Team Focus: Fluid Fiorentina to Once Again Pose Problems for Spurs

From the outside looking in Fiorentina are building something every bit as impressive as Michelangelo's Duomo in the city centre. They're back in that third and final Champions League spot and obstinately refuse to fade away. Their results this season have been better than any fan of theirs could realistically have expected at the beginning of the campaign. The club was in turmoil. Vincenzo Montella questioned its ambition. He believed more investment was necessary after finishing fourth every season during his three-year spell at the helm if the Viola were to breakthrough the glass ceiling and make it onto the podium.

However, the Della Valle family saw things very differently and sacked him before slashing the wage bill by 30%. As if scaling back wasn't disappointing enough, supporters in the Curva Fiesole were at their wit's end when Mohamed Salah, the star of the second half of last season, produced a piece of paper that, in the opinion of his agent, allowed him to pull out of another stint at the Artemio Franchi. He later joined Roma. Adding to their discontent was the identity of Montella's replacement, Paulo Sousa, whose past with Juventus meant he was greeted in some quarters with antipathy.

Six months later, the waters have calmed. Fiorentina are seven points better off than they were a year ago. They went top of the table in October for the first time since 1999. Together with Napoli, their football has been the best to watch in Serie A this season. "The avantgarde," Gianluca Vialli explained to Tuttosport for their tactical set up. Fiorentina are shape-shifters. Their back-four becomes a back-three and vice-versa.

Thursday's opponents Tottenham also do this but the modus operandi is different. Eric Dier, a centre-back now playing in midfield, drops in between Spurs' central defenders when their full-backs push on, much like Sergi Busquets did for Barcelona in the Pep Guardiola years. Fiorentina instead slide the defence across and overload one of the flanks. It's more pendulous and what you get is a hybrid of 4-3-3, 3-5-2 and 3-4-3. If Chelsea were to prise Max Allegri from Juventus and, to indulge this parlour game, Antonio Conte didn't go back to his old job this summer, it wouldn't be at all surprising if the champions sought a reunion with Sousa. He has impressed in his first season in Italy and understandably so. There is a lot to be proud of.

But in spite of all that so far 2016 has been a year of unrest for Fiorentina. Sousa held clear-the-air talks with executive president Mario Cognigni last week. He didn't hide his dissatisfaction with Fiorentina's business in the transfer market over the course of the winter window. It felt to him like a missed opportunity. The Viola were second at Christmas and only a point off the top. Sousa and the fans dared to dream. This was their best shot at a title since `99 and they didn't want it to come undone because of an injury like the one that robbed them of Gabriel Batistuta in the spring of that year.

Improbable though it seemed Sousa believed Fiorentina could go all the way this season. That's just who he is. Fiorentina's place in the table owes much, not only to their style of play, but to the winning mentality Sousa had been able to impose. A title winner in each of the last two years with Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel and Basel in Switzerland, he was convinced of his own ability to at the very least put Fiorentina in the conversation to challenge in Serie A until the end. The club tried to do right by him. Four new players were signed. You can't fault their effort. But with the exception of Cristian Tello, none were first choice.

The fans weren't impressed. Lest we forget, they remain some of the most demanding in Italy. Fiorentina are the Valencia of Serie A and quite provocatively Sousa aligned himself with them. He didn't discourage them from unfurling banners that were critical of the club. For the time being, the Della Valle family are staying away. Some claimed the tension created by a disconnect in the club was impacting on results. There were defeats at home to Lazio then away to Milan. Fiorentina drew on trips to Genoa and Bologna. In truth, a combination of things were responsible.

Borja Valero, the brain of this Fiorentina team, was missing against Lazio. So too was Josip Ilicic, their principal difference-maker after Nikola Kalinic. Borja was out again at San Siro. Gonzalo Rodriguez, the leader of their defence didn't make it either. Milan Badelj, the player that best provides balance in midfield and Fiorentina's highest rated performer by WhoScored, was also beginning a lengthy lay-off through injury. Other key players were out of form. Kalinic, the bargain buy of the season in Serie A, is still yet to score in 2016. His drought goes back eight games. Teams are wiser to him and to Fiorentina in general whose play has, on occasion, been less unpredictable.

But they remain a tricky proposition for Tottenham. Last season seemed like a mismatch in intensity, particularly the opening 20 minutes of the first leg at White Hart Lane when Fiorentina were really under the cosh. This season they have come out of the blocks very fast. No one has scored more first half goals than Fiorentina [24] in Serie A this season. No one puts games to bed quicker. In all, they have led for 986 minutes. Only Napoli have done better [1003]. Once they get in front, Fiorentina tend to stay there because they control games well through possession. Frequently this season they've had more than 70% of the ball and their average of 59.8% is the highest in Serie A.

While Fiorentina are working on getting Kalinic scoring again, it must be said they are not dependent on one individual. Sousa has a range of weapons that can do damage to Spurs. Fourteen different players have got on the scoresheet this season for them. That's the mark of a good collective. Gonzalo, the centre-back, is a big threat from set-pieces and even takes penalties. Borja, the smallest player on the team, scored a header at the weekend. Ilicic scored 16 times in 19 games between May 3, 2015 and January 24, 2016, a return a la Batigol.

How Mauricio Pochettino prepares for Federico Bernardeschi, Fiorentina's exciting 21-year-old No.10, will be interesting. As Marcos Alonso bombs forward, he often moves inside and takes up positions in the pockets between the lines. Confusion reigns as to who should be picking him up. Bernardeschi wreaked havoc against Inter on Sunday night. His pace, allied with Cristian Tello's on the opposite side, will need close attention, although Mauro Zarate is likely to be preferred to the winger on loan from Barcelona. The Zarate Kid has made the biggest impact of the January signings, scoring a 92nd minute winner against Carpi. He was also involved in Fiorentina's 91st minute winner against Inter as Khouma Babacar followed in the rebound from his shot.

If Fiorentina do want to go far in this competition just as they did last year when they reached the semi-finals then they have to go for it in the first leg. Games against Napoli and Roma follow in quick succession after the second at the Lane and one wonders, as Spurs fans will undoubtedly do about their own team, whether a judgement will be made in the meantime as to where exactly their priorities lie. Thursday night's game at the Franchi should be a cracker.

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