Welcome to the first post on Fuller FM in 2019. This blog has already had just over 4,000 total views since it went live in October, so thanks to those of you who’ve visited regularly over those first few months.
As it so happens, we’re now in October 2021 in the final season of my Fiorentina story. Today’s chapter includes a Champions League trip to Chelsea, along with six Serie A matches. We’ll finish things off by crossing swords with champions Inter at the San Siro, but the month begins with us welcoming the top flight’s newest side to the Artemio Franchi.
FIORENTINA vs SPEZIA (Serie A, Match 7)
Having won the Serie B play-offs last season, Spezia were in Italy’s top division for the first time in their history. Despite having eked out five draws already, the Aquile were still looking at a maiden victory in Serie A. I for one was determined not to let them get it at the Franchi.
Having kept six successive clean sheets, it would have been just typical had Spezia been the team to upset Alban Lafont‘s perfect league record. As it transpired, our French goalkeeper would have very little to do in a dominant display from the Viola.
Mario Mandzukic hit the woodwork in the very first minute, and his surprising profligacy saw him spurn three more opportunities early on. It would be up to our other two attackers to break the visitors’ resistance after 23 minutes. Valentin Eysseric hit a 30-yard ball into the box for Federico Bernardeschi to run onto and lash in an unstoppable angled strike!
Eight minutes later, Spezia’s efforts to stop Bernardeschi from adding to our lead went disastrously wrong. Defensive midfielder Stéphane Badji horribly mistimed a sliding challenge on Federico and was swiftly sent packing by the referee. We now had the best part of an hour to pile more pain on the 10 remaining away players.
Surprisingly, Spezia almost equalised in the 34th minute through right-back Filippo De Col, who volleyed just over. After the break, winger Alfredo Bifulco had successive shots blocked by Daniele Rugani and Emerson. Centre-half Timo Letschert then put a 57th-minute free-kick into Lafont’s hands, after which the Aquile went back on the defensive.
With Mandzukic continuing to misfire, we could not find another goal in what time remained. By full-time, seven out of our 20 shots had been on target, and only one had found the net. While I was somewhat satisfied with another shut-out win, the manner of this victory had raised serious concerns.
Despite failing to continue their winning run at Frosinone, a 0-0 draw was enough to keep Napoli top. That was because Inter had fallen to their first defeat of the season, with André Gomes receiving his second red card this season in a 1-0 home reverse against Juventus. We thus overtook the champions and now trailed only Napoli on goal difference.
Bologna’s lossless record came a cropper at Empoli, but Udinese prolonged theirs with a 4-2 away win over Sassuolo, for whom Santi Mina scored his first goal. Good for him. The Zebrette remained in 4th position, though Atalanta, Milan and Roma were hot on their heels.
WHAT WAS MANCINI THINKING?!
“The thing about Arsenal is that they always try and walk it in.”
Sorry… just remembering that massage scene from The IT Crowd. That was a fantastic series. Anyway, I’ve got a bone to pick with Roberto Mancini.
My feud with the Italy national team coach goes back to the September international break. Mancini suggested that Marco Benassi should think about leaving Fiorentina in January if he was to keep his place in the Azzurri side for the long-term.
I was not amused by Mancini’s remarks, and I was even less so when he repeated them before the October internationals. Only this time, he suggested that our captain Federico Chiesa should move abroad for the sake of his Italy career, amid continued interest from Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid. This was my response:
And that’s true. You don’t necessarily have to play for a big club to represent a big national team. After all, Harry Kane is captain of England.
You’ll be pleased to read that Mancini took my criticism on board with good grace:
Oh… I’m sorry, Roberto. I’m sorry that you have a ego complex. I’m sorry that the club where you started your Serie A managerial career two decades ago is suddenly not deserving of having its best players in the Italy squad.
Chiesa was dropped, obviously, but at least Mancini had the common sense to retain Bernardeschi in his side. He would score the opening goal in a 5-0 away win over Belarus that edged Italy closer to securing a place at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
This looked like being an excellent international break for our players. And then… something happened.
Sakes. How typical that Belaïd Nemdil should get cut down when he’s making a strong start to life in Florence. Ah well…
ATALANTA vs FIORENTINA (Serie A, Match 8)
Including the final game of last season, we had kept eight consecutive clean sheets in Serie A. We had equalled the record set by Milan in 1993/1994. That was the legendary Rossoneri side of Franco Baresi, Alessandro Costacurta, Paolo Maldini, Brian Laudrup… and Stefano Eranio.
