FM24 : Calcio (Italian Football Thread)

[Trainspotting90]

I have started an only youth save unenployed, after two monts Gozzano calls me, first season ive got third, win the playoff (no promotion, only monetary prize), the second season is a triumph and we got promoted in serie c, but serie c itv very hard with only youngsters, i pray for me

[BadAss88]

They started the season awful and are bottom last in Serie B, already knocked out the first round of Coppa Italia.
I'm curious if I can get them going and move up the ladder.

[BadAss88]

Anybody active in Italy?

I'm in doubt for a new save, where I wanna make a Trequartista-tactic work. Not sure where to start.. Torino, Udinese, Internazionale or Fiorentina.

Edited February 21 by BadAss88

[Staf9]

4 hours ago, BadAss88 said:

Anybody active in Italy?

I'm in doubt for a new save, where I wanna make a Trequartista-tactic work. Not sure where to start.. Torino, Udinese, Internazionale or Fiorentina.

have a look at who has Parfundi of Baldanzi and start there. 

[sedge11]

On 21/02/2024 at 12:23, BadAss88 said:

Anybody active in Italy?

I'm in doubt for a new save, where I wanna make a Trequartista-tactic work. Not sure where to start.. Torino, Udinese, Internazionale or Fiorentina.

I am. Started a save with Lyon did 4 seasons with them, then got the Juve job. Currently in my 4th season with Juve now.

[KristianT]

On 15/12/2023 at 17:43, Cas46 said:

I've played 10 years with Inter and after the first season the finances get a lot easier. First season I think all I got was Jan Paul van Hecke on a free.

Did you get a new stadium at some point?

[Cas46]

38 minutes ago, KristianT said:

Did you get a new stadium at some point?

Funnily enough the board have just announced they are searching for a site for a 100,000 seater stadium. The bad news is I am in 2047 so it takes a while.

[NineCloudNine]

On 15/11/2023 at 17:30, TheJanitor said:

Didn't know Faticanti left Roma! Used to develop real well in past versions, really nice signings.

Late to reply to this … he asked to leave because he didn’t believe there was a path to regular first team football. He was probably right under Mourinho but De Rossi would have loved him. First thing I did in a Roma save was undo Faticanti leaving and plant him permanently at the base of the midfield.

[aaaawren]

2 titles in 2 seasons at Roma, first we scraped through by a single point after getting 1 win and 4 draws in the last 5, second we walked thanks in large part to Álvaro and Carnesecchi both going crazy, over performing xG by 8 and keeping out 15 xGA respectively.

[One hell of a keeper]

Hi chaps loving the thread, whats the best italian league structure to use? 

[Raymubdo21]

On 08/03/2024 at 15:36, aaaawren said:

2 titles in 2 seasons at Roma, first we scraped through by a single point after getting 1 win and 4 draws in the last 5, second we walked thanks in large part to Álvaro and Carnesecchi both going crazy, over performing xG by 8 and keeping out 15 xGA respectively.

Nicely done, what tactic did you use?

[aaaawren]

23 minutes ago, Raymubdo21 said:

Nicely done, what tactic did you use?

Season 1 I used a 442 narrow diamond, season 2 I switched to a 3421.

SK-S

CWB-A - CD-D  x2 - IFB

DM-D

DLP-D - AP-S with stay wider and cross more often individual instructions

AM-A

AF-A - TF-A

-----

SK-S

WCB-D - L-S - WCB-D

WM-S - CM-D - DLP-D - W-S

SS-A - AM-S

TF-A

Edited March 15 by aaaawren

[Shep1920]

Hi folks so I've been looking into a italian save as I loved doing it on fm23 but I've looked the lower leagues like serie d etc but I come across the famous siena even lower I feel they deserve a rebuild what do you folks recommend? 

[oze07]

im looking to do an italian save,loved italian football since 1990 and the seria a of the 90's. always had a soft spot for roma. id love to recreate the tatctics from the 2001 winning season, or the line up with giannini in from the 80's, but im rubbish at tactics! also a team with good youth? i do like atalanta and fiorentina aswell.

