What a difference a year makes. With the possible exception of AC Milan, no other club in Italy’s top tier can claim to have experienced such a dramatic reversal of fortunes in such a short space of time as have Fiorentina during the previous calendar year.
The New Year celebrations often give cause for a period of reflection and a chance to take stock of the steps made, good or bad, during the previous twelve months, and in the case of the Viola, the club is virtually unrecognizable from that which began 2012 in 15th place, battling to beat the drop into Serie B against a backdrop of internal disharmony and supporter unrest.
Avoiding relegation on only the penultimate weekend of the season hammered home the realisation for club president Andrea Della Valle that changes needed to be made if this once proud institution was to pull away from the abyss it was so plainly heading for.
The summer departure of sporting director Pantaleo Corvino and the instalment of his replacement Daniele Prade may one day be looked back upon as one of the most significant moments in the club’s history, as Prade set about completely overhauling a squad that was frankly not fit for purpose.
Meanwhile, the procurement of coach Vincenzo Montella from Catania proved equally to be a masterstroke. As one of the brightest young prospects in Italian coaching, Montella also arrived at the Artemio Franchi with a point to prove having been overlooked for another vacant coaching role by his beloved Roma.
Through the exit door went a mixture of ineffective deadwood and talented but troublesome characters whose presence at the club had become increasingly disruptive, with the likes of Alessio Cerci, Juan Manuel Vargas, Amauri and Artur Boruc unlikely to ever figure too highly in the affections of the Viola faithful.
In their place arrived a number of experienced campaigners with proven success in the likes of David Pizarro, Borja Valero and Luca Toni, players of undoubted talent but with something to prove in the form of Alberto Aquilani and Mounir El Hamdaoui, and emerging young talent in the likes Facundo Roncaglia and Juan Cuadrado.
In hindsight, it is perhaps easy to forget that, from a results perspective at least, the opening month of the current campaign followed a similar pattern to that of last year. Impressive at home in beating Udinese and Catania, Montella’s side struggled on the road, suffering an on-going inferiority complex against the likes of Napoli and Inter, while coming away with just a point despite utterly dominating against Parma.
If one result from the opening weeks hinted at a brighter future ahead though, it was the goalless draw at home to Juventus in week five.
The true effectiveness of Montella’s favoured 3-5-2 formation shone through against the Viola’s hated rivals, and though the game ultimately finished in a draw, only the want of a touch more composure in front of goal spared a Bianconeri side that failed to break through a stubborn backline and struggled to cope with the Viola’s new found attacking dynamism.
Though an over reliance on the goals of Stevan Jovetic threatened to once again undermine the progress being made in terms of performances on the pitch – with his own personal tally accounting for half of the side’s first twelve goals of the campaign – a 4-1 home win over Cagliari in early November put paid to any fears that the Viola were still largely a one man band.
The Cagliari result came during the middle of a five match winning streak that saw Montella’s side rocket up the standings, and saw a famous win over Milan at the San Siro, in which Fiorentina outplayed and outfought their more illustrious opponents, and in the absence of their Montenegrin talisman to boot.
The enforced absence of Jovetic surprisingly coincided with the club’s best run of goal scoring form of the season, with high scoring wins over the likes of Atalanta, Siena and Palermo bringing the side’s tally to 36 prior to the winter break, one short of the total for the entirety of the previous campaign.
Despite a brief blip in late November and early December that saw consecutive 2-2 draws against newly promoted sides Torino and Sampdoria followed by a 4-2 defeat away at Roma, the back to back victories over Siena and Palermo left the Viola sitting in the third and final Champions League berth going into the winter break.
Both Montella and Prade have frequently insisted that the club are very much in the early stages of a long term projected view of success, but after such a healthy first half of the season, it is only natural that expectations may have changed for what the Viola may be capable of during the coming months.
The imminent capture of Villarreal forward Giuseppe Rossi for an undisclosed fee suggests that the club are refusing to rest on their laurels, and though the signing represents a gamble in light of the American-born Italian’s recent injury record, it undoubtedly proves that the calibre of player the club is targeting has increased in line with their Champions League chasing status.
With an eminently winnable home match against relegation threatened Pescara to kick off 2013 with this weekend, there is every chance that Fiorentina will start the new year as they finished the previous one; comfortably dispatching sides that twelve months ago might have fancied their chances against a crumbling institution.
Follow Kevin on Twitter: @KevertonFC_84
