Following the winter holidays, Fiorentina players return to Florence to work and train to continue on winning while Neto had two clean sheets before the break and that was his motivation while Serie A top scorer with 14 goals came back ready to impress again. Also the whole team was set to break the bad habit of not performing well after the International breaks. Kick off on fifth of January at the Artemio Franchi saw all achieving their goals; a clean sheet for Neto, valuable 3 points thanks to Gonzalo’s net bombing skills. The achievements however came at a very high price with Rinaudo later publically scolded like a child by ADV hurting Rossi to rule him out of Serie A for 2 month at the minimum. Fiorentina host Chievo Verona for Coppa Italia round of 16 match a few days later and with Rossi’s injury uncertainty, you could feel that something has changed rather positively with individual performances of various players reaching unexpected highs and so the purple devil Mati Fernandez was born showing skills and fire only seen before against Pescara at last season’s final match. Fiorentina won the match with Joaquin and Rebic goals and Neto added a fourth clean sheet match to his record. With Mario Gomez still on individual training program and regardless of his message to the fans, the management went hunting for a striker. Montella and players travelled to Torino and played a scoreless draw that emphasized the urgent CREDITS need of a striker if the outfit is to hold on to fourth place and advance to catch Napoli regardless of struggling Inter. The match was as dull as its highlights with only one yellow card for Roncaglia. Overall & Idividual Stats collection Half of the season at 37 points forecasts Fiorentina to outperform their last year 70 points fourth place. Also most MiQ websites have chosen Magician Borja Valero and Giuseppe Rossi in the half season top 11 team of Serie A. Ratings Slakas & ViolaNation Contributers A few days later Prade and the management came through and signed Matri from Milan on loan until the end of the season. The biggest believer in Matri was hoping that his presence in the field against Catania would open the space for December Purple Article the purple creative legs to score and such hopes were met at the half hour mark when Matri served the assist to the MiQ purple devil Fernandez. By the end of the first half, the match was as good as over with Matri scoring twice and proving the problems at Milan do not stop at Allegri. Yet again, the win was not perfect due to another Rinaudo hurting Tomovic Checking & Proofreading Slakas , MiQ the sidelines intensifying the injury crisis in Florence. Production Tuscan neighbors, Serie B team and rival Siena were next to visit the Franchi to play against Fiorentina in Coppa Italia MiQ Quarterfinals. News was just in that Manchester United player Anderson was signed on loan with an option to buy at the end of the season. The encounter was anything but easy as the rivalry took place on the field. The match saw 5 yellow cards and difficulty for Fiorentina to break through with Matri sidelined for a minor injury awaiting his next match in Serie A. Ilicic as striker came through and scored the first goal before Siena tie it up only to be decided by one German Compper stepping up his game and scoring his first Fiorentina goal and securing a Semi-Finals spot against the other FUN FACTS, OR black & white outfit. No it’s not Juventus. For the third time, the win came at a price; although Pizarro is coming back to ARE THEY? form and Devil Mati was born, Valero’s thigh was hurt during the match and had to be subbed 5 minutes before the hour mark. SERIE A Fiorentina host Genoa for the last match of the month and also the last match of fixture 21 in Serie A. Davih must have been counting the seconds for Anderson or dare I say Andow to be subbed in so he could justify his unbound love and With Valero's Absence against Genoa due to injury, Neto became affection of our only Mohawk head. The match brought memories and ghost performances of Rossi, Gomez, Valero, the only player to have played all 21 Tomovic in the first leg match between the two teams that ended 5-2 for Fiorentina. Montella showed the fans and I matches for the purple outfit. have as a fan realized something. This Fiorentina is different. Regardless of the three crucial refereeing mistakes in that one match, the 6 goal thriller that ended with 3 goals in each net was monumental in that regard. The team does not go Three players remain never subbed down even with 4 or 5 key players unavailable not to mention that Gonzalo was suspended for yellow card accumulation. in or out since the start of Serie A: Just like Mati, Compper, Ilicic and many others, Aquilani appetite was barely satisfied