Monday, January 28, 2008

Winning Ugly

Normally, as a follower of Fiorentina, I have to content myself with playing nice football but losing. Indeed, it has become something of a philosophy at the Tuscan club. But, of late, they seem to be betraying that tradition.

The last few matches I have watched have seen the Viola see off Empoli, Torino and Parma without ever playing well. The exciting football of early months seems a long way off. However, it has produced the wins.

This could be a sign of a number of things. 1) We have been lucky - a couple of dubious penalties were included in these victories. 2) Prandelli's tactical astuteness - we were struggling in the run-up to Christmas but appear to have turned it round. 3) The team is maturing into one which takes its chances when they come along.

I like to go for the third option which was certainly the case on Sunday. Empoli had a lot of pressure but we had the ball in the net FIVE times (three ruled out for offside - probably all rightly so). And Mutu missed a sitter. Maybe catching Juve is not out of the question after all...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It seems to me that there are similar parallels between Fiorentina and Everton at the moment. All three of the points that you make could equally well apply to Everton (especially 1 & 3). Which makes it all the more appealing that both clubs should run into one another in the UEFA cup.

It's nice to see Genoa in mid-table mediocrity. I'll settle for that. However it would be nice to see a bit more of them on a Sunday afternoon. Perhaps you can drop a hint to the C5 schedulers :0)

martinobhoy said...

Winning is always the priority and then if you can win with style then all the better.

ginkers said...

Trent

You are right about the similarities, if very different styles. Here's hoping for the dream ticket!

Martino

You are quite right. Although as a Viola man we have got used to losing with style over the years. Tommy Burns anyone?