Leyton Orient's Slump Continues as Bristol City Claim Vital Away Win

Leyton Orient's hunt for automatic promotion to the Championship suffered another setback on Tuesday night, as relegation-threatened Bristol City romped to a 3-1 away win at Brisbane Road. The defeat makes it three consecutive losses for Russell Slade's O's, who looked shorn of confidence by a combination of injuries and poor form.

Orient goalkeeper Shwan Jalal, who recently joined on loan from Bournemouth, looked particularly suspect but was given little protection by his defenders. Jalal, signed as a replacement for recalled Hull City loanee Eldin Jakupovic and the injured Orient duo of Jamie Jones and Ben Alnwick, was beaten at his near post for Sam Baldock's third-minute opener and failed to convince thereafter.

Shwan Jalal endured a difficult evening

The Orient fans in attendance could be forgiven for missing Jakupovic, who kept three clean sheets in four games for the East London outfit, as Jalal repeatedly proved unable to command his area on set pieces, which yielded Bristol City's second and third goals. In between, Kevin Lisbie tucked home after Dean Cox's shot had been parried to make it 2-1 on the stroke of half time, but Orient seldom threatened to grab an equaliser before Aden Flint's header settled the contest 15 minutes from time.

Indeed, Russell Slade will be concerned by Orient's inability to create chances, despite enjoying the bulk of possession against City. Moses Odubajo and Dean Cox frequently looked isolated on the wings of Orient's 4-4-2, with full backs Scott Cuthbert and Gary Sawyer rarely overlapping to offer an outlet. Central midfielders Marvin Bartley and Romain Vincelot, meanwhile, were more focussed on stifling the creativity of City's Wade Elliott instead of breaking forward to support the strikers.

Moses Odubajo was left isolated on the right wing

Perhaps Orient's brightest spark in the defeat was the performance of striker Chris Dagnall, recently signed from Barnsley, who held the ball up well and brought others into play. However, his inclusion in the side meant that Orient's 17-goal top scorer David Mooney was left on the bench until the 64th minute, when he replaced Dagnall. While Orient sit third in the League One table and have produced some fine football this season, their rigid 4-4-2 system dictates that one of Mooney, Dagnall or Lisbie will have to begin matches as a substitute. As such, it is worth wondering whether the money spent on Dagnall may have been better used to recruit a central midfielder who can add creativity to the endeavour of Bartley and Vincelot.

Aden Flint was left unmarked for Bristol City's third goal

The most pressing issue for Orient, however, is cutting elementary mistakes out of their game as the business end of the season beckons. Against City, passes were regularly played across the backline, and City's strike duo of Jay Emmanuel-Thomas and Tyrone Barnett could have profited from a number of mis-hit backpasses, had their finishing been better. The O's will also need to improve their handling of opposition set-pieces, as Barnett and Flint scored headed goals from a corner and following a free-kick respectively. The third goal was particularly farcical, as the hulking Flint was able to stroll between Orient centre-backs Nathan Clarke and Mathieu Baudry to divert Greg Cunningham's cross past the stranded Jalal.

Bristol City played with a physicality and tenacity which corresponds more with their Championship wage bill than their lowly position in the League One table, with Baldock and Elliott particularly impressive. On this evidence, they have more than enough talent to avoid the drop. Orient, meanwhile, face a tough trip to fourth-placed Preston North End before three straight home games. With Wolverhampton Wanderers and Brentford ahead in the table and both with a game in hand, Russell Slade's men will be desperate to arrest their slide in order to avoid the lottery of the play-offs.            

Laudrup Loses Out in English Football's Counter-revolution

Swansea City's decision to sack Michael Laudrup shocked many observers this week, particularly given that the Danish manager guided the Swans to their first ever major silverware in last season's League Cup, and had also managed to attract the likes of Michu, Chico Flores and Jonathan de Guzman to The Liberty Stadium. More startling than Laudrup's sacking, however, is the fact that the former Real Madrid and Barcelona star was the Premier League's seventh longest serving manager prior to his departure.

