[FM24] Como - The beautiful game in the most beautiful location

[higgins]

 

Introduction

 

Como, founded in 1907, is an Italian football club based in Como and has played at the Sinigaglia stadium (named after a versatile athlete who died during the First World War) since 1927. The stadium Sinigaglia, located right on the lakeshore, has a capacity of 13,000.

Como has played 37 Serie B championships and 13 seasons in the top division (Serie A), the last one in 2002-2003.

After two bankruptcies and a restart from Serie D in 2017, SENT Entarteinment Ltd (led by US manager Michael Gandler), a British company active in the media and entertainment sector, in April 2019 made headlines in the Italian sports news with the acquisition of Como Calcio, the club was refounded under the name 'Como 1907', after its bankruptcy two years earlier.

SENT is one of the many companies owned by the Indonesian Hortono brothers, who are among the 100 richest men in the world according to the annual table of billionaires drawn up by Forbes, with a personal fortune estimated at over 40 billion dollars.

Asked why he took such a business risk, Gandler replied that the beauty of the city and its scenery was a more than valid reason to get involved and revive football in the city: 'There is something special here beyond the stadium and the bankruptcy. When you sit in the stands and look at the mountains, you see what we see every day, million euro villas in the landscape, you sit and see an opportunity. You don't see the ruined stadium, you see an opportunity. There is potential here because Como is a dream place and the dream can become reality'.

 

As if to certify the acquisition, SENT decided to produce a documentary on Gandler's work in Como, which was also broadcast by Dazn and titled 'Como-The American', in which the work of the managing director is shown, dealing with all the difficulties of managing an Italian team that had just experienced two bankruptcies: the many debts to be repaid, the players to be bought and sold, the Sinigaglia stadium literally falling apart, the initial mistrust of the fans for the new ownership, etc.

On the field, the team, after an anonymous first championship, manages to achieve promotion to Serie B the following year, in the 2020-21 season, winning their group with seven points ahead of second-placed Alessandria. In the same year there is an important change at the top: Gandler is taken over from his position as team manager by SENT itself, which promotes him to another sector, and in his place he is succeeded by Englishman Dennis Wise, the well known former Chelsea player and it is thanks to him that Cesc Fabregas was hired, he came to finish his glorious career in Como, where he remained even after the end of his contract as a shareholder and as ad interim coach.

Speaking of investors, Fabregas also involved Thierry Henry, his partner at Arsenal, in the Como project.

So far, the Hortono brothers have not made any large sums available for the purchase of players, the plan is to increase the value of the club off the pitch, with planned investments in infrastructure, such as the stadium and the sports centre, the prudent management of merchandising and the global expansion of 'Brand Como' in international markets.

These interventions include the recent restyling of the Sinigaglia stadium, an anticipation of larger works that should be done in the near future.

To date, Como's best result in Serie A was sixth place in 1949, at its first appearance in the top division.

Four players have become World Champions after wearing the Como shirt: Pietro Vierchowod, Marco Tardelli, Paolo Rossi (1982) and Gianluca Zambrotta (2006).

 

 

Career Goals

I think it could be a good starting point for an interesting career, after the experience with Reggiana, which ended as you know, even though I intended to stay in Italy I wanted a different club, with less financial constraints than Reggiana and some more pressure from the board regarding team management and results to be achieved.

This year the board requested that I finish in the top half of the table (our media prediction is 8th) and next year they asked for promotion to Serie A.

Among the objectives of this career, in addition to making Como a Serie A club and possibly also able to compete in the European cups, there will also be a part that I have usually neglected when I manage a club, to build a youth sector capable of producing some useful players for the first team, I hope the new ownership will agree to invest in this direction.

About the coach you already know everything, for those who don't know Lazarus Griso, here you can find some information, if you are interested.

Tactically I intend to go beyond the 4-1-3-2 that allowed me to dominate Serie B with Reggiana, and to buy different players, as far as possible, than those managed in my previous career.

The 4-3-1-2 has proven to work well in Serie B, but here we don't want to win easily, we desire to have challenges, right?

In the meantime I have been asked by the board to recruit "high reputation players", not really my modus operandi during the transfer campaign, I foresee a difficult coexistence...

