Deisler26 Posted November 11, 2014 Share Posted November 11, 2014 Great work so far. See if you can avenge the spirits of the Superga disaster Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CamillePunk Posted November 11, 2014 Share Posted November 11, 2014 Looks like getting sacked by Berlin was a great career move for you. Seems a fantastic gig you've got now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 12, 2014 Author Share Posted November 12, 2014 Great work so far. See if you can avenge the spirits of the Superga disaster I had no idea what the Superga disaster was until I saw this post - I'll commemorate the club's first ever Champions League trophy (it's happening, dammit!) to the victims of the disaster. And thanks! Really enjoying life with Torino so far. Looks like getting sacked by Berlin was a great career move for you. Seems a fantastic gig you've got now. Haha indeed! I was gutted when Union sacked me tbh, genuinely considered just giving up the save (I even tried reloading to see if I could avoid being sacked, but it happened every time I tried to avoid it, would probably have to have gone back to January and made sure Kreilach was sold)... so glad I didn't, this save is really good so far. Got a good update coming just shortly, to the end of November. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 12, 2014 Author Share Posted November 12, 2014 November 2016 Serie A Results First of the new month was a tough one - Napoli. At home but, regardless, tough. We weren't in the best of spirits after the loss to Cagliari but that just made the win all the sweeter. We battled for it but we deserved it. We matched them tit-for-tat and eventually got victory courtesy of a Larrondo shot from the edge of the box. It earned him PoM and it was his first goal this season; his first in a while too I guess because apparently he 'finally' scored. The run preceded my career as manager because he hasn't played much for me but it was a fine goal and I was happy to see it go in. Following that was a trip to rivals Pescara. I wasn't actually aware of Pescara being rivals, so it turned out to be a much tougher game than I had anticipated at the end of the previous month. Turns out Pescara like to play when their rivals turn up in town haha. An extremely stale game where, if anything, Pescara looked more likely to score. We didn't do much but we defended well and got a good point. A clean sheet is always welcome too, obviously. Third of the month and our last game of the season was a home game against fierce rivals Atalanta... I've already talked about this over in the OTF FM thread so I'll just quote what I did from there: I know Italian football is corrupt but didn't realise SI programmed it into the game Come from 0-1 down at home to fierce rivals Atalanta to take a 2-1 lead going into half-time. Second half kicks off and Marcos Alonso makes a seemingly decent challenge - straight red. Moments later, Atalanta are given a penalty for the softest foul ever. Thankfully it hits the post and we get away with it. Atalanta then put in a load of questionable challenges but get no yellows (actually ended the game with 0 yellows somehow, but we got 2 yellows (neither for pens, too)). 72nd minute and Atalanta get another penalty, this time I'm not actually sure what it was for - corner came in, Zapata heads clear, ref gives a pen against Zapata then books Mino for some reason. Think it might have been handball, no idea. Anyway, it's still only 2-2 and a draw would be fine. We are a man down... then they score from a corner (hits my GK, he can't catch it, bounces off a defender, straight back to the GK, can't catch it again, spills it into his own net) to go up 3-2. I almost rage quit at this point, seriously 12 minutes left and we don't stand a chance because since our red it's been all them. Cut to the 82nd minute and my left back crosses from the byline, somehow the ball goes in. Then a minute later they get a man sent off for a 2-footed challenge. Fun fact: it was their 16th foul of the game. We had 11 and got 2 yellows and a red... At 10 v 10 I hope we can steal a win and we do just that, scoring within 60 seconds of their red Genuinely felt like the game was against me when we down 2-3 though. Was so angry. Two pens, an unjust red card (when the opposition fouled 16 times to only get one red) and then the worst ****ing OG I've ever seen... So, so angry. Never cheered as much as when we stole the win I don't think. After an undefeated November, this is the look of the table: TIM Cup Results Not the playing times between this game and the Atalanta game above...yeah, sucks. I made 10 changes with only Vives staying in the team, because I promised El Neny a rest just before the Atalanta game (he was knackered). I didn't want to play him/risk upsetting him (I'm extremely wary of this nowadays haha) so Vives stayed him. He played great at an 8.1 and was our best player but we couldn't get much going against Roma offensively. Glik got sent off just after they made it 1-0 so things just got harder and harder...not surprised we went out but felt it more appropriate to play a second string against Roma than a first string and probably still lose. They had the benefit of playing an early Saturday game whilst we were a late Sunday game. We deserved nothing and got nothing. It happens. Overall Thoughts Our league performances couldn't have gone any better if I'm honest. Really pleased with that. A win v Pescara would've been lovely and defensively we were leaky, but as I've been harping on about throughout this thread, I'm all about results for now. Attractive football can come when we're a top side. Besides that, I'm over the moon at being third. Small gap opening between Juve, Inter and ourselves but that's natural I guess. I am not challenging those teams, so I'm not caring too much. The fact that we are third is the amazing thing. We're achieving so much more than I expected us to. A nice little six-point gap between us and Lazio, who occupy the last European spot (not a European spot if the winner/runner-up of the Cup is outside the top 7 though). Zapata's two goals against Atalanta made it five in five for the hugely in form striker, bringing his Serie A tally to 10 in 13, making him the second top scorer in the league. 4 assists too...destroying it up front. The only negative thing is that he, of course, wants out His value has climbed to £20M so I'm hoping to get £25M for him. I offered him out to non-Italian clubs (Milan, Inter and Roma all want him) but only Lille replied with an offer of £21.5M (18M up front). Not a bad offer but a little off what i want/can hopefully get. Schalke and a couple of PL clubs are interested so hopefully I can ship him out of Italy. If not, I'll sell within the nation and just accept the consequences of him destroying me everytime we meet... One other thing is my job security... 