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[FM12] The complete world encyclopedia of insults shouted at virtual football players


noikeee

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March 2018

westerlo_160.gif

Transfers (in)

Carlos José Soriano (DL) (free) – I had forgotten about this transfer, so not bad to see an hugely promising left-back, already good for the first team, arrive unexpected on a free, heh? Presumably the season back there in El Salvador has weird timing, for his contract to end in March.

Fixtures

Europa League 1st KO Rnd 2nd leg: Villarreal 1-0 Westerlo

Well frankly all that mattered was that they wouldn’t overcome the 3-0 lead we brought but we didn’t even deserve to lose, our defensive tactic let them no space and only a weird owngoal in a corner gave them a goal. We even had the only “clear cut chance” recorded by FM, Remi Naert was uncharacteristically poor with his shooting. Next up.. yep, Barcelona.

This match ended a 26 matches unbeaten run over all competitions.

Jupiler Pro League: Westerlo 1-0 Beerschot AC (Behich(og))

We had way too many chances and shots not to have relied on a dodgy own goal like we did.

Jupiler Pro League: Westerlo 4-2 Liège (Jiménez, Patotski, Larrosa, Pillay)

We scored with our first two shots so were happy to control the rest of the match. The scoreline ended up being a bit freaky tho, we didn’t do enough to score 4 and they didn’t do enough to score 2.

Europa League 2nd KO Rnd 1st leg: Barcelona 1-1 Westerlo (Naert)

Scarcely believable performance at the Camp Nou. It was aided by the absence of Messi who was just recovering from an injury, but still. Barcelona did very little bar some corners, and we were dangerous on the counter. Unfortunately they scored in their first chance, but clearly our plan was working so I stuck with it. I was wonderfully rewarded with it through a second half Naert headed goal, giving us an away draw with goals to take back home. We even had a goal disallowed for a suspicious offside in injury time…

Europa League 2nd KO Rnd 2nd leg: Westerlo 0-1 Barcelona

No Messi yet, but Iniesta, Thiago, Piqué, Alexis Sanchez, Schennikov were all here after skipping the 1st leg and it shown as we were more uncomfortable. We still gave it a bloody good go, and even had the only clear cut chance of the game. At the end it was unfortunate that a Henrique Miranda own goal decided things in Barcelona’s favour and we couldn’t make the massive shock for headlines all over Europe, but we just came short of it with an excellent effort from my players. Not a single player rating for any of my starters in either game was below 6.8, I can’t have asked for more really.

Jupiler Pro League Championship Group: Westerlo 5-2 Sint-Truiden (Cardozo, Naert(3), Martins)

Frenetic match as we seemed rattled by Sint-Truiden’s 3-4-3 but were still the better side. The 1st half was particularly frustrating they equalised twice and we went into half-time tied 2-2, but in the 2nd half Martins put us ahead again and we’d win 5-2 albeit only after Naert scored another 2 and completed his hat-trick by the 77th and 82nd minute. With all of this there was still time in injury time for De Petter to miss a penalty and for Malanda to get injured.

Cofidis Cup ½ final 2nd leg: Club Brugge 1-1 Westerlo (Reddy)

We rested players thinking of the Genk game and it looked like it was going to fire back horribly when we conceded an early goal and Brugge dominated the first half. But we got the goal midway through it and there was no way they’d turn round the 4-1 aggregate after that. Another cup final for us then.

Jupiler Pro League Championship Group: Westerlo 4-1 Genk (Naert(3), Larrosa)

Emphatic win over the title rivals which could prove so crucial. We scored twice in our first two half-chances late in the 1st half, the added another 2 early in the 2nd half which buried the game. Naert was on fantastic form, his 3rd goal a great solo run from his own half. With Anderlecht too losing at Sint-Truiden (4-0!), that’s a 6 points lead extended to 9 over both our rivals.

