Siena 0-0 Fior; All I Want For Christmas Is A New Midfield
By: slakas | December 20th, 2011
Artur Boruc denies Gaetano D’Agostino his revenge and preserves a 0-0 tie.
The Tuscan Derby rarely fails to be a contentious affair and this season’s Siena Edition was no exception as La Viola and the squad that plays at the other Stadio Artemio Franchi struggled to a 0-0 tie in a match that should’ve been played at the start of the season, but was pushed back due to the players strike.
Both Fiorentina and Siena came into the match coming off of losses, and needing a win to try to stave off the Relegation Zone. Increasing the pressure on the match were the bad feelings that former Fiorentina player Gaetano D’agostino has professed regarding the way he was treated in Firenze.
Recap
Ref Luca Banti was kept busy as he called 29 fouls and handed out 10 yellow cards, although most watching would consider two or three of those yellow cards to be a bit harsh. Most of the statistics favored Fiorentina slightly, but Siena had the better of the chances, with an Emanuele Calaio strike hitting the woodwork in the first half and only Artuc Boruc’s heroics keeping D’agostino out of the net in the second.
Fiorentina’s best chance in the first half was a turn by Stevan Jovetic, but Siena goalie Zeljko Brkic pushed the shot aside. In the second half, Alessandro Gamberini had two shots saved.
Missing in action, once again, was any sort of a midfield for Fiorentina, despite the return of Italian National and Media Darling Riccardo Montolivo. With out of favor Houssine Kharja left home and Vargas playing forward, only Andrea Lazzari was left to join Montolivo and Valon Behrami and Lazzari failed to impress again, prompting requests for a certain Jolly Fat Man to bring presents and joy back to sad FiorentinaVille.
Report Cards
Boruc – Had no chance on the ball off the woodwork and wasn’t called on for the next hour. Saved the Viola’s Pancetta twice in the last 15 minutes, however, and was Viola Man of The Match. 7
LDS – got a knock to his leg early, but fought off the pain and had a pretty decent half from the defensive point, non existent offensively really, got knocked in the same leg early in the second half, had to be subbed 6; Romulo – rossi switched to a 3 man defense, Romulo in the midfield added spark to the attack. had some great possession, but tired a bit down the stretch. 6.5
Gamberini – solid on defense, got a header on and another shot on. 6
Natali – The rest did him some good, although he got beat once or twice. 6
Nastasic – Pasqual couldn’t go due to the elbow to the face by Schelotto, so nasty got the start at left back. totally solid on defense, maybe a bit out of place moving forward, had no continuity with Lazzari or Vargas, 6.5
Behrami – maybe the loneliest guy in Serie A. he’s out there with a couple of ghosts and yet he fights and fights and fights all match. 6.5
Montolivo – invisible early, indecisive on the ball late, just take your husband and go 4.5
Lazzari – only involvement in the first half was to get in Vargas’ way. second half he managed to get in some bad passes and give aways. a back up at best, maybe not even that 4
Cerci – had a few decent runs, but never seemed part of the team, vargas crossed a prefect ball that he would’ve headed straight into the ground were it not for his defenders shoulder. subbed for gilardino 4.5; Gilardino – didn’t do much, but he didn’t get much service either, so there you go n/a
Jovetic – Striker isn’t his role any more than winger is, but he tries as hard as he can, got a great shot off before the half. once gilardino came in he looked more likely. 6.5
Rossi – this is a point I wouldn’t have expected the last coach to get. Merry Christmas Coach 7
Coaches Quotes
“In terms of physique and spirit, we have improved and I saw a less frenetic midfield,” noted Rossi.
“We still don’t move enough without the ball. I had to deal with an emergency situation today, as many players were not in good shape.
“So far I have been an inventor rather than a Coach, having to work it out game by game. I do have ideas and need to find a system that can involve as many players as possible.”
“A Coach is paid to make choices and I never look at names when I pick my players. In other occasions I substituted Gilardino, while this time I introduced him after the break. Pasqual got a knock to the head two days ago and I didn’t want to risk him.
“There will be one or two changes in January, but no transformation or signing a saviour. We’ve got to work and that is all.”
Looking Ahead
Fiorentina will get another chance at their first road win January 8th at Novara.
Union rules require seven straight days of leave, so players will be off until late next week.
The Transfer window opens January 1st. Hopefully some players will be leaving through it (rikita, kharja) and some others coming into the squad.
Some Related Fiorentina Posts:
- Fior 0-0 AC Milan; And It’s Gonna Get Better
- Fior 1-0 Genoa; Not One Of Us
- Cesena 0-0 Fior; Bad
- Fior 2-2 Atalanta; Winter Wonderland
- Juve 2-1 Fior; Hot Hot Hot
Category: Team News
Comments | Add your comment
-
Well many of those players we developed ourselves, or were still emerging talents when arriving to Florence. Exceptions being the likes of Chiesa, Mijatovic, and, especially, Nuno Gomes.
