Daryl's Notebook: What I learned from Raffaele Palladino's Fiorentina
Vincenzo Italiano had taken them to new heights, but can Raffaele Palladino take Fiorentina one step further?
Two consecutive UEFA Conference League finals and a Coppa Italia final in three consecutive seasons. Vincenzo Italiano arrived in Firenze, took Fiorentina by storm, and led them through one of the most successful periods in the club’s history. When he left for Bologna, the only thing that was missing for Italiano and Fiorentina was a trophy because, unfortunately, they lost all three finals that they played in. There was a sense of unfulfillment with Italiano’s tenure as he was tempted by Champions League football in Emilia-Romagna.
In come Raffaele Palladino, who only just retired as a player in 2019 and immediately took on coaching at AC Monza, a club who were looking to push for a place in the Serie A under the management of…Silvio Berlusconi. When Monza eventually reached the top flight, Palladino was still the club’s U19 head coach, but a struggling period under Giovanni Stroppa gave him his first chance at managing a senior team and Palladino did not look out of place. Not only did he steer them away from the relegation zone, but his Monza side also finished comfortably in mid-table during both seasons under his management.
Now tasked with taking Fiorentina one step further and using the foundations that Italiano had laid out, Palladino is doing exactly that. Twelve games into the Serie A season and Fiorentina are currently third on the table, one point off the leader Napoli, while also registering 7 wins and a single loss. They are also doing quite well in the Conference League with 2 wins and a surprise loss to APOEL Nicosia, which puts them in 8th, just enough for a spot straight through to the round of 16. So, what has Palladino done to get Fiorentina firing? Let’s find out!
Lineup
At Fiorentina, there have been instances of Palladino reverting back to the 3-4-2-1 formation that he used at Monza, but his main preference is still the 4-2-3-1 with two flying wings. The arrival of David de Gea has subsequently helps Fiorentina look more solid in goal, even though Pietro Terraccino is not a bad backup option having played fairly frequently in the two seasons under Italiano. At the heart of the defence is two Fiorentina academy graduates in captain Luca Ranieri and Pietro Comuzzo while the marauding full-backs duo Robin Gosens and Dodô provides the width from the back. Comuzzo is definitely one of the players to track for this season as he has managed to make a step up from a youth prospect last season to now a regular starter at right centre-back for Palladino.
Two new summer signings form the double pivot for Fiorentina as both Edoardo Bove and Yacine Adli arrived on loan from AS Roma and AC Milan respectively. At times, Amir Richardson, Danilo Cataldi, and Rolando Mandragora can also be used as the central midfielders, with Palladino prefers to use Bove, Adli, and Richardson more often. Riccardo Sottil retains his position as the main left winger for the team while Palladino brings with him Andrea Colpani from Monza to fill a similar role on the right. On the bench, they also have the likes of Fabiano Parisi and Jonathan Ikoné, who are both capable of stepping into the winger positions when needed. Playing as a #10 has mainly been Lucas Beltrán as he occupies the roles of both an advanced playmaker and a second striker behind Moise Kean. When fit, it is also possible to see the combination between Albert Guðmundsson as the #10 and Christian Kouamé as the #9 up top leading the attack for Fiorentina.
Fiorentina 3-1 Hellas Verona
Interesting to note that there was a switch in tempo when Fiorentina had the ball. If they had the ball at the back, they were not afraid to circulate the ball among the defenders and midfielders and looked to play slightly slow. But once they found a space in between the lines to make passes into or one of the two centre-backs sent the ball long, the attackers immediately increased the tempo by running at the opposition’s defence. The aim was not allowing the opposition time to regroup once their high/mid-block got compromised. Embracing the chaos, basically.
While their preference was to play short passes, both centre-backs Ranieri and Comuzzo were not afraid of playing the ball long. The target was the space in behind the opposition’s full-backs, where Fiorentina’s full-backs and wingers would look to exploit using runs in behind with the intention of receiving the ball without pressure and making runs towards the byline. By doing so, they also looked to drag the whole team forward as the midfielders and attackers arriving late at the penalty box.
