It wasn’t the result one was expecting by just looking at the full-time stats sheet, but Fiorentina fell at the hands of AC Milan on Sunday evening at the San Siro, by a 2-0 scoreline.

A strong performance by the home side, mostly down to their defensive organization and fighting spirit, was enough to see off the Viola, who boasted possession of up to 69% but failed to get the better of Gianluigi Donnarumma.

It was their third loss in the last five Serie A matches. With the Viola falling to Napoli, Roma, Juventus, Lazio and now Milan, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that Fiorentina missed another opportunity to stake their claim as a genuine Scudetto contender.

While Paulo Sousa has done incredibly well to implement an attractive brand of football at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, the Viola now find themselves six points off the summit.

The current transfer window has become ever so important to reinforce in areas short of depth, mainly the defence and midfield.  And with Europa League commitments still to attend to this term, Fiorentina will surely have their hands full, which could further harm their Scudetto cause.

But turning our attention to pre-match matters, their opponents carried with them their good second half performance against Roma last week and looked to enter into Europa League territory with a win.

Pressure has been mounting on coach Sinisa Mihajlovic but it appears that he’ll be allowed a bit more breathing room to continue to allow his squad to come together as one, having already shown signs of it in recent performances.

Milan started the match well and gained the lead through a magnificent Carlos Bacca strike after Giacomo Bonventura sent the through Colombian against Nenad Tomovic, the 7th assist of the season for the Italian.

However, the away side would settle into the game 10 minutes in, establishing the familiar lulling rhythm of their play and doing everything they can to break down a very compact Milan side. The Rossoneri chose to sit back after taking the lead, focusing their efforts on counterattacking Sousa’s side.

Mihajlovic has experimented with quite a few systems this season, but the 4-4-2 looks set to stay and proved to be useful in covering the core of midfield. The 46-year-old’s side maintained their shape and pressed effectively as a unit, making sure Fiorentina weren’t able to construct meaningful play. Milan allowed the away team space out wide in order to keep a solidified central core, but despite Federico Bernadeschi’s solid efforts, Fiorentina were able to break down Mihajovlic’s men.

Although the Viola had the lion’s share of the possession, they were unable to really trouble Milan and make the most of it. This was caused by the fact that the Tuscans circulate the ball far too slowly. Their relaxed, languid fashion allows opposing sides to shift over and cover the appropriate areas.

While they do move the ball wide, they never really stretch their opposition because of the slow passing. Extra passes and touches offer more protection of the ball, but at the same time neglect quick forward play to unsettle the opponent.

A great example of this is comparing this match and Napoli’s 4-0 thrashing of the Rossoneri. Both sides controlled nearly the same amount of possession, but it was the Partenopei who made the most of it and came away with the three points.

Fiorentina should also to look incorporate more vertical passes into their play in order to pick the lock of tight defences to reach the box. Increased vertical passes would surely translate into more shots produced from inside the area and thus more goals. The Viola are ranked third in total shots taken this season, but sit tenth in strikes attempted from inside the penalty area, according to WhoScored.com.

As the match wound down, Kevin-Prince Boateng would double the lead just two minutes from the end normal time, capping off a solid Milan performance. A day before his 31st birthday, Riccardo Montolivo was essential in orchestrating his side forward and rotating the ball out wide while Mbaye Niang registered a tireless performance.