Lee Young-pyo : inter galactic (continental?) journeyman and tactical visionary - Chapter 3 - Napoli

[karanhsingh]

And so now, back to the action...

(sorry for the number of updates but I managed to play quite a bit over the weekend :D) 

We leave Famalicao with a hard fought draw.

Porto win their game, which means it could not be tighter at the top. 

We are above them due to our superior head to head record, which in Portugal supersedes goal difference luckily. Porto are likely going to win their remaining games so from here on in the task is simple - win your games and win the league.

[karanhsingh]

Gameweek 31

We all play on the same day. Famalicao lose to Benfica which means they are probably out of the running.

Porto with a statement win over Academica. But we also kept it fairly comfortable this time at home vs Gil Vicente.

[karanhsingh]

Gameweek 32

Once again, we play on the same day. A potential banana skin is avoided with a Francisco penalty clinching a 1-0 away win for us against relegation fighting Pacos.

Porto as you can see are obliterating every team in sight and this time they knock 8 goals past mid table Tondela.

[karanhsingh]

Gameweek 33

This time we play on Friday and Porto are on Sunday.

Super proud of this performance, and also happy that Tiago Morais finally broke his goal drought as well. Could not have asked for a whole lot more.

Porto of course do the business, although this time it's just the 6 goals at Oliveirense.

And so, it will all come down to the final day of the season.

We play Moreirense away, which will not be easy. As for Porto, it does not matter as they will win.

[karanhsingh]

The final day

Spoiler

As we went into a tough away game, the task was clear. Win the match, win the league.

Here are the line-ups. 2 changes from our strongest XI, Kim was injured so Mugosa comes in, and Diaz suspended so his compatriot Lima replaces him.

And we are underway!

A dream start as Francisco (who else) gets us an early goal! And we are on our way

And we don't have to wait long for the 2nd, Mugosa plays a wonderful through ball for Morais to smash home. He's finally found his shooting boots again.

At this point we are in dreamland! 3-0 up with just 22 minutes on the clock, as assist machine Hamache swings in a corner and Lima rises highest to head home.

3 goals to the good at HT, surely we cannot mess it up from here.

They pull one back on 52 minutes, and suddenly I can sense us starting to get nervous. I thought we were going to romp to the finish line, but now I decide to go defensive and start wasting time where we can.

We are almost there, when they score a second in the first minute of added time. Which means "squeaky bum time" as Fergie would say it, we will need to somehow hold on for the final few minutes...

PHEW! We can let out a HUGE sigh of relief

And of course what that means is that Boavista are Champions!! On a side note, Porto didn't manage to beat Portimonense at home but of course we could never have banked on that. So ultimately, the title is won by 2 points.

Finally, the dominance of the big 3 has been ended, at least momentarily 

 

 

[Hootieleece]

Great Win of the League!

 

[DavidBeckham]

Congrats on the title win! Fantastic work 

[karanhsingh]

7 hours ago, Hootieleece said:

Great Win of the League!

 

 

5 hours ago, DavidBeckham said:

Congrats on the title win! Fantastic work 

Thanks fellas!

[karanhsingh]

What a season it finally turned out to be! Here are the squad stats from the title winning season.

The stars of the season for me -

Francisco of course, finished as our top scorer, 2nd top scorer in the league and won the award for signing of the season. Hoping he will now stay at least one more season.

Kim Sung-Jin - probably our best player actually. He was extremely useless as an AM but found a new lease of life playing as a DLF. 

Our regular back 3 of vice-captain Awaziem, Bajrami and Diaz has been very solid indeed. Sadly Bajrami will be going to Sevilla in the summer and will of course need replacing.

Finally despite his horrid disciplinary record have to mention Yanis Hamache who finishes with the highest number of assists in the league with 14.

Next up a little profiling of the young stars of Boavista.

Edited June 29, 2022 by karanhsingh

[karanhsingh]

A little update on the 6 youngsters who have played roles to varying degrees during this season:

Putting it in a spoiler due to the number of images.

Spoiler

Gotta start with the main man Francisco

He's definitely developed quite a bit this season with improvements across the board really. Plus developed a couple of handy traits as well. I can't thank the Belenenses academy enough for producing him and giving him a 350k release clause  @Jimbokav1971 you may be interested to have a look

Not as much improvement in our South Korean star but he is also coming along quite well and now a regular for his country too. I look forward to seeing what he does with a full season playing as our DLF.

Diaz of course was our very first signing at Boavista and what a wonderful find he has been. He has not developed that much but is always putting in very solid performances.

