FM 2009 - U.S. Città di Palermo: Rosanero

Palermo, my favourite team to manage in the Football Manager series. Known as the pink-blacks for obvious reason. Hailing from the notorious Sicily, famous for being the birth-place of the Italian Mafia. Only a certain breed of men will look fierce in pink, but they do. You don't mess with a Sicilian team!

City of Palermo:

The metropolitan area of Palermo is the fifth most populated in Italy and in the top eighty of the largest in all of Europe with around 1.2 million people.

The importance of Palermo got another boost when Sicily became (1947) an autonomous region with extended self-rule. But any improvement was thwarted by the rising power of the Mafia, which still today is a dramatic feature of the city, as well as the whole Southern Italy.

U.S. Città di Palermo:

Full name: Unione Sportiva Città di Palermo SpA

Nickname(s): Rosanero ("Pink-blacks"), Aquile ("Eagles")

Founded: 1900 (Anglo Panormitan Athletic and Football Club) 1987 (US Città di Palermo)

Ground: Stadio Renzo Barbera, Palermo, Italy (Capacity: 37,000)

Chairman: Maurizio Zamparini

Head Coach: Davide Ballardini

League: 2007–08 Serie A, 11th

Unione Sportiva Città di Palermo is an Italian football club from Palermo, Sicily which currently plays in Serie A. It was formed in 1900 as Anglo Panormitan Athletic and Football. Following its return to Serie A in 2004, the club became one of the most prominent in Italy. It has obtained a UEFA Cup place in each of the past three seasons, narrowly missing UEFA Champions League qualification in 2007.

The official team colours are pink and black, giving rise to the nickname rosanero; another less common nickname is aquile, referring to the eagle present in both the official club logo and the coat of arms of the city of Palermo.

US Città di Palermo plays its home games at Stadio Renzo Barbera, formerly known as La Favorita; as of 2007 the stadium has a capacity of 37,000 people. It was originally built in 1932, but was renovated in the late 1980s and served as a venue for the 1990 FIFA World Cup.

Squad:

Sadly, the squad this year is a lot weaker than FM08. The only real positive is that the infamous transfer saga of Amauri to Juventus means you gained two good youngsters: Nocerino and Lanzafame. On the bright side, this means it's a lot more challenging!

A lot of players has been sold, and those who are left has had their stats downgraded.

There are still a few gems left which I'll get to in a bit, but first the squad:

Goalkeepers

GK - Marco Amelia*

GK - Samir Ujkani

GK - Alberto Fontana

Defenders

D/WB RL - Mattia Cassani^

D/WB RL - Federico Balzaretti

DLC - Ciro Capuano

SW/DC - Cesare Bovo*

DC - Moris Carrozzieri

DC - Simon Kjær

DR - Hernán Paolo Dellafiore

DR - Andrea Raggi

Midfielders

DMC/MC - Giulio Migliaccio*

DMC/MC - Roberto Guana

DMC/MC - Fábio Simplício

DMC/MC - Fabio Liverani

MC - Antonio Nocerino^

MRL - Luca Di Matteo

AMRCL - Mark Bresciano*

Forwards

AMRL/ST - Davide Lanzafame^

FC - Fabrizio Miccoli

ST - Edison Cavani^

ST - Igor Budan*

ST - Davide Succi

The players marked with ^ are promising and capable youngster, the ones with * are important and established players. In my opinion of course...

Players out:

GK - Federico Agliardi (Rimini)

DC - Andrea Barzagli (Wolfsburg)

DC - Giuseppe Biava (Genoa)

DC - Cristian Zaccardo (Wolfsburg)

DC - Leandro Rinaudo (Napoli)

MC - Fabio Caserta (Lecce)

AMC - Bosko Jankovic (Genoa 1 yr loan)

ST - Amauri (Juventus)

All quality players which were absolutely amazing on FM08. Indeed; Barzagli, Zaccardo and Amauri could have fetched you over £100m in FM08.

In reality, Palermo seems to be in a dire state financially in FM09! Maximum transfer budget you can get is about £5m.

State of Affairs

Right! Your squad is quite average. Bovo, Bresciano and Budan are good, especially Bresciano. Cavani and Nocerino are your very promising youngster which you don't want to sell. On the bright side; our Goalkeepers are decent.

You probably want to shore up your defence, because it is not quite Serie A quality.

If you can find the money, you should get a quality striker and possibly a midfielder.

Apart from the players mentioned earlier, I'd rate most of them as disposable. In particular perhaps Simplicio if you need cash. Simplicio has been downgraded quite heavily for FM09.

Realistically speaking in FM08, you could easily finish top 4 in Serie A first season. This year however it might be advisable to aim for Top Half/Continental first season and take it from there.

Best Established Player

Mark Bresciano - AMRCL

Mark "Marco" Bresciano (born on 11 February 1980 in Melbourne) is an Australian football midfielder, who currently plays for US Palermo in the Italian Serie A. He has represented Australia at all youth levels, including appearances at the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship and 2000 Olympic Games, and is a regular member of the Socceroos. He played in all of Australia's games at the 2006 World Cup. Since the age of 19 he has played his senior club football in Italy, initially with Empoli before spending four seasons with Parma, and now his current club, Palermo.

His stats in FM09 are on-par with FM08, in other words very good! Easily a captaincy candidate. He is a player who seems to link up play and create a lot of chances. He is versatile and hardworking, and good at knocking in free-kicks.

Best Young Player

Edinson (Roberto Gómez) Cavani - ST

Nicknamed El Matador, Cavani moved to Montevideo when he was 12 years old, and came through the youth system at Danubio F.C. to make his debut for the first team in 2006. He was part of the Apertura 2006 championship winning squad.

After his breakthrough at the 2007 South American Youth Championship, several teams were suggested to have interest in signing Cavani, including Juventus and AC Milan. However, on January 29, 2007, Palermo chairman Maurizio Zamparini announced the signing of the promising Uruguayan footballer.

At the start of the game this player might not appear to be as immense as he is, if you judge him purely by his stats. However, his talent (PA) appears to be so large, that he will score for fun if you give him trust! He is largely regarded as the hottest thing to come from Uruguay in a long time.

Misc...::

I will perhaps add some more stuff later today, and I will post screenies of my squad on the demo and the signings I've made etc. Not able to do this now as I'm at work...

PLEASE do not hesitate to discuss and post all you want. It would be particularly interesting if someone from Italy could shed a bit of light on why they are in such bad financial shape, how they are viewed in Italy and other insight!

Just thought I'd give an update on my game, hopefully this will tickle someone's interest

Pre-season went OK, but not excellenty: Won 2 out of 7 games. Won Italian Cup 3rd Qual. Rnd. Top scorer was Lavezzi(an absolute steal at £1.6m!) with 5 games. Also very pleased with finding Yakubu, which has an average rating of 7.30 in 4 matches.

Update: Very pleased with nicking Celso Borges on transfer day, looks excellent!

Start of Season Squad

Transfers In/Out

Love your opening post mate. Very informative and nicely made.

Excellent OP!

Btw isit me or your screenshots in your next post are tiny? Can't see them

Anyway, good job

Cheers purefun and HoPeY!

I just fixed the images, the hosting I was using wasn't really working...

Some nice signings there. Ezequiel Lavezzi IIRC correctly isn't too bad on the FM09 demo, you got him really cheap! I would have thought he would cost more than that!

Cavani looks a good again on this FM09, be interesting to see how he does for you on your save. All the best

Cheers, hoping to get some interest for Palermo you know... A very enjoyable team on FM, especially this year as they'll be a real challenge!

Yeh, Lavezzi was an absolute outrageous steal!

I feel the transfer model is about 100x improved on FM09, so pleased with it

Great OP. I had enjoyed a very long save with Palermo in FM 08. That time it was easier as there were many quality players around. Will definately start a save with them on the new game and hopefully it will be fun.

Excellent soli! Hopefully we can get quite a few people interested, some discussion and a bit of competition going on

Question : Did the foreign rule change in Italy? I mean you could only buy one non-eu player a year, isn't it changed to two? Or maybe more?

You can now sign two non-EU players per season yes

What I love about managing in Italy is that there is no rectrictions on players for selection. No maximum foreigners or having to use U21 players etc.

Okay thx mate.

@ the -dud

Beautiful work mate --

I am going to start a game with Palermo -a friend just brought me back a shirt from Italy so its fitting.

Can you give me a tip on what tactic i should look at using --that you think has the basis to work well.

I have never played Serie A --so this is my first ever game with an italian team.

Cheers and thanks once again --hopefully you can give me some tips.

Cheers Alexander999, always good to hear

As far as the tactics goes, have a look here: http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=57485 posted some stuff about tactics...

In general in Serie A, I've found it to be quite a defensive league, and the play to be a bit static... But great fun if you play attacking

Thanks mate, really appreciate this ...This may be quite a challenge ..Only received EUR 5.5 ..and that is all ..no more movement ..No wage increases etc. !!!

So ...I may just sell a few just to strengthen a few spots ..Since in Series A ..I am thinking at a very very quality DC ..and possibly a DR or DL ..Oh sold Capuano for EUR 1.3 ..tell me what you think the Asst stated that you should look to offload ..So I did.

Let me know about the DM/MC position ..If I unload someone who should it be ? My First thought is either Liverani or Guana (think Guana is solid though ..your thoughts would be appreciated)

As for striker ..someone will have to go ..I took your advice and picked up Lavezzi from Napoli ...dirt cheap EUR 1.4 ( 2nd friendly he scores hat trick against Cadiz) ..Thanks for the tip !!!

BUt I am looking at Miccoli here ..so I can pick up some funds for that DC and also for GK(back up) ..have an offer for EUR 750 Ujkani and I am thinking of giving him.

Thanks for the tactic ... I want to use Bresciano in the starting and I am trying to see how to incorporate him in ....also have my sights on a starting striker duo of Lavezzi & CaVani.

Let me know what you thoughts will be ..Really appreciate the input already ..My goal for the demo will be finish in top 6 spots ..

Cheers ...... the --dud !!

Thanks mate, really appreciate this ...This may be quite a challenge ..Only received EUR 5.5 ..and that is all ..no more movement ..No wage increases etc. !!!

So ...I may just sell a few just to strengthen a few spots ..Since in Series A ..I am thinking at a very very quality DC ..and possibly a DR or DL ..Oh sold Capuano for EUR 1.3 ..tell me what you think the Asst stated that you should look to offload ..So I did.

Let me know about the DM/MC position ..If I unload someone who should it be ? My First thought is either Liverani or Guana (think Guana is solid though ..your thoughts would be appreciated)

As for striker ..someone will have to go ..I took your advice and picked up Lavezzi from Napoli ...dirt cheap EUR 1.4 ( 2nd friendly he scores hat trick against Cadiz) ..Thanks for the tip !!!

BUt I am looking at Miccoli here ..so I can pick up some funds for that DC and also for GK(back up) ..have an offer for EUR 750 Ujkani and I am thinking of giving him.

Thanks for the tactic ... I want to use Bresciano in the starting and I am trying to see how to incorporate him in ....also have my sights on a starting striker duo of Lavezzi & CaVani.

Let me know what you thoughts will be ..Really appreciate the input already ..My goal for the demo will be finish in top 6 spots ..

Cheers ...... the --dud !!

Excellent, good to see someone else getting into this BTW, Lavezzi is AMAZING! I've tried to get him as other teams and I never manage to get his so cheap... I wonder if Palermo might be his favorite team or perhaps the Napoli chairman likes Palermo

I'd agree that you need some better defenders, in particularly a CB, look at this post I made for an amazing CB. He's dead cheap as well... Been amazing for me on both my Palermo and Sporting CP save!

As far as Liverano and Guana, I feel they're decent enough considering you have limited funds. Don't get me wrong, If I had like £20m to spend I would get someone else... But I feel they can do the job

You might want to get someone else for the DMC, I managed to find an Italian DMC which was an absolute beast. Very agressive and hard working, really good Tackling and Marking! Dunno if I wanna tell you his name, as I don't want to take away all the fun hehe

To give you an idea you want to find someone in the mould of Gennaro Gattuso, Vieira or Dunga (when they were younger obviously!)...

Yeah, I've not managed to get the best out of Bresciano myself to be honest... In FM08 I played him as an AMC with farrow to ST and he was amazing, but you can't use arrows anymore and my formation doesn't have an AMC so I play him on AMR. He's OK as AMR, but doesn't score much. And to be fair he's not amazing at crossing... Perhaps you could try him as the attacking MC?

Are we all waiting for the full game now? Gone very quiet hehe...

So who's going to play as Palermo tomorrow then?

great opening the dud...

im a palermo supporter , and a fm09 palermo researcher for the first year .. according to me the best player is miccoli;) anyway bresciano is a great player too.

About cavani, he was in fm08 too good as he is in real life, so this year i tryed to make him a little worse.

try a look for the defender Cossentino in 1-2 seasons he will be a great defender, but during the first year he is playing for triestina , at the end of season he is going to come back...

anyway , tomorrow palermo-inter in real:) so FORZA PALERMO!

ps: im sorry for my not perfect english, i hope you can understand me... cheers by marco!

Kaka92

you a Palermo supporter. Your name suggests otherwise . Is Cossentino that good. Will have to check him out then. Palermo was one of my favourite teams on FM 08. The present team though is a bit weaker than the last time round. Makes more of a challenge though

Kaka92: Excellent, that's a stroke of luck getting a researcher for Palermo to post in here

If you don't mind me asking, how much potential were Simon Kjær (the Danish young DRC) given in FM09? Because every scout and coach I've gotten an opinion from rates him extremely highly. But I sort of doubt his ability because he doesn't really have amazing stats considering he is already 19 years old... Is he set to be a slightly late-bloomer and his stats are going to skyrocket during the next year, or will he just turn out average as I'm suspecting..?

Really appreciate if you could take the time to provide an answer mate

Kaka92

you a Palermo supporter. Your name suggests otherwise . Is Cossentino that good. Will have to check him out then. Palermo was one of my favourite teams on FM 08. The present team though is a bit weaker than the last time round. Makes more of a challenge though

yeah.. im from palermo , i support milan too.. im a little strange ehhe every year when palermo - milan is on at renzo barbera( palermo's stadium) for me its too hard

Kaka92: Excellent, that's a stroke of luck getting a researcher for Palermo to post in here

If you don't mind me asking, how much potential were Simon Kjær (the Danish young DRC) given in FM09? Because every scout and coach I've gotten an opinion from rates him extremely highly. But I sort of doubt his ability because he doesn't really have amazing stats considering he is already 19 years old... Is he set to be a slightly late-bloomer and his stats are going to skyrocket during the next year, or will he just turn out average as I'm suspecting..?

Really appreciate if you could take the time to provide an answer mate

Anyway me and the other co -researcher for palermo didn't know a lot that player before we saw jsut 2-3 matches played by him because arriving to palermo.

My co - researcher knew more about him than me , so i let him do kjaer at all, if i remember well simon was done with a pa of -8, and cossentino - 9.

But like i have already said i don't remember too well , so ill look for more information that i forgot lol

great work on this post!!!! I have also started a season with my Favorite team, Btw watch out for Davide Lanzafame he is promising player and suggest you get full ownership asap! E DA SEMPRE FORZA PALERMO LA SICILIA ROSANERO SIAMO NOI OOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

great work on this post!!!! I have also started a season with my Favorite team, Btw watch out for Davide Lanzafame he is promising player and suggest you get full ownership asap! E DA SEMPRE FORZA PALERMO LA SICILIA ROSANERO SIAMO NOI OOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

siciliano.. oggi allo stadio a tifare rosanero!!!

Non capisco italiano I wish I did though, such a cool language...

will definately play a palermo at some point on fm. after my oxford save. was my second favourite and longest save on 08 behind oxford. great op btw:)

Non capisco italiano I wish I did though, such a cool language...

i have just said to siciliano " let's support palermo tonight" ( there was palermo - inter , we lost 0- 2 )

Palermo, my favourite team to manage in the Football Manager series. Known as the pink-blacks for obvious reason. Hailing from the notorious Sicily, famous for being the birth-place of the Italian Mafia. Only a certain breed of men will look fierce in pink, but they do. You don't mess with a Sicilian team!

City of Palermo:

The metropolitan area of Palermo is the fifth most populated in Italy and in the top eighty of the largest in all of Europe with around 1.2 million people.

The importance of Palermo got another boost when Sicily became (1947) an autonomous region with extended self-rule. But any improvement was thwarted by the rising power of the Mafia, which still today is a dramatic feature of the city, as well as the whole Southern Italy.

U.S. Città di Palermo:

Full name: Unione Sportiva Città di Palermo SpA

Nickname(s): Rosanero ("Pink-blacks"), Aquile ("Eagles")

Founded: 1900 (Anglo Panormitan Athletic and Football Club) 1987 (US Città di Palermo)

Ground: Stadio Renzo Barbera, Palermo, Italy (Capacity: 37,000)

Chairman: Maurizio Zamparini

Head Coach: Davide Ballardini

League: 2007–08 Serie A, 11th

Unione Sportiva Città di Palermo is an Italian football club from Palermo, Sicily which currently plays in Serie A. It was formed in 1900 as Anglo Panormitan Athletic and Football. Following its return to Serie A in 2004, the club became one of the most prominent in Italy. It has obtained a UEFA Cup place in each of the past three seasons, narrowly missing UEFA Champions League qualification in 2007.

The official team colours are pink and black, giving rise to the nickname rosanero; another less common nickname is aquile, referring to the eagle present in both the official club logo and the coat of arms of the city of Palermo.

US Città di Palermo plays its home games at Stadio Renzo Barbera, formerly known as La Favorita; as of 2007 the stadium has a capacity of 37,000 people. It was originally built in 1932, but was renovated in the late 1980s and served as a venue for the 1990 FIFA World Cup.

Squad:

Sadly, the squad this year is a lot weaker than FM08. The only real positive is that the infamous transfer saga of Amauri to Juventus means you gained two good youngsters: Nocerino and Lanzafame. On the bright side, this means it's a lot more challenging!

A lot of players has been sold, and those who are left has had their stats downgraded.

There are still a few gems left which I'll get to in a bit, but first the squad:

Goalkeepers

GK - Marco Amelia*

GK - Samir Ujkani

GK - Alberto Fontana

Defenders

D/WB RL - Mattia Cassani^

D/WB RL - Federico Balzaretti

DLC - Ciro Capuano

SW/DC - Cesare Bovo*

DC - Moris Carrozzieri

DC - Simon Kjær

DR - Hernán Paolo Dellafiore

DR - Andrea Raggi

Midfielders

DMC/MC - Giulio Migliaccio*

DMC/MC - Roberto Guana

DMC/MC - Fábio Simplício

DMC/MC - Fabio Liverani

MC - Antonio Nocerino^

MRL - Luca Di Matteo

AMRCL - Mark Bresciano*

Forwards

AMRL/ST - Davide Lanzafame^

FC - Fabrizio Miccoli

ST - Edison Cavani^

ST - Igor Budan*

ST - Davide Succi

The players marked with ^ are promising and capable youngster, the ones with * are important and established players. In my opinion of course...

Players out:

GK - Federico Agliardi (Rimini)

DC - Andrea Barzagli (Wolfsburg)

DC - Giuseppe Biava (Genoa)

DC - Cristian Zaccardo (Wolfsburg)

DC - Leandro Rinaudo (Napoli)

MC - Fabio Caserta (Lecce)

AMC - Bosko Jankovic (Genoa 1 yr loan)

ST - Amauri (Juventus)

All quality players which were absolutely amazing on FM08. Indeed; Barzagli, Zaccardo and Amauri could have fetched you over £100m in FM08.

In reality, Palermo seems to be in a dire state financially in FM09! Maximum transfer budget you can get is about £5m.

State of Affairs

Right! Your squad is quite average. Bovo, Bresciano and Budan are good, especially Bresciano. Cavani and Nocerino are your very promising youngster which you don't want to sell. On the bright side; our Goalkeepers are decent.

You probably want to shore up your defence, because it is not quite Serie A quality.

If you can find the money, you should get a quality striker and possibly a midfielder.

Apart from the players mentioned earlier, I'd rate most of them as disposable. In particular perhaps Simplicio if you need cash. Simplicio has been downgraded quite heavily for FM09.

Realistically speaking in FM08, you could easily finish top 4 in Serie A first season. This year however it might be advisable to aim for Top Half/Continental first season and take it from there.

Best Established Player

Mark Bresciano - AMRCL

Mark "Marco" Bresciano (born on 11 February 1980 in Melbourne) is an Australian football midfielder, who currently plays for US Palermo in the Italian Serie A. He has represented Australia at all youth levels, including appearances at the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship and 2000 Olympic Games, and is a regular member of the Socceroos. He played in all of Australia's games at the 2006 World Cup. Since the age of 19 he has played his senior club football in Italy, initially with Empoli before spending four seasons with Parma, and now his current club, Palermo.

His stats in FM09 are on-par with FM08, in other words very good! Easily a captaincy candidate. He is a player who seems to link up play and create a lot of chances. He is versatile and hardworking, and good at knocking in free-kicks.

Best Young Player

Edinson (Roberto Gómez) Cavani - ST

Nicknamed El Matador, Cavani moved to Montevideo when he was 12 years old, and came through the youth system at Danubio F.C. to make his debut for the first team in 2006. He was part of the Apertura 2006 championship winning squad.

After his breakthrough at the 2007 South American Youth Championship, several teams were suggested to have interest in signing Cavani, including Juventus and AC Milan. However, on January 29, 2007, Palermo chairman Maurizio Zamparini announced the signing of the promising Uruguayan footballer.

At the start of the game this player might not appear to be as immense as he is, if you judge him purely by his stats. However, his talent (PA) appears to be so large, that he will score for fun if you give him trust! He is largely regarded as the hottest thing to come from Uruguay in a long time.

Misc...::

I will perhaps add some more stuff later today, and I will post screenies of my squad on the demo and the signings I've made etc. Not able to do this now as I'm at work...

PLEASE do not hesitate to discuss and post all you want. It would be particularly interesting if someone from Italy could shed a bit of light on why they are in such bad financial shape, how they are viewed in Italy and other insight!

I have just finished my 1st season with the Mighty Pink & Blacks and absolutely loved it.

I was aiming for a top six finish but the squad is very small in my opinion -

I dint change the team too much and brought in some better coaches.

Finished 3rd believe it or not ( not quite sure how ).

Cavani was top Goalscorer in the league with 20!!!!!!!!!

Main signings were -

Di Maria

Santon

Bolzoni

Appiah - get him on trial and in that time will get his Italian Passport and not be one of your 2 foreign signings!!!!!!!!!!!!

In Jan bought -

Marquinhos ( legend )

Douglas Costa ( young legend )

Forza Palermo

Roberto Paolo Angelo Antoniazzi ( Gotta use my full name when managing in Italy )

Is Cassani good enough to play in the Prem?

Just started a game with the Rosanero on patch 9.2. - they look like a club with decent potential and a great challenge

Just had a look at the squad and the core players to build the team around are as follows (IMO):

Amelia

Cassani (just offered him a new 5 yr contract as there is not long left on his current deal)

Balzaretti (offered him 5 yr contract)

Nocerino (offered him 5 yr contract)

Cavani (offered him 5 yr contract)

Miccoli (may be a little to old for some and cashing in on him is an option - would prob get 3-5 million for him- but ill be making use of him for a cople more seasons)

Bresciano (good versatile player and in the prime of his career - offer him a new 3 yr deal which will take him to 31)

Lanzafame (great potential - ill be looking to buy his rights outright from juve at earliest opportunity)

I'm going try and get them playing 442 as follows:

GK Amelia

RB Cassani

LB Balzaretti

CB Bovo

CB Carrozzieri

RM Lanzafame

LM Bresciano

MCd Nocerino

MCa Liverani

FCa Cavani

FCd Miccoli

think the team may also suit 433 due to the strength in depth of the CM/DM's in the squad but iv not managed to get one working so will stick to 442 for now!

The team looks a little short of wide players and AMC's so im bidding for Krivets (AMLRC) who should be able to provide backup and develop into a starter. I would like to upgrade the CB position but dont think ill have the funds to get anyone better than the current crop.

im looking to sell capuno, ciaramitaro and cammarieri to raise some cash. Fabio Simplicio could also find himself on the transfer list.

As for first season expectations i think europe is realistic but challenging - top 10 is a must

Good Luck to anyway starting with Palermo

Does any of you guys, had experience with the development and potential of Di Matteo? My Coaches are not very keen of him but I think he may become good?

I'm currently in the third season of a Palmero (Not by choice, I had Palmero thrust upon me during my Denmark game (Not that i wouldn't choose to play Palmero, it was just unexpected))

So anyway:

First Season:

In: (not under my control)

None

Out:

Ciro Capauno - £725K

Maurizizo Ciaramitaro - £325K

Roberto Guana - Ln

Antonio Mazzota - Ln

Danilo Spina - Ln

Roberto Grimaudo - Ln

Total: 1.1M

So, yeah, I took over on 28 games played, we were sitting a disappointing 16th, after a quick application of Knaps 4-4-2 tactic, we dropped to an even more disappointing 18th as the squad got used to the tactic, before we bounced back to 15th to end the season, the board were 'disappointed'

Season 2 (My first full season in charge)

In:

Lassana Diarra - £7.5M

Davide Lanzafame - £1M

Davide Succi - £750K (A disappointing purchase)

Daniel Aquino - Free (I do love the Bojan Bug)

Jéròme Weynard - £1k (A Belgian regen signed from Anderlecht, apparently he'll be a leading Serie A MR)

Bojan - Free (I really do love the Bojan bug)

Radek Sirl - £11.5M (From West Brom of all people)

Oscar Ustari - £5M

Thiago - Free (I do love the bojan bug)

Endre Nagy - £170K (A Hungarian regen from Debrecen, apparently he'll be a leading Serie A ST)

Martín Ezquerra - £470K (A Uruguayan regen from Danubio, signed incase the Sirl deal fell through)

Andreas Kalabkas - £1M (a Greek regen, taught me to scout before signing, god he sucks)

Brede Grimstad - £60k (a Norwegian regen from Fredrikstan, signed to be my long time keeper once he was ready, now relegated to long time back up, you'll see)

Total: £27.5M

Out:

Bosko Jankovic - Free (wage demands were to high)

Giulio Migliaccio - £2.5M

Federico Baizaretti - £3M

Antonio Nocerino - £2.5M

Mattia Cassani - £7.5M

Fabrizio Miccoli - £2.3M

Mattia Monaco - Free

Roberto Guana - Ln

Davide Succi - Ln

Total: £18.25M

So, starting well, and carrying on that way, we never went lower than 10th in the league, and were only a point behind Juventus in 4th, when my excitement for finally completing a full season at a club on any FM, so I holidayed 3 games, meaning going into the final game we were sixth, but a win against Brescia meant we finished 5th, Get In!

Season 3: (my current season)

In:

Gianni Munari - 20k (A co-ownership bid gone wrong, I didn't want to be mean and bid £0K, sadly I won)

Edger Davids - Free (I'm working him for a future staff role)

Mustafa Lenz - £1.1M (A German regen from Schalke, and starting CM due to injuries)

Teimo Santos - £500k (A Portuguese regen from Benfica, sadly I had forgot the lesson about scouting before I sign)

Anthony Penot - £2.5M (A French regen from Marseille, for the future)

Pedro Paulo - £500K (A Portuguese regen from Braga, Understudy to my first choice)

Fabrice Muamba - £7.5M (A replacement for Diarra, you'll see)

Giovanni D'Agostino - 1.2M (A Italian regen from Inter and Sampdoria, long term replacement for Diarra/Muamba)

Total: £13.25M

Out:

Massimo Bonannni - Free

Francesco Santoro - Free

Fabió Simplício - Free

Lassana Diarra - £20M (He wanted out once Chelsea came calling, and I think I got a Fair Price)

Giuseppe Carmelo Semprevivo - Free (His long name angered me)

Marco Amelia - £2.5M (Ustari, and the 2 excellent youth GKs meant he didn't have a place in my squad)

Federico Agliardi - Free (Same as Amelia)

Davide Succi - Ln ('cause no one would take him from me even for free)

Total: £23M

Alberto Fontana was also converted to a GK coach (Which makes four now)

And a great youth GK came through my academy with 7 * potential

And Bojan's my new captain

so far, I'm through to the group stages of the Uefa Cup (with Valencia, Stabaek, and Dnipro)

and am sitting 6th in the league after 2 games.

So Tips on new tactics would be helpful (I'm not great on the tactic side)

Screen Shots will come once I get on my FM pc.

fantastic thread!

ive only just started playing with teams in seire A (although ive had the past 3 fm games)

and its a refreshing break from la liga and the premiership

i played 2 seasons with Genoa and then got the juventus job with who i spent 3 seasons, but after reading this thread im going to restart with Palermo!

with reference to jay-dubs request some tactical info would be great.

Il commence this game after ive had my A level english exam today.

Football manager

the scourge of revision!

Looking at the squad, Palermo's strengths appear to be their fullbacks, defensive midfield, and forward line. So I would play a 4-4-2 formation, with the full-backs pushing forward, both CM playing holding roles, sitting to distribute possession and breakup attacks. I would have the wingers cutting inside and swapping positions, with the width and crosses provided by the full backs. And definitely play 2 up front to utilise Miccoli and Cavani.

