FM11: Fiorentina Thread - Chi Non Sta Con La Viola

History

Associazione Calcio Fiorentina was founded in the autumn of 1926 by local noble and National Fascist Party member Luigi Ridolfi, who initiated the merger of two older Florentine clubs, CS Firenze and PG Libertas. The aim of the merger was to give Florence a strong club to rival those of the more dominant Italian Football Championship sides of the time from North-West Italy.

First Scudetto and the ‘50s-‘60s

Their first scudetto winning side

In 1950 Fiorentina started to achieve consistent top-five finishes in the domestic league. This team won Fiorentina's first scudetto (Italian championship) in 1955–56. Fiorentina became the first Italian team to play in a European Cup final, when a disputed penalty led to a 2–0 defeat at the hands of by Alfredo di Stéfano's Real Madrid. Fiorentina were runners-up again in the three subsequent seasons. In the 1960–61 season the club won the Coppa Italia again and was also successful in Europe, winning the first Cup Winners' Cup against Rangers.

After several years of runner-up finishes, Fiorentina dropped away slightly in the 1960s, bouncing from 4th to 6th place, although the club won the Coppa Italia and the Mitropa Cup in 1966.

Second Scudetto, the ‘70s and mediocrity

While the 1960s did result in some trophies and good Serie A finishes for Fiorentina, nobody believed that the club could challenge for the title. The 1968–69 season started with Milan as frontrunners. The second half of the season was a three-way battle between the three contending teams, Milan, Cagliari and Fiorentina. The team then won all of their remaining matches, beating rivals Juventus in Turin on the penultimate matchday to seal their second, and last, national title.

Viola players began the 1970s decade with Scudetto sewed on their breast, but the period was not especially fruitful for the team. After a 5th place finish in 1971, they finished in mid-table almost every year, even flirting with relegation in 1972 and 1978. The Viola did win the Anglo-Italian League Cup in 1974 and won the Coppa Italia again in 1975. The young average age of the players led to the team being called Fiorentina Ye-Ye.

Takeovers, Champions League, Relegation and Bankruptcy

Pontello Era

In 1980 Fiorentina was bought by Flavio Pontello. He quickly changed the team's anthem and logo, leading to some complaints by the fans, but he started to bring in high-quality players.

The following years were strange for Fiorentina, who vacillated between high finishes and relegation battles. Fiorentina also bought two interesting players, El Puntero Ramón Díaz and, most significantly, the young Roberto Baggio.

In 1990 Fiorentina fought to avoid relegation right up until the final day of the season. Pontello, suffering from economic difficulties, was selling all the players and was forced to leave the club after serious riots in Florence's streets. The club was then acquired by the famous filmmaker Mario Cecchi Gori.

Cecchi Gori Era

The first season under Cecchi Gori's ownership was one of stabilization, after which the new chairman started to sign some good most importantly, Gabriel Batistuta, who became an iconic player for the team during the 1990s. In 1993, however, Mario Cecchi Gori died and was succeeded as chairman by his son Vittorio Cecchi Gori. Despite a good start to the season, Vittorio Cecchi Gori fired the coach, and replaced him with Aldo Agroppi. The results were dreadful: Fiorentina fell into the bottom half of the standings and were relegated on the last day of the season.

Claudio Ranieri was brought in as coach for the 1993–94 season, and that year Fiorentina dominated Serie B (second division). Upon their return to Serie A Viola finished the season in 10th.

The following season the club proved its mettle in cup competitions, winning the Coppa Italia against Atalanta, and finished joint 3rd in Serie A. In the summer, Fiorentina was the first non-national champion to win the Supercoppa Italiana, defeating AC Milan 2–1 at the San Siro.

2001 heralded major changes for Fiorentina, as the terrible state of the club's finances was revealed: they were unable to pay wages and had debts of around USD 50 million. Fiorentina were relegated at the end of the 2001–02 season and went into judicially controlled administration in June 2002. This form of bankruptcy meant that the club was refused a place in Serie B for the 2002–03 season, and as a result effectively ceased to exist.

Recent Years

With Fiorentina bouncing back up the leagues from Serie C2 promptly to Serie A they are now a respectable club in Serie A. They have featured on occasion in both the UEFA Cup and the Champions League. During the 09/10 campaign they failed to finish in a European position in the league.

