FM11: Official AS Roma thread, fly on the wings of love

[Falahk]

good to see you making an other try gollum65

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when you least expect it to happen, he scores

[video=youtube;SbrJquTIlrw]

[Someone Else]

What sort of tactics are you guys using?

I've started a Roma save and am just starting the season after winning the Super Cup against those devils Inter. Only made one major addition in Ivan Rakitic from Schalke. Problem is i'm trying to work a system to incorporate all the best players Roma have. I've been using a 4-2-3-1 with Vucinic as AML (inside forward), Menez AMR (inside forward), Totti (Trequarista) and Borriello ST (target man). Can't seem to get them firing on all cylinders though. I've got De Rossi and Pizzaro/Rakitic as my CM but also having the same problems. Any suggestions as what formation you guys have had success with and any advice on how to get the best out of the amazingly talented players Roma has.

[RomaRulez]

I'm running a 4-2-3-1 but I've got 2 guys on MC and 3 as AMC. It's the formation the game presented when I started the save, although I adjusted a few player roles. I don't have anyone scoring a lot of goals but I've got 7 players with at least 1 goal and my defense has only allowed 10 goals in 14 games played. Here are my midfield and forward roles:

MC1 (Brighi et. al.): Box to box support

MC2 (De Rossi): Central midfielder automatic

AMC1 (Vucinic/Baptista/Simplicio): Attacking midfielder support

AMC2 (Totti): Advanced playmaker attack

AMC3 (Usually Menez): Attacking midfielder support

ST (Boriello): Target man attack

Of all these Boriello is the one struggling the most and I'm starting to think about changing his role. He only has 2 goals and 2 assists and he's not too happy about it.

Hope that helps.

[RomaRulez]

BTW De Rossi leads my team with 4 goals and Totti has 7 assists already.

[Falahk]

2010/2011 Season Summary

Serie A

im not fully satisfied with our preformace here, we threw away a few games we should have won, got into a bad spiral and struggled to put the ball into the back of the net, and you cant be happy when you lose 3-0 to Juve, 4-1 to Palermo and somehow manage to throw a 2-1 lead into the bin vs Sampdoria (yes they scored 3 goals on me in the secound half, such a horrible feeling creeping back in), the samp game, draws to Bari/Parma/Brecia and a 92 min goal from Pandev pretty much put us out of contention, Adriano's inability to play football (2 goals in 13(9) games aint good enough) combined with Borriello picking up no less then 6 different injuries surly did not help aswell

it was not all bad thought, a 4-0 trashing of Lazio followed up by Simplico neting 2min into fergie time for an 1-0 win made sure that we won the pair of games that mather the most

Champions League

easy group followed by tricky draw in the knock out rounds (im starting to get a feel that you ether get a thought group stage + easy knock out rounds, or the other way around), so with Sevilla, Partizan and Anderlecht we was always going to get the wort possible draw later on, so we draw Arsenal (which could be argued one of the more difficult teams of the secound placed batch).

I have constantly been doing well vs Arsenal on fm11 however and this time it was no different, we looked a lot more comfortable then the 6-4 aggregate win would suggest

up next we had to go toe to toe with one of the best teams on the game (Real Madrid) and it seamed like they had also bought the ref (they got 2 pens, while i had a player sent of and countless yellows coming my way), in short poor luck in combination to those things ment we never really came close

Coppa Italia

we had a bit fluke with or draw here, only tricky team we got on our way to winging this trophy was league winners Napoli, a fine 30 yard strike from Totti was enough to settle the final dispite us geting outplayed by a depleted Parma team

Super Cup

exiting game for many reasons, most notably becouse Simplicio got sent of and Borriello geting vocal about it picking up his secound yellow, not only did we manage to score with 9 men on the pitch, we also managed to hang on to the 2-1 score line to collect our first trophy

Players

Top Goalscorers

Francesco Totti - 19

Mirko Vucinic - 17

Philipe Mexes - 12

Stefano Okaka - 7

Jeremy Menez/Juan - 5

Top Providers

Francesco Totti - 20

Jeremy Menez - 9

David Pizarro/Matteo Brighi - 7

Rodrigo Taddei - 6

John Arne Riise/Fabio Simplicio - 5

Transfers

we kept it simple, involved some real life opinion on a couple of players and brought back Petrucci

