[FM23] Taking Comune-ion - An Italian Save

[Lestri]

SEASON THREE - FEBRUARY TO END OF SEASON. THE FINAL UPDATE

Couldn't help myself by including a photo of one of my favourite songs that has some Italian in it.

I sped through the last few months of the save to get this up before FM24 Beta came out, so apologies in advance for the lack of detail. But I hope you enjoy it as much as I had playing it. 

FEBRUARY

We started off February receiving some wonderful news that Jacopb Pellegrini was awarded with the January Player of the Month award. We also saw our Youth Recruitment and Junior Coaching budgets increased, and we went straight to improve them once again. We're also now adequate with our training facilities, but got the next stage rock and rolling, as I’m still taking the opportunity to get these upgrades in place.

Our first game was up against Lazio, who were performing fantastically in second place and it was a cagey, even affair that ended with Trento taking the three points thanks to our defender Murphy taking advantage from a spill from the keeper from close range after a set piece free kick.

The second game came four days later with a quarter final away trip to Parthenope/Napoli, considering next game on the weekend was against a relegation threatened Genoa, I decided to rest my first team from training in the lead up to try and take them on with a full strength team. However, knowing how they sat up with Victor Osimhen, I decided to fight fire with fire, content with being happy with getting to the quarter finals. I set up in an ultra aggressive 4-4-2 diamond, utilising a Shadow Striker to create an overload up front. This shocked Napoli, and we ended up 3-1 up at half time, with Cortinovis scoring his first goals for the club, the first finishing off a lovely play down the left wing and the second taking advantage of some poor defending. Pellegrini continued his good form scoring a header from some direct football that started from our keeper. Unfortunately after half time, Napoli got into the game, and we fell short in extra time. Some good advice to make sure to tinker the formation if you know the shock of the formation change has long gone. 

My first team was still fit enough to start with a couple days rest from training, however this definitely started to take its toll with a very sloppy performance against relegation threatened Genoa. We were fortunate to get a 1-0 win as were completely dominated when it came to shots and shots on target. Our goal came from a goalkeeper error, with Barbieri scoring an open goal for his first since rejoining the club. 

Our fourth game of February came with a full week of training, which really helped our players get back into some sense of normalcy and they showed it with a convincing 2-0 win against Torino, though it was made a little bit easier with an early red card for the opponents. Can’t complain when our shots on target matches their total shots, and 70% possession. Our first came from a lovely through ball to Spalluto who rifled it past the keeper and our second came from Pellegrini who scored after we took regained the ball high up after a press. Some nice moments from this game with Spalluto becoming our all-time league goal scorer with 32 and confirmation that we were now 30 games unbeaten at home in the league, a fantastic achievement for our little 4,227 stadium near the foot of the Dolomites. 

Our final game of February saw first versus second with Trento heading to San Siro for a huge match against Internazionale. At this point, we were two points ahead, but Internazionale had a game in hand, so we had the opportunity to get a game ahead of them. Internazionale had the best defence in the league, so this will take some doing, but we had some good news leading into the game was Terrani being able to take a spot on the bench after missing the last four games due to injury. After keeping things calm and getting to half time at 0-0, we went down to 10 men within a minute of the second half after Pol Garcia got a second yellow card. Unfortunately for us, Internazionale stepped up a gear and after they scored a worldie at the hour mark, we tried to get back into the game but they closed it up for a 1-0 defeat, meaning they go one point ahead with a game in hand. Disappointing, but in the broader scheme of things, it isn’t too bad. 

MARCH

We started March with a home game against mid table Brianza/Monza, where we had a few changes due to illness and suspensions meaning we had to push Armini to the left side Wide Centre Back position and bring in Dalle Mura into Centre Defence and Sam Curtis on the right sided Wide Centre Back position. We were able to start Terrani for the first time since his injury, which is a great injection of creativity and goals from the Mezzala position. But it was his fellow central midfielder De Cristafano who ran the show, helping us win 2-0 , with a beautiful ball over the top for Spalluto to chip over the keeper for the opener then scoring our second with an opportunistic shot from distance that the keeper decided to let in generously.

Outside of the field, our Youth Facilities were now Below Average from Poor, which was a lovely improvement. We were also offered and signed a 2 year contract extension that which is a lovely indication of the confidence the board has in me, bloody hope so considering I have Trento top of Serie A at the present

Our second game of March came away to mid table Bologna, where a relatively open game ended up with us coming home with 3 points with a 3-2 win. Spalluto scored a brace which sandwiched a Terrani penalty. The two goals from Bologna were speculative, something that is a bit of a risk you have to accept with a mid block that isn’t too heavy on the pressing. 

We followed this up a few days later with another away game 120kms away from Bologna in beautiful Florence against Fiorentina. Like Bologna, they were also hanging around the mid table, so if we were serious about european football qualification, these were the games we needed to win. Unfortunately we were unable to break down Fiorentina after falling behind early, with Pol Garcia scoring a header from a corner set piece to get us a 1-1 draw, a bit disappointing considering we had 70% possession. 

We came home just before the March international break with a few players such as captain Armini starting to feel jaded, so the timing was perfect. But we had the not so small matter of Sassuolo to get past, who like the last few teams we've played, were right bang in mid table. We got off to a flyer with Terrani scoring within five minutes, however we conceded two shocking goals, the wost being a back pass from Milanese straight to their keeper who scored from barely three yards out. We brought out Wangball with 15 minutes to go, and chaos ensured, with a 95th minute winner by Riccardi, who funnily enough replaced Milanese, sealing the 4-3 win.

Nice one Milanese

APRIL

To start of April, I accidentally gave Spalluto and Armini a three week holiday. Meaning my main striker and captain will be missing two important games, quality stuff. Do not use the training intensity screen to put your players on holiday gang. 

The annual youth intake came in with the rating of “Below Average”, with only five players recommended for signing. The one that could make it is Mattia Fumarola, who could be a handy centre midfielder.

Our first game of April saw us head to Salernitana, who were 15th, with two enforced changes to my line up with Murphy coming in for Armini and Raimondo starting up front in place of Spalluto. We were slow off the mark, going down midway through the first half, but our possession finally paid off, with Pellegrini and Pol Garcia scoring within two minutes of each other just before the half time whistle. We took control of the game and although we had some luck, Di Cosmo scored a lovely volley in the last 10 minutes, with Kuol scoring his first goal for the club in injury time. A lovely moment to finish 4-1 

Luckily for me, the next game brough the capital to Trento with Jose Mourinho’s Capitoline/Roma, who were in sixth place, wanting revenge for their 1-0 loss at home earlier in the season. Fortunately for me, both Spalluto and Captain Armini were back from their breaks, in peak fitness, meaning we were at full strength. It seemed Capitoline were in a generous mood, going down to 10 players in the 13th minute, and we capitalised (no regrets) quickly, with Sala scoring from a throw in set piece play two minutes later. We went into the break 2-0 up after Spalluto scored just before the break, and we made it three straight from the kick off with Pellegrini scoring a well deserved goal. We were able to make full use of the Wide Centre Backs overlapping the underlapping Wingbacks, with Barbieri scoring a fourth and assisting Spalluto who finished with a brace for a whopping 5-0 win. Six points, six goals scored and zero conceded in the head to head match up with Mourinho. I am the special one. 

Our next game saw us go to relegation threatened Sampdoria, who play with a very possession heavy game. While it should be expected that we should beat them and we did quite convincingly 3-1, I was very happy with our ability to break fast on the counter, with all our goals coming from that. The break has done Spalluto a world of good, and Barberi has settled in nicely, with two goals and two assists in his last four games. This meant we qualified for european football, something that seemed a fairytale at the start of this save.

We then welcomed my fellow ex-Serie B team...... the Old Lady of Italian football to Trento, with Juventus in fifth place, only seven points behind first place, so they had plenty to fight for. Their manager, Gian Piero Gasperini was very complimentary of us in the lead up, which I put down to some mind games. Juventus came out firing and dangerman Scamacca opened the scoring in the 5th minute with a real poachers finish. We started to get into the game though and refused to let it affect us, and the extra work we did on defending from the front helped get our equaliser in the 15th minute with Pellegrini and Terrani’s harrying leading to Spalluto to finish it nicely. The game got tense, with both teams knowing a loss here would effectively put them out of the title race, considering the form of the teams around them. But I like to be bold and crazy, so I went with a quintuple substitution in the 76th minute, and the substitute Riccardi in the regista role played a stunning ball over the top for Spalluto to score with a terrific first time volley into the top corner in the 78th minute. Full time and a 2-1 win against the Old Lady means we guaranteed us Europa League football!

MAY

Into the business end of the season and our first game in Justin Timberlake's favourite month took us to the magnificent place of Milan up against 7th place A.C. Milan, and we got to a flyer with Spalluto leaping highest and heading home in the 6th minute. Pellegrini then showed the brilliance of the Deep Lying Forward/Mezzala combination, dropping deep and playing through Terrani to score the second of the game in the 15th minute. Milan came back at us, getting one back in the 24th minute. But we were able to hold them off coming home to Trento with three points in the bag with a 2-1 win. 

