(FM16) Il Ritorno: Parma Calcio

PRE SEASON UPDATE

Results

29.07.2017: Gyori ETO 3-1 Parma
- Hungarian Side Surprise Parma
4: K. Temesi
13: M. Csurka
13: M. Minesso
25: B. Major
Martin Csurka

02.08.2017: Parma 1-0 Valencia
- Parma Surprise Spanish Giants Despite Red Card
7: F. Santacroce
71: R. Alborno
Enzo Perez

09.08.2017: Parma 1-1 Internazionale
- Serie A Giants Fail To Claim Victory Against Serie B Side
25: M. Icardi
67: D. Baumgartner
Filip Kostic

19.08.2017: Modena 1-0 Parma
- Paolo Vanoli’s Team Can’t Avoid Defeat At Fellow Serie B Side
89: M. Taufer
Mel Taufer

26.08.2017: FC Bari 1-3 Parma
- Piovaccari Double Helps Parma To Win In Final Friendly
18: F. Piovaccari
42: F. Piovaccari
70: F. Corapi
74: M. Ardemagni
Federico Piovaccari

Second Qualifying Round

06.08.2017: Parma 3-1 Juve Stabia
- Parma Ease On Through To Third Qualifying Round
16: N. Gyomber
40: L. Carillo
86: F. Favasuli
88: F. Piovaccari
Denis Baumgartner

Third Qualifying Round

13.08.2017: SPAL 2013 2-3 Parma
- Parma Eliminate Serie A Side In Victory
3: S. Sini
32: D. Baumgartner
34: A. Cesarini
45: F. Corapi
72: M. Finotto
Nicola Rigoni

Player of the Month

Simone Sini

The left back come centre back, in his first pre season with the club, has been extremely impressive, almost guaranteeing his place in the starting XI come the opening day of the season. Having played in five of the team’s pre season friendlies and scoring in the second qualifying round of the TIM Cup, Sini has all but tied down his place in the first team and hopefully he can continue his good run of form long into the Serie B season.

Injuries

Carl Medjani. The Algerian central defender was an unfortunate casualty of the team’s rigorous pre season fitness campaign, breaking his foot, and therefore not playing any football, and the former Monaco defender will miss at least the next four months of the season.
Rodrigo Alborno. Coming to the end of a lay off with a twisted knee, Alborno is not a long term injury and may even be fit to face Perugia in the opening game of the season as Parma look to get off to a good start in Serie B.

Next Month

In Parma’s return to the second tier of Italian football, they face a hectic start to the season, with six games to kick start the campaign. First up for Paolo Vanoli’s men is two games against two teams predicted to finish around them in an away trip to Perugia before facing Latina, a side who were nearly relegated at the end of last season. Another away day trip to Chievo follows before Virtus Lanciano visit the Ennio Tardini. The final two games of the month will see Parma are visited Ternana before facing Hernan Crespo’s Modena away from home.

Other News

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Manager’s Thoughts

We’ve had a good pre season if not the best but it has given us plenty of room for thought. We’ve made a good number of signings that can hopefully improve this squad and take it forward and after meeting teams like Inter and Valencia I think we can be confident of another good season. This squad is more than capable of at least achieving a mid table position in the second tier so it is going to be an interesting season to say the least.

SERIE B: A LEAGUE EXPLAINED

02 September 2017
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- Serie B season starts tomorrow
- Hellas Verona, Empoli and Ascoli were relegated from Serie A
- Parma, Vicenza, Cesena and Catania were promoted from Lega Pro

The 2017/2018 Serie B campaign is due to get under way tomorrow with 18 of the 22 teams in the division starting their campaigns. Included in this list of 22 teams are some big names as the likes of Hellas Verona, Empoli, Parma and Catania will play in the division this year, all with hopes of making it into the promotion spots that would see them earn a place in Serie A for next season. Here at Gazzetta dello Sport we’re going to give you a breakdown of how Serie B works.


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Serie B Information
Tier: 2
Number of Teams: 22
Promotion: 3 teams are promoted to the top flight of Italian football at the end of the season, although whether or not the third side is promoted automatically or via a play off is determined by the number of points separating 3rd and 4th, or the teams who finish 3rd-8th.
Relegation: 4 teams are relegated to the Lega Pro, with three sides definitely relegated, whilst the fourth team could potentially be decided by a play out if certain criteria are met.

There are 22 teams competing in Serie B, with each of the teams playing all of the rest play every team twice, meaning that each side play 42 games.

Squad Registration Rules
Unlike in Lega Pro, there is no maximum number of players registered in a squad, barring the unlikely scenario that a club tries to register more than 99 players. Clubs in Serie B are allowed to register only 20 players that are over the age of 21, whilst players under this age do not have to be registered and the clubs can field as many as they wish.

The 22 teams in Serie B are not allowed to sign Non-EU based players from abroad meaning that the number of players from nations like Brazil and Argentina is relatively small, and in a bid to make sure that club’s do not spend above their means, teams are only allowed to offer new signings a maximum wage of around £4,0000.

SERIE B PREVIEW: PERUGIA CALCIO VS. PARMA

Date: 06 September 2017
Kick Off: 15:00


Perugia Calcio
Based In: Perugia
Last Season: 10th in Serie B
Manager: Pasquale Marino
Captain: Stefano Guberti
Key Player: Giuseppe Vives
Injuries & Suspensions: Alessandro Farroni, Lorenzo Del Prete, Jean Armel Drole
Last Match: 1-2 Vs. Pro Seste
Form:

Fans Prediction: ”Obviously we only finished 10th last year but this summer we’ve made some good signings and once again we’re all confident and quietly optimistic of having a good season this year. We’ve been given a tough ask to start the season with because Parma are going to be really confident and full of optimism off the back of a very good year last year and they’ll really hope they can get a good result against us but to be honest I think both sides will cancel each other out and get a point each.”