Tactics

we started out using a 4-3-1-2 shape (pretty much Mike Dodgson's tactic with my own set pices added on), but this never really provided the stability and consistent preformance I was looking for, so towards the end I started to tinker with a few different tactics (mostly from my fm10 library) and then revert back to my 4-5-1 barcelona winger tactic for as many matches as it was possible (we dont have proper cover on the wings until d'alessandro gets back), the best tactic I have used on this fm

Player of the season

this award can only really go to one player, il capitano was leading by example, and this is the best season he have done for me on fm

[RomaRulez]

Is there a place to download that tactic Falahk or can you post all the required specifics? Now that I posted that my team was playing well they stopped playing well. I also switched Boriello to poacher but that didn't help him. He's still in a slump.

[Romanista1994]

Pretty good first season which you can build on next year.

You really seem to be getting the best out of Totti, give Ranieri a call before the match against Juve starts.

And bringing back Petrucci. <3

[Falahk]

You really seem to be getting the best out of Totti, give Ranieri a call before the match against Juve starts.

Totti is still banned for the Balotelli incedent tonight (time to go and whine on in the data thread so they can add the mentioned ban)

and well we cant really blame Totti for the fact that our team is growing older (and slower), Totti, when he was at his peak had 4 players around him that could run, constantly provinding passing options, Perrotta, Pizarro and Taddei dont have the legs anymore while Mancini and Guliy are long gone....nowdays we only have Menez (and to some extent Vucinic)

[Falahk]

Is there a place to download that tactic Falahk or can you post all the required specifics? Now that I posted that my team was playing well they stopped playing well. I also switched Boriello to poacher but that didn't help him. He's still in a slump.

the 4-3-1-2 tactic i was using can be found here (I was using the intial tactic, with the mentioned modification):

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/243296-11.2-Patch-4-3-1-2-Total-Football-Tactic-Spurs-Double-1st-Season!-quot

I discribed my own 4-5-1 in post #206(page 3) of the barca thread and the tactic can be dl'ed from post #216

with my tactic you would need both Menez and Vucinic fit on the wings (unless you have bought a decent attacking winger), while you should keep in mind that the striker is playing false nine and hence wont be the main scoring threat, the wide players usaly are, and hence need to be pretty decent finishers, im looking at Hulk or Marilungo to get a proper leftfooter in on the right wing atm

[RomaRulez]

Thanks for the info. To be honest I'm an American who is just learning the game the last year or so. Still trying to understand the nuances of each role on the pitch and how they fit (or don't fit) with each other.

[Falahk]

got a pretty brilliant youth intake, 2 gk's that could play on the level of Sergio, a left back that can become better then Riise, and a pretty decent striker (one of the best player of his generation apparently)

[RomaRulez]

After starting my first season with 7 wins, 1 loss, and 3 draws we've now lost 4 games in a row and 5 of our last 8. I switched to the above mentioned 4-3-1-2 a couple of games ago and it looks promising, but I did lose both games. However they were against AC Milan (who hasn't lost yet this year) and Barcelona at their place so I'm still hoping the new tactic catches on. The bad part of the streak is we've now fallen to 5th in the Serie A table.

I am starting to look at improving the club for next season and my first priority is at DR. Rosi stinks and the rest of the guys aren't much better. I don't have much money to buy a player so I'm looking at signing someone in January whose contract will expire next summer. My #1 target right now is Bosingwa from Chelsea.

[Falahk]

I am starting to look at improving the club for next season and my first priority is at DR. Rosi stinks and the rest of the guys aren't much better. I don't have much money to buy a player so I'm looking at signing someone in January whose contract will expire next summer. My #1 target right now is Bosingwa from Chelsea.

Mattia Cassani (Palermo) could be worth a look, while Pablo Zabaleta (City) is on the transferlist on my save so could also be an option should you fail to get Bosingwa

myself I will stick with Cassetti, Rosi and to some extent Burdisso for an other year, besides I rate Cassetti as a decent player irl, hence he will be staying around and join my staff later on

[RomaRulez]

Thanks for the advice. Given my remaining transfer budget being so low (and the board won't fork over more cash) I may have to stick with those guys. We'll see.