No special sauce with their build-up phase as at least one full-back stayed deep and the centre-backs looked to control the ball for most of the time. But the double pivot of Bove and Adli played a crucial role in how they played out from the back. The aim was to create a 3+1 shape when playing out from the back, which gave Fiorentina the numerical superiority and a free passing outlet who could also carry the ball forward.
While Adli occasionally dropped to the left-hand side of the centre-backs to allow left-back Gosens to stay higher, Bove looked to sit inside pockets of space and in the right half-space to receive the ball, where he was able to create passing triangles with the wide players to progress the ball through the lines. Both players were very good passers and had the technical ability to escape pressure from the opposition, where they were able to play the ball into spaces that the attackers could receive. Besides from staying deep to dictate the play, Adli could also make forward runs and act as a late arriver in the box to be at the end of crosses.
At times, it was possible to observe Beltrán dropping in between the lines to receive passes instead of staying forward to support Kean up top. This is interesting to me because I normally know Beltrán to be more of a #9, but seeing Palladino using the Argentine in between the lines like this means Beltrán can help the midfielders with progressing the ball while still providing a goal-scoring outlet alongside Kean.
There was also a hint of inverted full-backs being used as Dodô sometimes stayed a bit more central than usual, which allowed the centre-backs to find Colpani on the right through a long pass. Since both Colpani and Sottil were capable of taking defenders on and getting past them, allowing the centre-backs to directly find the wingers helped Fiorentina progress the ball quicker while also allowed the full-back to be a late runner into the box.
Out of possession, Fiorentina showed that they could be aggressive by pressing high up the pitch and chase the opposition down inside their own half. At times, this forced Hellas Verona defenders and midfielders to clear the ball under pressure, which the host used to regain possession, usually inside the middle third of the pitch. However, entering the second half, Palladino’s side began to sit a bit deeper and form a 4-4-2 mid-block which forced Hellas Verona to play the ball wide. Again, pretty conventional stuff nowadays.
Lecce 0-6 Fiorentina
This match was played back when Guðmundsson was still fit as he paired up with Kean up top, which sounds like a fascinating scenario considering both players’ form when they were both fit. Besides the inclusion of the Icelandic and Danilo Cataldi stepping into central midfield, allowing Bove to move out wide and pushing Sottil to the bench, there were no other noticeable changes to Fiorentina’s lineup compared to how they started against Hellas Verona just before the international break.
Well…I spoke too soon. Guðmundsson played for 6 minutes, then came off for Beltrán, and I barely saw anything from the Icelandic. Maybe I will catch a glimpse of him in another match.
Both central midfielders Cataldi and Adli looked super good after 20 minutes of the first half. Similar to how Bove and Adli operated against Hellas Verona, they looked very active when the team tried to play out from the back, dropping to the sides of the centre-backs to create a back three or finding themselves in pockets of space to help the team played through Lecce’s lines of defence. The only thing here was, Lecce’s midfield looked a bit out of depth when they defended in their 4-4-2 mid-block, which meant Cataldi and Adli sometimes found themselves in acres of spaces to receive the ball, make a turn to face forward, then make a pass to one of the attackers inside the final third. That ended up helping the double pivot, actually, especially Adli who was able to receive the ball and carry it forward all by himself.
This was more so a change for this specific match, but it was interesting to see Fiorentina diverted slightly from defending a 4-4-2 when they dropped back to a mid-block. Knowing Lecce’s left-back Antonino Gallo preferred to make overlapping runs, Fiorentina had Colpani tracking Gallo on the right and sometimes the Italian would drop deeper than the rest of the midfield.
Fiorentina’s pressing plan seemed to rely quite heavily on man-marking the opposition inside the middle third and close the ball carrier down as quick as possible. They aimed to force mistakes or turnovers that allowed them to start a quick counter-attack, which they did on a few occasions, like Kialonda Gaspar’s risky backpass to Wladimiro Falcone near the end of the first half.
Fiorentina 2-1 Milan
Another chance to watch Guðmundsson playing before he got injured and I am not complaining! Also interesting to see Fiorentina started with the midfield quartet of Adli, Cataldi, and Bove. Usually, I would expect Adli to fill in that #10/left winger positions but the early minutes proved me wrong by seeing Adli dropping next to the centre-backs to receive the ball and created a 3+1 situation while Bove pushed further forward.
