When Juventus visited Fiorentina’s Stadio Artemio Franchi earlier this season, they encountered a Viola defence so well organised and so resolutely marshalled that they were unable to find the net for the first time in 16 league matches.
The story could not have been more different during Saturday’s return fixture however, as time and again the Old Lady exposed gaps in the Viola’s rear guard that several months ago just were not there.
Fiorentina’s early season renaissance was built on defence, with a regular back three of Gonzalo Rodriguez, Facundo Roncaglia and Nenad Tomovic ably assisted by the hard graft of wingers Manuel Pasqual and Juan Cuadrado.
Tactically nothing has changed, but it is clear that opponents have figured out how to pick the lock with worrying regularity since the winter break, and it is a situation that is threatening to derail what at one stage was looking like the Viola’s most promising season in years.
It could be argued that both of Juventus’ goals on Saturday were eminently avoidable. Under very little pressure, an indecisive header from Roncaglia presented Mirko Vucinic with the chance to fire the Bianconeri ahead after just 20 minutes.
Admittedly it was a fine strike from the Montenegrin, but Roncaglia’s choice of clearing header was mystifying, and hugely damaging. It was not as though the defence had not been warned either, as lapses in concentration had already seen Vucinic and Claudio Marchisio come close to breaking the deadlock.
Moments later, Roncaglia, again under little pressure, was dispossessed with consummate ease by Vucinic, with only a fine save from a rejuvenated Emiliano Viviano sparing the Argentine’s increasing blushes.
It was but a stay of execution for the Viola though, as an appalling lack of commitment from the defence saw Arturo Vidal stroll forward before laying the ball into the path of an unmarked Alessandro Matri, who effectively sealed the points with five minutes of the first half still to play.
The pattern continued into the second half, with only the wayward finishing of Vidal and Matri, and another fine save from Viviano to deny Sebastian Giovinco keeping the scoreline respectable.
Just as confusing as the Viola’s defensive collapse during the second half of the campaign has been coach Vincenzo Montella’s refusal to criticise his players publicly in the wake of yet another anaemic defeat.
Speaking with the club’s official website after the game, Montella said: “Juventus were better than us but we never stopped trying and especially in the first 20 minutes we gave as good as we got.
“Games like this help us to grow. Juve worked hard to close down [midfielder David] Pizarro and make life difficult for our defenders. If we want to take our game up to the next level, we need to learn from the different things we experience in matches.”
True, it can be extremely unedifying for a coach to chastise players publically following an inept performance, and in that respect Montella’s stance is understandable.
However the regularity with which Montella has fallen back on post match comments that refer to a need to ‘learn’ and to ‘grow’ from disappointing performances and results suggest that the side, both as a collective and individually, are simply not learning fast enough, or worse, refuse to learn at all.
Montella further commented: “I feel like I’m in Paradise, because when you coach a team like Fiorentina you feel like you’re on cloud nine.”
Again, such utterances belie a sense of denial, at least when facing the media, that this most promising of seasons stands on the brink of a second half collapse, and if Montella is maintaining an air of positivity publically, it must be hoped that away from the media glare he is taking those underperforming members of his squad to task.
If there were any positives to be taken from Saturday’s defeat, the continued improvement of Stevan Jovetic and Luca Toni bodes well for the immediate future.
Having each ended their respective goal droughts during the previous weekend’s 2-0 win over Parma, the link up play between the two against Juventus offered brief glimpses that anything other than a defeat was a possibility, with only a faultless performance from the evergreen Gianluigi Buffon seeing the Viola draw a blank.
A visit from Inter is next on the agenda. It is a difficult fixture in theory, but given how appalling the Nerazzurri have been on their travels since November’s 3-1 win over Juventus – six defeats and one draw from seven – perhaps the Viola can be confident of getting back on track.
Follow Kevin on Twitter: @KevertonFC_84
I just feel that the system Montella employs is not working, for me the best player, Jovetic, is lost in that 3-5-2 system and he needs to be operating in a 4-3-3. There is a lot of criticism on Jovetic right now that is undeserved. Fiorentina just don’t look like they can score goals at the moment and I feel that a formation change would help.