week 4: Fiorentina match preview

By: j | September 25th, 2008

With the success of the Roma match in the past, the Rossoblu face the Viola in Firenze on Saturday. In repeat of the prior match Gian Piero Gasperini must certainly realize he is gifted with very fortunate scheduling. Like Roma heading into complex period, Fiorentina’s manager Cesare Prandelli is not only dealing with a poor start to the Serie A season, a dreadful 3-0 loss to Lazio on Wednesday but a critical match on Tuesday against Steaua Bucureşti in the Champions League. After a controversial draw to Lyon, the Viola will be anxious for an important away win in Champions League action and it will surely be a part of tactical considerations.

The start of the season has been an up and down affair for Fiorentina, starting with a solid draw with Juventus and a close loss to Napoli before getting their first victory of the year Bologna. However this Wednesday the wheels fell off the cart with the aforementioned loss to Lazio. What precisely has happened is somewhat of a mystery as they uncharacteristically broke down defensively and allowed three goals in a eight minute period. Truthfully the score could have been much worse and it left you perplexed how Alberto Gilardino and Adrian Mutu were barely visible in the match.

With the short week, I expect Genoa to possibly employ Boško Janković or Rubén Olivera within the following general lineup:

Rubinho,
Giuseppe Biava, Matteo Ferrari,Domenico Criscito
Marco Rossi,Omar Milanetto,Anthony Vanden Borre, Francesco Modesto
Andrea Gasbarroni/Raffaele Palladino, Diego Milito, Giuseppe Sculli

The clear work ahead for this match lays in the back three. While Diego Milito is having a remarkable start to campaign, the back-line of Giuseppe Biava, Domenico Criscito and Matteo Ferrari are creating a defensive net that controls the opposition attack.