That's all for now, back to the game to prepare for my first season in charge.

Edited January 12 by higgins

[AlfieLucas]

Goodluck with Como.

[higgins]

46 minutes ago, AlfieLucas said:

Goodluck with Como.

Thanks man

[gggfunk]

Nice introduction, I definitely think about starting a Como save at some point too, will follow this.

[higgins]

 

The acclimatisation as Como's new manager is going well, the surroundings are beautiful and I hope that the level of football this club will offer will be up to it.
Yes, but what idea of football will I try to realise with Como?
The next question has to be this: should tactics adapt to the players you have at your disposal or vice versa?
And an old dilemma, much debated but never definitively resolved.
Not to be mistaken, my approach lies somewhere in between these two poles, I look at the players who currently make up the club's squad and try to figure out how I could deploy them to make the most of their characteristics, then if there are holes to fill in certain positions then I turn to the market, if possible, and finally I try to adapt some players into roles other than the ones they are used to.
Obviously players cannot always be exploited to the full and sometimes, for the good of the team, someone has to be dropped.
My first idea was a classic 4-4-2, but preferring to play with a single centre forward in this season, I veered towards a less traditional 2-3-2-3 or WW, if you prefer.

 

The starting tactical framework

The classic WW was a historical formation, used by Vittorio Pozzo in the Italian national team that won the World Cup in 1934, beating Hugo Meisl and Sindelar's Austria in the semi-final and Czechoslovakia in the final.
My basic idea is along the same lines, although my team will have to be more attentive to controlling the ball, leaving less possession to the opponents, hence the use of short passes, without getting too unbalanced going forward.
In the squad there are many wide players, almost all of a good level for Serie B, the centre forwards are Patrick Cutrone, Alberto Cerri and Marlon Mustapha, an interesting Austrian prospect who joined from Mainz before my arrival.
Cerri earns 1.8M per year, a figure which I consider exaggerated for a player who has rarely reached double figures in his career in terms of goals scored, in addition to which he is too slow for the type of football I intend to propose with this team, so he went to Anderlecht on loan.
Here unfortunately a compromise was made, I could not sell him for good as there was no line of buyers in front of the Sinigaglia for him, the only decent offer came from Anderlecht, willing to pay 60% of his insane salary.
So the local idol Cutrone and Mustapha were joined on loan from Damstadt by 19-year-old Fabio Torsiello to make up a good three centre forwards.
In midfield I am quite satisfied with the players at my disposal, I only needed someone who could alternate with Baselli in the playmaker role and I am happy that Ricard Artero, a starlet from Girona, has agreed to join us on loan.

 

Ricard Artero

In defence we needed two centre-backs capable of acting as backups for Barba and Odenthal, the unemployed Portuguese Loureiro and Bonini from Entella (500k) are right for me.
At the end of the market, I was able to lower the team's wage bill by almost 15%, and the original budget for purchases, which was 3M, has even increased, thanks to the players sold, and is now 3.7M.
Not bad.
The staff was almost completely renewed because the one I found was quite poor, among the few to be confirmed was my assistant Dario Migliaccio.

Previously I told you about my intention to start developing the youth sector of the club, youth facilities are not bad rated (3 stars), where we are lacking is in youth recruitment (1 star).

 

That's why, after hiring a new Head of Youth development in Filipo Galli, the former Milan player, I went to the ever-helpful Mr. Hartono, the owner of the club, to ask him for an increase in the budget for youth recruitment.
The answer was not that great, these billionaires of today don't really know how to live, we'll try to talk about it again later.

 

Sorry to bother you, Mr. Hartono.
 

At the end of the summer market this is Como first team in all its glory, thanks for reading, feel free to leave a comment.

Edited January 14 by higgins

[higgins]

1 hour ago, gggfunk said:

Nice introduction, I definitely think about starting a Como save at some point too, will follow this.

Nice club and wonderful city, I'm enjoying the save.

[Rick87]

Good luck, I did consider a career with Como myself after Cesc was appointed, it looks like a good club to manage. 

 

Enjoy! 

[SixPointer]

Beautiful part of the world, and certainly a very interesting team to manage. Following closely. Best of luck. 