[Falahk]

maybe I got a bit lucky, but I think its fair to say that I will not have any left back issues for the coming years, rated 4,5 stars potential, could become a lot better then Riise, goes to show how good the youth system is at this club, on fm10 I had about 5 players produced by my own youth system playing in my first team on regular basis, got a feeling it can happen again on this save

[Romanista1994]

Franco Franco? He looks awesome though.

And yeah the club has quite a tradition of bringing through talented players which is well represented in FM.

[RomaRulez]

So after those 2 losses I mentioned above to Milan & Barcelona the team has turned things around. We've won 4 and drawn 1 since then, outscoring our opponents 15-3. Jeremy Menez had a hat trick and has taken over the team goal scoring lead with 7. The new tactic seems to be working.

We've reached the January 2011 transfer period and it marks our first real attempts at changing the club. Heading out the door was ST Adriano who was unhappy with my treatment of him and his lack of playing time. He was rarely in match fitness and when he finally did get on the pitch he got himself suspended for 3 games. I sold him to Chelsea for 8M Euros.

I then looked at upgrading a few positions. I mentioned above that I was targeting Bosingwa but he refused to even negotiate with me, even after I spoke glowingly about him in the press on numerous occasions. The guys you suggested were too expensive so I ended up getting 23 year old WBR Nenad Tomovic from Genoa for 4.2M Euros. He's relatively cheap for the quality. That prompted me to transfer list Cichino since he was the oldest of my right backs and hasn't been playing much anyway. No takers for him yet but I'm about to loan him out with an option to buy for about 7M Euros.

I also made 2 signings for next summer that I hope will be huge for the club. First I signed AMC Ibrahim Afellay from PSV, and then I got WBL Urby Emanuelson from Ajax. Both players will join the team on July 1st. Both guys are just 24 years old and should shake things up a bit. I'm guessing some of the veterans will be worried going into the offseason and they should be.

[Falahk]

gollum65: Tomovic look pretty decent on my save to so prolly a good buy , think I had him at Stuttgart on fm10 when I was testing ultra defensive tactics (Catenaccio and Zona Mista variations)

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I just spoted this, tempted to give it a go even if I dont really need him:

[RomaRulez]

Tomovic has played very well so far so I'm happy with that acquisition. I'm curious to know your advice on what I should do after this season with Vucinic or Okaka? I've only got 8 league games left in my first season and Vucinic has been injured most of the year. He just came back from his second injury and has only played in 12 games for Roma so far. But when he plays he's very good. He's already up to 10 goals in just 12 games played. And I brought Okaka back from his loan to Switzerland and while I haven't played him a lot he hasn't exactly earned much playing time either. He's got 1 goal and 1 assist in 9 appearances. So should I sell Okaka over the summer? Loan him out again? Or sell Vucinic since I get get a lot more money for him? I also have to keep in mind that while Totti has been spectacular this year for me he is 34 years old and will need to be replaced soon.

[RomaRulez]

Finally finished my first Roma season. Still hoping for some advice on the strikers. By the end of the year Vucinic was my best striker and Totti & Boriello had both gone into scoring slumps.

Overall I'd say we had a mixed season. We out-performed our preseason Serie A expectations, finishing 2nd in the league 10 points behind Milan. We met our preseason UEFA Champions League expectations by making it to the first knockout round, but I was disappointed because we won 2-0 over Real Madrid in the first leg, then got blown out when we got to Spain and they knocked us out of the tournament. The board didn't care about the Italian Cup but I did. We made the final and I thought we'd easily beat Palermo, but it was the other way around. They clobbered us 3-1 getting two own goals from my team. It wasn't pretty. So while the board was very happy with our league and continental performances, I wasn't happy with some of the big games we lost.

2010-2011 Serie A Table

2010-2011 Roma Stats

[Cas46]

Hi gollum, good season there I'd say. I'll be starting a game with Roma when the new patch is out which I'm looking forward to.