His country-mate Lima though has shown very good progress and seems more ready for first team football now, not to mention he is a real threat from set pieces.

Baubet did not progress as much as I'd have liked although he has got the traits now @Cheez3yI hope next season is the one for him

Finally our back-up Keeper has actually made some huge strides this year in his development and is also definitely ready for a lot more action next season

 

 

[karanhsingh]

Another move?

Done with the summer transfers at Boavista and ready for the new season, although not too many moves this time around.

However then suddenly a new opportunity presents itself. After the completion of the world cup (Netherlands beat Poland in the final, go figure), there are a number of managerial movements. West Ham United offer an interview, and then swiftly offer the job as well.

I must say I am tempted. They are a big club, regularly selling out their brand new 60k seater stadium in London. Struggling in the game, finishing 15th last season and never finishing in the top half since we started out. Fits the profile in terms of trying to bring success to clubs which have not had it since long - Boavista had not won the title since 2001 and West Ham have actually never won the top division (was surprised to find this out). Would be a huge challenge to break the stranglehold of Man City & Liverpool in the Premiership, especially as Mbappe now plays for the former.

So is it time to bring the Lee Young-Pyo show to England? To try out the various permutations of his 3 at the back formations in the biggest & arguably toughest league in the world?

Or do we give it another year in Portugal and try to develop the young stars further & retain the league title? Any and all thoughts are welcome!

[Hootieleece]

England! IF they offer you the Bank! (Realistic to take a higher wage)

Portugal: If you want to defend your title. (Since manager pay doesn't matter)

Either way would be a good narrative.

[karanhsingh]

I think I have decided to resist the temptation of going to England (again). Since I've not yet managed in these countries in FM22, my next job is likely to be an interesting club in Italy or Spain. 

For the time being we will continue with Boavista. 

[ManUtd1]

15 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

I think I have decided to resist the temptation of going to England (again). 

[DavidBeckham]

On 02/07/2022 at 13:00, karanhsingh said:

I think I have decided to resist the temptation of going to England (again). Since I've not yet managed in these countries in FM22, my next job is likely to be an interesting club in Italy or Spain. 

For the time being we will continue with Boavista. 

Good choice mate! I don't think the Spurs fans will be too pleased with Lee going to manage their rivals too! Wait for the Spurs job!

[karanhsingh]

19 hours ago, DavidBeckham said:

Good choice mate! I don't think the Spurs fans will be too pleased with Lee going to manage their rivals too! Wait for the Spurs job!

Spurs are doing quite well already in the save. Now that I turned down West Ham, I don't think England is going to happen.

[karanhsingh]

When deciding to stay with Boavista, I made a (very) short list of clubs for whom I would consider leaving them mid-season. Clubs that have an attraction for reasons that go beyond football. I started following those clubs, and then, in the middle of December 2026, the club which was absolutely #1 on my list came calling.

They were struggling in their division and had recently sacked their manager. As a matter of fact, they have been struggling for the past few seasons.

The greatest ever player in the history of the game played for this club. Let's see if we can do justice to his legacy.

[karanhsingh]

Now in terms of leaving Boavista, I am very happy to say that we leave them in an extremely strong position.

Here are the fixtures for the season till the time of departure. The tactic with the front 3 seems to be the one which is working better than all the other variations so far.

As you can see, at least we did manage to win the club another trophy before leaving:

They are well-placed in the league, and I really hope they can retain the title from here.

And the best part of course, is that we leave a squad full of talented wonderkids. I don't expect to see them staying at Boavista, and I do hope a couple of them can join me at my new club. However they all have pretty hefty release clauses now, which are reflected in their valuations.

The best ones I reckon are Francisco, Kim Sung-Jin, Baubet, Okeke and Diaz. Apart from these, high hopes in the future for Gomes, Antonio, Lima and Young as well.

Btw @Cheez3yI got in Joao Resende on loan for the season as we had literally no money to spend and as you can see he has been excellent. Really a hidden gem who's not used well at all by his club.

[Cheez3y]

1 hour ago, karanhsingh said:

Btw @Cheez3yI got in Joao Resende on loan for the season as we had literally no money to spend and as you can see he has been excellent. Really a hidden gem who's not used well at all by his club.

Resende is such a beast, great to see that he is doin well in your save too.

He might not got much potential, but he plays to his stats or often way above it.

[karanhsingh]

Italia, here we come!

Suck it, JT 

[Cheez3y]

2 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Italia, here we come!

