Pre-match
Parma boss Carlos Cuesta, who is only 30 years old, trotted out a 4-3-3, leaving our old buddy Patrick Cutrone on the bench. Paoli Vanoli stuck with the 4-3-3ish shape that succeeded last week against Udinese. The only change was Mattia Viti replacing the suspended Luca Ranieri at leftback.
First half
Fiorentina started decently enough, with Marin Pongračić playing one over the top for Moise Kean. Moments later, Fabiano Parisi had a weak penalty shout, but Parma grew into the game. Weirdly enough, all the action
came down the Viola left, where the hosts targeted Viti and the visitors tried to force the ball to Albert Guðmundsson, who eventually switched spots with Cher Ndour and played almost as a mezzala. Kean had the half’s best chance, heading straight at Edoardo Corvi from a Dodô cross, but the hosts probably edged the first 45 thanks to solid defensive organization and Mateo Pellegrino’s burliness up front.
Second half
Vanoli hooked the shaky Viti at halftime, dropping Parisi to leftback and introducing Niccolò Fortini on the right wing. All the shuffling meant that Fiorentina was disorganized and Parma pounced: Pellegrino beat Pietro Comuzzo to a cross and flicked it on for Oliver Sørensen, who headed past David de Gea. It was precisely the shambolic defending we’ve come to know and, well, not love, but at least expect.
Fiorentina remained confused as Parisi’s attacking instincts meant that the entire system was very different and Parma dominated the next 10 minutes but couldn’t quite break through despite carving out some chances. Comuzzo smacked a volley off a corner that forced Corvi into a smart save. The introduction of Roberto Piccoli helped destabilize Parma’s defense and he was involved in a few decent opportunities but Kean and Fortini failed to convert. The Viola pushed numbers forward and nearly got done on the break a couple times but for some inefficient play from the hosts. Guðmundsson and Piccoli both had clean looks in the final moments but couldn’t convert and that was that.
Full time
Goals: Sørensen 48’ (ass. Pellegrino)
Cards: Mandragora 22’, Pongračić 90’+3; Circati 20’, Corvi 86’
What we learned
It has never been more over.
Quick hits
- Turns out it’s easy to look good when you play 80 minutes with an 11-v-10 advantage. Take that away and Fiorentina has nothing.
- A back 4 with both fullbacks given license to push on won’t work for this team; one of the two, probably the leftback, needs to be much more reserved. It’s no coincidence that Parma scored immediately after that change.
- Might as well bench Albert Guðmundsson after he has a good game because he’s incapable of performing well twice in a row.
- The body language is miserable. Nicolò Fagioli, Guðmundsson, and Kean all did a lot of sulking when the ball didn’t find them in the final third.
- Eddy Kouadio looks real. He made a couple of superb tackles in space, one on the wing against the tricky Gaetano Oristanio and another against the bulldozer Pellegrino. I’d take him over Fortini in ranking Fiorentina’s young prospects right now.
What’s next
It’s high-flying Cremonese next Sunday. The Grigiorossi find themselves in 12th despite the worst xG against in the league and it doesn’t matter because Federico Bonazzoli and Jamie Vardy are leading the line and having a great time together. This is a winnable game, one that the experts and the bookies will favor Fiorentina in, and in which Fiorentina will succumb to its own idiocy, as per. And hey, after that? It’s a Wednesday matchup with sputtering Lazio. Short rest, Maurizio Sarri, a spurned Danilo Cataldi: what could go wrong?
More wrong than whatever all this is, at least. Fiorentina remains nailed to the bottom of the table with 9 points from 17 games. The transfer window opens in 3 days and whoever’s running the show—Fabio Paratici?—will doubtless be busy, but there aren’t any moves that would fix what’s broken at this club. What’s wrong here is too big and too complex to address in a single window or over the 21 games remaining. Buckle up for Serie B.
