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'Lessons in Calcio' - Crouchy, Facci Sognare!


crouchaldinho

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I haven't seen Back to Earth yet, might have to get hold of a copy if it's not too bad as you say.

Only get it if it's really cheap. It might be on Dave again, particularly in the lead up to the new series I would guess. Plus, it's not that good to be honest. I'm just saying it's all right and especially when compared to series 8 which I loathe.

Personally I think it should be left alone, as you say the actors are getting on and the writers won't be in the same place they were when they originally wrote it, let alone the fact one has left.

Maybe if the writers got back together but it sounds as if that won't happen. I think it's a case of those two writers working really well together and then after they split up they turn out to be much less than the sum of their parts (well Doug Naylor is when it comes to what he has done to Red Dwarf anyway).

You can see it with the books. Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers and Better Than Life are written by both and are great. Then they each did another book on their own, both following on separately from Better Than Life. One is called Backwards and that one is Rob Grant's book. The other is Last Human and that's Doug Naylor's. They are both decent enough but not as strong as the first two books they wrote together. But both still worth reading and they are saved by the fact that they both use some plot and dialogue from the TV series that the two writers wrote together.

I have no idea what Doug Naylor was thinking with Series 8. I have no idea what any of them were thinking. It was terrible and I would rather have had the show just die than go through that rubbish!

I think the risk of tainting the legacy of a fantastic series is far greater than the reward of making a decent addition to it (it's never going to be brilliant, it just doesn't happen).

Exactly. Although I do wonder if maybe a film could happen one day with the same general plot as Red Dwarf but with new actors. It could be good or, alternatively, it could be terrible. But that's the only way I could see a future for Red Dwarf really.

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For me Red Dwarf died after season 6. Seasons 7 and 8 are poor at best and the new stuff is just terrible, I turned it off about 20 minutes in without a single laugh. The whole brilliance of Red Dwarf was the characters exploring space and encountering strange aliens after that it was never that good.

New actors Crouchy? That would be worse than these new episodes, Red Dwarf should just be left alone.

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For me Red Dwarf died after season 6. Seasons 7 and 8 are poor at best and the new stuff is just terrible, I turned it off about 20 minutes in without a single laugh. The whole brilliance of Red Dwarf was the characters exploring space and encountering strange aliens after that it was never that good.

Agreed. Season 6 was great. 7 was a big decline. Let's just not talk about series 8. :mad:

New actors Crouchy? That would be worse than these new episodes, Red Dwarf should just be left alone.

My thought was just to take the original concept of the last human three million years into deep space etc. and to create a film based on the books. It wouldn't be like the original TV series because you just couldn't do that again. But if they took the books and made a film out of the general narrative of Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers and Better Than Life, I think that could work. I don't know, maybe I'm wrong, but I think it could be good. They would have to get the right kinds of actors though.

But yeah, the TV series really ought to be left alone now. I'm in agreement with that.

It's a classic comedy though and a brilliant show. If you've never seen it before, or haven't seen all of the episodes, you could do worse than buying the 'All The Shows' compilations and watching them!

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Agreed. Season 6 was great. 7 was a big decline. Let's just not talk about series 8. :mad:

My thought was just to take the original concept of the last human three million years into deep space etc. and to create a film based on the books. It wouldn't be like the original TV series because you just couldn't do that again. But if they took the books and made a film out of the general narrative of Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers and Better Than Life, I think that could work. I don't know, maybe I'm wrong, but I think it could be good. They would have to get the right kinds of actors though.

But yeah, the TV series really ought to be left alone now. I'm in agreement with that.

It's a classic comedy though and a brilliant show. If you've never seen it before, or haven't seen all of the episodes, you could do worse than buying the 'All The Shows' compilations and watching them!

So you would recommend reading the books then? I guess I am just not up for anything new with Red Dwarf at all in anyway lol.

Star Trek's definitely proved that new actors can work.

