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

[Weston]

Our boy Dimarco with an assist in under 2 mins against his parent club!

 

[Weston]

This was later changed to a Dimarco own goal because it deflected off of him 

 

[XuluBak]

Wow, this thread has become massive since my last visit...

My Frosinone save was short lived, but probably some of the most fun I've had in FM20, and Serie A in general is probably my favorite (top league) to play, especially early on, where there's such tactical variety. Struggling to pick and stick with a save though...

Want a project, but not a decade long struggle through the tiers, with no resources. Thinking more like a club expected to fight against relegation, but with at least a piece or two in place to build around. Thinking maybe Udinese with De Paul and Mandragora as the cornerstone pieces. Actually started Sassuolo, but between a board takeover (that wasn't), Chelsea buying back Boga (then not), and an obnoxious laundry list of transfer expectations, I soured on it before it really go going. Fiorentino are always a consideration, but seems like they should already be better. Could always add some self-imposed restrictions. Torino could be interesting, but seem horribly overrated in game. 

 

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

3 hours ago, XuluBak said:

Wow, this thread has become massive since my last visit...

My Frosinone save was short lived, but probably some of the most fun I've had in FM20, and Serie A in general is probably my favorite (top league) to play, especially early on, where there's such tactical variety. Struggling to pick and stick with a save though...

Want a project, but not a decade long struggle through the tiers, with no resources. Thinking more like a club expected to fight against relegation, but with at least a piece or two in place to build around. Thinking maybe Udinese with De Paul and Mandragora as the cornerstone pieces. Actually started Sassuolo, but between a board takeover (that wasn't), Chelsea buying back Boga (then not), and an obnoxious laundry list of transfer expectations, I soured on it before it really go going. Fiorentino are always a consideration, but seems like they should already be better. Could always add some self-imposed restrictions. Torino could be interesting, but seem horribly overrated in game. 

 

 

Udinese have the link with Watford and you can eventually change the agreement and then sign all of their top players for free like I done on FM2019.

[XuluBak]

Just now, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Udinese have the link with Watford and you can eventually change the agreement and then sign all of their top players for free like I done on FM2019.

Hah! Funny you mention that because...

I just discovered it on accident. I'd forgot about the connection, and in my "startup save," Watford have been relegated...

First inquiry, transfer fee = 0. Thought that was kinda weird. So tried another player...same thing. Ugh. I knew I could match bids, but to be able to just poach anyone is a bit much. Will they be able to do the same down the line?

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Just now, XuluBak said:

Hah! Funny you mention that because...

I just discovered it on accident. I'd forgot about the connection, and in my "startup save," Watford have been relegated...

First inquiry, transfer fee = 0. Thought that was kinda weird. So tried another player...same thing. Ugh. I knew I could match bids, but to be able to just poach anyone is a bit much. Will they be able to do the same down the line?

 

Yeah so if Watford get back to the Prem I don't think you can do it so I would raid them while you can as you can just sell the players down the line for profit.

Will Hughes, Massina, Kabassele, Chaloboah, Doucore, Quina, Pereyra,Deulofeu, Penaranda, Joao Pedro andIsacc Success would be players you can bring in to improve your team and then sell on for profit.

 

[Weston]

3 hours ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Udinese have the link with Watford and you can eventually change the agreement and then sign all of their top players for free like I done on FM2019.

 

3 hours ago, XuluBak said:

Hah! Funny you mention that because...

I just discovered it on accident. I'd forgot about the connection, and in my "startup save," Watford have been relegated...

First inquiry, transfer fee = 0. Thought that was kinda weird. So tried another player...same thing. Ugh. I knew I could match bids, but to be able to just poach anyone is a bit much. Will they be able to do the same down the line?

 

 

3 hours ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Yeah so if Watford get back to the Prem I don't think you can do it so I would raid them while you can as you can just sell the players down the line for profit.

Will Hughes, Massina, Kabassele, Chaloboah, Doucore, Quina, Pereyra,Deulofeu, Penaranda, Joao Pedro andIsacc Success would be players you can bring in to improve your team and then sell on for profit.

 

Yeah they need to work on this. As Bari, Napoli has been too willing to give me players in the past, so I made a personal rule to not sign anyone above a certain squad status from them. Wish they'd fix it so we didn't have to police ourselves by guessing what is or is not realistic.

