FM 15: A.S. Roma Thread - Hungry for Glory

[Hood Legend]

I have finished my 2nd season in charge of Roma and it was another successful one as we retained the Scudetto. For long periods it didn't look likely as Juventus were top for long periods but a strong finish saw us catch up and sneak past them on the final day on goal difference which was only superior by 1 goal. It was an exciting finish to the season and resulted in another Juve manager, Unai Emery, getting the boot.

The Coppa Italia campaign was less than successful, we were looking to build upon being runners up last season but somehow got knocked out in the first round on penalties by Cagliari. In the champions league we were handed a relatively easy group consisting of Benfica, Leverkusen and Trabzonspor which we sailed through with 16 points, 8 ahead of 2nd place Benfica. In the first knockout round we drew my childhood team Man Utd and unfortunately they were too strong for us winning 3-2 on aggregate.

At the end of the season Totti announced he would retire in a years time when he is just short of his 41st birthday. He was very effective last season so if this campaign is similar I will consider asking him to reconsider his decision but if not I will have to start the difficult task of finding a replacement for the great man. Florenzi was once again the best performer contributing many goals and assists, finishing with an average rating of 7.66.

It has been a fairly quiet summer in terms of transfers, here are the ins and outs:

Sales:

Dodo - Inter Milan - £6.5m - pre-agreed from the start of the game.

Leandro Paredes - Cagliari - £2m - constantly complaining about not getting enough football despite being nowhere near the level of Florenzi etc.

Maicon - Cesena - £250k - ageing and on a high wage, it made sense for him to leave.

Davide Astori - Udinese - £9.25m - Did well in his 2 seasons but I had too many centre backs and made a decent fee for him, almost doubling what I paid.

Pavel Savitskiy - Atalanta - £750k - Another player that wasn't happy about not playing so I wasn't bothered about seeing him go.

Purchases:

Adrian Ortola - Barcelona - free transfer - needed a backup goalkeeper after Lobont decided to hang up his boots.

Marc-Oliver Kempf - Freiburg - £22m - Wanted more quality at centre back and this young German looks very talented.

Isco - Real Madrid - £16.5m - Unwanted at the Bernabeu and I couldn't turn down a world class player at such a cheap price.

Squad going into the 3rd season:

GK: Valdes, Ortola, Zubikarai

DR: Torisidis, Manea

DL: Gaya, Holebas

DC: Kempf, Manolas, Munoz

DC: Romagnoli, Jedvaj

DMC: De Rossi, Driessen (regen)

MC: Florenzi, Isco

MC: Strootman, Nainggolan

AMR: Iturbe, Ljajic

AML: Depay, Granara (regen)

ST: Totti, Destro, Perillo (regen)

Very happy with the squad although I have noticed that Mattio De Sciglio is available for around £15m from Milan and I still have £40+ sat in the bank so may get in and move on either Torisidis or Holebas. Target for the season is to win a 3rd straight Serie A title and improve upon last seasons efforts in both the domestic and european cups.

[vieires]

Yeah, I reckon keeping him is your best bet if he's happy to stay. Did you not sign Nainggolan, or is he a backup in your team as I don't see you mentioning him anywhere?

Also, I agree with your assessment of M(R/L) vs AM(R/L), the former definitely adds a lot more defensive cover over the latter. I'm playing a 4-1-4-1 Defensive/Structed myself and while I've only actually been able to play one competitive match, we kept a clean sheet against Napoli's 4-2-3-1 and 15 of their 18 shots were long shots iirc.

Yeah I did sign Nainggolan (4mil I think). He's good, and I'm definitely happy having him in the mix because he can cover any of the roles in my midfield and do a top job. When all are fit and healthy, he's probably 5th in line (which sounds bad, but there's 3 spots in the team!)

Bloody Napoli. I was 2-0 up in the first leg of the Coppa Italia semi-final. Went to San Paolo and they put 6 past me! I was furious. Only got over it went we went back there for the 2nd last game of the season and took them down 3-0. Pretty much set me up for the title with only a home game against Sassuolo to come.

[vieires]

I have finished my 2nd season in charge of Roma and it was another successful one as we retained the Scudetto. For long periods it didn't look likely as Juventus were top for long periods but a strong finish saw us catch up and sneak past them on the final day on goal difference which was only superior by 1 goal. It was an exciting finish to the season and resulted in another Juve manager, Unai Emery, getting the boot.

Juve are ruthless. They sacked Allegri after failing to land the title in my first season. They've just brought in Guardiola! In fairness though, they did have a habit of dropping points every time we gave them any kind of lead.