Honours

Serie A:

Winners (2) : 1955–56; 1968–69

Runners-up (5): 1956–57, 1957–58, 1958–59, 1959–60, 1981–82

Coppa Italia:

Winners (6) : 1939–40; 1960–61; 1965–66; 1974–75; 1995–96; 2000–01

Runners-up (3): 1958, 1959–60, 1998–99

Supercoppa Italiana:

Winners (1) : 1996

Runners-up (1): 2001

European Cup/ UEFA Champions League:

Runners-up (1): 1956–57

UEFA Cup/ UEFA Europa League

Runners-up (1): 1989–90

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup:

Winners (1) : 1960–61

Runners-up (1): 1961–62

Stadium

Since 1931 the club have played at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, which currently has a capacity of 47,282. The stadium has used several names over the years and has undergone several renovations. Fiorentina are known widely by the nickname Viola, a reference to their distinctive purple colours.

Analysis

Very, very secure in this position, you should have no troubles in this position for many seasons. Frey should be your first choice as he looks fantastic! Boruc would provide decent backup but I would look ahead to the youngsters for the future. Neto actually looks very competent from the off so I would use him as my second choice and maybe look to move Boruc on after a season or two. Simone David is full of potential and is a future star if trained well. Do not sell!

Defender Analysis

The weakest area of the team by some considerable distance. I would spend my money in this area first and foremost.

Gamberini is a solid CB and should be the first name on the team sheet when you look at your defence. Do not sell. Natali can provide adequate backup so worth keeping. Koldrup will not offer you anything in the heart of the defence so I would look to ship him out. There is no considerable youth coming through in this area either, in my opinion.

Fullbacks are good enough for the first season so no need to spend your money here just yet. Di Silvestri is a brilliant RB and you should have no hesitation in making him your first choice RB, and at 22 years old he has plenty to give. Comotto can be good backup here, as can Behrami (who you may choose to use in a more attacking role). Bagnai is the only player of note in the youth ranks who may look to improve enough to be a decent player at RB. Pasqual looks to be your one and only first team LB and can be a troublesome area if he picks up an injury. When the funds are available look at getting cover for this position. Romiti is the brightest youth prospect for the LB position.

Midfielder Analysis

A good amount of players in this area with some very good senior and prospect players. The right of your midfield looks set for present as well as future. Very little investment needs to be spent here. You have your choice of Marchionni or Santana as starters with an extremely young and vibrant backup of Cerci and Ljajic, as well as Mastos in a few years. Cerci for me has been absolutely phenomenal on the right and is my current first choice MR at the age of 22. Really liking this guy.

Your left side is the most bare, but what is there is quality. Vargas as I’m sure you all know is an absolute animal and I wouldn’t think of starting a game without him in that position, he really does add so much quality to your team. Your only NATURAL backup is Carraro who I’m sure is going to be a future star one day. He has great stats for 18 and his PPM’s are extremely complimentary. One to watch out for.

The centre of the park is where you can flourish, whether you are playing with DMC’s, MC’s or AMC’s, you have a lot of quality here. As Jovetic is basically out for the 1st season through injury you should look at pairing up Montolivo and D’Agostino. Both are fantastic players and can really dominate in the middle of the pitch with great movement and passing. Donadel can slot in to offer a bit of re-assurance and the defensive side. Kofi is one for the future definitely, but he does a stirling job filling in for the first team already at 18. He will be a key player for you in years to come.

Forward Analysis

An area which you do lack a lot of depth. Depending on whether you play 1 upfront or 2, you have the players to accommodate. Gilardino should be first choice, he is very good and if the service is there he will bag you goals, goals, goals. Of course we all know about Babacar now so we know he shouldn’t be over looked because of his age. I have been playing him in the first team from the off alongside Gilardino and he has performed tremendously well. It does look to be a bit of a worry if there is any injury crisis. Lemmello and Seferovic look to be the most talented of the U20s.

As for Mutu, when he’s back from his ban, get rid.

Possible Formations

4-2-3-1

Default formation at the start of the game. Could work well, but you will not be utilising some of the great wingers available to you, particularly Vargas. You could move the wide AMC’s out to the wingers and I believe this would be a more effective tactic.

4-5-1

Classic formation which can be put to good use by many teams. This would also be a viable option for Fiorentina also as they most definitely have the players to fill in the positions.

4-4-2

I have been using this variation of 4-4-2 and it has been working well for me.

Of course, these are all just ideas so feel free to try all different combinations, Fiorentina are very versatile in that respect!