New actors can work for some things but for me Red Dwarf with different actors in would not be right. I grew up watching them and have seen them countless times, to imagine some else playing any of the Red Dwarf characters would just not seem right. Star Trek although it is a reboot I can accept as it is kind of a prequel in my eyes, I never really watched the original series but I am a big fan of the films, DS9, Next Gen and Voyager.

I also like the way an Italian FM career thread has turned into a Red Dwarf discussion.

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I watched the first few episodes when they first came out but didn't really get into it - again probably too young to appreciate it. Will have to try and get hold of it - I assume there'll be a boxset of the lot available?

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There probably is, though I don't know.

Found it interesting because it was different from most other such series, and it had loads of different species and such. Some of the plot lines (and characters) could be a little annoying at times, but overall it was a very good show in my opinion. One of the great things about it is that Earth and humans isn't the centre of attention, which I found refreshing.

Edit: A quick google search and this seems to be the full boxset, and I see the Peacekeeper Wars is linked further below, which is the concluding film (think it lasted 3 hours or thereabouts).

It also has Claudia Black in it, which isn't a negative :p

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So you would recommend reading the books then? I guess I am just not up for anything new with Red Dwarf at all in anyway lol.

Yeah, I recommend them for sure. Especially the first two, Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers and Better Than Life.

I also like the way an Italian FM career thread has turned into a Red Dwarf discussion.

That's always the way with my threads, I'm afraid. They tend to go off topic sometimes. :o

Any FM action, Crouchy?

Yes indeed. I finished the first full season with Mezzocorona last night, so I have an update to write up for for that. I didn't get it done today as I was out watching St. Albans City get beaten by Bedford Town at Clarence Park. :mad:

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There probably is, though I don't know.

Found it interesting because it was different from most other such series, and it had loads of different species and such. Some of the plot lines (and characters) could be a little annoying at times, but overall it was a very good show in my opinion. One of the great things about it is that Earth and humans isn't the centre of attention, which I found refreshing.

Edit: A quick google search and this seems to be the full boxset, and I see the Peacekeeper Wars is linked further below, which is the concluding film (think it lasted 3 hours or thereabouts).

It also has Claudia Black in it, which isn't a negative :p

I liked her in Stargate but haven't got round to seeing Farscape yet.

Yeah, I recommend them for sure. Especially the first two, Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers and Better Than Life.

Will have to get on to reading them once I have finished my current book.

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Crouchy's 'Lessons in Calcio' Journeyman Save - Project 2: A.C. Mezzocorona (Season One at Communale 2012/13)

AC_Mezzocorona.jpg

Click here for post 74 which shows how the first half of this season went.

Below, I'm posting up an image of the results we recorded after the winter break. I'll talk you through the results and my thoughts as we started the second half of this campaign.

Results2.jpg

The form in January and February was a bit all over the place. We'd win one, draw one and lose one. Rinse and repeat, pretty much.

Things picked up and I was very encouraged in March with a three match winning streak in which we managed to push on and get back to within touching distance of the play-offs. However, I always suspected that we wouldn't make it and so it ultimately proved. We never had enough when playing against some of the other promotion contenders and lost to the likes of Giulianova and Chieti at a pivotal point in the season.

I was pleased that we finished quite strongly. We actually went into the final game with an outside shot at a play-off place but it was always unlikely. As it turns out, even had we won our final match, we would have missed out on goal difference the way that other results went on the final day.

In general, this was a good season. We overachieved in terms of what was expected and also in terms of what the squad was capable of.

We based our solid season on a very strong defence. We actually had the second best defensive record in the league. We were, however, useless up front and scored only 41 goals in 40 games. We had the fourth worst goalscoring record in the league. It certainly wasn't very entertaining to watch us this season.

I think we were definitely weak up front. I put my faith in the veteran, Fabio Artico, but he was too old to make a real difference as it turned out. His performances weren't great and it was a mistake in hindsight. Yes, he gave us great experience, but I wonder if some youthful pace and energy in attack would have helped us more. He retires at the end of the season, so this issue is resolved in the sense that I don't have to make a decision about releasing him. Solving the goalscoring issue is my main goal during the summer.