Player of the month

Remi Naert (ST) – Who else? Two hat-tricks, one goal in the Camp Nou, personal goal account raised to 35 total this season. Not a surprise that he’s wanted by Bordeaux, Espanyol, Feyenoord, Fulham, Las Palmas, Lens and Stoke…

Competitions

Jupiler Pro League:

JupilerProLeagueOverview_Stages-40.jpg

JupilerProLeagueOverview_Stages-2-5.jpg

Cofidis Cup: Into the final to face Genk.

Europa League: Lost to Barcelona 2-1 aggregate on the 2nd knockout round.

Summary

Still flying very high in this wonderful season. We did fantastic in Europe to go this far, knock out Villarreal, get a draw at the Camp Nou and lose only by 1 goal difference aggregate to Barcelona. We’re into another cup final. But what really matters is that first ever league title for the club, and it’s looking almost certain now with a 9 points lead, even if there’s still 8 games to play.

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Excellent job against Barcelona, so close to taking them to extra-time. Absolutely dominating in the league as well.
Good start to the championship group.

Thanks folks, the season's reaching its final stages and I've got news coming up.

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April 2018

westerlo_160.gif

Fixtures

Jupiler Pro League Championship Group: Anderlecht 0-2 Westerlo (Edwini-Bonsu, Martins)

We mostly made what we wanted of Anderlecht, despite them having a go during certain periods of the 2nd half – goalkeeper Ivo Culina standing in for the injured Proto had a superb game for us. So that’s the advantage over Anderlecht extended to 12 points then (Genk only drawn in their game too, so 11 points there). But the big narrative from this match was Fernando Martins scoring a penalty kick then missing another 2 of them!

Jupiler Pro League Championship Group: Standard 0-2 Westerlo (Naert(2))

I was sort of disappointed at the result because we had SEVEN clear cut chances. This was so easy, winning away at Standard just doesn’t feel like anything special anymore.

Jupiler Pro League Championship Group: Westerlo 4-0 Club Brugge (Naert(4))

This game was all about a godlike performance from Remi Naert who was always in the right place at the right time and grabbed 4 goals for himself. Other results gave us a ridiculous 13 points advantage over Genk so with 5 games to play we were set to become champions the next fixture if won.

Jupiler Pro League Championship Group: Sint-Truiden 0-1 Westerlo (Edwini-Bonsu)

Sint-Truiden are sort of our bogey team (they do seem to have built an excellent squad over the last couple of years) and I knew it wasn’t going to be easy… it wasn’t. Thankfully we got the goal early in the first half and shut out the game later on, albeit got a scare in injury time as they scored a disallowed goal. Most important than all of that… the result confirms us as CHAMPIONS OF BELGIUM!!

Jupiler Pro League Championship Group: Westerlo 3-1 Anderlecht (Edwini-Bonsu(2), Petrzela)

I rotated some players and it still was relatively easy to beat a title rival… Ghanian winger Edwini-Bonsu has been on great form and grabbed a brace, but I was even more pleased for the 18 years old Czech centre-back Ondrej Petrzela who got a goal on his debut.

Player of the month

Ebenezer Edwini-Bonsu (M/AMR) – Naert of course scored a poker and a brace, he continues to be crazy good, but he had two very poor games too. This Ghanaian winger is coming good at the end of the season after a poor start, this time he scored 4 goals, and with 2 assists too raised his season long assist tally to 16, not bad, not bad at all.

Competitions

Jupiler Pro League:

JupilerProLeagueOverview_Stages-41.jpg

Cofidis Cup: Into the final to face Genk.

Summary

Delighted to have won the league! It’s the club’s first ever title, and I’m starting to feel like it’s job done here. I’ve been on the look for jobs, been considered lately for a couple Mexican teams which doesn’t interest me at the moment, however I’ve been linked to the CSKA Moscow job too and that could the move I’ve been waiting for. Of course if a career move doesn’t happen, there’s still the incentive of sticking to Westerlo for another season to see what happens when I give Champions League football to these guys, they still have loads of potential untapped, but I’m starting to get a bit bored here.

Next month the cup final is the big deal, let’s see if we can get the double.

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Naert had a terrific season. So did you! Well done!

Good luck for the cup final :)

Naert has just been superb, not sure how we would've coped if he got injured at any point. Very much looking forward to the cup final which could be my final game for Westerlo depending on whether a good offer shows up.

Fantastic finally winning the league.

Thanks!

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I guess with a few relatively large clubs (for Asia) their academies would start to produce decent-ish players.

Yeah I suppose so but that's still somewhat limited by country.

Congrats on winning the league.Hope you can do the business in the Cup final.
Well done winning the league, hopefully your players will do well at the World Cup

Thanks, cup news coming right now. I haven't yet posted anything about the Euros or World Cup in this career, may do a small special feature.

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May 2018

westerlo_160.gif

Fixtures

Jupiler Pro League Championship Group: Genk 1-4 Westerlo (Coppens(2), Petrzela, Edwini-Bonsu)

We briefly went 1-0 down but an astonishing performance from Jurgen Coppens turned it around: scored twice from direct free kicks, and assisted Petrzela for his 2nd goal in 2 matches for Westerlo.

Jupiler Pro League Championship Group: Westerlo 2-0 Standard (Naert, Reddy)

Fair result as both our strikers took a chance in each half.

Jupiler Pro League Championship Group: Club Brugge 2-1 Westerlo (Cardozo)

Not the end to the league that we wanted, this match was supposed to boost our morale for the cup final… yeah right. They had better finishing than us. This ended a run of 13 consecutive wins in the league, and 28 unbeaten matches there too.

Cofidis Cup Final: Westerlo 2-2 Genk (3-1 a.p.k.) (Naert, Reddy)

Absolutely classic cup final. It looked like we were set for an easy stroll to the pedestal when we scored a great team goal within the 2nd minute. However Genk dominated the first half and our plan of containing them and hitting on the break didn’t work this time – as we went into half-time losing 2-1. It took increasingly attacking options in the 2nd half for us to finally get the equaliser by Jose Reddy 7 minutes from the end, who came from the bench to partner Naert upfront in a 4-4-2-ish formation.

In extra time we hit the bar, they seemed dangerous too, but it went to penalties. Henrique Miranda was anxious and missed one but keeper Ivo Culina (an inspired tactical pick over Proto for this game) saved 2 and watched 1 go over the bar – party ensued in Westerlo as WE WIN THE CUP! (and the double)

Player of the month

Jurgen Coppens (DM) – For the fantastic performance on the league game vs Genk: two direct free kick goals (anyone else ever seen this in FM? At least in recent editions, FM05/Fredy Guarín stuff doesn’t count) and an assist in a corner. He is just a freak set piece specialist.

Competitions

Jupiler Pro League:

JupilerProLeagueOverview_Stages-42.jpg

Cofidis Cup: winners after beating Genk in the final in penalties.

Summary

That’s it then, adding the cup to the club’s first ever title (in dominant fashion). This was a fantastic season, including our great run in Europe – past the EL groups for the first time, beat Villarreal, made Barcelona very uncomfortable. Next year we enter the Champions League for the first time, and are automatically qualified for the groups.

I’m still torn on whether to leave Belgium or not. The problem is, I’ve got a pretty specific kind of job in mind, and it’ll take the right offer to make me leave. I’ve just rejected an offer from Fulham, which gave me huge sums of transfer and wage budget for what I’m used to in Belgium, but the club is absolutely drowned in debt and it’s not the kind of club I’m looking for.

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Random news:

- The club has just purchased our stadium for a mere 3.2M€ which will be paid through a lengthy loan. I know the stadium is small, but that's a bargain!

- I've entered the hall of fame for managers in Belgium. Long way still from anywhere near catching Mourinho in the portuguese managers list, however.

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Congrats on the double!!! ANd entering the hall of fame!!

Thanks, altho the hall of fame is only sort of an attention-whoring afterthought!

Nice to see you purchase your stadium and enter the hall of fame for managers in Belgium. How big is the stadium atm?

Still the original 8212. The average attendance for this season was 8205 so we need to hunt down the 7 season ticker holders that are ruining our perfect record. :D

I wanted the board to expand or build a new stadium, but they didn't want to build, expanding wasn't possible because the stadium wasn't ours so... I was surprised they actually went with my request to buy it.

