Vincenzo Italiano ‘honestly cannot understand’ the Fiorentina performance against Ferencvaros, as they were trailing 2-0 and playing awfully until a late comeback for 2-2.
This was a very rough ride for the Viola fans at the Stadio Franchi, as Dejan Stankovic’s Hungarian giants looked in complete control with goals from Barnabas Varga and Ibrahim Cisse.
They had also thumped the woodwork and had a penalty awarded, but then revoked due to an offside position.
It was a comeback in the final 20 minutes with Antonin Barak and Jonathan Ikone goals, along with numerous wasted opportunities.
“I honestly cannot understand the first half performance. We were so slow, we allowed them the ball from start to finish. We made changes after the break and with a strong reaction from the lads managed to draw a game that seemed to be lost already,” Italiano told Sky Sport Italia.
“We were lucky on the one hand when it was 2-1 and we risked conceding a third, but then unfortunate on the other hand as we could’ve scored four or five in the later stages. We take the point, the comeback and the reaction, but we gifted the first half to them.”
There were not just substitutions to shake things up, but a visible change of attitude from Fiorentina, so it goes beyond a team talk or personnel.
“There is a psychological aspect too, the more you push forward and the opposition gets pinned back, it builds confidence and momentum. I saw some other games this season where we did very well in the first half and then fell away, people said it was physical, I always assumed it was psychological and I think this evening proves I was right.
“We had that determination, that furore that we needed to turn the game around. It’s disappointing, if we had played in the first half with anywhere near the tempo of the final 20 minutes, we would’ve won the game. We didn’t win challenges, were second to the ball and misplaced the passes, where Ferencvaros can cause problems with their pace on the counter-attack.
“We are also suffering on set plays, especially in Europe, so we need to mark better and be more organised in these situations.
“We had to run risks to get back in, we could’ve capitulated, but we had to send men forward and go all or nothing. It paid off.”
Nico Gonzalez looked shattered at the final whistle, having again played the full match, and it was not part of the plan going into this weekend’s Serie A clash with Napoli.
“You have to make calculations, but then when a game starts and is completely different to what you expected, now we have five or six players who are completely exhausted ahead of the Napoli match. Nico Gonzalez is one of them, he is playing constantly and we’ll see what we can do to get him back in shape.
“We have a large squad, some of them are not in the best shape, but as I always say we must not complain or seek alibis, we’ll be ready to put in a strong performance against Napoli.”
It is not the result they wanted after wasting a lead to draw 1-1 away to Genk in the first game, but considering they were trailing 2-0, will certainly take the point.
Ferencvaros and Genk are now joint group leaders on four points, while Fiorentina have two and Cukaricki are still on zero.
Fiorentina must get out of this group. To come third would be very poor .