deltablue Posted September 1, 2012 Author Share Posted September 1, 2012 Well, what I will say is we have now played and are now level on points Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 1, 2012 Author Share Posted September 1, 2012 Apr 2065 Milan 3-0 Lazio (A) Nicoletti shone against Lazio. He scored in the 17th minute, set Muller up later in the 35th minute, and scored another early in the second half. Yurdakul had a load of bad luck as he had 2 goals disallowed in the second half. Defeat for Inter at Roma drew us level on points. PSG 1-4 Milan (CL QF) Like with Ajax, we were away to PSG first. It was just as easy in the end, with the same score. Rojo scored in the 17th minute, with a Muller penalty 10 minutes later. They got a goal back in the 58th minute , but late goals from Muller and Romeo gave us another 4-1 away leg win. Torino 0-2 Milan (A) We kept pace with Inter at Torino. Yurdakul eventually scored after a number of chances in the 42nd minute, and after they had a late sending off, Romeo headed in a free-kick to make it comfortable. Milan 1-1 (5-2) PSG (CL QF) We wanted to finish PSG off like we did Ajax. It was tougher than that, and when they took the lead in the 16th minute it brought back memories of PSV. Still 5 minutes later El Amrani equalized, and while far from impressive, we easily claimed the aggregate win and would face Man Utd, who we had beaten twice at this stage. Milan 4-2 Palermo (A) We took the chance to put pressure on Inter when we faced Palermo the day before they played. El Amrani scored in the 12th minute, and though they equalized from a penalty 5 minutes later, we laid into them with another goal from the Moroccan winger, as well as Scardigli and Nicoletti to put us 4-1 up before the hour mark, before a late second goal from them. Inter 0-1 Milan (CI SF) Inter won to remain top, however we had a double header against the, first ‘away’ in the cup. It was mostly a game of resistance, but a rare goal (from a rare appearance) from the seriously underachiecing Eckl gave us a useful away leg win in the 54th minute. Milan 0-0 Inter (A) After that was the utterly critical league derby game, where we needed to win. It was a tense start, gradually we took control but not enough to find a way though, and they remained top on head-to-head with 4 games to go. Roma were 2 points behind and couldn’t be discounted either. Milan 5-1 Man Utd (CL SF) We needed to do better in the home leg against Man Utd, the 200th of my second spell at Milan (which takes me a little over 900 for the club overall). We went behind in the 6th minute, but that didn't faze us one bit. Two Muller goals and one from Nicoletti gave us a 3-1 lead before they got a 2nd goal, but El Amrani and Yurdakul gave us a great 5-2 win. May 2065 Bari 1-2 Milan (A) Going to Bari had traditionally been problematic and they took the lead eventually just before half-time. Romeo equalized in the 68th minute, and it was worrying when Yurdakul had a goal disallowed, but Nicoletti gave us the winner 5 minutes from time. Man Utd 1-3 (2-8) Milan (CL SF) We needed to avoid messing it up in Manchester. We were on the back foot from the start and conceded in the 18th minute. El Amrani equalized to preserve the 3-goal aggregate lead, and Nicoletti had a goal disallowed, but then again we weren’t the ones who needed goals. They put us under considerable pressure in the second half, but not only were we an awesome goalscoring team, we could resist chances as well. Nicoletti finally got his goal in the 76th minute, an own-goal sealing our progress 10 minutes later. Liverpool awaited in the final, we’d faced them twice, first in my first Milan European season, then in my last season in my first Milan stint, and they had easily beaten us both times. Cosenza 0-6 Milan (A) Cosenza were already relegated when we went to theirs, and there was no more room for error as Inter had a head to head advantage with 3 games left. They were never going to be a trial. Nicoletti gave us the lead in the 8th minute. Muller snatched a second just before the break, and Yurkadul a 3rd minute into the second half. He got another while Muller scored 2 more to complete a hat-trick and a 6-0 win. What mattered was what happened to Inter. They were held by Taranto for most of the game took a late lead, but conceded a last minute equalizer (told you Taranto weren’t to be taken lightly), meaning we had a 2 point lead with 2 games left! Milan 1-1 (2-1) Inter (CI SF) We had the chance to stick the boot in in the home leg of the cup semi final. Having an advantage from the first leg, we weren’t in any great hurry. We still had a few periods of dominance, and after 70 minutes Muller finally scored.They equalized on the night a few minutes from time, but the aggregate win was still ours. Milan 5-0 Napoli (A) The first of the two remaining league games was at home to Napoli, and in the 10th minute Romeo headed in a corner to give us the lead. El Amrani scored 2 more (the first from a penalty) to make the score 3-0. Muller scored in first-half stoppage time, and a 5-0 win was finished off by Gustavo at the end, however with both Roma and Inter 2 points behind we still had to do it on the final day. Fiorentina 1-2 Milan (A) We had an appalling start at Fiorentina, we went behind in the 7th minute, and were incredibly lucky not to concede another. As things stood, we would still get the title but no way would we leave that to chance. A pair of El Amrani penalties at the end of the first half turned the tide, and they went down to 10 men. I don’t know if head-to-head counts away goals. If it did then a Fiorentina equalizer would have handed Roma the title on that very narrow margin, as it was they hardly even threatened and points were enough to hand us the title! Roma 1-0 Milan (CI Final) The season wasn’t over yet, as we had a double cup final (not for the first time). Roma would make winning the Italian cup a tough ask. El Amrani had a goal disallowed in the 2nd minute, then Yurdakul went off injured. The game was very finely balanced. They took the lead from a 33rd minute penalty, then Muller gave us our second disallowed goal of the match. We kept trying, but disallowed goals or not we hadn’t been that good in all honesty. Still, we had the league title. Milan 4-3 Liverpoo (CL Final) That left Liverpool in the CL final. They had only finished 5th in the CL, and were hoping to do to Bristol City wht Chelsea did to Tottenham last season. They scored after just 50 seconds, but El Amrani levelled it 5 minutes later. I must admit they were dominant for a while after that, when Yurdakul giving us the lead in the 36th minute was very much against the run of play. While they were still dazed, Muller made it 3-1. A very harsh penalty allowed them to pull it back in the 59th minute, then it was their turn to catch us reeling with a 67th minute equalizer. Yurdakul had been a bit unfit after his knock against Roma and with low morale, but with Bode injured, Eckl unreliable, and with Chabrier an inexperience bit-part player I had gambled on playing him anyway and it had paid off to a point, but he went off injured to leave us with 10 men. However that didn’t stop us going for it an Nicoletti gave us the lead again in the 83rd minute. Pingu had to clear off the line just a few minutes later, and a late McShane save gave us the cup at last! Now that’s what I call a title race! It didn’t look good for most of the spring, and I genuinely doubted we could do it, but we edged it in the end. It wouldn’t have been the end of the world if we didn’t get it as missing out one year would have given more value to the other wins, but as it happened the challenge we had to face to win my 10th league title with Milan (and 3rd in a row since my return) made this one valuable enough. Finishing on over 90 points is impressive, to have two teams with 92 and 95 points respectively and not win was quite something, but it’s a testament to how much the team has grown over the past few season, always having the occasionally impressive performance in them, but with more consistency as time goes by, though Yurdakul still wouldn’t know consistency if it walked up and shook his hand, and being inconsistent while managing 39 goals in 47 games takes some doing. It was so nearly the perfect season, only Roma in the cup stopped it from being 4 competition wins out of 4, but at last I held aloft the CL trophy again. The original team won it at the first time of asking, then 4 times in 5, so that was always going to the the act the new team had to follow, not the run of Serie A titles. We continued the tradition of winning it in epic finals, after a great run which included the revenge over Ajax, the traditional (this was the 3rd time) defeat of Man Utd in the semis, and after 2 defeats, finally getting one over on Liverpool. The future was still slightly uncertain. Bode had proven our most reliable goalscorer and one of the best all round players in the 3 title winning seasons, and having wanted to leave for so long, I was worried we would have problems if the regulars misfired next season, but otherwise on the evidence of this season, we wouldn’t have much to worry about any more. Squad Stats Star player: He may have been sidelined by Rojo and Nicoletti in the first half of the season, then gone to the ACN, but still managed to grab a load of goals and assists, including the penaties that won us the title on the last day, but for 50M, I wouldn't expect anything less Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ri916 Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 What an incredible career and well done on winning your first champions league back at Milan! How have you managed to get through so many seasons in 7 months? edit: And also why is this save on FM 11 when I assume you have 12? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 1, 2012 Author Share Posted September 1, 2012 What an incredible career and well done on winning your first champions league back at Milan! How have you managed to get through so many seasons in 7 months?edit: And also why is this save on FM 11 when I assume you have 12? By not having much else going on in my life I did have an FM12 save on here, but it was plagued by frequent runtime errors (practically every week in-game before long), I kept removing leagues to keep them at bay but could only do that for so long so eventually wrapped that up and started this one. That's one of the reasons I wanted to be early with Staines but as we're only running England it'll hopefully be ok anyway. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ri916 Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 By not having much else going on in my life I did have an FM12 save on here, but it was plagued by frequent runtime errors (practically every week in-game before long), I kept removing leagues to keep them at bay but could only do that for so long so eventually wrapped that up and started this one. That's one of the reasons I wanted to be early with Staines but as we're only running England it'll hopefully be ok anyway. Sorry to sound stupid but were the problems you were having down to your computer not being able to run lots of leagues/ a large database then? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 1, 2012 Author Share Posted September 1, 2012 Sorry to sound stupid but were the problems you were having down to your computer not being able to run lots of leagues/ a large database then? That was maybe part of it, though done alright on other games. Even cutting leagues down was only a short-term solution, though admitedly it didn't look like the player database reduced much. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ri916 Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 That was maybe part of it, though done alright on other games. Even cutting leagues down was only a short-term solution, though admitedly it didn't look like the player database reduced much. yes I think that's a problem with 12. When you remove a league the db size doesn't go down. Hopefully you'll be ok with the Staines one anyway mate Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.W.G Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 Congrats on winning the league and Champions League Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter_Morgan Posted September 2, 2012 Share Posted September 2, 2012 Amazing finish to the season deltablue. I bet your arse was twitching in that CL final though Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted September 2, 2012 Share Posted September 2, 2012 A fantastic treble! The Champions League final wasn't that far off being a repeat of that epic evening in Istanbul either! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
