BatiGol Weekly 99: Medicine

Nobody’s going to argue that the Viola aren’t a sick club right now. Getting wrecked by Hellas Verona or counting on an olimpico and a world-class Federico Chiesa effort to beat Bologna are symptoms of the illness, but what’s the underlying cause? What’s making Fiorentina sick?

There are plenty of people to blame. The Della Valles have stripped the squad of its best assets without shelling out the cash to bring in adequate replacements while insulting the fans for their indignation over the product on the pitch. Pantaleo Corvino has gotten rid of every player that he didn’t buy himself, sacrificing quality for a greater sense of ownership over the roster. Stefano Pioli has instituted a set of tactics and players that haven’t proven very effective, although the lack of talent in the squad hasn’t helped. And the players themselves have been bad: not a single member of the team has been good in every match. Realistically, though, it’s a combination of these things, which means there isn’t a single, simple solution.

So how does one loosen such a Gordian knot? There are any number of options: pressure the DVs until they sell the club or fire Corvino and/or Pioli; force ourselves to be patient while the various young and ostensibly talented players on the roster mature, improve, and demonstrate their usefulness; acknowledge that Kurt Hamrin and Giancarlo Antognoni and Gabriel Batistuta aren’t going to show up in this team again, and that it’s time to lower our expectations because, due to the various complexities of modern football, the Viola will be a mid-table, competing-for-the-Europa-League side for the foreseeable future.

Or, if you’re more pragmatic, what’s the fix? What’s the cure for the sickness? In this case, it’s probably not drugs (ed. note: Viola Nation doesn’t condone the use of drugs). In fact, it’s not really anything we, as fans, can do. We don’t have the power to tell the DVs how much to spend, to tell Corvino whom to buy and whom to sell, to tell Pioli what lineups and tactics he should use. We. Just. Don’t. Have. Any. Control.

I know I’ve talked about it before, but being a fan means surrendering your agency to a larger entity that cares about your wants and needs as a tertiary function if it cares about them at all. The only solution is to take a walk. Call your mom. Read a book. Do something else that helps you regain your agency in the other parts of your life. Because the only medicine for Fiorentina fans right now is to wait until it gets better (which it might not!) and suffer.

Latest news

The January mercato ended this past week, and you know that Pantaleo Corvino stayed busy. The first addition was French midfielder Bryan Dabo. Learn more here.

Another promising youngster followed Jan Mlakar out the door. Ianis Hagi has returned to Romania after some pretty shameful treatment in Florence.

The biggest deal, though, was a swap that sent Khouma Babacar to Sassuolo with Diego Falcinelli and €10 million. Here is our report/elegy on the exit of Fiorentina’s longest-tenured player.

Carlos Sánchez left on loan to Espanyol in search of playing time ahead of the World Cup, although we’re not quite as sad about that.

Oh yeah, there was also a derby against Bologna, and it was about as wild a match as Fiorentina have played all year. Here is our full coverage.

Must read

If all these transfers have your head spinning, we’ve got a nice, neat recap of the whole thing.

We all know that statistics lie and stuff, but it sure looks like Stefano Pioli isn’t solely responsible for this toothless attack. Good thing the club just ditched a productive striker.

The fans and the Della Valles are at loggerheads yet again, and it’s as ugly as it’s ever been.

Comment of the week

Drew Price is amped up about Falcinelli’s introductory press conference and is seriously enthusiastic about the rest of the season. Seriously.

That’s it for this week, folks. Try to eat more green vegetables.