It is easy to view Laudrup, whose role as head coach will be handed to club stalwart Garry Monk 'for the foreseeable future', as just another limp body flung from the managerial merry-go-round as it spins at an ever more frantic pace. In reality, however, his dismissal corresponds with a more worrying new trend in English football: the managerial counter-revolution. Just as the Contras emerged to challenge the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, and Franco's Nationalists ousted the Spanish Republicans, in football we see Liverpool replacing Rafael Benitez with Roy Hodgson and Leicester City exiling Sven-Goran Eriksson in favour of Nigel Pearson.

Michael Laudrup was sacked with Swansea 12th in the Premier League

The revolutionary process begins when a new (usually foreign) manager arrives at a football club, preaching the exotic mantras of ball retention and "the pressing game", and signs their own cadre of exotic imports. The club will begin to adapt to the new manager's system, which is almost always 4-2-3-1, usually with an upturn in results. Inevitably, the side will begin to lose momentum and the fans and chairman will become suspicious of continental innovations such as zonal marking and the dreaded "high defensive line". In their Talksport-addled panic, supporters regress to the reassuring conservative values of 4-4-2, channel balls and the "old fashioned number nine". The revolutionary manager departs, leaving with whimpers about "building" and "philosophy", and is invariably replaced by an ardent disciplinarian. The counter-revolution is complete.

Nowhere has this phenomenon played out more frequently than at Tottenham Hotspur, a club which lurches from the measured, methodical mediocrity of Juande Ramos and Andre Villas-Boas to the exhilarating, kamikaze kick-and-rush espoused by Harry Redknapp and Tim Sherwood. At Southampton, meanwhile, you suspect Mauricio Pochettino's reluctance to speak English may be in order to ensure the media don't catch him referring to Jay Rodriguez as a false nine, lest his progressive tendencies be exposed.

Giving nothing away: Mauricio Pochettino

Laudrup's dismissal and the subsequent promotion of 35-year-old club captain Monk bears all the hallmarks of a counter-revolutionary footballing coup, after Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins previously accused Laudrup's team of a defeatist mindset when playing against the Premier League's biggest clubs. Indeed, Jenkins will hope that Monk, who has played for Swansea in all four divisions of the Football League, can muster some fighting spirit within the squad prior to Saturday's derby with fellow relegation candidates Cardiff City. Whether or not the English defender, who will be assisted by first team coach Alan Curtis, is the man to unite a reportedly divided squad is debatable - particularly since Monk himself came to blows with Spanish defender Chico Flores in a training ground spat in January.

In the meantime, Monk has vowed that Swansea "are all in this together - and I will make sure we stick together". This charged rhetoric comes in sharp contrast to the more relaxed Laudrup, who often used to drift through press conferences with the calm assurance one would expect from a languid former playmaker who was once voted La Liga's finest import since 1975. This relaxed, almost aloof demeanour may have led Jenkins to believe that not enough was being done to arrest a slump which has seen Swansea lose six of their last eight league games.

Garry Monk will select the Swansea team for Saturday's derby at home to Cardiff City

The Dane will find another job in management quickly enough, after previous successes at Getafe and Brondby, and many chairmen will be impressed by the dynamic passing game he imposes on his teams. Future employers may also recognise that there were a number of mitigating factors in Swansea's poor recent form. Chief among those is Spanish international Michu's prolonged absence through injury, as last season's top scorer has managed just 12 league appearances this term. While summer signing Wilfried Bony has already scored 13 goals in all competitions, the Ivorian forward lacks Michu's finesse when dropping deep to collect the ball, and often appears isolated as a lone striker. The pace and trickery of Pablo Hernandez, another member of the Spanish contingent, has also been missed as the winger has struggled with a string of niggles.

Swansea's squad has also seemed stretched by their European campaign, although they have at least secured a glamorous fixture against Napoli in the Europa League's Round of 32. Laudrup's second batch of signings, meanwhile, have been something of a mixed bunch, with the likes of Roland Lamah and Alvaro Vazquez yet to convince.

Laudrup leaves Swansea in much the same manner as he left previous managerial roles in Getafe and Mallorca, with his team improved by his tenure, but his relationship with the board in tatters. Since leaving Brondby in 2006, he has managed four different clubs, and none for as long as two years. In the age of managerial revolution and counter-revolution, perhaps Laudrup takes on the role of Che Guevara: the good-looking, intelligent idealist who travels far and wide, but can never recapture the glory of his earlier achievements.

