<div><figure class="image"></figure></div>Serie B champions Lecce have once again made the jump to Serie A, two years after finishing nineteenth and being relegated.&nbsp; Prior to that they spent two years in Serie B, preceded by three years in Serie A.&nbsp; As you can see, Lecce has made a habit of bouncing up and down the ranks, making every season dramatic for the Giallorossi fans.&nbsp; This season, the club looks to establish a foothold in Serie A, but does the club have the players to do so?
Management: Luigi De Canio is entering his second full year with the club after coming on board late in the 2008-2009 season to try and save the club from relegation.&nbsp; He was unsuccessful and was initially let go, only to re-up with the club a few weeks later.&nbsp; He is known as a “salvation specialist” as he helped Siena and other Italian clubs avoid relegation in the last decade.&nbsp; He is known for getting the most out of young players, and will not be over-matched in Serie A.
Transfer Market: The club’s goal in the transfer market so far has been to acquire players who, even if they lacked a large number of Serie A minutes, have enough top flight experience to add quality minutes to the club.&nbsp; Their best signing then may have been former Juventus midfielder Ruben Olivera.&nbsp; The Uruguayan national has eight Serie A goals in 42 matches, and adds&nbsp;needed talent&nbsp;in the Giallorossi attack.
All told, they have three players on loan from the Serie A Big Three.&nbsp; They were also able to take on loan Schalke 04 defender Tore Reginiussen.&nbsp; The Norwegian, who can also move up to the midfield, was the victim of a numbers game in the Bundesliga club and wanted to play more minutes.&nbsp; He does have eight caps with the Norwegian national club.
Key Players and Formation:&nbsp; A major concern for Lecce fans is the starting keeper Antonio Rosati.&nbsp; The 27 year old has his only Serie A experience with Lecce but has appeared in 37 matches for the club since 2002.&nbsp; Fortunately for him, the defense in front of him has some quality players.&nbsp; Inter loanee Giulio Donati, who was recently called up for Italy’s U-20 match against Hungary, will likely pair with Reginiussen, U-21 and former Fiorentina defender Davide Brivio, and Brazilian Gustavo.&nbsp; If this is the starting backline, then all four starting&nbsp;defenders will be new to the club this year.
Captain Guillermo Giacomazzi anchors the midfield for the Giallorossi.&nbsp; He is the record-holder for more Serie A appearances with the club and has 27 career goals for the Apulia-based team.&nbsp; If Olivera is moved forward then taking his place in midfield will be another Uruguayan and Schalke product Carlos Grossmuller, who has twenty-five career goals.&nbsp; Another midfield option is career Serie B player Gianni Munari or the youngster Andrea Bertolacci.&nbsp; Although 19, the Roma loanee has eleven caps for the various Italian national youth clubs.
Expect Olivera to be moved forward in De Canio’s formation as the lack of quality forwards is a concern heading into the 2010-2011 season.&nbsp; The most talented player is Daniele Corvia, who had seventeen goals for the club last season.&nbsp; His previous season high, however, had been six.&nbsp; Brought in to bolster the attack is Ignacio Piatti, who has experience in Serie A, Ligue 1, Turkey, and Argentina.
Outlook: The combination of a poor attack and a poor keeper leads to relegation, and unless the club addresses these issues in the transfer market I would not expect much from Lecce.&nbsp; There is some talent on this club, however, and they will battle to stay in Serie A the entire year.&nbsp; They have reinforced the squad, but need additional help to achieve salvation once again.

Serie A Preview - Will the Lecce Yo-Yo Stop This Season? - World Soccer Talk

Serie A Preview – Will the Lecce Yo-Yo Stop This Season?

<div style="float: right;margin-left: 5px"><a href="http:\/\/view.picapp.com/pictures.photo/entertainment/juventus-fiorentina/image/8918571?term=Fiorentina" target="_blank"><div><figure class="image"></figure></div></a></div>
Prandelli led Fiorentina to a very important point, but this season there will be no Champions League, and no Europa League for the Viola. While Mihajlovic has taken over, things don’t look very different with Fiorentina for this upcoming season, only two players were bought and only two players were sold/released. Probably the biggest factor that won’t be affecting Fiorentina’s season is Jovetic, the young forward tore some knee ligaments in training some time ago and will be out for about 8 months. This means that Fiorentina will be missing the energy that Jovetic provided, something which could make the Viola suffer this upcoming season.

New signings
Fiorentina have only bought two players this transfer market, and with no Champions League money for this season, the club will be spending less. They bought D’agostino from Udinese, a smart midfielder who can play alongside Montolivo, or play further up the field in a more attacking role. The other signing which joined Fiorentina this summer was Boruc, a Polish goalkeeper from Celtic. Boruc was bought in preparation that maybe Frey could leave for a different club, probably somewhere in the EPL, but the Polish keeper is also a good alternative to when Frey can’t play.
What’s missing
With Jovetic’s injury Fiorentina will probably have to buy a new forward, especially because the forwards in the team are beginning to get old. While Gilardino’s replacement seems to be Babacar, Marchionni and Vargas have no replacements on the wings, and Jovetic’s spot needs to be filled. This could be solved either with Mutu returning to play for Fiorentina, or the Viola buying Giuseppe Rossi or maybe getting Obinna on loan. Rossi could be used behind Gilardino, or he could be played out on the left side, where Vargas currently is. As for Obinna, he’s best used on the wings, and he could be the perfect replacement for Marchionni on the right side.
Formation
Mihajlovic seems to want to stick with Prandelli’s previous 4-2-3-1, and the biggest change between the two coaches will be the attacking style. While Prandelli likes to play a very attacking style with plenty of speed, Mihajlovic might prefer a more counter-attacking style, which waits for the right moment to strike. The starting 11 seems to be very similar to Prandelli’s, Frey in goal with De Silvestri, Gamberini, Felipe, and Pasqual playing in defense, in front of the back-line Montolivo would play alongside D’Agostino, and then you’d have Marchionni on the right, Vargas on the left, with <a href="http:\/\/www.serieatalk.com/8-of-serie-as-best-prospects/2831">Ljajic</a> supporting Gilardino. The only change that could occur is maybe D’Agostino moving up to play in Ljajic’s place, as a trequartista, where he was played in a friendly recently.
Mihajlovic has a big challenge ahead of him, he’ll have to please a group of fans which was used to Champions League and strong performances in the Serie A. Without Jovetic, the team will be missing an important player which got them out of some tight situations last season, hopefully Ljajic can bloom and become an important player for them, or D’Agostino will have to do his best playing as a number 10. This season the team looks very similar to the team which arrived 11th last season, and maybe the team might suffer again with a new coach and few new players.
What do you think about Fiorentina’s chances in the Serie A? Can they regain the Champions League? Share your thoughts below!

Serie A preview - Fiorentina might suffer - World Soccer Talk

Serie A preview – Fiorentina might suffer

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