In the new 2015 Serie A year, Palermo find themselves safely away from the relegation zone. Forza Italian Football brings you a review of all that has happened in Palermo’s resurgent 2014 year.
After a hard-fought promotion, Palermo took a little while to get going, failing to win in any of their first six games. When that first three points did arrive, however, it opened the floodgates — the 0.75 points per game average over the first eight games was blown away by the 2.00 average over the following eight.
Paulo Dybala’s goals have been instrumental and Luca Rigoni’s all-action style has seen him earn plenty of plaudits as well. However, Maurizio Zamparini has finally gained much-needed patience, it seems, and stuck with Giuseppe Iachini as coach even through defeat. The Palermo owner has shown himself to be volatile far too often in the past to imagine it sticking forever, but with his side in 10th at Christmas, he can have little to complain about.
Transfer Hit & Flop
Luca Rigoni was drafted in to add a little steel to Iachini’s midfield and the former Chievo man has done just that, averaging more than four tackles per game, second only to Udinese’s Allan in Serie A. Rigoni has been Palermo’s best player on numerous occasions, and has even contributed going forward — his four goals from midfield have come in more than handy.
On the other hand, Joao Silva was brought in from Bari as a forward but has barely had a kick of the ball since he joined and, while the same could be said of Sol Bamba, the Ivorian didn’t cost Zamparini a penny.
Coach
Viewed as a magician for getting clubs promoted from Serie B, it is nice to see Iachini getting a chance to prove himself in Serie A. He struggled to get to grips with his side initially, seeing them stumble into the relegation zone.
After tweaking his formation a little he has settled on a 3-5-1-1 that saw the two Argentines, Franco Vazquez and Paulo Dybala, combine both their skills to bring about an eight-game unbeaten run. Key to the success has also been the defence which, after conceding 10 goals in three games at the end of September, has conceded three in a game only once since then.
Best Goal — Paulo Dybala v Torino
Dybala could play football for 50 years and not produce a flick as accurate as the audacious looping pass to himself he made in the recent draw with Torino. The fact that he managed to run onto his own lofted ball forward and bounce it into the net made it all the more special as did the sight of Granata captain Kamil Glik’s acrobatic overhead attempt to get the effort clear. Dybala has been proving week in week out what a talented striker he is, so even now, the best might be yet to come.
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