Palermo's first season back in the top flight of Italian football turned out to be a successful one in the end as they finished the highest of the newly promoted clubs. However, it didn't get off to the best of starts as Beppe Iachini's men looked weak at the back and were conceding plenty of goals in the early weeks of the season. It was a wonder that the normally trigger-happy President Maurizio Zamparini didn't pull it on Iachini's reign. For once he kept faith with a manager for longer than a cup of coffee and it worked out brilliantly in the end. The obvious strength of the side was up-front where they scored more goals than any team in the bottom half of the table. That was mostly down to the continuing development of the vastly talented Paulo Dybala, who struck 13 goals for the club. He will get all the plaudits but it is doubtful whether he would have done it without the man who supported and supplied him, Franco Vazquez, who chipped in with his share of goals and assists. Iachini got his side to play an attractive brand of football as well as a successful one which is very rare for a newly promoted team and he even achieved a new club record of 9 games unbeaten in Serie A. That run helped them virtually achieve safety long before the season was over and lead to a mini-dip in form for a lot of players towards the end of the campaign. Dybala didn't quite look the same and it was perhaps because he was being courted by some of the biggest clubs in Europe, eventually opting to stay in Italy and join the champions, Juventus. It will be a tough job to replace him and Iachini will also have to work on a defence that conceded more than they scored. The club have to guard against the dreaded "second season syndrome" after a fruitful first tenure back in Serie A.
