Player Focus: Cuadrado's 2013 Form Coincided With Fiorentina's Serie A Surge

It must’ve been a heartbreaking moment for Fiorentina when Philippe Mexes smashed home AC Milan’s winner in the 2-1 victory over Siena to confirm the Rossoneri’s place in the Champions League next season by two points, much to the disappointment of the Viola.

Vincenzo Montella had seen his side secure an impressive 5-1 win over Pescara prior to the full time whistle being blown on the last game of the Serie A season, but their fourth place finish means they will be forced to ply their trade in the Europa League next year.

It was a sorry turn of events for Fiorentina, who had won six of their last seven Serie A games to hand themselves a fighting chance of securing a place amongst Europe’s elite next year. However, they saw themselves fall short in the end, with the defeat to AS Roma at the beginning of May having a significant impact on their final placing. 

In fact, after their disastrous start to 2013, during which the club picked up just one point from a possible 12 in January, a return of 34 points from 48 between February 3rd and the end of the season was attained by the Florence based outfit, with the club winning many an admirer as a result. 

Key to the upturn in form were the performances of Juan Guillermo Cuadrado, with the Colombia international operating as a right wing back in Montella’s 3-5-2 formation. The 24-year-old has become a crucial member of the Fiorentina starting XI since signing from Udinese on loan in July 2012, and the improvement in displays from the club coincided with a rise in Cuadrado’s average WhoScored.com rating from 7.31 before the winter break to 7.69 afterwards. 

That figure in itself is the third highest of any player to have made over 10 Serie A appearances since January 1st, with AC Milan’s Mario Balotelli (8.23) and Juventus midfielder Arturo Vidal (7.83) the two players ahead of the wing back. Furthermore, in that period, Cuadrado picked up five man of the match awards, totalling at 8 over the entire season, which was the joint highest with Napoli striker Edinson Cavani.

Garnering such a high amount of man of the match awards certainly would’ve arisen from the number of successful dribbles Cuadrado completed, with the Fiorentina ace beating his opponent with 118 of his attempts to do so - the highest in Serie A. In fact, Cuadrado saw his total completed dribbles improve from 2.7 per game over 14 Serie A games, to 4.1 over his final 19 appearances, coinciding with the impressive upturn in his average rating. 

In turn the Viola finished as the second highest team to have completed to the most successful dribbles (470), with only Inter Milan (476) placing ahead of them, and Cuadrado was responsible for 25.1% of his side's tally over the campaign.

With the Fiorentina man completing the most dribbles in Serie A, it comes as no real surprise to have seen him attempt the most in the league either, with Cuadrado looking to drift past an opponent 242 times this season, with an individual success rate of 48.7%.

His directness has evidently been highlighted as a threat to opposition full backs, and it’s no real shock to have seen the player on the receiving end of 108 fouls this season. That figure was the third highest in Serie A, with Bologna midfielder Alessandro Diamanti (147) and Pablo Barrientos (111) of Catania the only two players to be fouled more than Cuadrado.

His style is somewhat of a rarity in a league where the onus is often on defending, and it is utilised in Montella’s preference to play with three centre backs, with Cuadrado attacking on the right flank and captain Manuel Pasqual on the left. 

As such, his creative talents have seen him pick up six assists for Fiorentina this season and, having set up four while starting as a right wing-back, Cuadrado helped himself to the most assists from that position, with Christian Maggio of Napoli and Udinese’s Dusan Basta (both 2) his closest challengers. It comes as no real surprise that he also created the most big chances of any player to have started as a right wing-back (8), with Juventus’ Stephan Lichtsteiner his nearest rival in that aspect, as the Switzerland international created seven big chances for his teammates. 

So, while much has been made recently over the future of striker Stevan Jovetic, with the Montenegrin set to depart the club this summer, the efforts of Cuadrado have regularly been overshadowed as a result.

Granted, the striker boasts a higher average rating of 7.53, but that figure is only a marginal mark up on Cuadrado’s 7.51. Either way, it’s proof that the Colombian full back has since become a pivotal member of the Fiorentina set up and with Jovetic expected to leave the Stadio Artemio Franchi this summer, the club will undoubtedly be keen to secure the player on a permanent deal from Udinese.