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FM 2009: Official Napoli Thread - Back to the Maradona Days

soli

By soli,
in Good Player & Team Guide

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JimmyWangYang

JimmyWangYang

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Very nice, iamjerome! You completed the challenge I alluded to earlier and won the UEFA Cup in your first season. Although I guess it was just a wee bit easier when you took advantage of Man City’s insanity/bug (depending on how you look at it) and sold golden boy Hamsik for whopping 66 mill.

That’s an impressive number of assists from the free-roaming Lavezzi. Did you put his ‘crossing’ and ‘cross from’ to ‘mixed’ as I suggested?

As for new signings, I recommend Fiorentina’s Juan Manuel Vargas. He can play both ML and WBL, thus making him as flexible in a 3-5-2 formation as Maggio. Only problem is that he’s Peruvian, but one or two exceptions to the Italian-Argentinean dynasty should be OK. I would set my next goal to win the Champions League in the second season. It’s doable if you make 2-3 signings of real quality.

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iamjerome

iamjerome

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in my 'defence' with regards to hamsik i was trying to scare them off more than anything else! however i did come off on the better side of it of course. and yes he had it all to mixed - but i'm pretty much a firm believer in that for anyone with a free role anyway. i play 4-4-2 by the way. only because i couldn't resist buying rosina so cheaply (9m)...

however, rosina is being hunted by man utd / liverpool - i issued a hands off notice but if i can get a solid 40-50m offer, i'm going to get rid off him and go for aguero. however that being said, i'm as well, more than happy with lavezzi and di maria sharing 'maradona' duties. not sure, i'll give it a ponder for a while before i load the game up again. it's highly, highly unlikely i can win UCL; i often overachieve drastically in the first season to be honest, though if napoli back me up with some money i can probably keep us at this level. however, if i'm harsh on myself i'd say a lot of key results in the first season could've easily gone the other way. that being said, others should have too (don't even want to talk about how many penalties my team had missed through the season. christ.)

Kun Aguero: i play him up front, next to milevskyi. killer partnership. but i think the essence of his success comes from being given the free role to utilise his abilities, as well as not being strict on telling him to do anything specifically (eg crossing et al set to mixed)

i bought ronaldo (probably the best player i've ever seen) but i couldn't bring it upon myself to play him when mile/lave were doing so well, heh.

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deejay10

deejay10

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@iamjerome...You did brilliantly to win the UEFA cup, and finish 3rd, brilliant season, you should have good money to improve the squad hopefully. yes my Napoli team seems to be really free-scoring too, the most iv had on FM 09, although to be fair iv only had one other game as Juventus. Although i have major problems with conceding goals, iv condeded 2-0 leads, 4 times this season, but in 2 of those games i scored late winners. Feels like i have to score 3 just to be secure of victory. Iv got a feeling my formation and setup is too attacking, but i dont want to change it, in case i stop scoring as much, but carry on conceding.

Im at the end of January now, 5 points clear at the top somehow, and Palermo keeps scoring, he's got 25 goals for the season now, but his physical stats are declining so i just hope he can last until the end of the season.

My problem is i have a threadbare squad, so any major injury can seriously cripple me. Iv also still got to play AC Milan, Juve, Fiorentina, Udinese and Roma away from home, so i cant see myself staying anywhere near the top, just looking to sneak a champions league place. Also iv got Sevilla in europe, and if i win that i get AC Milan, so not much chance of success there.

I signed Vilar to replace Navarro in goal, and Zuculini as a future prospect, hope he turns out ok. The small wage budget prevented me from signing Aimar, either on loan or transfer as i couldnt afford to pay his wages. I was priced out of deals for Buononotte and Riquelme, and i havent managed to unsettle Garay and Caceres yet :-( lol. Leo Franco is available for free, but he just doesnt want to join me, neither do Diego Lugano, or Crespo. Luckily i have Laurito signing in the summer, hopefully to replace Palermo.

Yes Lavezzi really is an assist machine, i put him on free role, high creative freedom, RWB often. But actually changing his Crossing from mixed to rarely, and from byline to mixed, resulting in him scoring more goals, might just be a conincidence though.

In his first 19 games, he had only scored 3 goals, but he was playing really well. Now he has 15 goals in 33, with 14 assists, although he is one of my corner takers. His pace and dribbling really is the key, he always makes runs behind the opposition's fullback, dribbles past the centre back and either cuts in and shoots, or crosses to Palermo.

