Fiorentina’s preseason is over, thank goodness, and now we’re onto the games that matter. For the 4th straight year, the first real encounter is the Conference League Playoff, this time against Ukrainian outfit Polissya. If you want to know more about the Vovky, we’ve got you covered. Hopefully Stefano Pioli and company are all caught up as well.
The match will be played on Thursday, 21 August 2025, at 7:00 PM GMT/3:00 PM EST at the Tatran Arena in Prešov, Slovakia. Due to the ongoing war, Ukrainian
venues remain closed, so Polissya’s fans will have to travel 715 km/415 mi for their “home” fixture. Against Paksi in the previous tie, the attendance was just 1200ish, so don’t expect a magical European atmosphere, especially with the forecast calling for a grey day with intermittent drizzle.
Tactical preview
Polissya’s had a rockier start to the season than it would like, losing 3 on the bounce across the Premier League and the Conference League playoffs. The Wolves have also only won once at “home” in 4 tries, losing the other 3, and have slumped to 9th place domestically. That said, manager Ruslan Rotan has done well to instill an identity into his charges and they’ll know what they need to do.
Polissya lines up in a 4-3-3 that becomes a 4-4-2 without the ball as one of the midfielders joins the striker to press high up. That high press is good, largely because it’s fearless, frequently forcing mistakes high up and generating chances as the front 6 get tight, but it’s also a weakness: if opponents play through the first line of pressure, there’s a lot of space in front of the defense for a forward to receive a pass, turn, and drive.
With the ball, Polissya builds everything down the wings. The striker drops deep and moves wide to pull defenders out of position and encourage the midfielders forward. When it’s working, they’ll get forward with impressive one-touch passing, overloading the wide areas and getting bodies into the box. The wingers stay very wide, leaving open the possibility for big switches of play at all times. Basically, they’re geared to press high and attack in transition, so think of your stereotypical modern team, tactically speaking.
Three things to watch for
1. The battle down Fiorentina’s right. Polissya leftback Bogdan Mykhaylichenko is a good player with 10 Ukraine caps. He’s quite good going forward as a crosser and is a surprisingly good dribbler in tight spaces, but he’s also more vulnerable defensively than I expected. He loses his man down the line, particularly on long balls in transition, pretty regularly. Pioli’s doubtless noticed that too and will instruct his players to target Dodô with long switches of play, particularly from Nicolò Fagioli.
How adventurous Dodô is could define the game, because Oleksandr Nazarenko is one of Polissya’s primary threats from his left wing position. If Pioli’s comfortable leaving Pietro Comuzzo 1-v-1 with Nazarenko, Dodô will spend the whole game attacking Mykhaylichenko, which will give the Viola a significant attacking advantage. If Comuzzo struggles to contain Nazarenko, though, and Dodô has to drop in to help him, one of Fiorentina’s most promising outlets will evaporate.
2. This is a Guðmundsson game. As mentioned earlier, Polissya like to press high in a 4-4-2. They’ll probably try to funnel the ball to one of Fiorentina’s outside centerbacks and pin them there, forcing a long ball forward. With respect to the Ukrainian Premier League, Santa Coloma, and Paksi, though, the Wolves haven’t faced a side with Fiorentina’s level of talent this year. Facing the nuclear threat of Moise Kean on the break, Rotan may be more hesitant to get so many players forward as often.
The key man is Albert Guðmundsson. If Polissya goes high, he should have a lot of space in front of the defense to make things happen. If the Ukrainians defend deeper, he’ll be the man tasked with unlocking them. Albert’s had an up-and-down preseason but he’s the type of player to cause problems in this situation, so it’s up to him to show his quality.
3. Fagioli doing it alone. Nicky Beans has dropped very deep to build up play this summer. His technical quality is evident but he often gets outnumbered as opponents can press him plus the back 3 with just their front 3, leaving a solid structure behind that first line of pressure. Fagioli’s struggled to find the out ball that allows Fiorentina to progress quickly and has been forced to recycle possession too often, leading to ponderous attacks that opponents easily defend.
I still think that the solution is replacing one of the front 3 with another midfielder to drop in and offer another progressive option, because Guðmundsson and Edin Džeko aren’t helping here and Simon Sohm’s best as a roving off-ball runner. That leads to a broken team that all too often has to go long to Kean. Marin Pongračić in particular takes too many risks on the ball while trying to break the lines; when it works, he looks brilliant, but he’s also prone to giving the ball away in the worst places. Getting Fagioli some help in the construction phases would lessen the burden on him and the defenders and prevent me from suffering a heart attack.
Possible lineups
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Ted’s Memorial Blind Guess Department
It’s no surprise that the bookies are strongly backing Fiorentina. The perceived advantage in both talent and European experience are significant. Add in Polissya’s recent form and the fact that this “home” game is in another country entirely and you’ve got a pretty obvious recipe to take the chalk. I’ll throw some cold water on that, though, by reminding you that in its 3 previous Conference League playoffs, Fiorentina hasn’t impressed, winning by a single goal across both legs twice and going to penalties last year. Throw in some wobbly preseason form and an opponent that’s half a dozen games into its season and this could be much trickier than it looks.
My head says that Pioli takes care of business with a 1-3 win but as much as I respect the mister, I don’t think he can take the Viola out of this team. That means we’re probably looking at a really ugly 1-1, with the good guys dominating possession and creating a bunch of chances that they miss before going behind via a fluky mistake and grabbing a late equalizer, setting up a return leg that sets everyone’s teeth on edge. I would love to be wrong but I don’t trust these bozos at all.
Forza Viola!
