Keeping Palermo up, 3rd Season.

[theexperienced]

Hello guys, I just joined Palermo as they had an opening and I needed a new club to manage, they are newly promoted in Serie A and I'm wondering what advice would you have to keep them up this season and generally try to improve them as well?

First things I did was I signed about 8 players on frees (at the end of the season we didn't have many players so I made sure we had a squad to compete, plus there was a few good options on frees) I signed Arnold Mvuemba, Filippo Porcari, Jaime Gavilain, Ramon Chibsah, Mauro Dos Santos, Oluwafemi Ajilore, Lambrughi and Floro Flores on frees, I bought Tokelo Rangie for 1.7 mil from Brighton, Fabio Daprela for 2.2 mil from Lazio and a regen rm called Belhadj from Lille for 3 mil, Co-ownerships I signed Daniele Mori for 1k from Udinese and Sebastian Sosa for 1k from Fiorentina.

My side is: Gks: Sorrentino, Fulignati Rbs: Struna, Pisano Cbs: Dos Santos, Terzi, Mori Lbs: Daprela, Lambrughi, Rms: Belhadj Dms:Kurtic, Ngoyi, Ajilore, Porcari Cms: Mvuemba, Chibsah, Viola Ams: Di Genarro Lms: Gavilain, Sts: Rantie, Sosa, Floro Flores.

So far this season I have played a Counter attacking 4-5-1 with a defensive mid and 2 cms with a rm and lm, sometimes I play 4-4-2 aswell, though I have so far won 1, drawn 1 and lost 8 so we're not doing that brilliantly, I've found our defence to be pretty leaky and I have thought about buying a new cb or two, I have an 8 mil budget atm though our wages are maxed out atm. If anyone has any advice about keeping a newly promoted team up or any transfer ideas I'd be very grateful, thanks (currently 18th in the league with 4 pts)

 

[Kwarkzak]

My experience with this year's FM is that "squad gelling" and tactical familiarity takes ages. Since you brought in an entire new squad, this is probably going to take a long time.

I don't think you necessarily need more new players, because this would only increase the time it takes for the squad to gel/become familiar with the tactics.

As for your tactic... My gut instinct would be to question the supply to your lone striker. How's the gap between midfield and attack?

 

[theexperienced]

Yeah that's probably the main problem because when I joined there was a lot of players leaving on free transfers and when the season started I realized we had a small squad like about 10-15 players only, and as for the tactic familiarity as well I have found it hard to really stick with one or the other as it's taking time to get used to it even after 10 games, yeah I probably shouldn't sign many more players as I have signed enough as it is, usually I play Kurtic as the Defensive Midfielder Defend, Mvuemba as the Deep Lying Playmaker Support and Chibsah as the central midfielder Support, there is a pretty big gap between midfield and attack and I have seen my assistant mention it a few times, I could try dropping the defensive mid and playing Di Gennaro as an attacking midfielder maybe, it's something I haven't tried yet plus I haven't played Di Gennaro much so far, in terms of other supplies I play Gavilain and the regen Belhadj in LM and RM, both as Wingers support and they seem to be getting the main support at the moment, but we're not scoring that much either, we've scored about 9 times in our 10 games, Rantie has scored 3, Belhadj has scored 1, Sosas scored 1, Terzis scored 1, Chibsahs scored 2 and Gavilains scored 1, so the service isn't dreadful but it could improve, I will try playing an attacking mid in the next few games and see if how he links up with the lone striker which is usually Rantie.

One of the perks also is we have Lyon as a parent club and they have a pretty good youth setup there so if we ever need squad players they're always there.

 

[MANUMAD]

If you re going to be PALERMO its better to start a new season with them as:

1. You ll be getting some awesome young players: DYBALA (a god)/ABEL HERNANDEZ/EZEQUIEL MUNOZ to develop.
2. You ll be getting a squad thats the equal of a mid-table serie A team.
3. You can have a real run at winning the cup first season (promotion will be **** easy) which will mean you will get loadsamoney to bolster squad in your second season.
4. It will be a long fulfilling save. I did it myself, sold a couple of players and brought in Strandberg/Zuculini/Macheda plus a couple of loans first window and then won cup first season EURO CUP second season, came 2nd in Serie A won cup second season, won serie A, made it to semis of cl, won cup in 3rd and won all there was to win in my 4th and final season ...

 

[Bobby Baggio]

You should look to change one of the two central midfield roles to 'attack' AP to try and bridge the gap between midfield and striker. A good F9 is helpful in this tactic and play your wide men as IF A or Winger A to give more attacking options. I play this formation with Salernitana in Serie A and it is working well after some good advice from guys on this site. Team instructions try 'exploit middle' to make most of your midfield.

 

[theexperienced]

Thanks guys, yeah MANUMAD I have joined them at a bad time, plus it says a lot that all three of the great players, Dybala, Hernandez and Munoz have gone elsewhere, I'd love to take this team from the beginning but for now I will end the season, hopefully fingers crossed survival, and yeah I've seen Macheda and Zuculini doing really well at Genoa and Sampdoria respectively on my game, also Bobby Baggio I will give the false 9 a go, I haven't really tried it yet since the addition on this fm, though if it helps i'm open to anything, I may try playing an attacking midfielder like Di Gennaro or I may just play Chibsah as he's looking a real quality player and can probably play the playmaker role from cm with ease, usually also for team instructions I have so far had Direct Passing, Pump ball in box, tight marking, and high tempo (for counter attacking) but I will give what you recommend a try.

 

[Bobby Baggio]

I wasn't a fan of the false 9 myself but one of my strikers is particularly suited to it and creates lots of assists for my IFs as well as popping up with some goals too. If you have good midfielders maybe try removing the direct approach as I tried it for a while and found I lost possession an awful lot due to them pumping it forward but never had my forwards picking it up.