I play a 3-5-2, with wingbacks, good width, passing down both flanks, playmaker as Hamsik, targetman Palermo into feet, and counterattack.

The key really has been my wingbacks, Hamsik, and the front two. Thats why spent the big money on Balazaretti, total deal will be £5.5m, because he has been amazing.

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iamjerome

iamjerome

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**** man utd have totally screwed with milevskyi's head, accepted a 30m bid. also had 32m bids accepted for both giuseppe rossi and lisandro lopez but i'm not sure who to go for.

rosina's chased by all the big teams, put a big price on him of 50m which only real madrid bit on, so expecting to lose him too.

by the way i got a 70m euro budget given to me for aiming low of euro qualification - that was accidental though, stupid down key. wanted to go for title challenger.

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deejay10

deejay10

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Well currently im 3rd in Serie A after 29 games played. Had a shocking spell where i had to play Juventus(A), Sevilla(A), Sampdoria(H), Sevilla(H), Roma(A), Inter(H), AC Milan(A), Udinese(A), AC Milan(H).

I lost to Juve, Roma, and Sevilla and AC away in Europe. Managed to win the Sevilla home tie, and knock them out, then won the AC Milan home tie in extra time! So now now im in the UEFA cup QF.

Wow iamjerome, your superstar squad is being dismantled, but you are getting huge bids. 50m for Rosina, 50m for Moutinho, 30m for Milevskyi! You will have a massive transfer budget to replace them with.

Lisandro Lopez is a player i really want to replace Palermo (who has 31 goals so far this season!), but he's not interested currently, im trying to unsettle him. I hope clubs dont manage to unsettle Lavezzi and Hamsik, they have been my stars.

Im going to need a big transfer budget in the summer, to replace the defence, because iv kept only 3 clean sheets since the winter break!

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iamjerome

iamjerome

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i decided to be greedy and buy BOTH rossi and lopez. 65m gone there.

maggio is 'tempted' by inter and chelsea but they both withdrew offers when i set 50m asking price.

my team right now is:

asenjo / navarro / need a better back up GK?

CBs: criscito (4.5m) / cannavaro/ santa croce / rinaudo / savini / aronica

LB: vitale / one of criscito/savini/aronica need a better first choice LB than vitale, i think

RB: maggio/santon, santa croce

MCd: Blasi / Gargano

MCa: Hamsik / ?

ML: Di Maria / ?

MR: Maggio / Santon again

FC: Lavezzi/Rossi

ST: Lopez/Ronaldo/Chrisantus

so basically i need first choice LB, second choice ML/R, creative MC and GK

edit: just looked at season summary; both of the best signings were mine! di maria and milevskyi

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deejay10

deejay10

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omfg i've hit the july 24th bug i was told by SI it was because of the serie c cup, which i've turned off. i am so ****ing angry right now.

Unlucky! you had a great game going. i only found out about the bug only after i had started both my Serie A games. Luckily i never load Serie C!

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Seduce

Seduce

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My team in the third season with Napoli.

NapoliTeam.jpg

So far i have spent: £116mil in three seasons

So far i have sold: £125mil in three seasons

Highest fee spent was on Andres Guardado for 18.5mil and Sold Alexis Sanchez for 24mil, board auto accepted it! only bought him for 4 million though!

Napoli have great potential tbh, but try and improve there youth facilities as they need to be improved!

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deejay10

deejay10

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Ended my first season, ended up finishing 5th, which i would have gladly taken at the start of the season, but is a little disappointing when i was 5 points clear at the top some 20-odd games in.

Injuries and suspensions hurt badly near the end of the seaon, when i had a tiny squad. I rarely ever got to pick 7 substitutes, and also was forced to play Hamsik a lot at the end of the season, even though he was badly jaded and in need of a long rest. Hopefully i havent done too much damage to his development, as a couple of his attributes did fall.

Palermo, Hamsik, Balazaretti, Lavezzi and Maggio were the real stars, with Palermo scoring an incredible 38 goals, and Lavezzi 19 assists! All 5 players were top/near top of the Serie A av. ratings.

For the 2nd season i have strengthened the squad considerably, as the Napoli board gave me a sizeable transfer budget.

Transfers In:

Leo Franco - Free

Federico Laurito - £2.2m

Juan Riquelme - £7m

Salvatore Foti - £1.7m

Francesco Bolzoni - £6m

Alberto Paloschi - £3.2m

Fabricio Coloccini - £15m

Davide Santon - £6.75m

Ever Banega - Loan Fee £825k

Fernando Forestieri - £3.7m

Alessandro Rosina - £13.5m

Transfers Out:

Leandro Rinaudo - £7.5m

German Denis - £4.3m

Nicolas Navarro - £3.2m

Michele Pazienza - £1m

Marcelo Zalayeta - Loan Fee £325k

And numerous other players realeased, or sold for small fees.

Playing a 4-1-2-1-2 diamond formation now, with an AMC, and the full backs in the wing back position for games i'm expected to win.

Got high hopes for this season, once the players gel and get used to the new tactic. But really building for next season now, with the squad practically complete, so just using this season to develop all the young players much further.

Only players i would be looking to add to the squad are Alexis Sanchez, who i have placed a bid for, and Criscito, Lisandro Lopez and Lucho Gonzalez, but neither of them want to come.

But im very happy with the squad now, (every player is Argentinian or Italian, apart from Hamsik and Gargano) so in the future there will only be very few transfers a year now, if i can possibly sign any top, and experienced argentinian or italian stars, or find any brilliant youngsters.

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soli

soli

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Its been a while since I trawled these forums and hell there has been a lot of activity. Happy to see a lot of you playing with Napoli. Always knew it had the potential of being a long term game. Have just started my game :thup:.

The transfers I have made till now has been to take Adrien on loan from Sporting. The best part of the deal is that I don't have to pay anything towards his wages and as the wage budget is so low will have to offload some players before I can buy some good quality players.

jamjerome and deejay10

Congratulations on the great seasons you had :thup:. Can you please post all the player instructions that you employ for your strikers. Have done a lot of tactic testing in my Arsenal and Inter saves and have come up with a pretty solid defense but my attack has been crap. I still score around 2 goals a game but high scoring games are very spaced out and that too against weaket teams. Really having difficulty scoring away against good teams.

The Italian-Argentinean combine is an interesting one tbh. Pity that my first signing has been one from Portugal.

The july 24th bug occurs ( as I have heard ) only if you have Serie C as playable.

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soli

soli

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---------Hildebrand-----------

-------Zapata----Leo--------

Maggio--------------Guargado

----------Veloso-------------

---J.Moutinho---J.Martinez---

----------Wistel-------------

-----Lavezzi--Marquinhos----

This your team? You could get a better and younger GK. I don't know how Leo is performing so maybe thats an area where you could make some changes. Your midfield is awesome. Maybe you could switch the positions of Moutinho and Witsel. Lavezzi and Marquinhos are good but you could do better. Maybe bring in a proven goal scorer or a strong TM.

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Jeff3037

Jeff3037

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I just completed my second season and ended up finishing 4th.

leaguetablefq7.jpg

Roma drew their last match and my 4-0 win against Milan in my last match secured a champions league spot (would have been 5-0 if Hamsik hadn't missed his penalty)

Santacorce was surprisingly awesome at RB and Di Maria was absolute class scoring and setting up goals. Lavezzi was rather poor for the first half of the season and then just started scoring and assisting like crazy.

playerstatsdn3.jpg

For next season I'm looking to buy a new DMC as Blasi is starting age (thinking of getting Gojko Kacar but I would prefer Camacho or Diarra), I'm also looking for a new CB (hopefully Fazio) and a right winger (looking at Alexis Sanchez). If anybody has any suggestions on possible players it would be great.

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Jeff3037

Jeff3037

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From what I remember my transfer budget for second season was 30m or so. The board accepted a 9.5m bid for Gargano so that gave me some extra cash.

transferssf4.jpg

Santon was supposed to be a great prospect but so far nothing special, maybe I should start playing him a bit more or loan him out.

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Duco

Duco

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Hi guys,

I started a nice game with Napoli. 11 played so far in the Serie A, 3rd in competition with 7 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses(Udinese and Lazio). All is going well except Palermo is out for 4 or 5 months now:(

Lavezzi is doing well, but Hamsik is dissapointing for a player with his potentiol I'd expect better. Any advice on letting him play better?

I'm playing 4 4 2 with attacking wingers + fullbacks if allowed. Hamsik + a defensive midfielder in centre. Hamsik is setup with much creativity, a free role and I set him up to be used as a playmaker.

Thanks and good luck with Napoli!

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tansrb

tansrb

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Hi guys,

I started a nice game with Napoli. 11 played so far in the Serie A, 3rd in competition with 7 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses(Udinese and Lazio). All is going well except Palermo is out for 4 or 5 months now:(

Lavezzi is doing well, but Hamsik is dissapointing for a player with his potentiol I'd expect better. Any advice on letting him play better?

I'm playing 4 4 2 with attacking wingers + fullbacks if allowed. Hamsik + a defensive midfielder in centre. Hamsik is setup with much creativity, a free role and I set him up to be used as a playmaker.

Thanks and good luck with Napoli!

imo you're relying too much on hamsik already.

im not sure about hamsik's creativity but a full length creativity bar should never be implied as the player wouldn follow your orders then.

hamsik does not need a free role, especially with his stamina so low.

playmaker's fine, but if he's underperforming for you i dont see the reason for him to be a playmaker as that would be of a negative effect to the team.

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tansrb

tansrb

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that's a form of suicide.... lavezzi is MUCH better than Vucinic

nope. i have to disagree with you on this. in terms of finishing, vucinic is much better than lavezzi.

anyway decided against doing so. as it would just disrupt the team's chemistry.

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Duco

Duco

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I think you are right, Tansrb. Thanks for the advice :)

Hamsik is a good player but he's not good enough yet to rely on so much. I stopped giving him a free role and he's doing good now. Also I lowered his creativity! Thanks !

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deejay10

deejay10

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imo you're relying too much on hamsik already.

im not sure about hamsik's creativity but a full length creativity bar should never be implied as the player wouldn follow your orders then.

hamsik does not need a free role, especially with his stamina so low.

playmaker's fine, but if he's underperforming for you i dont see the reason for him to be a playmaker as that would be of a negative effect to the team.

I agree and disagree to some extent. I agree in that putting a full length creativity bar should definitely not be done. But i have Hamsik on a free role, and as playmaker, and he dictates matches for me, and was amazing for 3/4 of the first season, until he was exhausted and completely burnt out, but because of my small squad i had to keep playing him.

But his stamina is very low, so maybe lower his closing down, and not put his mentality too high, so picks the ball up deep enough to have an impact, but still makes good forward runs to score goals.

I think i relied way too heavily on him first season though, with him acting as my Pirlo and Seedorf type all in one. That probably had an impact on him getting burnt out, so i would advise anyone to rest him a fair bit, and not make the mistake i did.

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tansrb

tansrb

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yeah but I mostly see pace... I like fast strikers thats why lavezzi is better imo... with the PPM likes to round the keeper... the keeper wont know what hit him lol

lol.. lavezzi has a pace of 18, while vucinic has a pace of 16. both have acceleration and agl of 18. vucinic is a much much better finisher than lavezzi tho... and in the situation im in now, scoring only 1-0 wins, i really need a finisher.

perhaps it's just my game...

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tansrb

tansrb

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I agree and disagree to some extent. I agree in that putting a full length creativity bar should definitely not be done. But i have Hamsik on a free role, and as playmaker, and he dictates matches for me, and was amazing for 3/4 of the first season, until he was exhausted and completely burnt out, but because of my small squad i had to keep playing him.

But his stamina is very low, so maybe lower his closing down, and not put his mentality too high, so picks the ball up deep enough to have an impact, but still makes good forward runs to score goals.

I think i relied way too heavily on him first season though, with him acting as my Pirlo and Seedorf type all in one. That probably had an impact on him getting burnt out, so i would advise anyone to rest him a fair bit, and not make the mistake i did.

good call. im just basing on his stats as i have never played a single game with him in my team :D

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JimmyWangYang

JimmyWangYang

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I find that if you set Hamsik to the default MC instructions, and then change his ‘forward runs’ to ‘often’ and his ‘mentality’ to ‘team’, he performs wonders. I don’t give anyone the playmaker role unless they have at least 17 for both passing and creativity, or have “playmaker” in their description. Hamsik is more of a box-to-box midfielder than a playmaker in my view. His main strengths are getting into the box and supplying good finishes, so let him focus on that. If you give him high creative freedom and a free role to boot, he’ll roam around the pitch like a headless chicken and try to do “everything” instead of focusing on the one thing he’s really good at.

I cannot overstate the importance of pitch size when it comes to players getting jaded. The pitch at San Paolo is 110x68 meters - that’s a huge pitch to be chasing balls! To preserve the condition of players like Hamsik throughout the season you need to either reduce the pitch, or be careful with how much you ask him to close down. Of course, if you reduce the pitch too much you also take away Lavezzi’s game, so it’s up to you who you want to prioritize.

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tansrb

tansrb

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Alright lads, started a game as napoli but got ****ed off with the board because i got 125k under my wage budget had a offer accepted for Toulalan but i couldnt offer him good wages because i couldnt adjust the budgets :( So i quit :(

..... ok. :o

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soli

soli

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Alright lads, started a game as napoli but got ****ed off with the board because i got 125k under my wage budget had a offer accepted for Toulalan but i couldnt offer him good wages because i couldnt adjust the budgets :( So i quit :(

Thats why Napoli is such a challenge ;)

So finally started a game with Napoli in earnest. After moving out the dead wood from which I salvaged some 2.1M, brought in some useful players on loan. The only major buy was that of Robert Lewandowski from Lech. Other notable ins were Angel Di Maria, Franc Merida, Adrien and Alex Song all on loan. Still have 4.7M saved up. Started the season on a high with 3-1 wins against Torino and Sampdoria.

Damn!! I am so unlucky with injuries. Maggio out for 4-5 months and Denis out for 2 months :mad:

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Pindinho(:

Pindinho(:

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Hello, I have just started a save with Napoli and one of the main reasons is because I like the look of the thread, anyway..

Ok, so im gonna be playing a 3-5-2 with attacking WBs

GK-Lezzo

DC-Cannavaro

DC-Santacroce (when he comes back from injury)

DC-Rinaudo

WBR-Maggio

WBL-Vitale

MC-Blasi

MC-Hamsik

MC-Gargano

FC-Lavezzi

ST-Dernis

Can you tell me what player instructions I should set for Lavezzi and Hamsik please, I want them to work well together.

I have 6.5million and my 1st game is against Cagliari, which could be a tough game,

I am looking to bring in a new WBL, preferably a younger person and also im looking at Enyeama as a GK, how is Costil on this game ?

Anyway i will try and keep you updated.

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deejay10

deejay10

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Balzaretti has been fantastic for me at LWB, get loads of assists for a TM striker. I bought Martin Palermo for that role, and he bagged 38 goals in his first season. Not bad for a £2m 35yrold!

For GK look at Vilar, solid attributes. And try and unsettle Leo Franco, he should become available on a free at the end of the season.

Give Lavezzi a free role, and RWB often, good amount of creative freedom. And try and utilise his crossing abilty, by getting him to cross for a TM striker.

Santacroce has developed brilliantly for me, with my assistant repeatedly commenting on his progress in traning. Rinaudo has good attributes but he was very error prone for me, but my defence as whole leaked quite a few goals, so it may have been my tactics.

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Pindinho(:

Pindinho(:

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Thanks deejay10

Palermo is pure class, he keeps banging them in as a target man, he has good attributes and right for the Italian league...Thanks (Y), ive just been watching Bourne Ultimatum so not been on much and but ive won all friendlies apart from one which i drew.

Lavezzi is also awsome, and im now really enjoying this save.

Thanks guys

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Duco

Duco

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I ended up 6th in competition. Supposed to be 5th but they forgot to score the last 2 games wich cost us the 5th place to Juventus.

Denis is terrible. Palermo was alright at the start untill he managed to break his leg(5 months out) and never really got it going after.

Zalayeta was class, banging in 20 goals this season. Lavezzi very good aswell, 15 goals, 14 assists. Hamsik decent, getting much better now.

I also bought Di Maria too but he's not really giving me the results I was hoping for. Started out with 4 4 2, where he managed to make a grand total of 3!! assists in ~18 games.

Halfway through the season decided to switch to 3 2 3 2 with attacking wingbacks.

It's fun to play with Napoli though, looking forward to the 2nd season. Hoping to buy a good playmaker (Riquelme ?:D). Also looking for a good midfielder such as veloso. Preferbly Italian / Argentinian as I'm trying to continue Napoli's history.

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JimmyWangYang

JimmyWangYang

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I stupidly bought Rafinah and hes done ok for me but i just looked at his stats and nearly everyone has gone down. Hes not been injured or on a different training scedule and plays regularly

any ideas why this might be?

Beef up your coaching staff to prevent this. Grab some coaches from the international teams if money is tight.

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