Parma
Based In: Parma
Last Season: 1st in Lega Pro Girone A
Manager: Paolo Vanoli
Captain: Raffaele Di Gennaro
Key Player: Norbert Gyomber
Injuries & Suspensions: Carl Medjani Fabiano Santacroce
Last Match: 3-1 Vs. FC Bari
Form:

Fans Prediction: ”Our form in the pre season friendlies we’ve played has raised some eyebrows, especially losing to Gyori and Modena but then drawing with Inter and beating Valencia and hopefully that doesn’t mean we’re in for a campaign where we do well against the bigger teams but don’t do so well against the “lesser teams.” In the cup though our performances have been really strong and by beating SPAL and drawing with Inter we’ve proved we can play Serie A quality teams and get good results. Against Perugia, I’d like to think we can win this game but they’ll be up for it and will be desperate to get off to a good start to the season and do something for themselves this year so maybe this one will end in them winning whilst we find our feet in the league.”

SEPTEMBER UPDATE

Results

06.09.2017: Perugia 0-1 Parma
- Parma Kick Start Serie B Return With Late Win
82: F. Corapi
Pierre Zebli

09.09.2017: Parma 2-1 Latina
- Paolo Vanoli’s Men Make It Two Wins From Two In Serie B
5: D. Baumgartner
12: N. Belloni
23: D. Corvia (Pen)
Niccolo Belloni

16.09.2017: Chievo Verona 1-1 Parma
- Chievo Take Point Against Newly Promoted Parma
24: R. Oprut
45: F. Corapi
Riccardo Meggiorini

19.09.2017: Parma 2-1 Virtus Lanciano
- Parma Denied Clean Sheet By Wonder Strike By Alessio Vita
18: S. Corazza
43: D. Baumgartner
68: A. Vita
Alessio Vita

23.09.2017: Parma 0-0 Ternana
- Ternana Sit Deep To Deny Parma A Winner
Niccolo Belloni

30.09.2017: Modena 0-2 Parma
- September Ends With Victory Over Rivals Modena
33: D. Baumgartner
36: N. Belloni
85: D. Smekal
Mattia Minesso

League Table

Player of the Month

Niccolo Belloni

Perhaps somewhat surprisingly the Player of the Month for the opening period of the season is one of last season’s stars as Niccolo Belloni takes the award after the first six games of the Serie B season. Having scored 2 goals and assisted 2 in his opening 4 games of the season, the former Internazionale midfielder is in good form and is looking really up for the fight to secure promotion to Serie A.

Injuries

Tommaso Cancellotti. The right back who has made a positive start to the season will miss at least two weeks of action with a back strain, halting his start to the season although a return after the international break looks likely.
Rodrigo Alborno. The Paraguayan full back’s poor start to the season, where he has already suffered three injuries, continued as he pulled his hamstring leaving him out of action for another 3 weeks at a minimum.
Giammario Piscitella. The former Roma winger, who has been out of action since the final game of pre season is still suffering from a sports hernia and will miss at least another week before being in line to make his first competitive appearance of the season.

Next Month

For Parma, October promises to be another big month in their already impressive Serie B campaign. Up first is the visit of Ascoli, relegated from Serie A last year and keen to return to the top flight at the first time of asking. Big games against Livorno and hotly tipped Spezia are next before finishing the month off against familiar opponents in Vicenza before a home against Trapani.

Other News

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Manager’s Thoughts

What a brilliant start to the season. I couldn’t really have asked for much better and to be sitting second in the table is brilliant. We’re pushing for promotion at the minute after the media thought we’d have a poor start and a poor season and finish 16th. Having said that there is an awful long way to go and we could just be off to a good start before really falling off the pace half way through and finishing in the bottom half. However we will keep taking it a game at a time and focusing on winning as many games as possible and come the end of October when we’ll have played ten games we’ll have a better idea of where we’re going to end up this year.

Gyomber (second right) goes in hard on Spain’s Pedro Rodriguez during a friendly, in one of Gyomber’s 16 appearances for his country.

Eurosport: ”What was that celebration like?”
Gyomber: ”It was absolutely chaotic. The fans were brilliant and celebrated like we’d just won the title at their ground and went crazy. We did really well to win that game and not let our heads drop after being pegged back twice and I was proud to be a part of that team. We’ve shown that we can thrill and do well in this division, even in the limited amount of games we’ve played and who knows, maybe, with a few more results like that we can challenge for promotion to Serie A.”

Eurosport: ”When you see fans celebrating like that, surely it must make you very confident moving forward and make you realise how much this club means to its fans?”
Gyomber: ”Oh yeah, of course. But then that was never in doubt. They are a magnificent bunch of fans and they’ve been amazing since I joined the club. They’re making us dream at the minute, and you really get the feeling that they’re enjoying our start to the season as much as we are, and hopefully we can keep making them dream because they’re doing more than that, making us believe we are capable of doing something really special.”

Eurosport: ”Just one last question then Norbert. What do you think Parma can achieve this year. The club has achieved two successive promotions in two years under Paolo Vanoli, can they make it a third promotion this year?”
Gyomber: ”Honestly, nobody at the club expects us to achieve promotion. The media have predicted we’ll finish 16th but I don’t see it, I think we can definitely finish above that. We’ve got a very good squad with some great personalities and we’re all on a massive high because of how well we’ve started and the momentum the club has gained over the last two years. But promotion is just a far fetched dream at the minute, although, if by February we’re still in a similar position, who knows what might happen.”

Eurosport: ”Okay, well that concludes this interview Norbert. Thank you for joining us, take care.”
Gyomber: ”Thank you very much.”