Pre-match Stefano Pioli set out a very odd XI with Pietro Comuzzo and Mattia Viti as the outside centerbacks (maybe he read my hit piece on Marin Pongračić) and Rolando “Please don’t use me in a deep midfield role” Mandragora as the regista behind Simon Sohm and Cher Ndour. On the plus side, at least […]
about 1 month ago | 0 reads
Late news Both managers rotate their sides after midweek matchups. Christian Chivu’s moves—Yann Bisseck, Petar Sučić, Francesco Pio Esposito—all make perfect sense. Stefano Pioli’s however, do not. Critical fans will highlight Rolando Mandragora at regista as a mistake if it doesn’t work. At least Pietro Comuzzo and Mattia Viti get rare opportunities in defense, albeit […]
about 1 month ago | 0 reads
Now that we’re 2 months into the season and Fiorentina has yet to win a Serie A game, it’s probably time to figure out what’s going wrong. While there’s no single reason for the team to be quite so ass, my diagnosis is that a lot of the ass starts at the back. I’m specifically […]
about 1 month ago | 1 read
After a chaotic and unimaginably lucky draw against Bologna in the Derby dell’Appennino on Sunday, Fiorentina hits the road again, hoping to earn its first win in Serie A this season. Given that Inter Milan is the opponent, that’s the least likely outcome, but we’re all idiots and can’t help ourselves hoping for better. The […]
about 1 month ago | 0 reads
Player grades David de Gea—5.5: His early tip on Juan Miranda’s belter was really good but that was his only save on the day, although you can’t fault him on either goal. His distribution, however, was a problem, allowing Bologna to win the ball and keep Fiorentina pinned deep for long stretches. Marin Pongračić—3.5: Participated […]
about 1 month ago | 0 reads
Fiorentina’s wacky (read: tragic) start to the season continues, with the added wrinkle of apparent competence in the Conference League. Here to talk about it are two-thirds of your favorite Fiorentina podcast idiots. We dive deep into a maddening performance against AC Milan and honestly bum ourselves out a little bit before turning to happier […]
about 1 month ago | 1 read
Pre-match There weren’t any surprises in either lineup, although it’s worth noting that Vincenzo Italiano was absent, hospitalized for pneumonia (get well soon, big guy) and sent his assistant Daniel Niccolini to run the show, just as he used to in Florence. Speaking of Florence, the fans provided an atmosphere worth of the Derby dell’Appennino, […]
about 2 months ago | 0 reads
Late news Neither manager has sprung any surprises—the XIs are both exactly as predicted—so we don’t have to waste any time analyzing how some clever wrinkle could impact the game. We can just jump straight into the Derby dell’Appennino and let the animus between these two clubs surround us like a nice, warm soup. Lineups […]
about 2 months ago | 0 reads
Fiorentina showed a pulse for the first time this year in the win at Rapid Wien on Thursday, but the Derby dell’Appennino is always a different beast entirely. Adding to the drama is the fact that Bologna manager Vincenzo Italiano has been hospitalized for pneumonia and will miss this one; whether that leads to a […]
about 2 months ago | 0 reads
Player grades David de Gea—6.5: Made one superb save on Matthias Seidl’s howitzer and a couple other rather more routine stops. His issues with kicking out from the back are real, though, and are part of what’s troubled Fiorentina this year. But he still saves goals that maybe 5 other goalkeepers on earth can make. […]
about 2 months ago | 0 reads
Pre-match Both managers had deal with the absence of a star striker: Chancy Mbuyi for the hosts and Moise Kean for the visitors. Stefano Pioli rotated quite a bit, bringing in Pietro Comuzzo, Mattia Viti, Niccolò Fortini, Fabiano Parisi, Cher Ndour, Edin Džeko, and Roberto Piccoli. Tommaso Martinelli, however, apparently isn’t the cup goalkeeper anymore […]
about 2 months ago | 1 read
Late news Peter Stöger shuffles things quite a bit. Some of it is due to injury—losing striker Claudy Mbuyi, for example—but some of it’s tactical as well. Stefano Pioli’s also missing his top striker in Moise Kean, so it’s Roberto Piccoli and Edin Džeko to lead the line; Albert Guðmundsson remains glued to the bench. […]
