Fiorentina’s got any number of negative narratives to choose from through these opening weeks of the season, but none is as distressing as Moise Kean’s astonishing decline. He’s yet to score in 5 appearances and has already contributed the miss of the year, although that only highlights his haplessness as the league leader in xG so far.
Last season’s capocannoniere runner up was supposed to spearhead a Viola attack that, reinforced by Roberto Piccoli and Edin Džeko, would help propel this team into
Champions League contention. Instead, these bozos have 2 points from 4 games and sit just above the relegation places, leading some to question Stefano Pioli’s grasp on the situation and even his job security.
The mister’s primary objective is probably getting Kean’s season back on the rails, as a few more goals will paper over the other cracks. The trouble is that Pioli doesn’t seem sure how to do that: he’s partnered Kean with various other forwards and moved formations around quite a bit but hasn’t hit on a solution yet. Fortunately for him, I, an internet blogger with zero experience playing or coaching at any professional level, have solutions for him.
1. Get him a partner who helps.
Džeko, Piccoli, and Albert Guðmundsson are 3 very different strikers. Each should have a skill set that helps Kean: Džeko is an aerial target and clever link-up player, Piccoli’s physicality should keep defenses from keying in solely on Moise, and Guðmundsson is a dribbler who should thrive as the fantastista behind him. It hasn’t worked out that way, obviously, and Pioli needs to figure out why.
Piccoli looks like the solution, both because he cost the most and because his physical talent is important for Pioli’s high-pressure system. The problem is that, as a classic 9, he plays similarly to Kean. What made Kean special last year was that he could rove the width of the pitch, looking for angles to get in behind. With Piccoli in the fold, he’s only got half the pitch to do that. The other problem with Piccoli is that he’s just not good on the ball, either as a shooter, dribbler, or passer, and never has been. Playing him means that he’ll miss some chances. If the out-of-possession tradeoff is worth it, that’s fine, but Pioli needs to account for it.
Džeko has the experience and mentality of a top-tier striker, along with his strength and aerial threat. His creativity as a passer is also underrated. It’s not hard to imagine him flicking balls down for Kean to run onto, then parking himself in the box to provide a reference point while Moise darts into space. The problem is that Džeko is 39 years old and has the mobility of a Zamboni. He can’t press and doesn’t threaten in behind at all, which allows defenses to mostly ignore him and double up on Kean. That would work in a system that keeps the ball a lot, but doesn’t play in a transitional approach.
Guðumundsson’s technical ability should be more effective. At Genoa, he was brilliant playing off a classic number 9 in Mateo Retegui, floating into space and wriggling away from pressure to find his shot. In Florence, though, he’s been terrible. His lack of physicality makes him too easy to neutralize and renders him useless out of possession. His decision-making has been bad, too, as he constantly drops way too deep to get on the ball, leaving Kean isolated up front without providing any penetration.
My take is that, despite their talents, each of that trio is too specialized. Basically, they all do one thing well and need to do at least two; otherwise, it’s too easy to erase them from the game and keep the defensive focus squarely on Kean. It’s on Pioli, then, to either get one (or ideally all) of these guys to add something different, or to put them in a role that better emphasizes their strengths while hiding their weaknesses.
My vote is for Piccoli. Using him as the deeper of 2 strikers and limiting his runs in behind will lessen his individual impact but help the team more. Moves will die at his feet, yeah, but hammering the ball into him and hoping he can hold off a defender and lay it off to an onrushing midfielder feels more sustainable than using Džeko (can’t do the defensive work) or Guðmundsson (we’ve already seen this movie). If that works, it’ll draw another defender higher up and give Kean an obvious channel to attack. If Piccoli can then follow up, he should get some simple chances as he arrives late into the box.
2. Figure out the midfield
Fiorentina’s midfield has been a disaster zone. Pioli’s rotated 6 players in various configurations through the engine room and none of them have convinced. Rolando Mandragora’s classic Blasphemy Banger against Como is the only goal-creating action a Viola midfielder’s managed this year in Serie A. It’s no surprise, then, that Fiorentina ranks in the bottom half of the league in shots, progressive passes, and shot-creating actions. The guys in the middle have been a huge letdown.
This is an article about Moise Kean, not the midfield, so I’m not going to get specific here, although I might address this later. Basically, Fiorentina needs its midfield to improve in all phases, but most especially in progressing the ball through the middle of the pitch. The only attacking stat the Viola rank highly in this year is crossing, which highlights both how much they’ve relied on Dodô and Robin Gosens for inspiration and how dull the midfield’s been.
Because everything is connected to everything else, the midfield’s struggles impact the forwards. Opponents can sit off, confident that Fiorentina’s hapless bozos won’t pass their way through. That means the forwards have to navigate more bodies as they look for room to shoot. Until the midfielders can demonstrate that they need to be closed down, that’ll be the template.
I don’t think it’s fair to rip on these guys for not breaking down deep blocks, by the way. That’s the hardest thing to do in the game and is why players who can do that cost the most. It’s why managers who can figure out ways to do that rise to the top. But getting Nicolò Fagioli to play the ball forward more often, for example, rather than constantly slowing the pace might be worth the loss of control. Especially because the midfield as a whole isn’t controlling anything anyways. May as well just go full blood-and-thunder and hope that whatever deities blessed Zdenek Zeman smile on our bozos too.
3. Trust him to get it right
Kean’s been woeful for the club but lethal for Italy, scoring 5 goals in his last 3 for the Azzurri, including 3 in 2 this season. That’s enough to convince me that he’s fine, that he hasn’t forgotten the basic physical action of kicking the ball into the net. The difference is that Italy looks like a functional team (for now, at least, although I wouldn’t bet on Gattuso lasting too long) and Fiorentina doesn’t. Getting a song from the rest of the squad should be enough to fix the Moose.
A return to decent form seems the likeliest outcome. Kean was on an unholy heater all of last year and expecting him to repeat it is probably a mistake; very few players can stay at the upper boundaries of their ability for extended periods. Even if he descends a level, he’s still a marvelous player and one of the 5 best strikers on the peninsula. That’s plenty good enough to work with.
The other side of that coin, of course, is that if Kean returns to his Juventus/Everton self, none of this matters. Fiorentina just shelled out for Kean’s new contract, making him Serie A’s 32nd-highest paid player and 9th-highest paid Italian, not to mention the squad’s biggest earner. Not since Mario Gómez have the Viola paid a higher salary. That financial commitment means the club’s got every motivation to work with Kean to restore him to his best. If he doesn’t live up to that contract, the Viola will be so limited financially that a quick recovery’s probably out of the question anyways.
That means Fiorentina has every reason to get Kean up and running again. It’s not just the short-term outlook that suffers if he sputters: it’s the long-term forecast as well. Given his salary, this roster is constructed to orbit around him. If he lacks sufficient gravity, the centripetal force of everything else flying into space means we’re looking at the calcio version of The Second Coming.
