Fiorentina produced one of their best performances this season as on Sunday they beat Milan 3-1 away to consolidate their fourth place in Serie A.
Vincenzo Montella’s Viola have 24 points from 12 games, just two behind third-placed Napoli after winning the last four games in a row.
Fiorentina collected 16 points from the last 18 with Chievo being the only side to stop them from a 100 per cent winning track from the seventh day onwards.
More impressive on Sunday was the fact that the visitors were good enough to beat Milan without their star player Stevan Jovetic. That further underlines the sterling work coach Montella is doing in his first season in Florence.
Montella found a remedy to the team’s poor record away from home. Fiorentina had managed one point from their first three trips – a 1-1 draw at Parma – but beat Genoa and now Milan in their last two games on the road.
This is supposed to be a period of transition for Fiorentina.
In 2011/12, they could only finish 13th and made sure of survival towards the end of the campaign.
Unrest within the dressing room was the order of the day last season.
This time in 2011 the club opted to part with Sinisa Mihajlovic and appoint Delio Rossi instead. How-ever, the team never got going and flirted with relegation as Rossi was also booted out following an ugly spat with one of his players during a match last May.
In summer, Fiorentina overhauled their squad and Montella, touted by many to be among the emerging talents in circulation, was prised away from Catania.
No one really expected Fiorentina to peak at such an early stage in the season after the wholesale changes but this team seems to be brimming with confidence and the new signings seem to have settled down in their new environs.
Up next for Fiorentina, who possess the best defensive record along with Juventus and Napoli, are the in-form Atalanta at the Artemio Franchi stadium.
The team from Bergamo are on a high after beating Inter 3-2 on Sunday for a third win on the trot.
In pre-season, very few gave Fiorentina a chance to make the top echelons of the Serie A. But now this team is being ranked as strong contenders for a slot in next season’s Champions League.
Fiorentina are not figuring in European competition this year and that plays in their favour as top-three contenders Juventus, Inter and Napoli continue to focus their attentions on two fronts as the season progresses.
The Viola’s last piece of silverware was the 2001 Coppa Italia.
Fiorentina are still a works in progress but this team could indeed go places if the club maintain the same kind of commitment and enthusiasm we’ve seen so far.
Serie A statistics
0 away wins for Catania, Chievo and Palermo. On Saturday, Catania held on to a goalless draw at Cagliari to collect their third positive result on the road. The Sicilians have last beaten Cagliari away in September 2006 (1-0).
2nd successive win for Fio-rentina away at Milan as the Viola handed the Rossoneri their fourth home defeat of the term. Parma and Siena shared the spoils at the Tardini Stadium for the first time in over five years. Five draws are all Siena have to show in eight visits to Parma.
5th away win for leaders Juventus as on Saturday they trounced Pescara 6-1 at the Adriatic Stadium. For the hosts, that was their fourth home defeat of the term. So far, Juve dropped their only away points in a 0-0 draw against Fiorentina on the fifth day.
10 years had to pass for Torino to return to winning ways at home against Bologna as on Sun-day Gianpiero Ventura’s side chalked up their first three-pointer at the Olympic Stadium in two months. For Bologna, the upset was their sixth in their first seven away fixtures of the season.
34 goals were scored on the 12th day with foreign players help-ing themselves to 15 from the overall tally. Total number of goals scored so far has now reached 317. Cavani (Napoli), El Shaarawy (Milan) and Lamela (Roma) are the leading marksmen in Serie A with eight goals each.