Another new year has been chimed in, and it could be my last in Fiorentina. With 18 games to go in the Serie A season, it’s still anyone’s guess as to whether we can hold on to a Champions League place, and thus convince me to continue this purple project for a bit longer.
There will be some major spoilers in this part, you’re not yet up to date with “Shades of Deep Purple”, please read up on Part 28 before continuing.
MID-SEASON BREAK
Having struggled somewhat when it came to scoring goals of late, we focused a lot on our attacking play in the fortnight leading up to our next competitive match.
We also managed to get one friendly match in before returning to action proper. Dynamo Dresden from Germany’s second tier had invited us over to their place, and we showed our gratitude by… well, tearing them to pieces.
It could not have been much more comfortable than that. Dresden were in trouble as soon as they conceded an unfortunate own goal early on, and Germán Pezzella compounded their early misery before Willem Geubbels got back in the goals. We then added a fourth and final goal late in the second half, as Ivorian teenager Robert Goualy caught the eye with an excellent assist for Domenico Berardi.
A week later, we embarked on our latest quest to win a trophy for the first time since 2001. Barring an inexplicable collapse from Inter in the league, this represented our last chance to prevent our trophy drought from extending into a third decade.
FIORENTINA vs CAGLIARI (Coppa Italia, Round 1)
We would once again start off in Round 1 against Serie B opposition, as Cagliari had upset Bologna on penalties in the final qualifying round to book a date at the Artemio Franchi. Whoever won here would face a daunting Quarter Final trip to the San Siro to face Inter, who had already obliterated Verona in their opening tie.
The ‘prize’ might as well to have been get hit repeatedly in the face by Deontay Wilder, but you could bet your bottom Euro that we would go all out for the win. Marco Benassi certainly showed plenty of passion in the 11th minute, though a rough challenge on Cagliari’s young forward Felice D’Amico earned him a booking.
Patrick Roberts looked the man most likely to put us ahead. Paddy had a free-kick tipped behind by Cagliari keeper Boris Radunovic in the 21st minute, though a similar effort seven minutes later narrowly missed the target. That aside, we rarely threatened the Rossoblu, who managed to hit us on the break on the stroke of half-time.
The move began when Viola left-back David Hancko lost possession deep in the Cagliari half. Visiting winger Cristiano Lombardi hoofed the ball upfield to Han Kwang-Song, who then sent D’Amico clean through on goal. The 20-year-old Inter loanee drove his initial shot against the post, but the follow-up easily beat our debutant keeper Francesco Bardi.
Roberts could have repaired the damage two minutes into the second half, when his banana shot flew inches wide. Abdou Diakhaté was rather less impressive when he went for goal in the 53rd minute, and the quality of our shooting continued to dip from that point onwards. Not even our joint-leading scorer Valentin Eysseric could get us firing again after coming off the bench.
With the expected Fiorentina resurgence failing to materialise, our Coppa Italia dream died before it even had a chance to be born. The fact that Ragnar Klavan was named ‘man of the match’ in the Cagliari backline showed just how ineffective we had been.
Out of the cup at the first round… how embarrassing. If it was any consolation, though, we could now fully concentrate on the league. We would also have ample time to prepare for our matches, with only one midweek fixture later this month the exception in a schedule full of weekend, Friday or Monday games.
TRANSFER WINDOW
There would be one permanent departure from Fiorentina in January. Having failed to impress me enough while on loan at Strømsgodset, the unpredictable forward Rafik Zekhnini was moved on for good. Bordeaux took him off my hands for an initial €3.2million, potentially rising to €4.1million based on appearances.
Some more established players received offers from other clubs, but they were rejected out of hand as being derisory. Lazio and both Milan clubs tried to loan in our right-back Almamy Touré with a view to a permanent move, while the former also submitted a pitiful offer for left-back Cristiano Biraghi. Shakhtar wanted to sign Benassi but declined to meet my €50million asking price.
A number of younger players went out on loan, including Diakhaté. The 22-year-old midfielder’s development had stalled, so I sent him to Carpi, who were bidding to secure promotion from Serie B. Goualy was lent to Austria Vienna, though he was rather reluctant to move so soon after arriving.
The much-maligned Santi Mina was also leaving Florence behind for now, after two goals in 27 competitive outings. Saint-Étienne took a chance on the Spanish striker and will give him regular Ligue 1 football until the end of the season. If Santi impresses, he might get another chance with us. If not, a permanent move in the summer looks likely.