76% (Untouchable). Hopefully it's not the same 'Untouchable' that Union Berlin had for me Looking ahead to the month of December: it's a short month as the Italian league breaks up over Christmas: Genoa [A], Roma [H], Chievo [A]. Genoa's boss is under pressure thanks to their poor performance in the league, so I'm hoping that we can take advantage of that and beat them. Not that I like to partake in schadenfreude or anything like that, but I wouldn't mind if us winning resulted in Gian Piero Gasperini getting sacked heh. It will be tough though, of course. Their manager will be desperate. After that is Roma...could be a banana skin again. And Chievo aren't an easy side, although they're not doing great. This month could go any way really. I am hoping for at least 7 points but wouldn't be surprised if we ended with 3 or 4. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 12, 2014 Author Share Posted November 12, 2014 Another thing of note is Union Berlin - still rooted at the bottom of the Bundesliga and 9 points short of safety... their new manager's record is P7, W0, D1, L6. They're going down. They could get me back to the club and I still wouldn't be able to save them Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidBeckham Posted November 12, 2014 Share Posted November 12, 2014 At least you won despite the corruption A goal-less draw sandwiched by two goal fests, great month mate! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deisler26 Posted November 12, 2014 Share Posted November 12, 2014 I had no idea what the Superga disaster was until I saw this post - I'll commemorate the club's first ever Champions League trophy (it's happening, dammit!) to the victims of the disaster. . It was something I researched in my FM12 thread about Catenaccio. Was very moving and tragic. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 12, 2014 Author Share Posted November 12, 2014 At least you won despite the corruption A goal-less draw sandwiched by two goal fests, great month mate! Thanks man! It was something I researched in my FM12 thread about Catenaccio. Was very moving and tragic. Yeah, reading about the impact it had on the city of Turin, Torino and the Italian national team just shows how tragic it was. Some truly great players were taken, it seems. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 12, 2014 Author Share Posted November 12, 2014 December 2016 Serie A Results I set a target of 7 points but we fell just short of that, taking six from a possible nine. The month started off interestingly. As I previously said, Genoa's boss is under immense pressure. His system is probably the issue - a 343 diamond? I told the team to retain possession, play narrow and exploit the middle. Simple, but incredibly effective. We snuffed out their attacks by playing narrow and we made our way into their third with ease thanks to the nature of their midfield - nobody was around to compete with my DLP/D and RP/S. If I wasn't so intent on 442 I would have used my beloved 433 or 4141 and Genoa wouldn't have seen the ball if I were to have a say in it haha! Zapata bagged another two to continue his rich vein of form. 7 in 6 after this game, most impressive. Now came the real challenge of the month. Could we avenge Roma after the Cup loss just a few weeks prior? Short answer: Nope. This turned into the most frustrating game I've played in my short Torino career. Quagliarella won a penalty and Zapata stepped up to slam it in. Roma took kick-off and walked through our defence to make it 1-1 immediately. Furious doesn't describe my emotion. Then five minutes later we gifted them another goal, allowing Srna to rob us at the back and score what was more or less a tap-in... Naturally I gave the players a piece of my mind and told them to sort their **** out. The response was swift as we looked likely to score immediately, but Zapata was fouled and a penalty given. Should it have been a red? Apparently not. Not sure how being one-on-one with the goalie and getting kicked down from behind isn't a red card, though. Zapata stepped up and looked to make it 2/2 in the pen department for this game. Instead he smashed the crossbar. Top work. Roma then went and scored again and as if I wasn't pissed off enough, we proceeded to miss multiple chances, including Sala laying it on a plate for Zapata who somehow missed...it was harder to miss! Don't get me wrong - Zapata is amazing and he's been my best player by far this season so far, but he registered a 5.8 rating against Roma... in his coach report it says 'Doesn't enjoy the big games'. No **** Sherlock! As well as this, we had a goalmouth scramble where we got the ball three times and just couldn't get it into the net...words escape me. 'One of those days', I guess... Following that disaster we travelled to Verona once more this season, this time to visit Chievo (not rivals, thankfully). The first half couldn't have gone better and we found ourselves 3-0 up within the first half. I warned the team against complacency so they decided to do the exact thing I told them not to - make an arse of it! \o/ We conceded two goals in 10 minutes and looked set for an edgy final 20 minutes but then El Neny stepped up to score a nice little tap-in from a goalmouth scramble and give us a win. Delighted to win, but angry about the way we played in the second half. Still, a win is a win and all that. Heading into the new year, the table is quite pleasing to look at: Overall Thoughts Our attack is fantastic, thanks mostly down to Zapata. The striker has found the net 9 times in his last 8 games now and shows no signs of letting up. Unfortunately he expects to leave before February comes around so I'll have to sell and find a suitor. I'm going to look at Loic Remy, who is transfer listed at Chelsea for just £6.5M. Not quite as good as Zapata but he's a scorer and that's what I'm after, so I'm looking at him primarily. Max Kruse's contract has almost expired at Gladbach too so I'll offer him a contract and see if he's interested. Might sign him early if he's interested and if I can get him. However our defence is a total mess. We just can't keep a clean sheet at the minute. I don't even know why not - we just seem to be unable to defend against the simple things...usually thanks to our defensive line being all over the place. If the RB isn't too deep for a change then it's one (or both) of the CBs allowing space down the flanks due to an insanely poor D-line... It's my priority after replacing Zapata tbh. I need to do something about this defensive line, for its a riot lately. One clean sheet in 8 now I think Oh, and here's a little look-see at the man I'm having to sell Haha oh yeah - forgot to say - Genoa sacked their boss after I beat them Another interesting development was that Palermo sacked their manager...replaced him with none-other than Zinedine Zidane! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 12, 2014 Author Share Posted November 12, 2014 No idea where we're getting this money from - I already used the vast majority of the £22M they gave me back in June and now they're giving me a minimum of £24M for the final months of the season! This is before I sell Zapata and make whatever money I can off of him. I might even target Kruse and Rémy now... As well as the sums they're giving me, the Bank Balance is 10M in the red and we've made around an 8M loss so far this season. I can't imagine that this is going to help at all... Italian clubs don't even get prize money based on their league finish so I have no idea where this money is coming from or how we plan on making money, but I guess it's coming from somewhere if they're handing me £45M to spend in one season... think I'll change my targets to Top Half (easily going to happen this season) just to get that bit extra money...Yeah, I'm reckless There's a lot of good frees becoming available this summer, including the likes of Matija Nastasic, Yehven Konoplyanka and even Franck Ribéry. Okay so the third name might be a bit ambitious but I wouldn't mind getting Kono, Nastasic and Kruse on frees for next season. They're all rather ambitious targets, I'm aware, but they could be what it takes for me to begin challenging the top 3 (CL) spots. Kono rejected me back in the Summer so he might do much the same this window, but I've got to at least try. I've made waves in Turin so far and hopefully that makes people want to play for me. I don't know yet...guess it is time to find out. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRL88 Posted November 12, 2014 Share Posted November 12, 2014 Going along really nicely so far. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingjericho Posted November 12, 2014 Share Posted November 12, 2014 Why are you selling Zapata? Despite coming short in the big matches he's still useful. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 12, 2014 Author Share Posted November 12, 2014 Why are you selling Zapata? Despite coming short in the big matches he's still useful. Last summer Milan became interested in him but didn't put in a formal offer - Zapata came to me and asked if I would sell him if Milan put an offer forward. I tried to convince him to stay but his mind was set and he decided he wanted to leave for Milan. Milan then decided they didn't want to sign him, so his decision to leave instead became "I want to play in the Champions League". I tried to convince him that we'd get CL this season (I doubt we will but it seemed like a good way to keep him til the end of the season) but he said he didn't see that happening and still wanted to leave. I feared he'd do a Kreilach on me and disrupt the whole dressing room so I've just sold him whilst I can. He gave me until the end of January to try and get him the move he wanted. He left just two days before my next league game (not played yet, about to load up) and I haven't yet replaced him... he had 16 goals for us - the most of any player in the league. He is going to be a MASSIVE loss. I'm actually really gutted he's gone. To replace him I've tried so many players... Loic Rémy chose Newcastle over my because they gave him over 100k per week (I couldn't go above 75k). Max Kruse isn't interested (this upset me). Neal Maupay became my first choice but he's got tendonitis and is out for 5 months (I have signed him for £10M, he'll join when the Italian Summer window opens). I was looking at Javier Hernandez but he wants 130k Not even playing for United but unwilling to leave them for me. What a fool. Only reasonable target who I've scouted and can get is Mbaye Niang. He's cheap as hell but he's not that good. He's a bit more of a 'one for the future' with hopes that he'll do well now but not expecting instant success... Blergh. I've also agreed to sign Shinji Kagawa from Dortmund at the end of the season for £4.1M. I wanted to sign him now but because of the rule in Italy where you can only sign two players from non-EU countries if they aren't based in Italy, I couldn't. So I've agreed for him and Maupay at the end of the season. Not actually replaced Zapata yet (will do soon I hope). I tried to sign Nastasic on a free but he thinks he's above us... same for Kruse, same for Konoplyanka... I guess the club's reputation isn't too big after finishing midtable for a bunch of seasons lately (highest finish is about 9th in the last 10 years). Will just need to get good scouts in - speaking of which, my promise to the board to not sign new staff will no longer be in place in 4 game days, which makes me very happy Will do a proper look at transfers come the end of January Going along really nicely so far. Cheers fella and welcome to the thread! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 12, 2014 Author Share Posted November 12, 2014 Haha well I've got a nice surprise waiting for you guys in my end-of-window update. I'm more excited about this signing than I've ever been about a signing on FM before, I think Unfortunately I'm only at Jan 10 so you've got an hour or two to wait, at least. Trying to sign a CB or two. Looking at two of my favourite CBs from FM14 in Stefano Denswil and Robin Knoche, ideally I'd get both, but the signing I've just confirmed is costing me almost £10M in total meaning I've only around £5M left in my budget... not even sure if I'll be able to get one of Denswil/Knoche, nevermind both Trying to offload a bunch of deadweight on 10k+ to try and make something happen, but not sure how that's going to work out for me. e: Decided to sell Pontus Jansson and Diego Polenta. The former is quite a good player but no better than my first choice pairing (Milanovic + Glik) and Polenta is 5th choice and doesn't play at all. I think that if I sell two of them and sign one it'll leave me with 4 players which is a nice balance (I always look for two players in each position). This leaves me with the decision of Denswil or Knoche... the former is a four million more expensive (but has slightly lower wages), but is also younger. Tough decision. Whichever I don't sign - I'll try to sign the other in the Summer if he's available, so I guess I'm making my decision now based on which is more likely to be available in the Summer... of which I have no idea whatsoever haha. I think I'll go for Knoche as he's cheaper. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted November 12, 2014 Share Posted November 12, 2014 Looks like FM15's delivered a few harsh sackings for people already. Definitely landed on your feet though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter_Morgan Posted November 12, 2014 Share Posted November 12, 2014 I have sympathy for your sacking as I had a similar one with Aris in the Gundo challenge (just won them the title, top of the table, healthy bank balance and doing well in Europe) but Torino looks like a good move for you, especially seeing as you are being given funds Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CamillePunk Posted November 12, 2014 Share Posted November 12, 2014 Oi, you need to sort it out at the back mate. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 13, 2014 Author Share Posted November 13, 2014 Looks like FM15's delivered a few harsh sackings for people already. Definitely landed on your feet though. Yup. Seen a few people posting about harsh sackings like mine, so think it might be a little problem with the coding and importance given to one unhappy player's influence. Agreed though, kinda thankful that Union sacked me in some ways I have sympathy for your sacking as I had a similar one with Aris in the Gundo challenge (just won them the title, top of the table, healthy bank balance and doing well in Europe) but Torino looks like a good move for you, especially seeing as you are being given funds Ouch. Yours sounds a lot worse than mine tbf Oi, you need to sort it out at the back mate. Haha well hopefully I have something to appease you coming up in the next hour or so. I've played through January and February (was playing FIFA whilst playing FM so posting updates became a pain and I just played on taking screenshots at the appropriate times) so after I post the window update and those two months, I might have something that stops you from demanding more of my backline Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 13, 2014 Author Share Posted November 13, 2014 Winter Transfer Window As I previously showed, I had been given a giant transfer budget of £30M and some room for spare wages on top of that, which was most pleasing. On top of this, I was losing this guy (to Lille, for £21M + 30% of any future profit made on him) Top scorer in the team and in Serie A, not easily replaced... So who could I get to replace someone like him? What about Neal Maupay? Hell yeah. The young Frenchman hasn't been scouted much by me, but I know of his talents from previous FM games and regardless of whether he's an improvement or not, I'm hoping he'll be a huge part in my season next year. The only problem with Maupay is that he's injured, and quite badly too. So i have agreed to sign him next season. A price of £10M was agreed and I'm more than happy with that. But the search continued... who else could I get? What about Ciro Immobile? Oh, go on then. The prolific Italian international has played for Juve, Torino, Juve again, Dortmund...and now Torino again. By far his most successful season came a number of years ago now, at Torino, where he netted 22 in 33 and made a name for himself. I'm hoping that the experience striker - who played only 21 league games in 32 months at Dortmund - will be able to reignite his career. He cost a meagre £7M. That was my first problem covered. Now I had to address another one - my centre back department is a ****ing mess. So who could I get? Robin Knoche seemed to be a good solution to my problem, so off I went and signed him. £8.25M for him. Rather costly, but worth every penny so far and I'm sure he'll continue to improve when he plays alongside a better CB and LB. My two main problems sorted, I looked towards other problems, but none were prevalent (leftback is one problem area but there were no good LBs available and those I thought of by my own accord weren't willing to join). So I just trawled the transfer list to see who was available, and there I found Shinji Kagawa. The Japanese creator is out of favour at Dortmund and available for just £4.1M. Cheap, I'm sure you'll agree. I know, he's a CAM, and I have no CAM with a 442. I'm thinking Kagawa will be perfect on ML as a Wide Playmaker and so that's where I've signed him for. Will it work? I hope so! I guess I'll find out in Summer when he joins. The reason he's not joining until the Summer is because there is a rule in Italy which restricts teams to signing just two non-EU players if they are not already based in Italy. This season I signed Jimenez (Argentine, signed from Argentina) and El Neny (Egyptian, signed from Switzerland), so Kagawa will just have to wait to pull on the Toro shirt I guess. I would also like to point out that while it seems like I'm spending a LOT of money - I suppose I am - I'm also selling a lot, too. This season I have broken two records at Torino already: Record Spending of £49.25M; but also Record Income of £48.5M. In total, our net spend is only 750k... Not bad, I guess Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 13, 2014 Author Share Posted November 13, 2014 January 2017 Serie A Results The New Year doesn't seem like a happy time of the year for me, it seems. We started the second half of the season with a decent draw against Milan. We had just sold Zapata and hadn't yet signed a replacement, so that was a big factor. However I'm not entirely happy - despite missing our most prolific scorer of goals, we still created a bucket load and we should have won this. As it turned out, we needed a late penalty to finally get the point. I'm not complaining, I'd just rather have had three points haha. Then it was time! Derby della Mole. I could hardly control myself...because of the rage. Glik was suspended (he has something like 10 yellows in 17 games, the guy is a fouling machine ), Polenta and Jansson had just been sold, Knoche hadn't joined us yet... I had to go with an almost retired CB alongside Milanovic and we got smashed. We didn't get a sniff and we went into the break at half time trailing 3-0. I blasted the side but it made no difference, Juventus were just too good for us. They went up 4-0 and then Ciro popped up with a few minutes to go to bag a goal on his debut. Wonderful. Except not really, because we ****ing lost 4-1 against our biggest rivals. An almighty choke and one I'll be quick to move on from... and that's exactly what we did. Bari came to Turin with a bad record in the league. They were low down in the League, struggling to win. But we had just come off of an ugly loss to our biggest rivals... We took an early lead - Ciro making it 2 in 2 - but we couldn't hold on and found ourselves back at 1-1 within 10 minutes of scoring. Pissed off, I went ultra-aggressive. We dominated the game - 28 shots to their 9 - but in the end Bari had more chances (their 3 CCCs to our 1). It looked more likely that we would suffer two losses in a row than we would win the game until Quagliarella would stop up with a pretty brilliant side-footer from 18 yards out to snatch the win near the death. Much relief. I was hoping this win would kick us onto good form. And, well, it did, I guess. Next to visit was Udinese. You might recall we beat them 2-5 away from home in my first league game as Torino manager - I was understandably confident but what transpired shocked me more than gave me confidence tbh. We conceded two goals from corners en route to a 5-4 victory. Aggregate score v Udinese for the season now stands at 10-6 In what can only be described a shambolic display of defence, we took the lead, lost it, took it again, then almost threw it away at the end. Belotti did great and found