It was now a four horse race with Juventus unable to win the title, and with Internazionale absolutely destroying Parthenope/Napoli, we found ourselves two points clear with three games to go. 

We had a ten day gap to our next game, hosting Udinese who were 9th and were in that position of not being able to challenge for an european spot and also safe from relegation, so I was hoping that they were happy to coast their way to the end of the season. In the meantime, both Napoli and Internazionale won their games, but Lazio were beaten by a late winner by Bologna, meaning a win here for us would make it a three horse race. And yes we did win, with a stunning volley by Terrani in his 100th game for Trento doing enough to get us the three points with a 1-0 win.

And now we get up to the penultimate game of the season, away to bottom placed Salento, where we could not afford to make a mistake. Both Napoli and Internazionale played the day before, with Internazionale coming from 2-0 down to win 3-2 at Atalanta and Napoli only getting a 1-1 draw at home to Fiorentina. We were already without our star recruit Barbieri who was suspended for the match, so back up full back Di Cosmo who has been with us since the Serie C days was ready to take his place. Our star striker Spalluto was only fit enough for the bench, meaning on loan Raimondo was starting up top with Pellegrini. Two of our first team players were only one yellow card away from suspension, so I made the decision to drop both Curtis and De Cristofaro for Dalle Mura and on loan Johansson. So all in all, four changes were made. We dominated the possession and got the win, with Terrani once again popping up just after the restart to score for a 1-0 win.

THE FINALE

Internazionale play 19th placed Verona at home, while we play Parthenope/Napoli, a team we haven’t beaten all year. The permutations are:

1. We win the title if:

   • We beat Napoli, or

   • We draw and Internazionale fail to beat Verona, or

   • We lose to Napoli and Internazionale fail to beat Verona

2. Internazionale win the title if:

   • They beat Verona and we fail to beat Napoli

So essentially we had to win, unless Internazionale choke against Verona at home. Our preparation was good, with everyone around the club managing expectations, knowing that regardless of what happens, it has been a fantastic year for Trento, exceeding the dreams of the fans. Unfortunately the day before the game on loan Cortinovis twisted his ankle, ruling him out of the squad in what would be his last game as a loanee before signing with Trento next season on a free transfer. 

Unfortunately it wasn’t to be with Napoli, as they have done all season with us, playing us off the park and although we kept Serie A Golden Boot winner Osimhen quiet, their quality shone through, defeating us 1-0. We could barely get the ball near their penalty box, no matter what I tried, and unfortunately we couldn't get the job done as Internazionale won 1-0 meaning we came second in our debut season of Serie A. Nothing to be disappointed about at all!

How are squad went

Thanks to @FMStag for the view screens that can be found on his website https://fmstag.com/fm23customviews/

Particular shout outs to: 

• Gabriele Marchegiani who won the F.Pulici Award for Serie A Goalkeeper of the year. 
• Giovanni Terrani for once again dominating in the Mezzala role with 24 goal contributions (17 goals, 7 assists), not bad for someone who at first hated me for retraining him into the role.
• Samuele Spalluto also with 24 goal contributions in the Advanced Forward role (18 goals, 6 assists) , a record in a season for Trento who also became the highest all time league goalscorer for Trento in this season. But a personal highlight was that he was top of the charts for fouls committed per 90 mins, a pain in the ass upfront. You love to see it
• Jacopo Pellegrini who also had 24 goal contributions with 13 goals and 11 assists from the Deep Lying Forward role, who picked up the most assists in a season for Trento.

Signing off for FM23   

It has been a pleasure doing FM23 with A.C Trento 1921. I have been very lucky to have been able to get from Serie C to second in Serie A in three seasons. I have been fortunate to follow be a magpie and take the awesome work of FM creator giants such as the team at View From The Touchline and FMStag and adapt the awesome work they've done into something here. I don’t intend to carry on with it in FM24, but I hope you enjoyed my first punt at FM blogging.

Until next time.

 

[SixPointer]

A superb save look forward to your next work 

[13th Man]

What a fantastic save.  Getting 2nd in Serie A in the first season is impressive, even if a bit heartbreaking to lose out on the title on the last day.

Good stuff with the first blog, and I look forward to seeing where you go in FM24.

[Lestri]

Catch the start of my FM24 save here