with his first ever hattrick. The Neto, Gonzalo and Savic. team probably played some of their finest matches with some rust here and there due to the absence of the injured. Cuadrado has beaten our yellow card The end of the month brought good news to Rossi as surgery is not required for his knee and he will continue his magnet Pizarro by getting booked 6 program for another two month before further assessments on the final rehabilitation. No surprise signings are expected times and although not deserved, by the time the transfer window closes as Tomovic seems to be healing faster than expected and Gomez’s return is set to sent off once. happen anytime while Valero should be back at Atalanta or the return match against Udinese of Coppa Italia. The team's winning formula has always consisted of Valero and Neto, JANUARY IN NUMBERS No other team player contributed in DESCRIPTION SERIE A COPPA ITALIA OVERALL Played Matches 4 2 6 all 12 wins thus far. Had Fiorentina Won Matches 2 2 4 won against Genoa then ot would be Drawn Matches 2 - 2 Neto only. Lost Matches - - - Goals Scored 7 4 11 Matri has scored twice as much in Goals Conceded 3 1 4 his debut 45 minutes with Goal Scoring Average 1.8 2 1.9 per match Goal Conceding Average 0.8 0.5 0.7 per match Fiorentina as much as he score for AC Milan in 15 appearances and his CURRENT PLAYERS STANDINGS performance was topped with an Fiorentina Rank Fourth Semi-Finals - assist. Top Rated Player Valero (6.6) Rossi 6.8 Top Goal Scorer Giuseppe Rossi (14 Goals) Rebic, Joaquin, Ilicic, Compper (1) Rossi (15) In Coppa Italia, Fiorentina have and Top Assists Borja Valero (5 Assists) Wolski, Ilicic (1) Valero (7) are bound to play three matches Highest yellow card receiver Gonzalo Rodriguez (8) Ambrosini (2) Gonzalo (8) Highest On Target Giuseppe Rossi (29 Attempts) Rossi (31) against black & white coloers but non Most Consistent Player Borja Velero Borja Valero Valero against Juventus. Fiorentina SERIE A 2013-14 - OVERVIEW Day Fixture Day Fixture HOME RECORD 1 & 20 Fiorentina vs Catania 11 & 30 Milan vs Fiorentina Played W D L For Against Diff Points CURRENT 26-Aug 2 - 1 2-Nov 0 - 2 10 6 3 1 23 15 8 21 POSITION 19-Jan 3 - 0 26-Mar - AWAY RECORD 2 & 21 Genoa vs Fiorentina 12 & 31 Fiorentina vs Sampdoria Played W D L For Against Diff Points 1-Sep 2 - 5 10-Nov 2 - 1 11 6 2 3 17 8 9 20 26-Jan 3 - 3 30-Mar - OVERALL FOURTH 3 & 22 Fiorentina vs Cagliari 13 & 32 Udinese vs Fiorentina Played W D L For Against Diff Points 15-Sep 1 - 1 24-Nov 1 - 0 21 12 5 4 40 23 17 41 RECENT FORM 1-Feb - 6-Apr - STATISTICS 4 & 23 Atalanta vs Fiorentina 14 & 33 Fiorentina vs Verona STATISTIC HOME AWAY OVERALL 22-Sep 0 - 2 2-Dec 4 - 3 Shots On Target 52 45 97 WWDWD 8-Feb - 13-Apr - Avg. Possession 61% 58% 59% TOP GOAL SCORERS 5 & 24 Inter vs Fiorentina 15 & 34 Roma vs Fiorentina Fouls Received 175 172 347 Rossi 14 26-Sep 2 - 1 8-Dec 2 - 1 Fouls Commited 120 116 236 Valero 5 15-Feb - 19-Apr - Corners 59 44 103 Vargas 4 6 & 25 Fiorentina vs Parma 16 & 35 Fiorentina vs Bologna Average Scoring 2.3 1.5 1.9 Aquilani 4 30-Sep 2 - 2 15-Dec 3 - 0 Average Conceding 1.5 0.7 1.1 Cuadrado 2 24-Feb - 27-Apr - Yellow Cards 21 25 46 Gomez 2 7 & 26 Lazio vs Fiorentina 17 & 36 Sassuolo vs Fiorentina Red Cards 2 0 2 TOP ASSISTS 6-Oct 0 - 0 22-Dec 0 - 1 SERIE A STANDINGS Valero 6 2-Mar - 4-May - RANK TEAM POINTS RECENT FORM NEXT OPP. Cuadrado 3 8 & 27 Fiorentina vs Juventus 18 & 37 Fiorentina vs Livorno 2 Roma 50 WLWWW Parma Rossi 3 20-Oct 4 - 2 6-Jan 1 - 0 3 Napoli 44 DWWDD Atalanta Pasqual 2 9-Mar - 11-May - 4 Fiorentina 41 WWDWD Cagliari Aquilani 1 9 & 28 Chievo vs Fiorentina 19 & 38 Torino vs Fiorentina 5 Internazionale 33 WLDLD Juventus CARDS UNTIL SUSPENSION 27-Oct 1 - 2 12-Jan 0 - 0 6 Torino 32 WLDWW AC Milan Pizarro 1 16-Mar - 18-May - TOP APPEARANCES SLAKAS TOP RATED INJURIES Compper 1 10 & 29 Fiorentina vs Napoli Neto 21 Valero 6.6 Gomez Rossi Pasqual 2 1st leg is played at home when the 30-Oct 1 - 2 Valero 20 Rossi 6.6 Hegazy Tomovic Neto 2 team's name is on the left 23-Mar - Savic 19 Neto 6.4 Valero Tomovic 2 Position Name Goalkeepers Neto - Lupatelli - Lezzerini - Munua Defenders Gonzalo - Alonso - Roncaglia - Compper - Hegazy - Savic - Pasqual - Tomovic Squad Midfielders Pizarro - Bakic - Aquilani - Cuadrado - Fernandez - Joaquin - Vecino - Valero - Ambrosini - Woski - Vargas - Ilicic - Olivera Current Attackers Rebic - Matos - Gomez - Rossi - Iakovenko FIORENTINA SERIE A 2013-14 - PLAYERS STATISTICS Name Number Appearnces Sub in Sub out Goals Assists Yellow Red Wins Draws Losses On Target Average Rating Gustavo Manua 78 Cristiano Lupatelli 12 Neto 1 21 2 12 5 4 6.4 Gonzalo Rodriguez 2 18 2 1 8 11 4 3 6.3 Ahmed Hegazy 6 Facundo Roncaglia 4 8 1 1 1 3 4 1 1 5.9 Marvin Compper 5 6 1 3 4 1 1 5.6 Stefan Savic 15 19 1 11