Fiorentina's Defensive Crisis Meets Como's Relentless Winning Run
SportSignals Match Desk · Football analysis desk ·
Sunday 18 October 2026. Fiorentina host Como in Serie A. On paper, it is a home fixture. In practice, based on what the evidence tells you, it looks a lot more complicated than that for the home side. End of.
Fiorentina: A Team in Trouble
Let me be straight with you. Fiorentina's recent form is not a wobble. It is a crisis of basics. Across their last five Serie A matches, they have won one, drawn one, and lost three. They have conceded 12 goals. They have not kept a single clean sheet. Not one.
The numbers from the last ten matches tell you the same story. Two wins, four draws, four defeats. Seventeen goals conceded. A 30 per cent clean sheet rate over the longer sample is the only figure you could call even remotely acceptable, and it is nowhere near good enough for a team that should be competing at a decent level in this division.
Look at the individual results and the picture gets darker. Fiorentina lost to AS Roma 0-4 in August. They then lost to Frosinone 0-3. They lost to Torino 1-2. Three goals, seven goals, and two goals conceded across consecutive defeats. The thing is, when a team is getting turned over by sides of varying quality in that fashion, the problem is not tactics. The problem is attitude and accountability. Something is badly wrong in that dressing room.
The one bright spot was a 4-2 win over Venezia in September. Four goals scored, but two conceded even in a victory. That clean sheet still did not come. It tells you that even when Fiorentina are at their best going forward, the defensive standards are not there. That is unacceptable for any professional outfit, home advantage or not.
Como: Confidence, Goals, and a Point to Prove
Now look at Como. Four wins and a draw from their last five Serie A matches. Thirteen goals scored, five conceded across that sample. They beat Parma 2-1. They beat Genoa 4-1. They beat Napoli 2-1. When you beat Napoli in Serie A, you have earned the right to be taken seriously. Full stop.
Extend the window to ten matches and Como have seven wins, two draws, and one defeat. Eighteen goals scored. They have kept four clean sheets in ten. The desire and the standards are evident in that record. This is not a team drifting. This is a team that wants to compete and has the tools to do it.
Listen, I am not going to dress this up. Como walking into the Artemio Franchi and being the more confident side is not a stretch. It is what the evidence tells you. They are going in there with momentum. Fiorentina are going in there with questions they have not answered for weeks.
The Suspension Problem Hanging Over Fiorentina
Fiorentina also have a significant suspension issue to deal with. The data shows five suspended players in their squad. Five. Three of those suspensions run until January 2027. That is not a short-term headache. That is a structural problem the manager has to work around for months.
When you are already leaking goals and lacking the basics at the back, losing key personnel to long bans makes accountability even harder to enforce. You cannot sort a defensive unit out when it keeps changing. Standards drop when the group is disrupted. It is as simple as that.
Como have one player flagged as a major injury, with an expected return dated the day after this fixture. It is a concern in the sense that they are not fully fit, but one absent player versus five suspended players is not a comparison that favours Fiorentina.
What Decides This Match
The thing is, football is played on a pitch, not on a spreadsheet. Home advantage is real. The Artemio Franchi can be a difficult place to go when Fiorentina are at their best. The question is whether this current Fiorentina squad has the desire to put in a performance that reflects where they are playing.
Fiorentina's 4-2 win over Venezia showed they can score. They have attacking quality. But Como's defence has been solid enough over the longer run, with four clean sheets in ten matches, and they have shown they can manage games when they need to.
Goals are likely. Both sides have shown they concede. Fiorentina have not kept a clean sheet in five matches. Como have conceded in every one of their last five. Both teams to score has landed in 60 per cent of Fiorentina's recent home matches and in all five of Como's recent away matches. That is not a coincidence. That is a pattern.
The bigger question is whether Como can go to Florence and back up their recent form against a side that still has enough quality to cause problems on their day. Based on the evidence, I back Como to handle themselves. Their attitude has been right. Their standards have been high. Fiorentina's have not.
The Verdict
Listen, Fiorentina at home should be the baseline for this match. But they have not earned that confidence with their recent performances. Twelve goals conceded in five matches. No clean sheets. Five players suspended. That is not a team in control of its own situation.
Como come here with four wins from five, a clear sense of what they are doing, and the belief that comes from beating sides like Napoli and Genoa. They will not be intimidated. They will compete. Right now, I am not sure Fiorentina can say the same. End of.