Five points dropped in two weeks.
That’s what was on the forefront of many Fiorentina fans on Sunday night after watching the Viola crash to an unexpected, but thoroughly deserved 1-0 defeat to Cagliari on Saturday evening.
While that disappointment was eased after seeing Napoli crash to an even heavier 3-0 defeat away to Atalanta, Gigliati fans have had a pretty bitter taste in their mouth over the past ten days if you factor in their 2-1 defeat to Udinese during the first leg of their Coppa Italia semi-final.
While that tie will be looked at in greater depth once the Viola’s fate is sealed after the return leg on February 11, it only seems appropriate to focus in on the club’s recent struggles in the Serie A.
A spirited draw against Genoa and defeat to Cagliari on Saturday has seen the Viola throw away a golden opportunity to overtake Napoli for the all important third position in the standings.
While the home draw against the Grifone could be stomached, Saturday’s failure at the Stadio Sant’Elia left the Viola with little to recriminate over as it was apparent from the first minute of the match that the squad was not ready to deal with the the plucky Rossoblu.
To go along with the dropped three points, the defeat also brought forth some harsh verdicts on two Viola players who once again failed to deliver the goods when called into action this season.
Lost in the furor of Mario Gomez’s summer signing and Giuseppe Rossi’s red hot form before injury, the signing of Josip Ilicic over the summer has become somewhat of an after thought in Viola circles given his lack of impact on the club’s season to date.
While Josip Ilicic was hardly a beacon of consistency while with Palermo, it’s safe to say Fiorentina expected much more from their summer signing than what they have seen to date.
The Slovenian, who arrived after a stellar season with relegated Palermo, once again showed that he is still a fish out of water in Vincenzo Montella’s scheme as the attacker had as anonymous a 90 minutes as you are likely to ever come across. Despite touching the ball 62 times, Ilicic failed to produce anything noteworthy for Alessandro Matri who showed that a striker is sometimes only as good as the service he is provided with.
Along with Ilicic, Facundo Roncaglia had a torrid time against the Cagliari attackers and his poor performance culminated in a 38th minute foul on Marco Sau that resulted in a penalty that was converted by Mauricio Pinilla for the 1-0 victory.
The Argentine is no stranger to lapses in concentration as the quick feet of Sau turned the former Boca Juniors inside out before he committed the costly error. After a great start to his Viola career last season, Roncaglia has regressed since and is now firmly seen as a backup to the first team in the eyes of Montella.
His error lead to his benching during the Viola’s midweek clash with Udinese in favour of the newly arrived Modibo Diakite, and while he will likely find playing time from now until the end of the season, questions have to be raised about his future at the club considering his failure to develop his game in recent months.
February is a big month for the Viola as they have nine matches to get through (Serie A, Coppa Italia and the returning Europa League) with Atalanta set to visit the Stadio Artemio Franchi on Saturday evening. While the Orobici lent a hand on Sunday with their victory over Napoli, one would assume the Bergamo club won’t be as willing to help out the Gigliati for a second week in a row when the two clubs square off.
One statistic the Viola can look to is Atalanta’s poor away record this season, as the Bergamo club have only collected four of their 27 points away from the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d’Italia. That victory came back in October when Atalanta defeated Chievo by a score of 1-0.
Since then they have collected seven defeats from eight away matches, meaning German Denis and teammates could be the tonic the Viola need after their recent struggles.
Follow Adriano Boin on Twitter: @Boin44