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Analysis, highlights and numbers – 2017/2018 season

westerlo_160.gif

Tactics and usual starting eleven

KVCWesterloTactics_TeamInstructions-4.jpg

Some minor evolutions, I’ve dropped the focus passing down both flanks, so we could unleash the trequartista, Naert’s dazzling central runs, and our 3 man midfield possession hoggers, against tactics that open up the centre of the pitch: such as the wide 4-4-2 diamond, or the classic flat 4-4-2.

It’s not on the picture but I also usually dropped the pressing to default on some games, and gave Coppens a deep-lying playmaker role often.

Squad

KVCWesterloSquad_Players-9.jpg

KVCWesterloSquad_Players-2-7.jpg

Top 5 key players of the season

5. Fernando Martins (AMC) – Used exclusively as an AMC trequartista (altho he can play a little deeper), the young Portuguese was the star at the beginning of the season as every game he seemed to either score or assist one. Had a serious injury midway, and then didn’t fully regain form afterwards, but I haven’t forgotten that early promise. 7 goals, 13 assists, in relatively limited playing time.

4. Pablo Ceppelini (MRLC, AMRLC) – Deadly earlier in the season when I played him as an AML cutting inside, but also fully capable of spraying his creativity in pretty much any other position in midfield. He was the king of assists here: 19 of them – plus 7 goals.

3. Jurgen Coppens (DM) – It’s highly unusual for a DM to end up with an average rating of 7.21, some of that will have been for his occasional epic free kicks, but the man (the boy? he’s still 21) really helped solidify our team defensively and is pretty good at starting attacks too.

2. Koffi Djidji (DC) – But if you want to talk “solid”, then this is the man, yet another fantastic season for Koffi even if he may not have scored as much as in previous years. His job is to defend anyway.

1. Remi Naert (ST) – We looked like a one-man team at times, Naert carrying us on his back as he scored 43, 10 of them in Europe, and lead the line by himself in a team that was often disjointed counter-attacking. Just a crazy, crazy season from the young striker. Has bafflingly not been capped by Belgium yet but half of Europe wants to sign him.

Many others had legitimate claims to be picked too, most notably Henrique Miranda, Rudy Cardozo, Ebenezer Edwini-Bonsu, Bernard Malanda.

Match of the season

Barcelona 1-1 Westerlo

Ok so Messi, Iniesta and a couple others were rested, and we had other great matches like the 3-0 over Villarreal, but come on, it’s Barcelona at the Camp Nou, we scared them by playing some actual football, and even took an away goal advantage into the second leg.

Awards

Jupiler Pro League Best Average Rating – Pablo Ceppelini (3rd)

Jupiler Pro League Ebony Boot – Ebenezer Edwini-Bonsu (2nd), Koffi Djidji (3rd)

Jupiler Pro League Golden Boot – Remi Naert (1st)

Jupiler Pro League Golden Eleven – Silvio Proto, Koffi Djidji and Remi Naert (starters)

Jupiler Pro League Manager of the Year - Cláudio Alegria (1st)

Jupiler Pro League Most Assists – Pablo Ceppelini (2nd)

Jupiler Pro League Pro of the Year – Remi Naert (1st)

Jupiler Pro League Top Goalscorer – Remi Naert (1st)

Jupiler Pro League Young Player of the Year – Zakhele Pillay (1st), Ebenezer Edwini-Bonsu (2nd)

European Golden Boot - Remi Naert (3rd)

Portuguese Best Foreign Based Player - Fernando Martins (3rd)

Season Summary Mentions

Jupiler Pro League Top Goalscorer - Remi Naert (30)

Jupiler Pro League Highest Average Rating - Remi Naert (7.50, 35 apps)

Jupiler Pro League Signing of the Season - Rudy Cardozo (140K€) (1st)