[higgins]

On 14/01/2024 at 14:29, Rick87 said:

Good luck, I did consider a career with Como myself after Cesc was appointed, it looks like a good club to manage. 

 

Enjoy! 

 

9 hours ago, SixPointer said:

Beautiful part of the world, and certainly a very interesting team to manage. Following closely. Best of luck. 

Thanks guys!

Cesc is still here as my u-20 manager, I hope he can stay for years to come

[higgins]

It's a bit difficult to review these first four months at the helm of Como, we started out scoring five goals per game and finished the first half struggling to score one.
Difficult because if on the one hand being in the lead with five points ahead of Cremonese is undoubtedly positive, on the other hand our performances in the last month have left a lot to be desired, even though we are still unbeaten since fifteen games, I consider the three recent 0-0 home games as a wake-up call.

To solve the problem we have to identify the causes, and the simplest explanation I can give is that the too many injuries over the last few months have broken the team's rhythm, preventing turnover and tiring out some players who seem exhausted at the moment.
Does this explanation hold up?
Only in part, because after all we came out of the Coppa Italia straight away and since then we have almost always played one game a week, nothing so impossible to manage on a physical level.
Let's see if the three-week winter break will be enough to recover the lost form, also because we cannot think of managing such a slim lead with still 19 games to play, but I don't want to moan too much, we have lost only one game in the league and we are "I campioni d'inverno" (the winter champions)  so something good is definitely being done.

 

The injuries to which I referred earlier have forced me to sign three released players as emergency backups, two wingbacks and a central midfielder, cheap options who have so far proved quite average in their performance.

The transfer market will soon reopen and I still have 3.7M available, although at the moment my balance sheet says we're 3.8M in the red and our wealthy owner doesn't seem at all interested in sorting things out at the moment.
I could certainly do with a creative midfielder in the middle of the pitch, as Baselli is great at setting up play but has difficulty staying fit and can hardly manage two games in a row, plus he is 31 years old and his contract expires this year in June.

 

 

Key team stats:

• 52 goals scored (1st in Serie B)
• 12 clean sheets (1st)
• 16 goals conceded (1st)
• 15.3 expected goals overperformance - 52 goals - XG 36.9 (1st)
• 2403 High intensity sprints (1st) 

 

The large amount of high intensity sprints could explain why I have lots of players in need of a rest, the flankers run a lot, the figure regarding XG overperformance is rather curious, think that after the first two months it was even higher, around 25 if I remember correctly, I wonder if this figure will consolidate, in the remaining matches or, as the recent trend suggests, it will get even closer to the number of XG.

The tactic used so far has proven to be ambivalent, able to produce free flowing football in the first few months and then becoming rock solid in defence but rather sterile in attack, all this without any change in its settings, it is possible that the other teams, very quickly, have realised that it is better to be more defensively astute when facing Como. 

[SixPointer]

A very good start, it’s good to see you still being critical of things though. Your setting your standards high and noticing the drop of in form. I would be shocked if managers have worked you out already but things I usually check are defensive line height and pressing intensity. If teams come to play you and are below the average they usually set these it means there parking the bus. 

[higgins]

30 minutes ago, SixPointer said:

A very good start, it’s good to see you still being critical of things though. Your setting your standards high and noticing the drop of in form. I would be shocked if managers have worked you out already but things I usually check are defensive line height and pressing intensity. If teams come to play you and are below the average they usually set these it means there parking the bus. 

I thought the same, it’s early to react to my overachievement, as far as I know, let’s see what happens in the second part of the season.

[higgins]

 

Usually, in the last few years, the winter football market in Italy is quite sluggish, the lack of money and sometimes of ideas characterises this market window where at best there are equal exchanges between players and loans, nothing more.
I was therefore preparing for another sleepy market, too bad others had other plans in mind.
It seemed, in fact, that several European teams were keeping a close eye on some Como players, with the belligerent intent of snatching them away from me.
So within ten days I found myself without my best wingback, Nikolas Iannou, (already 5 goals and 4 assists in the first half of the season) and without my best central defender, Dutchman Cas Odenthal.
The former moved to Braga, 5M euro for him, accepted by the new scrooge Mr. Hartono, who, heedless of depriving the team of one of its best players, decided to impose his will.
The second leaves us for AZ, despite having just signed a new three-year contract with us, 4.1M comes into our pockets, not a lot considering the value and age of the player.

Suddenly I had to take action and like a good manager I asked my staff what players we had on the shortlist to replace our two players, the point is that the alternatives to Odenthal that could be bought were not convincing, we are in the middle of a race for promotion and especially in the centre of defence I need certainty, but I can't spend on crazy signings without knowing where we will play next year.
In the end I opted for the loan of Jamil Siebert a powerful centre back from Fortuna Dusseldorf, he is strong, aggressive and courageous, plus I will be able to buy him in the event of promotion to Serie A.

 

For the left wing, on the other hand, the young Dane Marcus Baggesen, 19 years old, with a lot of potential according to my scouts, arrived for 1.4M from Norrkoping.
Finally for the midfield comes another young promise, the 19-year-old Slovenian Beno Selan from Bravo for 800k.
Let's see how the new guys will fit into a team that had found a certain balance, I foresee some shake ups.

Forza Como!!

[higgins]

The slowdown in the final part of the first half of the season has been confirmed in the second half, we cannot speak of a collapse, but gradually the advantage and also the confidence that the team showed on the field has been dissolving little by little, after 34 matches played, four games from the end, we are no longer at the top of the table but we find ourselves second, two points behind Cremonese, who is marching safely towards promotion, behind us at seven points there is Palermo, seven points seem a lot but if you lose confidence anything can happen.
The next game we play a significant part of our chances of success away from home against Cremonese.
Certainly a good script.

 

The match against Cremonese was fairly one-sided, the Grigiorossi took the lead with Okereke, and halfway through the first half my right winger, Da Cunha, was rightly sent off for a forceful tackle on Vasquez.
A madness, I was fuming.
In the second half we took it back with Liam Kerrigan who capitalized on a great assist by Baggesen from the left, too bad that after a few minutes a header by Ravanelli, left alone by my defenders, condemned us to defeat.
In the meantime Palermo has, obviously, won, now only four points separate us and on the last day there will be Como-Palermo.

Before then, however, we have two easy games, at home against Lecco, last in the table, already relegated, and then away against Feralpi Salò, also at the bottom of the table, also already relegated.
The problem is that the match against Lecco immediately becomes a nightmare, at 7' minute Lecco is ahead thanks to a header by Novakovic, at 9' Tenkorang scores their second goal: Como-Lecco 0-2!
In the first thirty minutes the team is at the mercy of the opponents, I think of counter-moves but I remain rather passive and see the disaster materializing around the corner.

• 31' Kerrigan does almost everything on his own and from the left enters the area with the ball on his foot, the shot is a powerful and angled on the far post, 2-1.
• 40' Kerrigan again, this time blasting a cross from the right into the box, Cutrone breaks in and scores with his header on the edge of offside, 2-2.
• 43' Cutrone once again on the edge of offside, collects a through ball from Koné, enters the area and beats the keeper, 3-2.

Delirium at the Sinigaglia.

The match practically ends here, in the second half nothing happens, Lecco is in disarray, we win after having been one step away from the abyss.
But the best news comes at the end, Palermo lost 3-0 to Ternana and it's automatic promotion for Como...

We are back to Serie A!

 

 

[SixPointer]

Congratulations on promotion, surely the owners will loosen the purse strings!

[higgins]

11 minutes ago, SixPointer said:

Congratulations on promotion, surely the owners will loosen the purse strings!

Thanks, I hope so, just a bit 

Edited January 19 by higgins

[higgins]

 

After winning promotion, the Serie B title also surprisingly arrived, thanks to two wins in the last two matches, we were able to overtake Cremonese thanks to a better goal difference.
Here are some statistics concerning the season just ended, in particular regarding assists and goals scored by Como's players.

Marlon Mustapha has been my best scorer, he started as Cutrone's reserve and has imposed himself showing a great attitude  on the pitch despite it was his debut season in Italian football, Patrick Cutrone also had a good season, the two strikers have proved to be interchangeable throughout the year, despite having similar attributes, in the last two games of the year where I fielded the team with the 4-4-2 they have shown that they can also play together, an idea that intrigues me a bit for the future.