Milan tried to play a bit slow and calm in an attempt to find spaces in between Fiorentina’s defensive lines, but the host also showed that they could be patient with their pressing and resisted the temptation of jumping to close down one of Milan’s defenders. This was even when both Fikayo Tomori and Matteo Gabbia had control of the ball on the halfway line and pushed Fiorentina’s defensive block back inside their own half.
Fiorentina’s wide attacks and dribbles were causing Milan a lot of troubles during the first 25 minutes of the match. The away side was forced to commit a few fouls right on the edge of the box and might have been a bit lucky that Fiorentina did not capitalise on any of the free-kick situations so far.
Blimey…How good was Adli. I have already praised him in previous matches for his playmaking ability and his tendency to drop deep to take the ball from the centre-backs and send it forward to the attackers. But he showed his ability to join the attack in this match by taking on Milan’s defenders and scored a good goal from the edge of the box.
Have not mentioned Kean’s role yet so I thought I might bring it up here considering how good he was against Milan. As a traditional #9, it was slightly rare to see Kean dropping deep to contribute to the team’s build-up play since it was Bove and Guðmundsson (and Beltrán for the other matches)’s responsibility. Instead, Kean looked to stay inside the channels and make runs in behind Milan’s defensive line whenever a long pass or through ball was played to him. This pushed Milan’s defence back and created space in between the lines for his teammates to move into and progress into the final third. While it helped Kean to get into good goal-scoring positions, it also resulted in him being caught offside more often than not.
This game slowly turned into a game of individual performances as time went on, with Adli, Kean, and de Gea standing out significantly. That is not to say the rest of the team was bad or average because everyone looked like they worked hard to keep Milan at bay while also hitting them on the counter. But the three aforementioned names just took the game by storm and contributed a lot more to Fiorentina’s game.
Probably the thing that stood out the most about Fiorentina’s style from this match, besides from their counter-attacks, was their mid/low block. A simple 4-4-2, still with a wide midfielder following the opposition’s full-back and the two defensive lines staying close to each other, but the players remained very disciplined and stayed patient to wait for the right time to overwhelm Milan and regain possession.
Wrapping up
Even though I only watched three Fiorentina matches (though I did plan to watch a couple more), it was definitely a breath of fresh air watching how Palladino implemented his style onto a solid foundation that Italiano had laid out in the previous two seasons. From what I read, it seemed as though Palladino struggled a bit early on as he tried to implement a 3-at-the-back system that was similar to the formation that he used at Monza. But now, with a 4-2-3-1 and a lot of rotations on the field, Fiorentina and Palladino have found the perfect formation that can bring the best out of the players while also reflecting the style that Palladino wants to bring to Firenze.
A style that focuses heavily on playing out from the back and makes good use of the technicality of midfielders like Yacine Adli, Danilo Cataldi, Amir Richardson, and Edoardo Bove, by asking them to be in pockets of space to receive the ball and using passes to find wide players. A style that asks for hard work from the wide players to stretch the opposition’s defensive shape and capitalise the channels to get full backs and wingers to the byline for crosses into the box. A style that gives the centre-backs more control of the ball and encourages long passes from the back to find wingers and strikers running in behind. A style that brings back a traditional #9 in Moise Kean and allows him to play in a Pippo Inzaghi-esque role to put the opposition’s defenders on alert most of the time and makes runs in behind to be in good goal-scoring positions.
Out of possession, Palladino’s style looks for discipline and hard work to form a 4-4-2 mid-block that looks to guide the opposition wide and prevent passes that go through the central area. A style that relies on overloads and numerical superiority to regain possession in wide areas. A style that requires patience to trigger the team’s press at the right time instead of chasing down the opposition inside of their own defensive third. A style that also encourages long shots from the opposition and brings the best shot-stopping ability out of a legendary keeper like David de Gea. A style that, after 13 matches, only allows 10 goals, the second-least in Serie A.
And that, is what I learned from Raffaele Palladino’s Fiorentina after 13 matches this season. They are, along with Aberdeen, definitely one of the teams to follow for the remainder of this season as they build a title challenging campaign.