Ironically, they then got relegated right after we both had a change of board, and now they won't sell anyone to me at all except for massively overblown fees, which now seems unrealistic in the other direction. Oh well...

What exactly did you change about the agreement and how did you do it?

Edited July 12, 2020 by Weston

[XuluBak]

That gives me an idea for a future save, one day, but not what I'm looking for today, so...

 

Roster as of 1 July 2020

Spoiler

Not much of note in our U-20 or U-18. Best prospect looks to be a 15-year-old lefty winger drawing some interest. Will likely sell him if I can get a decent enough offer. We need the money! Currently €7M in the red, with a capped out wage bill (€300k) and €5M transfer budget. Will have to thin the roster out, and hopefully, managing to have enough to stay up. 

 

Edited July 12, 2020 by XuluBak

[Ronaldo Beckham]

7 hours ago, Weston said:

 

 

Yeah they need to work on this. As Bari, Napoli has been too willing to give me players in the past, so I made a personal rule to not sign anyone above a certain squad status from them. Wish they'd fix it so we didn't have to police ourselves by guessing what is or is not realistic.

Ironically, they then got relegated right after we both had a change of board, and now they won't sell anyone to me at all except for massively overblown fees, which now seems unrealistic in the other direction. Oh well...

What exactly did you change about the agreement and how did you do it?

Board Request- Networking - Negotiate Existing Affiliation.

[Weston]

17 hours ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Board Request- Networking - Negotiate Existing Affiliation.

But what did you change and what happened exactly? What are the possible options for this?

[Ronaldo Beckham]

5 hours ago, Weston said:

But what did you change and what happened exactly? What are the possible options for this?

I can't remember as I haven't done it in a while. Have a try yourself as the options are quite clear from what I remember.

[XuluBak]

7 hours ago, Weston said:

But what did you change and what happened exactly? What are the possible options for this?

I think it's just a matter of which club is considered the "senior" affiliate. I thought it was Udinese in my end-of-season startup save because Watford had been relegated, but I loaded up a Jan 1 start point, and they were the senior affiliate at that time as well. I enquired about De Paul from Watford and he definitely wasn't free. 

[Weston]

4 hours ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

I can't remember as I haven't done it in a while. Have a try yourself as the options are quite clear from what I remember.

 

2 hours ago, XuluBak said:

I think it's just a matter of which club is considered the "senior" affiliate. I thought it was Udinese in my end-of-season startup save because Watford had been relegated, but I loaded up a Jan 1 start point, and they were the senior affiliate at that time as well. I enquired about De Paul from Watford and he definitely wasn't free. 

Just to test I saved the game and then asked to renegotiate. The board didn't want to, I had to force them into it, then it happened, and nothing changed. Still confused.

Before:

After:

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

3 minutes ago, Weston said:

 

Just to test I saved the game and then asked to renegotiate. The board didn't want to, I had to force them into it, then it happened, and nothing changed. Still confused.

Before:

After:

 

Is there any way you can look on the editor as I aint an expert as they might be able to show you on there.

[XuluBak]

3 minutes ago, Weston said:

 

Just to test I saved the game and then asked to renegotiate. The board didn't want to, I had to force them into it, then it happened, and nothing changed. Still confused.

Before:

After:

 

Napoli and Bari is just a loan agreement. Udinese-Watford is shared ownership. This is what Udinese-Watford affiliation looks like:

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

3 minutes ago, XuluBak said:

Napoli and Bari is just a loan agreement. Udinese-Watford is shared ownership. This is what Udinese-Watford affiliation looks like:

 

Cheers for posting this as I was struggling to help him.

[Weston]

1 hour ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Is there any way you can look on the editor as I aint an expert as they might be able to show you on there.

 

1 hour ago, XuluBak said:

Napoli and Bari is just a loan agreement. Udinese-Watford is shared ownership. This is what Udinese-Watford affiliation looks like:

 

 

1 hour ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Cheers for posting this as I was struggling to help him.

