Pre-season is over, and now all the hard work begins in earnest. My fourth Serie A campaign in charge of Fiorentina kicks off with a trip to Bologna, followed by successive home games against Juventus and Pescara. We’re pretty strong starters here at the Artemio Franchi, and I’m confident we can fly out of the traps again.
Before we get stuck into those opening fixtures (not to mention the Champions League draw), it’s about time we had a fresh squad and tactics report, isn’t it?
SQUAD REPORT
These are the men who will have the hopes of Fiorentina fans worldwide at their feet during the 2021/2022 season. As always, I’ll have a quick look at each first-team player in turn, starting with the goalkeepers:
What else can you say about the great Alban Lafont that hasn’t been said already? In the last 12 months, he’s emerged as France’s new number 1, established himself as one of Europe’s most dependable goalkeepers, and signed a new five-year deal at the Franchi. Having kept 19 league clean sheets last season, Lafont’s aim for this term has to be to reach the big two-oh.
Mind you, Alban will face strong competition from former Ajax man André Onana, who’s a well-rounded custodian himself. More impressively, he’s also – to my knowledge – the only professional footballer who’s been namechecked by Rihanna. Elias Heylen hasn’t quite achieved such notoriety, but the 17-year-old Belgian is a decent enough third-choice goalie.
Cristiano Biraghi was voted as our fans’ Player of the Season in 2020/2021, thanks to his extremely consistent performances at left-back. He’s got the stamina and work rate of a typical Fuller player, and his crossing ability is a dream. Quite frankly, it’s an absolute disgrace that Roberto Mancini hasn’t even called Biraghi up for Italy (which is in stark contrast to reality).
This time around, though, Biraghi will have to work harder than ever to retain his place. On-loan Chelsea wing-back Emerson possesses real quality, particularly when going forward. The 27-year-old Italian international is athletic and agile, and he’s got a sweet first touch as well.
At right-back, we have the highly-coveted Almamy Touré, who’s received countless transfer offers over the summer from the likes of Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain. When you see the Malian’s crossing skills and his overlapping runs, it’s not hard to understand why. We’d do very well to keep hold of Touré in January and beyond.
Kevin Diks will once again deputise for Touré whenever necessary. While the Dutchman lacks the attacking abilities of his contemporary, he’s still an assertive tackler and an energetic presence on the right flank.
Let’s look at the centre-halves now, and I’ll kick things off with a glance at Alessandro Bastoni‘s attributes. At first glance, Alex hasn’t really improved since his arrival last season, though the 22-year-old has had a couple of undesirable traits trained out of him. After impressing in the latter half of last term, he can expect to see more regular action… once he’s recovered from an abdominal strain sustained in pre-season.
New record signing Daniele Rugani is a world-class defender who’s back in Serie A after a couple of difficult seasons at Liverpool. The 27-year-old didn’t see much league football on Merseyside, but he can still read the game very well and calmly execute tackles. I’m sure this will be €45million well spent.
Germán Pezzella lost the captaincy this summer after a disappointing season, but a central defender with his aerial presence and marking ability is still a valuable one. He’s also got the resilience to come back from a serious knee ligament injury that he picked up in pre-season and will keep him out until October. That being said, Pezzella is 30 now, so it could be all downhill for him from here.
17-year-old Belaïd Nemdil‘s best seasons are ahead of him after his summer transfer from Toulouse. The French wonderkid is very brave and resolute, and despite having a few problems settling into life in Italy, he’ll come good sooner rather than later. I wouldn’t be starting him in the first few league matches if I thought otherwise.
Marco Benassi has a new squad number, and a new contract that should keep the versatile midfielder at Fiorentina throughout his peak years. The 28-year-old always gives us some much-needed bite whenever called upon, and he can carry out many of the roles and duties I use. The draw of the Champions League could also inspire him to have one of his best seasons yet.
The defensive-minded Lucas Tousart didn’t have a fantastic first season at Fiorentina, but I reckon the second is when we’ll start to see him in his prime. As well as being a fine distributor of the ball, he rarely runs out of steam and always put the team first. He can be confidently trusted as either a half-back or a ball-winning midfielder.
Danish teenager Emil Antonsen – who was loaned out to Charleroi last term – is also a midfield aggressor, though his long-term future might lie in another role. My coaches reckon Antonsen could become a quality deep-lying playmaker. With his silky passing and cool decision-making, I’m inclined to agree.
Of course, Emil will have to go some to upstage Sandro Tonali if the latter lives up to the hype. He had a lengthy run in the team late last season, shortly before his 21st birthday, and showed glimpses of his playmaking talents. If Tonali can play that killer pass with more consistency, this season could be the one in which he nails down a regular starting berth.