The Bay Area ain't over

The mainstream, middle-class subsumption of street culture continues apace. It's on the worn-indoors Carhartt beanie of every gormless grad grinding knowingly to Future. It's on the sidelines of Madison Square Garden, as Cara Delevingne selfies her way through another Knicks defeat (shout to Beno Udrih - I still believe). It's the endless Buzzfeed listicles on Beyonce, littering the internet like spacejunk in orbit.

The mainstream's creeping assimilation of subversive urban culture is certain to go on, but perhaps in 2014 we might at least make our appropriation of urban style and music a little more heartfelt. After listening to the following selection of Bay Area hip-hop tracks, you should be able to string together a rudimentary conversation about the sub-genre, just in case somebody decides to ask why you're wearing an Oakland Raiders jersey and a HUF five-panel. 

Repping Oak-town

All cynicism aside, the Bay Area, centred around San Francisco and Oakland, has fostered one of America's most distinctive scenes. Bay Area rappers, often overlooked outside of Northern California, have carved their own niche within hip-hop, with often-eccentric MCs delivering the local slang over snappy beats and flamboyant samples. These five tracks are just the tip of the iceberg. 

1. I.M.P. - Frisco

This influential posse cut, which features Bay Area stalwarts Young Cellski and Andre Nickatina, serves as an ideal excellent introduction to San Francisco: both its geography and its slang. The notorious boroughs of Lakeview and Hunter's Point "HP" are shouted out, and smoking "chewy" (cannabis sprinkled with cocaine) is discussed at length. 

The track is built around a crunching up-tempo drum beat, and a menacing, G-funk synth. The lyrics are sharp too, as Young Cellski proposes to listener: "you can be the baseball, I can be the batter". Bonus points are also earned for the song's inclusion in not one but two famous Bay Area-centric skate parts, as well as the single's fantastic cover art.

2. RBL Posse - Don't Give Me No Bammer Weed

This track from 1994's outstanding A Lesson To Be Learned, edges out The Luniz's crossover hit 'I Got 5 On It' as the Bay Area's finest drug anthem on account of the RBL Posse's more discerning attitude to weed. The rather confusingly-named duo of Black C and Mr. Cee encourage the listener to reject 'bammer' (bad) weed in favour of 'dank', recounting their personal experiences of both strains as supporting evidence.

Powered by a beguiling drum loop, the two MCs overlap brilliantly on a track which became a cult hit in the Bay, and was even sampled on Dre Dog's 'Smoke Dope and Rap'. A group who could combine rich beats with intricate wordplay, RBL struggled to maintain their high standards after Mr. Cee was murdered in 1996.

3. Keak Da Sneak - Super Hyphy

While RBL's 'Bammer Weed' tells the listener that "dank ain't medicine, but it'll ease the pain", Super Hyphy could be deployed by the anti-drugs lobby as a warning of the perils of "smoking purp and sippin' Yac", with Keak Da Sneak's voice so raspy that his lyrics are almost unintelligible on first listen. This 2005 hit, however, is a strangely compelling song, as Keak complains of other rappers stealing his slang.

The track is perhaps the finest example of the more club-orientated "hyphy" movement, which originated in the Bay Area and enjoyed brief popularity in the mid-2000s. Now largely forgotten, the sub-genre's most relevant recent appearance came when Messy Marv's 'Get On My Hype' soundtracked the house party scene in the above-average Ryan Gosling vehicle The Place Beyond The Pines.

4. Mac Dre - Too Hard (Young Black Brotha)

The pimpster aesthetic has long been popular in the Bay Area (just ask Dru Down), with Vallejo's Mac Dre and Oakland's Too $hort the most successful exponents of the style. Out of Mac Dre and Too $hort, Dre is the more flamboyant and charismatic, while $hort is the foulmouthed, dead-eyed, screw-faced one who would probably be more effective as a real-life pimp. 