Edited April 6 by oze07

[Ronaldo Beckham]

25 minutes ago, oze07 said:

im looking to do an italian save,loved italian football since 1990 and the seria a of the 90's. always had a soft spot for roma. id love to recreate the tatctics from the 2001 winning season, or the line up with giannini in from the 80's, but im rubbish at tactics! also a team with good youth? i do like atalanta and fiorentina aswell.

Roma is a good choice. 

Maybe you could become the Roma manager as the legend that is Francesco Totti and try produce the next Totti at Roma with you building a style of play similar to the one Roma played when Totti was their main man.

 

[oze07]

2 hours ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Roma is a good choice. 

Maybe you could become the Roma manager as the legend that is Francesco Totti and try produce the next Totti at Roma with you building a style of play similar to the one Roma played when Totti was their main man.

 

That is a good idea. how do you make totti the manager? i assume its more than just putting in the name as the manager?

Edited April 6 by oze07

[Ronaldo Beckham]

1 hour ago, oze07 said:

That is a good idea. how do you make totti the manager? i assume its more than just putting in the name as the manager?

When you create your manager just replicate Totti on there.

You can get his date of birth etc off his wiki page and also find a decent close up photo of his face when you do the face recognization thing when you create your avatar.

 

[AceCream]

Bologna FC 1909 - 2023/2024 Season

Background

I started the save wanting to create a European journey-man save, where I loaded the 7 best leagues in Europe: Holland, Italy, France, Portugal, Spain, Germany, and England. I read the book Zonal Marking by Michael Cox, which details how tactics evolved in Europe from 1992-2020 in these countries. So, I wanted to create a manager who would try to win silverware in each of them while using a specific tactical style. But where to start? After listening to The Athletic FC Podcast about Thiago Motta at Bologna, I was inspired to create a similar defensive-possession-based style in FM24, especially after the final 24.3 update with up to date transfers and player attributes. I decided to disable the first transfer window, so no transfer business was done. 

The Squad and Tactics

Thiago Motta plays a very fluid-defensive-possession-based approach. So naturally, I decided to use the Fluid Counter-Attack tactical style with defensively-minded roles and enough support duties so that the Team Fluidity label was always at least Fluid or Flexible but preferably Very Fluid. I switched between two shapes mostly, the 4-3-3 and the 4-2-3-1. In both formations, I wanted to create the popular 3-2 build-up shape when in possession. I started off by using Calafiori and Lucumí as Liberos on support that would move into the DM position while in possession. However, when playing the 4-3-3, I found the DM and the right-sided midfielder (BWM) were always running into each other. So I opted for a 4-2-3-1 with a DM double pivot and the right-sided full-back inverting with a wingback on the left side. This also got the most out of Lewis Ferguson, who I played as a Shadow Striker in the AMC position. 

I kept with this formation and roles until tactical familiarity was 100% and ensured the players were also training in the role and position selected. This greatly increased the speed at which tactical familiarity grew, and I think it was a key reason for our success. Every player knew exactly where to be and how to behave. Regardless of the opposition, I did absolutely no tinkering and stuck with the system for about half a season. Then I decided to use the Control Possession preset when playing at home against teams where the odds were in my favor. I used exactly the same roles and formation and kept things really simple.

Control Possession and Fluid Counter-Attack synergize really well together with both of them utilizing shorter passing, mid-blocks and counter-pressing. Away against weak opponents I often see us controlling games have high possession stats, even though we use the Fluid Counter-Attack preset. 

I focused heavily on rotation and created a 22-man squad (2 players for each position and role), ensuring everybody's playing time happiness was always at least happy and ensuring that the player's match sharpness was always green. This guaranteed that any time any substitutions or changes were made, players were both ready tactically and physically.

It also kept injuries to a minimum, and we usually had better physical conditions late in games compared to our opposition. The stand-out players of the season were, starting from the back:

Calafiori: A true modern-day all-around ball-playing defender. His attribute distribution and height make him a really complete footballer able to play nearly anywhere on the deep left and middle side of the pitch. His trait Runs with ball often was also a joy to watch. 

Kristiansen: An excellent attacking wing-back on loan from Leicester. He was the only player in the back four with the license to go as far up the pitch as he wanted, resulting in 15 league assists! Unfortunately, we couldn't afford his €15M optional fee at the end of the season, and he returned back to England. He will be sorely missed in season 2. 