As to the forward problem I'd say keep Vucinic unless a big team comes in with a massive offer, I wouldn't want to lose him as he's still got a good few years in him and is one of the few truly top players in the squad, especially as you said with Totti likely to be done after 2 seasons. In my experience in the past with Okaka he never becomes anything more than how he starts off so I'd sell him, hopefully you're signing Borriello and you got a good number of goals from Menez too.

[RomaRulez]

Thanks Cas. That's how I was thinking about it too. I tried to give Okaka a few opportunities against lesser opponents to show he had some ability and he wasn't too impressive at all. I think I will try to unload him in the summer. Yes, Boriello's permanent move is setup even before you start the save so he is continuing his Roma career. Hope he can get back on track next year. And yes, I expect Totti to retire, maybe even this summer. He's already doing dual duty as a player and coach. It'll be a shame to lose his production but I also don't want a legend like him hanging on too long and hurting the team. And yes, Menez was very good for a large portion of the season, especially after I switched to the 4-3-1-2 discussed above and plugged him into the AMC spot. My only worry about Menez is that some EPL teams have been sniffing around and he's already stated in the press that he'd be interested in moving. I don't want to lose him.

[RomaRulez]

I've just about reached the start of the 2011/2012 season. I told the board I expected to be a title contender this year since we finished 2nd last year and I feel like the club is better now then it was last season. Here is a screenshot of my transfer transactions (minus the kids I released who had no prospect of making the team):

2011 Summer Transfers

Afellay joined the team with a broken leg so he'll be out till around October. Neto is a young Brazilian goalkeeper who appears to be on par with Julio Sergio. I plan to platoon them in net with Doni getting a few starts as well. Bogdan Labont was loaned out since I couldn't find anyone to sell him to. I also couldn't find a buyer for Doni and he refused all loan options so he'll ride the bench. I'm hoping Engelaar will fill the deep lying playmaker role from the midfield as his attributes seem to indicate he'd be very good at it. Schiavi was a matched offer to Lecce since we're in a partnership. He was cheap and looked to be capable of making the jump. I'm trying to loan him back to Lecce for the season since they're now in Serie B.

Will update around the January transfer window.

[Cas46]

Unlucky with Afellay, I signed him on a free at the end of season one on my United save and he is very useful, not as talented as Totti clearly but he could do very well for you in behind your strikers.

I'm determined not to start my game until the new patch is out but in the meantime I started a game and holidayed through a season to see what would happen with my tactics and training. Obviously there was only one tactic used so for the whole year it was my "home" tactic that was in use with a 4-2-3-1 with Inside forwards. When I start for real that will be my first choice though there may be experiments with 4-3-1-2 or a 4-3-3 with a DM, especially away from home. Anyway on my holiday game I signed only Sergio Araujo from Boca who I retrained to AML and got underway. The start was dodgy, sitting 11th after 12 games although there was a 6-1 hammering of Barcelona in there, also lost the Supercup 5-0 to Inter despite even clear cut chances. By January they had moved up to 5th at one point and I unticked "Use current lineup" as players were getting knackered, especially Totti. We had been knocked out of the CL despite that Barca game as Auxerre won the group (?!?!). We were relegated to the Europa League where we beat Feyenoord before throwing away a 2-0 lead from the away leg to lose on pens to CSKA Moscow. Eventually we finished 6th in a very tight league, above Milan and Juve but behind Sampdoria/Udinese/Napoli/Palermo, and obviously Inter. Also lost to Juve 2-1 in the Cup final.

Overall for the AI to have a season like that I think is pretty promising, I'd back myself to finish in the top 4 when I get started, especially with Samp losing Cassano and Pazzini in the patch. One annoying thing was although I left contract renewals to my ass man Mexes left on a free to join Lyon on a contract almost half of what we were paying him, fool.

[RomaRulez]

Not a good start to my 2011 season. Totti went down in the first friendly and won't be back till November. Once we got to the regular season we lost 1-0 at Cagliri. Hope it was just a blip in the road....

[Romanista1994]

Not a good start to my 2011 season. Totti went down in the first friendly and won't be back till November. Once we got to the regular season we lost 1-0 at Cagliri. Hope it was just a blip in the road....