This track, which was Dre's break-out hit in 1989, sees the energetic rapper on boastful form as he claims to be "making much more than a minimum wage" and staying "full of the Hennessy". It marked the beginning of a fine career, as Dre would remain a prolific and popular figure in the Bay Area hip-hop scene until his tragic death in 2004, despite a four-year spell behind bars after an armed robbery conviction in 1993.

5. Saafir - Light Sleeper

Together with Souls of Mischief, Oakland MC Saafir is proof that rappers from the Bay Area can be thoughtful as well as fun. 'Light Sleeper', taken from 1994's unfairly overlooked Boxcar Sessions album, sees Saafir discuss his multiple personalities over a slurring beat and discordant scratching. The rapper's verses are loaded with double entendres, and his self-conscious lyricism recalls A Tribe Called Quest when he admits "I'm dope... I'm arrogant and outspoken".

Saafir's case for inclusion is further strengthened by his part in one of the greatest West Coast rap battles, when he faced off with fellow Oakland native Casual and his Hieroglyphics crew over unreciprocated features.                 

Is Cai Zhenhua the answer to the Chinese National Team's problems?

This Tuesday, the Chinese Football Association unveiled their new president, and the man charged with dragging the national team out of the mire. At the press conference, he spoke of "determination, confidence and perseverance" and bringing "Chinese soccer back to its right track". The new president's name is Cai Zhenhua, he is a former table tennis world champion, and he has never worked in football before.

Cai Zhenhua, newly elected president of the Chinese Football Association

Cai will be responsible for overhauling a footballing culture which is still struggling with lingering corruption and poor coaching at grassroots level, as well as a managerless national side currently ranked 92nd in the world. Former president Yuan Weimin, who retires aged 75, had presided over the disastrous appointment of former Spain coach Jose Antonio Camacho as manager of the national team, who was to plumb new depths in heavy defeats at home to teams as varied as Uzbekistan, Brazil and Thailand.

With Yuan and Camacho now departed, Chinese fans will hope that Cai can replicate his success from his 13-year tenure as national table tennis coach, where he helped turn China into an Olympic powerhouse after retiring as a player. He also has experience in handling the bureaucracy which is intertwined with Chinese football, having worked as a director within the powerful State Administration for Sport.

Despite this experience, Cai should not expect an extended honeymoon period at the helm of the Chinese Football Association. A new manager needs to be appointed before the crucial Asian Cup qualifier away to Iraq in March, where China need a draw to secure qualification to the 2015 tournament in Australia. Italian World Cup-winning manager Marcello Lippi has long been linked to the manager's position, particularly after success in both the Chinese Super League and the Asian Champions League with Guangzhou Evergrande, and is the outstanding candidate to take over.

Frontrunner: Marcello Lippi

However, interim coach Fu Bo has steadied the national team with wins against Australia and Indonesia after Camacho's departure, and the CFA could be tempted to select a domestic manager after Camacho's alleged difficulties with translators. The Spaniard's eight million dollar salary also drew criticism from the Chinese media, and it is likely to take a similar outlay to tempt Lippi away from Guangzhou. Former Dalian Aerbin manager Aleksandar Stanojevic, meanwhile, could be an interesting third option for Cai and his colleagues. The Serbian coach, who was recently fired by Beijing Guoan despite finishing third in the league and progressing to the knockout stages of the Champions League, has experience of working in China and plays progressive, attacking football.

Furthermore, appointing Stanojevic would reunite him with two of China's most important young players, Yu Dabao and Zhang Xizhe, whom he managed at Dalian and Beijing respectively. Yu, who scored in recent victories over Australia and Singapore, has emerged as China's most consistent goal threat, while Zhang has the potential to be the creative heart of the team. The 22-year-old playmaker, who has recently been linked with a move to Celtic, plundered 11 goals from midfield under Stanojevic at Guoan last season. Along with Shanghai East Asia's Wu Lei, these two players could make a formidable attacking trio behind the mercurial Gao Lin in a modern 4-3-2-1 formation.

