Pre-match
Both sides had a lot of absences but Fiorentina (Moise Kean, Nicolò Fagioli, Fabiano Parisi, Marco Brescianini, Albert Guðmundsson, and Niccolò Fortini) had more than Lazio (Ivan Provedel, Mario Gila, Samuel Gigot, Adam Marušić, Nicolò Rovella, Daniel Maldini). Paolo Vanoli made the wacky choice to start Daniele Rugani at the back over Marin Pongračić and Pietro Comuzzo so maybe he was just punting this? With this edition of the Viola, it’s often hard to tell.
First half
Lazio had the hosts on the back foot
from the word go. David de Gea made a good stop on Mattia Zaccagni early and Matteo Cancellieri roasted Robin Gosens a few times, forcing the keeper into action; he also flapped at a cross that nearly made its way in but he was good enough. Fiorentina had a couple decent moments breaking forward, highlighting the visitors’ absences in midfield, but the Biancocelesti had all the ball and all the threat until one of those rare forays forward ended with Jack Harrison standing up a cross for the Goose to soar over Manuel Lazzari and head home via the post. It was a vintage Gosens goal and the exact sort of strike you expect from a relegation struggler facing a better side.
As you’d expect for a Sarri team, Lazio kept pinging the ball around in an aesthetically pleasing manner without really frightening anyone and Fiorentina continued looking at least a little bit sprightly on the break. Michael Fabbri of course had a Moment, marking off a Viola corner to instead give Lazio a drop ball for some reason involving an advantage played after Gosens got crunched, maybe? It was weird. Anyways, the half ended there and you know what? It was fine. Perfectly fine. Felt like a free hit, really.
Second half
Sarri brought on Fisayo Dele-Bashiru and Tijjani Noslin at the break but it didn’t inspire his side in the slightest; Lazio only created a half-chance or two of set pieces as the Viola countered effectively, most notably when Harrison nearly doubled the lead around the hour mark as the game slowed down. Not long after, Noslin went down under a Mandragora challenge in the box, but Fabbri correctly booked him for simulation and maintained that choice after checking the monitor. Noslin nearly made amends but put his free header wide 10 minutes later and de Gea saved Isaaksen’s not long after,. I won’t say the hosts managed the game well but they did just enough to hang on, and that’s what matters.
Full time
Goals: Gosens 28’ (ass. Harrison)
Cards: Rugani 31’, Dodô 83’, Piccoli 90’+1; Noslin 63’
What we learned
-Gosens got his goal and showed he’s still good defending his own box but he’s definitely lost a step and opponents are noticing that. He’s extremely vulnerable in space against quicker attackers and needs a lot of extra help in those situations.
-Gosens got the Pannini MotM award but I think Cher Ndour deserved it more. He was absolutely everywhere, putting in big tackles and winning the ball while keeping things ticking over on the break. His development over the course of the season is astonishing and he’s clearly nailed down a starting job.
-Reports of David de Gea’s demise may have been exaggerated. He made 3 or 4 excellent saves in this one and seems to have rediscovered his footing. His weaknesses are well known but he’s still an above-average goalkeeper.
-Giovanni Fabbian’s impact in the middle is negligible but for a Fiorentina that’s going to cross the ball a lot, he’s very useful. He didn’t turn any of his headers on goal but he made contact with the ball in the Lazio box on at least 5 occasions. I don’t think he’s a regular starter but he could offer some value next year as a bench option.
-Vanoli’s Fiorentina plays a 4-3-3 or 4-5-1, sure, but spiritually, this feels like a throwback 3-5-2 team that doesn’t care at all about keeping the ball (34% possession) or even creating chances (6 total shots) but somehow cockroaches its way into wins. That the mister emerged from the tunnel wearing a baseball cap feels spot on because this is a Beppe Iachini team.
What’s next
Fiorentina stays in 15th place with 35 points. That’s pretty sparse based on preseason projections but gives the club an 8-point cushion over Lecce and Cremonese for the final relegation spot and that’s really something. With 6 games left, that might be enough to get this season over the line, although there’s still time to plummet back down with a couple bad results should the players switch off. That said, a win at Lecce next week will all but secure survival; there’s the formality of the return leg against Crystal Palace on Thursday but I wouldn’t be shocked to see Vanoli trot out backups and teenagers.
That’s his right, too, because he’s done a hell of a job. In the 17 Serie A games since he switched to a back 4, he’s taken 29 points. Over the course of a full season, that average of 1.65 points per game would put Fiorentina at 55. That would be 7th place, 2 behind Roma for another Conference League and 2 ahead of Raffaele Palladino’s Atalanta. That’s a remarkable achievement considering how moribund this team was when he took over and he deserves all the credit in the world.
