Vincenzo Italiano, in a cautionary tone, admonishes Fiorentina against a recurring pattern of squandering points due to conceding inexpensive late goals and inefficiency in converting penalties, following the 2-2 stalemate with Roma.
The encounter marked another instance of disappointment for the Viola, as they found themselves on the brink of securing a crucial victory only to be thwarted by Diego Llorente’s last-minute acrobatic volley. Despite twice taking the lead through Luca Ranieri and Rolando Mandragora, Fiorentina’s advantage was nullified by Llorente’s strike. Moreover, they were presented with an opportunity to extend their lead to 3-1 via a penalty, yet Cristiano Biraghi’s attempt was denied by Mile Svilar.
“Yet again, we concede with the game almost over. We cannot keep throwing away great performances, with sacrifice, quality and organisation, in these final moments,” Italiano told DAZN.
“All the opponents seem to fire into the top corner in these situations, so we appear to be unlucky too, but we caused huge problems for a side in great form. We have to look at the positives.
“We cannot keep recriminating over what could’ve been, we have to move on.”
Fiorentina’s inability to convert penalties in Serie A has become a recurring concern, marking the fourth instance this season.
“We practice regularly in training, all those who missed are specialists, so there’s not much more we can do. It’s not like these are people who just give it a go, they are all players who practice and have scored penalties in their career.
“It is a problem, we can only work even harder, but there is not much more that we can say. It is a situation where you need to be clear-headed, but in this sport that is an enormous advantage we must be able to make the most of and at the moment we are not doing that.”
Fiorentina contested a match on Thursday, emerging triumphant with a 4-3 victory over Maccabi Haifa in the Conference League. The forthcoming fixture, constituting the second leg of the encounter, is scheduled for the upcoming week.
“These are dropped points, we have to shake them off quickly, as on Thursday there is a very important Conference League game and we have to focus.
“The positive from this evening is the performance, so I maintain we are on the right track and will get good results with this spirit.”
Roma initially employed a defensive formation comprising three players, subsequently transitioning to a four-man defensive lineup during the latter half of the match. This alteration occurred subsequent to the substitution of Gianluca Mancini, motivated by the imminent threat of his receiving a second yellow card.
“They changed system and came back out with Paredes dropping into their defence, we struggled to have the same consistent pressure as the first half.
“However, we got the hang of it then too and managed to close Paredes down eventually, as given the opportunity he can dictate the game from there.
“We have to improve on the details, as once again we had so many opportunities where we could’ve done better when attacking and defending.
“When there are eight men forward at the 96th minute, it can happen that the defence doesn’t react as quickly as we would like. In those final minutes, you need to just kick the ball so hard it practically explodes and keep focused until the 120th minute if necessary.
“These are the details that at the moment are preventing us from winning games.”
Fiorentina had approached the brink of triumph, poised to surpass Napoli in the league standings. However, they ultimately faltered, leaving them entrenched in the eighth position. Moreover, there exists the possibility of being overtaken by Lazio in the forthcoming fixture on Monday.