Viola Europa League Overview Round of 32

It is not too far but not too close either as in exactly 15 days a possible 10 days that include 3 matches against Juventus are on the horizon. In terms of matches, Fiorentina still have 3 fixtures to play in those 15 days against Parma, Esbjerg and Lazio. The good news is that Montella is going to be able to rest players before the March march begins. Esbjerg fixture in midweek should not required many regulars to ensure qualification to the Round of 16 and another positive is that Fiorentina have a full week before the Serie A Juventus match with no fixtures in any competition midweek. Following that match and since Fiorentina are seeded higher than Juventus in Europa League (due to points accumulation), Our guys will probably stay in Turin to play the first leg at the Juventus Stadium of Europa League. A sandwiched match against Chievo at home in the weekend then followed by the last time you will ever see Fiorentina playing Juventus this season in midweek at the Franchi. This one is not only special for me because its a Juventus 10 days 3 matches fixture but because my daughter's birthday marks the first of those 10 days and so she will be wearing a little purple outfit watching that early Sunday match on 9th of March. (I promise pictures).

That introduction makes you question how well the guys are doing in Europa League individually and compared to other teams. Let's take a look!

TEAM OFFENSIVE STATISTICS

Fiorentina remain ranked 8th in Shots On Target per Game overcoming 3 teams but newcomers Juventus, Porto and Shakhtar had more shots in their one game and have been ranked higher.

Not playing Cuadrado in the match against Esbjerg hurt Fiorentina's dribbles per game stat to drop their rank from 4th to 10th with only newcomers Ajax and Shakhtar breaking into the top 10. Salzburg are in first with 22.4 dribbles per game.

Looks like Esbjerg is a team more interested in playing football than constantly dropping purple outfits to the ground in addition to the reduced dribbling by Fiorentina resulted in reduced fouls per game on the team and so dropping in the ranks from 4th to 9th. Only Ajax from the CL rejects was able to break into the top 10 and becoming first with 18 fouls.

Pass success percentage is one of the few statistics that Fiorentina were able to hold on to their high ranking of 3rd. Spurs & Swansea remain first and second respectively.

It is worth noting that compared to Serie A where Fiorentina has the lowest offside per game average, Fiorentina are ranked 4th with 3.7 offside per game average in Europa League.

TEAM DEFENSIVE STATISTICS

There are no defensive statistics or rankings worth noting here as Fiorentina come in mid-table in almost all stats... Closer to the less shots conceding teams and closer to the higher tackles and air duels won per game but really nothing in the top or bottom 10 teams.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

In this section, only players who make the top 10 or worst 10 depending on the type of stat discussed will be mentioned.

POSITIVE STATS

Matos Ryder along with 19 other players are ranked 10th in the top goalscorer sheet at three goals each. The top of the list is Salzburg striker Joantan Soriano with 6 goals. Juan Cuadrado remains third in most assists made during the competition along with 8 other players with 3 assists. Ambrosini did not have a chance to increase his Aerial Duels Won per Game and so his ranking dropped from 5th to 6th. Marvin Compper breaks into the top 10 of his clearances per game average at 10 clearances per game. Cuadrado appears in another stat at 2nd rank in dribbles per game improving from 3rd due to Salzburg's Kampl dropping from second. Matos has played in 7 Europa League matches for 90 minutes in most of them which brings me to the conclusion that his ranking at 5th in most offside per game average is the difference from Serie A.

Summary

NEGATIVE STATS

36 players have been sent off up to date and are all ranked in 2nd with one sending off including our Pizarro and all behind Karim Guide of Frieburg whose been sent off twice.

TEAM FORMATION

This schedule shows the starting formation and its result but by no means shows if that formation was changed during the match. More details about the individuals of the formations to become available in the coming weeks.

Forza Viola!