If we were going to better Milan and set a new new benchmark, we would have to do it the hard way in Bergamo. Atalanta were on a four-game winning run in all competitions and were already fancying their chances of achieving another top-six finish. The Atleti Azzurri d’Italia would be a particularly daunting venue this time around.
La Dea’s right-back Mads Døhr Thychosen certainly gave us a fright in the third minute, when his 25-yard banana shot forced Lafont into a difficult catch. The hosts went one better eight minutes later. On-loan Arsenal winger Matías Pellegrini crossed from the left to Yann Karamoh, who cushioned a header for Stevan Jovetic to stab the ball home. However, an offside flag denied Jovetic his moment and spared our history boys’ blushes.
Pellegrini and Jovetic each missed shots from distance for Atalanta midway through the first half. Patrick Roberts and Benassi then wasted opportunities at the other end for Fiorentina, by which time I had more than one reason for concern. Captain Chiesa had taken a knock in an injury-time challenge from defender Rafael Tolói, and that would hamper him for the rest of his game.
Following a tentative start to the second half, things started to turn our way in the 60th minute. Contrary to what other FMers might be experiencing, I’ve not seen too many long-shot goals on this match engine. Jordan Veretout almost got one from 30 yards, which Atalanta keeper Marco Sportiello tipped over. Similar attempts from Dusan Vlahovic and Christian Nørgaard later on had the same outcome.
Veretout made one last bid for glory right at the start of stoppage time. Tommaso Cavalli’s clearance of a Bernardeschi cross only went as far as the French mezzala, whose volley was brilliantly caught by Sportiello. When the referee called time on a 0-0 draw, we were perhaps thinking more about those missed opportunities than the history we had just made.
We had set a new Serie A clean sheet record, albeit in a manner that might have bored even Norris McWhirter to sleep. By the end of the eighth round of fixtures, though, the league table looked a real sight for sore Florentine eyes.
Napoli had finally come unstuck at Udinese, who ran out 4-1 winners despite falling behind early on to Arkadiusz Milik. The Zebrette were now up to 3rd, thanks to Inter’s inexplicable collapse from 2-0 up at Genoa. An injury-time equaliser from Fabián earned Genoa their first point of the season after seven straight defeats. All that meant…
…Fiorentina were top of Serie A, with a perfect defensive record! We were living the Helenio Herrera dream! Only 30 more clean sheets to go, and then the scudetto would surely be ours!
CHELSEA vs FIORENTINA (Champions League, Group A – Match 3)
Our Champions League hopes were already hanging by a thread after successive narrow losses to Bayern München and Valencia. If Group A leaders Chelsea could pile on more misery when we visited Stamford Bridge, the odds of us scraping into the knockout rounds would become very long indeed.
It didn’t exactly bode well for us that Didier Deschamps’ Blues battered us with shots in the opening stages. Viola goalkeeper André Onana made his first save in the 13th minute from former Inter striker Lautaro Martínez. He also made light work of a 19th-minute drive by ex-Tottenham midfielder Nabil Bentaleb, but it wouldn’t be long before our resistance was broken.
As the match entered its 22nd minute, Lucas Tousart was penalised – but not cautioned – for a careless challenge on Chelsea right-back Achraf Hakimi. The real punishment came when Suso put the subsequent free-kick into the mix. Andreas Christensen flicked it into the path of his fellow centre-half Dayot Upamecano, who provided a lethal striker’s finish for 1-0.
Onana turned away a couple of efforts from Suso to keep our half-time deficit down to a single goal. Eysseric could have drawn us level eight minutes before the interval, but Kepa Arrizabalaga kept the enigmatic forward’s effort out. That was as close as we would come to getting back int he match, such was Chelsea’s greater class.
Another Suso free-kick helped Chelsea stretch their advantage on 65 minutes, after key man Eden Hazard had been felled by Almamy Touré. This time, Suso went directly to Upamecano, who went up and nodded the ball towards Onana. André made a hash of his save, leaving Bentaleb with an easy tap-in.
Three minutes later, Mandzukic restored some hope for us with his first goal in a Viola jersey. The Croatian veteran broke his duck by beating Christensen to a right-wing centre from Bernardeschi, which he volleyed in from the edge of the six-yard box. Mandzukic could have continued the fightback on 80 minutes, but he headed wide from a Touré delivery.
We pushed forward late on to try and salvage a point, but Chelsea were wise to that. They secured the points early in stoppage time, with an incisive counter-attack seeing star performer Suso send Martínez clean through before the Argentine slipped the ball past Onana. Suso then set up the Blues’ fourth goal for Hazard, who needed two attempts to finish after hitting the post the first time round.