Interesting. I think the Napoli/Bari partnership may have already automatically changed, then because I now remember it used to say something about us sharing the same board before we both went through takeovers. Can you see what it says in your saves? I haven't seen them offer a player for 0 since it happened, so perhaps we used to be a joint ownership of the same kind you're showing me, but are no longer.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

2 minutes ago, Weston said:

 

 

Interesting. I think the Napoli/Bari partnership may have already automatically changed, then because I now remember it used to say something about us sharing the same board before we both went through takeovers. Can you see what it says in your saves? I haven't seen them offer a player for 0 since it happened, so perhaps we used to be a joint ownership of the same kind you're showing me, but are no longer.

I aint doing a save with Udinese, I am doing a Burton Albion save so can't help you sorry.

[Weston]

11 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

I aint doing a save with Udinese, I am doing a Burton Albion save so can't help you sorry.

No I mean just click over to Napoli and select affiliates and see what it says in your save. If they're in your game database you can still see it.

[XuluBak]

6 minutes ago, Weston said:

No I mean just click over to Napoli and select affiliates and see what it says in your save. If they're in your game database you can still see it.

Shared board, but it's just an expanded loan agreement. 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

9 minutes ago, Weston said:

No I mean just click over to Napoli and select affiliates and see what it says in your save. If they're in your game database you can still see it.

I don't have the Italian leagues loaded, sorry.

[john1]

 
Here what Napoli/ Bari links shows on my save

[XuluBak]

2020-2021 Preview

My first season in charge at Frosinone (again) is underway. After lots of summer player and support staff movement, we're hopefully set to stay in Serie A for the first time in club history. Finances dictated we have a net profit transfer window, which we managed with €20.5M in player sales and €10.25 in purchases. Our two biggest acquisitions were Julian Chabot (CB, Sampadoria) and Niclas Eliasson (LW, Bristol City). We also brought in Taiwo Awoniyi (ST, Liverpool) and Lyanco (CB, Torino) on loan, with a €10M option on the latter. As a newly promoted side, with limited resources, our focus is to play solid defense and hit on counter often enough to survive. Ideally, we'd be a threat on set pieces as well, but unfortunately, we don't have the set piece takers to go with our backline giants, yet. 

We're primarily employing a 343 (with the 4 in the WB/DM strata) for defensive purposes, switching to 3412 to be more attacking. The idea was to be able to switch seamlessly, on the fly, but couldn't find the right fit for the key piece in that equation, so tactical subs will have to be employed to make that change. We were dreadful in preseason, but while our attack is largely nonexistent, we've been fantastic defensively, through three (real) matches. Granted, we weren't up against the toughest competition, but an encouraging start nonetheless. 

Lastly, the board has approved training, youth training, and data analysis facility upgrades! 

Squad as of 1 September 2020:

Spoiler

(updated the view slightly, to include "potential" instead of "ability" stars)

 

Edited July 13, 2020 by XuluBak

[john1]

Good luck with Frosinone!  @XuluBak

[john1]

  
Loving this guy's progress    Already made 47 appearances,  Been utterly superb for me since I took over, amazing partnership in defence with Marco Varnier  Already turned down 14M+ from Man City for him.

Edited July 13, 2020 by john1

[Weston]

I guess "third time's the charm" only applies sometimes! At least I finally got my first top flight trophy, even if it wasn't the best one. For the second straight season I only needed a point from the last CL group stage match but lost instead.

In the league I broke all club records en route to ANOTHER silver medal, due to Guardiola's Juve just being too powerful to catch.

Compare that to 2016-17 when Roma also broke their all-time points record but still finished 2nd to Juve - we even had more points than Juve did that season!

In any case, I still have an incredibly talented and cohesive squad filled with almost exclusively young players that are getting better all the time. It's not the fastest way to glory, but with the 2nd youngest average age of 23.37, we're playing the long game, and I know it has to pay off eventually. I've given new contracts the the best without a release clause in sight, and many of those who arrived as teenagers from other nations have now earned HGC status.

I have a very promising Italian center back (whose name means "trousers") arriving on a free:

And I finally got the amusingly-named Pitbull, whom I've been chasing for years, to fill the one hole I had left in the squad:

If I can hold on to everyone in the summer the team will remained largely unchanged. Considering I usually am the best team in the league in the 2nd half of the season but fail to win the title because of slip ups very early in the season, I think my only real issue is too much turnover causing chemistry issues in the opening matches.

Next season that won't be an issue. So the goal? SCUDETTO!

Edited July 13, 2020 by Weston

[Weston]

And just as I say that Juve do this. So... who knows.

