Goretti: ‘Fiorentina did not turn up, we cannot accept relegation’

Fiorentina director of sport Roberto Goretti admits the fans are right to insult the players who ‘didn’t turn up’ in their 3-1 defeat to Sassuolo. ‘We cannot give up or accept relegation.’

The Viola had started strong at the Mapei Stadium, taking the lead through a Rolando Mandragora penalty, even though there was a little tension in the debate with Moise Kean over who would step up.

However, they crumbled by half-time under a deflected Cristian Volpato strike and Tarik Muharemovic free header on a corner, then Ismael Koné sealed the 3-1 result after the restart.

It was not coach Paolo Vanoli who attended the post-match press conference, but director of sport Goretti.

“We had started well, but games last for 100 minutes nowadays and we just weren’t a united team throughout,” confessed the Fiorentina chief.

“After the defeat to Atalanta, we made an appeal to our fans, who gave a great response. We asked them to turn up and they did, but perhaps we didn’t.

“We can only keep working and recognise we have everything it takes to resolve some of these evident blackouts that the team has.”

The fans did accept Edin Dzeko’s plea to keep supporting them during the match, as circa 4,000 came to Reggio Emilia today and kept singing to the final whistle.

However, after that they let loose, chanting that the team was ‘laughable’ while they stood and accepted the abuse.

“We had seen some progress in recent matches, but today we took another backwards step,” confessed Goretti.

“Every time we just pumped predictable crosses into the box, it showed there isn’t the right connection between players, you can see the lack of confidence.

“We are now forced to deal with a very, very difficult situation, but we cannot give up now. We cannot cede more territory, we cannot accept relegation.”

Incredibly, Fiorentina are 25 points worse off than at this stage last season in Serie A.

They must also face the statistic that no team has ever gone without victory in the opening 14 rounds and managed to avoid relegation.

Vanoli is the third coach of the campaign after Stefano Pioli was sacked, and one Conference League match under caretaker manager Daniele Galloppa.

“We need to analyse everything with the right critical spirit, which at times means drastic decisions. We’ve got to understand the situation, be realistic, and know how to act.

“The coach is confirmed in his place, though.”

A sign of the tension within the squad was also evident when Kean and Mandragora argued over who was meant to take the penalty, until captain Luca Ranieri stepped in to lead the striker away.

“I didn’t like that and it is not the first time it has happened, so I didn’t like it even more,” concluded Goretti.