Purchases:

Adrian Ortola - Barcelona - free transfer - needed a backup goalkeeper after Lobont decided to hang up his boots.

Marc-Oliver Kempf - Freiburg - £22m - Wanted more quality at centre back and this young German looks very talented.

Isco - Real Madrid - £16.5m - Unwanted at the Bernabeu and I couldn't turn down a world class player at such a cheap price.

Isco for £16.5m is an amazing deal. What a steal.

I'd be happy landing De Sciglio for £15m too. Couldn't turn his head at all in mine.

[Romanista1994]

Hood Legend - What a way to win the title, I think you're getting really close to absolutely dominating with the team you're building. I'd love to see a screenshot of Romagnoli (any others also welcome) if it isn't too much trouble.

vieires - Yeah, I guess he's not going to be first choice in a midfield featuring De Rossi, Florenzi, Pjanic and Strootman. Just goes to show how strong the midfield you start off with is really, both in quality and depth.

Also, second page!

[Hood Legend]

I decided to purchase De Sciglio in the end so he will probably be my first choice right back for the coming season.

Romanista here is the screenshot as requested. If you want any more I'm happy to oblige.

[Romanista1994]

Thanks for the screenshot Hood Legend, he looks really, really good. Is he at his full potential according to staff?

Don't worry about other screenshots for now.

[Hood Legend]

Thanks for the screenshot Hood Legend, he looks really, really good. Is he at his full potential according to staff?

Don't worry about other screenshots for now.

Well he is 3 star current ability and his potential has 3 yellow with an aditional black star, however his coach report says he is close to his full potential so he probably won't improve much more.

[Romanista1994]

Borriello.

Scored twice against Genoa in our second match, so now he's on 3 goals in 2. Probably would have had a hattrick as well if Holebas hadn't taken the first penalty we got.

[Romanista1994]

My laptop overheated on me twice tonight, both times when we were winning.

The game and the computer are lucky that I ended up winning both of the games after I played them again.

[masci0]

He's become a club legend on mine (don't know how.) Selling foreign talent to make sure he is my first team starter.

[masci0]

Recommend this guy on any save you guys have. He's the Czech (left sided) Robben!

[Romanista1994]

Romagnoli looks fantastic there masci0, and so does Cerny actually. Have any other young Roma players progressed much? How did you do since your last update?

[masci0]

4 Straight scudettos and continued I my terrible form in europe, I feel like Mancini.

[masci0]

My transfer history from past few seasons looks like this.

16/17

17/18

18/19

I've made so many mistakes, but first save in this FM so not too concerned. Like I said I'm trying to keep the save quite realistic by letting players go when teams like Real/Barca and another elite clubs go for my players. I've also keep players who have become legends/icons at the club.

I've circumed to buying too many strikers and not giving them enough playing time. Selling Destro was a mistake as Icardi has a few dry patches - hoping Ewandro/Benzia show their talent soon.

[Romanista1994]

4 Straight scudettos and continued I my terrible form in europe, I feel like Mancini.

Still doing well then, I'm sure you'll be able to better Mancini's performances in Europe soon enough.

[james_wilko]

We're 18 games into the league now and we're on an astonishing run of form.

In the league, 18 played and 18 won. We've scored 53 goals and conceded 12, Destro sitting top of the scorers chart with 17 in 16(2).

In the Champions League, we qualified top of our group, again winning all the games to finish on 18 points. We had qualified after 4 games so I played a B-team in the final two games to rotate the squad and managed to beat Benfica 3-2 and Basel by the same score. Totti is our top scorer in the CL with 7 goals in 3(2) appearances.

4-4-1-1 showing itself to be a very effective formation it seems!

[Romanista1994]

Glad to hear things are going well for you james_wilko.

My Defensive/Structured 4-1-4-1 is also performing pretty well, we just qualified from the CL group stage with two games to go. Nine goals scored only one conceded. Meanwhile in the league we're second behind Juve, who are also the only team to beat us so far and they beat us pretty comprehensively for that matter, as we left Turin with a 3-1 scoreline in their favour.

[masci0]

We're 18 games into the league now and we're on an astonishing run of form.

In the league, 18 played and 18 won. We've scored 53 goals and conceded 12, Destro sitting top of the scorers chart with 17 in 16(2).

In the Champions League, we qualified top of our group, again winning all the games to finish on 18 points. We had qualified after 4 games so I played a B-team in the final two games to rotate the squad and managed to beat Benfica 3-2 and Basel by the same score. Totti is our top scorer in the CL with 7 goals in 3(2) appearances.