Lastly, have fun playing with the Viola!

I played briefly with Fiorentina when the game first came out. Used mostly 4-2-3-1 and 4-5-1 star (2 DM, ML/MR, AMC, ST) to decent effect. D'Agostino and Montolivo as double DLP pivots (and Zanetti and Bolatti who are now gone), Vargas and Marchionni/Santana as wide midfielders/winger, Mutu/Ljajic/Jovetic in the hole behind Gilardino/Babacar. I had problems getting Gilardino to score at first but it ended up working well.

You suggested getting rid of Mutu when he comes back from ban, I would actually suggest keeping him for the first season at least with Jovetic injured but after that, you can sell him and fill his place with Jovetic and Ljajic.

My defense was awful, unsurprisingly. Two young defenders I would look for at the beginning are Gabriel Silva (LB/WB) and Rafael Toloi (CB). Toloi has Italian dual nationality so won't count against the 1 non-EU quota per year.

I don't think i've seen that 4-5-1 star used before, unless it's with the AML/R instead of the ML/R? . About Mutu, I just don't really like the guy! That's why I plan on getting rid of him, and he's a very high earner who could fetch a few bob, there are better players to fill in before jovetic returns.

Yeah agree'd the defence is quite shakey at CB, I brought in 2 young CBs, one to go straight into the first team which was a risk but it seems to be paying off mostly. I'm at the half way stage of my season now so I'll porbably post up my transfers etc. soon.

Pre-Season 2010/11

I've recently been a big believer in generating as much profit over the course of the off-season as possible. So I cancelled all my existing friendlies and arranged quite a few very high profile fixtures which was looking to make the club between £250,000 - £500,000 per fixture. Results don't really matter to me as long as the monies coming in and the players are getting match fit.

I also brought in two new quality scouts for free and added two more coaches to help with the workload.

Transfers

Transfer history.

Ins

My main concern during this window was to bring in a new CB to offer competition for a first team spot. After some scouting and debating on whether I had the funds available, I opted to sign the promising 20 year old Manoel. It was a gamble as he was so young but my scout was raving about him so took the plunge and spent a large chunk of my budget on him.

I also got told about a 19 year old Portugese CB called Roderick Miranda. I was told he would have the potential to be a leading Serie A defender in the future and at £1.3m I thought, why not.

Thorgan Hazard was a bit of a flutter. Fancied someone different and he has a reputation to live up to, so that was my reasoning!

Outs

My most notable departures would be Koldrup and Marchionni. Koldrup had nothing to offer and Marchionni didn't fit in to my game plans, plus I had younger players vying for his position. Could maybe have got more than the initial £3m for him though.

As it is January in my game now, the board a month or so back gave me extra funds and raised my budget to £17.5m! Plenty to work with then. Will look at a backup LB and either an established striker or a backup, if anyone has any ideas?

Aims for the season

Keeping it pretty simple this season. Get a spot in Europe, ideally Champions League. Maybe a good cup run since I have no European obligations to watch out for.

I don't think i've seen that 4-5-1 star used before, unless it's with the AML/R instead of the ML/R? . About Mutu, I just don't really like the guy! That's why I plan on getting rid of him, and he's a very high earner who could fetch a few bob, there are better players to fill in before jovetic returns.

Yeah agree'd the defence is quite shakey at CB, I brought in 2 young CBs, one to go straight into the first team which was a risk but it seems to be paying off mostly. I'm at the half way stage of my season now so I'll porbably post up my transfers etc. soon.

I got the 4-5-1 star formation from the Sampdoria thread from FM10.

It's pretty much a more defensive 4-2-3-1 with the AML/R moved back to ML/R. It works pretty well with Fiorentina because Vargas on the left was originally a wingback/fullback so he actually has good defensive stats and Marchionni is also decent enough.

It's pretty much a more defensive 4-2-3-1 with the AML/R moved back to ML/R. It works pretty well with Fiorentina because Vargas on the left was originally a wingback/fullback so he actually has good defensive stats and Marchionni is also decent enough.

Yeah can see how that would work well with Fiorentina, they have some very good defensive wingers, and also gives you the option of pushing up as well if need be.

I'm rotating between this and a Mexican save so my updates will be limited but hopefully other people will start a Fiorentina save and get the thread ball rolling!

Nice thread mikal, well done.