Mina was moved on to make space for another frontman – someone with rather more pedigree:
I know what you’re thinking. “Christopher… why the heck have you signed Falcao?! He’s almost 35, he’s retiring in the summer, and his physical attributes are falling off a cliff! Also, he’s never played in Serie A before!”
Ah, yes, but I have a feeling that there’s still life in Radamel Falcao yet. Not only are the Colombian superstar’s attributes perfect for a deep-lying forward, but he is also a Model Citizen – a very desirable personality which I hope will rub off on our younger attackers. Costing us €2.4million from Monaco (for whom he was still scoring regularly in Ligue 1 last season), Falcao could be an effective short-term signing.
Of course, that means all three of our recognised senior strikers have come from Monaco. I wouldn’t say we’re their unofficial feeder club… but we probably are.
As far as long-term striking options go, José Luis Sánchez is probably a strong choice. Though he was coveted by many top European clubs, it was Fiorentina who won the race to sign the explosive Belgium Under-21s striker. He will officially join his compatriot and former team-mate Elias Heylen in Florence this summer.
I definitely played the long game when it came to signing JLS. I cheekily offered Mechelen a few million Euro for his services early last year, knowing they would spurn my advances, which in turn unsettled young José. He thus refused to sign a professional contract with Mechelen, and I swooped to nab him on a freebie as soon as the opportunity arose. It’s perhaps not the most ethical of transfer strategies, but it sure can be effective.
I hoped there would be one more signing to come. Unfortunately, I once again encountered problems on deadline day. Quite simply, it is almost impossible to make any last-minute signings on Football Manager 2019.
At 8:30am on the final day of Serie A’s transfer window, I made an ambitious attempt to bring Paris Saint-Germain’s inside-forward Federico Bernardeschi back to Fiorentina. We agreed a €41million fee with the club (€16million of which would be spread out over two years), and the player then agreed to a four-and-a-half-year contract worth €125,000 per week.
Bernardeschi now had the best part of 14 hours to weigh up his options. Meanwhile, I tried to make room for him by placing Domenico Berardi on the transfer list. Though we couldn’t find a buyer, Berardi’s former club Sassuolo did agree to take him on loan whilst paying his wages in full.
I then waited for Bernardeschi and Berardi to make decisions about their futures. So I clicked ‘Continue’. And again. And again. And again. And again.
The deadline passed at 11:00pm with no more news, except this message:
ARGHHHHHHHHHH!!! You had 14 hours, Federico! FOURTEEN HOURS to make up your pigging mind!
I’ve had this twice before, when I tried to sign Florentino Luis last January, and Vincent Janssen the year before that. I know I shouldn’t have got myself into this situation again, but something isn’t right if players cannot decide their futures on deadline day, having had more than half the day to consider an offer. This never used to happen in previous FMs, I can tell you that.
So now I’ve got an unconfident squad that’s hardly been improved, and a player in Berardi who is worried that he was being “forced out”. Great.
FIORENTINA vs TORINO (Serie A, Match 21)
Our Serie A campaign resumed with a visit from Torino, who had already beaten us once before this season. A repeat performance would send Il Toro charging into the top four at our expense. After four minutes, even the most optimistic Viola tifoso was perhaps fearing the worst.
Biraghi had been our most consistent performer this season, so having a mishit header intercepted in the centre circle by Torino striker Iago Falqué was unexpected. I also didn’t expect the returning Kurt Zouma to suddenly ease off when racing Simone Zaza to Falqué’s through-ball, leaving his opponent clear to make it 1-0. Kurt had certainly not done a fine job of getting back into my good books after Malmö.
We showed a bit more urgency after that, with striker Pietro Pellegri having a half-volley saved by Salvatore Sirigu in the 17th minute. Three minutes later, Torino defender Sebastiano Luperto struggled to clear Jordan Veretout‘s corner out of his box. Federico Chiesa reached the ball and squared it to Benassi, who found the space to drive in an unstoppable 20-yard leveller.
The thrilling vertical tiki-taka that we were playing with started to produce more results later on. Biraghi returned to form in the 39th minute with a delightful deep cross to Pellegri, who rose above Luperto and cushioned a header to Roberts. A tidy first-time finish beat Sirigu at his near post and gave Roberts his first Serie A goal.
We were now bossing possession and bamboozling Torino with our crisp passing into space. It would surely be only a matter of when we increased our 2-1 lead… or so I thought. Through a combination of bad luck, worse finishing, and a smattering of excellent goalkeeping on Sirigu’s pass, we failed to put the game to bed.