4-4-1-1 showing itself to be a very effective formation it seems!

that's really good man, keep it up.

[waynebentzen]

Hi Wilko

You play 4411. Is it the one that comes with the game or is it a custom made?

How do ur players play. Can you post a screenshot of the team with stats like avr. rating, goals, assists etc

[james_wilko]

It's custom made, I'll put up some screenshots when I get home.

[james_wilko]

Player Stats:

[Romanista1994]

Aimone Calì is developing pretty well in my save after being tutored by Totti.

I'm hoping he and a few others manage to forge themselves some good careers, either for us or for other clubs.

Edit: I just gave him his debut and in his 15 minutes cameo he scored a goal and assisted another.

[james_wilko]

Our winning run hit 25 in a row, before a crap 0-0 against Palermo away.

Disappointing.

[james_wilko]

We drew Barcelona in the first knockout round of the Champions League and lost 2-1 at the Nou Camp. I was hoping for a 1-0 in the return leg and thought we stood a chance of just scraping through, what happened next was very unexpected. A complete, totally dominate performance that ended up with us winning 5-0 thanks to goals from Iturbe, Destro, 2x Memphis and an OG from Vermaelen.

[False 9]

Wilko, would I be able to see your tactic please? Thanks.

[james_wilko]

Sorry I don't fully share my tactics, too much potential grief when people can't make it work.

The basics are a 4-4-1-1, attacking/fluid with more direct passing and a higher tempo. Two WM(A) with cut inside and a DLP(D) alonside a BtB in CM. There's more to it than that but that's all I'm giving.

[Romanista1994]

Doing fantastic james_wilko, keep it up!

[PeterPistola]

How can I add a screenshot ???

[Romanista1994]

How can I add a screenshot ???

When you're in the game you can use Alt+F9 to take one, which will save it in your screenshots folder in Sports Interactive/Football Manager 2015 (there's other methods, but this should be the simplest and the quickest). Once you've taken the screenshot you go on an image-hosting website (my preferred site is currently imgur, but there's many others which work just as well). Then you upload the screenshot to the image hosting website and copy the direct link here.

If you want the link to the screenshot to appear like this, you can use the little globe in your posting options (if you don't have it use 'Go Advanced') to wrap URL tags aroung the link.

Let me know if this works for you.

[Romanista1994]

Just had my youth intake, with Fabio Giovannini being the standout player by far. He got a glowing recommendation from Bruno Conti, who thinks he could be one of the best players of his generation, and his report has him as a future star of the Serie A. With a Model Professional personality, which in all likelihood was very much influenced by Conti, he could well make it to the very top and he is a Roma fan to boot. However, he is not without his flaws. Foremost among them is his inconsistency, but his injury proneness is also troubling.

At this stage I am not sure yet what role he'll play in my team. He could become a fantastic fit for the defensive forward role as a lone striker, but his 1(!) for aggression is off-putting to say the least. Alternatively, I could look to retrain him as a ML and thus a long-term replacement for Gervinho. Either way, he should be an integral part of future successes.

Something else struck me in the intake: two regens have appeared with the same surname, the same place of birth and the same supported team (Milan), which led me to think that they were twins. However, and this is the weird part, they were born two days apart. I wonder what happened there? (One of them also weighs 100kg, while the other is a lightweight at 90kg.)

Edit: Giovannini tore his hamstring in the youth candidate evaluation game.

[trivium123]

Im sat joint second in January and Pjanic and Destro both want out, not too fussed about Destro as i just brought in Berardi but Pjanic would leave a massive hole in the side.

Has anyone else had this, and who did you replace him with?

[Duckelfsc]

Im sat joint second in January and Pjanic and Destro both want out, not too fussed about Destro as i just brought in Berardi but Pjanic would leave a massive hole in the side.

Has anyone else had this, and who did you replace him with?

Florenzi surely?

[trivium123]

Yeah, he fits in but ideally id like a like for like replacement for Panic, i rotate Strootman and Florenzi as my other CM and Pjanic and Florenzi in the other slot.

So either way i'd need a new player

[Romanista1994]

What about Tielemans, is he still available? He's the only player I can think of off the top of my head that really looks like a like for like replacement for Pjanic.

[vieires]

OK so here's my second season wrap-up.

First of all, the transfers...

I decided to keep Strootman, despite 60mil being on the table. He's as good as anyone, so what's the point I guess. Iturbe was sold because Real Madrid activated his minimum release clause, and he saw the wages they were offering. Don't blame the guy. I had to find a replacement for him obviously. I wanted a guy who could cut in from the right and cause havoc, but I'm pretty tight with money apparently, so I had to find a guy at the right price. I settled on Wellington Nem from Shakhtar who had a good bit of pace and who wasn't demanding ridiculous wages (unlike the other option, Everton Ribeiro from Cruzeiro).

For a debut season, I was pretty happy with how he played.

17 goals and 15 assists from wide midfield is exactly the kind of contribution I'm after. He also picked up the Media Foreign Player of the Year, and had the highest average rating in the Serie A for players starting more than 25 matches.

In the end, we won our second straight Scudetto! We were actually quite dominant in the league for a long time. I felt much more in control of the league this year compared to last year, when Juve threw it away as much as we won it. Only lost once all year, and that was in round 35! We got walloped by Napoli that day, who put 4 goals past us. The players were obviously as cut as I was to give up out chance of going undefeated, because they came out and scored 18 goals in the next 3 matches to close the league!

We also lost to Napoli about a week later in the Coppa Italia final (2-1). I'm starting to really dislike Napoli. We were a goal ahead, then we went down to 10 men and they came home strong with Higuain netting twice.

In Europe we were handed a pretty straightforward group. I was chuffed, for sure when we were drawn alongside Shakhtar, Sporting Lisbon, and Dinamo (from Croatia). As a third seed, that could be much worse. I topped that group, ahead of Shakhtar on goal difference. The good luck continued as we then drew Viktoria Plzen in the round of 16. Amazingly, no English side made it out of the group stage. Shakhtar and Juventus were the teams to avoid in the draw for the first knockout stage, and since Shakhtar were in my group, and Juve are Italian, I couldn't face either of them! We beat Plzen, then finally ran out of luck as we drew Barca out of the hat for the Quarter Final. We won 1-0 at the Olimpico before falling (and being comprehensively outplayed) 2-0 at Camp Nou. Ah well.

Here are the player stats. No standout goal scorer per se, since Destro and Totti basically split the playing time between them, with neither an obvious first choice starter. Transitioning away from Totti and towards Destro.

Pjanic was much better in the second season, after I pushed him further forward to play just off the box. He claimed the Serie A Player of the Year. Sirigu is a great pickup for free. Also, another free transfer, Pereyra, I thought was great. He was a utility man covering M(L), M® and AM©. Despite the majority of his appearances being from the substitutes bench, he still racked up a decent return of 11 goals and 5 assists. He scored important goals too.

Ashley Cole spat the dummy a few times because I couldn't move him on, so I actually played Dodo a lot, despite the pending transfer. Also, my best run of form came at a time when my squad was supposedly fractured and unhappy about my treatment of Adem Ljajic. I'd promised him some first team football, but then he got injured. He said that he didn't expect the promise to be kept while he was injured, but he wanted to start more when he was back. About two games after returning from injury, before he'd worked up his match fitness, he was complaining about broken promises and telling me he was going to make life difficult for me. I told him I couldn't give a toss basically, and the relationship is still sour. Shame. He's got a bit of talent.

Here's the fixtures.

Also, I must have been the talk of Europe or something, because I was asked to come in for job interview with Valencia, Man City, Atletico, and Sevilla. Turned those down pretty quickly though. I've got a job to do with this Roma squad.

edit - now Arsenal have offered me a job too. Even though they're one of my two teams IRL, I'm gonna have to stick with Roma.

[vieires]

Moving forward, I should have a bit of cash to burn and I'm looking to add some quality to my squad.

I haven't been overly happy with Yarmolenko's form on the left wing. In a season and a half he's bagged 12 goals and 18 assists. That's not bad I guess, but they often come in clumps and he's taken a few penalties. He also just seems to miss a lot, which is somewhat frustrating. I might stick with him, but another option is to meet the minimum release clause for Atletico's Griezmann. He's versatile, and I like his first touch, finishing and long shots for my inside forward role. 25mil is enough to activate the clause. And I do like the mo.

The other positions I want to look at: D(L) and ST.

I've used Dodo as my first choice left back, and the backups (Holebas and Cole) are on the wrong side of 30. First choice is obviously to get De Sciglio to jump ship, because I've got a bit of a domestic player bias. But he plays for Man Utd now, and he's a natural RB as well. Saw a young Brazilian playing for Leverkusen who might be worth a shot, Wendell. But he's just signed a new contract!

Up front, I can't see Totti keeping on keeping on. He already hit a dry spell in the run in this season. Destro has the potential, but we need someone else anyhow. I wanted Higuain, because I'm sick of playing against him, but that'd surely break the bank. On the Italian front, Berardi is still at Sassuolo, so he can be got at. Zaza is playing for Torino, but I'd be able to land him. Don't know if these guys are really good enough though.