So I started a save, as usual for me with 11.3 starting in December by loading the Brazilian league. Fiorentina were 10th when I took charge in the last week of December and I ended up finishing 10th at the end.

Not a ton of transfers.

Rafael Toloi ended up starting a bunch of games after Gamberini went out with a hip injury. Digne also started 8 games and did pretty well for himself considering he's only 17.

The summer transfer window has started and I've already started making moves. I was able to arrange a deal for Davide Santon for only £2.5M due to his expiring contract. He's only hefty wages of around £40k p/w but he'll be well worth it and can cover anywhere on either flank. Also, Köln got relegated in the Bundesliga so I was able to snap up Geromel for £5M plus incentives to shore up a bad defense. As for expiring contracts, the only player I retained was Donadel; Marchionni, Santana and Comotto were all let go. The board has given me £25M to spend with the expectation of mid-table finish. I'm thinking of buying a first choice right winger, possibly selling Mutu; the rest of the team is pretty solid. I have to make a tough decision on De Silvestri though; Sampdoria and Palermo have offered £12.25 and 10.5M respectively for him and I might have to let him go considering I have Behrami and Santon who are good enough to start. What do you think Mikal?

Cheers Purefun.

dustygator: Good first season considering no signings were made at the start by the AI. How has Verratti been for you? Or has he not really featured in your first team plans yet? He was one I always like to get, but not so sure how he turns out this time round. Good price for Boruc, too.

Very nice price on Santon and like you said I wouldn't worry so much about the wages if you have him on a long deal 'cause he will be worth it, and IMO you now have Italy's 2 future RB's. So to your question, I would definitely not be selling De Silvestri for that price; 1) Not for AT LEAST double 2) Especially not to league rivals 3) Santon isn't quite ready for first team, and Behrami is no starter. I really like De Silvestri and think it would be a mistake for you to get rid, very solid performer and Italian. His technicals may lack slightly, but with a bit of work these will fly up, but his physical attributes at 22 are phenomenal. Of course these are just my 2 cents and my experience with him. But if it means anything to you he has a rating of 7.48 after 17 games, my 2nd highest average rated player. Also has 5 assists through his crossing (from deep).

How did you do on the forwards front? Gilardino your main man with Babacar stepping in when needed?

Cheers Purefun.

dustygator: Good first season considering no signings were made at the start by the AI. How has Verratti been for you? Or has he not really featured in your first team plans yet? He was one I always like to get, but not so sure how he turns out this time round. Good price for Boruc, too.

Very nice price on Santon and like you said I wouldn't worry so much about the wages if you have him on a long deal 'cause he will be worth it, and IMO you now have Italy's 2 future RB's. So to your question, I would definitely not be selling De Silvestri for that price; 1) Not for AT LEAST double 2) Especially not to league rivals 3) Santon isn't quite ready for first team, and Behrami is no starter. I really like De Silvestri and think it would be a mistake for you to get rid, very solid performer and Italian. His technicals may lack slightly, but with a bit of work these will fly up, but his physical attributes at 22 are phenomenal. Of course these are just my 2 cents and my experience with him. But if it means anything to you he has a rating of 7.48 after 17 games, my 2nd highest average rated player. Also has 5 assists through his crossing (from deep).

How did you do on the forwards front? Gilardino your main man with Babacar stepping in when needed?

Verratti is co-owned and still at Pescara right now since he would barely get any playing time with D'Agostino and Montolivo.

Normally I wouldn't consider selling De Silvestri either but normally I don't have Santon ready to step in. I think I'll keep him for now and play Santon at LB and loan out Digne.

And yeah, I only used one striker formations the first season so Gilardino was the starter with Babacar used as a backup although I started him a few games at the end to get some experience. I'm adding in a 4-4-2 formation along with the 4-2-3-1 and 4-5-1 star and use Gilardino as a Complete Forward-attack and Jovetic/Mutu as Trequarista.

Looks like it's only going to be the two of us in this thread. (and the lady from the OP:D)

Good thread Mikal

Nice thread Mikal

Cheers guys

Verratti is co-owned and still at Pescara right now since he would barely get any playing time with D'Agostino and Montolivo.

Normally I wouldn't consider selling De Silvestri either but normally I don't have Santon ready to step in. I think I'll keep him for now and play Santon at LB and loan out Digne.

