Oct
17

Stevan Jovetic: Fiorentina must give Jojo top billing

Forget El Tanque, it’s time to put Jojo at the heart of this Fiorentina team. Left to languish on the flank for much of the match against Cesena, he failed to exert significant influence. Switched to the centre, he almost grabbed three unlikely points for the Viola in a drab encounter. The lesson there seems quite clear.

With a new contract under his belt, Stevan Jovetic is clearly keen to impress and get back among the goals. But he would be the first to admit he prefers to play through the middle, not as a wide front man in a 4-3-3. It showed on Sunday lunchtime.

It is pretty obvious the club is committed to the player so why doesn’t Sinisa Mihajlovic show similar faith? It took him an age to realise that he could get more out of the Montenegrin when he played in behind Santiago Silva. Surely he has to play there in weeks to come - especially with Alberto Gilardino sitting on the sidelines and goal-threat so minimal.

Just as clear as the need to put Jojo in that central role is the difficulty Silva is having in trying to adapt to Serie A. Everything seems to happen too quickly for him and the defenders are all too street-smart to let him get a clear sight of goal. Every passing minute makes you realise just how good Il Gila actually is at playing his role.

Mihajlovic seems to view it as too risky to play Jovetic behind a striker with two wide men but now is the time to take a gamble. Fiorentina have yet to encounter most of Serie A’s heavy hitters yet they sit, once again, in the bottom half of the table. A win over Catania next week is the only option with a daunting trip to Juve in store after that.

The old doubts about the Viola’s Serbian coach keep resurfacing. Is he the right man to kick-start a purple revival? Can he put out a team to go and impose itself on a match? Is he too slow to react to what events out on the pitch seem to be telling him?

He has to answer those questions quickly if the Florentine faithful are not to give up hope on him entirely. Last season he had a few excuses but this year there is no real reason for him not to take a tilt at a top six or seven finish. Few fans of the club have much belief in his abilities - he has to use the next string of matches to prove them wrong.

Notes

  1. forum-for-football reblogged this from giancarlorinaldi
  2. giancarlorinaldi posted this