Defensive linchpin: Guangzhou Evergrande's Zhang Linpeng

In defence, meanwhile, Zhang Linpeng and veteran Zheng Zhi both excelled for Guangzhou Evergrande in their triumphant Asian Champions league campaign, playing with a rare blend of aggression and composure. In goal, the promising Wang Dalei will hope his recent move from Shanghai Shenhua to league runners-up Shandong Luneng will allow him to challenge Yang Zhi for the goalkeeper's jersey. Indeed, it is clear that the talent within the current Chinese squad means qualification for not only the Asian Cup but the 2018 World Cup should be realistic goals for Cai Zhenhua and whoever he appoints as the national team's new manager.

Evergrande's success at continental level has renewed China's appetite for footballing success after the lean years following the nation's sole World Cup appearance in 2002, and Cai will be under immediate pressure to transfer his undoubted expertise in table tennis to a wholly unfamiliar sport. Radical changes to China's footballing culture are needed, but before he can begin to address the nation's shortcomings at youth level, the CFA's new president must choose his manager wisely.      

Mazzari's Inter on the March

On Saturday night, Rolando's leap said it all: the ecstatic Portuguese centre half springing onto the shoulders of Ricky Alvarez and Fredy Guarin to celebrate the goal which restored Inter Milan's three goal advantage over Hellas Verona. Inter are Champions League contenders, and enjoying every minute of the chase. Earlier in the week, club president Massimo Moratti had warned fans of the Nerazzurri not to "expect any signings like Bale", despite recent investment from an Indonesian consortium. On this evidence, such extravagant purchases do not seem particularly necessary.  

Elation: Inter celebrate their third goal against Hellas

An energetic Inter eventually ran out 4-2 winners over Serie A's newly promoted surprise package, a robust Hellas side which had won three on the bounce prior to their visit to the San Siro. The victory takes Walter Mazzari's side up to fourth in the league table, ahead of Fiorentina on goal difference. More startling, though, is the way in which Mazzari has exorcised the demons of last season. Under Andrea Stramaccioni, Inter finished the 2012-13 season in ninth place, hemorrhaging goals in the process - only bottom-placed Pescara conceded more than the Nerazzurri's 57. The bitter dispute over Wesley Sneijder's contract, meanwhile, seemed to disturb the harmony of the squad, leading to a string of listless performances.

This season, however, Inter look like a team determined to give their all in every match. The defence is still far from perfect, with Mazzarri's squad having shipped eight goals in their last four games, but Inter are beginning to attack down the flanks with the same menace Mazzarri's Napoli side used to display. In particular, the wing backs Yuto Nagatomo and Juan Jesus, who have started every game this season, are attacking threats when given a chance to break forward. Indeed, this season's Inter seems intent on pressing the opposition in a compact 3-4-2-1 formation, with club stalwart Esteban Cambiasso back at the heart of the midfield. Once possession is gained, the team typically looks to feed the pacy Rodrigo Palacio, who has five goals already this season, as quickly as possible.

Palacio has top-scored for the Nerazzurri

The formula has been working, too, with only runaway league leaders Roma able to defeat Mazzari's outfit. Even reigning champions Juventus were made to wait for a late equaliser from Arturo Vidal when they visited the San Siro, after Mauro Icardi had put Inter ahead. Indeed, Juve's own Giovanni Buffon was impressed by Inter, revealing that "they remind me of Juventus from two years ago". The veteran goalkeeper was referring to the season in which Juve rallied from successive seventh place finishes to storm to the Scudetto, with a young squad playing without the pressure of expectation - or the distraction of European football.

While their suspect defence renders the prospect of a sustained title challenge from the Nerazzuri unlikely, they can be expected to at least reinforce their squad in January, with media mogul Erick Thohir's Indonesian consortium providing significant investment. Mazzari is an excellent candidate to spend this windfall, having unearthed a number of gems for small transfer fees when manager of Napoli. The Livornese manager brought the little-known Ezequiel Lavezzi to the San Paolo for six million euros in 2007 and sold him to Paris St. Germain for 30 million five years later. Edinson Cavani, meanwhile, plundered 104 goals in 138 appearances for Napoli after Mazzarri spent 17 million euros to take the Uruguayan striker from Palermo.

