[FM20][FM21][FM22][FM23] Calcio

[Vizzini]

Just now, quee said:

All hope gone of me getting him 

How much is Kr610m?

How is Castrovilli for you?

Yeah, unless Man Utd ends up not playing him.

About a tenth of that (61m pounds)

Been really disappointing so far, sadly. His attributes are perfect for what I want him for, but he is not producing at all (I miss Kessie )

[quee]

7 minutes ago, Vizzini said:

Been really disappointing so far, sadly. His attributes are perfect for what I want him for, but he is not producing at all (I miss Kessie )

Try him as Mezzala? In my first 2 seasons so far, I'm using B2B-Car combo and DLP-D in the DM position. The reason why I wanted Castrovilli is so I can move away from B2B and started to play with Mezzala. Whoever is in my B2B role (Kucka, Kurtic, Grassi) doesn't play particular well, tbh. I'm having more joy from my Carrilero, which surprised me, but it's working perfectly to make Kulusevski shine on his side of the pitch.

Edited April 19, 2020 by quee

[Vizzini]

2 minutes ago, quee said:

Try him as Mezzala? In my first 2 seasons so far, I'm using B2B-Car combo and DLP-D in the DM position. The reason why I wanted Castrovilli is so I can move away from B2B and started to play with Mezzala. Whoever is in my B2B role (Kucka, Kurtic, Grassi) doesn't play particular well, tbh. I'm having more joy from my Carrilero, which surprised me, but it's working perfectly to make Kulusevski shine on his side of the pitch.

Interesting, he should suit that role perfectly (I think it also fits Calhanoglu quite well, who is my backup), and the shape is quite defensive, so it could work. I will try ut out and report back, thank you!

[quee]

Anybody know if we're supposed to review and change squad status/playing time manually every season? There doesn't seem to be any guide or hints on this, apart from Assistant Manager's recommendation.

I just thought changing it too much might upset the dynamics and happiness, so just left it as it is. But players do started to change and their status shifted.

Thoughts? Any experience of constantly changing playing time status?

[bendixkunert2]

Update 2nd season:

 

 

As shocking as last season was, this might be even more surprising. We are sitting at the top of the table. Our offensive football is rather mediocre right now but we are barely conceding goals and usually win by 2-1 or 1-0.

We also advanced in the UCL in a group with Tottenham, Salzburg and Zenit finishing 2nd behind Spurs.

 

the bad news:

 

 

Not looking forward to this AT ALL.

 

also:

 

He is now unhappy, handed in a transfer request and has a release clause of 38M. Consider him gone this month as Man Utd, Bayern and Arsenal are in hot pursuit. I'm already in pre talks and sort through replacements. Probably looking at Nikola Moro. Usually bring in Moro or Zaracho in midfield but Zaracho already moved to the PL.

 

The good news:

 

 

We brought him in for a whopping 9.25 million from Partizan (release clause) to improve our left wing and oh boy does he look good. Looks like a future player at Madrid or Barca. Hopefully this guy doesn't want out in about 18 months but I'll enjoy him for now.

 

The best news:

Free transfer:

 

We were pushing every number and clause to the max what was allowed because he was asking for 1.5 M base salary. He accepted our offer and will now join on July 1st. Couldn't be more excited. We are also working on Sergio Gomez on a free transfer but he won't decide until May/June and wants to leave open his options.

 

[Stackalee]

17 minutes ago, bendixkunert2 said:

He is now unhappy, handed in a transfer request and has a release clause of 38M. Consider him gone this month as Man Utd, Bayern and Arsenal are in hot pursuit. 

I tend to find that you can avoid these situations by regularly offering new contracts to players you want to keep just before windows open (not worth it on many but somebody you do want to build your side around like Tonali). Not the most useful tip for him right now but might help in future.

Looks like it's going great though - good luck with replacing him (and hopefully maintaining form)!

[Stu_UBJ]

On 17/04/2020 at 19:25, Weston said:

If you still have access to the old hard drive there are guides on how to successfully transfer everything over! I did it last year without too much difficulty.

