Fiorentina sporting director Daniele Prade has called on Viola fans to ‘stick with the club’ as he offers his support to Vincenzo Montella.
Speaking to journalists at a Press conference today at the Artemio Franchi stadium, Prade was steadfast in his defence of the Coach, who has taken some flak for the team’s disappointing string of results.
“I’d like to invite our fans to stick with the club. We can’t let two or three bad results throw us off-course,” Prade reflected to reporters.
Fiorentina sporting director Daniele Prade has called on Viola fans to ‘stick with the club’ as he offers his support to Vincenzo Montella.
Speaking to journalists at a Press conference today at the Artemio Franchi stadium, Prade was steadfast in his defence of the Coach, who has taken some flak for the team’s disappointing string of results.
“I’d like to invite our fans to stick with the club. We can’t let two or three bad results throw us off-course,” Prade reflected to reporters.
“Over the last two years we’ve done nothing but praise [Montella], and nobody has ever questioned his tactical or technical choices.
“We as a club have never involved ourselves in his choices. We have complete confidence in our Coach.
“We are not at the end of our cycle, we are already looking to the future – Montella has a long contract and will be involved more and more in our transfer dealings.”
The Tuscan outfit has been remarkably unlucky in attack, where Giuseppe Rossi and youngster Federico Bernardeschi have gone down with serious injuries, whilst Mario Gomez has also missed a big chunk of the season with a thigh injury.
“Montella knows the club is on his side. Back in August I would never have thought that I’d lose Rossi and Gomez, and that Bernardeschi would get injured in October.
“At this stage a goal, or hitting the post makes all the difference. Often it’s the great champions who can change things on the pitch, just look at Higuain or Tevez.”
With La Viola currently languishing in 11th place, 15 points short of leaders Juventus, Prade was evasive about his team’s objectives.
“I don’t want to talk about a specific position, we just want to do the best we can. I can understand wanting more after two consecutive fourth places, but our opponents have their say too. We’ll wait to see what happens this year.”
With rumours rife that Fiorentina are in the hunt for another striker, Prade seemed to favour a home-grown solution to his club’s problems.
“At the moment we have 32 players in our squad, and my first priority is to get as many of them playing as possible. I have to hope that Joaquin and Gomez get back to their old selves.
“At present we’re looking for answers in-house, persisting with this squad is the right thing to do.
“Some key players are having down moments, like Borja Valero or Gonzalo Rodriguez. They themselves know they’re not 100 per cent.”
Prade also spoke about Rossi, who still looks at least a month away from making a comeback.
“I don’t know when he can return. I keep my fingers crossed and root for him. We miss him a lot, but he’s always remained close to the team.
“He’s a champion, it saddens me even more when I think how hard he’d worked in August.”
The director had some kind words for Josip Ilicic, Fiorentina’s mercurial talent who has come under criticism this week for on-pitch behaviour.
“We have a very clear set of rules, and players know that they will be fined if they break them.
“Ilicic is like a son who needs help, he shouldn’t be set aside, we need to do more for him.
“He’s got some incredible numbers at a footballing level, and it’s up to him to make that become reality on the pitch.”