Player grades
David de Gea—6.5: Made 4 saves, including a spectacular one on Gaetano Oristanio late, and got a hand to Michael Folorunsho’s first half header, although he needed Gosens to sweep it clear. Another strong performance from the man between the sticks.
Luca Ranieri—6: Solid defensively, making a couple of good interventions, but was hooked at the half for Viti with Pioli criticizing his decisions in possession.
Marin Pongračić—5: Switched off a couple times and had his obligatory pass to nobody but the
opposition, but also went on a couple of good jaunts forward, including one that ended with a reducer on Yerry Mina for no reason. Also let a few runners go unmarked in a way that I don’t like at all.
Pietro Comuzzo—5.5: Started brightly, tracking runners and even showing some ambition on the ball, but Sohm elbowed him in the head in the first half and the Ginger Prince fell off a bit before being subbed in the after the break.
Robin Gosens—7: His goal line clearance in the first half was impressive, as was a soaring header to prevent a simple goalscoring opportunity for Gennaro Borrelli. A bit more reserved going forward and didn’t make much of an impact, but it was his flick that Kean whiffed in the second half, so you can’t say he was AWOL. Also wore the armband after Ranieri’s departure.
Cher Ndour—4: The lights were a little brighter in Cagliari than in Prešov, it seems, and Cher wilted under them. He missed simple passes, got turned in tackles, and generally failed to make any sort of positive impact. He just turned 21 so we’re not expecting him to be a superstar, but if he’s not ready for Serie A now, it might be time to worry.
Nicolò Fagioli—7: Man of the match. The only midfielder who knew how to stop a ball and get it to a teammate. Twisted and turned away from pressure deep in midfield, constantly buying time for his teammates to find space; not his fault that they rarely did. Starting to look like a real regista, the type who has the ball glued to their foot. Even got stuck in a few times.
Simon Sohm—5: 47 touches over 90 minutes (Ndour had 32 in half that) for a team that had 55% possession shows how peripheral he was. He’s primarily on off-ball player but that requires teammates who can find him, and if they aren’t present, he’s just doing cardio.
Dodô—6: His ambition in the first half exceeded his impact but at least he tried. Struggled to contain a highly-motivated Folorunsho but was also the only guy who looked like doing anything in the final third for most of the game.
Albert Guðmundsson—5.5: The assist was good but it was also the only positive. By his own admission, Albert doesn’t know what he’s supposed to be doing and it shows. His attempts to drop deep and provide another option didn’t work because he lost the ball too often and he left Kean completely isolated up front.
Moise Kean—4: Everyone will talk about the miss, which looked bad but was tricky since the ball arrived before he could react, but I’m more worried about the 6 touches he got. 6. Touches. In. 90. Minutes.
Rolando Mandragora—7: Took a few minutes to get acclimated to the speed of the game after skipping most of preseason but showed that he’s still got some goals in him, even if this wasn’t a blockbuster strike. Love him or hate him, he knows how to make an impact in the middle and Fiorentina needs that.
Mattia Viti—5: Shakier than I’d have liked. Lost Borrelli a couple of times in behind. Did have a couple of tidy touches but Stefano Pioli doesn’t need another mistake-prone defender next to Pongračić and Marí.
Pablo Marí—5: Relied too much on his physicality, as usual, and got correctly whistled for getting too handsy with Gaetano right outside the box. His tendency to hammer everything long also made it much more difficult for Fiorentina to see out the game.
Jacopo Fazzini—5.5: Showed some tidy touches and some athleticism that make him look like a useful Guðmundsson alternative, although I’d rather see him as part of the midfield 3.
Fabiano Parisi—4.5: This should’ve been his kind of game as Cagliari threw bodies forward and left him space to run into, but his defensive shortcomings were entirely too apparent and he made the whole left side look fragile.
Three things we learned
1. This team isn’t complete. I looked at Fiorentina’s depth chart a couple months ago and predicted how Pioli would divide up the minutes. Reading back, it’s pretty clear that I overestimated numerous players’ roles. Ndour, Fazzini, Amir Richardson, and Lucas Beltrán all stand out to me as big misses so far, as Pioli clearly doesn’t trust them.
The conclusion to that article, though, was that the Viola still needed at least 4 new signings. Since then, Sohm and Piccoli have arrived, but that’s it. We’re still clearly lacking at least 2 players—a central midfielder and a vice-Dodô—and seeing Richardson, Ndour, and Fazzini drop out of the midfield rotation makes me think it might be 3. The time stamp on that article, by the way, is 31 July, so this isn’t an issue that’s snuck up on anyone.
2. The midfield isn’t good enough. This one’s pretty self-explanatory. All of my notes from the first half boil down to “the midfield’s getting killed.” Fagioli played well but was completely alone in front of the defense, with none of his colleagues ever offering him a good forward option. Gosens and Dodô were often pinned deep with their defensive duties and Kean’s job is to stay on the last shoulder, so Guðmundsson, Sohm, and Ndour had to do that job. And they simply didn’t.
Some of it was wrinkles that more game time will iron out: Ndour in particular missed lots of passes that he’ll improve, but it wasn’t the passing so much as the inability to find space in possession and restrict it out of possession. Guðmundsson’s too profligate to be allowed to drop off as much as he does, Ndour’s not trustworthy, and Sohm’s anomalous as an off-ball midfielder whose job is covering ground and popping up in the penalty box.
Mandragora offered stability but he’s the only guy on the roster who can help, and he’s a bit like Sohm in that he’s best in a free role as the third midfielder. Fagioli desperately needs someone else who can sit a little bit deeper and move the ball forward, because otherwise he’s constantly chasing ghosts when one of his teammates coughs it up and the opposition can charge forward against a wide-open middle.
3. The width has to come from somewhere. Last year, Dodô and Gosens were 2 of Fiorentina’s 4 best players on the year. You’d think that in a similar system and with similar personnel around them, they’d replicate that impact, but they were mostly MIA for simple reasons. Gosens isn’t the quickest so he needs time to get up from defense into his favored positions, either stretching play on the left or attacking the backside post. Dodô‘s got the pace to get up and the technique to carry the ball forward himself, but Cagliari choked off his supply and pinned him deep.
This was partly about the midfield. Sohm and Ndour couldn’t keep the ball for long enough to allow the attacking shape to set itself, which was largely about the wingbacks. Because Cagliari mucked up the game in the middle so well, Dodô and Gosens had to turn and retreat time and again. The wings were wide open and it was a failure on the Viola side to exploit that space.
The other area this provides a problem is up front. With Guðmundsson always dropping deep rather than moving wide, the defenders can all focus on Kean. Here, Luperto man-marked him while Mina swept up behind, with both fullbacks also pinching narrow to help. With no other threat high up, the Moose was double-marked at all times. If/when Gosens/Dodô can join him on the last line, it will create more room for him as the opposing defense is stretched wider, forcing the opposition midfield deeper as well. It’s all interconnected, basically, but it won’t matter if Fiorentina’s midfield is this helpless.