himself with a hattrick; Ciro made it three for three; and Aramu scored his first ever goal for the club to seal the victory. All in all, a pretty brilliant day for each of the men on the scoresheet. Despite my anger at our defending, we won and that's important at this point of the season. Especially after the so-so three games since the restart. Last of the month was Palermo. The first time we played them this season we took a 4-3 victory at home in a high-scoring game akin to the Udinese game described right above. Instead, we recorded our first clean in nine games. No words can describe how happy I was to finally get a clean sheet, seriously Boletti netted twice to make it 5 goals in 2 games but Ciro's perfect record thus far fell apart. He posted an average 6.6 but we won so that's always more important than any individual performances. Mino also got on the scoresheet for a while, netting his sixth of the season. An emphatic victory and one which filled me with a lot of confidence heading into February. So with January over and done with, the new signings in and the old players out, here is the table: Overall Thoughts Awful, awful defending. CamillePunk will be furious with me But we FINALLY kept a clean sheet which is great. And we scored goals. An embarrassing loss to Juventus and a disappointing-ish draw with Milan, but three straight victories and a brilliant position in the table. Not far from Inter, but more importantly, three points ahead of 4th place (the first non-CL spot). Very happy with this. Looking at the coming month, we have: Avellino [H], Empoli [A], Sampdoria [H], Lazio [A]. None of these games are easy, but really Avellino and Empoli should be wins (although we did draw at Avellino's place earlier this season). Sampdoria and Lazio are those sort of tricky ties that could go either way on the draw, but ideally we'll hit at least 8 points. I wouldn't mind if we were to win three and lose one in the end, although I don't think any of those sides are better than us (even if they do have home advantage), so I'd prefer to avoid losing if I'm honest. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rancer890 Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Great work so far JDownie. I like the amount of goals being scored in games. I quite like that 5-4 game in particular. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 13, 2014 Author Share Posted November 13, 2014 February 2017 Serie A Results A fantastic undefeated month where I managed to hit my target of 8 points. First up was Avellino. Buoyed by our first clean sheet since November, a three match winning streak, and happy to have banged in a total of 10 goals in our last three games, we took Avellino on with massive confidence, and why shouldn't we? In the end, our confidence was key. We successfully strutted our stuff and walked out of Olimpico with all three points and a nice boost to our GD. Immobile got us off to a flier with his 4th goal in his 5th appearance (unfortunately he would also pick up an injury so missed the rest of the month). Sala would also find himself on the scoresheet on his first start since his injury sustained back in the Turin Derby. Poyet netted his second goal for il Toro, again a penalty smashed into the top corner, and Quagliarella would score once again after his superb finish against Bari. Two clean sheets in a row made me very happy, of course Next was the trip to Empoli. Without Ciro we didn't look as good going forward but thankfully Sala went two in two and Belotti found the net for the 6th time in his last 4 games, proving to me that Zapata might just be a long-gone memory by the time both he and Ciro develop a proper chemistry together! It was a pretty even game, truth be told, and at times I thought Empoli might snag a draw from it. It was uncomfortable for a long time but Empoli's finishing was brutal - just two shots on target from 12... That made it 5 straight wins, three straight clean sheets. Commanding form. So of course it all went to crap in the next game haha. Sampdoria are a tough side, undoubtedly, and with Ciro and Quagliarella both injured, I was forced into playing Belotti and Larrondo (who isn't that good tbh, he'll leave when Maupay signs). That isn't too bad a combination tbh, but Larrondo went off with an injury fairly early. We took a quick lead through Benassi - who is in fine form lately - but within just three minutes the game was back to 1-1. We were fairly dominant tbh so I was pissed to go in at 1-1. I blasted the team and we came out flying, taking a 2-1 lead. But then we let our feet off the gas and, of course, that cost us. We conceded right at the end and left Olimpico with just the one point. So disappointed. It means we have played Sampdoria twice and both games have finished 2-2, heh. And lastly for the month, we travelled to the capital of Italia to take on Lazio. At the start of the season we disposed of them with ease, breezing to a 2-0 victory. In Rome, things are never easy. Lazio dominated, to put it simply. They had about 20 shots to our 5 or so (we hit the target once). They had around 4 CCCs to our zero. Basically, we looked like half of what we usually do. But, thankfully, the defence pulled through and Zieler had his best game to date for us, scoring a 7.7 with Knoche taking PoM - his second in seven games - on a 7.8 rating. Another clean sheet, bringing our tally to four clean sheets in the last five, after going without one for eight straight games prior. What a turnaround The undefeated month leaves the table looking wonderful...: Overall Thoughts Whilst we dropped four points out of a possible 15, it still put us third in the form table, after only Juventus (by two) and Inter (by four). So the teams above us pulled away whilst the teams below us failed to gain on us. That suits me just fine! We've opened a more-than-pleasing gap of seven points between ourselves and 4th place and, unless we begin to choke, then I think we can manage to seal a European spot fairly soon, ahead of the end of the season. Can we get CL (top 3)? Hmmmm. I want to say yes, but I'm under no illusions that it's going to be very difficult. We've still got a lot of tough games. At the start of the season, we played the same games we've played recently (since Udinese onwards). In those games we went P6, W4, D2, L0 - the same as these games. In the coming month, things get tough. Fierce rivals Hellas Verona [H], Inter [A] and Fiorentina [A] is the make-up of our March. A short month, but undoubtedly a highly tough one. I wouldn't be surprised if we got zero points... ideally we'd take nine, but realistically we'll only take four points... I'd hope to get a bit more than that but if we only manage four I'll be happy enough. We have to get at least one win in March though, the wins have to keep coming or else we might start slipping down the table. And as it stands, that's the absolute last thing I want! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 13, 2014 Author Share Posted November 13, 2014 Great work so far JDownie. I like the amount of goals being scored in games. I quite like that 5-4 game in particular. Thank you! Haha, I imagine as a neutral the 5-4 would be awesome, but words can't describe how annoyed I was at conceding two simple corners in the game and almost throwing it away. The goals (for the opposition ) have dried up recently but hopefully once Ciro is fully fit (he was fit enough to make the bench v Lazio but didn't feature) we'll start banging them in and can keep up our brilliant defensive form of late. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Not going to catch Juve, but like Wenger says third place is a kind of trophy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LilSaint Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Great results JD. Might still get second place? Hopefully Ciro finds his form again when he returns from injury. Samp isn't catching you anymore either Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter_Morgan Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Looking good for a top 3 which would be a great platform to build on, maybe there's enough time to even nick 2nd Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.W.G Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Looking good for a CL Spot,hopefully you can keep going till the end of the season!I really do hope the Union Berlin board are regretting letting you go now Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 13, 2014 Author Share Posted November 13, 2014 Not going to catch Juve, but like Wenger says third place is a kind of trophy. Haha indeed! This team is predicted to finish 11th fwiw; my seasonal target was only making top 7 (a European spot). I've got to the end of March (but I am working just shortly so won't be posting the update til later tonight) and things are a lot tighter. I've been battered with injuries and suspensions unfortunately so my form might go a bit awry But even if we fail to get top three, we'll have set up a brilliant platform for getting it next season. And Europa League will be a welcome addition to the season anyway (although the Italian schedule is worse than I realised, very cramped in January and April) as our coefficients are pathetic... 139th in the world Great results JD. Might still get second place? Hopefully Ciro finds his form again when he returns from injury.Samp isn't catching you anymore either I harbour secret ambitions of second but it requires winning at the San Siro against Inter and then getting a few other results in our favour...it'll be really tough to get there I'm afraid. Still, it won't stop me from trying Thing with Sampdoria is that their schedule is a little less tough on them than mine is. I'm sure my penultimate game of the season is against Juventus, for example. They're up against Avellino or something I hope they don't catch me but seven points isn't anywhere near as comfortable as it might seem Looking good for a top 3 which would be a great platform to build on, maybe there's enough time to even nick 2nd Indeed, thanks fella I think any of the European spots would be a great platform, but if we manage to get Champions League football for next season, I'd really be looking to challenge the title (and maybe even win it) in the next year or two... I don't know how ambitious that is but the club can back me with money now, so if we're in the CL there's no guessing how much money they'll give me to spend. And with money, I can really kick on and improve this team. Looking good for a CL Spot,hopefully you can keep going till the end of the season!I really do hope the Union Berlin board are regretting letting you go now Hopefully, yes! Haha I hope so too, but I had a look last night and they've somehow turned their fortunes around a little - they're out of the relegation zones but only just. 1 point above the drop. It's quite a good turnaround from them but you have to think what could have been had they not sacked me... oh well, their loss At the end of the season I'll do a proper look at Union and see how they did. I'll probably make it a seasonal thing to check my former team(s). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LilSaint Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Umpf brutal that you're left with that tough schedule. Eitherway, third place is a great achievement and something great to build on. Second would just be a bonus I reckon. Does third place get you a CL spot in Italy? or Europa League? CL money would be brilliant! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 13, 2014 Author Share Posted November 13, 2014 Yeah, 1st and 2nd is Group Stages, 3rd is the Play-Off Stage, 4-6th is Europa League and the Italian Cup Winners take the 7th spot (for Europa League). The Italian Cup is currently between both Milanese clubs, Palermo and, I think, Roma. Meaning that unless Palermo wins it (or makes the final) then 7th place will be in the Europa League too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
john1 Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Cracking start with Torino Such a shame you lost Zapata to Lille Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 13, 2014 Author Share Posted November 13, 2014 Cracking start with Torino Such a shame you lost Zapata to Lille His loss, we're going places - Lille have no chance of winning their league. Stuck behind money teams like PSG and Monaco, he's got no hope. CL isn't even guaranteed because of the competitive nature for 3rd place in France, with Lyon and Marseille contending with Lille (and St Etienne irl, although they're not as good in FM it seems). Go my March update coming shortly. Will probably try and finish the season tonight but I'm quite tired atm so maybe tomorrow night is more realistic. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 13, 2014 Author Share Posted November 13, 2014 March 2017 Serie A Results My target of 4 was achieved, but I can't help but feel sour over it... First of the month was Hellas. Rivals are never easy, but when you come flying out of the blocks they are. Just 70 seconds passed before Ciro made it 1-0, and by half-time we were cruising at 3-0. As usual, I couldn't motivate the team to keep up that level of play and we lost all creativity and motivation in then second half. It wasn't too bad, but conceding in the last 10 minutes made it a pain in the arse tbh. Ah well, our first win in three and well deserved. A great start to the month! Then came Inter. God damn Inter. Inter delivered our first defeat of the season to us back in October, so I was keen to avenge that. I also hoped to close the gap on them and make it just three points, but it wasn't to be apparently. The first half was a breeze as Inter barely got into our half. They had little going for them and we were winning 0-2 with ease. Over the moon, to be honest. But then Kamil Glik