[vieires]

Does anyone know why there are two of each of the end of season awards in Italy (or at least, the awards by position).

It's pretty bizarre when you have the top 3 in the "Serie A Midfielder of the Year Award" but none of those 3 get a spot in the top 3 for the other "Serie A Midfielder of the Year Award"

[vieires]

Moving in to my 3rd season now. I've completed the pre-season, and although the window is still open for another week, I've done all the dealings I'll be doing this time around.

Here are my transfers:

I was in need of a D(L) to replace the departing Dodo and the ageing, now also departed Cole. I tried to sign Criscito as an Italian, and he was ultra keen to make the move. He was playing for Man City though, and they weren't settling for anything less than 30-33mil. Considering he's 29 years old, I thought I'd do better with Digne, who's 22 and hopefully as a bit of improvement left in him. He's good enough to start straight away too. I felt like I overpaid a touch, but what can you do? He came from Man U.

To complete the French Connection on the left hand side of the field I brought in Griezmann as per my previous post. He can cover in AM© and (if an emergency comes up) M® if need be. I was hoping he might add a bit of star power to the team, and he was definitely my 'marquee capture' for the window. He'll kick on a bit too hopefully. Wages are a bit high, but I decided to break out of the Arsene Wenger mould, and not let my reluctance to increase the wage bill stop me from slowly taking the team to the next level. Griezmann isn't world class or anything, but it's a process.

Up front, well to be frank I didn't have quite the cash I was expecting. I decided that this would be the year of Destro. He topped scored last year already with a very respectable 22 goals in all competitions, and he gave up a fair bit of game time to Totti. Totti has already signalled his intention to retire at the end of the season, and he's on the decline. So Destro will emerge as the undisputed starter, and depending on his performances this year, I'll see if I need/want an upgrade next summer. I've brought in Zaza relatively cheaply and I think he's good a good skill set to play backup to Destro, and contribute quite a few goals of his own. Berardi was also available, but he cost a bit more and his wages were higher too. I didn't think he'd develop enough to take Destro's place, so I didn't want to bring in a guy who was only going to end up getting frustrated at his opportunities.

On a similar note, I let Ljajic go. Ljajic was never a starter, but he often covered in M(L), AM© and up front at ST (especially when I was playing more of a False 9). He complained far too much and caused a lot of unrest. With Griezmann coming in on the left, I need to rotate a fair bit to keep Yarmolenko happy still. Since Griezmann can also cover for Pjanic at AM©, and I've now got Zaza as a backup striker, it was obvious that Ljajic just wouldn't get the game time. I offered him out, accepted the offers from weaker teams (knocked back Napoli and AC Milan), and personally drove him to Udinese to complete the deal - I couldn't wait to see the back of him.

Obviously Dodo left too. Pre-destined, so to speak.

Thought I'd show the Newgen talent at the club. Conti was pretty pleased when these guys came through, and he signed one or two more. I'm not great at picking out top newgens, but how do you guys like these ones?

Lucas Lucchetta:

Popped up after my first year. He's got 4.5/5 star potential, so obviously the PA is quite high. He's a bit on the slow side, but if he can add a bit to his concentration, anticipation and strength he could definitely be a reliable defensive midfielder.

Igor Kasunic:

This guy's already 19. Looks pretty weak defensively, for a midfielder, and his strength and stamina are low, but otherwise pretty impressive. How can you have Finishing of 5 but Long Shots of 16?

Vittorio Merico:

Conti or Sabatini snapped this kid up from Parma. Only 16 years old, so a bit of upside potential. Some of his stats are woeful, but with a high level of determination and skills in the right place, he could make a pretty solid poacher one day.

Gerhard Graf:

Well, I wish this guy was mine. Unfortunately he plays for Bayern, who aren't exactly a feeder club. I think he looks pretty good to develop into a bit of a gun central midfielder. Not the quickest bloke around, but you don't need to be. At 16 he can certainly spray it around a bit.

[Romanista1994]

Does anyone know why there are two of each of the end of season awards in Italy (or at least, the awards by position).

It's pretty bizarre when you have the top 3 in the "Serie A Midfielder of the Year Award" but none of those 3 get a spot in the top 3 for the other "Serie A Midfielder of the Year Award"

Could it be that one is for Italian players only, while the other for foreign players? That's the only thing I can think of.

Pretty dominant second season there, btw. I like the players you're bringing in and I think it won't be too long before you truly leave your mark on the CL.