Eye for a bargain: Walter Mazzari

As Inter's fans expect Mazzarri to wield the club's chequebook in the winter transfer window, the current squad are visibly fighting to keep their place in the new manager's rapidly evolving side. One player who has adapted surprisingly well to the manager's pressing game is Ricky Alvarez, the 22-year-old Argentinian trequartista who before this season looked slight of build and frail of mind, despite his obvious talent on the ball. This season's Alvarez, however, has been a whirling dervish between the lines of midfield and attack, charging down defenders and making dazzling dribbles with equal vigour. He was regal in the 7-0 rout of Sassuolo, while his assist against Juve typified his newfound energy: robbing Giogio Chiellini of possession before supplying a fine through ball for Icardi.

Transformed: Ricky Alvarez

Inter and Alvarez will have to maintain their fine form to compete for the Champions League. Italy's worsening UEFA coefficient means there are just three qualifiers from Serie A, with Juve and Roma the early pacesetters. A Gonzalo Higuain-inspired Napoli and Vincenzo Montella's fine Fiorentina side, along with Inter's bitter rivals Milan will also be more favored among bookmakers than the Nerazzurri to secure a place in European football's elite competition.

The mood, however, in the San Siro's Curva Nord has undergone a massive shift, with Mazzari's side shrugging off the lethargy that enveloped last season's campaign. For the last Italian club to win a continental trophy, good times might just be on the horizon once again.                  

The White Yeezus: A Review of Borrell 1

At the beginning of 'Cyrano Masochiste', the sixth track on his solo debut Borrell 1, Johnny Borrell wails "I am a masochist, you are a narcissist, ain't you glad I exist". He's absolutely right, of course, as the Razorlight frontman has crafted one of the most fascinating albums of the year. These 11 tracks, filled with the pomp and arrogance of a defiant loser, reveal a man struggling desperately to reclaim artistic and personal credibility. Much of the music is deeply flawed, and some of it is outright terrible, but the album's surprising ambition forms a revealing portrait of a brand of self-righteous angst unique to the male artist. The singer rails against the world, convinced that they are somehow overlooking his genius, and by the end of the album, you almost feel compelled to back him up.

Railing against the world: Johnny Borrell

That Borrell 1 makes for such a bizarrely invigorating listen is odd, given that Borrell himself has been exiled to France in the wake of a critical and commercial backlash. Razorlight, having started out as a passable indie-pop fourpiece, eventually morphed into an anaemic stadium-rock farce, right down to Borrell's own white catsuit. The sub-U2 dirge of 'America' became the band's shorthand, the critics' knives came out and Kirsten Dunst quickly abandoned the man who had once shepherded her to SXSW via motorbike. Worse still, Mercury Records took the entirely justifiable step of refusing to release the preposterously-titled Vertical Women LP, and two of Borrell's bandmates decided the time was right to flee the sinking ship.

Borrell himself fled to the south of France, where he took up with Zazou, a group of local musicians who style themselves similarly to Peep Show's Super Hans, right down to their purple zoot-suits. Their sax-heavy melodies, however, provide many of Borrell 1's more distinguished moments. 'Joshua Amrit', in particular, is an energetic number about leaving a lover to another man, with more than a hint of Graceland-era Paul Simon about it. 'Each and Every Road', meanwhile, is a ska-intoned romp which could be construed as an anti-drug anthem, were it not so gloriously stoned-sounding.

Borrell's dickhead charisma looms large over proceedings, however, and is both the best and worst thing about his solo debut. On 'Pan-European Supermodel Song', Borrell claims his own music is "genius", while the bafflingly enjoyable 'Wild Today' reveals that "my ex-girlfriend's in all the magazines, and the by-lines tell me she's still in love with me". 'Erotic Letter', meanwhile, concludes the album in a car crash of self-indulgence. But as with Kanye West on Yeezus, it is the artist's vanity and bombast which makes the album fascinating. You will listen intently for the next big affirmation of the singer's own profundity, sometimes failing to pay attention to the music surrounding the statements.

It should be stressed that Borrell 1 is not a good album. Songs which see Borrell trying to play it safe, such as 'Ladder To Your Bed', are particularly grating. However, there is a surprising absence of cynicism here: Borrell only sees the future, his rockstardom reinstated. When British music's hapless antihero comes out swinging, there is a charm to his fumbling grasp for greatness.