The emergence of those latter two players perhaps means that Christian Nørgaard‘s days at Fiorentina are numbered. Though the Dane remains a capable backup player for this level, he is injury prone, and his notorious dislike of big matches will deter me from playing him in the Champions League. If Nørgaard can’t be sold in January, expect him to go next summer.
Aston Villa seems light years away now for Jordan Veretout, who is now into his fifth season as a Fiorentina favourite. The midfield runner might have lost a little of his fearlessness after picking up a serious injury in March, but nothing will take away his hunger and spirit.
Veretout’s contract has two seasons left to run, and despite rumours of interest from Inter and Real Betis, we’ve yet to receive any firm offers for him. Another strong campaign would go some way to convincing me to offer Jordan a new deal sooner rather than later.
Our star man amongst a bevy of gifted wide attackers is new captain Federico Chiesa, who’s one of the most sought-after players in world football. PSG and Real Madrid tried their best to prise Chiesa from our grasp, offering us as much as €74million, but no amount of money will be enough as far as I’m concerned.
Federico understands that he’s better served being the standout player in Florence than a benchwarmer in Madrid or Paris. Even so, he MUST improve on last season’s record of six goals and eight assists. An inside-forward with his vision and technical abilities should easily surpass double figures on both assists, just like he did in 2019/2020.
With 15 goals, Valentin Eysseric was our top scorer last season, having saved his best form for his late-20s. Though the French flyer has a habit for being in the right place at the right time, I’m not expecting similar heroics this time around. His injury record has become a cause for concern of late, and he subsequently might struggle to displace Chiesa.
I also want to quickly mention Riccardo Sottil. The 22-year-old youth product is not on that list of senior players, but he has joined our first-team this season after some time out on loan in Serie B. Though primarily a left-sided inside-forward who’s still quite raw technically, Sottil’s pace can also be used effectively on the right wing.
Patrick Roberts will be eager to impress on that right flank with more regularity than he did last term. The ambitious and flamboyant Londoner netted five goals last term, and he got as many assists in this pre-season alone. If Paddy gives me more of that in the coming months, perhaps England manager Sean Dyche will start taking a keen interest.
Roberts’ main rival for his position will be returning hero Federico Bernardeschi, who’s back at the club where he started his career. Now in prime physical condition at 27, Bernardeschi will get the chance to showcase the creativity and technical ability that was horribly underused by Juventus and PSG. If we can keep him clear of serious injuries, expect fireworks.
We’ve got three men vying for the lone centre-forward spot, including a 35-year-old and a 17-year-old. Naturally, I’ll first look at 21-year-old Dusan Vlahovic, whose 13 goals on loan with Parma last season weren’t quite enough to take the Crociati back out of Serie B. The Serb has immense physical strength and solid attributes in the relevant places, but I reckon it’s about time he started to fulfil his potential.
Another striker with a bright future is Belgium Under-21s international José Luis Sánchez, who was signed on a free transfer from hometown club Mechelen. The player I’ve affectionately nicknamed JLS is a pacey forward who shows great composure in the box and is comfortable on either foot.
Vlahovic and Sánchez will initially deputise for – and be under the guidance of – Croatian veteran Mario Mandzukic. The man who broke English hearts at the 2018 World Cup is not only a lethal finisher, but he’s a fantastic team player with a great work ethic. Though Mandzukic is now in the autumn of his career, I’m banking on him having another productive season or two.
TACTICS UPDATE
With my 4-2-3-1 system having been ditched for good, I’m now fully committed to the 4-3-3 formation. My main ‘Fullerball’ system has been slightly tweaked from the last time you saw it. The box-to-box midfielder has now been switched back to a mezzala who will look to make underlapping runs and assist the front three.
I’ve found that giving the deep-lying forward a ‘Support’ duty rather than an ‘Attack’ allows him to get more involved in our build-up play. That might not be a permanent change, mind. If I find that we’re struggling for goals, I’ll likely give an ‘Attack’ duty to a third player, like I’ve done on the other system (more on that soon).
When we have two inside-forwards, though, we seem to lack width or unpredictability. As we don’t have any effective wingers (despite my attempts to stop Chiesa cutting in from both flanks), I’ve instead experimented with using either Federico as a ‘raumdeuter’. If that doesn’t produce consistent results, I might try something even more radical… but I’ll cross that bridge if I come to it.
‘Fullerball Refined’ is my alternative tactic – a counter-attacking tactic that is fluid yet defensively sound. With the ball-winning midfielder now converted into a half-back, this is a system that transitions from 4-3-3 when defending to 3-4-3 when attacking. The playmaker has less of a defensive burden than previously, and I again use a mezzala for underlaps.