decided to be a stupid dickhead again, picking up his 11th yellow of the season (in 23 games...) and his third red of the same. Yay. I brought on Bovo and got rid of Ciro up front to play a 441... and it would have worked, except Bovo then got injured. A 431 it was, then, with no subs left. El Neny at CB. Seriously. We gave away two pens, but got lucky to save one. Not enough though as Origi scored with just seconds remaining of normal time. Furious, distraught... I don't know, but it basically meant we had no chance of catching Inter now. Ughhhhhhh. Despite being 9 games unbeaten, I travelled to Florence with zero confidence. Why? Glik suspended, Bovo injured, Knoche injured, a LB at CB, a LM at LB and a crap LM at LM We got totally outplayed unsurprisingly. We stayed in the game despite this but didn't really create any chances and eventually we went down 1-0. Fiorentina scored fairly early so after they got the goal their plan seemed to be a case of making sure we couldn't score and countering us instead. Worked well for them as we were carved open a bunch of times. We somehow kept it down to 1-0 but still couldn't find the goal to make it 1-1... The 1-1-1 month leaves the table like this: Overall Thoughts Hmmm. not good, I don't think. We have given Sampdoria a way back into the fight for 3rd. But not just that - Roma, Napoli and Milan are all vying for our spot too. It's going to be a tough end to the season, especially with us still having to take on Roma, Napoli and Milan...all away from home. Two of those sides are next month in what is a fairly packed schedule of: Cagliari [H], Napoli [A], Pescara [H], Atalanta [A], Genoa [H], Roma [A] 18 points up for gabs. Realistically we'll win all of our home games (although Cagliari beat us earlier this season, you may remember, whilst Pescara are rivals), but all three away games are going to be extremely tough (Atalanta aren't doing that well in the League but they are rivals and fighting for their lives...). In an ideal world we'll avoid defeat against our third-place challengers, but that's going to be tough (especially against Roma). If we can take 12 of 18 points I'll be happy... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingjericho Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 I like to see that the table is realistic. I remember a few years ago the top teams were always Palermo and Genoa. Anyway, if you manage 3rd place it's a big achievement, and with the CL income adding to your already huge transfer budget you'll have the chance to build a great squad! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 14, 2014 Author Share Posted November 14, 2014 I like to see that the table is realistic. I remember a few years ago the top teams were always Palermo and Genoa.Anyway, if you manage 3rd place it's a big achievement, and with the CL income adding to your already huge transfer budget you'll have the chance to build a great squad! I'm not getting 3rd place. It's not official but April is turning into a disaster month. Just tried to hold a team talk because we're without a win in 5 games and they said they think the team is in great form I've just hurt morale even more so I can't wait to see what happens when we travel to Rome next week e: not Rome, but Bergamo (Atalanta). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 CL looking like a bridge too far then. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 14, 2014 Author Share Posted November 14, 2014 Yup. Team is just falling apart and they seem to think 5 games without a win is acceptable because we're exceeding expectations We will almost definitely get Europa League (top 7 will get Europa League as the final is Napoli v Inter who are 7th & 2nd) because we are about 15 points ahead of 8th place with about 8 games to go, so that's good. I just want to try and do something on the continent... Champions League isn't an immediate target, not yet. I wasn't even really expecting to be doing this well, so I can't complain. I'm just disappointed that we hit poor form and the team doesn't seem to accept that we're in poor form. Like, what can I do here? Our poor morale is costing us wins but the team isn't accepting that they've got poor morale or something. Nonsensical. It's a vicious circle really. e: I mean, ffs, we're away to Atalanta and give up a pen after 70 seconds! They get a straight red inside 25 minutes and they're absolutely dominating us. We can't get the ball off them (they're playing the same ****ing formation as us but with one less man). This is driving me insane Dead last in the form table. 1 point of a possible 15... Milan and Roma have gained 12 and 11 points (respectively) on us in the last 5 games... that's how comfortable 3rd place was looking. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 Sounds like they need to change the manager. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 14, 2014 Author Share Posted November 14, 2014 Sounds like they need to change the manager. Haha yeah! Get in some German fella I've never heard of and let him lead the team through regression! \o/ One game for April left (NOW I'm going to Rome ) and then I'll update before the final month of the season. Looking forward to seeing how it pans out, because it's so tight. Only 5 points between third and seventh, which is remarkable. 3 points between 4th and 7th... I'll also outline my opponents schedules for May. It's not quite an important 'WHO IS GETTING RELEGATED?!' or Championship race or anything, but I guess the fight for top 3 is pretty important Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 14, 2014 Author Share Posted November 14, 2014 April 2017 Serie A Results :lol: :lol: So from my personal target of 12/18, we got 4/18. Most impressive I'm sure you agree. First of the month was a rather tricky home tie considering Cagliari tactically dicked us when we faced them earlier this season... We actually took the lead over Cagliari but we couldn't hold it (been a bit of a theme for this team...) and conceded late. I wasn't happy but a point isn't exactly bad. Plus, it kept us three ahead of Roma, which is never a bad place to be... what I'd do to be three ahead of Roma now hahaha. Next up one of the tougher games of the season we can possibly get - a trip to Napoli. With them playing in the Europa League their schedule is hectic so I had hope that we'd be able to compete with them and maybe even beat them, but it didn't work out that way at all. Knoche scored his first goal for the club which was rather nice but it came when we were already 2-0 down so what could I do? Then Pescara... ughhhh. This result angers me in so many ways. We played like horse **** and we got beat courtesy of a very late penalty. We didn't deserve a thing but that doesn't mean I'm not furious about it. These are the games we have to win if we want to be a top 3 team in Italy... (notice how I'm saying little about this? Yeah.) Away to Atalanta, who