All roads lead to Rome

[Vladis]

Hello, guys! Despite i`ve purchased fm21 and had some ideas about future save, decided to return to my current career with the team I fell in love with. As title says: All roads lead to Romea.

I've been making updates in Calcio thread until the end of season 7. Here I want to give you quick summary of my career as Roma manager until summer 2026, introduce the squad and then post future updates.

 

Pre-history of what I was starting with in the link below.

 

    

2026

 

Competitions summary

Serie A

So as you can see in terms of titles we are the most successfull team in Italy in the last 7 seasons. Juventus, Inter and Lazio every year fight for the scudetto + Milan is returning his positions, so Serie A is still very competitive tournament. Besides our main rivals Lazio, during this period, are the most successfull Italian team in Europe: 1 CL and 1 EL titles in 7 years!

Coppa Italia

Two cups in seven years - the same as Juve and Lazio. But last two years I prefered not to focus on this cup, playing with reserve/youth squad.

UEFA Champions League

21/22 final is still our main success in Europe. Those campaign was really great. We knocked out Bayern, Real and PSG and were able to win the final but early red card from Veretout greatly reduced our chances.

UEFA Europa League

The only time we participated in EL was in the first season where we were knocked out by Arsenal in semi-finals.

Club Coefficients

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Teams with the highest reputation

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Next post will be about our squad, transfers etc. Stay tuned.

[Vladis]

Transfers. Squad development.

 

During all season we showed moderate transfer activity. I prefer to operate with compact and menegerable squads, so usually we have 21-22 players in the first squad +1 or 2 youngsters who play in cup matches or provide backup options in case of injures.

Trent and Cutrone are the most expensive newbies.  And we had a lot of good deals with making a huge profit on players. Rodri and Reguillon were signed on free transfers and finally sold for 132M (59M for Reguillon and 73M for Rodri). Diawara (signed  for 21M) and Pedro (signed for 12,5M) were sold to Chinese clubs for around 150M in aggregate.

Transfer records

 

All transfers (main ones)

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Our current squad (as for the 1st of June 2026)

Goalkeepers

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Pau Lopez in FM is much better than IRL and he is still our number 1. Muric (signed from Man City) is really great back-up who can be used without any drop in quality. And we have now outstnading young GK, who could become fist choice in 2-3 years (will show him later).

 

Defenders

 

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Here we have our best academy product Corelli and still the best right wingback in the world TAA. On the left flank we have 2 home-grown players. But the future of Aufiero is questionable cause he almost realized his potential but still don`t have enough attacking skills which are crucial in my tactical style.

 

Midfielders

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Riccardi and Lorenzo Pellegrini are our core players and main creators and team leaders in the dressing room. Simarro is very skillful young playmaker purchased from Espanyol (played for u20 last seasons).

 

Attacking players/Strikers

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Despite we have world-class inside forwards like Under, Rodrygo i'm not really happy with creating/scoring but may be it's a question for our tactical approach. Andrea Foresti is described as wonderkid and could become real star. Want to retrain him for Inside forward role. We also have versatile strikers Cutrone and Zeerkze who can provide support for partners and also score goals for themself.

 

Top prospects (u18 and u20 teams)

Ettore Piroli potentially could be replacement for Aufiero but still has room for improvement.

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Ugo Neri Those young GK who could become number one in few years. Was purchased from Chievo at the age of 16.

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Franco Menochio - very talented attacking player but i'm not sure i can find a place for him in my tactic. Probably will send him on loan.

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Mergim Bytyqi - Swiss/Kosovan wonderkid scored 8 goals for Eibar in last season. As i have Rodrygo and home-grown talent Foresti in his position probably will send him on loan again.

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[Vladis]

Tactical approach

All seasons except the last one I stuck to 4-3-3 formation and only last season I decided to experiment with 4-2-3-1 but failed in  terms of finding balance between defending and attacking so during this mid-season we have returned to 4-3-3. This shape also helps me to utilize better our key players: Riccardi, Trent AA.

This is basic tactic. Usually I adapt it to upcoming fixtures, making less or more risky. For AP (Riccardi role) I use PI "dribble more" and "roam from position". CM is asked to get further forward, adding numbers in penalty area.

I'm not a fan of gegenpressing approach and this combination of roles/duties and TI's is probably the most adventurous i`ve ever used with Roma but hope we have enough quality for this.

For example this is more cautious (counter) approach in matches where we are not considered as favorites or against teams in good form with dangerous attack.

 

Training approach

I prefer to use custom training schedules as I don't like balance in default ones.