You’ll know by know that I’m a real tinkerman when it comes to tactics – more so than SPAL’s manager. As such, many roles, duties and team instructions are subject to change from game-to-game. My end goal is to find a system that works for this team 80% of the time against 80% of opponents, and there’s still some way to go on that front.
BOLOGNA vs FIORENTINA (Serie A, Match 1)
Our campaign began with the Derby dell’Appennino against Bologna. The Rossoblu finished 11th last season, having beaten us on our last visit to the Renato Dall’Ara. Their summer signings included 25-year-old Croatian trickster Alen Halilovic, whose career had gone downhill since Barcelona signed him as a teenager.
Bologna’s main threat to us early on was their Swedish midfield playmaker Mattias Svanberg. He fired a blistering free-kick against the woodwork in the third minute, shortly after being upended by Tonali, who collected a very early yellow card. Svanberg’s next effort – in the 12th minute – was caught by an assured Lafont.
I had another reason for concern in the 16th minute, when Bernardeschi twisted his knee while in possession. As I mentioned earlier, Federico had a worryingly long list of injuries, so I couldn’t take any chances with him here. Sottil came off the bench to make his Serie A debut much earlier than anticipated.
With neither of our Federicos on the pitch, we understandably struggled to make counter-attacking chances. Mandzukic did have an opportunity just before half-time, when he outjumped Bologna’s Gabriele Corbo – another centre-back I tried to sign this summer – to get his head to Touré’s right-wing cross. Sadly, Lukasz Skorupski did enough to divert the header over his bar.
Other than that, most of our focus went to resisting Bolognese attacks. Nemdil was particularly adept at that, with the 17-year-old debutant defending resolutely like a stalwart more than a decade his senior. Indeed, he would be named ‘man of the match’ at full-time.
Lafont also deserved immense credit for making a couple of late saves from Bologna’s substitute midfielder Godfred Donsah. With that, his first clean sheet of the new term was secured, and we came away from a potentially tricky match with a point. Sure, it wasn’t a win – like we’d managed in our previous three season-openers – but I wouldn’t complain.
We got off to a better start than Juventus, whose error-prone goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny gifted Lazio a 1-0 win at the Allianz Stadium. Roma and Milan were unconvincing in their respective draws with Atalanta and Chievo, and Inter also struggled somewhat before eventually prevailing 1-0 at SPAL.
FIORENTINA vs JUVENTUS (Serie A, Match 2)
Our first competitive game at the Franchi this season was the one we’d all been looking forward to. Having finished above Juventus last term, we were now looking to pile more misery on the Bianconeri and record our first home victory against them since January 2017.
Juventus’ search for a new coach to replace Antonio Conte had led them to appoint Marco Rose, who’d won four consecutive Austrian Bundesliga titles with moneybags Red Bull Salzburg. That was such an uninspired appointment that I can only presume the Juventus president mislaid Luigi Delneri’s phone number and got desperate.
I’d only just stopped wondering how Rose got the Juve job when, just four minutes in, Touré pulled up with a calf injury. That forced me to bring Diks off the bench… and Kevin was not exactly a player who thrived on the big stage.
Cristiano Ronaldo loved the big stage of course, but some uncharacteristically poor close-range finishing from the Juventus vice-captain let us off the hook on a couple of occasions. Young striker Moise Kean missed the target from distance in the 10th minute, though attacking midfielder Lucas Paquetá did have a couple of shots stopped by Lafont.
At the other end, Szczesny made two impressive saves to keep Veretout and Nemdil off the scoresheet. The Pole wasn’t quite in top form on 38 minutes, when Chiesa exploited one of Juventus’ weak links to open the scoring. He beat Italy Under-21s midfielder Hans Nicolussi Caviglia to a header from Roberts’ corner, flicking it past Szczesny!
Chiesa continued to cause the Bianconeri no end of problems either side of the half-time break. In the 43rd minute, his fine far-post delivery to Mandzukic was nodded into Szczesny’s hands. In the 61st minute, our new captain marvel knocked a Roberts cross down to Veretout, whose close-range volley was awkwardly parried by the Juve keeper.
We continued to attack the Old Lady with all our might, eventually squeezing another goal out of them on 65 minutes. A clumsy trip on Roberts from substitute Leandro Fernandes gave us a 20-yard free-kick, which Chiesa curled past the wall and into the net at Szczesny’s near post. We were leading our bitter rivals 2-0, and our fans were going wild!
More agony was to come Juventus’ way in the 84th minute, when Ronaldo fired Portuguese compatriot João Cancelo’s right-wing cross against the post. Such was the visitors’ profligacy that only two of their 12 shots were on target, compared to 11 out of our 17. The last of them almost resulted in a hat-trick for Chiesa, but Szczesny beat away his volley from Bernardeschi’s delivery to deny him the match ball.
Juventus weren’t alone in being pointless after two games. SPAL were denied a point at Roma by a 90th-minute winner from Lorenzo Pellegrini, while Genoa’s defence conceded five goals to Napoli in a seven-goal thriller. As it so happened, Napoli were one of only two teams to win their opening two Serie A games, the other being Udinese.
Inter saw the best and worst of André Gomes, who scored a penalty before being sent off in a 1-1 home draw with Bologna. Just hours later, the San Siro staged a more convincing home performance from Milan, who brushed past Atalanta 2-0.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE DRAW
Because UEFA kowtow to the wealthiest clubs, any team who qualifies for the Champions League from a major league now goes straight in at the Group Stage, no matter where they finish. While I appreciated that we didn’t have to go through the pesky Playoffs, part of me would’ve liked the match practice.
As it was, we would go into the group phase somewhat cold. A low UEFA coefficient meant we were placed amongst the fourth seeds and thus would have to face stiff opposition to reach the knockout rounds.
You are kidding me! I couldn’t have dreamt of a much more difficult group than that!
Chelsea were Group A’s top seeds, having won last season’s Europa League, despite only finishing 6th in the Premier League. Though the Blues change managers like I change my centre-forward’s role and duty, any team with Eden Hazard in it has to be feared.
Our first match would be away to Bayern München, who had won the competition as recently as 2013. Their vanquished opponents on that night at Wembley were Borussia Dortmund, whose manager Jürgen Klopp was now on the other side of that great German rivalry.
Lastly, we have Valencia, who came 4th in La Liga but finished miles adrift of the ‘Big Three’. If Chelsea and Bayern are expected to qualify from Group A, then ‘Los Che’ are perhaps our main rivals for 3rd place, which would yield a place in the Europa League’s Round of 32. Our late-September meeting at the Franchi could be massive.
Ironically, after Chelsea sacked Zinedine Zidane in the wake of their Europa League win, they brought ex-Blues midfielder Didier Deschamps over from Valencia to be their new coach. Deschamps was subsequently succeeded at the Nuevo Mestalla by… erm, some fella named Zinedine Zidane. Only in Football Manager, ladies and gents!
FIORENTINA vs PESCARA (Serie A, Match 3)
Pescara were our final opponents last season, but they made an early visit to the Franchi this term. Having recorded a 9th-place finish, the Delfini had started their latest quest to qualify for Europe in a decent-enough manner. Despite drawing at Spezia in their opener, they recorded a 3-0 home win over Chievo the following weekend.
Based on the first half of this match, a goalless draw looked to be more likely than a one-sided contest. Aside from a couple of Brayan Perea headers which were easily caught by Lafont, Pescara rarely put pressure on our defence. Instead, Giuseppe Pillon’s men were happy to sit back and watch us try to break their stubborn backline down.
Despite netting twice against Juventus a week earlier, Chiesa was nowhere near his best here. He only mustered a couple of shots at goal, both of which were blocked. Mandzukic did get a shot on target just before half-time, but Vincenzo Fiorillo kept out his header from Diks’ right-wing delivery. Not-so-super Mario was replaced with Vlahovic for the second period.
More frustration awaited us later in the half, as several Viola players tried and failed to break through. Roberts’ efforts were thwarted when he pulled his groin eight minutes after the restart, but his replacement Bernardeschi also struggled to make an impact. Our third and final substitute, on the other hand…
It was the 81st minute, and Antonsen had been on the field for six minutes after taking Tousart’s place. As Diks floated a cross into the box, the 19-year-old Dane got above his marker Gastón Brugman and nodded in a header that Fiorillo couldn’t quite keep out!
Antonsen’s first competitive Fiorentina goal would be the winner. Pescara sub Valentino Cernaz almost got a fluke equaliser in stoppage time, but a right-wing cross-shot aimed for Harlem Gnohere clipped the outside of Lafont’s post and went behind. Thanks to that stroke of luck, we finished the month with a third consecutive clean sheet!
We finished August in 4th place on seven points, just behind Inter (who overcame Milan 3-0) and Udinese (who lost their perfect start in a 0-0 with Frosinone) on goal difference. Napoli retained their 100% record as Kalidou Koulibaly snatched a late winner at Juventus. Meanwhile, the capital derby between Roma and Lazio finished goalless.
All that means we’re the only team in the division yet to have conceded a goal this season. Conversely, Juventus are the only side who haven’t yet scored. Let me take a screenshot of the relegation zone for prosperity, as I’ve a feeling I might not get another chance:
Have you ever seen a more beautiful sight this side of Shailene Woodley? I don’t think I have.
Come back soon to see if Juventus’ plight worsens further, and – more importantly – if we can get off to a strong start in the Champions League. We’ll surely need to.
“Forza viola!”
Fuller FM 
Good stuff buddy 🇮🇹