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It's good to be a Fiorentina fan, especially when your team produces forty-five minutes like they did against a Frosinone team that had been improving in league play and must be wondering what the heck just happened to them. Fortunately, we have an explanation here, in the form of the statistics from the match. As always, the raw data comes from WhoScored.com.
Team statistics
| Possession | Passes (short/long) | Passing success | Crosses/attempted | Dribbles/attempted | Shots (on target) | Shots inside/outside area | Tackles/attempted | Interceptions | Aerial duels won attempted | Fouls | Yellow/red cards | Corners | Offsides | |
| Fiorentina | 73% | 840 (781/32) | 92% | 6/24 | 14/21 | 31 (9) | 14/17 | 21/33 | 19 | 7/13 | 11 | 0/0 | 8 | 0 |
| Frosinone | 27% | 309 (234/67) | 72% | 4/8 | 12/25 | 6 (1) | 2/4 | 18/32 | 15 | 6/13 | 11 | 1/0 | 1 | 2 |
Player statistics
| Short passes/attempted | Long passes/attempted | Crosses/attempted | Dribbles/attempted | Shots (on target) | Shots inside/outside area | Touches | Possession lost | Tackles/attempted | Interceptions | Successful aerial battles | Fouls committed/suffered | Yellow/red cards | Offsides | Saves | Goals | Assists | Minutes | |
| Tatarusanu | 9/9 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 (0) | 0/0 | 14 | 0 | 0/0 | 1 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 70 |
| Roncaglia | 33/36 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 (0) | 0/0 | 43 | 1 | 2/2 | 3 | 1 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 58 |
| Gonzalo | 63/70 | 1/2 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 1 (1) | 1/0 | 84 | 0 | 2/3 | 4 | 2 | 1/2 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 90 |
| Tomovic | 86/88 | 1/2 | 0/0 | 2/2 | 0 (0) | 0/0 | 100 | 2 | 2/2 | 3 | 0 | 1/2 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 90 |
| Rebic | 51/61 | 0/0 | 0/8 | 0/5 | 4 (1) | 0/4 | 87 | 2 | 3/3 | 2 | 0 | 3/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 90 |
| Suárez | 83/90 | 4/4 | 0/0 | 4/5 | 4 (2) | 2/2 | 110 | 1 | 4/7 | 2 | 2 | 0/2 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 90 |
| Badelj | 107/113 | 5/7 | 0/0 | 2/2 | 3 (0) | 0/3 | 133 | 0 | 1/4 | 2 | 1 | 1/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 90 |
| Pasqual | 45/47 | 1/2 | 2/4 | 0/0 | 1 (0) | 1/0 | 59 | 2 | 1/4 | 2 | 1 | 0/2 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 90 |
| Valero | 79/86 | 3/4 | 0/5 | 1/1 | 3 (1) | 0/3 | 106 | 4 | 2/3 | 0 | 0 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 90 |
| Fernández | 87/87 | 2/2 | 4/5 | 1/1 | 5 (0) | 1/4 | 107 | 4 | 1/2 | 0 | 0 | 0/2 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 90 |
| Babacar | 9/9 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 1/2 | 5 (3) | 5/0 | 22 | 2 | 1/1 | 1 | 0 | 2/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 45 |
| Verdú | 51/54 | 2/2 | 0/0 | 1/1 | 1 (0) | 1/0 | 61 | 0 | 2/2 | 0 | 0 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45 |
| Rossi | 20/22 | 0/0 | 0/2 | 2/2 | 4 (1) | 3/1 | 33 | 2 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 1/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32 |
| Lezzerini | 11/11 | 2/4 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 (0) | 0/0 | 16 | 0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
Conclusions
Okay, this was a weird one for a bunch of reasons. First off, it can be hard to analyze too much when one team is so clearly better than the other; Paulo Sousa probably could have used any formation and any set of tactics and walked away with a win. The talking point, I think, will be his substitutions. Pulling Khouma Babacar off at the half and playing without a real striker for 20 minutes is a new thing. Bringing on Giuseppe Rossi for Facundo Roncaglia and dropping Mario Suárez into the backline was weird; I can only imagine he wanted a goal for Rossi to keep up the striker's spirits. Bringing on Luca Lezzerini could be read as pretty insulting, but I think Sousa was just trying to get a youngster some minutes with the senior team in a low pressure situation. Maybe not super cool, but not super awful, either.
Quick thoughts: Roncaglia has now gone three games without a foul, coinciding with some excellent performances. Nenad Tomovic's average position in this one is bizarre; he almost played as a defensive midfielder. Milan Badelj is just unreal; his distribution is simple and unfussy, but his positional discipline and quick recycling of the ball really allow the more attack-minded midfielders the freedom to do what they do. Welcome back, Mati Fernandez; we missed you. Man, Ante Rebic is becoming a force on the right wing; I had no idea he was so defensively committed, and he's super-energetic. I bet he's a year away from really breaking into the first team and being a star, but he sure looks like a Kuba replacement.
There's plenty of other fun stuff to talk about in this one, so discuss whatever's not mentioned here in the comments, and, as always, forza Viola.