-
Submitted prematurely.
Anyway, Nuno Gomes in Euro 2000 was basically what Arshavin was in Euro 2008. Awesome buy, that.
I sure hope one big name will grace our midfield come January, and if we don’t buy anything that’s surely bad. However, if we’re going to be half-assed about it and buy some questionable, mediocre players then might as well don’t do it. We have the likes of Kharja and Munari already, why add more of the same quality. If we’re going to commit more to the youngsters, by all means don’t spend.
Well not really, but that’s a fair bargain.
-
I believe there should be a certain proportion between the developed and developing stars in a team. Take Barca for example. Aside from developing players like Messi, Xavi or Iniesta, they also spend big for Villa, Sanchez, Mascherano and Fabregas. Right now, it seems we lack incentive to lure big names. Well, we may as well don’t have enough money, I don’t know.
-
the cognigni quote could also be a corvino ploy
-
So this Hezagy, the guy I talked to rated him pretty highly, saying he’s a good stopper who will be starting on the Egyptian national team.
He’s big (6′4″, so huge by footballer standards), and is as beastly in the air as that would imply, and a good header. He’s also supposed to be a great man marker and composed on the ball except when he tries too hard to make long passes that go nowhere.
The drawback is he’s very slow. But I’d rather play a slow kid with upside than Natali.
-
reportedly it’s official that he’ll come here in june.
he’s non EU tho. someone has to go (gulan prob) -
or silva back to argie
-
Ismaily has confirmed on their website
-
What about silva? Is he going back to Argentina or what?
-
silva would probably go back this january, but FIFA regulations prohibit a player from playing on three teams in a season, so it’s almost positive he’ll leave in june.
Boca are hot for him
-
more market madness
reportedly there’s an offer from Torino for Marchionni, but his agent states that he refuses to go to Serie B.
Juve wants behrami. that’s nice, I want a buhzillion dollars and I stand a better chance of getting it than juve does of getting behrami
reportedly Cagliari is interested in Munari and would offer out of contract midfielder David Biondini
-
I like that Biondini…I hope that rumor is true!
-
Biondini would work really good with Behrami in the midfield, I’d think. I don’t get why we’re so into Hegazy, though; we’ve tried working with big, slow, aerially-authoritative centerbacks before (see Kroldrup, P. and Natali, C.), and it’s always frustrating. I’d much rather have a centerback who can keep up with a quick striker than one who can head the ball away from a big striker. Look at Barca, playing the five foot eight Mascherano at centerback and making it look good. Positionally intelligent, ball-playing, quick centerbacks seem to be a much better option than big penalty box defenders these days. Okay, ranty-rant over.
-
defenders are like gold, consider him an investment
-
Yeah but considering Gambit is staying, Nasty and Campo are still young and solid, what is Hegazy coming for?
-
Yeah, considering we have Nasty, Campo, and Gambit, it does seem sometimes like the Fat Man just saw a good deal and couldn’t resist it. It’s like something you don’t really need being sold for a third of the original price at the supermarket.
-
Corvino is starting to look like the man that goes to the supermarket for milk and eggs, and comes out buying the inflatable barbeque
-
They make inflatable barbeques? HOW DID I NOT ALREADY KNOW THIS?
-
Though to be fair, the one time he went home with the most ridiculous of that kind of deal (that is, a Polish-made inflatable corn masher) it worked out great. Not sure if it’s foresight or just luck.
-
OOT: Speaking about ball possession, this is Guardiola’s instruction to Barca B players: “I don’t want you all trying to dribble like Leo Messi – pass it, pass it and pass it again. Pass precisely, move well, pass again, pass, pass, and pass.”
“I want every move to be smart, every pass accurate – that’s how we make the difference from the rest of the teams, that’s all I want to see.”
-
reportedly velez are interested in taking Silva back, I think that would allow him to leave this winter.
as for too many defenders, I think they plan on sending out Camporese on a loan for senior squad experience, so the Egyptian may be to cover his place in Primavera
-
silva quote:
“I am at a club where I am not given the chance to play,” he told Ole. “I am 31, and for me playing regularly is important.“I do not rule out a return to Argentina, but the rules say that I can only join Velez, since I played two matches for them [this season, before joining Fiorentina].
-
I’ll only respond with: How come he couldn’t even score against Empoli?
-
I went through loads of blogs to learn and I can say that is one of the premium sources of education.
-
F$ck u! Kharja is fine not out of favor. He had thigh problem.
Read the rest of the comments
Leave a Reply
Home 