Diouf I already know well - he scored a 30 yard rocket in injury time to force us to drop points again Barcelona in the CL a few years ago, and I blame that for us failing to make it out of the group. 

Edited July 14, 2020 by Weston

[Mackem742]

Just started a save with Milan. My first save in Italy on this years game. Noticed they arent in any European competition at the start of the game. Allows me time to concentrate on the league and getting them back to the top end of the table. Noticed they have a lot of aging players though. Do I risk offloading them as some of them are in the "Influential" category. 

[quee]

Anybody else still playing their saves?

Welcome to any newcomers, btw!

[john1]

 
Finally won Coppa Italia!

[john1]

2 hours ago, quee said:

Anybody else still playing their saves?

Welcome to any newcomers, btw!

I am  Just got 2 games left to finish the season \o/

[Mackem742]

17 hours ago, quee said:

Anybody else still playing their saves?

Welcome to any newcomers, btw!

Yeah I only get about an hour a night on it after work and the gym but im almost through my first pre season with Milan. Got 2 more friendlies against Juve and Napoli before the season opener away at Verona.

[XuluBak]

2020-2021 End-of-Season Review

My first season in charge of Frosinone is in the books. A tremendous start (7-4-3, entering December) eased a lot of the pressure associated with a relegation fight. Our matches were probably unwatchable for a neutral, but aside from Juve and Lazio imposing their will on us in those away fixtures, we were largely competitive. A 2-1 over Napoli, with Marius Mouandilmadji* scoring on our only shots on target was undoubtedly a highlight of our season. They responded almost immediately after we went up 2-0 early in the second half, which could have swung things in their favor, but the guys gave it everything, and held on to secure all three points. Injuries and poor form took their toll from December through March. Just when it seemed that stretch couldn't get worse, we lost Bardi, our first choice keeper, for nearly a year to injury. Fortunately, after a ten match winless streak, we'd find some semblance of form with a 2-1 victory against Fiorentina.  Mouandilmadji would claim another season highlight, with a 93rd minute equalizer, after a 14-save performance from Iacobucci (with the only goal coming off a pen), at Roma. In the end, we'd finish with 48 points, good for 12th and the best finish in club history!

Fall 2020 Results

Spoiler

Spring 2021 Results

Spoiler

Final Table 2020-21

Spoiler

 

Mouandilmadji is a young (was 22, now 23) Chadian striker we took off FC Porto's hands on summer transfer deadline day for €150k. Not exactly an afterthought, but certainly not a priority. Largely added to appease the board's desire for young players and to be a profitable sell-on. He'd only tally seven on the year, but four of those came in the final six games, which is encouraging going forward. Aside from our fight for survival, probably the biggest story of the season was Dionisi's pursuit of the club (league) goalscoring record. He needed six to tie, seven to break. Started well enough, but ended with five, having not scored the second half of the season. I've extended him for one season, likely his last. if nothing else he's a strong, positive influence in the squad.

Player Stats 

Spoiler

Looking ahead

Staying up was crucial, but we've got a long ways to go before we can realistically aim much higher. Between age and potential, our current squad is very limited. I envision there being a place for Chabot (CB) in the XI for the foreseeable future, but I've got a tough decision to make with Lyanco. Signing him would solidify 2/3rds of our backline for the foreseeable future, but it'd also expend a significant portion of our available resources for the summer. Our midfield options are probably serviceable short-term, but our WBs were horribly underwhelming, an upgrade is needed up front, and we desperately need an infusion of young(er) depth. It's going to be another very busy summer. 

Edited July 16, 2020 by XuluBak

[john1]

 
Just a mini update, Finished the season unbeaten  Went out in CL first round knockout, 2-1 on agg against Real Madrid  They went on to beat Barca, in the final on penalties.

[judyislife]

Decided to give the game another chance and try to make Milan great again  while hopefully building some strong Italian core. 

First season only bought Belotti for 38 million to lead the line and Stefano Turati for a 875K compensation from Torino to be a second goalkeeper. Sold Zlatan, Donnarumma's brother, Calhanoglu Musacchio and Biglia for a total of 46.5M mostly trying to clear the messy wage budget a little bit.

Ended up (barely) 3rd behind the champions Roma and Atalanta and won the cup with a 120th minute Ante Rebic goal in the final.

