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[FM11] Messi? Nah...

SnakeXe

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SnakeXe

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The Squad: 2023

Goalkeepers

Nicola Ravaglia - GK - Italy - Earned his contract extension with some good displays last year when Muslera's form tailed off.

Juan Jose Godoy - GK - Argentina - £6.75m signing agreed last summer, will be first choice for a good few years.

Filippo Pedersoli - GK - Italy - Looks a decent prospect, definitely only number 2 material for the moment.

Defenders

Jose Alberto Loureiro - DR - Portugal - Was captain a lot last season as Turon didn't make the team, did well.

Rocco Signore - D/WBR - Italy - Played a bit in the Italian Cup, but probably could use more football this time round.

Remi Thouvenin - DL - France - Lost out to Contento last year, but will probably take the shirt back this time as Contento's legs start to go.

Diego Contento - D/WBL - Italy - Fantastic for us last season, his legs are on the wane though.

Ferdinando Leonardi - D/WB/ML - Italy - Another good prospect at fullback.

Rene Kooiman - DC - Holland - Not sure how he doesn't have a Dutch cap yet, he's awesome.

Stefano Tulino - D/DM/MRC - Italy - Great player.

Aurelien Maire - DC - France - Probably 4th choice now Egger is here.

Philipp Egger - DC - Austria - Bargain at £2.9m.

Midfielders

Filippo Vitone - AMRC - Italy - Has won several callups to the Italy squad now, but still hasn't made the pitch.

Adem Ljajic - AMRLC - Serbia - Coming to the tail end of his career, very useful squad player.

Jon Pagola - AMLC - Spain - Vying for the title of our most important player with Petrillo and the centrebacks.

Yohan Sallaberry - AML - France - Retraining him at AMC as he's such a good player we have to fit him into our 4-3-1-2.

Mauricio Martin - D/DM/MC - Argentina - Quality player.

Patxi Rodriguez - DM/MC - Spain - His usefulness is running out, might have to buy a new MC or two soon.

Mario Quiroga - DM/MC - Argentina - Managed to placate him after his strop over Mogi last season, one of our best players.

Victor Amoruso - MC - Italy - Does a lot of good without actually providing much in the way of goals and assists.

Nenad Lukic - MLC - Serbia - Provides quality and experience, not to mention a balancing left foot in our midfield.

Forwards

Abel Petrillo - ST - Italy - The main man, Aguero and Valdez may have better stats, but he gets the results.

Christian Benteke - ST - Belgium - Offers something different, despite the fact he's on the wane.

Walter Aguero - ST - Argentina - More injury problems mean he still hasn't got going. He's finally managed a full preseason so hopefully that'll help.

Gonzalo Valdez - ST - Argentina - Great understudy for Aguero.

Fininho - ST - Portugal - Another free transfer to follow Valdez into the club, more for his potential than a current first team player.

Leavers

Mauro Vigorito - GK - Italy - One of my first signings at the club, amazed he's lasted this long. Finally retired after 3 seasons without a competitive appearance.

Fernando Muslera - GK - Uruguay - Simply declined far too rapidly to continue at a Serie A club.

Justin Turon - D/WBRL - France - Had to sell him due to a surplus of fullbacks, never did anything wrong though, good player.

Arturo Zapater - DC - Spain - Hasn't left permanently, is off on loan.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang - AMR/ST - Gabon - Didn't make much impact at the club, getting on now.

Overall

Another season where not too much was changed, but the young nature of the squad means we'll improve anyway hopefully. Perhaps it'll be enough for a Champions League place - I think that depends a lot on the other clubs we're competing with though. I'd be surprised if Juve were as poor again, so one of the top 3 will have to have a much worse season if we're to break in.

Forza Messina!

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Season 13: Winter Break Update

Last season we made a big step in moving towards a Champions League qualification spot. This season, we decided "sod that, we're going for the title". 8 wins from the first 8 matches meant we were the early pace setters, though a surprising number of teams were keeping pace just a handful of points behind. Our first slip-up came conceding a last-minute equaliser away at Udinese, which we followed up with a more commendable draw against Inter.

