(Why yes, that large man on our left is 16 years old!)
That was sort of a typical Coppa Italia match, I guess -- neither team played more than two or three first-choice players, and it was a pretty drab affair, for the most part. Chievo really shouldn't have had any goals, but since Avramov (bless his heart) is pretty crap, they got two, and Fiorentina had to work way too hard to get through. They got a lot better in the second half, though, thanks in part to the arrival of Monty and Marchionni (he's back!), and what with Mutu being in ridiculous form this week and Babacar scoring on his debut, things worked out just fine.

Fiorentina 3-2 Chievo [Gazzetta pagelle|ratings table|highlights]
Marcatori: Granoche 7’, Mutu 35’, Bentivoglio 37’ pt, Babacar 30’, Mutu 32’ st

Fiorentina (4-2-3-1): Avramov Comotto Natali Kroldrup Pasqual Gobbi Donadel De Silvestri (Marchionni dal 10’ st) Santana (Montolivo dal 10’ st) Mutu Babacar (Carraro dal 36’ st).
Chievo (4-3-1-2): Squizzi Frey Mandelli Morero Mantovani Bentivoglio (Sardo dal 38’ st) Iori Ariatti Hanine (Pinzi dal 13’ st) Granoche (Abbruscato dal 26’ st) De Paula.


While the match was going on, Adem Ljajic was having his medical with the fiercest face possible, and today he signed a five-year contract with a starting salary thought to be about €500,000/season and was presented to the press.


So, to sum up: Nacho and Dainelli are gone, Felipe's here, Adem has arrived for about €6 million (though he's got to go back to Belgrade tonight, so his presence on Sunday seems unlikely), and Mario Bolatti's move from Porto for about €6.5 million is expected to be made official in a matter of hours. Midfielders! Midfielders for everyone!

While Corvino is working his magic, the boys are getting ready to face Bologna on Sunday, possibly with both Vargas and Gambit back in the team. \o/ FWIW, according to calciomercato, now that Dainelli's gone, tthe team have officially elected Jorgy captain, with Monty as his vice (sorry, Seb).

(Oh, Nacho.)
If you ignore the pair of stupid sendings off (one more stupid than the other) and the spectacularly awful work by both linesmen, that was a pretty great match. Bari are incredibly tactical and well-drilled and are very hard to play against, but Fiorentina handled them awfully well, didn't panic when they went behind early, and really deserved the three points. Plus, the fact that la Viola had arguably only four first-choice players on the pitch made their performance even more impressive, particularly the first 25 minutes, which looked almost perfect to me.

In individual news, Monty continues to be amazing, Mutu was useful for the second match in a row, Donadel got another card, and Nacho is a mess. So what else is new?

Fiorentina 2-1 Bari [highlights|Gazzetta pagelle|ratings table]
reti: 25' pt Barreto, 38' pt Mutu, 28' st Castillo
espulsi: 12' st Almiron, 34' st Castillo

Fiorentina: Frey, De Silvestri, Kroldrup, Felipe, Pasqual, Donadel (25' st Castillo) , Montolivo, Santana, Mutu (30' st Gobbi), Jorgesen, Gilardino.
Bari: Gillet, A. Masiello, Ranocchia ( 6' st Belmonte ), Bonucci, Parisi, Alvarez, Donati, Almiron, Rivas (14' st Gazzi), Meggiorini, Barreto (30' st Kamatà).


Up next is a midweek cup match against Chievo, followed by a visit from Bologna, who have sent Osvi out on loan, so at least he won't score again. Donadel is suspended for the Bologna match and everyone else is hurt; Corvino is desperately trying to find a midfielder, but it's anyone's guess whether he'll arrive in time to help with either match.

(Yeah, it was that kind of day.)
Well, that was awesome! Rather than a Tuscan derby, La Viola apparently mistook the match for a CL game against a Hungarian team and, despite having less than 40% possession in the first 30 minutes (and only 42% for the match), proceeded to beat the crap out of them without even looking that sharp. Gila was Gila, Mutu, after months out, was still Mutu, New Guy fit in just fine, Santana had more fun that he's had on the pitch in years, and Seb was RIDICULOUS, even without having much to do -- all in all, a pretty good way to start 2010, particularly with four first-choice players out injured.

Siena 1-5 Fiorentina [highlights|Gazzetta pagelle|ratings table]
Kroldrup (5), Santana (28), Gilardino (36, 66), Mutu (79), Maccarone (pen 84)

SIENA: Curci; Rosi, Cribari, Brandao, Del Grosso; Vergassola, Codrea, Jarolim (1'st Jajalo); Reginaldo (9'st Calaiò), Paolucci (25'st Ekdal), Maccarone.
FIORENTINA: Frey; Comotto, Kroldrup, Felipe (19'st Natali), Pasqual (6'st Gobbi); Montolivo, Donadel (6'st Jorgensen); Santana, Mutu, Vargas; Gilardino.


Up next are Bari at home; Comotto is suspended, and god only knows if any of the injured masses will be back or not.

(Fail, fail, fail.)
Half the team is sick or hurt, and the ones who are healthy are exhausted (apart from Nacho, who just sucks), all of which adds up to getting beat by Chivo, who are quietly having a really good season. I didn't see the match and don't want to download it to see Comotto be shit, but it sounds like everyone who's not Santana or Monty had a match to forget -- thank god the break is coming up, it's just a pity they have to play Milan first.

CHIEVO VERONA 2-1 FIORENTINA [highlights|Gazzetta pagelle|ratings table]
Montolivo 4; Pinzi 12, Sardo 23

Chievo Verona: Sorrentino; Sardo (Malagò 33), Morero, Yepes, Mantovani; Luciano, Rigoni, Ariatti (Mandelli 89), Pinzi; Pellissier, Abbruscato (Granoche 74).
Fiorentina : Avramov; Comotto (Castillo 52), Kroldrup, Dainelli, Pasqual, Donadel (De Silvestri 33) Montolivo Marchionni (Jorgensen 83). Santana, Vargas; Gilardino.


Home to Milan next weekend, then two weeks of napping, and getting fit. Of the injured/sick/dead tired masses, Cesare expects to get only Gobbi and Seb back for Milan -- no Jojo, no Mutu, no CZ, no Gambero. Blerg.

("Be vewy, vewy quiet, we're sneaking up on Europe.")
*throws purple confetti everywhere* Well, that wasn't so bad, huh? The second-highest point total for any team in the group stage, the second-most goals scored, five wins in a row after the opening loss to Lyon, and a finish that avoids Barca, Real, Manchester United, Chelsea, and Arsenal. Sweet.

And the ending was fantastic -- going to Liverpool with half a team and fighting to the death to get a win is something last year's team wouldn't have been able to do, no matter how badly they wanted it. They're big boys now, though, Gila is a monster (Gila Monster! Geddit?) and, in Europe at least, it really seems like they can beat anyone.

Liverpool 1-2 Fiorentina [extended highlights|return to Florence|Gazzetta pagelle|ratings table]
Benayoun 43, Jorgensen 63, Gilardino 90

Liverpool: Cavalieri; Darby, Skrtel, Agger, Insua; Aquilani (Pacheco), Mascherano (Aurelio); Benayoun, Gerrard, Dossena; Kuyt (Torres)
Fiorentina: Frey; Commotto, Natali, Kroldrup, Pasqual; Donadel, Montolivio; Jorgensen (26' st Vargas), Santana (26' st Marchionni), De Silvestri (38' st Nacho); Gilardino


The draw is on the 18th, and Fiorentina will get Bayern, CSKA Moscow, Porto, Olympiakos, or Kuzi, I mean Stuttgart. Before that, though, they've got to go to Chievo, with Seb newly added to the injury list. Check your email, people, Cesare may have to call some of us up for the match.

(CZ is going to stay right where he is, thanks.)
So, it turns out everyone forgot how to defend over the international break. There's never a good time for that, but this timing is particularly dire -- Lyon must have been laughing themselves sick watching that display. UGH. Gila was great, Vargas was pretty good, and everyone else ranged between awful and ok, which unfortunately wasn't enough to get it done yesterday. Cesare is amazingly calm about the whole thing, saying the team will learn from it and move on, while Gila showed great strength in not calling out the whole defense and instead just saying Parma deserved to win. They're saints, the both of them.

Fiorentina 2 - 3 Parma [full highlights|Gazzetta pagelle|ratings table]
Goals: Gilardino 25, 62 (F), Amoruso 30 (P), Bojinov 52 (P), Lanzafame 67 (P)
Sent off: Donadel 85 (F)


Next up, as you may have heard, is a trip to visit from Lyon on Tuesday. No Jojo, no Mutu, no Gambit, according to Cesare, though he expects Krol to have recovered from his illness in time to play. The spam will definitely be late because of American Thanksgiving -- I apologize and will get it up as quick as I can, between the traveling and the family and the face-stuffing.

(Slightly smug Vargas is loved.)
Certainly not the most exciting of games but, given the insane injury issues with which Fiorentina are dealing (Udine have some of their own, it was a bit of a walking wounded situation), the result was fantastic, and it was cool to see the boys in purple buckle down and just battle. They went into the game without Mutu, Jojo, Gambit, CZ and Dainelli and with Jorgy less than fit, and then proceeded to lose Santana and, eventually, LDS to injury, but instead of moaning and feeling sorry for themselves, they just worked their tails off and got it done. It was all rather boring, but still awesome.

Udinese 0 - 1 Fiorentina [full highlights|Gazzetta pagelle|ratings table]
Vargas 83 (F)

Udinese: Handanovic; Basta, Zapata, Coda, Pasquale; Inler, D'Agostino (Sammarco 70), Asamoah; Lodi (Romero 82), Pepe (Corradi 37), Di Natale
Fiorentina: Frey; De Silvestri (Castillo 56), Kroldrup, Natali, Gobbi; Donadel, Montolivo; Marchionni, Santana (Comotto 40), Vargas; Gilardino


After the break Parma will come to town, but until then people will rest and try to heal up, while Gila, Marchionni and Monty go to Azzurri camp, and Krol and Jorgy hang with their Denmark teammates. LDS was going to be with the U21s, but it seems like he'll have to pull out now.

Avramov, Comotto, Dainelli, Donadel, Frey, Gamberini, Gilardino, Gobbi, Jorgensen, Jovetic, Kroldrup, Marchionni, Montolivo, Mutu, Natali, Pasqual, Santana, Seculin e Vargas.

Lookie there, Mutu made it! He went through a full training session today, is fine and, as you'd expect, desperately wants to play. (Jojo: *is unmoved*) LDS also trained with the team today but was still left out due to his injury, as was Nacho. Additionally, CZ is suspended, so it looks like we'll have Donadel with Monty in his place.

The only other actual news that's come out in the last week or so (apart from all the stories about the Della Valles missing the Cagliari match and still being mad at the tifosi for daring to doubt them) is that Mutu filed his appeal last Friday, though for some reason it really only hit the English-language press yesterday.

Also, just so everyone knows, in the absence of Melo, Monty is getting all naughty in the midfield -- he's got two cards in the first three matches, which is a very impressive start for Mr. Serene.

( And Seb got another award. Looking normal AGAIN.Collapse )

•Gila started, played an hour, and assisted on Iaquinta's goal in the Azzurri's 2-0 win over Bulgaria while, elsewhere in the group, Jojo was busy playing all of the 1-1 draw with Cyprus which eliminated Montenegro from WC qualifying. Vargas was suspended because of accumulated yellow cards and was back in Florence while Peru were losing 3-1 to Venezuela, but Jorgy started again for Denmark, playing an hour in their 1-1 draw with Albania (Krol watched from the bench again). In terms of the kiddies, Seclin, Mazuch and Gulan all started and played all 90 minutes for their U21 teams, and all three teams won. Woo hoo, babies!

•According to the results of Mutu's tests, he's only going to be out about 10 days from this past Monday, which would theoretically see him miss only the Cagliari and Lyon matches. Away from the pitch, he's got five days left to appeal TAS's decision, and has for some reason released an open letter to Chelsea, shocking the world by saying he's not got the €17 million-plus he's supposed to pay, but thinks maybe donations to several charities working with kids who have drug problems would be a good solution. There are also dubious stories coming out of Romania every 10 minutes or so about some sort of drama related to him or his agents or his endless possible future destinations; I'm sure anyone who's interested in reading those knows where to find them.

