Venezia vs Fiorentina: Preview

Fiorentina takes the road still searching for its first point of the season, taking the long and winding road to the lagoon of Venice, where Venezia awaits. The Leoni Alati have also suffered three straight defeats and don’t even have a Coppa Italia win to fall back on but have looked sporadically feisty. They might be even more so because this is the Derby Vanoli; the current Viola mister turned Venzia around from a miserable start in 2024 and got the team promoted back to Serie A before Torino poached him.

The match will be played on Friday, 11 September 2026, at 19:45 GMT/12:45 PM EST, at the Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo in Venice. The forecast calls for a grey, drizzly day, which is par for the course in Veneto. At least it won’t be as punishingly hot as it was last week in Florence. Expect to see the first puffer jackets of the season among the thousand or so Fiorentina fans expected to make the trek. And hey, at least they’ll get to see a handful of familiar faces in Matías Moreno, Simon Sohm, and Alfred Duncan.

Vanoli’s been in the job for less than a week. That’s not enough time to get to know all his players, much less install a new tactical system to replace whatever it was that Fabio Grosso was doing. If you can stretch your mind into the mists of deepest time (id est last year), Vanoli didn’t change much about the team tactically for a month or more. I don’t think he’ll be that delicate this time around—without Europe and all the negative Pioli vibes, the kid gloves come off sooner—but there’s not much he can do to reshape Fiorentina’s identity in four days.

What Vanoli can do in four days is begin setting standards. It’s what he did last year and it completely changed the team. My sense is that he wants his players to do everything with full-throated commitment; once that’s the baseline expectation, he can start adding in the tactical wrinkles. He’ll also need to explain those standards in a way that the players understand to ensure they can actually do their jobs. I don’t get the sense that he’s a brilliant strategist but like his mentor Antonio Conte, he can get a squad pulling together. If the Viola start snapping into tackles and hitting their off-ball sprints with greater intensity, he’ll be happy.

Venezia’s already facing a crisis at the back with no fewer than 4 central defenders (Armel Bella-Kotchap, Bartol Franjić, Juan Jesus, and Marin Svěrko) dealing with injuries. Giovanni Stroppa made this the stingiest group in Serie B last year and, despite the departure stalwart Michael Svoboda, he knows how to organize a back line. For the true Fiorentina sicko, this is extra exciting because it finally means we’ll get to watch Football Manager favorite Moreno in Serie A.

With all those injuries, though, there’s a distinct lack of chemistry. I like Moreno but he’s got a mistake in him, while Joël Schingtienne and Redouane Halhal aren’t pillars of consistency either. Even though Fiorentina’s on the road, Vanoli might see the rearguard as the weakest segment of the team and attack it by pressing high, at least sporadically. I’d also expect to see a lot of quick balls up to the wings to test the outside defenders 1-v-1. If the Viola can force a mistake and capitalize on it early, they’ll settle a lot of nerves.

I doubt Fabio Paratici gave Grosso much input into transfer signings but this team was designed with him in mind. Vanoli’s a bit of a tactical chameleon so we don’t know how he’ll line this team up. He’ll stick with some variation of a 4-3-3 but who starts and how it all fits together remains uncertain. My guess is that he’ll stick with the few familiar faces for the first few weeks, which should give Luca Ranieri, Marin Pongračić, Dodô, Nicolò Fagioli, Cher Ndour, and Marco Brescianini a leg up on the competition, although none of them are guaranteed to start except Nicky Beans.

With Christ Inao Oulaï injured, my guess is that Arthur Atta joins Fagioli and Ndour in the engine room, probably in a midfield 3, although the mister could tilt that triangle and go for Atta as the 10 and Ndour in a pivot with Fagioli. More interesting is the attack. Mateo Pellegrino scored last week and that should be enough to hold off Beto for now. Out wide, though, I wonder if Franco Mastantuono is certain to keep his spot. Wilfred Gnonto looked better on that side against Torino. On the other side, Vanoli wasn’t a huge Alieu Njie fan at Torino (although that might’ve been more tactical than anything) and could lean on the more experienced Pedro Gonçalves instead. Everyone’s got a clean slate and a chance to win a spot. Again.

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The bookies lean Fiorentina’s way but I can’t quite see why. Venezia has scored more, conceded less, and plays at home. The Arancioneroverdi also have the advantage of not having sacked their manager 3 games into the season; indeed, Stroppa led this group straight back to the top flight after a year in Serie B and has the club behind him. The only certain advantage the Viola hold is health, although I suppose one could argue that there’s a talent advantage there too. Of course, I said that about Frosinone, too, so maybe not.

At least one of these teams is going to get its first point of the season and I think it’ll be Fiorentina. I’m making it an ugly 1-2 win for the visitors behind goals from Ndour (feels like he’s due for a laser) and Gnonto getting in behind with Akor Adams finally getting his season off the ground for the Leoni Alati. As we’ve seen from Vanoli teams in the past, it’ll be an ugly, scrappy game, less intense than painful. If the number for staff members getting carded is 0.5, I’d take the over, too. Paolo picked up 3 yellow and 2 red cards last season and he’ll be looking to set the tone in this one.