Screenshots:

League Table

League Positions Graph

As you can see from above, We had a fairly strong start followed by a difficult period during the middle of the season. Towards the end of the season, we levelled out to our natural kind of level, I think.

Italian Cup - did not enter.

Serie C Cup - Nothing of interest to report. Treated as a pre-season competition so I wasn't worried when we went out early.

Transfers - I made a lot of signings, basically having to build a completely new team. I also took advantage of our link with Vicenza to work the loan system. Regrettably, few of these loan signings actually gave us much of an advantage. Andrea Mandorlini played a key part but that's probably about it.

Squad Statistics

Key players:

Errico Altobello - The key part of a well drilled defence which served us very nicely this season. Won a number of MoM awards and was one of our key performers over the course of the season.

Francesco Rossi - A defender who slotted in at right-back for a lot of the season. Brought lots of experience into the side and was very consistent for us. Another key part of our mean defence this season.

Andrea Mandorlini - Our best attacker. He did reasonably well and scored some key goals. He is a loanee from Vicenza.

There were few key players this season. We were quite average in certain positions. Our defensive record, our ability to grind out draws and 1-0 results, and our hardwork were the key factors for this season.

We were somewhat let down by a player who I thought was going to be our star in Luca Righini. He suffered from a few injuries and never really got going as I had hoped he would.

Career Overview:

Season    Team			League                   Position    Achievements/outcomes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2011/12   A.C. Giacomense	Serie C2/A	         18th        (Took over after 18 games) Relegated
2012/13   A.C. Mezzocorona	Serie C2/B	         9th         

Next Season:

We need a goalscorer desperately. I need to strengthen all over the park. We also need to bring in players to replace some of the ageing ones like Fabio Artico and Francesco Rossi.

We cannot be complacent about things. This team could easily slip back down to become relegation candidates. If we want to progress, we will definitely need to improve the squad.

There is little money available and the club doesn't really look as if it is in a position to progress easily. This next season could be a tough one. I'll be looking to overachieve with limited resources again. Half of my mind will be on looking for a move to a more progressive and ambitious type of club.

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Excellent first season at the club. I look forward to seeing your transfer dealings over the summer, you can do a lot with a little at that level! All it takes is one striker with two working legs and an eye for goal and suddenly you're challenging for the title :p

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My A.C. Giacomense Record (2011 - 2012 [133 days]):

P 	W 	D 	L 	F	A	Win % 		Competitions Won
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
19	5	7	7	17	23	26%		None

My A.C. Mezzocorona Record (2012 - present [353 days]):

P 	W 	D 	L 	F	A	Win % 		Competitions Won
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
44	18	13	13	47	38	40%		None

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Not too bad of a finish but as you said you really need some goals from somewhere too many 1's and 0's. Someone with pace will score loads in lower leagues if you can find someone that is. Good luck dude.

Cheers AB. Definitely need a goalscorer and maybe also creativity in the midfield is an issue. For some parts of the season, I've been playing with two more defensive midfield players in there.

It's also true that my general strategy has been to keep things tight and to get points on the board by trying to keep clean sheets primarily. I felt that was our best chance of a decent finish in the league and it did prove to be a good strategy in that sense.

Excellent first season at the club. I look forward to seeing your transfer dealings over the summer, you can do a lot with a little at that level! All it takes is one striker with two working legs and an eye for goal and suddenly you're challenging for the title :p

Thanks SnakeXe. Definitely going to be focusing on forwards. I guess maybe trying to bring some more creativity into midfield will be important too.

You play in binary clearly.

:D

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Hey Crouchy! I thought only I was playing in catenaccio! :p

It's my natural style when playing on FM. Clean sheet first is the motto.

I think playing in Italy makes me worse. I really role-play as a cautious tactician in Italy, which makes me more likely to protect leads early on and to defend the team's position if it is a decent enough one.

Just out of curiosity, what formation(s) are you using?

Mostly 4-4-2. I'd like to have played 4-2-3-1 but I decided to play Artico alongside another striker figuring it might help him to be more effective.

More details on the formation and tactics will be on the pre-season preview on page 1 of this thread.

Nothing wrong with a 1-0 win. Granted, it's not the most riveting stuff to watch, but in a results business, it'll keep you in employment :thup:

True!

But I think for my own sanity that I'd like to score some goals. :D

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Mostly 4-4-2.

Ah yes, that's what I thought. In my experience, most sides at that level also play a rigid, deep-lying 4-4-2, so you're basically butting heads and going strength to strength. Any formation with three in the midfield and someone drifting between the lines will give you most of the possession almost by default.

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Project 2 - Second season at A.C. Mezzocorona - Season 2013/14 Preview

AC_Mezzocorona.jpg

With thanks to SnakeXe for the format for this post, which I have pretty much shamelessly copied!

Board Expectations:

Lega Pro Seconda Divisione Girone B - Respectable position

Coppa Italia Lega Pro - Learn from the experience

My Expectations:

Lega Pro Seconda Divisione Girone B - Improve on last season's 9th place finish. I want to try to get into the play-offs

Coppa Italia Lega Pro - Really don't care and will treat this as if the matches are pre-season friendlies

Budgets:

Transfer - £0

Wages - £8.850/week (£10,637/week currently - I must admit I'm thinking short-term and selfishly about this. I want success for myself and I'm not thinking about the long-term stability of the club. The risk, of course, is that there will be extra pressure on me to succeed and the board will be on my case if we don't do well.)

Balance: -£600,000 (not good! We've been in debt ever since I joined the club)

Squad: I've improved on things slightly from last season. All free transfers with a few loans to fill in the gaps. We have two or three more talented players now but the rest are still pretty average for the division. When trying to sign players, I was actually able to talk to more free agents this time around which means that obviously my reputation has improved since last season there were so many players who wouldn't even talk to me due to my lowly reputation in the game. So anyway, I focused on losing some of the older players and bringing in some talent up front. I'm pretty pleased with how we did although we're still going to be looking to punch above our weight this season. I doubt we're close to the top sides in this league.

Key Men:

Stefano Mondini - A strong player in terms of mentality for this level and a good professional, so I'm hoping he'll be controlling things for us in the centre of the pitch.

Luca Righini - Young midfielder with good technique who I'll be hoping can do a good job for us in the middle of the park.

Luisito Campisi - Very decent looking wide player who should be an asset for us this season. We need goals in the team and hopefully he can help to create them!

Wilker - So glad to have signed this guy. He was available on a free transfer. Some of you may remember that I signed him for Cararese and Verona on my FM10 Calcio save. I didn't go searching for him but he just popped up on my scout list and as soon as I saw him, I knew I had to sign him! He looks like he'll be very useful for us. Hopefully he can help us to score goals this season, which we badly need to improve upon!

Many of our other players are very average, to be quite honest, so these guys will probably be the main key players for us this season. I do have confidence that we have good enough players to get mid-table but I want more than that! This season, I think we'll be able to score more goals with Wilker up front and Mandorlini returning. Those two should make a good partnership.

Tactical approach:

ACMezzocoronaTactics_Overview-1.jpg

Again, I toyed with the idea of 4-2-3-1 but the players we have really set-up for a 4-4-2 pretty well and it worked well for us last season. 4-4-1-1 will be a back-up with Righini capable of playing in behind the striker if we need him to do so. Otherwise, it'll be a no nonsense 4-4-2. Righini will be key in the middle and Wilker vital up front with the support of a partner in the shape of Andrea Mandorlini who we have now signed permanently. It's a fairly basic 4-4-2 set-up. I'm looking for Wilker to be the creative influence up front. We'll start with this system and see how things progress as the season gets started.

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WINTER BREAK SUMMARY - Project 2: A.C. Mezzocorona season 2013/14:

Firsthalfseason2013-14.jpg

As you can see, things have gone very well for us in the first half of this season. We certainly seem to have solved our goalscoring issues of last season but it seems to have come at the expense of our old miserly defence. We're top scorers in the league but about mid-table in terms of goals conceded. The important thing, however, is that we are winning games and that we find ourselves in a great position at the winter break.

We kicked things off with the Coppa Italia Lega Pro. This took up the first four games of the season and I treated it very much as if it was a pre-season friendly competition. Although we lost two of the matches and drew the other two, I still felt pretty positive going into the league campaign. We weren't expected to progress in the cup and I wasn't really interested anyway as previously stated. Plus three out of four of the teams we were up against were clubs playing at the level above us and we held our own against them most of the time.

Our opening league fixture was the 3-1 win at home to Siracusa. A great start to the season. We kept a nice run going to the end of September and we really ought to have won in the 3-3 draw against Ebolitana. We threw away a 3-1 lead in that match, much to my disgust.

October and November were positive months as we continued to pick up points at a decent rate. Losses against Bassano and Aversa Normanna, both away from home, were low points but it's worth noting that both of these sides are promotion favourites and therefore top sides at this level. We can't, therefore, feel too disappointed with dropping points in these matches.

December has been a fairly positive month leading up to the winter break. Being beaten by Neapolis Frattese was a low point. My teams never seem to do well when they're on TV! The 4-1 thrashing of L'Aquila made up for it. We ended the first half of the season with a 3-3 draw away to Pomigliano. We lost two points here thanks to conceding a goal in the last 10 minutes of the match. Gutting.

In general, we've been very strong, especially offensively. Strangely, we've lost the 'hard to beat' and 'tight at the back' philosophy of last season. We've replaced it with goals, which is good, but I'm not happy with the amount we're conceding at times. We need to tighten up but I think it's down to personnel rather than anything else so it's perhaps not something that I can address at this time.

ACMezzocoronaSquad_Players-4.jpg

I'm delighted to see some big improvements on last season. Playmaker, Luca Righini, has been fantastic at times, setting up goals, scoring a few and playing plenty of key passes. Striker, Andrea Mandorlini, is on fire now that he has a better strike partner in Wilker. He has almost doubled his goal tally from last season already!

Wilker has slotted in nicely and scored a few but I'm expecting more from him. Luisito Campisi is also proving to have been a good signing having scored a couple and set up quite a few.

In general, I'm delighted with this squad. Funnily enough, the area that needs most improving now is the area that I was most content with last season: the defence!

LegaProSecondaDivisioneGironeBOverview_Stages-1.jpg

We go into the winter break in 1st place. Not bad, huh!

From the sides in that top bracket, I most fear Aversa Normanna and Bassano. We have played both of them away and lost in the first half of the season. Both will be pushing on in the second half of the season and will be difficult rivals to overcome. Also, Vigor Lamezia will be a tough side to face again, as they gave us a real run for our money in the 3-2 win we recorded over them at home in the first half of the campaign. We don't really fear anyone else in this league.

I don't think our league position is a fluke. I think we have a great chance to at least make the play-offs if not finish in an automatic promotion spot. Let's not count our chickens before they hatch though. Still a long way to go.

My biggest worry is that we'll suffer injuries to key players. If that happens, we could lose our way, because we really don't have much squad depth or quality in our backups. If our key players remain fit then we have a real chance for a very successful season!

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Also worth noting that I survived a takeover:

CrouchaldinhoNews_Inbox-7.jpg

New guy has come in but not put any investment into the club.

He refused any requests I made for improved facilities etc., so looks like another tight chairman.

Nothing much has changed really. Looks as if the club will remain unambitious and in a bad position financially for now.

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Also worth noting that I survived a takeover:

CrouchaldinhoNews_Inbox-7.jpg

New guy has come in but not put any investment into the club.

He refused any requests I made for improved facilities etc., so looks like another tight chairman.

Nothing much has changed really. Looks as if the club will remain unambitious and in a bad position financially for now.

Welcome to C2 life ;)

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There is a little teaser of how the second half of this season is going with Mezzocorona on my Twitter account.

Twitter for FM - http://twitter.com/Crouchy_SACFC

That's right, I've uploaded my first video!

Don't worry if you aren't on Twitter though as I'll include the video on here when I do my season update! Seven matches to go until the end of the second season at Mezzocorona, so not long to go now!

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