Fiorentina snapped out of a month-long winless streak with a breathless 2-4 win at Sassuolo yesterday. The Viola displayed the steadfast refusal to acknowledge that the tide had shifted against them that I associate with a Paolo Vanoli team. While the mentality (and a soft-as-jello Neroverdi defense) made a difference, the biggest change was, to my eye, the introduction of Pedro Gonçalves. The good guys scored twice, out-shot their hosts 1 to 4, and coasted to victory.
It wasn’t all Pote, of course.
He set up Franco Mastantuono’s goal but it the Argentine’s first-time finish was superb. Once Sassuolo was behind, Alberto Aquilani’s men threw caution to the wind and pushed forward, leaving gaps that any competent player could’ve exploited. Fiorentina’s defense managed to avoid coughing up a ridiculous equalizer; that may seem like a baseline expectation but anyone who’s watched this team knows it’s anything but. The dynamic Christ Inao Oulaï also helped control the midfield in a way Nicolò Fagioli didn’t, providing a much better platform for counterattacks.
The fact remains, though, that Gonçalves was the architect of every good move. The assist is obvious but he also set up Beto to fire over from the edge of the box in space, hit the big Angolan with an inch-perfect cross, and played the pass through for Cher Ndour to square for Víctor Valdepeñas’ tap in. There’ve been whispers about his fitness preventing him from cracking the XI but it might be time for Vanoli to throw him out there and see what happens for a number of reasons.
1. Lightening Mastantuono’s creative burden
Franco Mastantuono is a 19-year-old who’s 3 months into his first season as a starter in Europe. The results have been as uneven as you’d expect: there are flashes of brilliance but also a lot of mistakes. Most of the latter, in my mind, are down to overambition. That’s not a bad trait in a young playmaker. Fiorentina (and Real Madrid) want him to hit his ceiling and one of the ways to do that is to put him at the center of everything. He’s been surrounded with functional players and tasked with finding solutions, and every opposing defense has reacted predictably: by doubling up on him, kicking the hell out of him, and generally making his life unpleasant.
Middling teams often face this dilemma: How do they get the most out of their lone top-notch attacker without allowing defenses to collapse on them? The obvious answer is to add another top-notch attacker, of course, but middling teams rarely have the luck or resources to just buy a solution and have to be more creative. Vincenzo Italiano figured it out with Nico González. Raffaele Palladino figured it out with Moise Kean. Vanoli’s job is to figure it out with Mastantuono, whose output thus far hasn’t matched his profile (which, again, is fine).
Alieu Njie’s rounded into form of late, scoring in back-to-back games, but he’s not usually the sort of player who creates for others; he’s a live wire dribbler, an individualist, and his job is to beat the man in front of him. Nicolò Fagioli’s been quite bad for the past month or so and might need to drop to the bench. Arthur Atta might return at some point soon but despite his price tag and designation as an attacking midfielder, he’s more of an off-ball player. Mateo Pellegrino’s a big lug who scores ugly goals and occupies defenders but he’s not a creator.
Vanoli’s lucky enough to have a solution on the bench and bah gawd that’s Pedro Gonçalves’ music. We’re talking about a 28-year-old who averaged 12.5 goals and 8.8 assists over the past 6 seasons in Portugal and has done it in the Champions League as well. He’s a proven threat on the ball and opponents have to treat him as such. Just putting him on the pitch will open up more room for Mastantuono because defenses won’t be able to key solely on him.
2. Getting everyone in the right position
One of Vanoli’s go-to moves when trailing has been to hook one of his central midfielders with 20ish minutes left and introduce a winger, pushing Mastantuono inside as a 10. My initial reaction to this adjustment was negative: if Franky’s profligate out on the wing, he’s going to be even worse in the crowded center of the pitch, especially against teams that will back the middle. He’ll just gum up the works even more, I thought. Vanoli’s barking up the wrong tree.
Now that I’ve seen it in practice more often, though, I think the mister’s onto something. The problem with Mastantuono on the wing is that he cuts in, then keeps cutting in, often until he’s in the opposite half-space as defenders ignore his right foot. Running horizontally with the ball for long distances is almost always bad because it interrupts the vertical movements of the other players, who have to either stop to allow the ball-carrier to go past them or bend their runs to the side and thus away from the goal. It also closes passing angles. We all got angry when Jonathan Ikoné ran himself into these cul-de-sac and Mastantuono’s GPS too often has identical coordinates.
When Mastantuono’s in the middle, though, he has way less room to cut onto that left peg. It forces him to get off the ball more quickly, even if it’s just to reset and try the same thing again. That gives everyone else more space to operate because defenders aren’t being dragged into the center. In fact, Mastantuono’s starting central position opens space on the wings. There’s also a built-in rotation between Frankie and Gonçalves, who can swap positions or play together in tight spaces. Pote might prefer to start on the left or through the middle but that cross to Beto indicates that he’s a danger on the right, too.
3. Limiting redundancy
Marco Brescianini’s done well the past few games. His physicality and work rate, especially off the ball, have shored up the midfield and provided Fagioli and the defense with necessary protection. That profile also describes Cher Ndour, though, and having both of them leads to redundancies. Most good teams have complementary players rather than identical ones; putting two off-ball workhorses in the middle might raise Fiorentina’s floor but definitely lowers its ceiling.
Gonçalves doesn’t directly help the midfield. Shoehorning him into the XI at the expense of a midfielder will, in theory, leave the middle even more open, especially since he’s not the most mobile or defensively-disciplined guy out of possession. His presence, though, could stabilize the team even more: by adding another true attacking threat, he’ll lessen the need for a midfielder to crash the box, which in turn means keeping another body deeper to break up opposing attacks before the fully develop.
Replacing Brescianini with Pote is tough on the former, who’s done nothing wrong and a lot of things right. If Vanoli goes that route, the corresponding move could be replacing Fagioli with Oulaï. Christ’s a bit of a loose cannon at times and his positional sense and distribution aren’t reliable but he covers a ton of ground without the ball and offers the back line a lot more protection that Fagioli. If Oulaï gets the nod, Vanoli won’t need two bodyguards for Nicky Beans in the middle. Instead, he’d squeeze another type of player onto the pitch, increasing the number of solutions in any given game. That raises the ceiling, although it could also lower the floor, especially since Fagioli’s the only guy on the roster capable of constructing moves from the back.
4. Oh god it’s the narrative
Brescianini is, though not fault of his own, a vestige of the previous regime’s failures. Sure, he’s a Fabio Paratici purchase, but he was always meant to be a short-term solution. He’s a fine player and a useful squad piece but not central to the project. Pedro Gonçalves carries a €25 million price tag and is a Portugal international, albeit usually as an unused substitute. As a deadline day purchase with a high profile, fans have high expectations.
Players aren’t responsible for their transfer fees and I hate that it’s the standard they’re held to. The fee, though, sticks in fans’ minds and colors the discussion around a player. If it’s a big fee for a player who’s underperforming, the fans often turn on the player, who then feels pressured and performs even worse. Once the narrative around a player reaches a certain point, it’s over. Think Piccoli, Edin Džeko, Andrea Colpani, Ikoné. Players pretend like the outside noise doesn’t reach them but we all know that’s a lie.
Gonçalves is far from that point, of course. At the moment, he’s a tantalizing option more than anything. If Vanoli keeps him on the bench, though, the conversation around him will turn from, “He might be the solution,” to “He can’t even beat these other mugs for minutes,” and that will put pressure not just on the player but on management as well. It’s very dumb that such off-field factors should affect a coach’s thinking but that’s the way this stuff works.
