Overview
After only leading Fiorentina through 4 official matches, Fabio Grosso was sacked by the club's board of directors because his performance did not meet requirements.
Appointed this summer, Grosso started with a 4-1 victory over Benevento in the Coppa Italia. However, things quickly went downhill afterwards.
After spending most of last season overcoming a slow start, Fiorentina has had a worse warm-up this season. They lost both of their first 2 matches in Serie A without scoring a goal.
After a 0-4 defeat to Roma, Fiorentina continued to lose 0-3 at home to Frosinone, the team that just won promotion, before making a late comeback to win all 3 points in the most recent match.
Grosso was therefore sacked, giving way to Paolo Vanoli. This is Vanoli's return to the Franchi stadium after he helped Fiorentina successfully stay in the league as interim coach last season.
After a major personnel reorganization and another change on the coaching bench, Vanoli will have to quickly stabilize the situation. They need to maximize the potential of new players like Beto, Pedro Goncalves and Willy Gnonto.
On the other side, Venezia being near the bottom of the Serie A table is not too surprising. However, the 2-3 defeat to Frosinone has dealt a heavy blow to the team's relegation hopes.
Venezia had a commendable resurgence in the second half with goals from John Yeboah and Richie Sagrado, but in the end still suffered defeat due to a late goal from the home team at Stadio Stirpe.
Lagunari lost both of his first 2 matches in Serie A and was later eliminated from the Coppa Italia. Therefore, losing to a direct competitor in the relegation race becomes even more regrettable.
Despite being empty-handed, Venezia can take advantage of Fiorentina's unstable situation to seek points before facing a difficult schedule including Lazio, Atalanta and Napoli.
Personnel situation
Venezia continues to be short of Marin Sverko, Bartol Franjic and Andrea Adorante due to injuries. Toma Basic's ability to play is still uncertain, while Armel Bella-Kotchap had to leave the field in last week's match due to muscle problems.
On Fiorentina's side, only Fabiano Parisi is absent for a long time. They continue to be active in the transfer market until the last day, with some new players who made their debuts in last week's match, including Beto, Willy Gnonto and Alieu Njie.
After Grosso left the team, it is still unclear how much Vanoli will change the squad. However, during his time leading Fiorentina last season, he once chose a rather pragmatic approach to help the team overcome a difficult period.
Beto is recruited to replace Moise Kean, but this striker will have to compete with Mateo Pellegrino for a starting spot in attack.
Expected lineup:
Stankovic, Schingtienne, Halhal, Moreno, Hainaut, Sohm, Busio, Perez, Haps, Yeboah, Adams.
De Gea, Mario, Dragusin, Ranieri, Valdepenas, Fagioli, Ndour, Mastantuono, Atta, Njie, Pellegrino.
The match between Venezia and Fiorentina takes place at 1:45 am on September 12 (Vietnam time).
