Fiorentina Win 4-2 at Sassuolo but Neither Side Deserved Much Praise
SportSignals Match Desk · Football analysis desk ·
The Basics Were Not There From Either Side
Sassuolo versus Fiorentina. Two teams with no clean sheets in their last five Serie A matches. Two teams conceding goals at a rate that would embarrass a Sunday league side. You already knew what kind of game this was going to be before a ball was kicked. Six goals, no clean sheet, both teams scored. End of.
The thing is, Fiorentina deserve credit for winning. They came to the Mapei Stadium and they competed when it mattered. But let nobody pretend this was a performance of any real quality. Sassuolo had 58 per cent of the ball, 562 passes, 49 dangerous attacks. And they lost 4-2. That tells you everything about their attitude in the moments that count.
Laurienté Was the Only Sassuolo Player Who Showed Up
Armand Laurienté scored twice, in the 25th minute and again in the 65th minute. Both right-foot finishes. In a Sassuolo side that has now gone five Serie A matches without a win, losing four of them and shipping 15 goals in the process, he was the one player carrying any real desire. That is not a compliment to the squad. It is an indictment of the rest of them.
Sassuolo came into this match on a run of LLLDL in their last five Serie A games. Listen, when you concede six to Lazio, four to Frosinone, and two to Como, you have a defensive problem that no amount of possession is going to fix. They had more attacks than Fiorentina on the night. More dangerous attacks. More corners. They still lost by two goals. That is not bad luck. That is a lack of accountability at the back. Unacceptable.
Fiorentina Were Clinical When It Mattered
Fiorentina's own form was nothing to shout about coming into this. They had lost three of their last five Serie A games, winning none, and had conceded in every single one of those five matches. Their clean sheet percentage across that sample sat at zero. Both teams scored in every one of their last five matches. You were always getting goals here.
But Fiorentina found a way. Mateo Pellegrino pulled them level right on half-time with a right-foot finish assisted by Alieu Njie. Njie then got on the scoresheet himself five minutes into the second half, converting from Marco Brescianini's assist. That was the moment the game changed. Fiorentina went from chasing to controlling, and Sassuolo had no answer.
Franco Mastantuono added a third for Fiorentina in the 79th minute, a left-foot finish set up by Pedro Gonçalves who had come off the bench minutes earlier. And then Víctor Valdepeñas, another substitute, rubbed salt into Sassuolo's wounds in the 90th minute to make it 4-2. That is how you use your bench. That is a manager who demanded more when his team needed to put the game to bed.
The Numbers Do Not Lie
Fiorentina had 15 shots in total to Sassuolo's seven. Six shots on target to Sassuolo's two. Ten shots inside the box to Sassuolo's five. The thing is, Sassuolo had the ball. They had more passes, more crosses, more dribble attempts. But they created less. That is a standards problem. You cannot dominate possession and then produce seven shots. That is not competing. That is going through the motions.
Fiorentina's goalkeeper was not even tested. Zero saves. Sassuolo's keeper made two. The shots on target column told the real story. Fiorentina converted four of their six shots on target. Sassuolo converted two of their two. Both sides were efficient when they got their chances. Fiorentina simply got far more of them despite doing less with the ball.
Discipline Let Sassuolo Down Before the Break
Ibrahim Sulemana picked up a yellow card for a foul in the 40th minute and was substituted off at half-time, replaced by Darryl Bakola. That tells you the manager had seen enough. Fiorentina's Radu Drăgușin and Alieu Njie were also booked in the 42nd and 44th minutes respectively, which suggested the game was getting fractious just before Pellegrino's equaliser. Njie got his assist and then his goal despite carrying that booking into the second half. That is desire. That is wanting to compete even under pressure.
Wilfried Gnonto picked up a yellow card for Fiorentina deep into stoppage time. And Sassuolo's Gabriel Kulla, who had come on as a substitute in the 89th minute, was booked for arguing in the sixth minute of stoppage time. Arguing. Your team have just conceded a fourth goal at home and you are standing there arguing instead of getting your head down. That is not the attitude of a side that wants to drag itself up the table.
Where Do Sassuolo Go From Here
Listen, Sassuolo have won none of their last five Serie A games. They have conceded 15 goals in that stretch. They have a player out long-term until January and a suspended player who was due back the day after this fixture. They are thin, they are leaking goals, and they have no confidence at the back.
The thing is, having 58 per cent of the ball and losing 4-2 at home is not a tactical problem. It is a mentality problem. The basics are not being executed. Defenders are not holding their shape. Nobody is organising. Nobody is demanding accountability from the player next to them. You can have all the possession in the world. If your standards drop, results like this are exactly what you deserve.
Fiorentina took the three points and they needed them. They were not convincing for long stretches of this match. But they competed in the moments that mattered. Against a Sassuolo side with this much defensive disorganisation, that was enough. End of.
