viola nation 
27-04-2024 02:57
27-04-2024 02:57
Fiorentina vs Sassuolo: Preview
Fiorentina has to shake off the numbness of an awful loss to Atalanta and resume its Serie A campaign. The opponent this week is a flailing Sassuolo. In 23 previous meetings, the Viola hold a W9 D7 L7 record, including W2 D1 L2 over their past 5 meetings. The reverse fixture ended 1-0 to the Neroverdi in a frustrating match that featured a ton of stoppages for VAR.
The referee for this one is 31-year-old Matteo Marcenaro of Genoa. In 10 Serie A appearances this year, he’s handed out 46 yellow cards, 2 red cards, and 4 penalties. He’s handled 2 Fiorentina matches in his career, most recently the 1-0 loss at Lazio in which he failed to review a very obvious penalty incident after Nicolò Rovella brought down Jonathan Ikoné in the area.
The match will be played on Sunday, 28 April 2024, at 3:45 PM GMT/11:45 AM EST, at the Stadio Artemio Franchi in beautiful Firenze. The forecast calls for a very warm spring afternoon, maybe enough to slow the tempo of the game. The real questions is whether that warmth will carry over to the fans: after that defeat in the Coppa, it’s hard to judge how much energy there’ll be in the stadium.
Fiorentina
Despite a woeful 2024—just 3 league wins since the calendar turned—Fiorentina is still hanging on to 9th place, just 2 behind Napoli and the final European spot (thanks, Serie A teams, for doing okay in Europe and grabbing that extra coefficient spot). With Torino a single point behind, the pressure on the Viola is ratcheting up, even though the domestic season feels like a dead rubber at this point, with only the Conference League really worth fighting for.
Manager Vincenzo Italiano will have his full team except M’Bala Nzola, although he could switch things up heavily to keep his stars fresh for the first leg against Club Brugge on Thursday. After he called up a handful of Primavera stars against Salernitana, we could see something similar here. Expect some heavy rotation, with guys like Fabiano Parisi, Alfred Duncan, Maxime Lopez, and Antonín Barák getting some minutes, but Cousin Vinnie’s penchant for tinkering means there’s no predicting his XI.
Sassuolo have Serie A’s second-worst defense, having conceded 65 goals through 33 games; that clean sheet against Fiorentina earlier this year comprises 50% of their shutouts this year. They get scored on in all kinds of ways, as you’d expect, but given the focus on possession, they’re particularly prone to be turned over and countered, although they’ll at least try to retreat into a defensive shape when they lose the ball rather than counterpressing. They’re also Serie A’s worst aerial team, so expect Fiorentina to play a lot of high balls, both from the wings and up for the strikers to flick on.
Sassuolo
It’s been a nightmare season for Sassuolo, which finds itself in 19th place with just 26 points, 2 off of safety with just 5 games left. The Neroverdi have sold off so many players over the past couple years and dealt with some injury issues, but they’ve been so bad they’ve gotten two managers sacked and are currently in ritiro after taking 3 points from their past 5 matches, including a 3-0 thumping at Lecce last week. They could still escape relegation but we could be looking at the end of an 11-year run in Serie A, made all the more unlikely by the fact that Sassuolo is by far the smallest city represented in the league.
Manager Davide Ballardini won’t have LW Armand Laurienté or RW Domenico Berardi, with several other late injury decisions to make as well. Ballardini’s got them in the classic Sassuolo 4-2-3-1. The main threat is striker Andrea Pinamonti (10 goals, 2 assists) but there are, as ever, a few interesting young attackers—Nedim Bajrami, Emil Ceide, Samuele Mulattieri, Cristian Volpato—knocking around, even if none of them have really put it together this year.
We all know the Sassuolo DNA by this point. The Neroverdi excel at building from deep and keeping the ball, prioritizing quick interchanges at the back to draw the press before getting the balls to the wingers to attack 1-v-1. Of particular interest is that they’re not even trying to get behind as often these days (fewest offsides in Serie A) so much as getting the ball to feet and trying to beat a defender with dribbling (highest success rate in Serie A). It’s pretty simple: neutralize the wingers and shut down the attack. With Berardi and Laurienté absent, the task is easier but hardly a given, especially with Fiorentina’s well-known fragility.
Possible lineups How to watch
TV: Unlikely but feel free to check the international television listings.
Online: Here is your list of safe, reliable, and legal streams.
Ted’s Memorial Blind Guess Department
The bookies have Fiorentina as heavy favorites for pretty obvious reasons. After all, we’re talking about a top half side against the 2nd worst; as grim as we may feel about the Viola right now as fans, they’re still demonstrably better than the Neroverdi, who are on a miserable run of form, on the road, and missing their two best wingers. The only reason to doubt a home win is if, well, you’re at all familiar with the home team; narratively, showing up and laying an egg ahead of the Conference League with Club Brugge feels realistic for this group.