4-1. Ouch. That showed how ill-equipped we were for the Champions League.
Needless to say, we were in dire straits at the halfway stage. Valencia were five points clear of us in 2nd place, despite squandering a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 with Bayern. The Group A standings now made for very grim reading:
To make matters worse, Eysseric had pulled his groin in the closing stages and thus would sit out our next match. He’d already hurt his groin a fortnight earlier, meaning that this was his FOURTH injury of the season already. What exactly had Valentin done to his body in the off-season to become this injury-prone?!
UDINESE vs FIORENTINA (Serie A, Match 9)
While our European campaign was going down about as well as Nigel Farage’s tour of the continent, things were much better at home. Our next Serie A match was at the Dacia Arena, where we and surprise packages Udinese put the league’s last remaining unbeaten records on the line.
I took a big gamble in my team selection for this match. Bernardeschi was named on the bench for a third straight game as I gave Riccardo Sottil a full league debut at right-wing. Even though his recent form had been hit-and-miss, I kept faith in inside-forward Chiesa on the left flank.
Vlahovic got the nod over Mandzukic up front, and he almost scored from a brilliant counter-attack in just the third minute. Alas, Udinese goalkeeper Samir Handanovic pushed it behind for a corner, which Alessandro Bastoni headed wide from Chiesa’s delivery.
The Zebrette had more than their fair share of opportunities early on. Prior to that counterstrike, Lafont had saved a free-kick from wide attacker Rodrigo De Paul, who was always a handful whenever we came up against him. His colleague Ignacio Pussetto also drew a save out of Alban in the 7th minute, though subsequent attacks from the Argentine duo failed to seriously threaten us.
As promising as things had looked in those opening exchanges, the first half quickly fizzled out. Even with the scoreline at 0-0, I was a more concerned manager than my Udinese counterpart Vincenzo Montella at the break. It obviously hadn’t helped that Chiesa had pulled his hamstring just prior to half-time – an injury that would sideline him for the best part of a fortnight.
Bernardeschi failed to impress after replacing his namesake. I was similarly disappointed with the limited impact Patrick Roberts made after coming on for Sottil midway through the half. Getting any real consistency out of our attackers had been a major problem thus far this season.
We still had that impeccable record at the back, though… or at least we did. With four minutes to go, Udinese launched the counter-attack that ended both Lafont’s run of nine straight league clean sheets and our unbeaten start. De Paul and Pussetto were heavily involved once again, with the latter latching onto his colleague’s searching ball before cutting inside from the right. Though Lafont kept out the initial shot, the follow-up eluded him, and that was that.
At this early stage in the season, one result can have a huge effect on your league position. This one sent us down from 1st to 4th, because there were also home victories for Napoli (3-1 vs Empoli) and Inter (1-0 vs Torino). Milan were just a point behind us in 5th place, having recorded a resounding 4-0 win at Sassuolo.
FIORENTINA vs ROMA (Serie A, Match 10)
After recent tame attacking performances, I was determined that we would show more positivity when we hosted Roma. I was unbeaten in six previous meetings with the Giallorossi, who were now under Luis Enrique’s management following the retirement of Francesco Guidolin.
Roma seemed to be a team who could either be brilliant for weeks on end, or terrible for several games on the trot. They went into this match on a six-match unbeaten run in all competitions, and Stephan El Shaaraway could’ve given them the lead after just seven minutes. His serving shot from inside the Fiorentina ‘D’ was turned behind by Lafont.
The first half was generally quite tense, and it wasn’t until the 27th minute that things really got going. Sandro Tonali showed his keen eye for a killer pass again when he lofted the ball ahead of Mandzukic, who got past his former Croatia team-mate Domagoj Vida to volley the ball home. At last, we were seeing the best of super Mario!
Roma responded with an impressive goal of their own seven minutes later. On-loan Monaco forward Willian José unlocked our defence with a fantastic ball out left to El Shaarawy. The flamboyant Italian-Egyptian unleashed a volley that Lafont pushed back to him, allowing the rebound to be easily converted.
Though Lafont recovered to catch a 45th-minute header from Edin Dzeko, the veteran Bosnian striker would put Roma ahead in stoppage time. Neither Bastoni nor Rugani picked up wing-back Ramy Bensebaïni’s cross from the left before Dzeko emphatically drilled it past Lafont.
We arguably should have equalised from a fast-paced counter three minutes into the second half. Bernardeschi’s weighted pass left Mandzukic in space, and the 35-year-old hotshot was unfortunate to hit the woodwork. Mandzukic tried again after Eysseric played him through on goal in the 55th minute, only to fire the ball straight into Etrit Berisha’s hands.