And yeah, I only used one striker formations the first season so Gilardino was the starter with Babacar used as a backup although I started him a few games at the end to get some experience. I'm adding in a 4-4-2 formation along with the 4-2-3-1 and 4-5-1 star and use Gilardino as a Complete Forward-attack and Jovetic/Mutu as Trequarista.

Looks like it's only going to be the two of us in this thread. (and the lady from the OP:D)

How much is the future fee for Verratti? Yeah try out Santon at LB see how he performs, can always bring Pasqual back into the team if he doesn't do so well (if you still have him) and rotate Santon and De Silverstri at RB. Good use of the different formations as well, how many did Gilardino and Babacar bag you in the first season?

Verratti doesn't have a future fee, I'll have to win the blind bidding after this season but I'm not worried since Pescara don't have much money. I still have Pasqual and have been rotating him with Santon and also using Santon as a super-sub due to his versatility. Gilardino had I think 13 goals and Babacar 4 in 8 starts.

As far as transfers go, I brought in Geromel and Santon as previously said and also splashed £7.5M on Vladimir Weiss and £3M on Marcus Berg. Both have done pretty well, Berg scored a goal in his debut and Weiss contributed 3 assists in his first start. I got rid of Felipe and Kroldrup permanently and loaned out Agyei, Digne, Carraro and Babacar all with recall. I'm going to recall Agyei soon, I loaned him out to Racing Santander and they didn't register him after telling me he would be a first-team player. Babacar was loaned out to Toulouse and has 4 goals in 3 starts there so I'll probably let him stay barring an injury crisis.

The loss in the Italian Cup was mostly due to me assuming it was another friendly and holidaying over it. No one cares about it anyway although it is useful to get games in for younger players. I've generally used the 4-5-1 star on the road and 4-2-3-1 at home although I do change the mentality as needed. I've been crafting a ridiculous amount of chances and with the exception of Juventus games, have been converting them. Mutu has probably been my best performer; I'm glad I didn't sell him. He scored the only goal in the match against Atalanta and threw in a brace vs Udinese in his only two starts I think since I've been rotating him with Jovetic.

I do like a blind bidding!

Great start to the season, nice to see your tactics paying off. Brave call loaning out Babacar, but if he's getting more first team action there than with you then I guess it was the right decision. Is Carraro getting first team action? He's a hugely promising player on the game I think and can really be a solid player if developed well.

With everyone fit who are your first XI?

Surprised you loaned out Babacar

Yeah I usually only player with one striker and he's just not going to start over Gilardino and with Mutu and Berg (who's a young Inzaghi as far as goal-scoring instinct), he'd have to fight to even get on the subs bench. If I need him, I can recall him at any time and he's still only 18 so the near guaranteed playing time at Toulouse will do him good. Carraro looks like he has very good potential, the team I loaned him too didn't have many wingers so hopefully he'll get time. If not, I'll recall him in January and send him somewhere else or put him back in the under 20s.

I've still been testing out various players and will probably have a first XI in place by the end of the next month. Some players locked in like De Silvestri, Vargas, Gilardino and Montolivo; new signings Geromel and Santon need some time to settle in and perform consistently before I write their names in pen and young players are battling for spots at AMC and MR/AMR. I still have over £15M in the transfer budget to use in January should I need it although I feel good about every position. I get noticed every week that some manager was seen at the game watching Vargas so I'm hoping he doesn't request for a transfer. He's an absolute beast in the game and I value him at £30M so anyone interested is going to have to pony up big time.

Finally there's a thread for these. I absolutely love playing as Fiorentina in FM. Vargas has probably performed the best for me out of any player in FM ever, other than god-like regens.

Good Thread! I left Charlton after getting them to the premier league, but choked it and got in a bad losing rut. I decided to leave as I was getting frustrated and feel I couldn't take them any further due to the debt and poor stadium and training facilities etc. A week later, Fiorentina approached me, and even though I have initially struggled, I have enjoyed it!

Vargas and Gillardino, are the outstanding players for me, along with Frey. Dissappointing start from Montolivo, he slagged me off, then got sent off for a two footer, but has taken to my more strict approach with players and started to play well, and when he plays well, the whole team plays well.

Yeah I usually only player with one striker and he's just not going to start over Gilardino and with Mutu and Berg (who's a young Inzaghi as far as goal-scoring instinct), he'd have to fight to even get on the subs bench. If I need him, I can recall him at any time and he's still only 18 so the near guaranteed playing time at Toulouse will do him good. Carraro looks like he has very good potential, the team I loaned him too didn't have many wingers so hopefully he'll get time. If not, I'll recall him in January and send him somewhere else or put him back in the under 20s.

