A Fiorentina blog for Viola fans
It’s been a while since the news leaked but now it’s official (pending the unofficial 23-day waiting period customary for World Cup winners): Fiorentina has hired Fabio Grosso as its new head coach. He’s signed a 2-year contract that will pay him €1.2 million a year with a club option for a third Grosso’s name […]
Having hit the goalkeepers, centerbacks, and fullbacks, we progress to the midfielders (something Fiorentina rarely did this year). There was quite a bit of churn in the engine room so buckle in for a long and bumpy ride. To shorten it a touch, I’m skipping Amir Richardson (he’ll be on the loanee report) and Abdelhamid […]
To nobody’s surprise, Fiorentina announced a few hours ago that the club has parted ways with Paolo Vanoli and his coaching staff, declining to pick up its option to keep him around for another year. The mister doesn’t have another job lined up as far as I know so he’ll have to sit and wait […]
Hey, look at us. Who would’ve thought? Not me. We’ve hit the big 100! 100 episodes of laughter, sadness, and McMike’s esoteric 80’s references. There have been highs, there have been lows, but most of all there has been Fiorentina. In this special centennial episode we answer your questions and then we ask the questions […]
Dodô Developed a serious case of the yips early on and made a series of increasingly wacky mistakes but eventually steadied himself. Like everyone else on the team, he was worse this year than last year and, as one of the most important players, that’s partly on him. I’d still give more of the blame […]
After starting out with the goalkeepers, we’re moving forward to the centerbacks. Spoiler alert: it’s bad! Everything’s bad! Marin Pongračić The much-maligned defender started out this season much as he started out the last one. He switched off, made horrible passes, was curiously ineffective in the air, fouled needlessly, and was generally a mess. I […]
To my astonishment as much as anyone’s, Fiorentina avoided the drop and, as a reward, gets to pick over the carcasses of the relegated teams—Cremonese, Hellas Verona, and Pisa—like everyone else. There’s always some talent in these generally talent-poor teams and it’s often available at a bargain but let’s not kid ourselves: if these rosters […]
To start off our positional reviews for this accursed season, it makes sense to go first to the men between the sticks. No further introductions. Let’s dive in. David de Gea The reigning Serie A Goalkeeper of the Year came into the season with a ton of goodwill but, like literally everyone else, didn’t do […]
Fiorentina was ass this year. I know it. You know it. The world knows it. Things started going ass in preseason and didn’t really stop. Paolo Vanoli did the unglamorous work of wrenching the club back to safety but even that process was wrought with assness. Fabio Paratici is thus left with the unenviable task […]
Despite a couple improbably wins at the end of the year, we’ve always known that Paolo Vanoli’s time in Florence would expire this summer. According to just about everyone on the internet, Fiorentina’s working on the final details to bring current Sassuolo head coach Fabio Grosso on a 2-year deal with a club option for […]
With this excruciating season finally finished on an unexpectedly high note, Fiorentina can fully turn its attention to the transfer market. The first official move is about as minor as it could be: the club announced that it will trigger its option to extend Luca Lezzerini’s contract, keeping the goalkeeper in Florence until 2028. The […]
In the buildup to the least meaningful Juventus game in recent memory, I got a chance to catch up with old friend Danny Penza of Black & White & Read All Over, who is the only Bianconero this website actively likes. Here’s our conversation talking about how Notts County Junior’s been doing and what to […]
Fiorentina’s squad for next season continues to take shape. After sorting out the futures of loanees Marco Brescianini, Giovanni Fabbian, and Daniele Rugani, the Viola announced today that the club has agreed to dissolve Tariq Lamptey’s contract, making him a free agent heading into the summer and whittling down a bloated squad just a bit […]
Fiorentina’s roster next year is as much a work-in-progress as the Stadio Artemio Franchi but, unlike the venerable stadium, we’ve received a bit of certainty on a few components. Having secured salvation with the most classic of biscotti against Genoa on Sunday, the Viola triggered the conditions to make the loans of Marco Brescianini and […]
Pre-match With neither Moise Kean (who was in the stands following his child’s birth) nor Roberto Piccoli fit, Paolo Vanoli finally did what the fans wanted and handed Priamvera star Riccardo Braschi his first start, leaving Albert Guðmundsson on the bench. Fabiano Parisi also returned to the XI for a game Fiorentina really needed a […]
Three things to watch for 1. Urgency, please Fiorentina is all but safe for next year. There’s just one scenario in which it gets relegated: lose every remaining game while Cremonese wins every remaining game, and then lose the subsequent 2-legged relegation playoff final. Given that the Grigiorossi have won just 6 games this season […]
The sun has risen across a smoky orange sky. Flocks of enormous, mutated day-bats skitter across it, waiting to plummet on anything foolish enough to cross their field of echolocation. Deep within an underground bunker draped with wires, three men wearing headsets huddle around electrical equipment, mumbling into microphones. Is this some sort of resistance […]
Pre-match Paolo Vanoli picked Marco Brescianini over Rolando Mandragora in the middle and stuck with Albert Guðmundsson up front in the absence of Moise Kean and Roberto Piccoli. Gian Piero Gasperini trotted out his expected XI, with Paulo Dybala only fit enough for the bench and Nicolò Pisilli filling in for him. The real news […]
Late news Gian Piero Gasperini hasn’t thrown any curveballs here. Paulo Dybala’s healthy but sprobably doesn’t have the fitness to start so he’s on the bench. Everything else is as expected. Paolo Vanoli, on the other hand, has dropped Roland Mandragora in favor of Marco Brescianini. I also regret to inform you that Albert Guðmundsson […]
As this miserable season finally winds down, everyone (including me) is focused on what Fiorentina will do this summer. Fabio Paratici has a bunch of decisions to make but for my money, the biggest one is what to do with Moise Kean. The punditocracy has been rumbling with that question for the past couple days […]
Fiorentina’s season has been woeful at a level we couldn’t have imagined back in September. There’s enough blame to go around that everyone in the club can have second or third helpings but for now, I want to focus on the strikers. At the start of the year, I was confident that the Viola were […]
Fresh off the heels of an utterly disgusting draw at Lecce, your favorite Fiorentina podcast idiots are back to chop up that one, along with a little Crystal Palace talk. That’s right, it’s McMike and Tito back just like the old days (Producer Mike is too busy looking up USL League 2 prospects to sprinkle […]
A truism: at a club having an abject season like Fiorentina’s, the players all look terrible. There’s the Goalkeeper Corollary (the man with the gloves impresses through sheer volume) and the occasional At Least He’s Trying midfielder (e.g. Valon Behrami circa 2011) but this fact I hold to be self-evident. Established star Moise Kean’s been […]
An 8-point head start from relegation with 5 games is a bit too slim to start popping the prosecco but nevertheless, everyone’s thoughts are turning to the summer. New DS Fabio Paratici mentioned a couple days ago that the roster will be “thinned out,” which makes sense. Fiorentina won’t be competing on the continent next […]
There was no one person responsible for Fiorentina’s pathetic performance at Crystal Palace except maybe Daniele Pradè. Still, there was a moment that felt illustrative of a large portion of the problem. It was just before the 10 minute mark. Nicolò Fagioli came away with the ball on the right side of the pitch and, […]