[Romanista1994]

Sweet revenge.

Will try to have a season report (featuring lots of screenshots of young players) up tomorrow.

[vieires]

Could it be that one is for Italian players only, while the other for foreign players? That's the only thing I can think of.

Pretty dominant second season there, btw. I like the players you're bringing in and I think it won't be too long before you truly leave your mark on the CL.

I don't think it's that, because Strootman was in on one with Florenzi.

But anyway, it's probably something like how in England they have the Players' Player of the Year and the Writers' Player of the Year. I'd say they just don't have the rights to name it properly. Was just curious.

9 league games into the 3rd season, I've already lost 3 times in the league and once in Europe!

Not a good start at all...

[RTHerringbone]

I'm intrigued by Roma. Haven't managed in Italy since the Championship Manager days. I've been playing as Southampton for four seasons but created a "Save As" game when I accepted the Roma job, with a £50m transfer budget. Skim reading this thread makes me realise just how good their starting squad is and it has me debating a whole new save. After four seasons, they have no Destro or Strootman, instead have an aged Ivanovic and overpaid Nani.

[vieires]

I'm intrigued by Roma. Haven't managed in Italy since the Championship Manager days. I've been playing as Southampton for four seasons but created a "Save As" game when I accepted the Roma job, with a £50m transfer budget. Skim reading this thread makes me realise just how good their starting squad is and it has me debating a whole new save. After four seasons, they have no Destro or Strootman, instead have an aged Ivanovic and overpaid Nani.

The midfield is good enough to function without Strootman. With him, you've got amazing depth of talent. But with a bit of cash to spare, you can bring someone in.

How have they replaced Destro though? Totti must be gone already. Who'd be the starting striker based on the squad they have assembled?

As for an aged Ivanovic...well you start off with an aged Maicon, so that's not too far wide of the mark!

[james_wilko]

Season one is finally complete, and it was better than expected.

As you probably guessed from the insane winning run we had, we've won the league. We eventually finished on 105 points which is insane. 34 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss which was an epic 5-4 loss away to Genoa. If you're going to lose a record, may as well be in style.

Destro was a monster up front, in the league he scored 39 goals in 34(2) appearances to win the top goalscorer award. Both Iturbe and Florenzi won midfielder of the year, Leandro Castan was the Serie A defender of the year. Iturbe also won Serie A Fan's player of the year and Memphis won the European Golden boy & Italian Media Foreign Player of the Year. Adem Ljajic managed to win the Champions Cup Best Player award to round off our collection of awards.

On the subject of the Champions League, WE WON IT. Our hardest game was by far Barcelona in the 1st knockout round (where we were expected to get to) which we won 7-1 on aggregate. We then had Liverpool in the quarter finals who we beat 6-2 on aggregate before going on to knock Juventus out in the Semi Finals. We then had to wait to see if we'd get Real Madrid or Arsenal, neither an ideal team to play but we got the slightly easier option in Arsenal. By the time the final came around, they had several players injured (Szczesney and Welbeck the most notable) and that helped us in our 1-0 victory. It could have been more, Iturbe had us 1-0 up by the 7th minute with a lovely goal from 20 yards but around the 25th minute Desto tried to break someone's leg, leaving us to fight on with 10 men. Things got worse when Pjanic picked up an injury at the start of the second half, but it didn't matter. We held on, could have been a bit more comfortable after a few good breaks but Arsenal couldn't break us down, leaving us with our first Champions League trophy.

On to the second season!

[RTHerringbone]

How have they replaced Destro though? Totti must be gone already. Who'd be the starting striker based on the squad they have assembled?

Can't remember off the top of my head, I'll try to remember to confirm that this evening. They actually sold Destro to my Saints team at the end of season one

[vieires]

Season one is finally complete, and it was better than expected.

As you probably guessed from the insane winning run we had, we've won the league. We eventually finished on 105 points which is insane. 34 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss which was an epic 5-4 loss away to Genoa. If you're going to lose a record, may as well be in style.

Destro was a monster up front, in the league he scored 39 goals in 34(2) appearances to win the top goalscorer award. Both Iturbe and Florenzi won midfielder of the year, Leandro Castan was the Serie A defender of the year. Iturbe also won Serie A Fan's player of the year and Memphis won the European Golden boy & Italian Media Foreign Player of the Year. Adem Ljajic managed to win the Champions Cup Best Player award to round off our collection of awards.

