Palermo vs Lecce preview - Mangia confident of upturn in fortunes
Posted Thursday, October 27, 2011 by PA
Palermo coach Devis Mangia admits his team are "hungry" to halt their slide down the Serie A table when they take on Lecce.
The Sicilians have taken just one win in their last four games, and Sunday's 1-0 loss at Roma saw Palermo drop to eighth place.
Moreover, they have failed to score in their last two league matches and Mangia is aware it is a downward spiral they need to get out of quickly.
"We're hoping to reverse our fortunes," he said.
"The last few weeks have been difficult, not only in terms of results, and we have tried to understand what went wrong without forgetting what we have done before."
Mangia has reason to be hopeful, as his side have won all of their games at La Favorita this season while Lecce have mustered just one win so far.
Lecce go into the encounter on the back of last Sunday's 4-3 defeat to AC Milan, which saw them drop into the relegation zone.
The Giallorossi led 3-0 at half-time, only to give away four goals after the re-start to suffer their fifth loss of the campaign.
"I'm struggling to understand how we lost this game," Lecce coach Eusebio Di Francesco said.
"I expected more focus from my players in the second half after our perfect opening 45 minutes.
"We made mistakes and they proved costly. We missed a great chance to get an important result but now we must turn the page."
Striker Fabrizio Miccoli will return to the starting XI and partner Abel Hernandez up front. Miccoli came off the bench in his team's defeat at Roma.
Lecce will be without David Di Michele for the game, with the Italian forward still out with a muscular injury.
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