Away to Cagliari is rarely easy, IRL roma haven't won there for a about a decade I think (including losing 5-1 this season), so I'm sure you can overcome that average start.

Good season you had last time and about your striker situation Cas46 has it spot on, though I have slightly more faith in Okaka myself.

[Cas46]

Injuries to Totti and Afellay, tough luck there. Just found a nice loophole in the 1 non EU player from abroad rule. If I start a game with the Brazilian league active even if its not playable and I start the game in December 2009 I can sign 2 non EU players in January and then another in the summer when the next season starts, 3 in total before I play a game.

[RomaRulez]

Injuries to Totti and Afellay, tough luck there. Just found a nice loophole in the 1 non EU player from abroad rule. If I start a game with the Brazilian league active even if its not playable and I start the game in December 2009 I can sign 2 non EU players in January and then another in the summer when the next season starts, 3 in total before I play a game.

Wish I had known about that. I lost a transfer due to the 1 non-EU player rule.

[Cas46]

Yeah that rule does my head in, especially as I like to sign up young talent from South America, still it makes it more of a challenge I guess.

[RomaRulez]

I've reached the January 1st, 2012 midpoint of my season. It's been a crazy year so far for Roma.

Serie A:

After a slow start to the Serie A season Roma went on a 15 game unbeaten streak to take control of the table. We go into the second half of the season with 40 points, 2 points ahead of Cagliari. Having scored 42 goals so far Roma has 10 more goals then any other team in the Serie A and our +27 goal differential is +8 better then any other team.

Marco Boriello has been the best player on the team and probably the best player in the league. He leads Roma, and the Serie A, with 16 goals in 17 appearances. Overall he has 22 goals in 22 games. Probably the second best player on the team is central defender Guillermo Burdisso who has 5 goals and a 7.64 average rating.

UEFA Champions League:

Roma had a bit of a rocky road in the CL Group Stage, earning just 9 points on only 2 wins, but it was enough to qualify out of the group to fulfill our board's expectations. We take on Arsenal in the 1st knockout round and I expect to beat them. But then again I expected to take down Real Madrid last year when we took a 2-0 lead to Spain only to get drummed out of the competition. Hopefully this year will be better.

Italian Cup:

Roma takes on Bologna in the 1st round of the Italian Cup, a team I fully expect to beat. We've already beaten them 4-1 in the first Serie A matchup and this time we get them at home. Last year we were shocked in the final by Palermo. I don't expect that to happen this year.

The Good:

Besides the play of Boriello & Burdisso pretty much all the regulars on the team have played well. We have 12 players who have scored at least 1 goal and 13 players with a 7.00 average rating or higher.

The Bad:

It's been another injury plagued season for Vucinic and I've about had enough. He's not doing me any good if he's not on the pitch. He's only appeared in 12 games overall so far, and while he does have 5 goals and 4 assists it's just not enough for a player earning 89,000 Euros per week. I'll keep him for the rest of the season so as not to upset the apple cart but he's gone come July 1st.

As great as Totti was last year is as bad as he's been this year. It's really been shocking. He's injured again, for the 3rd time so far this season, and has only played in 9 games. Last year he had 15 goals and 16 assists. This year he has 1 assist. That's it. I fully expect him to retire after this season. He's already on our staff as a player/coach so there's no reason to continue playing. Maybe if he has a monster 2nd half I could see it but otherwise I think he's done.

The UGLY:

The final game of 2011 was at home vs. Atalanta and Roma suffered 4 injuries in 5 minutes. We had to play the entire 2nd half with 10 men because I had run out of substitutes. Vucinic, Totti, Baptista, & Simplicio all went down like they were shot. I've never seen anything like it in FM. We managed a 1-1 draw in the game.

Transfer Stories:

I decided not to bring any new players in during the January transfer window since we've been playing so well. But I do have 2 transfers setup for July 1st to replace expiring contracts. Joining the team next summer will be Arsenal midfielder Abou Diaby (6.25M Euros) and Leverkusen wingback Michal Kadlac (10.25M Euros).