snootyjim Posted September 2, 2012 Share Posted September 2, 2012 Great wins, congratulations! Do you have any particular objectives with the save as things stand or are you planning to continue going wherever life takes you? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 2, 2012 Author Share Posted September 2, 2012 Congrats on winning the league and Champions League They both felt specially sweet. Amazing finish to the season deltablue. I bet your arse was twitching in that CL final though I'm used to it, we twice won CL's (back to back) after going behind in extra-time so it wasn't a surprise to have such a dramatic final. I got a lot of nerves out of the way in the last day of the league season, and was both drunk and tired by this point or it would have been incredibly tense. but there was still a bit of thumb-sucking at the beginning, and an intense (though not very loud) 'Come on!!!!' later. A fantastic treble! The Champions League final wasn't that far off being a repeat of that epic evening in Istanbul either! I guess, the balance was very different though. Great wins, congratulations!Do you have any particular objectives with the save as things stand or are you planning to continue going wherever life takes you? Have a World Cup coming up with England, but other then that still have to try and closely match Milan Mark 1. Might stay for the duration of the save, but might have a quieter club to see things out with, though that went very badly when I tried that in my last career so more likely to end on a blaze of glory here. Anyway this will be on hold for a few days while I do my turn in the England/ROTW thing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cerud Posted September 2, 2012 Share Posted September 2, 2012 Great job in the league and fantastic return to AC Milan! Although, I'm wondering who Liverpoo is? Sounds stinky.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted September 2, 2012 Share Posted September 2, 2012 Excellent job DB, I bet that was a fun end to the season to play out, I love close tense finales. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 7, 2012 Author Share Posted September 7, 2012 Great job in the league and fantastic return to AC Milan! Although, I'm wondering who Liverpoo is? Sounds stinky.... They certainly were that night, if you can't laugh at a team when beating them in the CL final, when can you Excellent job DB, I bet that was a fun end to the season to play out, I love close tense finales. Yep, had none of those (aside from a couple of CL Finals) last time, definitely a lot more competition. Hard luck on Roma who would have even pipped the Magical Milan to a couple of titles with those points (Inter would have beaten them to 3rd once), but makes it a better achievement for us. Anyway not felt too much like FM for the past week or so, but finally got Staines done and happy to be back with this, though a Milan reunion has had to wait... Confederations Cup 2065 My first competitive action with England (with only friendlies it was easy for even me to forget I had that job as well as Milan, at least until next year) came in the warm up for next year’s World Cup. Being the home side piled on the pressure and while there were some strong players the depth (especially on the wings) wasn’t what I’d hoped it would be, except in goal of all places where I had three similarly strong keepers, one in his 30’s, my Milan keeper McShane (who was still 21), and only narrowly second best for now, and one at his peak. I had another Englishman at the San Siro, a midfielder called Mbambo,but the 18yr old was still a fringe player with a long way to go so as much as I wanted to, I felt he was not ready to even be a national team squad player. Also upping the pressure was that while we had South Korea and New Zealand in our group, we also had an Italian side with Scardigli and Nicoletti, and I really didn’t want to face the winner of a group with Spain and Brazil (and Mexico). England 1-0 Italy (CC) The Italians made for a tough first game, but the Man Utd forward Sheridan gave us a deserved 28th minute lead. Given they had Nicoletti, one of the most dangerous trio of wingers in the world (alongside his club teammates Rojo and El Amrani) Italy were surprisingly pathetic and that was all we needed. England 2-1 South Korea (CC) A good South Korean side gave us a bit of a shock, scoring in the 5th minute, and after having another disallowed we started going on the offensive. In the second half we finally broke through from a penalty by the Birmingham forward Barker, followed by an own-goal to give us the win though they could have had a late equalizer. I was less happy about Rojo being out injured for 3 months after Spain played Brazil. England 2-0 New Zealand (CC) New Zealand were troublesome at first, but the Arsenal defender (and national team captain) James (his surname) headed us into the lead, followed by Barker taking his international record to 2 in 2, and our dominance should have given us a couple more. England 0-2 Spain (CC SF) We faced Spain in the semi-finals. We found ourselves behind in the 1st minute due to a Liverpool player getting revenge for the CL final. Like South Korea, they then had another disallowed but we were having a decent effort to fight back until they scored another just before half-time. We were better in the second half but still failed to shine and went out in disappointing fashion. England 2-0 Brazil (CC 3rd playoff) McShane went in goal for the 3rd place game with Brazil and had a lot do deal with in the first half as they had all the chances, but he didn’t become my keeper at Milan at just 19 for no reason. Sheridan gave us the lead early in the second half, at his home club ground (Old Trafford). That led to more Brazil pressure but Bristol City’s Nicholson headed in another in the 71st minute, giving us a win that was just as efficient as Spain was wasteful. Amusingly Larsen then gave me a report about Gustavo, which was a bit unnecessary. Confederations Groups Confederations Knockouts International football has always been rather hit and miss with me, but England was shaping up to be a good one, with wins over Italy and Brazil and we would have had a good chance against Spain had we properly turned up. It was promising for a strong World Cup, but for now it was time to rejoin Milan after a week or so away. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raware Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 They always say "Never go back"...clearly you're proving that theory wrong Not a bad double to add to your collection at Mee-lan. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ri916 Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 Nice third place finish there, just a shame about the small blip against Spain. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 8, 2012 Author Share Posted September 8, 2012 They always say "Never go back"...clearly you're proving that theory wrong Not a bad double to add to your collection at Mee-lan. While I've hardly ever done it (and only started recently) I like the idea of returning to places. Nice third place finish there, just a shame about the small blip against Spain. Yeah, bad game to not turn up. Summer 2065 So, back at Milan. Last season was too close to call, but otherwise the team was definitely coming together (after 3 league titles and all). Last year the defence (especially out wide) was very much sorted thanks to a delayed transfer from Brazil, and 3 15yr olds from Germany who had already been proving themselves in the first-team. As odd at it may seem we needed to sort the front line out. Yurdakul and Muller were great goalscorers but that hid the fact that the former was very inconsistent and the latter was better in that regard but far from perfect and a bit injury-prone. Bode had done a vital job in being able to consistently deliver when the others couldn’t, but had left at his own request. The other forwards were Eckl, who had been a sidelined failure for two years (though admittedly Muller had been just as bad for his first 1 and a half), and Chabrier who had shown some good early promise but was unlikely to be able to step up on a regular basis. As it happened the youth intake had thrown up a player who while not quite a future world-class star, was definitely worth giving a proper chance, plus the trio of wingers at my disposal right away became 4. Up front was one of the best 18yr old forwards I’d ever seen (who was part Italian so enabled me to use my non-eu transfer elsewhere), a Swede who seemed a bit one-track but could be very dangerous if used right, and there would be another Brazilian, but he wouldn’t come for another three years. A general drop in quality in the past 10-20 years meant there wasn’t much else anyway (certainly pickings every year seemed much slimmer than the first time), but in defence I decided that after last year ,talented 15yr olds from Germany (even if they’re generally Turko-Germans or Bosnians) are worth a go. If nothing else I was certainly making sure I had a wealth of options all across the squad, but to the point where we were heavy about 4-5 players, something that we could only keep for so long, though deciding the unlucky ones would take a lot of time and thought. Correa (From Lyon) Kiroglu (From Leverkusen) Nilsson (From Newcastle) Sussi (Youth Intake) One to watch: Now that's what I call a great young forward. (From PSG) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRL88 Posted September 8, 2012 Share Posted September 8, 2012 He's alright I suppose Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.W.G Posted September 8, 2012 Share Posted September 8, 2012 Nice third place finished with England and some excellent youngsters signed for AC Milan.Ricardo looks like he will be a brilliant striker in the future,does Ricardo have a preference of who he wants to play for out of Brazil and Italy? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 9, 2012 Author Share Posted September 9, 2012 He's alright I suppose Admitedly still got a way to go. Nice third place finished with England and some excellent youngsters signed for AC Milan.Ricardo looks like he will be a brilliant striker in the future,does Ricardo have a preference of who he wants to play for out of Brazil and Italy? No preference, though he's essentially a Brazilian with dual nationality right now. He can be a future Brazilian international if her wants to for sure. Unfortunately he's had a bit of a slow start, as did the rest of the team. Aug 2065 Milan 1-0 (aet) Roma (SC) Roma would be a tough opener in the Super Cup, having been only 2 points behind in the league (with 95!) and beaten us in the cup final. It was a slow start, as they had what chances there were for most of normal time. Later on we started to pick up speed, but Chabrier was left as a lone front-man having come on for Muller (who had shown precisely why we couldn’t rely on him all the time) and with Ricardo (making his debut for an injured Yurdakul) joining his compatriot in going off injured. However this was a potential breakthrough season for the Frenchman and with 6 forwards in the squad he helped his cause with a winner in the last minute of extra-time. His team-mates needed to step up a gear though. Benevento 0-0 Milan (A) We went to Benevento in the first league game of the year, but while there was plenty of build up, there was no end product and I was very unhappy at being held to 0-0. Milan 2-0 Salzburg (ESC) Salzburg would be our European Super Cup opponents. There were some early scared before we reverted to how we’d been against Benevento. Ricardo had a first half goal disallowed, but later Yurdakul showed everyone how it was done in the 72nd minute, with a later goal coming from Nilsson. We’d soon return to Monaco as they were in our CL group along with Galatasaray and Airdrie. Milan 2-1 Juventus (A) Juventus was an early season big game. Yet again we severely needed to cut down on the time it took to score goals. We set a new record for the season as it took just an hour this time for Yurdakul (who thankfully had decided to be in good form for now, sadly Muller didn’t feel the same) to give us the lead. A few minutes later the lead was extended by Rojo, back from the injury sustained at the Confederations cup that you may remember me moaning about at the time. They scored 10 minutes later but otherwise we had no trouble getting the win. Sept 2065 Milan 1-2 Roma (A) The big home games continued against Roma. We finally scored a first-half goal (just) when Gustavo headed in an El-Amrani free-kick shortly before half-time. They pushed hard in the second half, but it looked like we’d do it until they suddenly hit us with two late goals. Milan 3-1 Galatasaray (CL) We needed to make a better start in the CL against Galatasaray. Thankfully European competition brought us back to life. El Amrani scored after just 15 minutes, followed by Yurdakul 10 minutes later. They immediately hit back but El Amrani wrapped up our first strong performance of the season just before half-time. Pescara 0-1 Milan (A) Having already dropped 4 points in the first 3 games (one stupid, and three to probable rivals) we needed to hit our stride in the league as well. We had finally got the hang of this ‘scoring in the first half’ business, Correa getting his first goal for the club (having made his debut against Galatasaray) in the 25th minute. We were just about good value for another, but Ricardo was denied a first goal for the club a second time by a disallowed goal with 10 minutes left. Poor kid can’t catch a break. Milan 2-0 Siena (A) Siena were top having won all 4 games, and we needed to win to make up vital ground. We just about deserved the lead in the first half, and grabbed it at the start of the second half as Ricardo finally had a goal allowed (though a stoppage time injury meant his luck hadn’t completely changed), and as we pushed for another, Correa got it in the 84th minute. Padova 0-3 Milan (A) We went to Padova and finished them off almost immediately, with goals from El Amrani and Ricardo. A very long hunt for a third finally ended in the last minute when El Amrani scored another. Monaco 1-3 Milan (CL) Going to Monaco, they were another team we took down early on. Yurdakul scored in the 2nd minute, with El Amrani converting a free-kick after half an hour. Correa had followed the Moroccan’s lead in being ‘a very expensive winger bought from Lyon who proves to be awesome’ (they cost 92M together) and made it 3-0 10 minutes later, though they soon got a consolation. League Table Oct 2065 Milan 3-0 Taranto (A) El Amrani and Correa continued to shine against Taranto, each scoring in the first 20 minutes. Ricardo gave us a 3rd in the 59th minute. After the international break, we went behind from a free-kick in the 4th minute at Udinese. We had some chances afterwards, and a penalty claim rejected, so really should have had a point. Airdrie 2-4 Milan (CL) We had blips after international breaks before, and at Airdrie we went behind after half an hour. Yurdakul equalized in the 37th minute, but Muller had a goal disallowed 10 minutes after the break. That was more frustrating when they took the lead instead, but Yurdakul went on to complete a hat-trick and give us the lead, Muller finally scoring in stoppage time. Milan 3-1 Palermo (A) We couldn’t afford any mistakes against a Palermo side who were just above us. Unfortunately the 1st half was one-way traffic towards McShane, and they eventually beat him after half an hour. Thankfully the England keeper’s (nearly) man of the match performance to keep it to one goal proved crucial, and not just to his chances of sealing the England number 1 shirt (he wasn’t first choice at the confederations cup, but a strong 3rd place playoff performance meant he was on the verge of it anyway) as we got our act together in the second half with a hat-trick from Muller (who just grabbed MoM honours instead). Reggina 0-2 Milan (A) We had been solid rather than spectacular, and again were at Reggina, which might have been a win by 5 goals at least in another season, but instead we had to settle for 2, Nicoletti setting up first Yurdakul then Rojo. We had now caught up with Roma on points and GD, even even with a probably unfavourable head-to-head (having lost the home game) I felt sure we could beat them over a full season. League Table Not exactly tearing everyone apart. Still strong enough with the bar (thankfully) lowered from last year, and getting the wins we need but not happy at all the points weve dropped. Benevento for stupidity (it was their only point in the first 2 months of the season!), Udinese for bad luck, and Roma (which would have been more forgivable away) for potential importance. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 Airdrie in the Champions League?! Whatever next?! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 11, 2012 Author Share Posted September 11, 2012 Airdrie in the Champions League?! Whatever next?! Salisbury in the Premier League Happened last season and looking like making a quick return this time. Tonbridge are in the Championship as well which makes that possible at some point. Nov 2065 Milan 5-0 Airdrie (CL) Against Airdrie we finally became the team I hoped we’d be more often. Muller scored in the 5th minute, then Yurdakul scored after 10 minutes, with another after half an hour after Rojo made it 3-0. Muller finished it off in the 71st minute, securing qualification and being just a point from sealing top as well. Inter 3-3 Milan (A) The ‘away’ derby was never a fun prospect. It started off evenly, but they scored an 18th minute penalty, then Boban received a straight red card just after coming on. However despite the numerical disadvantage, Yurdakul equalized in the 40th minute,and gave us the lead in the 52nd minute. The game turned again and they had a 3-2 lead 8 minutes later but Nicoletti snatched a point in stoppage time. Milan 6-1 Ternana (A) As a sort of protest against the poor defending against Inter, I decided to very much give youth a chance against Ternana. Romeo was the only defender over 16 and the 15yr old Kiroglu was given his debut The 16yr old full-backs had also been signed at 15 and (along with the suspended Boban) had a very promising debut season with a number of appearaces. Yes I know I can sign players up to 20 and keep older players but I’ve very much embraced the spirit of this career from the start. I would have done it whoever the opponents were, but Ternana were ever going to be a problem. Muller scored in the 7th minute, than half an hour later after Yurdakul went off injured. Nicoletti made it 3-0 after 40 minutes, and Kiroglu marked his debut with a goal in first-half stoppage time, though there was still time for them to get a goal back. Rojo scored in the 73rd minute, then a Nicoletti corner was headed in by Kiroglu. Atalanta 2-7 Milan (A) Ricardo gave us the lead after 27 seconds at Atalanta, and though they soon equalized, a Muller double made it 3-1 after 20 minutes. Rojo and an own-goal gave us a 5-1 lead at the break. Muller completed a deserved hat-trick in the 77th minute, with a 4th late on, his 8th goal (and our 20th) in 4 games. Galatasaray 2-2 Milan (CL) We only needed a point against Galatasaray to secure top spot in the group, but a stupid Romeo error left us behind at half-time then they extended the lead. However El Amrani’s penalty gave us a goal, and Ricardo snatched the point in added time. Milan 4-0 Bari (A) Bari had been very strong so far, and having been 2nd only a few weeks back, however they were 5th now, clearly fading away, and we dealt them another blow. Ricardo set up Muller in the 7th minute, then Gustavo headed in 10 minutes later. Nicoletti scored in stoppage time, and a penalty from El Amrani finished off a 4-0 win in the second half. We were 2 points behind Roma, but with a game in hand, so were looking alright. League Table Dec 2065 Napoli 1-0 Milan (A) Napoli was the only away game of the month, and we started badly, going behind in the 8th minute. After that we had plenty of chances, and should have had an equalizer by half-time, let alone full-time, so no excuses really. Milan 3-1 Monaco (CL) The final CL game was against Monaco, and if they thought we’d ease off and give them the point/s they needed to qualify, they were mistaken. Ricardo gave us the lead, followed by Nicoletti in the 21st minute. They scored a penalty in the second half but another Nicoletti goal in the 63rd minute gave us an easy win. Atletico Madrid would be a tough draw in the next round. CL Table Milan 4-0 Cagliari (A) We battered Cagliari for an age, eventually Muller snatched a brace in the last 5 minutes of the first half. He completed a hat-trick at the start of the second half, with an El Amrani penalty finishing them off. TP Mazembe 0-12 Milan (CWC SF) We played TP Mazembe in the first CWC game, and the result was never in doubt. Benoit headed his first goal of the season in the 3rd minute. Ricardo had a goal disallowed in the 8th minute but an El Amrani penalty soon gave us another goal. Mbambo helped his World Cup chances by scoring after half an hour, and an own-goal made it 4-0 at the break. The floodgates opened in the second half, with a pair of Muller goals in the first 10 minutes. We were gifted another own-goal before Ricardo became the last player on the scoresheet in the 62nd minute. He went on to complete a hat-trick (as did Muller) with another El Amrani goal, as a 12-0 win beat the 11-0 over East Bengal in Toronto that the original Magical Milan managed. River Plate 0-3 Milan (CWC Final) River Plate awaited in the final. Ricardo gave us the lead in the 4th minute, but it was a pretty even game and they could easily have had an equalizer by the time Gustavo extended the lead in the 29th minute. After that we had a lot more control of the match, but didn’t get another until a second Gustavo header near the end. CWC Final Milan 4-1 Fiorentina (A) We now had two games in hand in the league, but needed to win both to go joint-top. Before Christmas we faced Fiorentina. Like with River it was hard going at first, even with the lead from Ricardo in the 20th minute. He got another in the 38th minute, just