Parma 2020/21: Season preview – scout report

Parma are a team that experienced a huge improvement in terms of performance over the last couple of years. Coming from Serie B and securing a spot in the middle of the Serie A table for two consecutive seasons has been an unexpected achievement which shows their vision and motivation to improve even more and find a spot in the top 10.

Having a new coach in the face of Fabio Liverani is a new adventure for the team that could help them make the next step in their development. But is also scary because theyre jumping in the unknown again after playing under Roberto DAversa through three levels of Italian football.

This tactical analysis in the form of scout report will dive into Parmas tactical traits from last season and also see what are the tactics the new manager could bring to Stadio Ennio Tardini.

Formations and squad

Parma’s most used formations throughout the 2019/20 season were 4-3-3 and 4-3-1-2. Roberto DAversa relied on a balanced approach with rather deeply sat four-men defence and a lot of movement and creativity in attack.

That might be very suitable for the new manager Liverani to implement his approach since he used similar structures at Lecce last season. Although this didn’t bring him a lot of success he will most definitely stick to the four-man defence, especially after getting relegated with Lecce due to their poor defensive performance. Parma’s experienced some defensive difficulties towards the end of the season too, which means the new coach needs to focus on their actions during transitions and also in their defensive third.

His vision includes a midfield three too although the team’s structure in possession might change based on the available players upfront. In both coaches’ strategies, one of the midfielders stayed deeper and served as a pivot while also providing additional support at the back.

One of Parma’s main play