Frueler: Ex-Atalanta tireless midfielder Remo Frueler was the team's engine, forming a sensational double pivot in the defensive midfield position. His excellent work rate, teamwork, and stamina, combined with his traits of dictating the tempo and bringing the ball out of defense, made him an excellent ball-winning / playmaking midfielder hybrid with the Ball-Winning Midfielder role on support. 

Lewis Ferguson: He is also a tireless midfielder with a good eye for goal. Ferguson is probably my favorite player out of the bunch. Scoring 10 goals in the league and assisting 5 from the AMC position, his combination of Dives into Tackles and Place Shots makes him a truly unique player able to play anywhere in the midfield. I have contemplated using him as a false 9 and training him to come deep to get the ball, but we will see how that goes. 

Orsolini: Mr. Bologna himself, Orsolini, has been at the club for 7 years. In my opinion Orsolini is a sensational player who deserves more plaudits than the likes of Chiesa and Leao both in this game and in real life. He possesses great speed, stamina, flair, and technical abilities and is a perfect goal-scoring winger. He also shoots from a distance and with power, resulting in many bangers.

Karlsson: On the opposite side, we have basically the same player but on the left. He also likes to shoot from a distance and, with power, has high flair and technical attributes. Karlsson scored 12 league goals and assisted 6. 

Zirkzee: The description for the Complete Forward role is: A complete forward possesses all the technical attributes of a Deep-lying Forward, the goals scoring ability of a Poacher and the strength and power of a Target Forward. Equally adept at playing in others, fashioning chances and getting on the end of team moves, such a player transcends tactical instruction and should simply be allowed to do their own thing. Zirkzee is precisely that player:

Results

I have never been as lucky in a football manager save before. A combination of playing defensive football that suits our strengths, and other teams in the league having bad seasons, we actually won the league in our first year. On the final day, we needed to beat Napoli at home, which we managed in a 4-3 thriller after going behind twice. 

We beat Milan home and away, Inter at home, Lazio home and away, and Roma at home. We were of course underdogs in all of these games, and being so adept to play our cautious fluid counter attacking system helped us a lot. 

Data

When I say we were lucky, I am not exaggerating. We outperformed our XPts by 26 points. We outscored our xG by 25 goals, and our numbers were massive outliers. Has anybody experienced anything similar?

We were however excellent defensively:

What next?

As I said at the beginning of this post, the intention of this save is to try to win silverware in the 7 "Big" nations in Europe. Having overachieved massively in my first season, I do not know what to do next. Our finances are tiny for a Scudetto winning Champions League club, the balance being €30M and only being given a measly €2M for transfers for the 24/25 season.

We are playing many more games next season and have already lost a few key players who were here on loan. I do not expect that we will be able to retain the league, with Juventus hiring Zidane and Milan getting Emery. I guess I will finish my contract, which lasts until 2026, try to get a Coppa Italia or a European trophy before moving on to Holland or Portugal. I am however excited to play in this beautiful kit next season with the Scudetto badge 

 

 

Edited April 19 by AceCream

[Safe Hands]

Any fallen giants with good potential in Seriea C.

 

Looking to start a new save tonight in one of the top 5 leagues (not England)  bringing a team back to top, ideally with decent youth set up and potential to grow and challenge in the top league eventually.

Germany. 1860 Munich 

France. Saint Etienne or Nimes

Spain, Málaga, Deportivo, Hercules 

Italy someone from Seria C ( don't want to start in B even though some great clubs there)

 

[LucasBR]

On 16/04/2024 at 06:36, AceCream said:

Bologna FC 1909 2023/2024 Season

Background

I started the save wanting to create a European journey-man save, where I loaded the 7 best leagues in Europe: Holland, Italy, France, Portugal, Spain, Germany, and England. I read the book Zonal Marking by Michael Cox, which details how tactics evolved in Europe from 1992-2020 in these countries. So, I wanted to create a manager who would try to win silverware in each of them while using a specific tactical style. But where to start? After listening to The Athletic FC Podcast about Thiago Motta at Bologna, I was inspired to create a similar defensive-possession-based style in FM24, especially after the final 24.3 update with up to date transfers and player attributes. I decided to disable the first transfer window, so no transfer business was done. 