By the 76th minute, Torino were ready to deliver another counterstrike. Vítor Hugo was unable to beat Falqué to a killer pass by Zaza from the left flank, and the Spaniard rifled in his third goal against us this season. The only Serie A team to have beaten Alban Lafont twice in a match thus far in 2020/2021 had repeated the feat.
Sirigu narrowly avoided being sent off for taking the ball out of his area after catching a Geubbels cross in the 86th minute, but one of our players wasn’t so lucky four minutes later. A two-footed challenge from Lucas Tousart on Ross Barkley was deemed bad enough for the referee to send him off. Our other French midfielder would be off the pitch for at least part of extra-time, as Veretout had injured his calf.
Thankfully, Torino couldn’t quite turn their man advantage into a late victory. A four-goal thriller ended with Walter Mazzarri and me sharing the spoils.
We stayed 4th with that draw, though the margin for error had grown smaller. A 2-0 win over Sassuolo moved Juventus to within a single point of overtaking us. Pescara slightly increased their hold on 3rd by drawing 1-1 at Atalanta.
Having lost their last match before the break, Inter tripped again, with Genoa’s 1-0 victory giving everyone else hope that there would still be a title race. Napoli put three goals past Empoli to close their deficit on the Nerazzurri to five points.
After the match, Bournemouth offered us around €14million for Berardi, which I rejected. This upset the player, who told me it was his lifelong dream to live in Dorset and play in the same team as Steve Cook. I refused to back down, and so he got in a hump.
Though there were a few colleagues who symphathised with Berardi, they got back on side when I told them I wasn’t going to placate one player to the detriment of the team. Domenico could sit in the stands for the next few matches for all I cared; he wasn’t playing for me again until he stopped moaning. I did this with Jordan last season, and I was prepared to do it again.
BOLOGNA vs FIORENTINA (Serie A, Match 22)
14th-placed Bologna were next up in what proved to be a cagey midweek Derby dell’Appennino. Both teams had been very inconsistent of late, which only added to the tension.
Bologna had the first pop at goal after eight minutes, but Sweden midfielder Mattias Svanberg’s strike was clawed behind by Lafont. Alban’s counterpart Lukasz Skorupski was first troubled in the 21st minute, confidently catching Falcao’s first shot in a Fiorentina jersey. It would be his only one at the Renato Dall’Ara.
Benassi and Biraghi were each booked either side of our other great first-half opportunity. Touré sought out Eysseric with a far-post cross from the right wing, but Skorupski was also equal to Valentin’s header.
Touré had been our brightest spark in the first period, but he wasn’t quite so bright in the second. A holding foul on Rossoblu forward Mimoun Mahi in the 59th minute gave the hosts a free-kick 30 yards from goal. Right-back Alex Ferrari took it, driving it home with the confidence of Michael Schumacher negotiating Monza in his pomp. Lafont almost kept it out, but almost wasn’t enough, and it was 1-0 to Bologna.
Ferrari almost repeated the trick from another free-kick on 74 minutes, though he narrowly missed the target after Veretout had upended Svanberg. It could’ve been a costly miss, but we once again failed to come up with the goods under pressure. Falcao had done little of note on his Viola debut, and replacement striker Pellegri had only one shot during the final 20 minutes, which Skorupski tipped behind.
So yeah… we had lost again. That made it four defeats from our last five competitive away matches.
And with that, we were out of the Champions League places. Juventus had won 3-0 at Verona to climb up to 3rd at our expense, also leapfrogging Pescara, who were thrashed 4-0 at home by Inter. We could potentially have fallen as low as 6th, but Torino conceded a 92nd-minute equaliser to Chievo and thus missed their chance.
FIORENTINA vs EMPOLI (Serie A, Match 23)
We really couldn’t afford a slip-up in our next home match, else it would surely spell disaster. Empoli had taken until November to win their first Serie A game of the season, tasting victory twice more that month before reverting to their old ways. The Azzurri were now 18th and already looking set for Serie B.
After eight minutes, Empoli’s nightmare looked like continuing. On-loan Lazio midfielder Saphir Taïder was pulled up for a holding foul on Pellegri in the box, and a cool penalty from Eysseric brought the inside-forward his 10th goal this season.