Still, though, I have to back Fiorentina for all 3 points, giving the Tuscans their first back-to-back league wins since December. This feels like the kind of game that one or more of the misfiring Viola wingers get on the scoresheet, giving us all another dose of false hope, so let’s call it a 2-0 win with goals from Jonathan Ikoné and Riccardo Sottil, leaving us even more emotionally vulnerable than we already are.
Forza Viola!
The referee for this one is 31-year-old Matteo Marcenaro of Genoa. In 10 Serie A appearances this year, he’s handed out 46 yellow cards, 2 red cards, and 4 penalties. He’s handled 2 Fiorentina matches in his career, most recently the 1-0 loss at Lazio in which he failed to review a very obvious penalty incident after Nicolò Rovella brought down Jonathan Ikoné in the area.
The match will be played on Sunday, 28 April 2024, at 3:45 PM GMT/11:45 AM EST, at the Stadio Artemio Franchi in beautiful Firenze. The forecast calls for a very warm spring afternoon, maybe enough to slow the tempo of the game. The real questions is whether that warmth will carry over to the fans: after that defeat in the Coppa, it’s hard to judge how much energy there’ll be in the stadium.
Fiorentina
Despite a woeful 2024—just 3 league wins since the calendar turned—Fiorentina is still hanging on to 9th place, just 2 behind Napoli and the final European spot (thanks, Serie A teams, for doing okay in Europe and grabbing that extra coefficient spot). With Torino a single point behind, the pressure on the Viola is ratcheting up, even though the domestic season feels like a dead rubber at this point, with only the Conference League really worth fighting for.
Manager Vincenzo Italiano will have his full team except M’Bala Nzola, although he could switch things up heavily to keep his stars fresh for the first leg against Club Brugge on Thursday. After he called up a handful of Primavera stars against Salernitana, we could see something similar here. Expect some heavy rotation, with guys like Fabiano Parisi, Alfred Duncan, Maxime Lopez, and Antonín Barák getting some minutes, but Cousin Vinnie’s penchant for tinkering means there’s no predicting his XI.
Sassuolo have Serie A’s second-worst defense, having conceded 65 goals through 33 games; that clean sheet against Fiorentina earlier this year comprises 50% of their shutouts this year. They get scored on in all kinds of ways, as you’d expect, but given the focus on possession, they’re particularly prone to be turned over and countered, although they’ll at least try to retreat into a defensive shape when they lose the ball rather than counterpressing. They’re also Serie A’s worst aerial team, so expect Fiorentina to play a lot of high balls, both from the wings and up for the strikers to flick on.
Sassuolo
It’s been a nightmare season for Sassuolo, which finds itself in 19th place with just 26 points, 2 off of safety with just 5 games left. The Neroverdi have sold off so many players over the past couple years and dealt with some injury issues, but they’ve been so bad they’ve gotten two managers sacked and are currently in ritiro after taking 3 points from their past 5 matches, including a 3-0 thumping at Lecce last week. They could still escape relegation but we could be looking at the end of an 11-year run in Serie A, made all the more unlikely by the fact that Sassuolo is by far the smallest city represented in the league.
Manager Davide Ballardini won’t have LW Armand Laurienté or RW Domenico Berardi, with several other late injury decisions to make as well. Ballardini’s got them in the classic Sassuolo 4-2-3-1. The main threat is striker Andrea Pinamonti (10 goals, 2 assists) but there are, as ever, a few interesting young attackers—Nedim Bajrami, Emil Ceide, Samuele Mulattieri, Cristian Volpato—knocking around, even if none of them have really put it together this year.
We all know the Sassuolo DNA by this point. The Neroverdi excel at building from deep and keeping the ball, prioritizing quick interchanges at the back to draw the press before getting the balls to the wingers to attack 1-v-1. Of particular interest is that they’re not even trying to get behind as often these days (fewest offsides in Serie A) so much as getting the ball to feet and trying to beat a defender with dribbling (highest success rate in Serie A). It’s pretty simple: neutralize the wingers and shut down the attack. With Berardi and Laurienté absent, the task is easier but hardly a given, especially with Fiorentina’s well-known fragility.
Possible lineups How to watch
TV: Unlikely but feel free to check the international television listings.
Online: Here is your list of safe, reliable, and legal streams.
Ted’s Memorial Blind Guess Department
The bookies have Fiorentina as heavy favorites for pretty obvious reasons. After all, we’re talking about a top half side against the 2nd worst; as grim as we may feel about the Viola right now as fans, they’re still demonstrably better than the Neroverdi, who are on a miserable run of form, on the road, and missing their two best wingers. The only reason to doubt a home win is if, well, you’re at all familiar with the home team; narratively, showing up and laying an egg ahead of the Conference League with Club Brugge feels realistic for this group.
Still, though, I have to back Fiorentina for all 3 points, giving the Tuscans their first back-to-back league wins since December. This feels like the kind of game that one or more of the misfiring Viola wingers get on the scoresheet, giving us all another dose of false hope, so let’s call it a 2-0 win with goals from Jonathan Ikoné and Riccardo Sottil, leaving us even more emotionally vulnerable than we already are.
Forza Viola!