Suck it, JT 

Welcome to Italy!

Friendly reminder...always keep the Non-EU rule in mind.

[karanhsingh]

32 minutes ago, Cheez3y said:

Welcome to Italy!

Friendly reminder...always keep the Non-EU rule in mind.

Of course.. already confused to hell by it 

[karanhsingh]

Sneak peak of a VERY busy January window and my most expensive FM22 transfer of all time.

[DaNascimento]

Nice choice with Napoli. Curious about, how the squad looks like. And italy is always nice to play

[karanhsingh]

9 minutes ago, DaNascimento said:

Nice choice with Napoli. Curious about, how the squad looks like. And italy is always nice to play

Thanks! Will update very soon. 

My first time in Italy after very long on FM so it's quite exciting. 

[Hootieleece]

I hope you will play with a #10 in honor of Maradona!

After all the Stadium is named after him!

 

[DavidBeckham]

Napoli!! Great place to foray into the Serie A! Francisco's gonna follow Lee everywhere he goes, doesn't he?

[karanhsingh]

12 hours ago, Hootieleece said:

I hope you will play with a #10 in honor of Maradona!

After all the Stadium is named after him!

Definitely! We do have an Italian player right now who is quite similar to him. I'll have a squad update up soon. 

11 hours ago, DavidBeckham said:

Napoli!! Great place to foray into the Serie A! Francisco's gonna follow Lee everywhere he goes, doesn't he?

Well we had to shell out a lot of money for him, hope he is worth it! I am kind of regretting now giving him a new contract at Boavista which doubled his release clause...

[karanhsingh]

Welcome to SSC Napoli!

Well then. Here is the squad at the time of taking over at Napoli.

As often happens under the semi-competent management of the AI, it is a good but ageing squad. There are several star players like Koulibaly, Lozano, di Lorenzo, Zaccagni, etc. who will need replacing soon. The team has clearly been under-performing and is in need of some fresh blood.

Matteo Cancellieri looks fantastic and is someone to build the future around, IF we can hold onto him.

They were 14th in the league and European qualification seems impossible this time around. It's time to focus on slowly improving the club and maybe target the Copa Italia for a good strong run.

Another very interesting part of the challenge will be the finances, which are a mess to put things mildly. We are deeply in the red and are spending way more than we earn each month. Not being in Europe will only make things harder. So this will definitely need to be sorted before too long.

[karanhsingh]

Soon after taking over, we had the opportunity to make some changes to the playing squad with the January 2027 transfer window. It ended up being busier than expected.

We also used it as an opportunity to address some of the financial issues surrounding the club.

Of course, only the transfers in Jan 2027 are the ones done under the new management. Totally, the incoming amounted to ~ 51 million with outgoings of ~ 112 million for a positive net spend of over 60 million.

The incoming is basically a combination of players worked with before and players from the short-list. There is also an influx of loan signings to get by till the end of the season and have enough time on hand to properly scout and identify long term targets.

The big signing here of course is the Spanish wonderkid Francisco who follows his manager from Boavista to Napoli. Other ex-players include the set piece king Yanis Hamache and Adrian Bajrami who joins on loan from his new club Sevilla.

Here are all the new signings for the club - also watch out for Rodrigo Carreiro who has got "wonderkid" status soon after joining. Spoilered due to number of images.

Spoiler

Main man Francisco (slow start to life in Italy though)

Rodrigo Carreiro could become a good well-rounded striker with time

 

Hamache will provide a useful option alongside Sosa as our primary LWB and man on all set pieces

Here is Adrian Bajrami now, definitely a good fit for the 3 CB formation since he is also left-footed

More defensive re-inforcement with another loan signing in Tomas Araujo who has been on the short-list for a while

Exciting French youngster Kergoustin joins us from AC Milan on loan with an option to buy as we have to start thinking about a long term replacement for Di Lorenzo

Bruno is a last minute short term signing when Inter came in for Amiri and he wanted to move - we will definitely not be able to afford him beyond this season

And another short term signing when our current keeper kicked up a fuss and demanded to move to Bayern and sit on their bench

 

[karanhsingh]

2026-27 Italian Serie A

So here are the league fixtures since the take-over at Napoli:

Some good performances, some not so good performances. 19 games played and 34 points garnered. Definitely a much better effort than how the club was doing previously but a long way to go to challenge the top clubs in the division.

We did make a steady climb up the standings and thanks to the final two wins we managed to finish in 6th place, qualifying for the Europa league.