I've still been testing out various players and will probably have a first XI in place by the end of the next month. Some players locked in like De Silvestri, Vargas, Gilardino and Montolivo; new signings Geromel and Santon need some time to settle in and perform consistently before I write their names in pen and young players are battling for spots at AMC and MR/AMR. I still have over £15M in the transfer budget to use in January should I need it although I feel good about every position. I get noticed every week that some manager was seen at the game watching Vargas so I'm hoping he doesn't request for a transfer. He's an absolute beast in the game and I value him at £30M so anyone interested is going to have to pony up big time.

If Boubacar does not become your first choice striker in 2/3 years time, I will be surprised, he is a goal scoring hero. 17 goals in 11 games already this season for me.

If Boubacar does not become your first choice striker in 2/3 years time, I will be surprised, he is a goal scoring hero. 17 goals in 11 games already this season for me.

I fully expect him to be the future but right now, he's just not better than Gilardino. He's performing very well at Toulouse, starting almost every game and averaging close to a goal a game so I will keep him there unless I have an injury crisis.

Losing to Inter on the road is expected. Losing to Genoa on the road was a slight bummer, I had a draw in the books until the 85th minute or so when Acquafresca scored from a corner. The draw to Brescia was all up to Diamanti scoring a screamer from 30+ yards out. I'm really starting to hate him; it seems like every time I play against him, he'll score from a free kick or from some way out.

I'm very happy with the start so far. I should be able to hold on to at least a CL spot at the end of the year. Rafael Toloi is unhappy and transfer listed by request because I promised him a new contract and didn't give him one. I never know what "soon" means; I though it was at least until the next transfer window but I guess not.

Yes, I suppose I did join them in 2014. Even now, Gilardino does a job, but he slowly going down hill. He now has has good coaching stats though, which may be a bonus next season.

Only one thing I have found with Fiorentina, and it is isn't that regular, but more than I had experianced before. And that is, scoring, then letting in a goal only a couple of minutes later...Why is this? And is there anyway to try and prevent it? I guess my players level of concentration must come into it...

Currently entering season 3 with Viola.

the longest save ive had in fm for about 2 years so thats a good sign.

1st season i achived the aim of a europa league place after finishing 5th. inter won the league by quite a few points.

off the top of my head (at work cant check game) most notable signings were Massielo from bari and rafael tolio. i was also pushed into bidding on Lukaku as Chlesea made an approach for him. set it up so he arrived at the end of the season rather than january to make sure he still played competative games. he arrived in the summer for 10mil.

season 2 began and not big outlay on players again to start even though i got a big budget of about 40mil. fabio came in on loan for the season and coupled with lukaku that was it. lukaku started just as i had hoped scoreing regularly and keeping gilardino out of the team. Agyei was making good process playing in cup and easier league games deputising for de agostion and motolivo. having jovetic back from the start was a big boost.

half way through the season though and i felt the money was burning a hole in my pocket so went and made a 20mil deal for andrea poli of smapdoria. love thuis guy and he has just signed for the start of season 3. thinking he will replace de agostino longterm as my holding guy in the cm pair.

season two was quite a success. finished 3rd qualifying for champions league, some way behind winners roma though. second knock out stage of the europa league after going down on away goals to a big spending mancity. lead 2 - 0 when playing away and eventually ended 2-2 and lost the return leg after going to attacking once they got an away goal. there was some silverware though. beating cagliri on pens in the itallian cup final.

big signing for season 3 to go with poli is Howdes (cb) from shalke for 12mil. is a beast in my game and should improve the defence no end. im happy with gamberini and de silvestri but im havign trouble getting a top class left back. especially an itallian one. only one thing to do which was take fabio back on loan for the season as he impressed the year before.

looking forward to the another season challenging for honours. good performaces in champions league should mean i can attract better players come jan or the season after.

Just finished, and won the league, in my first full season with them!! I joined 3 and half years into the game, so cannot compare to much with you, but I was chuffed. So anyway, I am now in 2015 and Frey and Montolivo are still here, playing well, although at 35, Frey is slowly beginning to decline, so brought in Kameni on a free start of this season. And Vargas, is still a legend and kicking butt as a winger, at the age of 31.

