Holding our mojo on the road

By: Christopher | October 24th, 2009

fiorentina
(Yeah that’s Viola ~~man~~ ~~high schooler?~~ *midfielder* Montolivo holding(?) his junk).

Another away game, another opportunity to list a dismal sequence of statistics regarding our recent history of away games. For now I’ll just leave it at we haven’t beat the Viola since 01. The progression of Fiorentina’s quality since doesn’t seem to help our chances of breaking the spell either. Fiorentina have shown this year that they are a consistent force to be contended with. After multiple games in which they won despite being the underdog I found myself asking, ‘are they for real?’ As you can guess, this question was answered after sloshing Liverpool in the CL group stages. Yeah Liverpool is terrible right now, but this was before Torres recent injury, although he mine as well have not started that game because Viola standout CB Dainelli made him a ghost. To quote Neil (Since Neil’s internet is down and he wanted to write about Fiorentina) from our ongoing football (and philosophic (we’re both philosophy students) email correspondence, “Quite frankly, it’s the model Napoli should aspire to.” I think this is absolutely correct. Prandelli’s done it just right, from being open to player positions and finding Vargas’ best, to developing Jovetic, and in general finding consistency. I’m going to let my laziness override my desire to not appear like a conceited asshole, and quote myself from the email correspondence. rbc-sports “The thing I’m most impressed with about Fiorentina is the management of Jovetic. What a superb young player. Prandelli gave him almost 30 appearances last season which I believe was second only to Pato (who is even a bit older) in terms of youngsters getting starting roles. And he got a lot of criticism as Jovetic was clearly raw in form, and only managed something like two goals. Yet the persistence was amazing and now so is the outcome… All of these rumors of big club offers for him omit an ‘I told you so.’ I just think a lot of clubs are too impatient, and would rather promote the urgency of goalscoring through constant competition and cycling of the strikers rather than cultivating talent and building confidence.” You could say that this sort of cultivation of youngsters is not as available of an option for the top dog clubs, but for our type of clubs I think patience is a virtue when it comes to giving players time to develop… they may not stick around forever (hopefully Hamsik enjoys his Napoli love / ability to speed on the streets enough so he doesn’t leave). Think of that certain young man that left over the summer, Santacroce keeping the bench warm as ever until Donadoni gets desperate and puts him in a sudden intense game where he injures that lame muscle in your knee that keeps you out for extensive periods of time. Anyway, back to the game at hand….

Lineups:

Fiorentina: Frey; Comotto, Gamberini, Dainelli (D), Gobbi; Zanetti, Montolivo; Santana, Jovetic, Vargas; Gilardino

Notes: Still not sure which is better, Jo Jo starting or Mutu being on the bench.
“Who will play? I still haven’t decided,” Prandelli declared.
I guess what is most scary is what is going to happen. Jovetic is going to start from a fresh rest off Fiorentina’s Budapest match, and Mutu, being in that very very deadly form that he migrates too when he is not on the injury list, will likely come on to the field at a later time. The good news? Dainelli may not be fit enough to start, and Kroldrup may have to take his place.

Napoli: (3-4-3): Iezzo, Grava (/Campagnaro), Rinaudo, Contini; Maggio, Pazienza, Gargano, Hamsik; Aronica, Quagliarella, Lavezzi

“The important thing is that people have seen my mentality. Napoli will fight until the 95th minute. And I will guarantee you this myself.”

“I spoke to the lads very clearly – the only way I know how to communicate – and they must start believing Napoli have a soul and an identity wherever they are.”

We like your style Mazzarri.

gennaro_iezzo_uscita

Notes: This lineup could go a lot of different ways but this does seem most probably, hopefully Campagnaro will make it back. It will be an interesting game for Iezzo first start of the season- with Vargas- Mutu- Gila in front of his net (and hopefully Grava- Rinaudo-Contini in front of them) Still trying to see what Mazzarri sees in Pazienza, but I’ll shut up and be open minded and try to see what he can offer in the new system.

Prediction: I’m going to throw my balls out on the chop block for this one and predict a 3-1 victory for us. I don’t know why, it doesn’t seem probable, seeing as I spent most of the initial part of the post praising Fiorentina it doesn’t make much sense, but I just have that feeling (could have been all the alcohol last night).

Forza Napoli!!