A win against rivals Catania got things back on track, before another slightly disappointing draw away to Bari. By this time, our fierce rivals Palermo had overtaken us at the top. 3 more wins and a disappointing loss to Juventus left us equal on points with them going into the final league match before the winter break - home versus Palermo.

Despite being without 5 first choice players we brilliantly took the lead through Pippo Vitone, before they fluked an equaliser and held out to make sure they were top at Christmas. A bit of a shame, but I'm thrilled with the way things are going this season - we have a healthy 7 point advantage over the side in 5th place, and are on course to smash through last season's points total.

As for Europe, a narrow aggregate win over Austrians SV Mattersburg saw us through the qualifiers, to yet another group with an English giant at the head of it - this is really getting old! This time it was Chelsea, with FC Zurich and Metalurg Donetsk the inevitable also-rans. A disappointing 3-1 loss away at Stamford Bridge kicked off the campaign, before 4 successive victories against the lesser sides meant we qualified easily.

We needed a 2-0 win over Chelsea at home in order to win the group, as they'd managed to win the rest of their matches too. In almost a carbon copy of the Palermo game just 5 days previously, we took the lead only to concede a flukey equaliser. We go through in second again, and I can't wait to play Valencia in the next stage again. Oh wait, it's actually Sevilla this year. Huge difference. :rolleyes:

As I said last time, I feel like Bill Murray*.

Results 1 - Results 2 - League Table - Squad

*In Groundhog Day - noone seems to get my references so I'd better start pointing them out!

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SnakeXe's Messina - Season 13 - 2023/24

Story of the Season:

Serie A - 3rd, Qualified for Champions League

An amazing start to the season brought us 8 wins from 8, putting us top of the pile for the first time ever! We slowed down a little with a few draws, before finally succumbing to our first loss 2-0 away to Juventus. A draw against close rivals Palermo meant we went into the winter break equal on points with them, but 2nd due to goal difference.

I was hoping we might keep pace with Palermo for a while, but it didn't really happen. They were relentless, and we kept dropping the odd point to fall back from them. Eventually the teams behind us caught up, and we dropped into third, and briefly fourth. Nevertheless, we secured Champions League qualification with a fantastic 2-0 win to avenge our earlier first defeat against Juventus.

Exertions in other competitions meant we ran out of steam a bit after that, but an absolutely stonking 8-1 win on the final day against AC Milan put us back up into 3rd, a significant result as we wouldn't have to negotiate a (potentially tricky with our relatively poor coefficient) qualifier next season.

Coppa Italia - Runners Up

European football meant we skipped the qualifiers again, and we a relatively easy run, despite facing Serie A teams early in the competition. Bari and Parma were dispatched to set up a tantalising semi final against former parent club Livorno. We took advantage of their lowly current standings to book our place in the final.

AC Milan lay in wait, the first real test of the competition. An early goal knocked us off our stride, and despite coming back into the game strongly, we couldn't find an equaliser. We would avenge the defeat later in the league, but I would really have loved that first top-level trophy.

Europa League - Semi Final

A qualifier against Austrians SV Mattersburg was academic, despite the close 2-1 scoreline. An uncannily similar path to our last two Europa League campaigns then began. First the group headed up by a massive English club (Chelsea this time, with Metalurg Donetsk and FC Zurich making up the numbers), which we qualified second from (4 wins against the lesser lights, a loss and draw against Chelsea), only to come up against Spanish giants (Sevilla rather than Valencia this time).

Where it differed is this time we blew Sevilla out of the water, a 4-1 aggregate score slightly flattering, but nevertheless a deserved result. Fellow second-placed-in-the-group-stage AS Saint-Etienne were dispatched by the same scoreline, before another English behemoth in Man City stood in our path. A narrow 3-2 away leg loss was avenged in style, a 5-0 demolition the least we deserved.

Zenit St. Petersburg were the only thing between us and a place in the final, and we did our best to make it easy for them, shipping 3 soft goals in Russia before a solitary reply gave us hope for the second leg. I sent the players out demanding they repeated the Man City performance, but it didn't quite happen. A late Vitone goal sparked hopes of a shock win, but we didn't really deserve it.

Zenit went on to beat Atletico Madrid in the final, so at least we lost to the eventual champions.