about 2 months ago | 1 read
Fiorentina gets to put the disappointment of another blown lead in Serie A behind it with a trip north to keep the Conference League dream alive; indeed, that’s pretty much all that’s giving us fans any life at all right now. The opponent? Rapid Wien, currently 3rd in the other Bundesliga. Rapid started the season […]
about 2 months ago | 0 reads
Player grades David de Gea—6: Can’t blame him for the penalty but he was slow to react to Rafael Leão’s first, although he was unsighted by Pongračić. Did make a very good save on Santiago Giménez in the second half. Luca Ranieri—6.5: Came up nails when the team needed someone to step up with the […]
about 2 months ago | 1 read
Pre-match Max Allegri had a ton of absences: Christian Pulisic, Christopher Nkunku, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Adrien Rabiot, Ardon Jashari, and Pervis Estupiñan were all in the stands, leaving him with a front two of Rafael Leão and Alexis Saelemaekers. Stefano Pioli—making his 500th Serie A appearance as a head coach—surprisingly started Moise Kean up front, claiming […]
about 2 months ago | 0 reads
Late news Stefano Pioli gets Moise Kean back despite an injury suffered while international duty and goes for an all-midfield edition, leaving Roberto Piccoli, Albert Guðmundsson, and Edin Džeko on the bench in what could be something like a 5-4-1. Max Allegri’s got a raft of injury concerns of his own, leaving Rafael Leão and […]
about 2 months ago | 0 reads
As you’ve probably noticed if you hang out around these parts, Fiorentina has yet to win in Serie A this year and sits in 17th place in 3 points, just leading Hellas Verona on goal difference to avoid the drop zone after 6 games. That’s the worst start in league play since 1976 and the […]
about 2 months ago | 0 reads
This international break has been absolutely brutal for Fiorentina fans, giving us a fortnight to wallow in misery while the misfiring forwards connect on international duty and the injuries pile up ahead of a brutal upcoming schedule. The team’s hopelessness has resulted in a lot of soul-searching and a lot of looking back over Rocco […]
about 2 months ago | 0 reads
Fiorentina has arrived at the unenviable point of the season at which the only way to plumb new depths involves picking up a shovel, and the Viola are sure enough looking for the right tool. Two-thirds of your favorite Fiorentina podcast idiots are here to wonder where it’s all gone wrong (everywhere) and wonder if […]
about 2 months ago | 0 reads
We’ve spent 2 months watching Fiorentina flail around and slowly sink underwater. Whatever Stefano Pioli has tried has failed, with one brief exception. During the first half of the Como game, the Viola, deployed in a 4-4-2, demonstrated flashes of competence. Yes, it was against a bad team. Yes, it relied on the element of […]
2 months ago | 0 reads
The October international break is usually a frustration for Fiorentina fans but this one’s arrival means that we don’t have to watch this woeful team, so its arrival has been a balm to the scorched Viola soul. It was also the earliest that the club could have reasonably parted ways with its embattled upper management […]
2 months ago | 0 reads
Fresh off its first win of the season (albeit in the Conference League against a badly overmatched Sigma), Fiorentina heads to the capital for an entirely different challenge against Serie A joint-leader Roma. The match will be played on Sunday, 5 October 2025, at 14:00 GMT/10:00 EST, at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. The forecast […]
2 months ago | 0 reads
Pre-match Stefano Pioli ignored the preseason directive to get Tommaso Martinelli into cup games and stuck with David de Gea in goal. Cher Ndour and Nicolò Fagioli got rare starts in midfield while Edin Džeko replaced the suspended Moise Kean up front. It was nice to see old friend Tomáš Ujfaluši back at the Artemio […]
2 months ago | 0 reads
As many of you are likely aware, Google searches are … different these days. The good news is Google is offering a solution for folks who like to get their news from specific sources. If you want to help Viola Nation — while also streamlining all your Google searches — there is now a way. […]
2 months ago | 1 read