Fiorentina goes back on the hunt for its first league win of the Fabio Grosso era this weekend against a Torino side which could start 5 ex-Viola players: Pietro Comuzzo, Niccolò Fortini, and Giovanni Simeone are locked in, while Rolando Mandragora could get a shot as well. At least Cristiano Biraghi’s nailed to the bench. Expect a battle of both familiarity and futility between 2 of Serie A’s 7 winless sides. The match will be played on Saturday, 5 September 2026, at 14:00 GMT/9:00 AM EST, at the Stadio
Artemio Franchi in beautiful Firenze. It’s going to be hot, hot, hot out there. Sweltering, even. Maybe enough to impact the game.
Three things to watch for
1. Loose but not too loose
Things are getting a little stressful for Fiorentina. Back-to-back embarrassing defeats to start the Serie A season, including against newly-promoted Frosinone on the club’s 100th birthday, is a bad look. A frantic conclusion to the transfer window has helped address some of the problems—Grosso actually has wingers now—but there’s some tension around this team right now.
How the players react to that will be half the battle. Mentally, they need to play with what is to this point unearned confidence without straying into the hubris that overtook last year’s edition, the belief that, “Nah, we’re too good, it’ll all start to click eventually, don’t worry.” The biggest part of that confidence comes from the coach. It’s on Grosso to set the tone. That means instilling the right attitude in his players and ensuring that they all know their jobs well enough to do them without thinking. One game is too small a sample but this is when we start finding out what kind of communicator the mister is.
2. Who the wingers are and how they play
In the first few games, Grosso only had 2 wingers, and that includes Albert Guðmundsson. He now has 4. Figuring out who fits where in the hierarchy is the most important thing. My guess is that Franco Mastantuono has the inside track on the right wing due to his familiarity with the team. I’m leaning towards Alieu Njie on the left for now based on his familiarity with the opponent but Wilfried Gnonto or Pedro Gonçalves are reasonable options as well.
My hope is that this foursome can create sufficient danger in the final third without needing support from central midfield. A lot of things have looked wrong with this team so far but a big piece is that the midfielders commit too far forward, leaving the middle exposed and the defense vulnerable as they try to make up the numbers in the box. If the wingers, whoever they are, can offer that sort of danger on their own, one of the midfielders will be able to join the regista and fix the rest defense.
3. The possession battle
My theory about Grosso’s Fiorentina is that it will have a better record when losing the possession battle. This squad doesn’t have good passers. Fabio Paratici has prioritized physical excellence and 1-v-1s, packing the roster with guys who can win duels in space. Everything is built on attacking big spaces, spaces that are only available when the opponent has the ball for long enough to get bodies forward and thus be counterattacked.
The other side of the coin is that when the Viola have to take the initiative (i.e. when they concede first), they’re hopeless. The big spaces shrink into nothing. The nature of the players—beat the man in front of you—puts them at greater risk of losing the ball, leading to quick breaks the other direction. Out of possession, Grosso’s defense is predicated on maintaining its compact shape. When it’s forced to press, enormous gaps open throughout. I think the team is designed not to have the ball, which is a valid approach in the modern game.
The first two Serie A games haven’t worked out that way. Roma was simply miles better, seeing all of the ball and generating all of the chances. Frosinone offered a more illustrative example: the Canarini sat back through the first 30 minutes, forcing the hosts to take the initiative. That was both tactical and emotional (100th birthday et cetera) and it worked. One dumb mistake and the onus was on the Viola to break down their visitors, opening up space for those visitors to exploit.
Possession doesn’t necessarily mean anything but I think it’ll be a useful marker of how well Grosso’s game plan has gone. If his team doesn’t have to take the initiative, it’s got the personnel to stay in its defensive shape and pick its foes off on the break. If it has to have the ball, it risks getting turned over and beaten like a drum. The easiest fix is to score first, obviously. But if the game state requires Fiorentina to have the ball, it’ll mean something’s gone wrong again.
Possible lineups
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Ted’s Memorial Blind Guess Department
In this clash of losers, the bookies favor Fiorentina more heavily than I’d have expected. Home advantage counts for something, sure, but anyone who’s watched this team under Grosso has seen the obvious structural issues. Torino’s not exactly firing on all cylinders either but hasn’t looked hopeless. Throw in the everpresent specter of a goal dell’ex and I’d probably set the line at roughly even, especially since these two have tied in 3 straight meetings.
Nevertheless, I’ll make this a 2-1 win for the good guys. I think the having 2 honest-to-god wingers on the pitch together is going to make all the difference for Fiorentina, allowing everyone to play in a role that better fits their qualities even if there are still plenty of wrinkles to iron out. I’ll give the opening goal to Arthur Atta and another to Cher Ndour, while the Mandrake grabs a late consolation with a blast from the parking lot. I’m expecting a typically gritty, physical game between these two, with few chances and a lot of balls over the top as the midfields scuffle. If that’s what gets the 3 points, though, I’m all for it.
Forza Viola!
