When the SBN Italia blogs face one another, we always send a few emails back and forth and try to add something a little extra to our usual pre-match coverage. It is safe to say that this is now tradition around these parts. It is easy to set the expectation that if Roma or Fiorentina are next up on the schedule, the beloved readers around these parts of the internet will get a little extra information at their disposal.
Well, guess who’s next up on the schedule …
No, it’s not Gian Piero Gasperini
and his head full of white hair. Instead, it’s Paolo Vanoli and his wonderful combination of quality hair and even better frames on his glasses. It’s a weekend in which Juventus have one last stop before the much-welcomed November international break arrives — a voyage over to Florence to face a Fiorentina squad that has a ton of new players but is also hanging out around the relegation zone once again.
And because of that, we have our latest chapter of the ongoing series of asking my friend Mr. Tito, the man in charge of things at Viola Nation, some questions about his favorite club.
Despite his beloved Fiorentina’s latest round of struggles, Tito was gracious with his time and answered some questions about La Viola and how things have gone since the massive summer overhaul by our old friend Fabio Paratici.
Has it gone better than that same kind of massive overhaul attempted by Cristiano Giuntoli? You’ll just have to see for yourself and base things off of what Tito has to say about Fiorentina.
So, here’s Tito and some Viola chat. As always, we hope you enjoy!
BWRAO: Fiorentina have, again, spent all of the early games of the season sitting in or just outside of the relegation zone. I dare to start on such a downer, but is this the new normal for your favorite club?
VN: Sure feels like it, man. Fiorentina’s only jaunts out of the lower- to mid-table in the Commisso era have come from either Vincenzo Italiano dragging this team by the scruff of the neck to competence or an all-timer season from Moise Kean. The norm otherwise has been org chart chaos: in the non-Italiano seasons, Fiorentina has made at least one coaching change in all but one. I’m no architect but I know that it’s tough to build on unstable ground.
This may come as a shock to your audience, which hasn’t had any reason to criticize ownership or upper management over the past decade (this is a joke), but a club needs smart and disciplined people at the top if it wants to achieve any sustained success beyond what its spending predicts. Fiorentina is an excellent example of what happens when you can’t foster a winning culture.
BWRAO: Our old pal Fabio Paratici was as active as anybody in Serie A trying to flip Fiorentina’s roster over from what it was last season into a much more competitive squad. Safe to say the early returns on all that point toward the attempted makeover being a total flop, or has there been some success on the market to be had?
VN: I wouldn’t say it’s a total flop. It’s mighty hard to spend €150 million in the transfer window and not get back any quality. Franco Mastantuono, Alieu Njie, Viery, Christ Inao Oulaï, Matteo Pellegrino, and Pote have all shown signs of life, although those first four are all 21 or younger and thus subject to all the vacillations in form you’d expect.
The problem is that some of the guys expected to play major roles — Radu Drǎgușin, Arthur Atta, Beto, Víctor Valdepeñas — haven’t looked good. Atta’s had a mysterious injury but seems to be getting close to healthy again and Drǎgușin might be trending in the right direction (also he’s only 24 how is he only 24) so there’s some hope. I think a lot of it is more about club context than talent. Also, every defender on the roster has been bitten by mosquitoes infected with Bozo Fever.
Zooming out a bit, I understand the theory of the team Paratici’s building. The problem is that a lot of the players don’t complement each other and that these awkward fits were fairly predictable. For example, the only midfielder who’s a decent passer (your boy Nicky Beans) lacks the physicality and edge to match his colleagues and that forces Vanoli to make some concessions around him. It’s non-Euclidean Tetris and I’m very glad that my job isn’t to line everything up.
Also, bringing in Alex Jimenez f’n sucks, man. Best case scenario is that the guy is a sex pest and that is not a good best case scenario.
BWRAO: Fiorentina were the first struggling side this season to pull the trigger and bring in a new manager. How has the Return of Vanoli been compared to whatever the hell it was that Fabio Grosso (and his aggressive tan) was trying in Florence?
VN: I really, really hope that Vanoli’s return to his office at the Rocco B Commisso Viola Park for Players Who Don’t Kick Good was just him walking into Paratici’s office, sitting down, and silently staring at the DS for like 20 minutes. Grosso’s failed catastrophically at every club that doesn’t have pre-existing infrastructure (e.g. Sassuolo). Italy has to get over the 2006 World Cup, man. It’s been 20 years. Game’s moved on and left the entire calcio structure as a dusty ruin behind it.
Rant over, probably. Vanoli’s a competent rather than brilliant tactician. He’s got a tough task to get everyone into positions that bring out their best compounded by a bunch of injuries (Luca Ranieri, Marin Pongračić, Atta). What he does pretty well, though, is set standards. I don’t believe the Uomo Calcio Coretto opinion that these spoiled prima donne need the hairdryer treatment sometimes but Vanoli sets a baseline of grinta, of willingness to run and suffer, that makes all the difference.
If nothing else, he’s a damn sight better than Grosso, who couldn’t figure out any phase of play. Vanoli still needs to sort out his midfield triangle and could probably do a better job with his substitution patterns but I trust the guy. It’s worth remembering that last year, once he moved off Stefano Pioli’s 3-5-2 setup, Fiorentina played at a 62-point pace for the back half of the season. I’m not saying he’ll do that again this year but I wouldn’t be shocked if we hit April and the Viola were lurking around 9th place.
BWRAO: As much negative as we’ve talked, what has been the bright spot about Fiorentina’s season so far? Has any player actually done well so far?
VN: Bright spots. What are those, Danny? I kid, I kid. There’ve definitely been some hints. When Mastantuono isn’t trying to do everything by himself, he’s had some good moments. Oulaï’s got the quickest feet of any midfielder I’ve seen in a long time and has the highest ceiling on this team. I’ve liked Viery and Njie. Pote might be the missing piece.
I don’t think anyone’s been uniformly above-average, though. Cher Ndour, maybe? I’m higher on him than consensus due to his off-ball work and a lot of fans think he’s too ponderous on the ball to ever be good. The Viola have started stringing together solid performances over the past few weeks; if they can keep that up for another month, then maybe I’ll think someone is getting close to being Actually Good.
BWRAO: Checking in on some old friends — how have Nicky Beans and Joao Mario done so far this season?
VN: I hate to do this to you, man. Truly. I know that you’re a Beans Truther. I’ll admit to being lower on him than most but I think he’s been one of the biggest problems in the team. Part of that is that he’s just going through a rough patch of form and he’ll snap out of it at some point. On a macro level, though, I don’t think he’s the regista Fiorentina’s tried to cast him as for the past year and a half. He lacks the physical attributes to guard the defense and fades out of games way too easily. One of the major discussions at VN right now is whether Vanoli should bench him for Oulaï and the majority opinion is that yeah, that’d be smart.
João Mário’s an adequate backup. He scored a deflected goal against Sassuolo but his defensive frailties are painfully obvious and make him a target for any competent team. He’s started at leftback recently but that’s more about Valdepeñas being very raw and Viery moving into the center than anything else. I’ve heard whispers that Paratici might cut his loan short in January, which makes a bit of sense. Jimenez and Dodô are a fine platoon on the right and once Fabiano Parisi’s back (likely this month), he’ll probably take over on the left.
BWRAO: Care to make a prediction? Or, better yet, would you like to?
VN: Ugh. Not really.
OK, fine. In my preview on VN, I’ll credit a 1-2 Fiorentina win because that’s what I predict in literally every preview. As you know, I’m nothing if not committed to the bit. Any bit. The bookies have Juve as pretty big favorites but as we all know, these games are often tough to predict and the Viola have been surprisingly competitive in Turin of late. I think that’ll continue, especially because the good guys (that’s Fiorentina) are building a bit of momentum and Juve’s going to have some tired legs from the AZ game, especially since yall have like 17 injured players.
I’ll say it’s a 1-1 that alternates between pulsating and gritty. The Viola will sit deep and play on the break while the Juvenuts will take the initiative and likely cause some problems. I’ll say that Ndour will blast home a goal out of nowhere like he does for the Azzurini on a regular basis and Kerim Alajbegović scores for yall because he’s been incredible for Fiorentina on my FM save.