We still have money to spend but I don't anticipate using it unless I can find a young top flight goalkeeper. I'm just not impressed with Julio Sergio or Neto so far. Doni will be leaving at the end of the year and Labont is out on loan and I hope they keep him. I need someone I can trust more.

[Rio_V]

In my 3rd season with Newcastle, I was offered the Roma job and decided to take it. Probably going to play a 442 with AML/R. My current tactic is set on Standard or Attack, but I am thinking about changing it to Control as the default b/c it looks like Roma can handle it. Otherwise, I am thinking of playing it pretty simple and letting the talent shine. Other change I might make is to return left defender to DL from WBL. Jose Enrique was perfect in that role, but most players here seem more suited to DL.

Roma currently sit 8th and are -1 goal differential. Underachieving. A lot.

Also, out of CL in group stage. We play Sevilla in EL. Not exactly the best draw b/c Sevilla has only gotten better.

Lots of players have gone and Totti's physical attributes are just too low at 36.

De Rossi captain and clearly best player.

Starters appear to be:

K - Curci/Julio Sergio

DL/WBL - Molinaro/Burdisso/Cale

DC - Mexes

DC - Toloi - I like this kid

DR - Jallet

ML/IF - Vucinic

MC - Brighi

MC - De Rossi ©

MR - Guberti/Sako

DLF - Adriano/Boakye

AF - del Moral

I really like the idea of using Vucinic in the IF slot, so I am thinking that I am in the market for an expensive striker. The good news is that the Winter Tranny Window just opened and I have about $25 mil US to spend. Would love Cavani, but he doesn't look interested. Thinking perhaps about Bareto who is still on Bari, but I should probably be looking for a stronger deep lying forward as Adriano just looks like he is going to get hurt a lot. Not sure if there is any other major change I need to make. Side looks pretty solid. Ideally, would love a WC MC to sit next to the captain, but Brighi is pretty solid. Perhaps a DR...the hardest player to find in the game.

Here goes...

[Purefun]

Transfer Stories:

I decided not to bring any new players in during the January transfer window since we've been playing so well. But I do have 2 transfers setup for July 1st to replace expiring contracts. Joining the team next summer will be Arsenal midfielder Abou Diaby (6.25M Euros) and Leverkusen wingback Michal Kadlac (10.25M Euros).

We still have money to spend but I don't anticipate using it unless I can find a young top flight goalkeeper. I'm just not impressed with Julio Sergio or Neto so far. Doni will be leaving at the end of the year and Labont is out on loan and I hope they keep him. I need someone I can trust more.

De Gea maybe. Or Areola (sp) young gk from PSG.

[Cas46]

@gollum, what happened to Curci? I'll be using him in my game when I can get him back from the co ownership deal.

@Rio_V, welcome and good luck.

[RomaRulez]

Curci is still out on co-ownership and I tried to get him back last offseason but Sampdoria elected to extend the deal. My scouts keep saying he's my best keeper so I think I'll wait till his situation is resolved before I look for a new GK.

I have started to prepare for the expected departures of Vucinic & Totti next season. I spent 9M Euros on two of HSV's strikers, bringing in an 18 year old striker named Vladimir Tosic (regen?) and signing his veteran teammate Mladen Petric to join the team on July 1st. Tosic is playing on my U20 team and already has 3 goals in 2 games. I'll probably let him play a few more games with the kids then bring him up to play the season out with the main team.

We've had a bit of a rocky month of January and have fallen to 2nd in the Serie A table tied with Cagliari. We're 1 point ahead of Milan and 2 ahead of Juventus so we still have a lot of work ahead of us.

[RomaRulez]

I've finished my second full season as Roma manager. The second half of the year was pretty much a disaster. Roma battled injuries and suspensions constantly from January to the end of the year and really I'm probably lucky we finished where we did. From January 1st on Roma won 10 games, drew 7, and lost 10. Just like last year we were summarily dismissed from the UEFA Champions League in the first knockout round. The bright spot to the season was that we made the final of the Italian Cup again, playing Palermo again, and this time we beat them to earn our first trophy.

