Viola Station 47: Fiorentina's tactics under Vincenzo Italiano with Marco Lai

No Mike this week, so it's just Tito in this one, but the presence of our most tactically-savvy guest ever should more than make up for it. Marco Lai (also subscribe to his Substack, because it's consistently fascinating) is a certified match analyst who's quickly become one of VN's favorite social media presences due to his fantastic analysis of Serie A matches. We were lucky enough to track him down for a conversation about Fiorentina's approach under Italiano. Our chat covered a range of topics, bouncing around from the abstract--the necessity of a striker who can press for a team that's predicated on pressing, tactical dogmatism, the burden on the wingers to create--to the more concrete--reasonable transfer targets, how Fiorentina can get more out of the number 10 spot, and the asymmetrical use of fullbacks--and it's safe to say that this is the most educational episodes we've ever done. Grazie mille, Marco, for the time, the knowledge, and the genuinely fun conversation. As always, thanks also go to Producer Mike Hines for producing this episode, and to Windchime Weather for our theme song (and check out Nate's other project Shaylee). We had a blast making this episode and hope you enjoy it too. Feel free to get in touch with us on the website or on Twitter, and if you like what you hear, feel free to drop us a rating and review. Forza Viola! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices