[FM19] US Palermo – Looking For Stability

[After]

US Palermo – Looking For Stability

February 2017 should have mark the end of an era in Palermo when Maurizio Zamparini stepped down as chairman of Palermo after 15 years in charge with over 40 managerial changes. It was first announced he had agreed to sell his controlling stake to an unspecified Anglo-American fund. But the takeover eventually collapsed after the necessary funds were not in place and Palermo ended the season in 19th place, being relegated to Serie B. The instability continued the next season and probably cost Palermo an immediate promotion back to the top flight. For the 2018/2019 Serie B season, Palermo even found themselves forced to sell a number of players due to financial issues, with Antonino La Gumina sold to Empoli and Igor Coronado to Sharjah FC.

This is where I come in or more precisely Giuseppe Iachini, a former player midfielder for Palermo who also coached them two times between 2013 and 2016. During his tenure, he won his personal fourth top flight promotion, guiding Palermo to be crowned Serie B champions five matches before the end of season. The goal will obviously be to repeat this achievement but also to simply survive Zamparini’s madness.

[SmileFaceGamer]

Good luck surviving la pazzia

[After]

Club Profile

 

 

Club Honours

Not much there at the moment, only an history of rising through the divisions followed by a difficulty at staying in Serie A lately.

The goal will be to add another Serie B in the trophy cabinet before looking to win more prestigious trophies.

 

Facilities

The youth and training facilities are not perfect but it’s a good base to build on. It should be enough to start producing good players without the need to spend money to upgrade the facilities.

It’s the same for junior coaching and youth recruitment even if I’ll be looking to improve those as soon as possible. The board already agreed on the « Develop Players Using Club’s Youth System » philosophy that should help.

About the stadium Renzo Barbera, it got a 36 349 capacity that should be largely enough for the time being.

 

Expectations

The minimum expectation from the board this season is to win promotion from the Serie B and reach the Fourth Qualifying Round of the Italian Cup. Given the team I inherited, it seems very reasonable.

About the general goals of this save, I don’t want to fix myself limitations but I would like to produce young players as well as continue recruitment trends of the last years by scounting intensively South America (Cavani, Pastore, Dybala, Vázquez) as well as Eastern Europe (Ilicic, Glik or Struna, Szyminski, Murawski, Chochev, Jajalo and Nestorovski currently at the club).

I would obviously like to win some trophies but I will also follow our results against local rivals Catania, Cagliari or Napoli.

 

[HawkAussie]

I'll be interested in this as Palermo is one of my clubs that I follow.

[dothestrand]

Palermo are traditionally my second save game (after Athletic Club) so good to see how you get on. With the insane number of youngsters (Ruggerio, Angileri, Lo Faso, D'Amico) last year - you can easily compete towards the top of Serie A, which is generally quite competitive once you get past Juventus.

[After]

The team is already good enough for Serie A, the financial side will be more difficult to manage. Sadly, Lo Faso is injured for 4-5 months at the start of the season.

[After]

Team Analysis - Defense

 

 

Goalkeepers

      

Very good casting of players here with three goalkeepers from three different generations : Alberto Brignoli as the starter who still has bit of development in him, Alberto Pomini as the veteran at the brink of retirement and Fabrizio Alastra who has the talent to be better than the two of them.

My only concern with them is the overall lack of speed. Hard to play an aggressive Sweeper Keeper with this limitation. On the other side, Brignoli and Pomini have great personalities that should help Alastra develop.

 

Right Backs

   

Two others good experimented players with Alessandro Salvi and Andrea Rispoli, Salvi being the more defensive minded of the two. They’re natural at wing-back wich sould help for choosing our tactic. Two very good personalities as well.

 

Left Backs

   

On the left side too, Antonio Mazzotta and Haitam Aleesami can play wing-back even if Mazzotta is less impressive going forward than his colleague. Depending on the opposition personnel and/or tactic, Antonio Mazzotta or Haitam Aleesami will be chosen.

 

Centre Backs

          

There is a lot of central defenders in our first team wich make me want to try a 5-man defense. The list can be break down between classic Central Defenders (Aljaz Struna, Andrea Accardi, Andrea Ingegneri, Roberto Pirrello and Slobodan Rajkovic) and Ball Playing Defenders (Giuseppe Bellusci and Przemysław Szymiński).

  

[After]

Team Analysis - Midfield

 

This part of the team was more difficult to analyze as, at first glance, all the midfielders I have at my disposition seem to have a similar profile. I like to have clear roles in midfield, with defensive and attacking minded players differentiated, so I still decided to classify them in two categories :

 

Defensive Midfielders

     

I chose Radoslaw Murawski and Nicolas Haas to occupy the more defensive minded role. Murawski is probably the more adapted for this even if I will have to monitor the impact of his player traits.

A position to keep an eye for the next transfer window? More so because Haas is only with us until the end of the season. Anyway, both of them will probably prefer to have some sort of Deep Lying Playmaker role.

 

Central Midfielders

      

Between Mato Jajalo, Antonio Fiordilino and Ivaylo Chochev, Jajalo is probably the more versatile of the three. He can play any kind of Playmaker role (Advanced, Deep Lying, Roaming, Mezzala).

Fiordilino is very similar (except for Finishing / Long Shots) and looks like a young version of Jajalo. Less good but with some room to develop.

Chochev is a bit different and I’d like to use him as a Box To Box Midfielder, he have the physical presence to be interesting in the box even if his Anticipation and Off The Ball attributes are only average.

[After]

Team Analysis - Attack

 

First observation, we have six “central players” (offensive midfielders and strikers) for only 2 “wing players”. We probably don’t have enough depth upfront to play with two strikers so we’ll have to see if our offensive midfielders can plan on the wings or if our wingers can play centrally.

 

Offensive Midfielders

      

Let’s start with Simone Lo Faso who is obviously very talented but will miss the 4-5 first months of the season through injury. Even more than his qualities that could have help us, I’m worried about the impact it could have on his progression and future development.

It leaves us with Carlos Embalo and César Falletti as advanced playmakers. Both are good enough to help us this season but I’m not particularly excited about them going forward. Falletti is only here on loan so case closed and, for Embalo, we’ll see how he progress as he’s still quite young.

 

Wingers

     

Now for our “wingers” even if I think that neither of them will be used with a Winger role. Aleksandar Trajkovski is good technically and physically and can occupy a large variety of roles but his mental attributes as well as his player traits make him more of a Inside Forward, for me.

Francesco Bonfiglio on the other hand, is mainly a dribbler. He lacks quality in some important attributes like Passing, Concentration or Decisions but he’s young and part of the homegrown group. Like Trajkovski, he’s not a particularly good finisher so we’ll probably be use as an Inside Forward – Support.

 

Strikers

      

Let’s finish by looking at our pool of strikers. The good thing is each one of them has a slightly different profile.

Ilija Nestorovski will probably be our starter and I see him as a Pressing Forward. His technical skills (Dribbling, First Touch, Passing and Technique) are not perfect but he can finish both with his head or feet and his mental attributes are very good with no weakness. I believe he can be one of our most important players.

Behind him, George Pușcaș is a decent number two. His attributes are well rounded and I see him play as an Advanced Forward or Target Man. He was not able to establish himself at Inter Milan but I have good hope he could be important for us.

Lastly, Stefano Moreo is a step behind those two but could still score a few goals when needed given his aerial abilities.

[After]

Tactical Setup

 

To sum up the last 3 posts, I have at my disposal : 
•    slow (but good) goalkeepers, 
•    attack minded fullbacks, 
•    lot of central defenders (among which some ball playing ones), 
•    mainly deep lying playmakers in midfield, 
•    offensive midfielders who are neither wingers nor have good finishing attributes, 
•    strikers physically imposing and good in the air

With that in mind, the obvious option to me is to play a 3/5-man defense with wingbacks to occupy the width, two deep-lying midfielders to recover and progress the ball to the two offensive midfielders behind the striker.

Here is my first draft of the system I want us to primarily use this season. About the roles, I still opted for a Sweeper Keeper as Brignoli have the technical attributes for but with a defensive responsibility.

In front of him, a back three with Rajkovic/Struna on the left and right of Bellusci. I will start with a Libero for the central role but it’s mainly because I want to experiment with the integration of the role in this version of Football Manager. Even more when it’s now usable in the middle of a back three. I will also be interested so see the impact it will have on the width of the back three when we have the ball.

The role of the wingbacks is not fixed either. I’m trying a Complete Wing-Back role for now but I often find them to concede too many turnovers, due to risky passes or careless dribbling. If that’s the case again, I’ll go with a Wing-Back role on attack duty.

The midfield is probably where I have the less certainties. Partly because of the number of roles possible (14 options total in central midfield) and partly because of the similarities between my players. I’m not specially fan of having two playmakers in midfield (even more with a Libero behind them) but it’s probably the role that best suits my players. If too many players play in the same zone, I’ll try an Advanced or Roaming Playmaker. Or a Box To Box Midfielder when Chochev is playing.

Upfront is where I have the less doubt. If I opt for a more attacking role in midfield, I could have both Inside Forwards with a support duty. I could also change the striker role depending on who is playing.
 

[Hootieleece]

Palermo made an interesting save for me in either FM17 or 18. (I think 17)

Chochev became a monster bbm for me.

Simone LaFaso never quite made the starting 11 mostly because of injuries and spent most of his time complaining about training or playing time until I finally sold him.

I used a 3-1-4-2 with fullbacks retraining as defensive wingers and turning the DM into a Pirlo with PPM's....and Regista training while playing DLP-D.

[withnail316]

Best of luck with this. 

[After]

Il y a 2 heures, Hootieleece a dit :

Palermo made an interesting save for me in either FM17 or 18. (I think 17)

Chochev became a monster bbm for me.

Simone LaFaso never quite made the starting 11 mostly because of injuries and spent most of his time complaining about training or playing time until I finally sold him.

I used a 3-1-4-2 with fullbacks retraining as defensive wingers and turning the DM into a Pirlo with PPM's....and Regista training while playing DLP-D.

In Lo Faso report, there is nothing about his injury proneness so I hope it will not be a problem during his career.

With only 3 strikers on the squad, I'll probably not use two of them at the same time for the first season but it could change next season.

 

Il y a 1 heure, withnail316 a dit :

Best of luck with this. 

Thanks! 

[After]

Friendlies

 

Nothing much to say, some pretty good results in our friendlies that help me refine my tactic. I'm using my two Inside Forwards with a support mentality now and changed a few instructions to be more in control of games. We'll probably not be the most fun team to watch but should be effective enough. The game against Torino is also reassuring as we competed equally with them and even were probably the better team, Nestorovski missing a penalty.

[After]

August - September

 

I was a bit concerned after our first game as good results in friendlies often mean nothing but succeed to right the ship in the next game. As presupposed, our defence win us games but each time I try to be more offensive we were less in control of the game. I'm still trying to balance attack and control.

[After]

October - November

 

5 victories out of 6 matches and only 1 goal conceded is a great return. It's even more the case for the last 3 games that were against direct rivals for Serie A promotion.

[After]

December

 

Again, few goals conceded but only one game when we scored more than one goal. It made it difficult to come back from behind as seen against Livorno.

But we're still first in the league and one of the three teams distancing themselves from the pack.

[After]

January

 

Only a couple games that month, the Ascoli is good but the Cremonese one less so. We're still strugling to win against teams that stay behind we keep the first place.

We also concluded a few deals in the out column. Mainly loans because we had to many players in the first team for a 36 game season without any cup games.

We also sold Minacori and Szyminski, our finances are quite bad on the offers were okay for players I don't rate that highly. Minacori is a striker who is talented but less that some of his teammates.

[After]

February - March

 

Five 1-0 wins out of seven games, this is how we do it. I'd prefer to score 5 goals a game but that'll be okay for now.

Things look good on the league table with an 8 points cushion from our pursuers and only 8 games remaining.

We have to look down to 13th placed Ascoli to find a worse attack than us but we only conceded 10 goals all season. The next best is Crotone with 28!!

[After]

Youth Intake

 

It's that time of the year, youth intake day. For my first one in this career, I'm far from impressed.

Polizzotto could be good but goalkeeper is not a position were we lack talent. Amoroso and Cinquemani start from afar.

Overall, the personalities are quite bad too. My HOF is not that bad so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for now.

      

In other news, I signed a new deal with Palermo wich is not surprising given our results this season.

[After]

April - May

 

You can see that I tried to be more offensive but that it didn't help our defence. Still we continued to gain points and were crown champions after the Pescara game.

I used the last three games of the season trying something new tactically : less offensive wingbacks but I pushed forward one of the midfielder to play as an advanced playmaker.

[Hootieleece]

Congratulations on the Title! I think you will have to continue the defensive system next season in Serie A. Just recruit hardworking players who are Tall, Strong, and Fast (6FT+, 12+ strength and pace) and can Head The ball.

Try to win through Set-Pieces.

It is what keeps my underdog teams competitive...

Plus it is so much fun to bully the Messi-like teams of the game world!

[After]

Il y a 14 heures, Hootieleece a dit :

Congratulations on the Title! I think you will have to continue the defensive system next season in Serie A. Just recruit hardworking players who are Tall, Strong, and Fast (6FT+, 12+ strength and pace) and can Head The ball.

Try to win through Set-Pieces.

It is what keeps my underdog teams competitive...

Plus it is so much fun to bully the Messi-like teams of the game world!

Thanks!

With the players returning from loans and the quality already in the team, I will probably not make many changes to the team.

[DavidBeckham]

Congrats on the promotion mate! Palermo is back where they belong 

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Il y a 5 heures, DavidBeckham a dit :

Congrats on the promotion mate! Palermo is back where they belong 

Thanks! It's only the beginning, we're still a long way to our come back to European cups.

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Serie A

 

Here is what we'll have to go up against next year.

It seems to have been a tensed season in the bottom of the table and only 12 points separate 19th placed Empoli from 9th place Cagliari.

With all those clubs having a negative goals difference. What this could mean is a lot of clubs at the same level wich could help us or be a burden.

There was also a little surprised up top as Napoli was crowned champions for the first time since 1990.

In other news, it's finally the end for emblematic chairman Maurizio Zamparini.

Let's hope his replacement is not crazier (if possible) and that it will help our search for stability.

[After]

Season Review

 

Never in doubt is probably my feeling about the past season. We really took the lead after the 13th matchday and never lost it. In the end, we only did what was asked of us.

Even if it was not always beautiful free-flowing football, we kind of found our style and I like that.

No surprises in the team of the season even if I was not expecting Rispoli to be voted fans' player of the season.

César Falletti is more here because of a lack of competition, we never really found the perfect complement to Trajkovski in this Inside Forward role.

Overall, this is probably the first time I managed a team that dominant without a lot of players above the 7.20/7.30 rating. We won as a group.

[s0ni42]

Lots of good personalities in your squad it seems. Chochev was terrific for me in last years Fulham save.

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Il y a 11 heures, s0ni42 a dit :

Lots of good personalities in your squad it seems. Chochev was terrific for me in last years Fulham save.

Chochev is very good but the competition is tough to get a starting position with only two midfielders in my current tactical setup.

I'm thinking about also using a formation with three midfielders.

[After]

Takeover

 

Following Maurizio Zamparini's retirement, a new board is taking over with Fabio Vignali being our new chairman.

Our philosophy to develop players using the club's youth system is not valid anymore but the good news is the new board decided to inject some money we really needed, we're back in the black financially.

 

[After]

Upgrades

 

I'm already loving the new board.

[After]

Roster Changes

 

Now that the season ended, it’s time to have a look at what could change in the team and try to anticipate our needs for next season.

 

Loan Returns

On one hand, I’m losing Nicolas Haas and César Falletti. On the other hand, 21 players are coming back from loan :

4 goalkeepers : Posavec is pretty good but Brignoli is better and Alastra around the same. Alastra being homegrown, I’d like to favor him. For Posavec, I’m thinking of loaning him again.

1 right back : Setola seems to have talent but is nothing near ready for first team so another loan is probably on the book.

2 left backs : I’m not convinced Fiore will progress much and, his contract expiring, I’ll try to sell him.

6 central defenders : At 27, Ingegneri is not horrible but I got better players so he’ll have to go. Punzi, Maddaloni and Tafa are just not good enough. I like Pirrello better and he could have his chances in the first team next season, especially if a central defender leaves us.

2 defensive midfielders : Calivà is leaving at the end of the season while Toscano is very talented and I’m hesitating between loaning him again or promoting him to the first team.

3 central midfielders : Fiordilino was loaned out in January because I prefered to have him play first team football and he progressed well. He should have his place in the first team next season. Eddy Gnahoré has an interesting profile and will complete for a first team opportunity if Amiens doesn’t succeed in convincing him to stay with them (he refused their first contract offer).

3 strikers : Da Graca, who was loaned to Juventus, is very talented but also very young. I’d like to loan him out to a team where he could be a starter.

 

Internal Promotions

There is also a list of young talents already at the club that progressed well during the year passed and could provide something to the first team :

Gennaro Ruggiero : with Nicolas Haas loan contract finishing,  I need another defensive midfielder in the first team and Ruggiero is ready to be Murawski’s understudy.

Antony Angileri : I decided to not replace Szyminski when I sold him than winter and Angileri is probably the best placed inside the club to take up his role. He’s already well-rounded and can play as a Libero.

Accursio Bentivegna / Norbert Balogh : with César Falletti also leaving us at the end of his loan,  he should between Bentivegna and Balogh to replace him. Balogh is marginally better though and Bentivegna is injured for 5 weeks to 3 months.

Kevin Cannavò : even if I have no problem of depth at the striker position, Nestorovski have not really been challenged by the current unit. On top of that, Cannavò offers another profile with the speed and off the ball skills necessary to attack the space behind the opponent backline. I’m not completely sold on Moreo so it could be an opportunity to sell him.

[After]

Friendlies

 

Good performances in the friendlies, defensively as well as offensively.

Nothing much on the transferts front : a lot of loans and Stefano Moreo was sold to Pescara for 2M€.

[After]

August - September

 

This is what you can call a difficult start with Juventus, Napoli and Roma in our first 5 games as well as Sampdoria away.

What reassures me is each time we played against a opponent of our level, at home, we won. Next objective is to be capable of not losing when playing against better than us.

[After]

October - November

 

It's a bit better with only two losses. I did alternate between last season 3-4-3 and a 4-3-3, trying to be more proactive against opponents of our level.

We go down to 15th place but 5 points above the relegation zone and with a game in hand.

[Hootieleece]

Doing ok. The big Teams are often hard to beat. Especially when just one player makes more than your starting 11.

PS. I'm managing AS St. Etienne in French Ligue 1 in 2026.  Neymar makes my players combined. $44.5 million/year > 41.25 million Payroll for ASSE.

[After]

St Etienne have a strict salary policy in real life. It's good for not overpaying players but it can make you miss opportunities.

[Hootieleece]

2 hours ago, After said:

St Etienne have a strict salary policy in real life. It's good for not overpaying players but it can make you miss opportunities.

'it also makes it hard to keep players....

[After]

December

 

7 games without a win before playing against Chievo. I'm more disappointed about this month because we should win against teams like SPAL or Salernitana.

No need to worry though as we're still 8 points above the drop, a little better than last time.

[After]

January

 

Pretty good results here. Short defeats against the top teams (Juventus, Napoli), and wins against the teams within our reach (Sampdoria, Parma).

This is how you stay in Serie A. Also, our defense is performing again wich is nice to see.

I was never really worried but we look better with each matchday as we're now 13 points above relegation.

[After]

Transfer Window

 

We bought some players! None are for the first team though.

      

Marcel Zylla is probably the closest to be ready to grab a few games. He's coming for virtually no money so he's an easy gamble.

I like that he's well rounded and not bad defensively so he can play central midfielder or offensive midfielder. His mental attributes are very good too.

Davide Lodi is similar in the way he doesn't have obvious flaws even if I'd like to see his technique raise. His main quality is his passing ability.

Alvaro Minotti seems very talented even if he's still very young and anything can happen. He's the kind of player we lack, I intend to use him as an Inside Forward on the right wing when he's ready.

[Hootieleece]

6 minutes ago, After said:

Alvaro Minotti seems very talented even if he's still very young and anything can happen. He's the kind of player we lack, I intend to use him as an Inside Forward on the left wing when he's ready.

Wouldn't you want a right footed Left Inside Forward?

 

[After]

il y a 1 minute, Hootieleece a dit :

Wouldn't you want a right footed Left Inside Forward?

Good catch! Right wing is what i meant.

[After]

Upgrades

 

The love affair continues.

[After]

February - March

 

Two difficult months with only 3 goals scored. Our opponents were not the easiest but we should have done better.

Not real consequences in the league table where we're still 12 points above the drop.

[After]

New Intake

 

I'm not a big fan of this intake : it's still mainly bad personalities and the best better by potential are not that impressive.

Alessandro Giordano can be ok but he lack a lot in the Finishing and Passing attributes. Lorenzo Guidotti start from too low in too many essential attributes.

     

[DanjelFM]

I dont speak very well english but i will try....thx for the updates u make about your carrear in FM19....

I have a palermo save too.... so i was looking for one tactic to play with palermo and i found here...

How did u do to make a Ilija Nestorovski,George Pușcaș, Stefano Moreo. 

The only one who score is Pușcaș and only 7 goals

i dont know if i break a rule but i have a post in another web asking about my problem but in spanish...i wont link it but ill put some pictures if i can to show u my tactic...only if it is posible.....

thx for show me your tactic

[After]

Il y a 15 heures, DanjelFM a dit :

I dont speak very well english but i will try....thx for the updates u make about your carrear in FM19....

I have a palermo save too.... so i was looking for one tactic to play with palermo and i found here...

How did u do to make a Ilija Nestorovski,George Pușcaș, Stefano Moreo. 

The only one who score is Pușcaș and only 7 goals

i dont know if i break a rule but i have a post in another web asking about my problem but in spanish...i wont link it but ill put some pictures if i can to show u my tactic...only if it is posible.....

thx for show me your tactic

Pușcaș is not playing a lot for me.

I don't score that much with the striker and mostly rely on our defense. It's a bit better when playing the striker as an Advanced Forward but Nestorovski is not really comfortable with this role.

[After]

April

 

It's a lot better this time with the only defeat happening away to 4th placed Fiorentina. Our other opponents were all outranking us so it's a good omen for the future.

We're also mathematically sure to stay in Serie A next season so I will probably take more risks in my team selection for the last 4 games.

And to add another good news on top of all that, the board accepted my request to improve the club's youth facilities.

[After]

May

 

The perfect way to end the season and to get excited for the next one! I mainly played 4-3-3 (or 4-5-1 for FM) wich will probably be our starting formation next season.

We're part of the pack of seven teams who got from 50 to 56 points. Wich mean we're not far from 8th place but there is still a gap between this group of team and european competitions.

Our ending run also means that we finish with a positive goal difference wich looks a lot better.

At the top, Napoli are champions again while Atalanta and Fiorentina will play Champion's League football instead of Inter, Milan or Roma who had a mediocre season.