Fiorentina, Lazio and Empoli aim to keep flying high

In the 2006/07 Serie A season, Empoli, Fiorentina and Lazio exceeded expectations with their positive performances. Their strong showing was rewarded with a place in European competitions besides having the added satisfaction of proving their critics wrong.

Palermo spent loads of money on new players last summer but their effort proved futile as the Sicilians had to settle for fifth place and outside the Champions League zone.

Before the start of the season, some pundits bracketed Empoli with those clubs expected to fight for survival in the top flight. However, the team fought bravely in every match, going on to clinch an unprecedented UEFA Cup berth by finishing seventh in the final standings.

Fiorentina, despite starting the league with a hefty 15-point penalty, finished sixth. Had Fiorentina started the season without a 15-point deficit, they would have finished third, only two points behind runners-up Roma.

Lazio went a step further, securing third place to qualify for the Champions League.

Lazio now have a daunting task ahead of them - to maintain the high standards reached last season and finish in a top-four position. Indeed, Delio Rossi's men took everyone by surprise with their consistent play, despite operating on a restricted budget and having started the season with minus three points.

This time, however, Lazio will probably find it difficult to keep up their high position.

Firstly, all teams will start on equal terms.

Secondly, Juve, back in Serie A after one year in the wilderness, will be all out to restore lost pride with a high placing in the standings.

Lazio's participation in the Champions League will boost their cash flow but, at the same time, will add more pressure on coach Rossi and his restricted squad. In fact, the former Atalanta and Lecce coach can only rely on 14 to 16 quality players, certainly not a big-enough squad for Lazio to cope with the double challenge of competing in the Serie A and Europe.

Since the end of last season, Rossi has lost the services of veteran goalkeeper Angelo Peruzzi. Replacing him will be no easy task. If Lazio qualify for the group stages of the Champions League, club supremo Claudio Lotito will have to invest in new players to strengthen the squad.

Toni departure

The departure of 2005/06 Serie A top scorer Luca Toni to Bayern Munich should not signal the end of Fiorentina's revival bid.

This summer, the Viola have assembled an awesome squad, one mainly composed of emerging talent which, according to coach Cesare Prandelli, could even challenge for the scudetto within the next three years.

Fiorentina have achieved significant progress these past two years with Prandelli at the helm and the omens look good.

Giampaolo Pazzini will fill the void left by Toni. Veteran striker Christian Vieri has been signed up to increase Prandelli's attacking options. One thing looks certain... Fiorentina are unlikely to run out of ammunition even without Toni.

Franco Semioli, formerly of Torino and Chievo, represents a valuable addition to Fiorentina's midfield while Federico Balzaretti is likely to enrich Prandelli's options in defence.

All in all, Fiorentina should be admired for continuing to lay the foundations for the future. In today's football, we have grown accustomed to seeing coaches getting the axe due to clubs' thirst for instant success.

At Fiorentina, Prandelli, formerly of Parma, was offered a long-term contract with a view to building a title-winning team for the future.

Competing with big guns Inter, Milan, Juventus and Roma will not be easy but Fiorentina's commitment to promoting home-grown talent ought to be followed by other clubs in Italy and elsewhere.

Sweeping changes have taken place at Palermo after a rather bleak season in which the club failed to reach its target of qualifying for the Champions League.

Coach Francesco Guidolin along with Andrea Caracciolo, David Di Michele and Eugenio Corini were shown the door.

Miccoli hope

After a positive stint with Benfica, Fabrizio Miccoli has been described as Palermo's best signing to date. Bosko Jankovic and Giulio Migliaccio will add creativity and steel to a four-man midfield.

Emerging coach Stefano Colantuono, formerly of Atalanta, has replaced Guidolin.

A new season is on the doorstep but Palermo's shortcomings are still the same. President Maurizio Zamparini lacks the man-management skills needed when it comes to dealing with rebel players and a misfiring coach. Zamparini assembled a modest squad for 2007-08, enough for them to finish among the top seven teams at the end of the season.

Empoli were the surprise package last season. Since then, the Tuscany club, still under the guidance of veteran coach Gigi Cagni, have had to renounce to the services of hard-tackling midfielder Sergio Almiron who moved to Juventus.

Like Lazio, Empoli face a huge task to repeat last season's heroics. The pitfall Empoli should strive to avoid is complacency.

If Empoli start a new season thinking about the past, they seriously risk going down the same route as Chievo did last season - suffering relegation to the Serie B after starting the season as one of Italy's representatives in the Champions League.