Unfortunately my laptop hard drive died, so unable to access any of the old files  Took me an age to get my graphics downloaded again! Luckily none of my "important" stuff is saved on laptop, keep it all on a external SSD

[Stu_UBJ]

@bendixkunert2 scouts on my Depor save reckon the Partizan lad is a world-beater as well. I have to say I wasn't convinced by him, purely as there wasn't a single attribute above 14. That being said, I hope he works out well for you, maybe it will even change my opinion if he does!

[Vizzini]

@bendixkunert2 if you look at my update on the previous page, you will see that I just signed him on a free from Partizan in 2023, could give you an indication of how he will develop.

Edited April 19, 2020 by Vizzini

[bendixkunert2]

2 minutes ago, Stackalee said:

I tend to find that you can avoid these situations by regularly offering new contracts to players you want to keep just before windows open (not worth it on many but somebody you do want to build your side around like Tonali). Not the most useful tip for him right now but might help in future.

Looks like it's going great though - good luck with replacing him (and hopefully maintaining form)!

Thanks. I think he was gone anyway. I tried offering him a contract in October 2020 but he wanted 4 million +. Unfortunately we aren't in a position to pay that to a player right now. That's also the reason why we sold Balotelli last summer to Milan.

We are only allowed a 25M payroll per year. 

Just speaking about it:

 

Replacing him will be near impossible but I will try my best, probably signing a midfielder and getting another RB as we lack depth there.

 

 

[bendixkunert2]

6 minutes ago, Vizzini said:

@bendixkunert2 if you look at my update on the previous page, you will see that I just signed him on a free from Partizan in 2023, could give you an indication of how he will develop.

looks solid. Hope I can develop him a bit better though.

[Fraser]

1 hour ago, quee said:

I always think long term targets would make it all worth it. Sturaro and Criscito are Mr. Genoas! Will you keep them long term? Will be interesting to see how you will reshape the squad in the summer.

It wouldn't be a proper Italian save without relying on the veterans to lead the way  (not that Sturaro is one) but I fully intend to keep Criscito, Sturaro and Masiello as part of my first XI.  Radovanovic will be staying as a squad player too.

Given how I want to play, the key type of player to bring in will be midfielders that can run with the the ball up the field and also have an eye for a pass.  Cassata is joining on a pre-agreed permanent deal, and he looks a good fit for this, but I don't have many other options.

[Fraser]

1 hour ago, quee said:

Anybody know if we're supposed to review and change squad status/playing time manually every season? There doesn't seem to be any guide or hints on this, apart from Assistant Manager's recommendation.

I just thought changing it too much might upset the dynamics and happiness, so just left it as it is. But players do started to change and their status shifted.

Thoughts? Any experience of constantly changing playing time status?

I just tend to do it when I'm looking to renew a player's contract.  At that point, If they don't want to change to the status I feel they deserve, then I often just start looking to sell them. 

[quee]

5 minutes ago, Fraser said:

It wouldn't be a proper Italian save without relying on the veterans to lead the way

Exactly! Haha my thoughts as well, though I do have decisions to make for my 3rd season.

 

2 hours ago, Fraser said:

Cassata

He was recommended to me towards the end of the season, interesting player.

 

2 hours ago, Fraser said:

I just tend to do it when I'm looking to renew a player's contract.  At that point, If they don't want to change to the status I feel they deserve, then I often just start looking to sell them. 

I tried to rarely renew contracts, though, unless absolutely necessary (expiry and unhappiness). If not they would keep coming back every 6 months like they do in FM19  I should have just followed my Assistant Manager's recommendation when it did.

[bendixkunert2]

end of transfer window:

We decided to sign Locatelli for 20M and Amian for 9M after selling Tonali for 38M. I quickly realized that it was extremely difficult to get a CM replacement for a reasonable price and reasonable salary. So really, I made a move that I didn't love. He was injured on top of that. But there is potential. Still he commands a lot of salary. Probably just offering Tonali 4-5 million per year would have been the better play but I learned from this. Also funny how the board increased my wage budget from 24 to 30 million after selling Tonali.

 

squad:

 

Not really any star power but I think we greatly improved our overall depth compared to 18 months ago.

 

Rodri and Jesus Vazquez are really disappointing on loan. On the other hand Ghezzi and Papetti seem ready for the squad next year and we need them anyway because of the 4 and 8 rule.