 

  

 

With Brescia relegated, the first thing I did was activate Tonali's release clause and so he became my first summer signing for 19.25m. 3 more joined us - Luca Pellegrini for 5.5m from Juventus, Riccardo Orsolini for 25.5m and Lucas Ocampos for 15.75m. Orsolini came to replace Castillejo who had missed the second half of the first season after breaking his leg and his pace suffering. Him, Saelemaekers, Gustavo Gomez, Halilovic, Rodriguez and Laxalt left for a total of 47m. Then a day after the transfer window had closed City bid 68m for Theo Hernandez. Letting him go meant waiting until the winter to get replacement but I went with it anyway after negotiating 24m offer with Barcelona for Junior Firpo. With the financial situation not being great I decided struggling for half a season with no first choice left back was worth it considering the 40+ million difference and pretty much no loss in quality. 

Winter came and Firpo finally joined from Barcelona but then I got an offer from China for the unhappy at the time Andrea Conti. He was my first choice at the beginning but was getting consistently outperformed by Calabria on the left back. Despite that he still wanted a new contract with important player status and a huge wage which I wasn't going to give him so I decided I was fine with the 46m offer. I had to bring someone as a second choice rb though and so Claud Adjapong joined from Sassuolo for 8m. In the last few hours of the transfer window I also got Jerome Onguene's signature for 26m. So far I was doing fine with only Romagnoli, Caldara and Duarte at CB but Romagnoli got injured for a month and I had upcoming CL fixture against Manchester United so I thought it was a good time to get a 4th defender.

 

 

As for results, well, Milan are champions once again. It seemed impossible in December with Inter having a 10+ point lead and being absolutely ridiculous (14 wins out of their first 15 matches, the other one being a 4:0 defeat by us) but with them becoming shaky later and us getting in a pretty damn good form ourselves it happened. The absolute turning point was in April when we had finally gotten 1 point ahead of them and faced them, defeating them heavily (4:1) once again. At this point the title race was pretty much decided.  We also got the Super Cup after beating Roma 3:2. For the Italian Cup we only managed a 1/4 final after going out on penalties against Fiorentina

 

  

 

 We had a pretty strong CL run as well. Got the group of death with Barcelona, Bayern and Lyon, making it out only on better direct results against Barcelona, after beating them 4:1 at San Siro in the final match. Then we drew Manchester United, won 3:2 at home and ended up in added time after another 3:2 at Old Trafford. But Belotti got a third in 95th minute, sending us to the 1/4 finals. There we got the other Manchester team, City and managed to get past a little bit easier after 2:1 and 3:2 wins. Our semi final opponent was Atletico Madrid and they just straight up smashed us. Not with result or game but we didn't look like going through even for a second.

 

 

 

 

Probably the main man behind the title was Andrea Belotti. He only had like 3 goals from open play by December but then absolutely exploded for our run in that great second half of the season and ended up a Serie A top goal scorer with 28, 3 ahead of Ronaldo. Sandro Tonali was also phenomenal after taking a few months to settle in. Bennacer formed a great partnership with him and assissted a whole bunch. Lucas Ocampos also deserves a mention, got him as a backup because of his work rate and ability to play on both sides but he ended up winning us a lot of games.

 

 

  

 

I have the feeling retaining the title will be way harder. The one area I will be looking to improve is the left wing and possibly replacing players that might leave. I got 50 million to spend and might also make some money by selling Suso and Andre Silva who will finally come back from their 2 year loans as they aren't really in my plans. Their value also looks pretty good as they've both done well for Frankfurt and Sevilla.

Edited July 17, 2020 by judyislife

[XuluBak]

Summer 2021 Update

Bardi's injury couldn't have been worse timed. He was in line for an extension, and likely retaining his starting job, with no real urgency to upgrade/replace. But without any youngsters ready to make the jump, and Iacobucci strictly a backup, a potential replacement became a priority. After a fairly extensive search, with a couple options falling through for one reason or another, we finally secured Lucas Chaves on loan from Lazio (they'd only signed him from Argentinos Juniors last year) with a €2.8M option. That "option" is likely a formality, it was originally negotiated as a mandatory fee, but couldn't offer the necessary player compensation this summer. 