after having yet another goal disallowed. Muller snatched a couple of goals right before half-time, though the second half only yielded a Fiorentina consolation. League Table The World Cup group draw threw up Norway, Peru, and Tunisia. We would probably expect to be top, but the Africans had a strong squad, and the other two possessed a few good players so it wasn’t quite as much a piece of cake as it looked. McShane would probably be first choice in goal (and lets face it, shining for my Milan team is a good qualification), and while unconfirmed, Mbambo was making a good case to be in the squad as well, but having left the then-18yr old (who had only made a handful of Milan appearances) out of the Confederations cup squad (and had McShane on the bench) I’m not the type to play favourites either way. However a second year at Milan with a stronger run in the first-team (and a year’s worth of development) would be a major plus for the 19yr old. It was also good to see the end of year awards have a strong Milan presence once again. El Amrani was World Player of the Year (with the Golden Ball, Serie A player of the Year as well), the first Milan player to win since Pastor 7 years previously. The fantastic Nicoletti joined him in the World Team of the Year (and also had Italian Player of the Year), they were the top two for ‘European Midfielder of the Year’. El Amrani, Muller and Rojo gave us a clean sweep of ‘Serie A Foreign Player of the Year’, and the former two along with Nicoletti giving us the same for ‘Fan’s Player of the Year’. Rojo, Gustavo and Romeo were top three for ‘Young Player of the Year’, and the only surprise was McShane missing out on European Goalkeeper of the Year, something his predecessor Jim Puncheon won year in, year out, but he did claim the Serie A award (with Gustavo getting the equivalent for defenders) ahead of both keepers that bested him in the European one (which makes it strange). Napoli was disappointing, but other than that this was definitely the Milan I wanted to see. With the European and World prizes, and the recognition in the awards, we had pretty much hit the top once more. The first of many on all fronts I hoped. There were still some changes to be made to the squad soon, and a lack of dominance at home (let alone in Europe), so we weren't quite at the peak yet but otherwise there was no doubt Milan Mark 2 had arrived. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.W.G Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 Not too bad for the first half of the season.Congrats on adding to your trophy haul with the capture of the CWC.Good luck for the rest of the season Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRL88 Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 Nice tight race at the top. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted September 13, 2012 Share Posted September 13, 2012 Anybody's game, at the moment. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 16, 2012 Author Share Posted September 16, 2012 Not too bad for the first half of the season.Congrats on adding to your trophy haul with the capture of the CWC.Good luck for the rest of the season Sadly that's the high point so far. Nice tight race at the top. Still very tight. Anybody's game, at the moment. Well not Reggina's Jan 2066 Chievo 0-2 Milan (A) We went to Chievo in the new year, and easily had the better of them from the start. Nilsson eventually broke through in the 28th minute, followed by Muller a couple of minutes later. Milan 2-0 Benevento (A) Having been held by Benevento at the start of the season we at least got a win this time. Benoit gave us the lead in the 3rd minute, and though Thiago received a straight red, Correa gave us a second late in the first half. Milan 3-1 Lazio (CI) We played Lazio in the cup, and took the lead in the 9th minute. Nicoletti had a goal disallowed but got on the scoresheet in the 36th minute. They got a goal back in the second half but Muller sealed it with 10 minutes left. Juventus 0-2 Milan (A) A trip to Juventus seemed tough, but Muller grabbed a goal at the end of a hectic first half. They came very close to equalizing but Muller gave us another in injury time. Milan 3-4 Torino (A) After such a strong performance, the defence had a terrible day (McShane excepted as usual) when we played our game in hand against Torino. Yurdakul was back in for a suspended Muller and took his chance, giving us the lead in the 2nd minute. They equalized in the 7th, but Yurdakul scored again in the 20th. They equalized again early in the second half, followed by a Nilsson injury just after I used my 3rd sub. Yurdakul completed his hat-trick, just before they missed a penalty but the later stages was all Torino, and I was fuming as they not only equalized, but grabbed a last minute winner as well. We had won 9 in a row in all competitions and this was a very disappointing way to end it. Milan 4-3 (aet) Palermo (CI QF) The defence wasn’t much better at first in the cup quarter-final against Palermo. Muller gave us an early lead but they easily turned it around to be 2-1 up at half-time. At the start of the second half, Yurdakul equalized but they immediately retook the lead andwe kept pushing for the rest of the match. Even with Mbambo going off injured, we managed a stoppage time equalizer from Muller, who also gave us a winner in the 114th minute. Milan 4-0 Pescara (A) Thankfully Pescara was much more comfortable, with Yurdakul and Muller each scoring a goal in each half to give us a 4-0 win. League Table Feb 2066 Milan 1-1 Napoli (CI SF) We were at home to Napoli in the first leg of the cup semi final. We just about had the better of things in the first half, but went behind in the 23rd minute. All our pressure eventually gave us a Nicoletti equalizer in the 69th minute, but not a winner. Siena 2-2 Milan (A) The season looked like slipping away as we went behind late in the first half. Benoit stepped up, heading in two Nicoletti corners, though we shipped an equalizer with a few minutes left. Roma thankfully drew as well so we were 3 points behind not 5. Roma 0-1 Milan (A) We went to Rome for a game we couldn’t afford to lose, like we did the home game. Both teams really went for it, and the lead could have come for either side before Muller gave us the lead in the 55th minute, and the Milan bench went nuts as that would be enough to level the head-to-head stakes as well as points if we held it (and we easily had superior GD). They kept pushing but not only did we hold on, but we might have had a second goal, as it was we didn’t need to, and the pendulum swung back in our favour for the first time in months. Milan 5-1 Padova (A) We were league leaders for the first time all season when we faced Padova, and definitely played like it. Yurdakul headed in a corner in the 2nd minute, followed by an El Amrani penalty. Muller got two goals after 40 and 60 minutes respectively, taking his league tally to 23 goals in 18 games, and despite a Padova goal, Yurdakul’s second in the 79th minute finished it off. Defeat for Roma put us 3 points clear. Atletico Madrid 3-1 Milan (CL) The CL returned with a trip to Atletico Madrid. We had a bright early burst before they started applying the pressure. A poor spell early in the second half allowed them to take a 2-0 lead. Yurdakul pulled a goal back but despite searching for an equalizer, they snatched a late 3rd, though we were still in with a chance. Taranto 0-3 Milan (A) We went to Taranto and Nicoletti gave us an early lead. Pretty much the rest of the half consisted of McShane having to keep out a load of Taranto chances. Muller snatched a second goal on the break just before half-time, and while Taranto kept coming (though not as intensely) afterwards, Yurdakul gave us a 3-0 that was much harder than it looked. Milan 0-2 Udinese (A) We were pretty poor against Udinese. In an even first half we went behind, and pushed hard enough in the second half that another Udinese goal was a massive shock, and as it happened we couldn’t score anyway, which was terrible. Roma were now level. League Table Mar 2066 Palermo 0-3 Milan (A) We needed to overcome the high hurdle of a trip to Palermo, with Yurdakul out for a month, and Ricardo gave us the lead in the 20th minute. They looked very dangerous after that but Muller gave us another in the 64th minute. We were safe after that, Ricardo getting another in stoppage time, but Muller being sent off late on gave us a suspension we could do without. Milan 1-0 (2-3) Atletico Madrid (CL) We also needed a massive win against Atletico. 2-0 would do it but otherwise it needed to be by three goals. We definitely took the game to them from the start, and we already had some chances by the time Benoit gave us the lead after just 3 minutes. Unfortunately even though we soon had a man advantage, we struggled to really follow it up. We had some more chances in the second half but failed to get the goal we needed, and it was a frustrating exit. Milan 3-0 Reggina (A) Expectations were high when we played bottom club Reggina, though they nearly took the lead from disallowed goal. Nicoletti gave us a 25th minute lead, followed shortly by a Benoit penalty. Correa rounded off an unimpressive win in the 83rd minute. Torini 0-3 Milan (A) Thankfully we didn’t mess up the trip to Torino like we did the home game in January. Ricardo gave us a 17th minute lead. Muller added another just before half-time, with a Benoit penalty giving us a 3-0 win in the 78th minute. Milan 1-0 Inter (A) We had a frustrating time in the derby. Not that they were any trouble (being just 11th in the league), just that we kept banging on the door and I knew it would be failure if we failed to score and Roma drew level again. There was considerable relief when Benoit headed in a corner in the 72nd minute. League Table Not happy. Style mostly lacking, and easy points being dropped far too often. No wonder it took as long as we did to go top for the first time this season, and that we're failing to stamp our mark on it like we should. Was hoping for a CL/World Cup double (which would be amazing if I ever managed it) this year but not going to happen. No shame losing to an Atletico side who have long replaced Real as Spain's second power, but we still should have either only been a goal down at worst after the away leg, or got at least a couple more goals at home. It was also about the stage we went out, rather than the opposition. I know the competition both at home and in Europe is a lot tougher compared to my first Milan stint but having done well in a few of the bigger league games, the likes of Udinese and Torino, both at home (and Benevento away on the opening day) are far below what I expect and we have a tough task turning it around in the cup as well. However we're still top of the league, no matter how tough we're making it for ourselves, and hopefully can go on to clinch it, but very worried on the evidence of the past few months, or I wouldn't feel so negative. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted September 16, 2012 Share Posted September 16, 2012 Shame about Europe but still looking the favourite for another title. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 16, 2012 Author Share Posted September 16, 2012 Shame about Europe but still looking the favourite for another title. Sadly not this time. Apr 2066 Ternana 2-6 Milan (A) We turned on the style in Terni. We had numerous chances before Benoit finally scored in the 32nd minute. That was followed by Muller a minute later, and Correa made it 3-1 just before half-time, after they got a goal back. We were a little leaky as they pulled another one back early in the second half, but in the last 10 minutes 2 more Correa goals and one other from Muller gave us a strong win. Milan 5-0 Atalanta (A) Muller tore Atalanta apart in the first half. His 40th goal of the season came in the 10th minute, followed a few minutes later by his 30th league goal, and he completed a hat-trick by the half-hour mark. They then had a goal disallowed, and other people had their chances. Lozano made it 4-0 a minute into the second half, and Ricardo took it to 5-0 in the 78th minute. Napoli 0-1 (1-2) Milan (CI SF) We still had the second leg against Napoli on the cup, and we needed to win. Muller chose a bad time to have an off-day (especially as Yurdakul had taken over as one who was injured regularly, including now) and was taken off, and it was just as well there was no away goals rule as despite some chances the first half was goalless. Ricardo finally gave us the breakthrough in the 67th minute to set up a rematch of last year’s final with Roma. Bari 2-1 Milan (A) Muller was back on the scoresheet in the 23rd minute against Bari, but we should have scored another and were punished in the 58th minute. There was still time to get a winner, and we really should have got one, only to concede a Bari winner instead. That was yet another game in the catalogue of those we had no excuses not to win. Roma took full advantage to go a point ahead. Milan 0-0 Napoli (A) We had to play catch-up but what we didn’t need was a game where we should have had a few goals but were poor up front and got none, which is precisely what happened at home to Napoli. Nicoletti much hae felt like Downing as he delivered chances that no one could covert, and we found ourselves 3 points behind Roma with the same number of games left. League Table May 2066 Fiorentina 1-6 Milan (A) A trip to Fiorentina could all but end our challenge if we failed to win, but Ricardo made up for Napoli with a pair of goals in the first 25 minute. More than than, Roma were losing at home to Reggina! The chances of Reggina (who were bottom of the league with just 9 points) pulling off an away victory like that was almost non-existant, but even a draw would help. Sadly Roma had the lead by half-time, during which time Ricardo finished his hat-trick, and Muller had put us 4-0 up, and the Romans went on to win 5-1. We consoled ourselves with goals from Benoit and Lozano in the second half to win 6-1. Roma 2-1 Milan (CI Final) We had a break from our title race to face each other in the cup final. They took the lead in the 23rd minute, and this was followed by a hard push from us to try and equalize, though Muller being out injured didn’t help. Eckl finally did it in the 63rd minute, but just 5 minutes later came a very rare howler from McShane, at the worst possible time, as Roma re-took the lead. Nicoletti thought he’d levelled it a few minutes from time, but after it was disallowed Di Napoli had to be dragged away from the ref by his teammates. Milan 3-0 Chievo (A) We were at home to Chievo in the penultimate game, and while both that and a trip to Cagliari weren’t too difficult, we needed Roma to fail. Again we did our bit, Correa giving us the lead in the 20th minute, Yurdakul and Ricardo also scoring in the second half, but Roma beat Benevento (something that was beyond us) by the same score. Cagliari 0-4 Milan (A) We needed Roma to lose at Torino on the last day, while Cagliari were easy enough at our end. Correa and Nicoletti both had first-half goals disallowed, but Gustavo had given us the lead as early as the 7th minute, followed by Yurdakul. Ricardo and Yurdakul gave us a 4-0 win, but 0-0 in Turin gave Roma the title. Oh dear me! Losing to Roma wasn’t a surprise (though doing it in the home game was), and was made up in the return, otherwise we handled the big games. Being held at promoted Benevento on the opening day set the tone for a season where we were brilliant a lot of the time, but stupid a couple of times too many. Udinese beat us twice, Torino at home (both being yo-yo sides at best when I was first at Milan, though they were slightly better now), we only got one point from Napoli (admittedly a good side but we really wasted the chance to win at home), Bari away was a bogey game once more... That’s not how you win titles. We have no one to blame but ourselves. There was a very good reason for this though, something that I call the ‘Wenger effect’, a theory of mine based on quite a few experiences over the years, that too many young players in a team (the 16yr old defensive trio of Er, Boban and Coskun were already becoming established players) lowers your teams CA rating a lot and the game gives you more bad results. But they were a sign that this was still a work in progress in certain areas, and looking at it positively, having a failure means titles have more value than winning them continuously, though Roma (having been runners up last year, beaten us this time, and in both cup finals) were a tough rival for any team to fight, so much for the game becoming too easy after a time due to the poor AI. They even competed a treble by beating Marseille in the CL final. The summer would see a lot of changes. The squad needed some trimming and there were some players, who while still pretty good, would make way for potentially better players as I sought the finest future side I could possibly get. 2 out of 10 defenders needed shipping out (probably Romeo and Minotti), Scardigli would have to make way for Mbambo and Evandro, as three players for one position (DLP or BWM depending on who was playing) was one too many in the squad, 1 or 2 of 6 forwards needed to go, ditto for one of Lozano or Di Napoli if I found a far better playmaker. It was a bit tough on some players who had given good service so far, but sometimes you need to be harsh to progress. This season had been a strong warning that I could take no chances if I wanted Milan to rule again. However now it was World Cup time. McShane and Mbambo would join me for England, no doubt a lot of other Milan players would be there with their nations, and I might encounter a couple of them, which would be interesting. Squad Stats Star player: Nicoletti proved himself to be quite a goal-creating machine, setting a new assists record for a season this year, better finishing from others would have seen him get more, as well as a few disallowed goals for himself. Consistently our most reliable player since arriving as one of my first signings of the new era. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted September 16, 2012 Share Posted September 16, 2012 Pretty unlucky to miss out there; Roma, just too good. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.W.G Posted September 16, 2012 Share Posted September 16, 2012 Unlucky on just missing out twice to Roma. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 16, 2012 Author Share Posted September 16, 2012 Pretty unlucky to miss out there; Roma, just too good. No, they really weren't. We should have left even them in the dust, just like last year (where we beat them to the league with 97 and 95 points respectively). We just threw games away a lot of times, both by leading and losing late on (Roma at home being one example) and being on top but not making the most of it, and did it one time too many. There's no way we should have lost that. We handed it to them on so many platters they could open a shop! Unlucky on just missing out twice to Roma. That's becoming familiar after last year's cup final defeat as well. World Cup –England 2066 The excitement of a World Cup at home, on the centenary of that famous victory! It was why I took charge in the first place a couple of years ago. The odds reflected my thoughts that there were a few stronger teams but we could still do it, or at least could go far, starting with a group of a tough Tunisia team, and Norwegian and Peruvian sides who had some decent players. A couple of important players had injuries but would be available later on, so the squad was pretty much full strength, with very good depth, though not that many world-beaters. However a shock defeat to Japan in a warm-up game dented morale considerably, which would take time to recover. England 0-0 Tunisia (WC) We had the Tunisians first, probably the toughest group opponents. They threatened early on, though we soon took slight control, and were disappointed to still be level at the break. The second half continued in a similar manner as we were on top but still lacked the drive to go on and get a winner. England 2-1 Norway (WC) We need to do better against Norway, Sheridan gave us the lead in the 19th minute, but we were still unimpressive, perhaps lucky not to concede before half-time. They equalized in the 56th minute, but while they kept pushing on, Barasa gave us the win. England 2-2 Peru (WC) Peru had lost both games so we hoped to win and go through. Sheridan gave us the lead again, in the 3rd minute, but they came frustatingly close to equalizing before Barasa extended the lead late in the half. Tunisia were beating Norway so we would top the group if we won, and still go through even if we didn’t. After Sheridan went off injured (ending his tournament), we went to pieces. They got a goal back with a minute left, then equalized in the 84th minute, though we had a few late chances to get a winner. We would go through, but not as group winners. England 1-0 Argentina (WC 2nd Round) Argentina (instead of Turkey) awaited in the next round, Correa and all. A straight red card for Barasa after 20 minutes didn’t help things, but Barker (after a poor first couple of games that saw him benched against Peru) gave us the lead a few minutes later. We shook off the mediocrity of the group stage to keep going, despite some scares, and a second goal would very much have been deserved, we even missed a second half penalty. Unfortunately Barasa’s suspension (covering the rest of the tournament) meant we only had two forwards for the rest of the competition. England 1-2 Holland (WC QF) The Dutch were one of the few teams fancied ahead of us, and we had them in the Quarter-finals. They headed in a corner in the 2nd minute, and though we fought back well to try and equalize, they repeated the trick shortly before half-time. Barker gave us a goal with a penalty 5 minutes into the second half but we failed to do anything else until it was too late. This just wasn’t my year. The strong Confederations cup showing had raised expectations, but in typical England fashion we didn't fire as well this time, and just weren't good enough from the start. We drew the first game 0-0, qualified from the group with 5 points, then beat Argentina 1-0 in a game that saw a sending off, but the 1966 parallels could only go so far. The Argentina win was good, but against Holland they hit us twice from corners, we failed to take advantage of the pressure we had, and didn’t even push at all when we needed to after it was 2-1. I was going to stay on with England for now as there was definitely something there. The final saw Gustavo and Evandro’s Brazil beat Nicoletti’s Italy, Both Brazilians got on the subs bench of the World Cup dream team, while Correa won best U21 player, which was bad news for Rojo who had been kept out of the Milan team for a while by the Argentine. World Cup Groups A-D World Cup Groups E-H World Cup Knockouts Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cerud Posted September 16, 2012 Share Posted September 16, 2012 The English Quarter Final curse Nice to see Canada make it in the World Cup...even if they didn't even score Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted September 16, 2012 Share Posted September 16, 2012 Tough finale DB, I know very well that feeling of losing everything in the last few matches, England '66 didn't go exactly to plan neither. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 17, 2012 Author Share Posted September 17, 2012 The English Quarter Final curse Nice to see Canada make it in the World Cup...even if they didn't even score When I saw them in the competition I knew you'd be happy about them making an appearance. Tough finale DB, I know very well that feeling of losing everything in the last few matches, England '66 didn't go exactly to plan neither. The last few matches were fine, just that by that point we'd handed Roma an advantage they weren't going to waste. As for the World Cup, Spain (who beat us in the Confederations Cup last year) went out in the group stage with just one point (and my Spanish winger Rojo then got the flu, not a great summer for him then) so it could have been much worse. Summer 2066 We were really gunning for Roma this year, hopefully lessons had been learned from last year and we were set to drop stupid points far less, just a few times left should be enough but after some tough fights I wanted to start leaving rivals in the dust. The squad was too large so was always going to be streamlined. I didn’t make any hasty moves last year but a majority of the potential departures were pretty much settled even then. Thackeray, Romeo, Minotti, Scardigli, Chabrier and Eckl were out of the door, giving more opportunity for the more promising players to shine, as well as anyone new, though we still had good numbers, which was just as well as there were very slim pickings this year. The only signing was a backup keeper, for 650k from Siena, who I sort of felt sorry for as he was promising but was never going to get past McShane. One to watch: Not a new signing, or even a player just breaking through, as the 17yr old already has 49 appearances, averaging a very good 7.28 and 7.29 in each season so far. Definitely the most exciting of the young players and I couldn't wait to see what sort of quality player he'd turn into. Plus at just 350k he's probably the cheapest player (excluding free transfers) I've ever bought in a top league, let alone a top club. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 18, 2012 Author Share Posted September 18, 2012 Aug/Sept 2066 Roma 1-2 Milan (SC) The Super cup gave us an early crack at Roma. Nicoletti scored after just 28 seconds, continuing to hammer away until Yurdakul gave us another. Not that we had it all our own way, as they came close to scoring many times and did so early in the second half. They simply ramped up the pressure afterwards but we kept them from equalizing. It was a very satisfying win. Milan 3-1 Taranto (A) The league started against Taranto, and after a few early scares, Yurdakul gave us the lead in the 24th minute. Nicoletti added another in the 40th, with another Yurdakul goal early in the second half. Taranto were actually a decent team, getting a goal back, and McShane had to be on top form to stop them getting another. England 4-0 Denmark (ECQ) Internationals called, and I hoped a strong Euros would make up for the World Cup. We were in a group with Liechtenstein, Romania, Scotland and Denmark, manageable but not the easiest, and we played the Danes first. Sheridan was back from his injury, and showed how much we missed him in the latter stages of the World Cup, scoring a penalty in the 8th minute, then assisting an own-goal. The Huddersfield forward Green was making his first competitive appearance and marked it with a 22nd minute goal, with Sheridan wrapping up a 4-0 win just before half-time, as Denmark were so poor that compared to all the work he had to do for Milan against Taranto, McShane had so little going on at his end that he had the lowest rating in the team. Roma 0-0 Milan (A) Back in Italy, we had a second trip to Rome in the space of just a few weeks, this time facing Roma in the league. We had gone to the Olympico three times this year, losing the cup final but winning the other two and hoped to make it a hat-trick. They had lost their opening game and were eager to make it up, so after a few early chances they were the ones doing the pushing. Like in the Super Cup, we proved a tough nut to crack open, and while we had a bit more action later on, a 0-0 draw would do me. Lech 0-4 Milan (CL) We had Arsenal, Lech and Vitesse in our CL group, and played the Poles first. Di Napoli gave us the lead in the 12th minute, followed by Benoit after half an hour. It was job done with the minimum of fuss as goals from Rojo and Muller gave us a 4-0 win. We owed Torino for a shock home defeat last year, and after they forced a couple of early saves from McShane, they were little trouble Nilsson gave us the lead in the 34th minute, and it took an eternity for us to turn chances into more goals, though Ricardo got a late brace. Pescara 2-2 Milan (A) Going to Pescara we ran into a bit of trouble, though Di Napoli gave us the lead in the 34th minute, but they equalized a couple of minutes later. El Amrani’s penalty restored the lead early in the second half, but McShane messed up big time at a corner just afterwards as they grabbed a draw, but a few results like this wasn’t the end of the world. Udinese 0-0 Milan (A) We needed to go to Udinese and make up for losing to them both times last season. Muller had a goal disallowed after half an hour, then got sent off. Rojo also received his marching orders, so a draw didn’t feel so bad, but we should have had a goal before that. Vitesse 0-1 Milan (A) Thankfully Arnhem wasn’t a bridge too far when we went to Vitesse. El Amrani gave us the win in the 35th minute, though the lack of a second goal made things harder that it should be. League Table Oct 2066 Milan 1-2 Atalanta (A) We needed to do better against Atalanta, what we got was Boban bungling the ball past McShane, who would have been justified in punching him after that, especially as they took advantage to score another before half-time. Nilsson eventually pulled a goal back in the 73rd minute, but the lack of an equalizer meant many tea cups were hurled around the San Siro. It was our first league defeat in 10, but a stupid one all the same. Romania 3-5 England (ECQ) It was a relief to have an England qualifier in Romania, and Green’s international career continued as it started, scoring in the 3rd minute, then again after half an hour after right-winger Coulson made it 2-0. The Sporting Lisbon forward Buga came to life with a goal either side of half-time, but Green and Sheridan each struck to give us a safe 5-2 lead, despite Buga completing his hat-trick later on. Ourselves and Scotland had won both games so far (though they had already used up one Liechtenstein game). The Romanians and Danes had played one more with just 3 points each. Andria 0-2 Milan (A) I hoped the International break had cleared some cobwebs when we went to Andria, facing their first season in Serie A but having started well and in 11th (ahead of Roma). There was no shortage of huffing and puffing, and thankfully Ricardo gave us the ability to finish them off. He gave us the lead in the 34th minute, and also eventually got the game’s other goal in the 72nd. Arsenal 1-2 Milan (CL) Muller found his shooting boots at the Emirates, scoring in the 2nd minute. They fought back very hard, equalizing in the 19th minute from a goal that went in off both the crossbar and McShane, but El Amrani’s penalty quickly made it 2-1 to us, as the reigning World Player of the Year was showing the Arsenal fans what a proper Moroccan player is like with a man of the match performance. There were numerous chances at both ends but no more goals gave us the win. Milan 6-0 Cremonese (A) We made easy work of Cremonese. Di Napoli scored in the 6th minute, followed by El Amrani in the 9th. Gustavo had a goal disallowed, but eventually scored after Ricardo, making it 4-0 after 32 minutes. Muller quickly gave us a 5th, and a second Ricardo goal in the second half finished off a great win. Bari 1-3 Milan (A) The pressure to get into a title race was very much on (admittedly from the players, not the board) though we couldn’t improve on 4th for a couple of weeks, and we went to often-troublesome Bari. This time we had no problems. Muller scored in the 6th minute, and we really kept the pressure up until Muller gave us another in the 54th minute. El Amrani made it 3-0 in the 83rd minute, meaning a Bari consolation was nothing to worry about. League Table Nov 2066 Milan 4-1 Arsenal (CL) We easily secured not just qualification from our CL group but top spot as well after taking Arsenal apart. Ricardo was the hero, with El Amrani as wingman. He scored in the first minute, again before half an hour was up, a third a few minutes after half-time, and even a fourth in the 67th minute. Only then did Arsenal start playing, getting a goal back 10 minutes later, with a number of chances for another, but it was too late. Milan 7-0 Ternana (A) Having only missed 1 league game since arriving over 3 years ago, and been ever-present for 2 1/2, McShane got injured for a couple of weeks allowing the 17yr old Melis (thankfully bought in from Siena in the summer just in case) to get some game time against Ternana. He was never going to have much trouble against a team with just 2 points from 9 games so far, and after 10 minutes it was clear they weren’t going to get another today as Muller scored a brace. Two Ricardo goals made it 4-0 after half an hour, with Muller completing a hat-trick before half-time. Within 8 minutes of the second half, Correa and El Amrani chipped in with a goal each. As they only had 2 late shots, neither on target, we could have done without a keeper at all. Padova 1-4 Milan (A) Melis had a bit more to do at Padova, but not much. Again we took control of the game early on. Benoit scored in the 10th minute, followed by Di Napoli and El Amrani after half an hour. Melis lost his goalkeeping virginity to a 55th minute goal, but otherwise had a decent showing, and Ricardo made it safe in the 67th minute. We were now up to 3rd and just 3 points off Fiorentina at the top, a massive improvement on a month ago. Milan 4-0 Lazio (A) Having just come back up from Serie B, Lazio were in a sorry state with just a single point, and we weren’t going to make it easy for them. Benoit put us ahead after 12 minutes, and the game was only going to go one way after that. Ricardo scored another just before half-time, and Yurdakul grabbed a second half brace. Two red cards (including for their ‘star’ forward in the 1st minute) didn’t help the Lazio cause much either. Juventus 0-3 Milan (A) An easy run of league fixtures came to an end with a trip to Juventus. McShane was fit enough that I might have thought about rushing him back in, but not so much that I did, so Melis would have to enter the lion’s den. As it was Di Napoli converted a free-kick in the 6th minute, and Yurdakul’s 20th minute goal meant we had little to worry about as we were very much in top. They had a bunch of second half chances that were nervously dealt with, but Yurdakul’s late second made it look easy. Lech 0-6 Milan (CL) McShane was back in for the trip to Lech, whose fans definitely weren’t doing the Poznan. We already had a Correa effort disallowed when Yurdakul gave us an 8th minute lead. A rare goal from the 17yr old full-back Er extended it 6 minutes later, then Yurdakul scored another the Germano-Turkish monopoly of the scoresheet (Er hadn’t yet switched nationality) was broken by Gustavo just before half-time. An own-goal made it 5-0 in the 73rd minute, and Correa finally got his goal 5 minutes later. Milan 2-0 Inter (A) The home derby was one of the biggest games of the season, as Inter were a point behind us in 3rd, while Fiorentina were just 2 and 3 points ahead of us. Er and Yurdakul shone again, with the former setting up the latter in the 3rd minute. Ricardo scored after 25 minutes later, with another disallowed shortly afterwards. Best of all, Fiorentina lost in Siena taking us top of the table after 8 league wins in a row! League Table Oh yes!!! Didn't do too well early on. Did up to Atalanta yesterday so was pretty disappointed last night, but that turned out to be the low point and the turnaround, as we turned back into the true Milan, a team that ploughed through everyone and anyone. Obviously we still had to hold top now we had it (and build up a lead), and the CL knockouts would be a major test of the 'everyone and anyone' bit but now we looked very good indeed. 