Mihajlovic losing his grip on Fiorentina throne

Another away match for Fiorentina, another defeat. This is something that the Viola have become accustomed to this season under the leadership of Sinisa Mihajlovic. Too often his sides have looked to preserve a point first before even contemplating obtaining all three, especially when away from home.  The stats back this up, given that in his tenure as manager on the viola bench the free kick taking machine has achieved just two away wins in Serie A. Combine that with a 9^th place finish last campaign and what seems to be another drab season in the offing this year, without European commitments once again, it is hard to see how much more patient the Della Valle brothers can be. 

Fiorentina are however no Palermo. What do I mean by that? Well, for starters the Della Valle brothers have far more patience than Maurizio Zamperini. Mihajlovic would have been sacked a long time ago if he had produced the same record with the Rosanero. Still, with a highly competitive squad at his disposal it is hard to argue that the Viola are not underachieving. Jovetic, Vargas, Gilardino, Montolivo, Gamberini, Behrami, Cerci, Ljajic and Cassani are all quality players. Yet, they are part of a side that has already been beaten four times this season and has only ten goals to their name, with half of them scored by Jovetic. Only five sides in the division have a goal scoring record worse than that and they are Cesena, Lecce, Bologna, Chievo and Cagliari. Hardly great company.

That being said they are defensively strong, as only five sides have been better at the back, those being Udinese, Lazio, Juventus, Napoli and Siena. Now given their respective positions in the table that is great company and it illustrates the problem. Fiorentina are not adventurous enough going forward, especially away from home, and when they do attack they are not efficient enough at killing off games. Take their home game against Catania as an example. Twice they were pegged back from a leading position, while against Lazio they blew a 1-0 lead despite, for the first half an hour, dominating proceedings.

The answer right now, sadly for Mihajlovic, is a change for la Viola. The fans have begun voting on their feet despite the ultras giving Mihajlovic their support in a recent training session. Attendances have dropped and the recent game against Catania yielded a support of just 18,783. Ultimately, this is a club and a squad that should be contesting for a European spot. The fact that they seem nothing more than an afterthought in that contest suggests that the axe does indeed need to fall.