 

 

[quee]

22 minutes ago, bendixkunert2 said:

Locatelli

I think he's a good player. I, myself, is interested in him. Though, Castrovilli definitely my preferred option.

Both Andrea's looking good there, didn't know about Ghezzi until now. Interesting looking player.

[bendixkunert2]

7 minutes ago, quee said:

I think he's a good player. I, myself, is interested in him. Though, Castrovilli definitely my preferred option.

Both Andrea's looking good there, didn't know about Ghezzi until now. Interesting looking player.

He was a bit out of my price range. Went for 40M to Tottenham the same transfer window.

[quee]

7 minutes ago, bendixkunert2 said:

He was a bit out of my price range. Went for 40M to Tottenham the same transfer window.

He must be doing well in your save then, as he only went for £25m in my save to Milan.

Can I have a look at his screenshot?

[bendixkunert2]

4 minutes ago, quee said:

He must be doing well in your save then, as he only went for £25m in my save to Milan.

Can I have a look at his screenshot?

[john1]

Here my first youth intakes, pretty happy with couple of them. Look like the look of Bucci, but not sure to train him as DM?

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

[Matt_1979]

AC Milan - Season 2: Mid-Season Update

Slow Starts & Champions League Disappointment

The season started with a contract saga as Lucas Paqueta became unhappy with his contract , demanding a massive £190k per week. I wouldn’t mind if he had performed like a start player last season....but he hadn’t....so we entered into some drawn out negotiations which culminated into him signing a new contract worth £140k per week with a minimum release fee of £63m- much more acceptable. Whilst this was going on I managed to tie down Donnarumma to a lengthy contract on a massive £210k per week.

On the pitch we picked up our first loss in game 2 against Roma when Hernandez was sent off in the 5th minute (!) and we conceded a mere 2 minutes later. Paqueta came on as a late substitute for Jovetic and grabbed an equaliser on 86 minutes, before Pelligrini bagged the winner for Roma in the 92nd minute.

Champions League Group H: AC Milan, Liverpool, Lyon, PSV.

We entered the first game of the Champions League campaign against defending champions Liverpool on the back of a frustrating 1-0 loss to Torino. Van de Beek tucked home a header from a free kick on 17 minutes before Trent Alexander-Arnold equalised on 56. The game finished 1-1 but we dominated for long spells which was a promising start. Incidentally, Tonali had signed for Liverpool in the summer for £32m.

The next game, against Dutch giants PSV, ended in a deserved 3-1 loss thanks to two amazing goals from Bruma (who absolutely terrorised Hateboer all game).

Two games in a row against OL came next. We stole a 1-0 win in the home game thanks to Paqueta intercepting a pass on his own 18 yard line before dribbling deep into the OL half before releasing a through ball to Jovetic who calmly slotted home. The Away fixture also ended 1-0, however this time it was the French side who came away victorious after scoring an early goal and then defending like maniacs for 80 minutes.

In the midst of a bad run of form in the league we lost the second fixture to Liverpool 2-0 and drew 1-1 with PSV.

Our Champions League exit was followed by a 2-0 home defeat to Lazio which was up drop to 8th in the league, with Napoli sitting top with a 4pt lead.

A change in form, thanks Inter!

Just as I was doing some deep analysis into what was going wrong i was looking nervously at the next fixture: Home to bitter rivals Inter. The Board and fans were already angry at the Champions League exit and our bad league run so I feared another loss would be catastrophic.

Luckily, we put in a fantastic performance and won 4-1, thanks to brace from Stefan Jovetic and goals from Donny Van de Beek and Rade Krunic, standing in for the suspended Kessie. This win was followed up with a 2-0 win over league leaders Napoli.

Four more league victories in a row and we have leapt up from 8th and head into January at the top of Serie A with a two point lead over Juventus.

Franck Kessie entered December demanding a new contract and he’s been so good I didn’t hesitate to double his wages and give him £140k per week. He really is an absolute beast.

Player Review & the AMC Dilemma!

You may recall that I replaced the legendary Zlatan Ibrahimovic with Stefan Jovetic from AS Monaco for £8m. The board and scouts (and fans) weren’t at all happy so I, well HE, had a lot to prove! Let’s see how he got on!