Spoiler

Pulled the trigger on Lyanco's €10M option. By some mysterious calculation, we overpaid, but after employing my scouts to find comparable alternatives, it was a no brainer. With that move secured, picking up Mohammed Salisu from newly relegated Real Valladolid for €2.7M made perfect sense. We'd already secured Elio Capradossi from (now) relegated (to Lega Pro) Spezia earlier in the year. That gives us four CBs, 25 or under, as a foundation to build around, with Nicolò Brighenti providing experience and leadership. 

Spoiler

 

Ideally, upgrading our WBs would have been a top priority, after finding a first-choice keeper, but the options available on our budget didn't offer much, so settled for adding DeAndre Yedlin on a free. He's horribly underwhelming technically, but his pace/work rate will be a nice addition on that flank.  

Spoiler

Midfield was my lowest priority. Our only "addition" was being able to register Volodymyr Shepelev (January free) with our new non-EU allocation. 

Spoiler

Tactically, I'm looking to play a lot more 3412 (and less 343) this season than last, which combined with aging players dropping into less significant roles, means we'll almost certainly look the most different up front. For logistical reasons (i.e., non-EU allocations), we terminated Awoniyi's loan a year early. Figure it makes more sense to give Mouandilmadji those minutes anyways. We signed Lukas Nmecha (Man City loanee) on a free and Ante Coric from Roma for a budget-friendly €3M to ease the burden on aging Camillo Ciano and Federico Dionisi, respectively.  The potential headliner, however, was bringing Moise Kean back to Italy, on a two-year loan with a €20M option. He fits my long- term vision with the ability to play up front or out wide, and the potential is there, but can he realize it? 

Spoiler

 

 

There are still a couple weeks until the summer deadline, but don't anticipate any further (incoming) dealings before then, or in the winter window for that matter, baring injury problems. Hoping this will be our last summer with this much activity, but I think we're on the right track. Our youth system doesn't have much quality depth, but we've got a couple wingers, and a midfielder with some promise. Going to try to hold onto them, as we're desperately lacking for home-grown talent.

Spoiler

 

[Matt_1979]

Back in Serie B with Venezia. After going from FMTouch to a laptop I played with Hamburg for a season, which I enjoyed but in the back of my mind I was always thinking about little Venezia playing against AC Milan and Juve......

Just started so should have a first transfer window update soon. 

[judyislife]

Got halfway through my third season with Milan after winning the title in the second one.

In the summer 4 first team members left - Krunic for 13m, Bonaventura for 14.5m, Duarte for 14m and Rebic whose 2 year loan expired after not impressing me enough to activate his 20-ish million clause. Duarte and Krunic were taking foreign spots which are too valuable to waste on backups and Bonaventura's physical attributes had declined significantly. Andre Silva and Suso finally came back from smilar long term loans and were also sold for 30 and 25 million respectively. I also did a bit of a cleanup in the u20s  and sold a few players that obviously won't be able to break into the first team squad - Plizzari, Gabbia, Pecorino, Maldini, Bellodi, Pobega and a couple of others left for about 18m in total.

Davide Bettella was the first new face, coming to replace Duarte. He's young, Italian, has some potential to grow and costed 11m - less than what we got for Duarte. The next addition was another exciting Italian prospect - Emanuel Vignato. Managed to get him for 18.75m after pretty much bullying Bologna into selling him.  The other wide player we got (with the two of them basically replacing Rebic and Bonaventura) was Jeremie Boga for 9.25m. He has a French nationality so he doesn't take a FGN spot. Stefano Sturaro also joined for only 4m. With Kessie being the only defensive-minded midfielder he finally offers me another option. And in the last days of the transfer window Udinese put Rolando Mandragora in the transfer list for 23.5m. And I thought he was the perfect Krunic replacement. Also the midfield looked absolutely fantastic with him, Kessie, Tonali, Bennacer and Paqueta. And Sturaro too, he's a good lad. Easily the best roster of midfielders in Serie A and among the best in the world.

 

  

  

 

Juventus also put Dybala in the transfer list for ~80m and I was seriously considering him, even got an offer accepted (although the special price for us was 95m  ) and his demands were reasonable (350k wage but no crazy clauses) but in the end I decided against it. Liverpool ended up picking him up in the last day for only 73 million though so Juventus still got considerably weakened. Looking at other teams' interesting deals, Inter got Diogo Jota for 78m and Juventus got Camavinga for 62m and Jorginho for 69m.

