HotChocolate Posted April 25, 2015 Share Posted April 25, 2015 Unlucky on the Liverpool job but John-Ross seems a good capture Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricPye28 Posted May 3, 2015 Author Share Posted May 3, 2015 Thanks for the words guys, some big news coming up. End of December 2022 Update Fixtures A mixed bag of form. We have been the highest-scoring team in the league, having nine games in which we scored three or more goals. Powell, Filizola, and Varga have been good together, but often all three have played poorly in single games. But we have held strong in Turkey for the most part, balancing our European commitments well. The midfield has also done well, with Ozturk, Cruz, Sahin, and Keskin consistently leading the team going forward. League Table Genclerbirligi have been the surprise of Turkey, holding off the big players and only suffering their first loss in the last game before Christmas (albeit a 7-0 shellacking by Besiktas). But we are definitely in reach of a defense of our title, which is great as we are not used to Europe travel. Champions League Group However, I really wish we had done better here. Two great performances against Dortmund, one unlucky defeat to Juventus at home, and Filizola running wild against Zurich game were the four great performances in the group. But a lackluster 3-0 defeat at Juventus and a terrible, disappointing, frustrating loss to Zurich on the final day was the biggest loss of my career. All we needed was a draw and we were terrible, handing the second spot of the group to Dortmund (no thanks for showing up, Juventus, either). Europa League Draw But a decent Europa League draw. Anji are not the toughest team in the draw we could have gotten (I was fearing Porto in the final six spots), and we could get back to the second round, matching our performance from last year. Turkish Cup Draw Two sluggish Turkish Cup games shows our slowing form, a last minute win against Umraniyespor and a drab penalty shootout against Adanaspor at least give us a chance of getting back to the Semi-Finals. But with Kayseri's current form, we will need to be better if we hope to get out of our group. But now the big news. I have accepted a new job with another team. If I had gotten to the round of 16 in the Champions League I would not have accepted any offers, but this approach came across the table a few days after our loss to Zurich. I achieved a ton in Bursaspor. 4 cups wins and a league title in about three years is a pretty great record and I am proud of what I accomplished with Bursaspor. I hope they can continue with this great run. My History Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyler16 Posted May 4, 2015 Share Posted May 4, 2015 /waits patiently for update Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricPye28 Posted May 4, 2015 Author Share Posted May 4, 2015 Hope this update is worth it, Tyler16. My new club is Inter Milan. A surprising league title in 2015 has hidden the slow descent of the club, ending with an 11th place finish, the club's lowest finish since 1958. I was very happy to be approached for the job. Bursaspor was an amazing club, but I can reach the highest levels of the sport with Inter. This club has a lot of history. I'm honored to be here and I can't wait to make my mark on this club. Surprisingly, their former manager, Laurentiu Reghecampf (Steaua Buchares in real life), won three of his last four games before being fired. We could be worse off than 12th. But there is hope. There are a number of good players on the squad, but we have the oldest squad in the league. I want to bring in some new blood than can compliment the veteran talent. I think this is a 2-3 year project. I want to be 5th-8th by the end of the year, 3rd-5th in two years, and title challenging in three years. It's a big ask for sure, but I hope the board will believe in me long enough to do it Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted May 4, 2015 Share Posted May 4, 2015 Good to see you take that big step up, though Inter are the only one of the Italian 'Big 3' I haven't had a legendary stint with Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricPye28 Posted May 4, 2015 Author Share Posted May 4, 2015 Thanks for the kind words, deltablue. I've enjoyed your "Final Journey" thread. I'm going to post my January Transfer Window thread in a bit; hopefully I can make it a legendary stint here as well! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricPye28 Posted May 4, 2015 Author Share Posted May 4, 2015 End of January Transfer Window 2023 Transfers In Full of youth and promise with this window. I definitely had to sign Varga, my best signing ever. He fits in nicely here as well. Bowker, Hold, and Vlad are for the attacking side of the game; Joaozinho and Zanini were signings for our aging center-back position. Bah was purchased before my appointment, but he should be a competent right-back in the future. I really think Bowker will be the best of the bunch. I have adopted a Target Man strategy with the squad for Alberto Cerri, which has worked great so far. I Bowker will be a great compliment to him for years to come. Transfers Out Nothing much to see here, other than the departing Andre Ayew. $30 million signing in 2016-17, off to Qatar to finish out his career. Fixtures A great start to my tenure in my eyes. Cerri has been great. He is an excellent aerial threat and one of his preferred moves is to play with his back to goal, so this tactic has opened him up nicely. Two wins over Juventus is awesome as well, the first aided by a terrible penalty call and the second with a excellent defensive effort. I'm also happy that we could open the accounts of Ozcelik, Varga, Cardaccio, and Bowker, for their confidence. 4 wins out of 7 is a great start and matches my ambitions for the rest of the year. Serie A Table We are in striking range of the European places, which is great. With no commitments for the rest of the year, we can push for a great finish to the season and set ourselves up for success going forward. I'm very excited about our prospects and can't wait to see how we do. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricPye28 Posted May 7, 2015 Author Share Posted May 7, 2015 End of 2023 Season Update Fixtures Unbelievable. Just stunning. This run of form was amazing. The Genoa, Napoli, Lazio, and Catania game were robberies at the end, stealing wins at the last gasp. We were even down 2-0 in ten minutes to A.C. Milan, coming back for those points too. I couldn't even be mad at the tough losses to Palermo and Cesena. We had the talent in this squad, it just took the squad coming together and putting together a great run to end the season. A strong foundation for next year. Serie A Table A stunning finish led to this position. Who would have thought we could be 3rd? I certainly didn't. Some great results against Catania and Udinese helped us pass them late in the season. Now we have Champions League in our sights, which will be a tough ask. But there are some very good players in this squad and we might only need a few players to help out with dual fronts. Player Ratings Goalkeepers As you might be able to tell, I relied heavily on Handanovic. And why wouldn't I? He is still kicking at a high level. We have signed a free transfer from Atletico to back him up next year. Defenders Joaozinho was a great January signing, the youngster Zanini hasn't been so much. I am sad to lose Astori, a club legend and a very good player. With Joaozinho, Goldaniga, Bianchetti, and Zanini, I think we will need one more CB to play with them. Defensive Midfielders On this squad, I specifically used a DM in our formation, specifically Schneiderlin and Trybull. Schneiderlin was great. I now have to find his replacement. Midfielders/Attacking Midfielders/Strikers I was happy to unlock a few players once I got here. Cerri was stuck at 3 goals. Ozcelik at 0, Insigne at 2, Curro at 4. We had some great performances by these top players. You might notice Gareth Bale there as well, I signed him as a free in March after Madrid released him. Not a bad signing, just a depth play, just like signing Di Maria in Bursaspor. Varga and Bowker adapted well in their half-seasons. The attack quality of this team is there, just some reinforcements for our European commitments. People, I feel like I've got something here. We went on an amazing run to end the year. We just need to replace a few free transfers and develop the younger players and we can push for the top-2. I don't think this changes the trajectory I set in January, but I'm very happy with how things went. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyler16 Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 Well that's an amazing turn of fortune in the span of two updates. You've come a long way in this thread considering players like Bale are still relatively young. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 Great work so far in the blue side of Milan, even though for FM reasons my heart belongs to the red Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northernpilgrim Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 What a career! Excellent stuff. You'll win the league next season Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricPye28 Posted May 13, 2015 Author Share Posted May 13, 2015 Thanks for all the kind words, tyler16, deltablue, and northernpilgrim. It was an amazing start, but we've had many more changes than I could have imagined this summer. End of August 2023 Update Transfers Out A lot of movement to start with. I thought the offer for Curro was too good to pass up from Monaco. He is a loss in the midfield I wasn't sure we could handle, so I've picked up a few replacement with the budget room he brought in. In the other transfers, I did not feel like we were missing anything by losing these players, most of them in bit roles after I took over. I would have liked some bigger fees, but you take what you get. We have a large youth team that are waiting for their chances this season and I think we've found got some players who can play the bench roles and absorb some skills and knowledge. Transfers In Whew. Where to start? Mancini was a Co-ownership I really wanted to win over Sampdoria (by about 2 million it seems). Dameco is our new goalkeeper behind Samir. Mesenholer, Bah, Petersen, Akandu, and Caso are all highly rated youngster to bolster our ranks. Poli and Fer are veteran midfielders to help replace Curro and Schneiderlin. Chinchilla is a younger Curro with the same skills, saving 10 million. Kadlev and Noe are promising players who will be able to step in now. But the biggest prize is Paul Remie. A stud defensive midfielder with all the tools to play AMC as well. I splashed big because we needed a dominating force to be our top DM and Remie, who is 24, can be it for 10 years. I'm very excited to have him run the show in front of our defense. Fixtures A pretty good start. A draw against Cesena, a strong home draw against Real Betis and three lovely counter-attacking goals against them in the return leg. Our first Champions League appearance since 2018. Serie A Champions League Draw Nothing to see in the league table, but we will need a result against Porto or Madrid to get the next round. We tied Madrid 2-2 in an exhibition match, but we were very lucky to escape with that result. Better times ahead! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricPye28 Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 My apology for the late update, summer's here and FM gets pushed back sometimes haha End of August Transfer Window 2026 Transfers In Another summer to reload. In Longhi and Mauricinho, we have another strong CM and CD to solidify the middle of the park. Martic is going to play off Gennari in net as we now have two top-goalkeepers in the squad. And Iselin (AMC) and McKenzie-Lowe (CD) are youngsters who will be in and around the first-team. Transfers Out My 1st summer of selling as much as buying, but I think it'll work out with our streamlined squad. The big moves would be the sales of three defenders in Zanini, Mayne, and Zuniga. Zanini gained a ton of interest and I never believed he would live up to his potential here. Mayne was a capable defender but his wages didn't match his fallen position on our depth chart. Zuniga has been a transfer target over the past few years, with Man United leading the charge. But I think Miro Ojanen can equal his performance at a cheaper rate and getting as much as we did makes me feel better about the sale. After that, sales of middle-players like Kadiev, Moscatelli, Todorovski, and Kone help the finances. But the sale of Jose Rogerio hurts. I thought he'd fit right in with our style and that wasn't the case. With him dropping on my depth chart, he quickly decided that fighting for his position wasn't a good idea and requested a transfer. I think he'll do well at Lazio but good riddance. Fixtures List Tough break to lose the Super Cup on penalties, but we didn't play well enough to deserve it. But a calm win over Parma and a good draw against Roma make me feeling better as we really start our season. Serie A Table Pretty good start to the year. This will be another tough season, with Roma, Juventus, and A.C. Milan all looking to stay in the Champions League spots. Champions League Draw A tough draw. We will to perform in this group if we want to get back to the Semi-Final Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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