Inter ultimately prevailed by a 1-0 scoreline with Lautaro Martínez scoring his league-leading 19th league goal of the season. The Argentinian centre-forward’s breakout season continued; he continues to be the primary driving force behind Inter’s charge towards reclaiming the Scudetto from cross-town rivals AC Milan.
As for Fiorentina, this loss was a notable body blow in their quest to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in 15 years. With fourth and 10th place in the league separated by just five points, the last Champions League berth from Serie A is well and truly up for grabs - and certainly, Fiorentina can’t let their ongoing mini-slump in which they’ve collected just one point from three matches extend if they are to make the top four.
Although Fiorentina have finished fourth in the league thrice since the last time they made the Champions League, Serie A only awarded three Champions League qualification spots during those years, thus confining Fiorentina to the Europa League.
Given the wholesale changes that Fiorentina made to their roster during the off-season, the club entered this season with something of a blank slate. Fiorentina signed six players and added another on loan for a combined fee of over €43 million - a total funded by the permanent and loan departures of a whopping 20 players. Somewhat surprisingly, Fiorentina received less than one might expect for all these departures - a cumulative transfer fee of a tick under €54 million.
With the January transfer window coming to an end, Fiorentina have only really been linked with one possible signing - Tottenham Hotspur winger Bryan Gil. The Spaniard has an expected transfer value of around €16 million and has hardly had any playing time at all this season. While not a guarantee, Gil could arguably make his way into Fiorentina’s starting 11 - perhaps as soon as next season. However, there hasn’t seemed to be much concrete action on this move from either the North London club or Fiorentina on this possible signing.
Fiorentina’s struggles up front have been a cause for concern all season long. The Tuscan club have scored just 29 goals over their 21 league matches to date; in addition, no Fiorentina player has scored more than six league goals. To make matters even more worrying, their strikers have been misfiring ever since the beginning of the season. Centre-forwards Lucas Beltrán and M’Bala Nzola have combined for just six league goals - a figure that almost certainly won’t cut it when the race for the top four comes down to the wire, as it almost certainly will. Additionally, with so many clubs in contention for a Champions League spot, there’s a possibility that it could come down to goal difference. Fiorentina’s less than impressive tally in this statistic could end up coming back to haunt them.
From a tactical standpoint, Fiorentina have been somewhat vulnerable from out wide. This issue was once again exposed against Inter; Lautaro’s winning goal was a header from a corner kick. Ever since becoming Fiorentina head coach in 2021, Vincenzo Italiano has prioritized keeping a high line and pressing. While this strategy has had its benefits, they have sometimes gone too far in terms of keeping things compact, leaving them vulnerable out wide. Although this might not have been exactly the case against Inter as the only goal came from a corner kick, this is an issue which has largely been inadequately addressed since the beginning of the season.
Admittedly, when this season started Fiorentina weren’t widely tipped to be contenders for a spot in the top four, so this season has been a success so far in that respect. However, with things as tight as they are, every club that misses out on the final Champions League spot will almost certainly lament a blown opportunity. While Fiorentina are certainly still in the mix, they can’t afford too many more lapses like what we just saw against Inter.
No comments:
Post a Comment