Cutrone recently asked for a new contract, he currently earns 614k per year and his current contract expires in 2025, I promised him I would adjust it, I hope his demands are not unreasonable, I think Mustapha will also want a better contract soon.

Quote

What do you think, how much would you pay for these two in Serie A?

 

 

Edit: Cutrone wants 1.5 - 1.8M for a new contract, Mustapha 1M...

Edited January 20 by higgins

[SixPointer]

Do you think both can secure safety in Serie A? If they can lead you to that. Workout how much money it’s worth staying in the league and then decide if it’s worth it. 

[higgins]

12 minutes ago, SixPointer said:

Do you think both can secure safety in Serie A? If they can lead you to that. Workout how much money it’s worth staying in the league and then decide if it’s worth it. 

I'm not sure but I think both should stay as I can't spend for two new strikers, other roles need improvements, first of all central midfieders where three players will leave for free

[Shrewnaldo]

Poor Feralpisalò (again)

Do you think the drop-off as the season progressed is linked to the high intensity game and the number of sprints you highlighted? Did you have wider fatigue problems towards the end of the campaign? 

[higgins]

21 minutes ago, Shrewnaldo said:

Poor Feralpisalò (again)

Do you think the drop-off as the season progressed is linked to the high intensity game and the number of sprints you highlighted? Did you have wider fatigue problems towards the end of the campaign? 

That was my first impression, but no, I didn't collect more data pointing in that direction and at the moment I have no answers regarding the drop, later even more pronounced, in performance.

Maybe a preseason not so intensive or some problem to handle pressure, more likely there was an initial overperformance that was partially counterbalanced during the season, although at the end, for example, our XG-op was still 17.53, higher than any other team in Serie B.

[higgins]

 

It was not supposed to be like this.

I had other plans for the summer following our promotion to Serie A, there were two-three redundancies to be placed, three-four players to be bought to raise the average level of the team, and then almost all the protagonists of promotion would be confirmed.

But things turned out differently, and it was a bloodbath.

It all started, as I have already told you, from the request for an adjustment to Patrick Cutrone's contract, an increase that I granted after some hesitation, all in all he was one of the greatest protagonists of our triumph in Serie B, but from that moment on the spiral of wages has been like a switchblade, totally out of control.

After him it was Mustapha's turn, here too he was satisfied, in the end he only intended a million a year.

But then second-rate figures like Bellemo, Sala and Guirassy came storming in with crazy demands, each of them demanding salaries of more than 1M per season.

I know I can't afford to give Christmas bonuses on everyone, so I decided that nonsensical demands would be rejected, even those of Verdi and especially goalkeeper Adrian Semper, one who shortly after swearing eternal loyalty to the club then asked me to double his salary.

I kicked out almost all of them, some sold, others, those without a market, on loan, Verdi was sold for 3M to Tenerife, Bellemo for 4.5M to Venezia, finally Semper joined Real Sociedad for 8M.

 

Altogether twelve players left the Sinigaglia for a total of 17.25M, at the same time there were no less than fourteen new arrivals, putting them together and making them a team will be the first challenge of next year.

The starting tactic remains the same, the classic W-W formation that worked so well in serie B and this should be my starting lineup.

What all the new signings have in common is their young age, Melegoni being the oldest at 25, but many of them are only in their twenties or even younger, Francesco Pio Esposito was snapped for free from Inter, a real bargain for a young Italian striker who could become my best forward in 2-3 years.

I hope our average attendance could grow up this season, last year average of 3.000 fans for our home game is not enough for a Serie A club.

Forza Como!

Edited January 25 by higgins

[SixPointer]

Busy summer! Got to hope the players link together quickly. 

[Shrewnaldo]

I like Bakoune a lot, had him on loan at Feralpi

 

How much of a difference do you find having your wingbacks aligned with the DM line rather than DC? 

[john1]

Good luck in Serie A! Some decent transfers you have made!

[higgins]

On 26/01/2024 at 09:32, Shrewnaldo said:

I like Bakoune a lot, had him on loan at Feralpi

 

How much of a difference do you find having your wingbacks aligned with the DM line rather than DC? 

They seem to work better with my wingers, then we have more interceptions in more advanced areas of the field, basically our attacking shape becomes a 3-4-3

[_Ben_]

Good luck in Serie A!