Well so far he’s mainly been playing as a Deep Lying Forward (support) where I’m hoping his excellent vision, flair and composure would help get the best out of Wonderkid Rafael Leao. In 16 games he’s scored 5 goals and made 2 assists with a rating of 6.94. I’m happy with that to be honest. I wasn’t expecting him to pull up any trees and he’s been pretty solid. 

Another reason I’m happy with the stats of Jovetic is because Leao has been amazing! In 16 games, the 21 year old has scored 12 goals and some of those have been wonder goals!! Although Jovetic has got 2 assists I’m thinking his play may be a reason Leao has been so prolific so far. I’m planning on tweaking their roles heading into January so will see how that does.

Franck Kessie is second in the scoring charts with 6, whilst the full backs are racking up the assists as Hernandez has 5 and Hateboer has 4.

Right... the position which has been giving me sleepless nights. I’ve still not figured out which role at the AMC slot is the best to use: Attacking Midfielder, Advanced Playmaker or Shadow Striker. I’m also not sure who the best player for the position is out of Paqueta, Van de Beek or Quintero so i’ve been mixing and matching. 

Each brings different skills to the table but none of the are making the position their own. Van de Beek is the best stats wise, but he’s also very good in a central midfield role. Paqueta is the next best, on paper, with Quintero bringing up the rear. Let’s look at their stats:

Van de Beek: 13 games, 1 goal, 0 assists. Best role: Advanced Playmaker

Paqueta: 13 games, 2 goals, 1 assist. Best role: Attacking midfielder

Quintero: 8 games, 0 goals, 2 assists. Best role: Attacking midfielder 

*Van de Beek has played a lot of those games as a central midfielder.

As you can see, none are really doing a job. With Lyon’s Houssem Aouar on my shortlist, they need to start claiming that position. Especially Paqueta after his diva demands for a massive contract!

Reflections:

A slow start and a frustrating Champions League display which i think is down to my own tactical naivety, thinking I could just go into each game with the same tactic. Next time I’ll make adjustments for away games, maybe drop the AMC to a Halfback, play more defensively. 

After the were mathematically out of the Champions League and the congested fixtures cleared up - I mean, it’s not easy playing Juventus three days before travelling away to Liverpool - and I was able to play a more stable team we went on a great run and are now top of the table. It’ll be an interesting second half of the season!!

Thanks for reading and comments and questions are always welcome.

 

Edited April 19, 2020 by Matt_1979

[Vizzini]

@Matt_1979 Nice to see someone else playing as Milan. It is a decent challenge and fun team to play with. What is your long term aims for this save? Also, have you been able to make improvements to the facilities? I found it difficult dealing with the board, as they would not let me upgrade training and youth facilities, since it was not part of their vision.

[Muttley84]

After what seemed like centuries of reading about team profiles and even the history of cities I have finally started today my new save. In the end I picked Crotone which ticked all the boxes for me.

No big moves coming in the first transfer window (albeit some loans of youngsters from Serie A teams for backup and rotation purposes) but a lot of deadwood being cleared out of the club. If it's one thing I hate about the first season in Italy is seeing you have good players sent away on loans and you kept worse options at the club. Oh well, next summer probably going to be a big clearout. 

Other than that we have a pretty decent squad and are expected to finish 5th in the league, so battling for promotion playoffs should be the minimum bar here. Wonder if Maxi Lopez can still bang them (goals not wifes), should be key for us. Suprised Cordaz is still in goal, one of the few players I remember from the Serie A seasons of Crotone. Will return with an update including screenshots once we played a number of official matches.

P.S. I forgot to mention the most important thing. Will be using an "Italians only" transfer policy in the career. Should be fun battling for them rather then the much cheaper east and central europeans or south americans.

Edited April 19, 2020 by Muttley84

[Matt_1979]

Just now, Vizzini said:

@Matt_1979 Nice to see someone else playing as Milan. It is a decent challenge and fun team to play with. What is your long term aims for this save? Also, have you been able to make improvements to the facilities? I found it difficult dealing with the board, as they would not let me upgrade training and youth facilities, since it was not part of their vision.

The long term aim is to return them to the team dominant team I grew up with. I haven’t really meddled with the facilities etc yet, although the youth set up desperately needs help as last seasons intake was the worst I’ve ever had playing FM20!

I also want to get Colombo and possibly Maldini into the starting lineups. 

[Vizzini]

Quite similar then. Yeah, I have one really good prospect, other than that they have been mostly mediocre.

Hope they develop better for you than they did for me.

Colombo:

Spoiler

Maldini:

Spoiler

 

 

[Vizzini]

What I love about managing in Italy, is that you face some absolute bonkers formations. Like this one:

 

On the face of it we should be good by funneling the play through the wings, but they absolutely dominated the centre of the park, which is basically the premise of my strategy. Should have been more humble and adjusted to exploit, but thought we had the quality.

[Weston]

26 minutes ago, Vizzini said:

What I love about managing in Italy, is that you face some absolute bonkers formations. Like this one:

 

On the face of it we should be good by funneling the play through the wings, but they absolutely dominated the centre of the park, which is basically the premise of my strategy. Should have been more humble and adjusted to exploit, but thought we had the quality.

Looks weird on paper but probably just the standard xmas tree with the DLP dropping deeper.

[LucasBR]

Man Utd is such a pain in the ass, first they paid Lore Pellegrini release clause, now they are bitching around Zaniolo

[Weston]

Anyone else missing the standard pitch dimension option? Why can I only choose from the minimum and maximum sizes?

[bendixkunert2]

1 hour ago, LucasBR said:

Man Utd is such a pain in the ass, first they paid Lore Pellegrini release clause, now they are bitching around Zaniolo

oh they are coming after everyone lol

[john1]

Season 1 review

 

 

 


God what an thriller! We was running away at some point with 6 points lead with few games left and all of sudden played utterly *****, and slipped up and was 3rd heading into final game of the season.

 

Not bad transfer budget for next season, got few free players coming in to boost the depth in the team. Will be looking to offload old aging players as some of them on stupid wages. Also had a chance to sign Davide Betella, as he has been one of the best performer, but decided to sign for Inter Milan for next season from Atalanta   Also managed to extend Flippo Melegoni's loan for another season  

Edited April 19, 2020 by john1

[john1]

 

 

[Weston]

Busy 3 hours... Did he trip on his way in the door?  

[john1]

4 minutes ago, Weston said:

Busy 3 hours... Did he trip on his way in the door?  

  That's bizarre! What was the injury?

[Weston]

Just now, john1 said:

  That's bizarre! What was the injury?

I forget, some small strain. He's a backup keeper so not a big deal, just found it amusing!

[john1]

 

Just looked at Serie A, and Roma won the league  And won Coppa Italia too!

[Weston]

2 minutes ago, john1 said:

 

Just looked at Serie A, and Roma won the league  And won Coppa Italia too!

FM is so unrealistic sometimes 

[john1]

3 minutes ago, Weston said:

FM is so unrealistic sometimes 

Definitely Roma tends to struggle on my other saves.

[LucasBR]

10 minutes ago, john1 said:

Definitely Roma tends to struggle on my other saves.

Roma tends to struggle in EVERY save unless you're managing them, your save is something completely odd

[quee]

7 hours ago, john1 said:

Here my first youth intakes, pretty happy with couple of them. Look like the look of Bucci, but not sure to train him as DM?

Did you changed how you posted your images? It looked better now.

[quee]

4 hours ago, Weston said:

Anyone else missing the standard pitch dimension option? Why can I only choose from the minimum and maximum sizes?

 

I never noticed it so far, just chose the default everytime  Will check the next one.

[Weston]

7 minutes ago, quee said:

I never noticed it so far, just chose the default everytime  Will check the next one.

Probably just sat here an hour unsure of what to do.

[Fraser]

Genoa – 20-21 pre-season.

Loanees returning to parent club:  

• Perin (GK – Juventus) was my first choice, conceding only 35 in 27 games for a struggling side, but too expensive.
• Romero (DC – Juventus) was one of my better players, but Juve had just signed him from Genoa and loaned him back before I joined, so they want him in their squad.  £20m just to talk terms, so no. 
• Falque (AMRLC, ST - Torino).  Did well and is one of the few I might have looked to keep if I could, but valued at £15.75m with no optional fee agreed, and already 30, so not a deal to pursue.
• Barreca (D/WB/M L – Monaco). Optional fee of £21m. Decent enough wing back but not at the prices quoted. Already have Pajac on the books, who is of similar quality.