That was pretty much the story of our second period. Berisha was nigh on unbeatable in the Roma goal, stopping everything we could throw at him. Mandzukic and midfielder Emil Antonsen were each frustrated more than once. When the final whistle blew with us having lost 2-1, they could probably have been excused for wanting to kick themselves. Then again, Berisha would probably have caught their feet.
Having led the way just two matches earlier, we were now five points adrift of Napoli, who’d won a surprisingly match 2-1 at Spezia. Udinese stayed 2nd after withstanding Milan by the same scoreline, and 3rd-placed Inter were 2-0 winners at Chievo. Meanwhile, Juventus continued their latest resurgence with a 4-1 away triumph over Atalanta.
INTERNAZIONALE vs FIORENTINA (Serie A, Match 11)
Three days after our first home league defeat of the season, we faced arguably the toughest domestic challenge we would have. Inter had won seven out of 10 matches so far in their attempts to win a third consecutive scudetto, with their only defeat coming against Juventus at home. We would need to be at our very best to emulate the Bianconeri.
This match marked a welcome return to competitive action for vice-captain and former skipper Germán Pezzella. Three months on from tearing his knee ligaments, the Argentine rock was ready to pit his wits against Inter’s somewhat unfamiliar front three.
Over the summer, Lautaro Martínez had moved to Chelsea for €107million, and Gabriel Barbosa to (ahem) Huddersfield on a Bosman. Matteo Politano was still at Inter, though he was just returning to fitness after a hip injury. Politano was partnered by youngsters Daniel Arzani and Edoardo Vergani, with the latter having looked especially hot thus far.
Politano had a chance to put Inter ahead in the 8th minute, when Lafont parried his shot from a cross by Sime Vrsaljko. That miss would be punished two minutes later, when Fiorentina playmaker Christian Nørgaard delicately lifted the ball up to the far post for Bernardeschi to finish. It was an inspired piece of play from Nørgaard, who’d spotted that Vrsaljko was playing Bernardeschi onside on the other side of the pitch.
Holding a 1-0 lead at the San Siro was impressive, but boosting it in the 23rd minute felt like a dream. It was a nightmare moment for Inter centre-back Luiz Felipe, who could only head Bernardeschi’s deep free-kick on to Marco Benassi on the edge of the six-yard box. Benassi stuck his header away, and we were 2-0 ahead!
The Nerazzurri launched their riposte in the 39th minute. Portugal midfielder André Gomes might have seen red twice already this season, but he was also Inter’s surprise leading scorer. Our defenders’ failure to close Gomes down proved costly when he hammered in Marcelo Brozovic’s square ball for his sixth goal of the campaign.
About a minute later, Vergani – an ice-cool 20-year-old who’d broken into Inter’s senior squad this season after a year on loan in Serie C – nodded wide a chance to draw the hosts level. Even so, we went into the second period still in good spirits. Lafont was unrattled by early efforts from Paraguay playmaker Miguel Almirón and from Vergani.
Politano also tried his best to get Inter back in the game, having a vicious shot blocked by a brave Rugani in the 71st minute. The third Nerazzurri striker didn’t fare so well. Arzani was booked a minute before then for a holding foul on Rugani, and the brash Australian didn’t heed that warning. When Arzani tried the same thing on Pezzella in stoppage time, the referee gave him a second yellow card, followed by his marching orders.
That red card was decisive. Bernardeschi had hit the upright for us in the 77th minute, and Nørgaard’s slick passing had run Inter ragged all game, but Arzani’s dismissal meant there was no need for us to score again. After three successive defeats, we had returned to form by bloodying the champions’ noses!
My first ever victory over Inter – at the ninth time of asking – took us above the Nerazzurri into 3rd place. There was still some distance between us and the surprise frontrunners, with Napoli and Udinese having recorded narrow home wins against Lazio and Empoli respectively.
Elsewhere in the top seven, there were also victories for Milan, Atalanta and Roma, who stayed worryingly close to us. Juventus were a little further adrift in 8th, though a 4-1 derby thrashing of Torino made it clear that the Bianconeri would be challenging again sooner or later.
So, with just over a quarter of the season gone, Fiorentina sit in Serie A’s top three. Our lofty position will be put under pressure next month, when we face Lazio at home and Napoli away. There’ll also be a couple of tricky Champions League fixtures which could seal a grizzly fate for us. Come back very soon to see how we get on.
“Forza viola!”
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