•Cesare is getting really sick of coaching one of the few Serie A clubs in Italy without a dedicated training center, and would really like that situation to be corrected. Oh, and also? "Nothing is forever," people. He's just sayin' -- he might not die of old age wearing purple, mmmkay? Especially if there's no damn training center!

•In yesterday's friendly (these guys started, and Babacar scored again), Nacho scored his first two goals for Fiorentina and then, for the love of god, proceeded to GET HURT AGAIN. It's a mere sprained ankle this time, but it's nevertheless assumed he'll miss both matches this week. Sigh.

•In light of Chelsea's transfer ban for improper handling of the signing of a French youth player, the English press are suddenly very interested in Fiorentina's complaint about Michele Fornasier's move to Manchester United, and UEFA have confirmed that they've heard from Fiorentina and are awaiting documentation from the club.

•In case anyone was concerned that rugby and football on the same day would destroy the Franchi turf once and for all, the Azzurri rugby match scheduled for November 21 in Florence (as is the Viola match against Parma) has been moved to Udine. Whew.

•Seb and Renato Buso -- the guy who coached the Scudetto-winning babies and is now in charge of the Primavera team -- got awards earlier this week. ( Seb got got all dressed up for it.Collapse )

•The big friendly against PSG is tonight, and will be preceded by the kit presentation, something that was pushed back an hour because it's been so damn hot in Florence this week. Here's the probable lineup for the match -- no Monty cos he's not fit, and no Nacho even if he was fit, because he's broken already, had surgery this morning, and will be out 2-3 weeks. Super.

•Kuzi gave a fluffy interview to the official site yesterday [video] in which he revealed that he wants to play in the World Cup, and said he likes the people of Cortina because they're chill like the Swiss, and not like the rest of those crazy, emotional Italians. Gila, also, has revealed that he wants to play in the World Cup -- these are hard-hitting interviews, people! (And he didn't rip Amauri at all, despite the headlines that C4 and Goal.com put with their stories.)

•Donadel also had a press chat earlier this week, in which he said that there's "a pinch of magic" to this Fiorentina team. That just gave me chills to type -- from his mouth to whatever god's ears.

•It's being reported (again) that Babacar and Agyei (notice the spelling change -- it appears the fan sites were all spelling his name wrong before, we'll see if this version lasts) have both signed their first professional contracts; both are said to be five-year deals.

( Transfer stuff.Collapse )

ETA: Here's Fiorentina's Serie A schedule for 2009-2010; they open up against those jerks from Bologna.

•Castillo was presented yesterday [video]. He's taken #9 (as an Argie, he said he loves Batigol) and is enormously excited, saying it's "an honor to wear this jersey," and that he knows his role. What's most awesome about him, though, is that his nickname is Nacho, something that, without hours of his arrival, had already resulted in hands down the best song of any Fiorentina player. Best. Fans. EVER.

•The other news that came out of Nacho's presentation was Corvino's announcement that Pasqual has signed a three-year extension. On paper, he'll now be purple through 2012. Woo hoo!

•In other training camp news from yesterday, Gila and Gambit made it back in time for the second session [video evidence], Dainelli's wife and little boy came to visit (AW!), and Marchionni has been de-Juve-ified by jumping with the fans when they sang at him. Thank goodness.

•Jojo gave an interview to a Fiorentina paper earlier this week, in which he said he can play in any of the three spots behind Gila, opined that Fiorentina need to buy some more players, and confessed that he's got a secret objective for the season that "I prefer not to talk about." &hearts

•Mutu was in the press room Monday [video], where he had a lot to say. Among many other things, he said he doesn't understand why people are being so negative because he thinks the team is very strong despite the loss of Melo, that he hasn't talked to Cesare yet about where he'll play in the three behind Gila but is cool with whatever, and agreed with Corvino's high rating of the Viola attack (the Panda gave them an 8 out of 10).

•As evidenced by his presence at Nacho's presentation, Corvino did not go to Spain or Portugal on Monday, as has been rumored. He said yesterday that he was going back to Florence, not to Spain; for what it's worth, the Spanish press disagree, and say he's got a midweek meeting lined up with Real.

( Transfer stuff.Collapse )

( A few presentation pix of Nacho and his grey hairs.Collapse )