Results 1 - Results 2 - Results 3 - Results 4 - Squad

Transfers - £9.95m Loss

Had to return to spending a little this year, mostly due to the decline of all 3 of last season's. Of the 3, only Ravaglia was kept on, as Juan Jose Godoy came in as number 1, with Filippo Pedersoli as a young prospect. Philipp Egger was a bargain at £2.9m, and offered proper competition to my established pairing of Tulino and Kooiman for the first time in ages. Justin Turon was the only significant out, the former captain not getting enough first team football for his, or my, liking.

5 Most Important Players:

5. Walter Aguero - ST - Finally starting to fulfill his potential with a relatively injury-free season. I think there's still more to come.

4. Victor Amoruso - MC - Best ever season for us, getting into double figures for assists.

3. Rene Kooiman - DC - Again, sort of representing the whole defence as they were excellent, but he was the star.

2. Abel Petrillo - ST - No matter the level he keeps on getting us the goals, can't wait to let him loose in the Champions League.

1. Jon Pagola - AMLC - The attacking midfield role has been the making of him, top class.

History:

Season    League                  Position  Achievements                   
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2011/12   Serie C2/C              2nd       Serie C Cup Runners Up, Playoff Finalists
2012/13   Serie C2/C              1st       Serie C2/C Champions, Promoted
2013/14   Serie C1/B              5th       Playoff Semi-Finalists
2014/15   Serie C1/B              2nd       Playoff Winners, Promoted
2015/15   Serie B                 12th      
2016/17   Serie B                 2nd       Promoted
2017/18   Serie A                 20th      Relegated
2018/19   Serie B                 2nd       Promoted
2019/20   Serie A                 7th       Qualified for Europa League
2020/21   Serie A                 6th       Qualified for Europa League
2021/22   Serie A                 9th
2022/23   Serie A                 5th       Qualified for Europa League
2023/24   Serie A                 3rd       Qualified for Champions League, Coppa Italia Runners Up

Messina 100 Club:

A list of those Messina players who make 100 or more appearances for the club under my management.

Name                Pos        Era                    Apps   Goals     AvR
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Abel Petrillo       ST         2016-Present            281     132    7.16
Victor Amoruso      MC         2018-Present            240      22    6.99
Mauro Vigorito      GK         2011-2023               217       0    6.82
Patxi Rodriguez     DM/MC      2017-Present            203      14    6.87
Mauro Quiroga       DM/MC      2019-Present            192      13    6.99
Rene Kooiman        DC         2019-Present            191       7    7.00
Nicolas Amodio      DM/MC      2012-2018               183      12    6.93
Filippo Vitone      AMRC       2018-Present            183      31    7.08
Antonio Marino      DLC        2013-2021               180       5    6.88
Stefano Tulino      D/DM/MRC   2019-Present            175      12    7.12
Mario Ortiz         DM/MC      2013-2021               169       5    6.83
Nicola Ravaglia     GK         2018-Present            164       0    6.90
Enzo Scorza         ST         2012-2018               159      82    7.24
Nicolas             D/DM/MC    2015-2022               159       5    6.85
Jon Pagola          AMLC       2019-Present            157      33    7.29
Adem Ljajic         AMRLC      2019-Present            157      25    6.91
Rosario Licata      D/WB/ML    2011-2016               146       3    6.92
Francesc Alcalde    AMLC/ST    2014-2020               145      45    6.98
Mauricio Martin     D/DM/MC    2020-Present            141       6    6.95
Luca Tedeschi       DC         2012-2018               139       8    7.09
Mogi                DRC        2017-2022               134       0    6.76
Diego Farias        AMRLC      2015-2019               126      19    6.90
Nenad Lukic         MLC        2021-Present            125      16    6.97
Davide Testa        AM/ST      2011-2015               121      40    7.04
Jose A. Loureiro    DR         2020-Present            119       0    7.06
Ruben               AML        2015-2019               103       7    6.86
Fausto Rossi        AML        2016-2021               102      18    6.97

Next Season:

So close to winning 2 trophies, but we came away with nothing in the end. Still, Champions League qualification means we can really kick on now, hopefully. I think a good season would be to retain our Champions League status, whilst not coming last in the group stage this time round. If we finish 3rd and end up in the Europa League again, I'd love to win it.

Forza Messina!

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SnakeXe

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finally, Champions League! :)

I couldn't help noticing that Aguero missed a penalty against AC ;)

I'll let him off, as he stuck in the rebound :)

A nearly season there: a final, a semi final and a 3rd place. Congratz on Champions League qualification

I know, so close to so much :( probably if we hadn't gone so far in one or the other we may have had a better chance in the rest.

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The Squad: 2024

Goalkeepers

Nicola Ravaglia - GK - Italy - Solid backup.

Juan Jose Godoy - GK - Argentina - Did well as first choice, nice to have a number 1 of undisputed quality.

Filippo Pedersoli - GK - Italy - Hasn't really developed much, might send him on loan.

Defenders

Jose Alberto Loureiro - DR - Portugal - Excellent fullback.

Rocco Signore - D/WBR - Italy - Did well when called upon, probably won't ever be quite Loureiro's quality though.

Remi Thouvenin - DL - France - Saw off the aging Contento to regain his first team place.

Ferdinando Leonardi - D/WB/ML - Italy - Not quite up to standard in all likelihood, but is ok for backup.

Rene Kooiman - DC - Holland - Has taken Italian nationality, so might get a callup for Italy before Holland.

Stefano Tulino - D/DM/MRC - Italy - Kooiman's partner in awesomeness.

Aurelien Maire - DC - France - Doesn't play much, probably quite fortunate as he's not that good.

Philipp Egger - DC - Austria - Excellent backup for the two first choice centrebacks.

Arturo Zapater - DC - Spain - Don't know if I can afford him the gametime to get good enough, might have to send him on loan again.

Midfielders

Filippo Vitone - AMRC - Italy - Finally won his first Italy cap, and went to Euro 2024 with them.

Adem Ljajic - AMRLC - Serbia - Less and less gametime these days, still worth having around.

Jon Pagola - AMLC - Spain - Amazing player.

Yohan Sallaberry - AML - France - Hoping he'll finally master the AMC position this season.

Mauricio Martin - D/DM/MC - Argentina - Great player, probably underused as we don't have a DM anymore.

Patxi Rodriguez - DM/MC - Spain - This is probably his last contract with us, not quite up to standard.

Mario Quiroga - DM/MC - Argentina - Usually our most defensive of the 3 in the 4-3-1-2, plays the role nicely.

Yann M'Vila - DM/MC - France - Ex-Barca veteran brought in for Champions League experience.

Victor Amoruso - MC - Italy - Can't be far off a cap himself.

Nenad Lukic - MLC - Serbia - Experienced hand in the midfield.

Maamoun Hasan - MC - Sudan - Adding more quality in depth to the midfield, probably overpaid for him at £10m but we needed someone.

Forwards

Abel Petrillo - ST - Italy - I'll keep him here until he retires, love the little guy.

Walter Aguero - ST - Argentina - Finally started to pay back the transfer fee last year.

Gonzalo Valdez - ST - Argentina - Great backup striker.

Fininho - ST - Portugal - Did surprisingly well, hopefully he'll continue to improve.

Leavers

Diego Contento - D/WBL - Italy - Leonardi needed more game time and he was getting on, so I let him go.

Christian Benteke - ST - Belgium - Getting on, and we're pretty well off for strikers.

Overall

Added more quality in depth in midfield, hopefully I can rotate more effectively this season to maintain the level of performance into the last couple of months of the season. Should be enough to carry us through to our targets this season, probably not enough to go any further though really.

Forza Messina!

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How finely poised is this group? Last games are us away to Hapoel and Man Utd at home to Lyon. Any of the top 3 could either win the group or be knocked out depending on the results on the final day! I'm hoping for a win over whipping boys Hapoel, with a Utd-Lyon draw to send us through top :)

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Season 14: Winter Break Update

After a 100% record in preseason, we were in best possible shape for our opening match away against defending champions Palermo. We still went down 2-0 though, but at least we were straight back to winning ways afterwards. Despite the odd failure in front of goal (all 4 of our draws by the end of the year were 0-0s), we were doing well and taking some great scalps - a 3-0 away to Inter was my favourite.

All that left us where we were this time last season - 2nd place, in touching distance of the leader. This time it's Juventus, Palermo having slipped back to 6th. The difference this time is we have just a 3 point margin over 5th place, where last year it was 7 points. We could just as easily win the title as end up in the Europa League, but either way it should be exciting!

Speaking of Europe, our maiden Champions League campaign at least had a degree of familiarity about it - we were drawn in a group with English giants Man Utd. The other two sides were Lyon and Hapoel Tel-Aviv, making up quite a tough introduction to Europe's top table. That was emphasized when we were stuffed 3-0 away in Manchester in our first game. A few nerves were settled in the next game, at home against the Israelis, as we destroyed them 4-0.

A defeat away to Lyon followed, as it looked like we'd probably end up fighting for the Europa League spot - but an amazing 4-2 win in the return match featuring a Petrillo hattrick gave us belief we could maybe sneak 2nd spot. To do that, we'd need to get something from Man Utd at the San Filippo, and we did - a historic 1-0 win set up an epic final day. Any of the 3 of Man Utd, Lyon and us could just as easily win the group as go out, but with us playing whipping boys Hapoel and the big boys playing each other, we were in the driving seat in terms of securing qualification as a win would send us through no matter what.

We got the win with an amazing 4-0 demolition of Hapoel, but Lyon had a man sent off early and went down 2-0 to United, ending our chances of winning the group. The draw gave us Porto in the next round, a stern but winnable test.

Results 1 - Results 2 - League Table - Squad

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SnakeXe's Messina - Season 14 - 2024/25

Story of the Season:

Serie A - 4th, Qualified for Champions League

We started well again, despite an opening day defeat away to Palermo, and kept pace with the early leaders. Some excellent results, such as a 3-0 win away at eventual champions Inter, put us in a strong position at the turn of the year, just 2 points off the top.

We continued challenging well into 2025, despite some poor results - mostly due to problems finding the back of the net - not one of our strikers got into double figures, a terrible statistic for a team trying to win the title. We requalified for the Champions League with 3 games left, just 4 points off the top spot.

The matches we had left were away to mid-table AlbinoLeffe, followed by a home match against relegation-threatened AC Milan, and then a potential title decider away to Juventus on the final day.

We blew it. Lost against AlbinoLeffe and AC Milan despite taking the lead in both games, then played out an irrelevant 0-0 with Juventus, Inter having already taken the title.

Coppa Italia - Runners Up

Having lost the final to AC Milan last year, we were hoping to go one better this time around. A penalty victory over Serie B high-fliers Padova set up a tricky Quarter Final against big rivals Palermo. Somehow we beat them 2-1, sending us to another tricky tie - a two legged Semi Final against eventual champions Inter.

A narrow 2-1 loss in the first leg away from home gave us hope going into the second leg, and we didn't disappoint, with a fantastic 3-1 victory taking us to our second successive Coppa Italia final.

Juventus lay in wait, a tough test. Like last year, we conceded early to ruin my plan of keeping it tight, but unlike last year we managed an equaliser through Mario Quiroga. Juventus stepped up a gear though, and we were unable to, with two more goals ending our dream of a trophy for another season. The game really showcased our failing this year, despite dominating our finishing was laughable.

Champions League - 1st Knockout Round

Having secured 3rd place in the league last season we avoided a qualifier, something I was very pleased about, as there are some tricky teams in there. We went straight into a group that was very familiar from our Europa League days - yet another English giant as the top seeds. This time it was Man Utd, who stuffed us 3-0 at Old Trafford to give us a difficult introduction to Europe's top table.

A 4-0 home win over group whipping boys Hapoel Tel-Aviv steadied our nerves, but second seeds Lyon brought us back to earth with a narrow 1-0 win in France. At this point I thought we'd be gunning for 3rd place with Hapoel, but an outstanding hattrick from Abel Petrillo blew Lyon away in the return match, helping us to a 4-2 win.

Assuming Lyon beat Hapoel (which they did) that meant we needed something from Man Utd in the next game. An amazing performance gave us a 1-0 victory, one of our greatest nights of European football! This set up a rather interesting last day - a win for us against Hapoel would send us through no matter what, whilst a draw between Lyon and Man Utd would send us through as group winners - an unbelievable prospect 3 games ago.

We kept up our end of the bargain with another 4-0 win, but Lyon had a man sent off early and buckled under the pressure, losing 2-0.

Still, we were through to the knockout stages, and all the potential revenue that could bring. The draw was quite kind to us, with Porto probably the weakest of the group winners.

A great performance in the home leg gave us a 2-0 lead before a potentially costly away goal deep into injury time put the dampeners on the occasion. Cost us it did, with a 1-0 loss in the away leg sending us out on away goals.

Results 1 - Results 2 - Results 3 - Results 4 - Squad

Transfers - £10.35m Loss

Maamoun Hasan was the big player in at £10m, with some solid free transfers and one for the future in Negrin our other business coming in. A whole load of players we didn't need any more also went out for no money in.

5 Most Important Players:

5. Jose Alberto Loureiro - DR - Solid fullback, could have put either of him or Thouvenin really.

4. Stefano Tulino - D/DM/MRC - A monster in the air, really compliments Kooiman's pace.

3. Victor Amoruso - MC - Is coming into his own more and more.

2. Rene Kooiman - DC - Forms a formidable base to the team with Tulino.

1. Jon Pagola - AMLC - The only attacking player to emerge from this season with any credit.

History:

Season    League                  Position  Achievements                   
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2011/12   Serie C2/C              2nd       Serie C Cup Runners Up, Playoff Finalists
2012/13   Serie C2/C              1st       Serie C2/C Champions, Promoted
2013/14   Serie C1/B              5th       Playoff Semi-Finalists
2014/15   Serie C1/B              2nd       Playoff Winners, Promoted
2015/15   Serie B                 12th      
2016/17   Serie B                 2nd       Promoted
2017/18   Serie A                 20th      Relegated
2018/19   Serie B                 2nd       Promoted
2019/20   Serie A                 7th       Qualified for Europa League
2020/21   Serie A                 6th       Qualified for Europa League
2021/22   Serie A                 9th
2022/23   Serie A                 5th       Qualified for Europa League
2023/24   Serie A                 3rd       Qualified for Champions League, Coppa Italia Runners Up
2024/25   Serie A                 4th       Qualified for Champions League, Coppa Italia Runners Up

Messina 100 Club:

A list of those Messina players who make 100 or more appearances for the club under my management.

Name                Pos        Era                    Apps   Goals     AvR
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Abel Petrillo       ST         2016-Present            318     141    7.13
Victor Amoruso      MC         2018-Present            285      26    7.00
Rene Kooiman        DC         2019-Present            232      13    7.05
Mauro Quiroga       DM/MC      2019-Present            231      14    6.98
Mauro Vigorito      GK         2011-2023               217       0    6.82
Stefano Tulino      D/DM/MRC   2019-Present            217      13    7.14
Filippo Vitone      AMRC       2018-Present            213      39    7.09
Patxi Rodriguez     DM/MC      2017-Present            203      14    6.87
Jon Pagola          AMLC       2019-Present            199      47    7.29
Nicolas Amodio      DM/MC      2012-2018               183      12    6.93
Antonio Marino      DLC        2013-2021               180       5    6.88
Mario Ortiz         DM/MC      2013-2021               169       5    6.83
Adem Ljajic         AMRLC      2019-Present            169      26    6.91
Mauricio Martin     D/DM/MC    2020-Present            167       8    6.96
Nicola Ravaglia     GK         2018-Present            164       0    6.90
Nenad Lukic         MLC        2021-Present            162      21    6.98
Enzo Scorza         ST         2012-2018               159      82    7.24
Nicolas             D/DM/MC    2015-2022               159       5    6.85
Jose A. Loureiro    DR         2020-Present            156       0    7.08
Rosario Licata      D/WB/ML    2011-2016               146       3    6.92
Francesc Alcalde    AMLC/ST    2014-2020               145      45    6.98
Luca Tedeschi       DC         2012-2018               139       8    7.09
Walter Aguero       ST         2021-Present            139      44    6.96
Mogi                DRC        2017-2022               134       0    6.76
Remi Thouvenin      DL         2021-Present            130       0    7.09
Diego Farias        AMRLC      2015-2019               126      19    6.90
Gonzalo Valdez      ST         2022-Present            126      34    6.87
Davide Testa        AM/ST      2011-2015               121      40    7.04
Ruben               AML        2015-2019               103       7    6.86
Juan Jose Godoy     GK         2023-Present            103       0    6.93
Fausto Rossi        AML        2016-2021               102      18    6.97

Next Season:

I have some big decisions to make before next season. Do we stick with the 4-3-1-2 and hope it was just a blip that we scored so much fewer goals this season? Or do I change it around and make expensive alterations to the squad? It seemed to be a correlation between teams going 3 at the back and us failing to score this season, so perhaps I just need to find a way to play against that. Perhaps an alternative 4-2-3-1 or something. Anyway, next season I want our top 3 slot back, and I want us to get to the Champions League group stages and not finish bottom.

Forza Messina!

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ImOnFire15

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You should post players from your youth team. It doesn't have to be all of them, just the best players from each position(not every, just foward,midfield,defence,goalkeeper). Give each player a ranking like 5/10, 7.5/10 for example so we know who the best players and worst players are on your team instead on clicking on every player.

Tough luck on losing to Porto. At least your back in UCL next year.

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Thanks chaps :)

i wish i had the time u have :(

Actually I don't have as much time to spend on it as I used to, I just seem to rattle through the seasons pretty quickly! I do play it most evenings I suppose.

You should post players from your youth team. It doesn't have to be all of them, just the best players from each position(not every, just foward,midfield,defence,goalkeeper). Give each player a ranking like 5/10, 7.5/10 for example so we know who the best players and worst players are on your team instead on clicking on every player.

Tough luck on losing to Porto. At least your back in UCL next year.

There's no point posting players from my youth team, they've been uniformly awful!

If you're interested in an overview of who is good and bad, then take a look at the "Squad" screenshot in my seasonal updates, that will give you the star rating of each player. I could do a rating out of 10 if people would be interested, but I honestly think I'd find it quite hard to do, and it takes me long enough to write the updates as it is!

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The Squad: 2025

Goalkeepers

Juan Jose Godoy - GK - Argentina - Got too big for his boots and handed in a transfer request, which I denied. Hopefully in his 3 years left on his contract he'll stop being such a baby.

Filippo Pedersoli - GK - Italy - Really rather not use this guy, he hasn't developed at all. Probably my fault as I haven't been able to give him any game time, but still.

Defenders

Jose Alberto Loureiro - DR - Portugal - Occasional captain, very solid player.

Rocco Signore - D/WBR - Italy - Deputised well for Loureiro when injury and rotation required.

Remi Thouvenin - DL - France - Probably the weakest of our first choice back 4, but not terrible.

Ferdinando Leonardi - D/WB/ML - Italy - Very meh.

Rene Kooiman - DC - Holland - Still no international callup, surprisingly.

Stefano Tulino - D/DM/MRC - Italy - Still can't believe I signed him for £775k from Serie B.

Aurelien Maire - DC - France - Very average.

Philipp Egger - DC - Austria - Pushed Tulino for a first-team slot last year, will do so again.

Arturo Zapater - DC - Spain - Development stunted by the need for our defence to be good with such misfiring strikers.

Midfielders

Filippo Vitone - AMRC - Italy - Seems to be a regular for Italy now, good on him.

Adem Ljajic - AMRLC - Serbia - Getting on, but an experienced hand who pops up with an occasional goal is never a bad thing.

Javier - AMR - Spain - Great prospect picked up from Real Madrid for peanuts.

Gianmarco Di Donato - AMR/ST - Italy - It's a miracle! An actual prospect from our academy. I can't believe it.

Jon Pagola - AMLC - Spain - Our best performer for the last few seasons.

Yohan Sallaberry - AML - France - Might get a look in on the wing as I change the tactics around this season.

Mauricio Martin - D/DM/MC - Argentina - Might find his services required on a more regular basis again.

Patxi Rodriguez - DM/MC - Spain - Good servant, but not a brilliant player if I'm honest.

Mario Quiroga - DM/MC - Argentina - Very good defensively and going forward.

Victor Amoruso - MC - Italy - Getting better and better.

Nenad Lukic - MLC - Serbia - Probably just over the hill now, still worth having around.

Maamoun Hasan - MC - Sudan - Had a pretty good season last year, started this one injured.

Albert Negrin - MC - Spain - Dubbed "the next Xavi" - could be special.

Forwards

Abel Petrillo - ST - Italy - Very quiet last season, hope he bucks up again this year.

Walter Aguero - ST - Argentina - Poor last season, as were all the strikers.

Gonzalo Valdez - ST - Argentina - Probably his last season with us, especially if we end up with a single-striker formation.

Fininho - ST - Portugal - Scored a hattrick one game to earn his place in the team, before being rubbish all the time after that. If he were more consistent he'd be first choice.

Sergio Real - ST - Argentina - I have no idea why we're having problems scoring with this guy and Aguero in the side, it's a joke.

Leavers

Nicola Ravaglia - GK - Italy - Didn't want a new contract as backup so I let him go.

Yann M'Vila - DM/MC - France - His "Champions League experience" helped him get a straight red in the first group stage game. Didn't feature much after that.

Overall

Haven't changed as much as I'd like, but will probably do more business in January. Should be enough to see us through til then, still haven't really decided on a system. I know it's going to have wingers and a back four, but the rest I'm not sure on.

Forza Messina!

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It doesn't seem to make much difference whether I select that or not, I still find myself firing blanks quite often. It always seems to happen if we miss a few good chances in the early part of the game, so perhaps its a confidence thing.

I think I've settled on a 4-2-3-1, so I'll have Real up top with Aguero for backup. Long term plan is to retrain Aguero to AMC so he can be a playmaker, which I think is probably the best position for him looking at his awesome technical stats. It seems to get decent-ish results, but the fact that I haven't really bought any decent wingers is probably a drawback! Javier and Sallaberry are ok, but if I'm using Pagola and Vitone in the AMC position I don't really have any viable backup, since Ljajic is over the hill.

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Season 15: Winter Break Update

The fixtures computer kicked us off with a very tricky trio of matches, away to Napoli followed by Juve at home and Palermo away. We did well against Napoli, taking the lead twice but couldn't hang on as we drew 2-2. That proved costly as successive embarrassments in the next two games left us mired in the relegation zone.

We finally won our first league game of the season at home against newly promoted Reggina, and that sparked a climb up the table. The form still wasn't brilliant, however, until a great win in the Champions League (which we'll talk about later) sparked a run of 10 wins in 14 matches in all competitions. We finally climbed back into the top 4 with a 1-0 win in the final game before the winter break, at home against Bologna. The title is patently out of reach this season, but we can still push on to the top 3 position I was after at the start of the season.

In Europe, we faced a predictably difficult opponent in the Best Placed Playoff in Portuguese side Braga. It ended up being easier than I thought though, a 3-1 away win allowing me to play a youthful side at home. We lost 1-0, but it was enough.

This year is my 5th season of European football at Messina, and this is the first time we haven't drawn an English team in the group stage! This time we got Dortmund, last year's conquerors Porto and old foes Valencia, in what I expected to be a very tight group. We started a little disappointingly, throwing away a lead at home against Dortmund to draw 2-2 as part of our lame start to the season.

A last minute winner for Porto in the next game just made things worse, but we finally tasted victory in the third match, a 2-0 home win breaking Valencia's hoodoo over us. They got a measure of revenge in the return, with a narrow 1-0 win, before we put on the afterburners to take 2nd in the group with a 4-1 win in Dortmund and a satisfying 2-0 win over Porto. Valencia took top spot, of course.

Barcelona are our opposition in the next round, a very tricky draw.

I've had problems with tactics this half-season, moving from the 4-3-1-2 to a 4-2-3-1, then a 4-4-2, and finally back to 4-3-1-2. I think I'll probably keep switching between the latter two long term. We've already agreed the signing of 4 excellent players that will fit into a 4-3-1-2, so that's probably our main system.

Results 1 - Results 2 - League Table - Squad

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This is one of the best stories I had red ever :)))

Try to improve LB and midfield, you don't have very creative player, your strikers are top standard!

You have team that can win Serie A and reach 1/2 of CL with little luck!

I'm glad you're enjoying it :)

Yeah LB is our weak position, but I can't find any that are significantly better than Thouvenin for reasonable money. The best my assistant came up with to suggest was some guy for £17m who was only just barely better. Midfield will be spectacularly sorted in January this season, don't you worry :D

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