We then battered the visitors with shots as we looked to take full control of proceedings. Ivan Provedel saved attempts from several Fiorentina players in the first half, including Roberts, who hit the post after a lung-busting dribble towards goal on 18 minutes. Four minutes later, Paddy swerved the ball across the area for playmaker Sandro Tonali, who was denied his first Viola goal by another fine Provedel save.
While Roberts was having a stormer and constantly putting Empoli’s defence under pressure, we still had to be wary of any potential counter-attacks. In the 54th minute, an angled shot from left-back Luca Antonelli forced Lafont to awkwardly push the ball behind his goal. That boosted the Azzurri’s confidence somewhat, and they would attack again 20 minutes later, with even more purpose.
Antonelli was once again involved in this attack, putting the ball into our six-yard box after Afriyie Acquah had angled a pass out left. His low cross picked out striker Alessandro Piu, who managed to squirm the ball across the goal line just before Lafont could claim it from his feet. Had we dropped even more points?
Erm… no. Not even a minute had passed before we reinstated our lead in a similarly scrappy fashion. Pellegri knocked right-back Kevin Diks‘ cross down to Benassi, who quickly played it to Chiesa. The post deflected Chiesa’s shot on to Roberts at the opposite stick, and the Englishman narrowly evaded a slide tackle from Antonelli before prodding it home.
Then came a third goal in as many minutes. Things opened up very nicely from Pellegri when he latched onto a defence-opening cross from Chiesa before Empoli centre-half Oscar Duarte could intercept it. Though Pietro’s first shot was kept out by Provedel, the second was not, and we thus survived a brief scare to win 3-1!
With Pescara having failed to break the deadlock at Genoa, we climbed above the Delfini and back into the Champions League spots. Meanwhile, Torino kept the heat on us by winning 2-0 at Atalanta.
The top three all tasted victory as well. Inter inflicted a 1-0 defeat that brought Lazio manager Simone Inzaghi a step closer to the sack, Napoli ran out 5-0 winners against bottom-dwellers Verona, and Juventus battled past Milan 2-0.
SASSUOLO vs FIORENTINA (Serie A, Match 24)
Reggio Emilia was the setting for our final match this month. We’d beaten Sassuolo in all four of our previous meetings under my stewardship. With the Neroverdi now on a four-game losing streak against all opponents, we were expected to make it a high five.
Wary of the pace Sassuolo had up front, I adopted a more conservative tactical approach than usual. That lent itself to a dire opening half in which opportunities at either end were very scarce, to say the least.
Lafont did have to make a couple of saves to thwart Sassuolo’s Ghanaian midfielder Alfred Duncan, including from a 16th-minute free-kick that almost crossed his goal line. By comparison, home goalie Andrea Consigli had little to do other than watch Zouma nod Veretout’s hanging-ball corner over his bar in the 30th minute.
After some stern words in the dressing room, we showed a bit more desire going forward in the second half. Less than half a minute in, Pellegri was prevented from getting his head to a right-wing cross from Chiesa by a push from opposing stopper Edoardo Goldaniga. The referee awarded us a penalty, which Eysseric – having replaced ex-Sassuolo man Berardi as our spot-kick king – easily converted by sending Consigli the wrong way.
We were now 1-0 up, but now we had our eyes set on doubling that lead from open play. In the 58th minute, successive shots from Chiesa and Pellegri were deflected off Sassuolo centre-back Gian Marco Ferrari and the Neroverdi crossbar respectively.
The woodwork would deny us another goal in the 90th minute, with Eysseric the unfortunate player this time. Consigli had earlier stopped a couple of efforts from Benassi and one from substitute Falcao to keep the scoreline down. At the other end, Zouma and co did a fabulous job of restricting the home team’s chances and grinding out another valuable victory.
Despite clinging on to 4th place, we still couldn’t breathe even a little easier, as 5th-placed Torino had recorded an impressive 2-1 win at home to Inter. Napoli missed out on the opportunity to close the gap on the league leaders, as André Silva netted a hat-trick for Milan. Silva was now on 15 Serie A goals this season – a tally matched only by Atalanta’s Duván Zapata, who funnily enough had himself just scored thrice at Bologna.
Juventus were held 0-0 at Sampdoria, which meant we were level on 45 points with the 3rd-placed Bianconeri in the standings. Speaking of which:
We’re coming for you, Antonio! Come back next time for Part 30, where we play through six matches in February and March, culminating in that huge meeting with Conte’s charges at the Allianz Stadium.
“Forza viola!”
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