Player grades

Pietro Terracciano—6.5: Made a string of conserves in the very first half to keep Fiorentina in it, with stops on Olivier Giroud, Samuel Chukwueze, Tijjani Reijnders, and Christian Pulisic standing apart. Did wind up appearing like a traffic cone on Rafael Leão’s objective, which wasn’t terrific, however conserved more than he allow.

Dodô—6: Let Leão by him a couple times however that’ll occur to any fullback worldwide, so it’s barely a catastrophe. Stayed in front of the winger well and even beat him in the air a number of times. Wasn’t prominent in belongings or efficient moving forward.

Nikola Milenković—5: Let in the very first objective when he slipped and fell, however it feels extreme to punish him excessive for that. Lost track of Giroud time and once again, however, and normally looked unpleasant.

Lucas Martínez Quarta—5: Booked for an early reducer on Chukwueze and needed to take care later on. Lost to Giroud in the air a number of times and appeared off the speed a bit.

Cristiano Biraghi—5: Struggled to remain in front of Chukwueze, losing him a number of times and getting cleaned a couple others. Didn’t impact the video game much moving forward, and his set piece shipment was underwhelming.

Rolando Mandragora—5: Put in a huge take on in the very first minute and had a good shot off a Kayode include in the 2nd half however was otherwise quite undetectable. Didn’t track Reijnders extremely well, permitting the midfielder to appear all over the protective 3rd and choose his passes.

Alfred Duncan—7: Hit an outright thunderbastard of an objective however didn’t do much else. He’s not a controller like Arthur and didn’t evaluate the defense extremely well from Reijnders and Ruben Loftus-Cheek breaking through, leaving the back line continuously overwhelmed.

Jonathan Ikoné—6: Played in Belotti for a 1-v-1 possibility that il Gallo whiffed and came close with his own effort minutes later on. Drifted in and out as his colleagues stopped working to discover him extremely typically however was more direct than typical, offering a minimum of the impression of a risk. Not the issue.

Lucas Beltrán—6.5: Couldn’t get on the ball in the very first half however was main to whatever the group developed after the break. Buzzed around connecting play and finding little pockets of area. Best opponent by miles in this one.

Christian Kouamé—5: Won some headers, tracked back well, and assaulted area when he could, however looked about as rusty as you’d anticipate from a guy making his very first look for the club in 3 months.

Andrea Belotti—5: Whiffed a 1-v-1 by shooting directly into Mike Maignan and saw the Frenchman conserve a much better effort. Bustled around according to, however at some time he merely needs to put the ball into the back of the internet.

Nico González—6.5: Didn’t do a great deal, aside from making Davide Calabria look extremely silly, however his existence plainly frightened AC Milan and opened area for everybody else.

Michael Kayode—6: Yeeted a toss over everybody’s heads for Mandragora; somebody’s going to score among those at some time and it’ll be ill.

M’Bala Nzola—5: A normally uninspiring 10-minute cameo.

Antonín Barák—n/a: Came on at the dath in a desperation tactic.

Riccardo Sottil—n/a: Ibidem.

Three things we found out

1. The midfield isn’t sufficient. Okay, we’ve understood it for some time, however the alternatives in the engine space simply aren’t enough to the needs Vincenzo Italiano positions them under. Arthur’s clearly great and Duncan’s rock strong, however the drop-off when one or both are missing is sheer. Italiano should seem like he needs to spread his 2 proficient midfielders’ minutes to fill two times weekly video games, which is an unconquerable logistical issue. For a group contending on 3 fronts, there simply aren’t sufficient bodies.

Italiano’s clearly knowledgeable about this and has actually attempted options (e.g. Giacomo Bonaventura in the double pivot) however it’s not actually worked. Mandragora’s a great gamer, however he’s more of a minutes guy than a control things for 90 minutes; Maxime Lopez is technically outstanding however too simple to bully. There’s a factor both remain in the bottom half of the team’s +/- rankings on fbref, which suggests that the group tends to play even worse when they’re on the pitch relative to everybody else.

There’s a lot of blame to walk around and I’m not thinking about legislating it, however it’s clear that the existing alternatives are inadequate. Expect a huge shakeup in the center next year, as Mandragora’s the only guy under agreement past July. The existing group doesn’t established the forwards or secure the defense all right; discovering a balance that fits with the brand-new supervisor needs to be a top priority for the brass.

2. If the video games were 45 minutes, Fiorentina would be great. I’ve been seeing this pattern over the previous couple of months and require to dive much deeper, however it seems like Fiorentina’s just got 45 great minutes in it per video game, whether that’s a whole half or a number of great stretches either side of halftime. I haven’t had the ability to find out a method to determine it yet however I’ve got a couple of concepts, so this is quite vibes-based more than evidence-based.

My working theory is that Italiano’s methods need a lot energy that he’s accepted his group can’t perform them at a high level for a whole match. He’s for that reason purchased his guys to primarily simply loaf for half the video game, generally the very first duration, and attempt to keep it close, then open the throttle and actually get after it in the 2nd half. It’s an intriguing service to a difficult issue however one that doesn’t provide constant options and leaves the Viola susceptible to starting well behind the 8 ball. Again, I require to find out a method to metrically take a look at this, however it’s certainly a theory worth examining.

3. There aren’t any simple video games for this group. That might seem like a severe conclusion after losing to Serie A’s 2nd-best clothing however it’s the very first thing I considered when the triple blast sounded. Like I pointed out previously, Fiorentina doesn’t have the skill to field a skilled XI two times a week without running its finest gamers into the ground. That suggests Italiano will need to turn the side greatly, and the distinctions in between the beginners and the backups is glaringly apparent.

What that suggests is that the Viola, while often the more powerful side on paper, won’t have the ability to utilize their complete resources. Instead of blowing away a transfer lagger on large gamer capability, Italiano will need to discover a method to rest exhausted legs without delivering excessive benefit to the underdogs. It’s a fragile balancing act and another tip that this team merely isn’t developed to contend on 3 fronts. If Cousin Vinnie can continue to drag the club forward, he should have a lots of credit.