On the subject of the Champions League, WE WON IT. Our hardest game was by far Barcelona in the 1st knockout round (where we were expected to get to) which we won 7-1 on aggregate. We then had Liverpool in the quarter finals who we beat 6-2 on aggregate before going on to knock Juventus out in the Semi Finals. We then had to wait to see if we'd get Real Madrid or Arsenal, neither an ideal team to play but we got the slightly easier option in Arsenal. By the time the final came around, they had several players injured (Szczesney and Welbeck the most notable) and that helped us in our 1-0 victory. It could have been more, Iturbe had us 1-0 up by the 7th minute with a lovely goal from 20 yards but around the 25th minute Desto tried to break someone's leg, leaving us to fight on with 10 men. Things got worse when Pjanic picked up an injury at the start of the second half, but it didn't matter. We held on, could have been a bit more comfortable after a few good breaks but Arsenal couldn't break us down, leaving us with our first Champions League trophy.

On to the second season!

That's an incredible opening season! Well done on the Champions League!

You're doing something right to get that kind of massive return out of Destro. And to trounce Barcelona and Liverpool by a combined 13-3. I'm terrified of Barca!

[james_wilko]

So am I But I think having a completely opposite style of football helps. I'm set up to press and play direct, attacking football (similar to Dortmund) and they can't hack it.

Plus, they aren't great defensively and I had Memphis, Iturbe and Destro all on fire that day. Nothing was going to stop them.

As for Destro, he's just an advanced forward with an advanced playmaker behind him. His only instructions are to close down more and to shoot less often.

[RTHerringbone]

As it has been so long since I played in Italy, any pointers about the sort of common formations I'll face? I have 5-3-2 in my head based on a few CL games against Serie A clubs.

[Romanista1994]

RTHerringbone - Good luck, you're taking over in the fifth season, right? I don't know how the choices of formation of managers evolve after a few seasons, but the league should be pretty tactically varied. Just from a look in my own save at the end of season one I see 4-4-1-1, 4-4-2, 5-4-1 (diamond), 4-2-3-1 (both with defensive midfielders and wide midfielders and with central midfielders and wingers), 4-1-4-1, 4-3-1-2, 4-3-3, 4-1-3-1-1, 3-5-2 all being played in the Serie A. That should give you plenty of nice tactical battles.

vieires - Hope you turn that poor start around! Still early enough in the season to make it happen.

james_wilko - That has to be the best first season with Roma I've ever seen, congrats. The CL win and performances both equally impressive. (I think that's the first time I use that smiley)

[Romanista1994]

Season 1 - 2014/2015

Serie A

2nd

We were decent most of the time, but Juve were simply unstoppable and finished just shy of 100 points with an insane goal difference. We lost too many games, which made the race for the automatic CL Group Stage spots somewhat tight at the end, as Sampdoria pushed us hard. Ultimately, we did manage to stay ahead of them, but much improvement is needed on the domestic front.

Coppa Italia

Winners

Serie B team Carpi were beaten in the first round, while an extra-time goal from Florenzi saw us go through against Napoli in the quarter qinal. In the semi final we faced Milan, who were dispatched fairly easily with Gervinho scoring 5 goals over the two legs. This saw us through to the final, where we faced city rivals Lazio in a repeat of the 2013 Coppa Italia Final. Thankfully we prevailed as goals from Iturbe and Strootman saw us lift our first trophy under my management.

Champions League

Semi Finals

I was expecting to qualify from the relatively easy group stage we got, and we did so in style picking up 16 points and going undefeated. We were drawn against CSKA Moscow in the first knockout round and won 4-1 on aggregate without too much trouble. Our next victims were Athletic as a lone Gervinho goal in the first leg saw us through to the semi final. Here we were up against Bayern, who proved far too strong for us and beat us 4-0 on aggregate.

Key Performers

Most Appearances: Alessandro Florenzi - 39(8)

Top Goalscorer: Gervinho - 15

Most Assists: Florenzi - 15

Highest Average Rating: Pjanic - 7.43

Squad

GK: De Sanctis, Curci, Skorupski

RB: Maicon, Torosidis

CB: Manolas, Yanga-Mbiwa

CB: Astori, Castan

LB: Holebas, Cole, Balzaretti, Emanuelson

DM: De Rossi, Keita

RM: Florenzi, Iturbe

CM: Pjanic, Totti, Paredes

CM: Strootman, Nainggolan

LM: Gervinho, Ljajic

ST: Destro, Borriello, Sanabria

Definite leavers are Totti and Balzaretti who are both retiring and Emanuelson who is joining Olympiakos for £750k. The loan players also won't be retained, while I doubt that I will be able to keep Nainggolan with a £0 offer in the co-ownership bidding. Borriello and Keita's futures are also uncertain, although they may stay if I can get decent terms on their contracts. I'm also hoping to get De Sanctis to reconsider his retirement as Skorupski wants out.