We have 3 schedules for pre-season:

1. First week (no matches)

2. Second week (1 match)

3. Next weeks (2 matches)

 

During the season we use schedules focused on:

1. Defence

2. Attack

3. Distribution

And also we have 2 "extra" sessions:

1. Balanced 

2. No matches (for international breaks)

 

Talking about individual training i prefer to train those roles which are the most demanding for player attributes. For example all CD's are trained as BPD, inside forwards as IW(A), playmakers (dlp and ap) as Roaming playmakers etc.

 

Youth development

Basic principles here are:

1. Compact squads (16-18 players for u18 squad and 18-21 players for u20 squad). So all youngsters have playing time.

2. Individual focus on the most talented youngsters.  I usually set up individual trainings for them and follow their progress on a weekly/monthly basis.

3. Right time for sending on loan. After my youngsters reach 18 y.o. they have 3 ways for the future development: to stay in u20, to go on loan, or to move in senior squads (for wonderkids). I prefer to keep more talented players in primavera team exploiting our fantastic facilities. But if i have two future prospects on the same position, one of them will go on loan.

 

After some experimenting with number of coaches in youth squads i didn't find any notable difference in players development so i prefer more minimalistic approach for u18 and u 20 coaching team.  

 

And one example of player development through all stages in our system. It's Luca Corelli - one of our key players and World Cup champion!

Edited November 24, 2020 by Vladis

[Vladis]

Season 2026-2027

 

Transfers

I didn`t plan any changes in the first team squad so this year we only signed/released young players. Glad with amount of money we got from selling some of our youngster. Besides we have an option to buy back Fiorani and Pylypenko for moderate fee. 

Among our arrivals i want to highlight Serbian prospect Pajic. This season he spent in Serie B team Salerintana and helped them to gain promotion.

 

Fixtures

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We have failed to meet board expectations but our performance was optimistic enough. Some sudden defeats didn`t allow us to be at the top of the table. 90 goals is our new scoring record. But at the same time we conceded 35 goals which is too much for us.  Inter is real giant for last two seasons. The only one game they lost season was against my team which is very pleasing to note.

 

Inter was too good for us. Bad luck was to meet them on this early stage.

 

We managed to qualify from really tough group with the only loss at San Siro. Draw against Tottenham in 1st KO round was not the best variant for us because Spurs is the real power now in European football. But with the huge desire and may be some luck we won twice (1-0 at home and 2-1 in London). And then we faced Inter again...

 

Player stats

For Pau Lopez this season was last in our club. He has done a good job here but now we have rising star Neri and quality Kosovan Muric. Neri debuted in April and in 4 matches made 3 clean sheets.

No ups and downs here. Everyone has played as expected from him.

Corelli missed the the first half of the season with serious injury. Milenkovic almost perfectly replaced him in this period. 

Riccardi and Pellegrini were our main creators as expected. Also i`m really impressed with young Simarro with his first season in senior level. Unfortunately he broke Ankle in January and missed second half of the season.

Under is probably the best player of the season. He broke club record with 20 assist per season. I`m still not happy with Rodrygo. 9+1 is not what i expect for player of his level. Hope next season he will show why he is here. 

Both our strikers ended season with the same amount of goals. Even despite the fact that they are very different players in terms of playing style. 

 

Next season expectations

[Vladis]

Should to make some notes about our primavera and u18 teams performance and also Youth intake 2027.

U18 team

Campionato under-17 AEB 2026-2027 - runners-up

 

U20 team

Primavera 1 - winners

 

Coppa Italia Primavera - winners 

Supercoppa Primavera - winners 

UEFA Youth League - 2KO round (lost to Bayer Leverkusen on penalties)

Viareggio Cup - winners

Premier League International Cup - failed to qualify from the group stage

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Youth intake 

Same as in the last years we got pretty average group of youngsters coming in except great prospect Scartozzi. 

I`m not sure how he will fit possession-oriented style of football but anyway he is very good option - we can integrate him in our tactic or sell for big price. If he would have better work rate it could be reasonable to retrain him as wingback.

 

If we return to youth development discussion i already mentioned that i`m not so happy with overall quality of youngsters coming through youth intake in the last years. So i decided to hire new HoYD. Welcome, Gianluca Pessotto.

He perfectly suits our club status and has the same vision of playing style as mine. And finally Gianluca is Model Professional.

