As 2014 now fades into history, Forza Italian Football casts an eye over Fiorentina’s 2014-15 season so far.
The Viola currently find themselves in eighth place in Serie A, with 24 points earned from their first 16 matches. Still, with the middle of the table quite congested, 2015 will be quite interesting as a whole crop of teams, including Napoli, Sampdoria, Genoa, Lazio, AC Milan, Inter, and Udinese will all be fighting it out for either a Champions League or Europa League spot for the 2015/2016 campaign.
While many teams enjoy a home-field advantage, the same cannot be said for Fiorentina thus far. Oddly, Vincenzo Montella’s men have been more impressive on the road than they have been at the Stadio Artemio Franchi. With just two wins out of eight versus four away from home, they will certainly hope to start picking up points, especially against the “smaller” teams if they want to secure at least a Europa League spot.
Transfer Hit & Flop
While Khouma Babacar isn’t a “transfer” per se, having featured for the youth academy before being farmed out on loan, the Senegalese starlet has been a revelation so far this season, such that his club were reported back in October to be seeking to tie him down for the long haul.
Five goals in all competitions and four in the league see him as his team’s leading scorer in 2014, and fans will hope that he can keep up this great run of form this year.
On the other hand, English-based duo Micah Richards and Marko Marin, brought in from Manchester City and Chelsea respectively have not impressed Montella enough to seal down spots in the starting lineup; and the German has been heavily tipped to make a swift return to London in January.
The Coach
Vincenzo Montella, now in his third term with Fiorentina, again has his team competing on three fronts. Well, technically two, as the Scudetto race has long been established as a battle between Juventus and last season’s runners-up, Roma.
Up on the menu as 2015 kicks off will be a meeting with Atalanta in the Coppa Italia and then two meetings with Tottenham in the month of February as they hope to make some inroads in the Europa League.
While Montella has done a good job since taking over, some of his decisions this season — such as not giving much playing time to Marin when the team were going through an injury crisis — with their attacking personnel were a bit puzzling. Nonetheless, his position looks safe and after a trophy-less showing last season he will hope that his team’s fortunes will improve over the course of this year.
Best Goal — Khouma Babacar v Inter
One goal has definitely stood out more than any of Fiorentina’s others. This impressive long range strike from Babacar, the first of the Viola’s goals in their 3–0 win over Inter, just so happened to have marked Fiorentina’s first home win of the season.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cskywJbUxhY[/youtube]
