D. Prade had described the Fiorentina match against their opponents as a “question of life or death,” yet as the event approached, he recalled football’s third possibility: one can always resign. On the weekend, just over 24 hours prior to the planned kickoff, he left his role as technical director of the team by mutual consent.
The timing was unexpected, but not the decision. The Florence-based club had made a shockingly poor beginning to the season, earning only 4 points from their first 9 matches, and Pradè was adamant that he personally should bear the blame. “The club put 90 million euros at my disposal to assemble the squad,” he stated previously. “If anyone is accountable for the current crisis, it’s me.”
Those comments were intended as a protection for the coach, S. Pioli. Perhaps even his steps this weekend represented one last attempt at protection: not so much stepping away as stepping in front of the metaphorical bullet he envisioned flying toward them. A number of signs had been hung around the city by hardcore fans on Saturday, bearing such messages as “squad, manager, club: you are the disgrace of this town.”
His resignation could not be enough to calm all this frustration. The sole real chance the manager had to save his position was to begin securing matches, but on the contrary his side were defeated again on Sunday, falling 1-0 to Lecce. Their newly-promoted opponents found the net early through M. Berisha, then leaned on some superb saves by W. Falcone – who stopped M. Kean more than once at the opposite goal.
The home side were awarded a penalty in the 84th minute, only to have it revoked by a contentious VAR review. The initial replays showed Luca Ranieri kicking his own foot before falling inside the penalty area, but a different view showed Santiago Pierotti’s leg seeming to catch his calf while applying pressure, causing him to lose balance initially.
Tensions escalated. Ranieri was observed shouting into the presence of the fourth official, warning that if the penalty was not awarded he was about to cause trouble. Nevertheless, the more intense fury seemed to come from the supporters. Within the arena they called for Pioli’s dismissal. Outside, a large crowd assembled at the exits used by footballers and officials for an planned protest featuring percussion, megaphones and fireworks.
Pioli has still not been sacked, although that news may come imminently. Four ties and six losses in ten fixtures is an poor record for a team who ended up sixth last season. The manager’s own goals, when he agreed to a three-year contract to succeed R. Palladino this summer, were to guide the team returning into the Champions League and claim titles. Not specifically this year, but that was the planned path.
In what way did the situation deteriorate so fast? His return was greeted with cautious optimism, a coach who had been here before and achieved a creditable top-half position in the 2017-18 season before departing to win a league title with Milan. The director’s subsequent transfer activity made high goals appear achievable.
The club were already upwardly mobile. They finished sixth under the former coach the prior campaign, collecting three-nil wins over both Inter Milan and Juventus along the way, and reached the semi-finals of the European competition (though a step backwards there, after finishing as finalists in both the previous two years).
In the home of the cultural revival, entire professional paths were being remade. The striker enjoyed the best campaign of his career in the 2024-25 term, ending as Serie A’s second-top goal-getter on nineteen strikes. Robin Gosens was once more the attacking wing-back observed for his former club at the beginning of the period, securing his first German national team cap in almost a twelve months. D. de Gea made stop after save.
Did the previous manager’s exit end all that progress? His departure in the off-season came as a shock, the manager leaving from a recently renewed contract even though not having a different position lined up. He provided some explanation into his decision during an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport in the autumn, saying: “I view football as a puzzle, all the elements need to fit together for things to succeed. I’m proud of the work we did in the city, but the circumstances weren’t suitable to proceed. Our ideas and approach were too different.”
The team’s squad members had been as surprised as anyone by his departure, flooding him with emotional video messages that moved him to emotion. Pioli, it would appear, has not been able to connect with them in the identical manner.
The recent additions brought in by Pradè have also underperformed of hopes. Roberto Piccoli, the young forward acquired from his former club for €25m, made his national team debut this fall but is still not find the net for Fiorentina. So is Edin Dzeko, who joined on a free transfer but became one of the team’s highest-paid members. The Switzerland national team player Simon Sohm, purchased from Parma, has failed to complete a full game since the opening weekend.
There is not one reason for all these setbacks. The coach has avoided major tactical changes, relying frequently on a variation of a 3-4-2-1 formation that Palladino employed as well. Perhaps the large number of recent players has created a level of confusion – the manager himself said at a certain stage in the summer that a overcrowded roster could cause problems – but the core of the team stays intact. However displays have been completely different.
If anything, the manager has been lucky to last this far. Several thought the signal was on the wall just over a seven days ago, when his side seemed to be losing 3-0 at their stadium to the visitors. But then a VAR ruling overturned the third goal, and one of those unexpected footballing momentum changes occurred to transform the result into an unlikely 2-2 draw. The goalkeeper later confessed that he had believed at a moment that “we were going to be defeated 6-0”.
A phrase that in a way describes the directionless sense of this period: a organization spinning out of control. The former director sought to do the noble act by standing down, but his departure leaves a vacuum of guidance, with the {owner|