are rivals, is never going to be easy. But they're almost relegated and we're in poor form (well, I think we are, team disagrees ) so we should take advantage. Instead, nope. ANOTHER LOSS. Three on the spin. Pleased with that. Yay, celebrate game 100 with another loss Except no, the team actually got motivated for a change. Can every game be my 100th in charge? We won, but barely. Belotti is about the only good thing to come of this side lately. Everything else has been absolute rubbish, not least his co-striker Ciro Immobile, now without a goal in almost 10 hours of competitive play. You go, Ciro And then Roma. Away. Where we've lost already. Roma. Who have beaten us twice already this season... Roma, third in the league. Roma need help to score goals though, didn't you know? Me neither. My players did though, they gave them two penalties to hand them victory which, to be honest, they didn't deserve. Fun Fact: The second penalty given to Roma in our clash was the eighth penalty we have given away in our last nine games. That's gotta be some kinda record. This marvellous showing of team spirit and motivational speeches leaves the table looking like this: Overall Thoughts **** off. Looking ahead to next month - because it's all I can do - is not boding well either. I was going to show the remaining fixtures between the teams vying for 3rd but what's the point when I'm not even in that battle anymore. Seven points behind with our schedule (see below) is not going to be turned around. I'm just aiming to end the season as strongly as possible, if we can. Chievo [H], Milan [A], Juventus [H], Bari [A] We probably won't drop out of the top 7 now, so we should be playing Europa League football next season We are unlikely to get anything against Milan and Juventus, but we have the better of Udinese on H2H so even if Udinese get on even points, we finish above them thankfully. One last thing: if the team played as I had expected, and we gained the 12 points I had wanted, we'd still be third... How depressing. This season is still going great (overall) but the month of April was really, really harsh on us. One victory in our last eight. Two victories in our last eleven... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 And I thought I'd presided over some epic collapses. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 14, 2014 Author Share Posted November 14, 2014 It was always going to be tough to hang on to 3rd tbf - I just didn't expect that we'd throw it away before May Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 14, 2014 Author Share Posted November 14, 2014 Pre-match build-up kept saying that we could fall out of EL spots, so I had a look to double check the rules and it's actually only 4th to 6th that gets Europa League, which puts quite a bit of pressure on me if I want European football! I need to finish top 6, and if I get 6th and Napoli get below 6th then I still won't be in (4th, 5th and Italian Cup winners/runners-up get Europa League...). Bit nervous now. Three games to go and I'm in the top 6, but the next two games are Milan and Juventus, so... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deisler26 Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 That collapse escalated quickly.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 14, 2014 Author Share Posted November 14, 2014 That collapse escalated quickly.... Yeah. Despite the tough games, gaining only 1 point from Pescara, Atalanta and Cagliari is totally unacceptable. I guess it shows just how well I was doing previously. Hit a small rough patch (right after our best run of the season, too...) and it becomes ridiculously hard. Next season I need to strengthen key areas. If I do, we might well get 3rd. If I don't, we might do a lot worse and might find more of those rough patches. This time we only hit one (although it was probably the roughest patch I've ever had on any FM) so that's encouraging I suppose. e: playing Juve here - they got a man sent off after 5 mins (Vidal) and they're still dominating me. You'd think I got the red. Losing 2-0 at home to 10 men... 0-3... Doesn't help that Ciro get the ball at the edge of the box with nobody within 10 yards and he hit it wide... can't even hit the target. I'm so glad we had Zapata for the first 6 months, without him we'd be battling relegation ffs Feels like Union Berlin all over again, the way my strikers are playing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rancer890 Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 Welp. I never managed a collapse like that. If it makes you feel better, my Biu Chun side choked away a league title in 2015/16. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CamillePunk Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 FM is a cruel mistress. At the risk of stating the obvious might wanna rethink the tactical plan for next season before finalizing any signings. Here's hoping you can sneak into Europe at least! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 14, 2014 Author Share Posted November 14, 2014 Welp. I never managed a collapse like that. If it makes you feel better, my Biu Chun side choked away a league title in 2015/16. It really doesn't However I sympathise with your failure I finished 6th but because Napoli are in the Italian Cup Final, they automatically qualify for the Europa League (Inter have qualified for the CL so no matter whether they win or lose the Cup, Napoli get a spot in the Europa League). I was really annoyed at that, then Napoli went and won the Europa League, which puts them into the Champions League next season - so I'm notw into the Europa League I will post a proper update shortly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 14, 2014 Author Share Posted November 14, 2014 FM is a cruel mistress. At the risk of stating the obvious might wanna rethink the tactical plan for next season before finalizing any signings. Here's hoping you can sneak into Europe at least! Yeah, I'm seriously considering ditching the 442. As good as it is, I'm not sure if I'll be able to break the top with it. If/when I become established I'll be able to go back to it with ease, but at the minute, it's not really viable I don't think. If we come up against anything like 352 we've more or less lost before it has started. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 I finished 6th but because Napoli are in the Italian Cup Final, they automatically qualify for the Europa League (Inter have qualified for the CL so no matter whether they win or lose the Cup, Napoli get a spot in the Europa League). I was really annoyed at that, then Napoli went and won the Europa League, which puts them into the Champions League next season - so I'm notw into the Europa League The only way that could be more "through the back door" would be via the fair-play table. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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