Note: Bold indicates current first choice at end of season, and thus is very much subject to change.

U20s

3rd | U19s CL Group Stage | U20s Cup 3rd Round | Youth Invitational Semi Final

Squad

The Primavera did pretty well in the league and in the Youth Invitational, but their performances in both domestic and continental cups left much to be desired. However, most of the players have improved massively since the start of the season and this will hopefully allow them to perform better next year.

U18s

7th | U18s Cup 2nd Round

Squad

The U18s struggled a bit, but they should do better next year as the influx of talent from the first intake should add a bit more quality to the team.

Current Talents

These are some of the best players in our two youth teams, chosen either on current ability or on potential ability.

Antonio Palazzo - One of four goalkeepers in the youth intake, but the only one to be signed up. He should be the starter in the U20s next season, although if he might find himself fast-tracked into the first team if the goalkeeping situation deteriorates and both Skorupski and De Sanctis leave.

Arturo Calabresi - Looks like a mini-Manolas to me, with some work on his technical and mental attributes he should be able to fulfil his potential to be a solid Serie A player.

Elio Capradossi - A rival for Calabresi, he was sent on loan to Foggia because I felt I wouldn't be able to give him enough games and his progress was stalling. He did well on loan and I might keep him and Calabresi as backups to Manolas.

Silvio Anocic - Our best young leftback was tutored by Cole and Holebas and now boasts a fairly professional personality which has seen him make some solid improvements throughout the season.

Lorenzo Pellegrini - Probably the second best player of the lot right now. Tutoring by De Rossi saw him become a professional character and his development during the season was excellent. He's the reason I'm tempted to let Keita go, as I feel he could already do a decent job as backup to De Rossi.

Luca Mazzitelli - Started off on loan and looks like a solid player in midfield. However, as a result of the loan, I haven't had a chance yet to truly harness his skills. This season could be make or break for him.

Matteo Adamo - Potential to be a good Serie A midfielder, unsure about whether to send him on loan for a season to ensure that he gets game time at a level adequate to his ability.

Alessandro Bordin - The coaches think he could be a star, and if he keeps on developing like he did this season (to compare you can check a screenshot from another save in post #9) I think he could very well make it. Some very obvious flaws to be ironed out still, but seems to have the character to overcome these.

Daniel De Silva - Just joined at the start of June, and he'll probably be my backup to Pjanic

Francesco Di Mariano - Another who is in here on current ability alone. I'll be looking to loan him out/sell him to free up space for younger players with higher potential.

Lorenzo Di Livio - He's really quick and is another one to have potential to be a star Serie A player in the future. With a professional personality, and some wonderful development this season it looks like he could reach a very high level.

Francesco Di Nolfo - A model professional, who has been growing at an incredible rate. Like a few others he has the potential to be a star of the Serie A in the future.

Aimone Cali - While his potential isn't as impressive as some others in this list, his growth is. Most of his attributes that are currently 12-13 started off at 11, while most of those in the 10-11 range were a mere 9. His determination had a rating of 5 at the start and successive tutoring sessions by Totti (Cali's personality went from fairly loyal to fairly professional, determination 5-->13 under his tutelage) and Borriello (fairly professional to resolute) kickstarted his development. He also had a wonderful debut, where he contributed directly to two goals.

Tony Sanabria - Was backup to Destro and Borriello at the start, while the latter tutored him. He got a few games this season (mostly in a very demanding role) and is currently being tutored by Totti, which has seen his personality become resolute. He has developed rather nicely, and will be the direct backup to Destro should Borriello not sign a new contract on decent terms.

Fabio Giovannini - Has the highest potential of all of these, and with a model professional personality he should be fulfilling this eventually. Unfortunately, he spent the entire time since the intake injured with a torn hamstring. This has seen his development stall for now, but I have faith in him making the grade at some point in the near future.

Next Season

With our finances very healthy we should be able to offer improved contracts to some of our more important players, who will inevitably be the subject of transfer speculation. So far I've managed to tie down Gervinho, Florenzi and Strootman until 2019, and I'm hoping the likes of Pjanic and Destro will follow suit.

I'm also going to continue giving our young players some games here and there, which will hopefully see them continue their development. To add to this I will be maintaining the current setup of 22 players in the U20s, 11 players in the U18s. Players who achieve 1 (or more) gold stars in current ability are promoted to the first team to train with them, while being made available for the U20s (and on occasion the U18s).