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cerud Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 Nice job on retaking the top spot in Serie A! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 18, 2012 Author Share Posted September 18, 2012 Nice job on retaking the top spot in Serie A! Thanks, after Atalanta we were 7th, 9 points or so off the top, and I was thinking 'I'm in charge of a bunch of imbeciles!!!!!', so to turn it around so quickly is a fantastic feeling, and we've kept going from strength to strength. Dec 2066 Napoli 2-3 Milan (A) Napoli was a potentially tough trip, especially as Nicoletti had been a complete derp and injured McShane, only for a few days but he wasn’t quite ready to return. We were lucky they had an early goal disallowed. Ricardo gave us the lead in the 11th minute, and having looked shaky for a while, Yurdakul and Ricardo made it 3-0 in the first 10 minutes of the second half. They clawed it back with a goal, and another in stoppage time making it look less comfortable. Milan 4-0 Vitesse © Eredivisie leaders Vitesse were easy to beat in our last CL game. Ricardo gave us the lead right away, and after half an hour El Amrani and Yurdakul quickly scored to make it 3-0, the latter finishing it off in the 77th minute. That was boringly routine, but Zilina beating Liverpool was much more amusing. Porto were our draw in the next round. Chievo 0-2 Milan (A) Ricardo had an early goal disallowed at Chievo, which caused nervous times as they looked like they’d score themselves. There was much relief when Correa scored in the 32nd minute, though that was followed by a red card for Di Napoli. Ricardo gave us some breathing space when he finally scored, and they didn’t score anyway. Milan 5-1 Palermo (A) We hosted Palermo in the last game before the break. Yurdakul gave us the lead in the 4th minute, and it was easy after that. Ricardo put us 2-0 up in the 27th minute, and Benoit made it 3-0 early in the second half. Palermo got one back, but Yurdakul pushed on with two more goals to complete a hat-trick in a 5-1 win. League Table Jan 2067 Milan 2-0 Fiorentina (A) The new year started with a game against a Fiorentina side we were 6 points ahead of at the top of the table. After a few early chances, we ended up on the defensive for the rest of the first half, but held firm. We came out stronger in the second half, Benoit giving us a 58th minute lead, and Nilsson getting another 10 minutes later. Siena 1-4 Milan (A) A few days later came one of the toughest tests of the season, Siena away. In the end they were no trouble at all. Nilsson scored in the 2nd minute, sadly going off injured but not before an own-goal extended the lead. El Amrani’s penalty made it 3-0 in the 28th minute, and though the ‘first goal for the opposition’ curse struck early in the second half, Muller late finished off a 4-1 win. Milan 3-0 Parma (CI) Parma was an easy game in the cup. 18 seconds was all it took for Muller to score, then El Amrani assisted an own-goal in the 5th minute. He scored properly in the 19th minute. We tore them apart so completely that it was amazing there weren’t a few more goals, not that we needed them. Taranto 2-3 Milan (A) We went behind at Taranto in the 5th minute, but it just took a few minutes for Nicoletti (taking advantage of El Amrani being off at the ACN) to equalize. They retook the lead in the 29th minute as the defence was having a very poor time of things. They were at least our equal, Boban’s injury in the second half left us a man down, and Yurdakul was misfiring, but Muller equalized in the 71st minute, and Yurdakul finally scored to give us the lead in the 78th minute. They thought they’d equalized a few minutes from time, but was disallowed, keeping up our great winning run of 14 league games (19 in all competitions), and few were harder fought than that. Milan 2-0 Roma (A) Roma had been a shadow of the team that were such a threat the past two years. They were merely 6th and could be bumped down to 7th. However they were very much on top in the first half, but after 40 minutes Yurdakul gave us the lead in the break. They kept coming in the second half, but not only did McShane somehow keep them out, Mbambo gave us a cheeky second in stoppage time. It was seriously cruel on Roma, but that just made it all the more satisfying. Milan 6-0 Taranto (CI QF) We had Taranto in the cup quarter-final, and they started off as problematic as in the league, with a 17th minute goal disallowed. Yurdakul gave us the lead 5 minutes later, with another just 2 minutes afterwards. Muller scored to make it 3-0 in the 39th minute. He scored again in the 63rd minute, then Yurdakul completed his hat-trick, and got a 4th in the 88th minute. However McShane having the highest rating other than the two forwards (with 8.9) shows that it was nowhere near as easy as the 6-0 suggests. Torino 1-1 Milan (A) The run of 15 league wins in a row came to an end at Torino. They took the lead after 10 minutes, and managed to frustrate our efforts to come back in. They easily could have had another in the second half, but we very nearly came back. Correa made sure we remained undefeated with an 83rd minute equalizer, and though a winner nearly came (Nilsson hit the post in stoppage time) we didn’t really deserve all three points. We had managed to pull off tough wins quite a few times in the past few months, but were never going to manage it every time. Can't really complain about the Torino draw, especially after a fantastic 21 wins in a row (15 in the league) that has seen us storm ahead in the style worthy of the original Magical Milan side. Hopefully can push on and win it quite comfortably, as well as mount a serious european challenge. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.W.G Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 Excellent first half of the season Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cerud Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 Starting to pull away in the top spot Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 20, 2012 Author Share Posted September 20, 2012 Excellent first half of the season Starting to pull away in the top spot And onwards we go. Feb 2067 Milan 7-0 Pescara (A) We had a chance to return to winning ways against Pescara and Udinese, teams we had dropped points against earlier in the season. Benoit got us started after 10 minutes, followed by two Rojo goals (with a Boban header in between) made it 4-0 at half-time. Nicoletti went off injured, forcing Correa to come on out of position, but later on he scored anyway, alongside Muller, and Rojo completing a hat-trick giving us one of the most impressive wins of the season. Plus defeat for Inter extended the lead from 8 points to 11 (having briefly been cut from 10). Milan 1-0 Udinese (A) Sadly there weren’t many goals left for Udinese. Correa had a goal disallowed, than injury was added to insult when he had to spend a bit of time on the sidelines getting a knock seen to, followed by broken ribs for Mbambo. Yurdakul rescued the win in the last minute. Atalanta 1-3 Milan (A) 1,000th Milan Match!!! We then had to go to Atalanta, who had given us our only defeat of the season so far. This time the result was never in doubt. After alot of pressure from the start, Ricardo gave us the lead after half an hour, followed by Muller. El Amrani marked his return from the ACN by scoring a penalty 10 minutes into the second half, and though they soon pulled a goal back (with another disallowed in stoppage time) we were still safe. Best of all, it was my 1,000th Milan game (the 297th of my return). Porto 1-1 Milan (CL) The CL returned with a visit to Porto. They weren’t a strong side, but a blunder from McShane gave them the lead late in the first half. We tried hard to get back in, and Muller snatched an equalizer in stoppage time. I was confident in our ability to easily beat them back home anyway. Milan 7-0 Andria (A) Andria were always going to be easy. Ricardo got the ball rolling with 2 goals in the first 12 minutes, and Muller scoring a few minutes later. Rojo had a goal disallowed afterwards, and after Ricardo completed a hat-trick in the 51st minute, the goals dried up for a bit, but El Amrani’s penalty heralded two more, Ricardo’s 4th and Muller’s 2nd, giving us our 2nd 7-0 of the month. Cremonese 2-4 Milan (A) Cremonese away was my 300th Milan match since I returned, and was always going to be easy as they were one of an awful bottom three (after 26 rounds, they and Ternana had 10 points, Lazio just 8). Muller had a goal disallowed after a few minutes, but Ricardo got us on our way in the 6th minute. Benoit extended the lead, then Ricardo got another before the break, completing his hat-trick in the 55th minute. I might have accidentlly told the team I was happy at half-time, and after a while we eased off and they got a couple of goals. We were now 14 points clear. League Table Mar 2067 Milan 7-0 Bari (A) Bari were just one insignificant bug on the road to the title. Ricardo gave us the lead in the 10th minute, followed 15 minutes later by Muller, and another goal for the Brazilian (his 9th in 3 games, and his 10th in 5). El Amrani and Muller scored either side of half-time, followed by a generous own-goal, with Rojo completing another 7-0 10 minutes from time. Milan 4-0 (5-1) Porto (CL) Porto were just as easy as I knew they’d be, Boban and Muller giving us a 2-0 lead after 10 minutes. Rojo took us 3-0 up in the 39th minute. Muller scored another in the 65th, and we went through 5-1 on aggregate. PSV would be an interesting quarter-final after last time. Ternana 0-2 Milan (A) As mentioned before, Ternana were on of a woeful bottom three, but when we went to theirs, although we battered at their door from the start, we just could not get a goal. It would be a very embarrassing game to drop points, but Boban came to the rescue with a stoppage time header, and as if a curse had been lifted, Ricardo followed up with a second goal. We were now a whopping 17 points clear with 9 games to go! Milan 4-0 Padova (A) McShane was injured again for Padova, giving Melis another chance. Benoit gave us the lead in the 16th minute, and we also got a quick double late in the half from Thiago (his first goal for the club) and Muller. Ricardo finished off a 4-0 win in the 62nd minute. England 5-1 Scotland (ECQ) McShane was also missing for the England game with Scotland. We went behind in the 5th minute, but it took less than 10 minutes for Green to turn it around with a brace. Sheridan made it 3-1 early in the second half, followed by a debut goal from defender Richards. Green completed his hat-trick in the last minute. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashton321 Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 Good work mate bottom 3 are really cut off Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cerud Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 Yeah...that table looks fairly decided Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.W.G Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 Brilliant performances so far,hopefully onwards you continue to go.Looks like the bottom three has been decided already Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 20, 2012 Author Share Posted September 20, 2012 Good work mate bottom 3 are really cut off Yeah...that table looks fairly decided Brilliant performances so far,hopefully onwards you continue to go.Looks like the bottom three has been decided already Yep, in fact even early on those three looked set to struggle, so no surprises there. Season almost over with two big prizes up for grabs, not for the first time, I can reveal the league was won without it being much of a spoiler. The previous league titles were far tougher fights, which means that this season is the true return to the Magical Milan tradition, especially if we get the cup and/or CL. Will finish and update this evening. Who'd have thought it when we lost at home to Atalanta in October Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 20, 2012 Author Share Posted September 20, 2012 Now that's a proper Milan season. Apr 2067 Lazio 0-3 Milan (A) A trip to Lazio saw Muller score in the 10th minute, followed up 6 minutes later by an El Amrani penalty. Ricardo struck the teams 100th league goal of the season in the 82nd minute. Milan 0-0 PSV (CL QF) We faced the home leg against PSV hoping to make up for the epic fail of a few years ago. Disappointingly we were on the back foot a lot early on, and when we finally got going, we couldn’t get a goal. Milan 1-0 Juventus (A) We had the chance to clinch the title after playing Juventus, but aside from that being dependant on other results being played later, we didn’t spark in the first half. Thankfully El Amrani converted a free-kick in the 65th minute as we won again, but the title would have to wait. PSV 0-2 (0-2) Milan (CL QF) We had a tough task when we went to PSV. After both sides kept coming close, an own-goal gave us the lead in the 37th minute with the away goal I was hoping for. They gradually eased off the pressure, looking unlikely to get the two goals they needed, but it wasn’t won yet. Muller extended the lead in the 66th minute. We even had another disallowed later. We would play CSKA Moscow in the semi-finals, who had beaten Zenit in an All-Russian tie. Liverpool and Evian would contest the other semi. Palermo 0-3 Milan (A) We had a couple of tricky away games in the league, starting at Palermo, but this time securing the title was in our hands. Thiago had recently scored his first goal for the club, after over 2 years, and he clearly liked it as he gave us the lead in the 17th minute. Muller and Benoit comfortably made it 3-0 late in the first half, and though they had a goal disallowed in the second half, the title race officially ended then and there. In the season where I reached 1,000 Milan games, I won title number 11. Inter 1-1 Milan (CI SF) The season was far from over yet, we faced a trip to Inter in the cup just before doing the same in the league. After a hectic exchange of chances, the defence completely switched off to give them the lead late in the first half. We had only lost one game so far this season and I wanted to keep it that way. Ricardo equalized in the 54th minute, and despite an injury to El Amrani we held out in a hectic end to end game to keep it level going into the home leg. Inter 1-4 Milan (A) There was more pressure in the league game as having only dropped 2 points since early October, I wanted to keep up the winning as much as possible. Evandro gave us the lead in the 7th minute, followed by Thiago (who was getting the hang of this goalscoring business) in the 33rd. Muller grabbed a second half brace to make it safe, though they scored late on. Milan 2-1 CSKA (CL SF) It was promising stuff ahead of the first CSKA game. They had some very dangerous players, and gave us a tricky time, but we had the better of things, and Muller gave us a deserved lead in the 25th minute. We looked more secure in the second half, but suddenly they snatched an equalizer in the 70th minute. 5 minutes later Gustavo restored the lead, but a failure to get a 2-goal margin still gave us a tough task in Moscow. Milan 4-1 Napoli (A) 2,400th Career Match! I reached 2,400 career games against Napoli. Benoit gave us the lead after 10 minutes, but we had a pretty poor half. They equalized 5 minutes later and we didn’t look like regaining the lead. In the second half we improved. An own-goal helped out in the 51st minute, with Ricardo and Di Napoli making it look easy. May 2067 CSKA 2-3 (3-5) Milan (CL SF) The trip to Moscow was the biggest game of the season (only bettered by the final if we made it). Unless we scored and limited them to a goal, they would go through if they won, so like against PSV, we needed to score. They threatened a bit early on, but then in the 20th minute, a Nicoletti cross was headed in by Benoit to give us the lead on the night, extend the aggregate lead, and cancel out their away goal. As we looked for another, they equalized in the 29th minute, opening the tie again. Though we looked the better team, CSKA kept looking dangerous, but another Benoit header in the 62nd minute swung the tie in our favour. They had just needed 1 goal to force extra time, now they needed three to deny us. Yurdakul and Ricardo had been terrible up front, but the Turk woke up to make it even better in the 74th minute. They did get a goal back in the 80th minute, but we were never going to mess it up. Unsurprisingly we’d face Liverpool (in Liverpool) in a repeat of our last final. Milan 2-0 Chievo (A) With the second Inter leg coming up, Chievo in the league seemed mundane. Yurdakul scored in the 30th minute, followed 12 minutes later by a Di Napoli penalty. Our dominance was rewarded by a second Yurdakul goal. Milan 3-0 (4-1) Inter (CI SF) Having reached the CL final, we also wanted to reach the Italian Cup final, and as expected the home leg against Inter was easy. Muller was the star, scoring in the 12th minute, which itself seemed enough, then in the 53rd minute. We were clearly on top and a deserved 3rd came from Rojo in the 86th minute. Fiorentina 2-2 Milan (A) Fiorentina away was the biggest threat to the ‘Torino only points dropped since Atalanta’ thing, and took the lead after a minute. Muller equalized in the 28th minute, and though Rojo had a goal disallowed early in the second half, another Muller goal gave us the lead. However the disallowed goal was critical as they equalized after 80 minutes, so for only the second time since early October, we failed to get maximum points. Milan 5-2 Siena (A) We were at home to Siena last, and as they were confirmed to finish 2nd it made the result very satisfying. In the first half an hour, a pair of goals from Nicoletti, and one from Yurdakul put us 3-0 up. They scored a few minutes later, but Correa and a second Yurdakul goal took us 5-1 up before a second consolation from the Tuscans. Milan 1-0 (aet) Torino (CI Final) That left the two cup finals, starting with Torino. It was expected to be easy, but we had a slow first half, and even afterwards we kept battering away but with a CL final coming I was worried about it dragging out too long. Eventually, after 116 minutes Di Napoli gave us the win. Milan 1-0 Liverpool (CL Final) That left the big one, a rematch of our last CL final against Liverpool. Last time we just snatched a 4-3 win late on, but were just developing so we had a strong chance this time, despite the final being held in Liverpool (though it was Everton’s Baines Arena). We had a hard time in the first half, and if it wasn’t for McShane we would have gone in behind. That continued in the second half, but late on we finally had a good go, and we showed them how to score when Benoit headed a goal in the 84th minute. I’d just like to apologize to SRL88 as we pretty much stole it, but it’s your own bloody fault for continuing a proud tradition of needing 50 chances to score. Must be odd for Liverpudlians having their hubcaps stolen for a change. How about that then! Last season was very disappointing, and in response I took the gamble of letting a bunch of reliable but unexceptional players go, leaving the door open for the younger prospects, especially in defence, and making for a more settled core of players as well. It looked bad early on, but after the Atalanta defeat we set off on that incredible run of wins and never looked back, dropping points just twice more, and it was the only defeat in any competition all season. We had won league titles before (and the CL), but while the first two had been comfortable enough in the end, there had been a fight until late on, and while we had been fantastic for the 3rd, Roma and Inter had still been close. This was a title won in the manner of all 7 Magical Milan titles, plus it meant we had won all 4 prizes this season, which isn’t bad going. If ever it had been in doubt before, it was clear that the second coming had finally arrived. Rarely had a club dominated a career of mine. It’s like everything else was a build up to Milan, and Dunfermline/Betis/AEK was just a holiday. As you know I travel a lot and to all sorts of places, while the next career will probably not see as much movement, it will see the usual range of obscure destinations. That was a way off though. As I don’t play demos this will carry on until about a week or so before FM13 release. Might seek a final club (maybe go ful circle and return to Krsko) but otherwise it’s Milan for the duration, long may we reign. SnakeXe is well known for Messina, B.W.G. Probably with Vitoria (and Red Bull Leipzig, and being sacked after two consecutive promotions in Montenegro), hopefully ‘deltablue’ and ‘Milan’ will be remembered just as well. Squad Stats Star player: 15 goals (admitedly about half from penalties), 29 assists, average rating 8.11!!!! Perhaps the best season I've ever had with a player. Forget Torres, this is a proper 50M player. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.W.G Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 Excellent season,congrats on the treble!It's been a remarkable career and I can easily say that you and AC Milan will be remembered together Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashton321 Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 Deltablue and Milan will now be remembered in the same sentance mate. I agree with a move back to where it all began would be good. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chutney132 Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 I’d just like to apologize to SRL88 as we pretty much stole it, but it’s your own bloody fault for continuing a proud tradition of needing 50 chances to score. Must be odd for Liverpudlians having their hubcaps stolen for a change. Brilliant! And well done on the Treble and a fantastic career Deltablue! It's funny how you become attached to certain teams even when doing a Journeyman Career. Did you have any affiliation to Milan before this save? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRL88 Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 I’d just like to apologize to SRL88 as we pretty much stole it, but it’s your own bloody fault for continuing a proud tradition of needing 50 chances to score. Must be odd for Liverpudlians having their hubcaps stolen for a change. Watch it boy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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