Serie A:

After leading the Serie A most of the season my board tried to get me to change my season prediction during the Christmas break but I could already see we were in trouble so I refused. Glad I did. Roma finished with 67 points, 5th in the Serie A table, 7 points behind league champions Inter. Our highlight to the season was Marco Boriello leading the Serie A in goal scoring. He scored 21 of his 31 goals in Serie A play.

Final 2011-2012 Serie A Table

Final 2011-2012 Roma Stats

UEFA Champions League:

We were matched up with Arsenal in the first knockout round, a team I thought we could beat. But we had the poor luck of taking them on when we were in the throws of our injury and suspension problems and in the end my depleted Roma squad were little competition for Arsenal. They beat us 1-0 at Olimpico and 2-0 at Emirates for an easy 3-0 aggregate win. With our 5th place league finish this year we'll have to set our sights on the Europa League next season and hope to get back to the CL in the following season.

Italian Cup:

In all reality we're lucky to have won the Italian Cup. In the first semifinal leg we beat Genoa 2-1. We then lost the 2nd leg 3-2 but we advanced thanks to our 2 away goals. We then took on Palermo in the final for the second year in a row and managed to win the game 3--0 despite 3 players going down to injury in the first half and a red card. But thankfully we had already built the 3-0 lead so I think Palermo packed it in. Neto & Doni combined for the clean sheet to help Roma win it's 10th Coppa Italia in team history.

Roster News:

Well the first thing to discuss of course is the injuries. I ended up having to ride most of the players after almost every game about their training and fitness because it seemed like every game at least 2 players were getting injured. And it was usually the same guys. Totti only played in 24 games overall and scored just 3 goals and 1 assist. A far cry from his sensational year in '10/'11. Vucinic had the same year he did last year. Great when he was able to play but for the most part he wasn't able to play. He got into 20 games scoring 13 goals and 5 assists. I still intend to get rid of him in the summer. I hate to sell a guy who scores as well as he does but I can't have him sitting on the bench for 2/3 of the season. Other players suffered injuries of various severity during the year. The worst was DC Phillipe Mexes on March 7th with a torn calf muscle. He missed the rest of the year but should be back for next season.

The suspension problems were mostly caused by Daniele De Rossi who took 4 red cards and 13 yellows. Overall Roma was clobbered by 12 red cards and 95 yellow cards. We certainly weren't the most penalized team in football but it sure didn't help when it seemed like every game someone was getting sent off. I don't understand what happened with De Rossi. Last year he played the same position and only took 1 red card and 7 yellows. Maybe he was just trying too hard to lead the team?

Upcoming Transfers:

I mentioned previously that on July 1st I have Abou Diaby (Arsenal), Michal Kadlec (Leverkusen), and Mladen Petric (HSV) joining the Roma squad. My scouts also found a 17 year old Spanish goalkeeper named Jesus who was transfer listed by Athletico Madrid. I believe he's a regen as he has no history before this year. My scouts believe he'll be better then Curci and can become a top Serie A keeper. I hope so because I'm not impressed with Doni, Julio Sergio, Bogdan Labont, or Neto so far. Jesus was a bargain buy at 525k Euros and will join the team on July 1st. He's not ready for the big time yet but I'll still have multiple choices for next year even with Jesus playing on the U20 team.

July 1, 2012 Transfers

This transfer list is almost certainly incomplete as I intend to start selling off some players between now and the summer but that's where we are at the end of the season.

Hopefully we can rebound with a better season in '12/'13.

[Cas46]

Unlucky with the injuries and discipline, De Rossi no goals 4 reds and 13 yellows? I'd be giving him a right good fining.

Come on SI hurry up with that damn patch I want to start my Roma save already.

[RomaRulez]

Unlucky with the injuries and discipline, De Rossi no goals 4 reds and 13 yellows? I'd be giving him a right good fining.

I actually have a policy where I fine 1 week's wages for every red card so he got plenty of fines and never complained. Maybe I should start with 2 week fines...

[Cas46]

Maybe, though fines for discipline don't seem to do much other than lower aggression or **** the player off. Usually only fines for poor performance are worth it as it can improve work rate/determination, maybe fining for discipline can also improve some hidden stats like professionalism, not sure.