The Squad and Tactics

Thiago Motta plays a very fluid-defensive-possession-based approach. So naturally, I decided to use the Fluid Counter-Attack tactical style with defensively-minded roles and enough support duties so that the Team Fluidity label was always at least Fluid or Flexible but preferably Very Fluid. I switched between two shapes mostly, the 4-3-3 and the 4-2-3-1. In both formations, I wanted to create the popular 3-2 build-up shape when in possession. I started off by using Calafiori and Lucumí as Liberos on support that would move into the DM position while in possession. However, when playing the 4-3-3, I found the DM and the right-sided midfielder (BWM) were always running into each other. So I opted for a 4-2-3-1 with a DM double pivot and the right-sided full-back inverting with a wingback on the left side. This also got the most out of Lewis Ferguson, who I played as a Shadow Striker in the AMC position. 

I kept with this formation and roles until tactical familiarity was 100% and ensured the players were also training in the role and position selected. This greatly increased the speed at which tactical familiarity grew, and I think it was a key reason for our success. Every player knew exactly where to be and how to behave. Regardless of the opposition, I did absolutely no tinkering and stuck with the system for about half a season. Then I decided to use the Control Possession preset when playing at home against teams where the odds were in my favor. I used exactly the same roles and formation and kept things really simple.

Control Possession and Fluid Counter-Attack synergize really well together with both of them utilizing shorter passing, mid-blocks and counter-pressing. Away against weak opponents I often see us controlling games have high possession stats, even though we use the Fluid Counter-Attack preset. 

I focused heavily on rotation and created a 22-man squad (2 players for each position and role), ensuring everybody's playing time happiness was always at least happy and ensuring that the player's match sharpness was always green. This guaranteed that any time any substitutions or changes were made, players were both ready tactically and physically.

It also kept injuries to a minimum, and we usually had better physical conditions late in games compared to our opposition. The stand-out players of the season were, starting from the back:

Calafiori: A true modern-day all-around ball-playing defender. His attribute distribution and height make him a really complete footballer able to play nearly anywhere on the deep left and middle side of the pitch. His trait Runs with ball often was also a joy to watch. 

Kristiansen: An excellent attacking wing-back on loan from Leicester. He was the only player in the back four with the license to go as far up the pitch as he wanted, resulting in 15 league assists! Unfortunately, we couldn't afford his €15M optional fee at the end of the season, and he returned back to England. He will be sorely missed in season 2. 

Frueler: Ex-Atalanta tireless midfielder Remo Frueler was the team's engine, forming a sensational double pivot in the defensive midfield position. His excellent work rate, teamwork, and stamina, combined with his traits of dictating the tempo and bringing the ball out of defense, made him an excellent ball-winning / playmaking midfielder hybrid with the Ball-Winning Midfielder role on support. 

Lewis Ferguson: He is also a tireless midfielder with a good eye for goal. Ferguson is probably my favorite player out of the bunch. Scoring 10 goals in the league and assisting 5 from the AMC position, his combination of Dives into Tackles and Place Shots makes him a truly unique player able to play anywhere in the midfield. I have contemplated using him as a false 9 and training him to come deep to get the ball, but we will see how that goes. 

Orsolini: Mr. Bologna himself, Orsolini, has been at the club for 7 years. In my opinion Orsolini is a sensational player who deserves more plaudits than the likes of Chiesa and Leao both in this game and in real life. He possesses great speed, stamina, flair, and technical abilities and is a perfect goal-scoring winger. He also shoots from a distance and with power, resulting in many bangers.

Karlsson: On the opposite side, we have basically the same player but on the left. He also likes to shoot from a distance and, with power, has high flair and technical attributes. Karlsson scored 12 league goals and assisted 6. 

Zirkzee: The description for the Complete Forward role is: A complete forward possesses all the technical attributes of a Deep-lying Forward, the goals scoring ability of a Poacher and the strength and power of a Target Forward. Equally adept at playing in others, fashioning chances and getting on the end of team moves, such a player transcends tactical instruction and should simply be allowed to do their own thing. Zirkzee is precisely that player:

Results

I have never been as lucky in a football manager save before. A combination of playing defensive football that suits our strengths, and other teams in the league having bad seasons, we actually won the league in our first year. On the final day, we needed to beat Napoli at home, which we managed in a 4-3 thriller after going behind twice. 