TWO STARS, BUT ESSENTIAL LISTENING         

Gomez's Goals Can Shatter Fiorentina's Glass Ceiling

Despite a campaign which saw La Viola finish just two points behind third place, and achieve their highest standing in Serie A since 2009-10, many fans of Fiorentina will have felt heartbroken on the final day of last season. With fifteen minutes of their home fixture against Pescara remaining, Fiorentina were 2-0 in front and headed for the Champions League, and only a two-goal comeback for Milan away to Siena could deny them. Inevitably, the Rossoneri were able to conjure their unlikely comeback via a dubious penalty from that famous final-day specialist Maro Balotelli, and Phillipe Mexes' close-range winner in the 87th minute.

Astute: Vincenzo Montella has overseen a renaissance in Florence

It was a harsh conclusion to the season for Vincenzo Montella's Fiorentina, who had lit up Serie A with a free-flowing brand of attacking football. Indeed, only eventual runners-up Napoli managed to score more frequently in the league. Montella, who was harshly dismissed by Roma's American owners after shepherding the Giallorossi to a sixth place finish in 2011-12, has built his brand of possession play around the midfield trio of Borja Valero, David Pizarro and Alberto Aquilani. While this collection of playmakers, operating without a typical enforcer, may seem lightweight, Fiorentina have largely managed to outfox and outmaneuver their domestic opponents in the middle of the park. Valero in particular proved a shrewd purchase at less than five million pounds, as the former West Brom midfielder has added surprising pace and bite to his already refined passing.
                             
Outside of this flamboyant threesome, Montella has added both grit and glamour to other areas of the team. Stefan Savic, who struggled to cope with the physicality of the English Premier League while at Manchester City, has shown his class and composure at centre half. The XXL-sized goalkeeping gloves of club icon Sebastien Frey, meanwhile, were finally filled by Emiliano Viviano, who arrived on loan from Palermo. Up front, meanwhile, Montenegrin trequartista Stevan Jovetic has top-scored, and attracted advances from Arsenal and Juventus. Praise too, should go to Serbian schemer Adem Ljajic, once almost of Manchester United, who has added mercurial flair from the wing.

Flamboyant: Adem Ljajic has been a threat on the wing

However, perhaps Fiorentina's most important addition in their hunt for Champion's League qualification came this week, with the £13.7 million purchase of Bayern Munich's Mario Gomez. The signing of the well-coiffed centre forward is a genuine coup for a club playing outside of Europe's top continental competition, and the German's goals may even be enough to fire La Viola into title contention. Goals are one thing that Gomez practically guarantees, having struck 138 times in just 236 senior appearances. However, with Bayern finding Mario Mandzukic's manic work-rate a better compliment to their Teutonic take on total football, Gomez was left surplus to requirements at the Allianz Arena.

Prolific: But Bayern chose to offload Gomez

Fiorentina, despite playing an up-tempo possession game similar to the European champions, can take heart in the fact that their new striker still managed to plunder 12 goals in 11 starts last season as the Bavarians romped to the treble. More encouragingly, while Gomez's approach play can occasionally lack polish, his personal trophy cabinet suggests that he makes up for this in sheer weight of goals. Indeed, the 28-year-old forward can point out that he contributed goals in double figures for each of his three Bundesliga winners' medals, including the 2006-07 title with an unfancied Stuttgart side. These goals come in a range of finishes, from precise headers to startling solo efforts.

This steady supply of goals means Fiorentina can still be considered serious challengers for the Champions League, and even dark horses for the Scudetto, despite Jovetic's seeming set to leave the Artemio Franchi in favour of Juventus. The midfield remains potent, while Montella will hope to partner Gomez with a fit-again Giuseppe Rossi in a chalk-and-cheese duo in attack. Montella's charges will also be encouraged by the prospect of 29-goal Napoli forward Edinson Cavani joining former team-mates such as Ezequiel Lavezzi at Paris Saint-Germain, thus depriving Gomez of his most convincing challenger for Serie A's golden boot. Napoli's vulnerability seems more genuine when considering new manager Rafael Benitez's previous failures at Inter. With this in mind, La Viola's supporters will be confident of a happier final day next season.