[karanhsingh]

2026-27 Copa Italia

The Cup run makes for a lot better reading, particularly the win in Milan inspired by a Francisco brace. One of his few good performances so far.

This has set up a final date against Inter (thankfully they beat Juve in the semis).

[karanhsingh]

The season stats. It's been a rather slow start for the massive 40m signing in Italy.

Cancellieri is clearly our best player at this point. Sadly our best defender Koulibaly is leaving on a free and joining rivals Juventus. I will be looking to make the Araujo move permanent for sure. Sosa was the other one who's done well enough on the left flank.

Tactically I am still trying to figure out the best way to play my strikers. Particularly to get the best out of Francisco and have him more involved in the games.

I do not think the 3-4-3 being used at Boavista is working over here because it's leaving the 3 up-front too isolated and also leaves us very exposed. It was maybe better off for a more counter-attacking team with space to attack in behind.

Tried a few games with the AMC + 2 SC combination but that was a complete disaster.

For the last few games I trialed a new formation with a back 3, DM+LWB+RWB, 2 Mezzalas and 2 up-front. This seemed to work out a bit better. 

So I am now in all honesty a bit confused about how to play this next season. But one thing is for sure we need to get the best out of both Cancellieri and Francisco to have a chance. Any feedback is welcome!

[karanhsingh]

And before I sign off for the day a quick update on old club Boavista!

They managed to retain the league title and also won the League Cup to make it a treble for the season!

A super job after both manager & star player Francisco left mid-season. Super happy to see this!

[Cheez3y]

4 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

And before I sign off for the day a quick update on old club Boavista!

They managed to retain the league title and also won the League Cup to make it a treble for the season!

A super job after both manager & star player Francisco left mid-season. Super happy to see this!

Thats really nice to see.

[Hootieleece]

5 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

And before I sign off for the day a quick update on old club Boavista!

They managed to retain the league title and also won the League Cup to make it a treble for the season!

A super job after both manager & star player Francisco left mid-season. Super happy to see this!

 

1 hour ago, Cheez3y said:

Thats really nice to see.

It is always great to see the AI actually achieve after a Human Manager leaves......In my current save I left Guiseley (VNL) for Wigan in League One. Guiseley was comfortably in playoff places with 35 points at start of December......AI manager somehow got them relegated, mostly because new AI Manager played a 4-2-3-1 Wide and the team had no AML or AMR's. I had played the 5-2-1-2 WB.

[karanhsingh]

9 minutes ago, Hootieleece said:

 

It is always great to see the AI actually achieve after a Human Manager leaves......In my current save I left Guiseley (VNL) for Wigan in League One. Guiseley was comfortably in playoff places with 35 points at start of December......AI manager somehow got them relegated, mostly because new AI Manager played a 4-2-3-1 Wide and the team had no AML or AMR's. I had played the 5-2-1-2 WB.

Exactly this is what usually happens. But not this time! Even though yes the new manager did change formation. He even bought the guy who was the top of my shortlist for the next window at Boavista. I will put up a screenshot of him tomorrow. 

Sadly Incheon are not doing quite as well, they barely stayed in the Korean top division this past season. 

[ManUtd1]

I don't know... I'll never forgive Bobby Manc for following me around in the FM17 version of the Nearly Men, winning titles with my teams. The snide ****.

Maybe I'm the only one who feels this way, though...

[karanhsingh]

Copa Italia Finale 2028 - Inter vs Napoli

This may just be the most dramatic game I have played on FM... ever!

Both teams went into the match using the same formation so it would be a true battle of the players. 

I think we edged the game during normal time, but we could not find a winner.

And so it went to ET, and then all the way to penalties. 

3 penalties in, Inter have scored 3 and we have scored just 1. The misses coming from Lozano and Hamache, quite shockingly. And so, it's pretty much all over right. Not only do we need to score both of our remaining kicks, they just need the one.

Wrong! We somehow take it into sudden death. I think I quite literally jumped off my seat (at work, no less).

It was a nail biting finish. Until Inter's young center half stepped up and finally misses the 9th penalty of the match. Literally from the jaws of defeat, we have somehow fought back to win the Cup!

And of course, we owe it all to our keeper Stankovic for making 3 absolutely world class saves.

And the best part - the kicker is that Stankovic is on loan... from Inter 

[karanhsingh]

@Cheez3y as per these weird non-EU rules, the player I sign will not be eligible if he does not have 5 (senior or U21) caps for his NT? Am I reading this correctly?