Goldaniga (DC – Sassuolo), Soumaoro (DC, DM – Lille) Optional fee of £8.5m, Destro (ST – Bologna) and Sanabria (ST – Real Betis). Optional fee of £17m, were never going to be kept on.

Players coming back to me from loan:

• Gunter (DC – Verona) looks like a solid enough squad player, wages are pretty low.
• El Yamiq (DC – Zaragoza) is very similar to Gunter, including the low wages, and may even make the team as he has more physical presence.
• Omeonga (DM, MC – Hibs) is another good squad player on low wages.  Good physically and mentally and able to dribble with the ball.
• Dalmonte (ML, AMRLC, ST - Trapani) was very nearly put on the transfer list, but he is only 22 and attracting attention from both Milan clubs and Roma. Will be a backup and we’ll see how he develops.

I’m short on goalkeepers, and would have liked to have given Jandrei an opportunity, but he is on loan in Brazil until January 2021 and I can’t recall him.  At 27 he won’t likely get a chance after I make a couple of decent quality signings there.

Currently my squad is shaping up like:  
Goalkeepers:  None
Defenders: DR – Ankersen; DL – Criscito, Pajac; DC – Masiello, El Yamiq, Gunter, Biraschi
Midfielders: DM – Sturaro, Radovanovic, Omeonga; MR – Cleonise; ML – Cassata, Dalmonte; MC – Lerager
Strikers: ST – Pinamonti, Favilli.

So, by my reckoning I need two goalkeepers, a right back, a defensive midfielder, a right midfielder and a central midfielder.  I have £16m to spend and about £160K in the wage budget.
 

[rafaelbenitez]

15 hours ago, Matt_1979 said:

 

On FMT, I always go full on dictator! Players keep wanting a new contract every 6 months or every time any club is interested. I renew their contracts only if they're in their last 2 years or if it's a properly genuine case (a youth player who's now become a first teamer but is still on poor wages). Wage costs just spiral out of control otherwise.

[bendixkunert2]

2020/2021 review:

 

SERIE A

 

 

UCL

 

 

COPPA ITALIA

 

 

We somehow managed to roll through the league and were also able to win the Coppa. There we received a good draw except the semifinal against Juventus. We won the first leg 3-1 at home but got dominated at Allianz Stadium. Probably was just the luck of this save so far that we went through.

 

 

In the UCL we managed to advance to the knockout stages which made me really happy. We crashed out against a much superior side in PSG although we somehow won the 2nd leg but lost at home convincingly.

 

 

overview:

 

Where do go from here? We will try to further improve the club in backroom staff, facilities and squad. We will need another RB, probably striker, CB and CM. The board allows us to spend 54 million in transfers this summer after already paying 10M for F. Pellistri. Some players aren't developing and will need to be replaced and Gvardiol broke his ankle in the last game and is out for 4 months which sucks but overall there really is not a lot to complain about.

Will keep y'all updated about the squad and transfers next preseason.

 

 

[quee]

Is there a reason why you only bring 9 subs in the Coppa,  @bendixkunert2 ?

That would me bothered me, especially in the final, as 3 other players could have gotten a medal for it in their history, even youth players! 

[bendixkunert2]

Just now, quee said:

Is there a reason why you only bring 9 subs in the Coppa,  @bendixkunert2 ?

That would me bothered me, especially in the final, as 3 other players could have gotten a medal for it in their history, even youth players! 

small squad^^

But we are trying to improve the depth this offseason. It's going to be pretty wild I think

 

 

[quee]

1 minute ago, bendixkunert2 said:

small squad^^

 

Include the u20s? Both Andreas, for one 

[bendixkunert2]

Just now, quee said:

Include the u20s? Both Andreas, for one 

they will definitely be in the squad next season. Papetti actually had like a 7.4 rating on his loan in Serie B but his team still got relegated.

[quee]

3 minutes ago, bendixkunert2 said:

they will definitely be in the squad next season.

It will be glorious, following the Master Andrea, that is Pirlo!