My team has managed to go away to Wolfsburg and beat them 4-2 in the champions league and beat Shakhter Donestk 3-0 at home, so that is going well as well. I don't know what it is, but I seem to have developed this love affair with the Viola!!

Lorenzo Di Silvestri and Montolivo are beastly in FM 11

yea deffo. are proving to be good tutors too.

season 3 ended in epic fashion.

won the super cup begining of the season beating roma. then the first scudetto in a long while, the itallian cup for the second year on the trott and a champions leage title after beating madrid on pens in the final.

Howdes at cb was immens. would strongly reccomend him to anyone looking for a cb. have been playing a 4 4 1 1 all season with just slight movments in player positions depending on the game im playing. have been pushing both wingers forward to make 4 2 3 1 for example. both lukaku and babacar got over 20 goals this season and both just 20.

snapped up miralem pjanic on the cheap from lyon as hes one of my fav players irl. did well the second half of the season

this is my best save with them, i won in 2013 till 2018 six serie A's Supercups 6x times 2 times Champions league in a row and 2 Italian Cups. My team was unbeatable but now im looking for more challenging team. I suggest u buy Eden Hazard 1st season 15mil pounds and then play 442 but with AML and put Eden Hazard as Inside Forward result = 20 goals 20 assists.

Later in the game try to get Ben Khalifa from Wolfsburg. 180pa 175 ca in 2016 hes a legend @ my team in 2018 so is Babacar

Just managed my first cup double with them, Coppa Italia and Serie A! Over the moon!! Really Struggle in Europe at the moment though

Love the Viola though. Gilardino has just become a coach at the club, couldn't bare to see him leave

Time to bump this thread I think

Somehow managed to take 2nd place in Season 1. A lot of the big teams underperformed quite dramatically. Roma for example finished 11th.

Currently 4th in Season 2, behind leaders Sampdoria, Inter and Napoli. Just knocked Chelsea out of the Champions League 5-4 on aggregate. Won at Home 4-1, and then lost away 3-1 after having one of my CDs sent off after 10 mins.

Standout player so far? Vargas. No question. 28 assists in 33 starts in Season 1 in the league. Only has about 11-12 assists after 30 games in Season 2, but is still central to everything that happens. Ljajic is doing really well down the right side, and given another couple of seasons, I'm hopeful he can be every bit as good as Vargas. Both of them are adding some vital goals to the cause this season.

I've changed from playing a 4-2-3-1 to a 4-4-2, and Montolivo has come to life. He struggled playing behind Mutu/Jovetic, but freeing him up to run it by himself has been one of the best decisions I've made. I'm having a hard time deciding how to fit Jovetic into the new system. I had some semi-success playing him and Montolivo, although I feel like we are performing better when I use Donadel and Montolivo instead. Behrami and Agyei have also done quite well when called upon.

What I want to know, am I the only one struggling to get D'Agostino to play well? He seems to consistently underperform, and his morale always takes massive hits if he gets a run in the first team. I'm reduced to using him as a sub replacement if I want to take Montolivo off, or even leaving him out the squad altogether...

Bit surprised this thread hasn't had more attention considering the potential with the team and the excellent op.

Anyway i'm coming towards the end of my season at Viola, before I start i'll post my ins and out

(the other outs)

I spent quite a bit as you can see but they were in areas I needed to strengthen, after moving the wages over I had a budget of about £15m to start with and the £8-9M I brought in (plus extra wages saved) means I didn't really spend that much over my means.

This is my formation as I feel it gives all my excellent attacking/midfield options plenty of game time.

After a bit of a bad start (losing at home to Juve, drawing at Bari and Cesena) my players picked up their form and flew up the table and we are 2nd with 8 games left to play and also a have a coppa italia semi against Inter to look forward to (Napoli and AC away were 2 of the games we had to get this far so i'm pleased with how we have coped) Stars of the team so far are Vargas, Montolivo and Gilardino obviously, but all the incomings have played a big part with Milan Badelj probably being the pick of the bunch. Daniel Kofi Agyei was sent on loan in the hope of maybe getting 10 games for the season (more than I could have realistically give him, but he's ended up playing 20 times plus in Turkey and has averaged over 7 so i'm delighted with that.

These last few league games include Napoli (h) AC (a) Lazio, Udinese and Inter, so I have a tough run but as long as I can keep in the top 4 i'll be delighted as I was looking at 5th-7th at the start.