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Also i`ve made some spreadsheets to systematize staff, players, facilities info. One part of it - our youth coaching team

[Vladis]

Season 2027-2028

 

Transfers

Orsolini, Pau Lopez and Depay were great servants for the club for the long time but they are not getting younger and I think it was the right time for them to leave Roma.

Our home-grown talents Foresti and Neri were intended to replace Depay and Pau Lopez respectively while replacement for Orsolini we were forced to search out of the club and finally big money were spent for young Italian winger Mario Tasca who is our rivals Lazio home-grown but have not played a single match for them and went to Salerintana for free where he was found by Dortmund scouts.

Also two very promising players were bought in for very moderate fee: Jacques Ferroni and another great young Serbian defender (last year it was Pajic) Petar Bajic. I`m already Imagine this partnership in the future Pajic - Bajic 

 

 

Fixtures

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4th place is the worst result for Roma under my management. All season until March was ups and downs. We forget how to win two or more games in a row. But after some crucial tweaks in tactics we have managed to improve situation and were near to top3 finish but two draws in last two games against Perugia and Napoli left us on 4th place. Inter is a champion again. It`s their third straight title.

 

Opposite to league performance our cup campaigns this season were very successful. The final against Lazio is a grand affair by itself but what if I would tell you that it was repetition for much bigger one...

 

 I still don`t have proper answer how we did it but...we did it. We were near failing to promote from the group and only win against Galatasaray in last tour at he same time with Monaco defeat at Santiago Bernabeu brought us to the playoffs. During the knockouts round we didn`t lose any single game and went to London for historical  Derby della Capitale.

It was a tough match as expected. Despite we were in control of the game Lazio scored first. But in less then 15 minutes header from Zirkzee after corner helped us to avoid defeat. Until the end of the extra time we have some good chances but no goals more. The penalty shootout was like a dream. Crucial figures were our home-grownes. The winning streak came from club icon Riccardi. And the final save was made by 20 y.o. Ugo Neri who have already debuted for the national team this year.

And as you can see 7 our players are in Dream Team.

 

 

Player stats

It would be wrong to say that the first full season for Neri as the member of senior team was absolutely spotless. But i would hardly expect more from 20 y.o. debutant. CL final and first international appearance (with clean sheet) should be very memorable moments for him. Muric gave us stability in important matches. So i`m very glad with our goalkeeping line.

Not the best season for TAA for sure. He is probably the biggest dissapointment. Partly it is and my fault too. I think i had to give him more freedom in attack. But i will make improvements at his role integration for the new season. On the left flank Pellegrini has had a good stable season. Aufiero is almost reached his potential but didn`t developed enough to be competitive at our level. Besides he got a serious injury in the end of the season and will be off until august and after that we will find a new club for him.

I don`t have any major questions for our central defenders. Not outstanding but good performance from all of them.

Our team leaders Riccardi, Pellegrini have maintained there level. However Lorenzo for now is more rotation option for Riccardi as we need more defensive minded players for DM position. I don`t know what to do with Zaniolo. Seems like he is unstable in his form but he can produce great performance in key matches. Besides there are not so many good well rounded midfielders in the transfer market so we will probably keep him at least until we find more quality replacement for him.

Another great season for Cengiz. He was among the best players in Champions League and became on of the key factors of our success un this competition. Foresti and Tasca showed really good progress since the adopted for new positions but still have room for improvement. Scartozzi is our last Youth intake product and have already had some minutes in the senior team. For now he is retraining for CWB role as i see him as future replacement for TAA.

Zirkzee has been established as our main forward. Of course i think he is capable for more then 20 goals. Cutrone didn`t have as many minutes as in the previous season but anyway 8 goals in 30 games is not what i was expected from him. He is 30 y.o. and i think about selling him in the nearest future.

 

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About our Youth teams and Youth intake

Youth intake

Probably the worst youth intake for nine seasons. Can highlight only one but mainly because i have never had Icelandic players came from academy.

 

U18 team

Campionato under-17 AEB 2027-2028 - winners

Supercoppa Under-18 - winners

 

 

U20 team

Primavera 1 - lost in semi-finals

 

Coppa Italia Primavera - winners 

Supercoppa Primavera - winners 

UEFA Youth League - Qtr final (lost to Tottenham u18)

Viareggio Cup - winners

Premier League International Cup - failed to qualify from the group stage

[Vladis]

Guys, it will be very short  update. 

After 10th season where i failed to complete all competition objectives from my board i was fired. But i can`t say that i`m totally upset because it was very succesful campaign and one of the most enjoyable saves ever!

Thanks to all who followed my updates. 

Edited December 27, 2020 by Vladis