Vincenzo Italiano feels like Fiorentina ‘dropped two points’ with their draw against Frosinone after wasting numerous chances and gives a worrying injury update on Cristiano Biraghi.
It had been a dominant performance in the first half at the Stadio Stirpe, including the Nico Gonzalez remote-controlled header into the far bottom corner, but they wasted so many other scoring opportunities with some very basic errors of technique.
Ultimately, the Viola paid for that wastefulness and were pegged back by Matias Soule for a 1-1 draw.
“We should’ve scored far more goals in the first half and that is why we did not win the game,” Italiano told Sky Sport Italia.
“If you don’t get it on the right track, you can always concede a goal. On the one hand, it had been a while since we played with that kind of vehemence and created so many chances, on the other it’s disappointing not to have converted more.
“Ultimately, I think we will do well if we continue like this and just score more goals.”
It is the same problem they had last season, specifically that the centre-forwards are not finding the net, so attacking midfielders and wingers are keeping them afloat.
M’Bala Nzola wasted another several opportunities today, while Lucas Beltran didn’t do much better off the bench.
“We need the centre-forwards to score, because Nico Gonzalez is ultimately a forward of sorts, so are Bonaventura and Ikone. I see this as two points dropped considering the number of chances we created.
“Nzola and Beltran have to stay calm and not get irritable. They must be happy that the team is creating so many chances, because the goals will come sooner or later. We have to keep giving them service and they must not let their heads dropped or be obsessed with scoring goals.”
With Dodo ruled out for at least six months with a torn anterior cruciate ligament, there was more bad news today when Cristiano Biraghi went off at half-time with a sprained ankle.
“The ankle is swollen, it doesn’t look good. None of our centre-backs can play there really, we don’t have anyone else with his characteristics,” added Italiano.
“Michael Kayode is a young lad who had played in two intense matches, so it seemed dangerous for me to start him again today, but he did well when coming on. He has the mentality of a more mature player.”