[RomaRulez]

I've found that the best way to improve performances is to have regular one on one chats with the players and chastise them for recent games or form. If I let it go for a couple of game weeks the team starts playing worse. It's tedious to have to talk to each player regularly but it seems to work for me (usually).

[Cas46]

Normally I just try to keep morale high one way or another, I try to have chats about form but they seem to have no effect, players admit when theyve had a bad game but never to bad form for some reason.

Btw did you get Curci back?

[RomaRulez]

Yes, I got Curci back this offseason and sure enough he's shown as the best keeper on the roster. I loaned out Julio Sergio to Chelsea because of it. I also got a 3.5 star potential goalkeeper in my new crop of youngsters so now I'm flush with good young goalkeepers. And I still have Labont and I can't seem to find anyone who wants him, even on a free or a loan where I pay his wages.

[Rio_V]

I am using De Rossi and Brighi in a 442 with AML/R.

Currently, I have them simply as Central Mid with De Rossi on Defend and Brighi on Auto.

Just curious how you would play them as I don't think I am getting the most of De Rossi. Thinking of using him as a Deep Lying Playmaker, but wonder if he would be better at Box to Box with all of those stats.

[Purefun]

Better at box to box imo.

[RomaRulez]

I've reached round 1 of the 2012-2013 Serie A season. We had a good offseason and I expect good things for this coming year. We've already gotten into the Europa League group stage with an easy 7-0 aggregate win over Finnish side AC Oulu. We also played in the Italian Super Cup, losing to Inter on penalties. We just can't seem to beat those guys when trophies are on the line.

The most notable departures this offseason were Bogdan Labont to Napoli and Mirko Vucinic to Barcelona. I got 1M Euros for Labont, which I think is a decent deal considering his age and abilities. And for Vucinic I only got 7.25M Euros but it was better then having him sitting on the bench complaining about playing time.

The big surprise of the offseason was that Francesco Totti did not retire. I hope he can have a better season then last year but he's no longer good enough to feature in the starting 11. He'll come off the bench quite a bit and will start some games against lesser opponents so he will see playing time. I'm really surprised he decided to play another season. Guess he didn't want to retire on such a bad note.

[Rio_V]

Better at box to box imo.

Ty, I might do that.

Well, after a rocky start that watched us slip to 14th, I had to do something.

Started using De Rossi as DLP and Brighi as BtoB both in Support roles. I wanted De Rossi to be able to shoot on goal more, so I put Brighi in the BtoB support role to make sure he tracks back defensively too.

So far, it seems to have changed the midfield for the better and De Rossi has taken over matches v. Juve and Fiorentina. Probably will stick with this for a bit, but Brighi is dead on his feet by the 70th. So, he might often be an automatic sub. De Rossi just doesnt get tired.

Also switched from Balanced to Fluid to get more flexibility from the side. Can't seem to get them to do anything positive in a Control setting. So, primarily playing Standard and shifting either up to Attack or down to Counter.

@Gollum - I am in the same season and Totti is basically done. I do think he can be effective v. a lesser side in the Italian cup, but that is about it. Sad.

[Cas46]

Guess we should change the thread title then.

[Falahk]

Guess we should change the thread title then.

maybe so, but we need to wait for the club to confirm it

[RomaRulez]

I'm curious about something. I'm reading multiple reports that Claudio Ranieri "offered his resignation" but the board hasn't announced yet that they've accepted it. And yet everywhere I read about Roma they already list the manager's job as being vacant. Is the board's acceptance of Ranieri's resignation simply semantics or might they decide not to accept it?

[Falahk]

I'm curious about something. I'm reading multiple reports that Claudio Ranieri "offered his resignation" but the board hasn't announced yet that they've accepted it. And yet everywhere I read about Roma they already list the manager's job as being vacant. Is the board's acceptance of Ranieri's resignation simply semantics or might they decide not to accept it?

i think it will really depend on if they can find a good enough replacement, i guess we will not know the bords intentions until tomorrow anyway

edit: oh my, did just botch a lead away to sampdoria again on my save.....why oh why do SI make this game so realistic

[Cas46]

Ranieri has definitely gone, looks like Vincenzo Montella is favourite to take over for now at least.