Raffaele Palladino feels Fiorentina ‘stopped playing’ in their 2-1 defeat to Udinese and showed ‘very little altruism’ upfront. ‘We need to learn from our mistakes.’
They had started strong this evening against Udinese, taking the early lead through the Moise Kean penalty, but Luca Ranieri’s howler gifted a Lorenzo Lucca equaliser before Florian Thauvin curled the winner into the far bottom corner.
“We had started so well, breaking the deadlock straight away and creating chances with a lot of quality football,” Palladino told DAZN.
“However, once we felt in control, we just stopped playing and that is not something we can afford to do. It was your classic game of two halves, unfortunately we started the second half badly and immediately conceded two goals, one of them from our own mistake.
“There were many opportunities to equalise, but we made the wrong choices for the final ball.”
The Viola had won eight consecutive Serie A matches, but have rather hit problems recently, first losing 1-0 to Bologna, then on Thursday scraping a late 1-1 draw away to Vitoria Guimaraes that proved enough for a top eight Conference League position.
“I already spoke to the team, from tomorrow we’ll start thinking about the next game and try to learn as much as we can from an evening like this,” added Palladino.
“We need to learn from our mistakes, but without forgetting that Udinese never troubled us for the first 45 minutes. We knew they would defend deep, we moved well and controlled the match for that first half in every way.”
Palladino saw Fiorentina errors
epa11791288 Fiorentina’s foward Moise Kean celebrates after scoring the 1-0 goal during the Italian Serie A soccer match ACF Fiorentina vs Udinese Calcio at Artemio Franchi Stadium in Florence, Italy, 23 December 2024. EPA-EFE/CLAUDIO GIOVANNINI
Udinese changed system to three at the back after the restart and it seemed to make a huge difference, along with Ranieri’s error changing the mood of the match.
“There are regrets, because if we had managed to score the goal for 2-0 by making more of our transitions, it’d be a very different game. We lacked sharpness in that final ball and I also saw very little altruism in the finishing.
“This is what happens in Serie A, when you don’t kill off a game, all it takes is a slight distraction to put everything back in the balance.”
Albert Gudmundsson and Lucas Beltran have been taking turns in the trequartista role behind the centre-forward, but could they be used together?
“They are both versatile players who can also be used on the flanks, especially as we are missing Edoardo Bove. Speaking of which, I want to see Bove on the pitch as soon as possible. He is young, we’ll wait for the results of the tests over the next few months,” concluded Palladino.
“We need him in the world of football, as he has such incredible passion for this sport and we are by his side.”
Bove was sitting on the Fiorentina bench next to Palladino and back at the Stadio Franchi for the first time since his collapse during the Inter match on December 1.
Because he received an implanted defibrillator, Bove is not allowed to participate in any sporting activity in Italy, so required a special permit to sit on the bench today.
He can only resume his playing career in Italy if the defibrillator is removed.
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