Pellegrino ends the drought, and it changes nothing
Two minutes into the second half, Mateo Pellegrino picked up a loose ball a long way from goal and hit it. A deflection took it past Lucas Perri. Fiorentina had their first goal of the Serie A season and the Stadio Artemio Franchi had something to shout about at last.
It lasted twenty-seven minutes. Torino won 1-2 in Florence earlier today and nobody who sat through the first half was shocked by it. The whistles from the home end had started around the twentieth minute and never really stopped. Christian Oulai limped off after 24. Fiorentina had one moment worth remembering before the break, when Franco Mastantuono was put clean through inside two minutes and Perri got a toe to the shot, with Alieu Njie’s follow-up blocked on the line.
Fabio Grosso pulled Mastantuono and Marco Brescianini at half-time and sent on Arthur Atta and Wilfried Gnonto. Pellegrino scored ninety seconds later, with Radu Dragusin credited for the assist. Neither substitute was involved.
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Mandragora refuses to celebrate
Perri then produced his second big save of the afternoon, palming away a flicked Atta header. That was the warning. On 74 minutes Rolando Mandragora hit one from distance off a Eray Comert lay-off, the kind of strike he has been putting past goalkeepers for a decade. He stood still afterwards and did not raise his arms. The Franchi applauded him anyway.
Eight minutes later it was three points. Victor Valdepenas missed a ball played over the top, Rafik Belghali got to the byline and crossed, and Che Adams had time to take a touch before finishing from close range. No cards were shown all match, which tells you how little resistance there was.
Grosso is running out of road
Fiorentina are without a win and the tactical approach has been risk avoidance from the first whistle of the campaign. Grosso does not appear to know his best eleven. Dragusin was overrun by Adams, Mastantuono looks miscast on the wing, and Valdepenas keeps getting isolated by switches over his head.
Venezia away is next, then a Tuscan derby against Pisa in the Coppa Italia, then Napoli at home. Lose in Venice to a newly promoted side and the questions stop being about tactics.
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