The starting lineup would probably be:

GK Amelia

FB Cassani

FB Balzaretti

DF Bovo

DF Carrozieri

MC Nocerino

MC Liverani

MR Lanzafame

ML Bresciano

FC Cavani

FC Miccoli

Also Jaydub, you've ripped the heart out of the Palermo team there, lots of players sold. Surely the challenge with a team like Palermo is to use the nucleus of a good squad and build on it. Gonna have a lot of team gelling issues there.

Hello all, just a quick one!

I am playing as Fulham, and in the January window of my 2nd season, I'm looking to bring in a versitile forward player (but mostly a striker) and have been partiularly scouting Davide Lanzafame, what do you all think of him? Good enough for the Premiership?

Quick update, after 26 league games im sitting in joint 5th with Fiorentina. Cavani and Miccoli have been on fire up front, with Cavani scoring 21 goals, and Miccoli bagging 18 with 11 assists. Iv managed to score 60 goals in the league, but conceded 34. With Bovo putting in some shocking performances at the start of the season, i've gone for youth and made the starting CB partnership of Cossentino and Kjaer.

Signings in so far : Ekdahl from Juventus, Morimoto from Catania, Cigarini from Atalanta, and Bolzoni on a co-ownership from Inter.

Anyone playing as Palermo? Will give an update of mine if anyone is...

Yup I am. I'm playing on an updated database, so Palermo have Pastore, Bertolo etc. Just finished my 1st season, came 7th, but that was due to many tactical changes, and players taking a long time to gel together for the first half of the season. Way too many games were drawn, and too many goals were conceded from set pieces. Got high hopes for the 2nd season, as Nocerino, Pastore, Cavani, Kjaer, Cassani and Dzemaili have all developed quite well. I signed Santacroce too, and De Silvestri on a co-ownership deal.

Also, managed to get every outfield player in the squad to score at least once!

Cavani is so good.

Yeah I'm also playing on an updated database and now in season 4. I won the cup in my second season in charge thanks to a 3 goal comeback on two occasions (albeit over two legs on one occasion) which gave me my first Europa League place which I dissapointingly was knocked out of in the Quarter Final. I came within a point of the champions league place losing out on the final after drawing with champions Roma while Fiorentina scored a late winner. Nevertheless the prpgress has been good with Alexis Sanchez, Pandev, Giovanni Dos Santos among those to join.

My usual team now lines up like this...

GK Amelia

RB Balzaretti/Santon

LB Filipe

CB Leo/Cossentino

CB Gioda/Mauricio

DMC Fernando/Migliaccio

MC Nocerino/Dzemalli

MC Dos Santos/Alex Teixera

AMC Alexis Sanchez/Pastore

ST Pandev

ST Cavani/Paloschi

You have a great team. I really want Pandev as a future replacement for Miccoli, but he's just too expensive. How much did he cost you ?

Also looking at Radu to replace Bovo, and Floccari to replace Cani who's just not ready for the pressure of Serie A (low composure) but just don't have the funds. Getting a steady €741k per month from the sale of Nocerino though. Balance is healthy at about €16m, and I have €20m+ transfer budget, but don't want to spend it, so I can afford to maybe expand the stadium. Have you managed it ?

Im 8 league games into the 2nd season, sitting 3rd in the league, and the squad looks like this.

GK Amelia

GK Viviano

DF Kjaer

DF Santacroce

DF Bovo

DF Cassani

DF Balzaretti

DF Di Silvestri

DF Fatic

MF Migliaccio

MF Cigarini

MF Galloppa

MF Dzemaili

MF Barreto

MF Bozaglo

MF Pastore

FW Miccoli

FW Lanzafame

FW Cavani

FW Cani

Summer Signings were:

Cigarini

Barreto

Galloppa

Fatic

Viviano

Bozaglo

And was so gutted the chairman sold Nocerino over my head for €20.5m to Fiorentina! Also sold some other players like Guana, Dellafiore, Bresciano, Carbonaro, Carrozzieri, Ujkani, Bertolo, Budan, Succi, etc

Thanks, Yeah Pandev has been an excellent signing and a real coup at £10.5 million (admittedly after two poor Lazio seasons) Both Floccari and Radu would be excellent replacements and Barreto is a fine signing but I'd keep an eye on Dos Santos as he often becomes unhappy and is a signing that could happen. You could also go Italian if you miss out on Floccari with Acquafresca or Paloschi. I've also found Balzaretti to be one of the best players and a must keep. As for the stadium my board respond every time with the council will never allow planning permission which suggest that instead of expanding the stadium they may look to build a new one with another patience.

Just came 2nd in the league, two points behind Napoli but Champions League football will come.

Napoli are title winners in your game ? Not even in the top half on mine. They sold Hamsik, Santacroce, Lavezzi, Cigarini and didn't replace them that well.

28 league games into the 2nd season, and I'm currently sitting 4th, but was flying high in 2nd. Dominated Roma at home but could only draw, and dominated Inter at home but lost 0-1. Also had some disappointing draws to Bologna, Sampdoria and Parma.

