games of the Serie A season. We still harbour faint hopes of breaking into the Champions League places, but despite what the table now says, 5th or 6th will put us into the Europa League group phase. Finish 7th, and it’s the qualifiers for us.
You will not want to miss the next chapter of this story, that is for sure!
“Forza viola!”
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