It's quite annoying that when negotiating the player contract they don't inform you if that particular player will be eligible or not.

[Cheez3y]

15 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

@Cheez3y as per these weird non-EU rules, the player I sign will not be eligible if he does not have 5 (senior or U21) caps for his NT? Am I reading this correctly?

It's quite annoying that when negotiating the player contract they don't inform you if that particular player will be eligible or not.

"if he does not have 5 (senior or U21) caps for his NT? Am I reading this correctly?"

tbh I didnt read that.

 

The only thing I can tell you for sure, if you see in the transfer offer screen on the bottom a red square/infobox.

You probably are over the limit or you cant register him.

Edited July 8, 2022 by Cheez3y

[Hootieleece]

You might have to sell another player using a Non-EU spot first.  Also, it is often hard to get Wonderkids in because of lack of International Appearances in many Countries. Often you have to overpay them in Salary to "Bend" the rules. 

[karanhsingh]

21 minutes ago, Hootieleece said:

You might have to sell another player using a Non-EU spot first.  Also, it is often hard to get Wonderkids in because of lack of International Appearances in many Countries. Often you have to overpay them in Salary to "Bend" the rules. 

I managed to sign one guy up. There are no permit rules in Italy but yes i can only add one per season unless I lose one. Was thinking of selling Lozano but he wants to move to Juventus and I'm not letting that happen for sure. 

[karanhsingh]

So here is the summer of 2027 for SSC Napoli

In two parts.. because the transfers split like this (can't believe SI still hasn't fixed this) 

Incoming is approx. 36 million. Outgoing approx. 97 million - of this 37m was a pre-arranged transfer of Soumare before I took over so could not do anything about that. Although he is a top class player so I am not really complaining.

It was always going to be a heavy(ish) spend this summer since we let go a lot of players in Jan and then brought in a number of loanees till the end of the season. Two of those see their transfers made permanent in Soumare & Araujo. Also loans have been extended for Stankovic (after his shoot-out heroics) and Kergoustin to provide cover.

Putting the images of some of the incoming players in a spoiler - look out for Gesto & Ruiz Diaz (a Czech + Paraguayan new-gen) who look like absolute bargains. Papetti is the man tasked with the responsibility of replacing Koulibaly which will be a massive task. Pessina & Nubel should also add some real quality to the side.

Spoiler

 

[karanhsingh]

And so, here is our 22 man squad for the new season:

We will be depending upon Francisco of course, Cancellieri and Lozano to provide the goals. There is a very solid midfield trio now of Gallagher, Soumare and Pessina. At the back, we will rely on Pepetti, Di Lorenzo and new goal-keeper Nubel to keep the goals out.

Also, we have a brand new tactic, after the transfers we have made. No more back 3. Inspired by the diamond shape of @Cheez3y and real life Ancelotti, we are going with the following. It is still however in the process of being shaped and tweaked to fit the squad.

[karanhsingh]

And I must say one more thing, I think overcoming the Italian giants, and Juventus especially, is going to be quite the challenge. Just look at their spends.

They got Vinicius Junior in this season to add to an already world class attack, in addition to Dembele & Koulibaly (from us of course) on frees, and also the best young Italian CM in the game who I could sadly not afford. I checked their spends each season - apparently they have a whopping 191m of sponsorship income each season which is 10x ours (LOL) and more than the 2nd, 3rd & 4th put together. 

Not only that, AC Milan have only gone and signed who I consider to be THE best young striker in the game. The only one who can rival him perhaps is Francisco. He is on my short-list since 2 years, I made a late bid too when I realized he may come to Italy and offered him more money along with a 50% sell-on but he's gone to Milan. Here he is the scary beast.

And so, this is going to be very interesting to say the least.

I think we can definitely aim for top 4 this season, but we may need a world-class player in almost every position in order to win the Scudetto.

[SinlessCity]

@karanhsingh have you signed Francisco on other saves?  Assuming you have... What's his ceiling?

[karanhsingh]

7 hours ago, SinlessCity said:

@karanhsingh have you signed Francisco on other saves?  Assuming you have... What's his ceiling?

He's a new-gen so won't be there on any other save. I signed him at Boavista and he's won the golden boy award plus the scouts at Napoli rate him very highly so seems to have great potential. 

[Sheriff7]

A very balanced squad,more depth in your choices  is the key mate.

[karanhsingh]

1 hour ago, Sheriff7 said:

A very balanced squad,more depth in your choices  is the key mate.

Thanks yes I'm quite happy about the squad at the moment.