In the January transfer window, the chairman sold Cavani for €24.5m to Roma! And Dzemaili for €9m to Lyon. Iv replaced Cavani with Acquafresca but so far he hasn't been firing. Top goalscorers have been Lanzafame with 14 goals and Miccoli with 15.

Balzaretti has been good too with 10 assists and an avg. of about 7 tackles a game. Cigarini is leading the assists with 11.

Yeah Inter and Ac Milan have both dropped quite monumentally with Inter going through 4 managers in 2 years. Bad luck with Cavani, he's really came good on my game but Acquafresca always seems to get goals against me. I've just added an unsettled Granero who should settle into my midfield nicely after a few departures. Signed Kolarov on a free who should be a real steal while Obertan and Ljajic are both up for frees and im tempted to take tem even if only for profit but withh Kakuta and Laurito ready for first team football they would only be squad members.

Ended the 2nd season, managed to finish 2nd in the league, lost in the Coppa Italia final AET against AC Milan, (got destroyed by Hulk! he's incredible on my game) and knocked out of Europe by Everton on away goals.

Goals were shared around again with top scorers: Miccoli 19, Lanzafame 15, Bozaglo 11, Santacroce 10, Barreto 9

Start of the 3rd season now, 4 league games in, won all of them, but got destroyed 3-1 by Barcelona in the Champions League.

Sold Pastore for €9.75m, Bovo for €6m and Galloppa for €4m

New signings this summer were:

Aaron Ramsey €9m

Patrick Vieira Free

Axel Witsel €13.5m

Martin Jorgensen €4.8m

Squad is now (* next to first team starters)

GK Amelia *

GK Viviano

DF Di Silvestri

DF Fatic

DF Jorgensen

DF Santacroce *

DF Kjaer *

DF Cassani *

DF Balzaretti *

MF Barreto *

MF Migliaccio *

MF Vieira

MF Ramsey

MF Cigarini *

MF Witsel

MF Bozaglo *

FW Cani

FW Acquafresca *

FW Miccoli

FW Lanzafame *

Good finish with 2nd place, shame about the cups.

How’s Cavani doing at Roma?

Thanx Hopey!

Cavani is just back up for Totti and Vucinic, because Spaletti plays that 4-3-2-1 formation, and they have Laurito too. What a waste!

Nocerino is also just a backup for Fiorentina as they have Montolivo and Kuzmanovic as the main pairing.

Just seen Amauri lounging in Man City's reserves, hasn't played a game, so I might try a cheeky bid for him in January.

Just won my first Scudetto after a couple of nearly seasons

Hulk, Pandev and Alexis Sanchez got 68 goals between them which was the difference, got knocked out of the champions league semi-final on away goals though

Well done with the Scudetto! Hulk, Pandev, Alexis Sanchez is a great strikeforce, they are great in my game too. My front 3 of Bozaglo, Lanzafame and Acquafresca all have over 10 goals so starting to score more, hopefully they can get over 20 goals each this season.

After my 2nd place finish in the the 2nd season I thought I was getting closer, but not really. My rivals responded to my 2nd place finish and strengthened heavily.

My main competitors - AC Milan, Inter, Juve and Roma have brilliant squads! These are the main top players...

Roma

DF: Criscito, Juan, Mexes, Cicinho, Cuellar

MF: De Rossi, Aquilani, Taddei, Baptista, Dzagoev(!), Pizarro

FW: Cavani, Totti, Vucinic, Laurito

Juventus -

DF: Sakho, Marcano, Chiellini, David Luiz, De Ceglie

MF: Marchisio, Hamsik, Rosina, Arda Turan, Ramires, Brighi, Giovinco, Diego(can't get a game!)

FW: Giuseppe Rossi, Trezeguet,

AC Milan -

DF: Nesta, Thiago Silva, Zambrotta

MF: Flamini, Pirlo, Gattuso, Dzsudzsak, Ronaldinho, Jovetic, Alex

FW: Pato, Borriello, Hulk, Paloschi

Inter -

DF: Samuel, Lucio, Maicon, Chivu, Cordoba, Santon

MF: Zanetti, Cambiasso, Muntari, Moutinho, Buonanotte,

FW: Balotelli, Milito, Etoo, Pazzini

How can I compete with that!? It took my two best performances of the season to beat AC 4-2 at home, and Juve 3-1 at home, while I got thrashed 5-2 by Roma at the Olimpico.

Table right now - 1st Inter G 17 P 42

2nd Roma G 17 P 42

3rd Juve G 17 P41

4th PALERMO G 17 P 40

5th Milan G 17 P 39

Going to be a tough season. The only real superstar player I have, is Edgar Barreto, who's rated 7* by my assistant.

So I started a Palermo save (they're my favourite Italian club) and I've managed to bring in a few youngsters with some money I managed to get and one or two experienced players. Here's hoping to a good first season in charge, wish me luck.

Good luck! Iv just managed to win the Scudetto with Palermo in my 3rd season! More detailed updates to follow, but finished level on points with Juve, and won the title due to my better results against them.

Acquafresca 20 goals! Lanzafame 20 goals!