Here we go again in a slightly deeper look at Fiorentina's victory over Inter Milan with three unanswered goals. In possession, La Viola finished the game with only 46% of ball control giving away a huge 20% to Milano's blue side compared to all previous matches this season (except the season opener against Roma). I wouldn't worry about this as it can be attributed to a three reasons:
- Two early goals were enough to let the boys relax for a bit and pull Mazzari's players higher for counter attacks.
- The passing was not as good as usual; I understand that it looked like it was one of the greatest passing days in Fiorentina history but all the clearances in addition to the long passes from defenders towards Handanovic's area did not find their target on many occasions.
- Alonso and Tomovic played a big part in the low passing percentage due to clearing the ball away from the pressing defeated Milano players.
Moving away from possession, a reason to celebrate is found; Fiorentina finally recorded an over than 50% accuracy with eight shots on target out of 15 attempts. Another reason to celebrate is that the five shots on target that did not make the net were pretty dangerous and could have gone in on any other day.
I am not sure if this was a good referee performance or a very clean performance by the purple outfit, but one yellow card on Kurtic and another on Tomovic for taking his shirt off during his goal celebration is just a good thing. Just like any good TV Show, I leave the reason for the viewers to discuss/think about.
It was already explained how the passing was relatively poor and why but some credit is due. Credit goes to Tommy Gun! The Serbian had a horrible 41/55 successful passing ratio but whenever you identify a Viola player successfully connecting 40 to 45 passes, over 15 passes are backward while Tomovic only went that way six times. Credit also goes to Babacar for his increased participation every match in the buildup of Fiorentina's attack. Achieving 17 successful passes out of 19 attempts as a target man is a signal of an involved player who is usually on a deserted island.
On cumulative cards, Tomovic thought Aquilani was too lonely at two accumulated cards and chose to join him (Thank God he did not take off his shorts; tearing up for such a moment and then witnessing one of the fans pulling on his shorts induces a laugh and the mixture of emotions just turns into a slimy fest).
Fiorentina are still in ninth place in the table behind Lazio on goal difference and one point ahead of Inter Milan. Fiorentina are also 5 points away from third place.
The tactical side of this game is also added in this gallery with simple player position diagrams. In case the comments during the match were too long for you to bother reading, click away and follow the arrows of how the players changed positions during attacks to confuse everything Inter's defenders learnt about defending!