After all the sales the balance reached ~200m and the board finally accepted my request to improve the youth facilities. Still got rejected for the training facilities though.

Anyway, it's January and we're on course to retain the title after only losing and drawing once and winning 17. To be fair, a lot of wins were pretty scrappy and what really got us the points was the fantastic defense that conceded only 7 goals. 

 

 

 

The real disappointment came in the Champions League where we failed to get past the group stage. We qualified in a group with Barcelona, Bayern and Lyon last year and failed now against Arsenal, Leipzig and Fenerbahce. 

 

 

 

Well, I might as well try to win EL now which hopefully I won't get the chance to do again in future.

As for top performers, Bennacer is great in midfield once again. It's impossible not to mention captain Romagnoli as well with such fantastic defensive performances. 

 

 

[Weston]

Not sure how I'll ever surpass Guardiola's Juve when they spend more than any other club! How am I supposed to compete with this? I spent 29m.

And on the other hand, as a real life Juventino I wish we had this kind of money here on planet Earth!

[XuluBak]

2021-2022 Midseason Update

Roughly halfway through our second season back in Serie A. We're firmly in the top half and flirting with fringe European football. We've been fantastic (6-3-0; including a 2-2 to Juve) at home, but fairly poor (1-5-3) away.  Moise Kean has been absolutely superb in his return to Italy. His 13 goals in 18 appearances currently has him sitting atop the golden boot race. Unfortunately, our second leading scorer is Lyanco with 4. Hoping for better production from other attacking players in the second half of the season. We've remained solid defensively, despite opening up a bit in attack, and made much better use of our attacking set pieces. We're 3rd worst for possession in Serie A, but have the second best shots on target ratio, and best conversion ratio. We're not the prettiest, but certainly more entertaining than last season. We're on the right track and our next intake looks quite promising:

[judyislife]

Paul Singer set a date for retirement in the summer and consortium takeover was completed in my Milan career. And I got the insane campaign promise bids for players. 108m for Marquinhos and 96m for Lucas Hernandez. I've got 2 CBs on important player contract, another elite CB coming in the summer, conceding a goal every 3 matches on average and the stupid idiot is trying to spend 200 million from the club's 138 million balance on another 2 CBs.  Is there a way to sabotage the transfers? 

 

 

[judyislife]

The transfers got completed and the ongoing upgrade of the youth facilities got scrapped as well because the board no longer sees the importance of such an investment. Guess they really need to save those 2 million or whatever. I'll finish the season but after it I'll be looking for a new job. Hopefully another of the big Italian teams will be available. Juventus would be very interesting because before the winter window where they bought Moussa Dembele their attack consisted of 37 year old Ronaldo, 34 year old Higuain, 31 year old Douglas Costa and transfer listed Bernardeschi. That was it. A rebuild would be a nice challange.

Also didn't want to spoil the transfer I arranged myself before that takeover crap but just look at how stupid the upcoming transfer tab looks when there already are two world class defenders at the club, one of them being the captain. 

 

 

Edited July 20, 2020 by judyislife

[XuluBak]

14 hours ago, judyislife said:

The transfers got completed and the ongoing upgrade of the youth facilities got scrapped as well because the board no longer sees the importance of such an investment. Guess they really need to save those 2 million or whatever. I'll finish the season but after it I'll be looking for a new job. Hopefully another of the big Italian teams will be available. Juventus would be very interesting because before the winter window where they bought Moussa Dembele their attack consisted of 37 year old Ronaldo, 34 year old Higuain, 31 year old Douglas Costa and transfer listed Bernardeschi. That was it. A rebuild would be a nice challange.

Also didn't want to spoil the transfer I arranged myself before that takeover crap but just look at how stupid the upcoming transfer tab looks when there already are two world class defenders at the club, one of them being the captain. 

 

 

That's easily one of the dumbest things I've seen in any version of FM. 

[Gungner]

Throw the ones you don't need into the reserves, or loan them out straight away. That's what I do.

It's a stupid feature anyway. 

[judyislife]

Finished the season, won the Serie A with 97 points and also won a second super cup. Got eliminated both from the league cup in the first round and Europa League in the 1/4 final though. After the last league game I  resigned which means we ended up with 2 league titles, 2 super cups and 1 league cup in 3 years. Not too bad but an European trophy would have been nice as well.