We beat Milan home and away, Inter at home, Lazio home and away, and Roma at home. We were of course underdogs in all of these games, and being so adept to play our cautious fluid counter attacking system helped us a lot. 

Data

When I say we were lucky, I am not exaggerating. We outperformed our XPts by 26 points. We outscored our xG by 25 goals, and our numbers were massive outliers. Has anybody experienced anything similar?

We were however excellent defensively:

What next?

As I said at the beginning of this post, the intention of this save is to try to win silverware in the 7 "Big" nations in Europe. Having overachieved massively in my first season, I do not know what to do next. Our finances are tiny for a Scudetto winning Champions League club, the balance being €30M and only being given a measly €2M for transfers for the 24/25 season.

We are playing many more games next season and have already lost a few key players who were here on loan. I do not expect that we will be able to retain the league, with Juventus hiring Zidane and Milan getting Emery. I guess I will finish my contract, which lasts until 2026, try to get a Coppa Italia or a European trophy before moving on to Holland or Portugal. I am however excited to play in this beautiful kit next season with the Scudetto badge 

 

 

Great post, Bologna is a nice club! 
Orsolini is an absolute beast, in my previous Roma save he was absolutely incredible.

Which skin are you using?

[AceCream]

3 hours ago, LucasBR said:

Great post, Bologna is a nice club! 
Orsolini is an absolute beast, in my previous Roma save he was absolutely incredible.

Which skin are you using?

Unfortunately, Orsolini wanted to go to Saudi in the summer . 

The skin is FM.Zweierkette v24.0.55 by Norseman LP 

[Bradz FM]

7 hours ago, Safe Hands said:

Any fallen giants with good potential in Seriea C.

 

Looking to start a new save tonight in one of the top 5 leagues (not England)  bringing a team back to top, ideally with decent youth set up and potential to grow and challenge in the top league eventually.

Germany. 1860 Munich 

France. Saint Etienne or Nimes

Spain, Málaga, Deportivo, Hercules 

Italy someone from Seria C ( don't want to start in B even though some great clubs there)

 

Pro Vercelli are the original fallen giants.

 

Cesena have fantastic youth setup but weren't as successful

Edited April 19 by Bradz FM

[AmericanMilanista]

On 19/04/2024 at 10:39, AceCream said:

Unfortunately, Orsolini wanted to go to Saudi in the summer . 

Marco Di Vaio's recruitment strategy seems to center on squad depth and potential.  Obviously in real life, Motta pulling a Xabi Alonso and sticking around one more year would be key to that plan.  But if you're looking to copy popular summer '24 links, they are rumored to be interested in Scotts Connor Barron and Josh Campbell (looks like a Lewis Ferguson clone) and Venezia's Tanner Tessman.

Edited April 21 by AmericanMilanista

[JawZy]

Recently started a Bari save. I dont mind sitting in serie b for few seasons, even though a club of this size should really be in Serie A

[Cizzu]

 

I'm pleased to inform you that the team at Fusion DB has released their usual update which unlocks the Italian Serie D.

Serie D is the fourth tier of the Italian football league system. It is the highest amateur division and sits below Serie C, the lowest professional division. Serie D is made up of multiple regional groups and is often the entry point for many clubs aiming to rise through the Italian football ranks. The division includes a mix of historic clubs such as Livorno, Reggina (now Reggio Calabria), Piacenza, Sambenedettese, etc., all with large fan bases, and emerging teams aspiring to reach professional status, like Alcione Milano, Union Clodiense, Pianese, and the 'foreign' club Victor San Marino, among others. Promotion from Serie D leads to Serie C, while relegation sends teams down to the even more regionalized fifth tier, known as 'Eccellenza'. Serie D is not just the beating heart of semi-professional Italian football, but also a crucible of undiscovered talents. This mod offers you the opportunity to unearth and nurture young prospects, plan your market strategy, and face the unique management challenges that only lower leagues can offer.

So if you're looking for new challenges with new teams, you might want to try out this pack. It also includes an essential update that fixes issues and errors in the professional leagues (Serie A, Serie B, and especially Serie C).


LINK: