Vincenzo Italiano admits Fiorentina ‘showed too much respect to this Juventus’ and are deeply frustrated by a third consecutive 1-0 defeat in Turin.
The Viola showed their same problems once again, dominating possession without making those chances count and conceding on a set play, as Federico Gatti tapped in the rebound when Gleison Bremer’s header bounced off the far post.
Maxime Lopez and Riccardo Sottil came on for the second half and seemed to transform their approach.
“We showed too much respect for this Juve in the first half, we were too timid, so we tried to shake things up with Maxime Lopez and Beltran to raise the epicentre of the team,” Italiano told DAZN.
“I think we achieved that, we created lots of promising situations, but paid for the first half when we barely got into their penalty area.
“They are strong physically and were very aggressive to begin with, while we moved the ball around too slowly and that allowed them to cover all the spaces. That is where we got it wrong in the first half.”
Nico Gonzalez had the best chance to equalise, but Wojciech Szczesny flew to fingertip his curler onto the underside of the crossbar.
Most frustrating was when Lucas Beltran’s shot was going on target, only to be charged down by teammate M’Bala Nzola.
“It’s the third year in a row we lost 1-0 here, three years where we always leave with a bitter taste in the mouth, as in all three games we could’ve hurt Juve more.
“I will take the second half, where we showed character, created chances and Szczesny performed a miracle on Nico Gonzalez.”
It is a recurring theme for Fiorentina and has been from the start of Italiano’s tenure. Juventus completed just 227 passes in this match, compared to 675 for Fiorentina, and had only 25 per cent possession as the home team.
“We need that quality and final ball in the penalty area, we had four or five opportunities where we were so close to an equaliser. That is what we’re lacking at the moment.
“Maybe we need to introduce some other movements to cause problems for teams who decide to only defend. We also need those moments that Nico Gonzalez, Sottil, Kouame and Belotti are capable of. If we don’t have any of those, then we end up losing games.
“We do everything we can to create scoring opportunities, to develop those moves and optimise the situations, but if it’s not enough, we have another month and a half to find other solutions.”
This result adds to the poor recent Serie A form, somewhat sapping the confidence that had been gained in Wednesday’s Coppa Italia first leg victory over Atalanta.
“So now we go into the final stages of the season with hunger, trying to show something different to how we played in the opening 20 minutes.”
Albeit with a game in hand to be played against Atalanta, Fiorentina are still in 10th place, already 12 points adrift of Roma in fifth.
They now have to regroup going into the first leg of the Europa Conference League quarter-final against Viktoria Plzen.
Italiano has always been an enthusiast of squad rotation, but is that ultimately damaging to the identity of the team?
“I was forced into it. In these 148 games, I was usually prevented from using the same starting XI again. Parisi could not play again after 96 minutes midweek, I chose Barak to bring physicality on set plays, knowing Beltran could come on when Juve fatigued and the spaces started opening up.
“It is a combination of strategic decisions and those who do not recover. Look, these are questions a coach asks himself and it gives him sleepless nights. I don’t think the rotation is the problem here. We tend to lose games, or not win them, due to details.
“I think it is more important and a great result to have everyone involved and go all the way in three different tournaments. We did it last season and we’re on track to do it again.”