Inter and Roma had just sacked their managers, I applied only for Inter and after an eternity they came back with an interview and later an offer. I accepted and so I officially remain at San Siro.  They have finished 6th, second and 4th respectively and have only won the Italian cup last season. Squad management seems horrible. At the time I took over there was no first choice keeper at the club, only 5 first team defenders - 2 RBs, 3 CBs and no LBs and 4 midfielders - Barella, Sensi, Brozovic and Eriksen. Only in attack things seemed fine in terms of numbers. No wonder I won back to back titles when Inter and Juventus can't even fill their squads properly with the 100s of millions they spend. 

In terms of interesting transfers - they've bought Chiesa (who I wanted when I was with Milan but had no money, and they arranged his sale to PSG while I was waiting for my job application ), David Neres who I also wanted and who they also sold later, Diogo Jota for 78m and Cengiz Under who became player of the year last season. They've sold De Vrij for only 55m, Lautaro Martinez and the two I mentioned. They have a some great youngsters coming through though, defenitely have had more luck than me in that regard.

Sebastiano Esposito's situation is concerning. Year left on the contract and doesn't want to discuss renewing because of interest in him (by Roma and Sassuolo?). From what I can tell he hasn't been happy with his playing time before so I hope he will change his mind by winter.

Giulio Maggiore and Federico Dimarco came back from loans immediately after and also added some depth to the squad. 

Edited July 21, 2020 by judyislife

[john1]

@judyislifeInteresting move from AC Milan to Inter Milan  The bids your chairman made on those two players absolutely killed it tbh, I had the same with my save, 137M for Phil Foden, left him to rot in reserves cos non EU spot was taken, sold him 6 months later for 40M   

[john1]

 

 

 
Spent quite alot in the summer on investing to improve our defence, sadly Henderson. can't play as non EU spot was taken once again   Found Leonardo, via my scout in Brazil but decided to loan him out to get game time this season, but set him as squad player on loan, so Bayern came for him, as he already played couple games for them so I am happy so far. Valdy, again from my Portuguese scout  I am really tempted to retrain him as AMR ( like spurs did with Bale) Any good advice on this? @quee @Weston @XuluBak

Out going transfers - Was surprised Chelsea offered 45M for Gollini, decided to cash in on him as I felt Molla, is ready to take his spot.

[john1]

 
As most of you know that I treated this kid like my lovechild   He's still improving and he not long just been capped by Italy   and now a wonderkid  Hopefully Fabio Pedretti or Marco Gabrieli can follow in his footstep and get capped by Italy

Edited July 21, 2020 by john1

[Weston]

11 minutes ago, john1 said:

 
Spent quite alot in the summer on investing to improve our defence, sadly Henderson. can't play as non EU spot was taken once again   Found Leonardo, via my scout in Brazil but decided to loan him out to get game time this season, but set him as squad player on loan, so Bayern came for him, as he already played couple games for them so I am happy so far. Valdy, again from my Portuguese scout  I am really tempted to retrain him as AMR ( like spurs did with Bale) Any good advice on this? @quee @Weston @XuluBak

I would not, but I'm biased because I do not play with players in the winger positions, only attacking wingbacks. You will be able to find plenty of strong attacking wingers, but it is very, very, very difficult to find decent fullbacks/wingbacks with both good offensive and defensive attributes like this guy. So I would hold on to him where he is.

In general I was never very successful with retraining players in past editions, so I've kind of given up on trying. I used to try to train really good attacking wingers into AMCs to fit my formation, and they would flop, so I'd sell them and buy proper AMCs. Now it seems a little easier, but I've already beat it out of me.

Ironically, the only time I've tried to find players to retrain in FM20 was when I searched for players with attacking wingback attributes that don't play in that position to try to create what you are trying to train away from! I thought maybe I could find a box to box midfielder with decent crossing or attacking winger with good tackling and repurpose them, but it didn't seem viable. I think either the game doesn't make enough of them and/or they are just rarer in real life?

Either way it seems easier to scout well and sign what you want then to try to change people - perhaps that's true for real life as well haha

Edited July 21, 2020 by Weston

[XuluBak]

I don't see any good reason to try to convert him. He's already well on his way toward being a great attacking FB/WB, but really lacking in some key attributes that'd make it tempting to push him forward.