Career overview

[b] Season   Club (nation)     League (tier)                            Notes[/b]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11/12    Delémont (SWI)    Challenge League (2) - 1st               Promoted
12/13    Delémont (SWI)    Axpo Super League (1) - 9th       
13/14    Westerlo (BEL)    Jupiler Pro League (1) - 8th / EP group  
14/15    Westerlo (BEL)    Jupiler Pro League (1) - 3rd             Belgian Cup finalists 
15/16    Westerlo (BEL)    Jupiler Pro League (1) - 8th / EP final  Belgian Cup winners
16/17    Westerlo (BEL)    Jupiler Pro League (1) - 3rd 
17/18    Westerlo (BEL)    Jupiler Pro League (1) - 1st             Champions + Belgian Cup winners 

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Build-up to World Cup 2018 - past tournaments:

Euro 2012

UEFAEuropeanFootballChampionshipOverview_Stages-1.jpg

Best Player: Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)

Golden Boot: Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), 5 goals

Dream Team: R. Patrício (POR); F. Coentrão (POR), Pepe (POR), B. Alves (POR), I. Abate (ITA); E. Hazard (BEL), Danny (POR), D. De Rossi (ITA), S. Vukcevic (MON); C. Ronaldo (POR), M. Vucinic (MON)

FIFA World Cup 2014

FIFAWorldCupOverview_Stages.jpg

Golden Ball: Javier Hernández (Mexico)

Golden Shoe: Javier Hernández (Mexico), 8 goals

Team of the Tournament: J. Reina (SPA); J. Alba (SPA), G. Piqué (SPA), A. Domínguez (SPA), S. Ramos (SPA); J. Mata (SPA), A. Abrashi (SWI), C. Fàbregas (SPA), X. Shaqiri (SWI); J. Hernández (MEX), D. Villa (MEX).

Euro 2016

UEFAEuropeanFootballChampionshipOverview_Stages-2-1.jpg

Best Player: Andriy Yarmolenko (UKR)

Golden Boot: Andriy Yarmolenko (UKR), 9 goals

Dream Team: S. Sirigu (ITA); D. Criscito (ITA), S. Ramos (SPA), P. Jones (ENG), K. Walker (ENG); E. Hazard (BEL), S. Giovinco (ITA), M. Verratti (ITA), T. Müller (GER); A. Yarmolenko (UKR), W. Rooney (ENG)

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Actually no as Ukraine scored another 2 goals but Yarmolenko did get 3 hat-tricks. :D

Those were in:

3-2 over Scotland, group stage

3-2 over Switzerland, group stage

4-2 over Ireland, 2nd round

---------

Okay massive dilemma here. I applied for the Saint-Etienne job and they seemed interested but at the last minute they hired another manager. Now I'm left with an offer from Torino, who I've also applied for. They give me a huge transfer budget (17.75M€ - that's more than the whole club value of Westerlo) and plenty of wage budget to play with. They are a sleeping giant which is very interesting. That is all hugely tempting. However they've just gotten promoted from Serie B and there's quite a long way to go before reaching Champions League level with them. I've also made a career in Italy in almost every edition of FM and whilst I love Italy and wouldn't mind it, I was looking for a different path in this career. My idea of the next career step wasn't a bottom team at Italy, but a top team in a league like Holland, Portugal, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey..

In Westerlo I've got the Champions League group stage waiting for me, an hugely promising young team, and some momentum - but also a league that's getting boring and a feeling I've accomplished all I could domestically, and taken the club very far already.

So what do I do then, stay or move to Italy?

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Well not sure why I bothered asking for advice because curiosity got the better of me. I saved the game, then accepted the offer just to see what the squad looked like. Next thing I know I'm thoroughly planning the squad for the new season...

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July 2018 - Final transfer dealings

westerlo_160.gif

Transfers (in)

I watched a few of my signings arrive few days before leaving Belgium. All on frees:

Paul Niendorf (AMC)

Antonio Perez (ST / AMC)

Emanuel Goroso (ML)

Danijel Medic (M/AMR)

Daniel Ohneiser (DC / DL)

Perez looks like a big prospect, I'm sure the next manager will love having him on the squad.

Transfers (out)

The contracts of Kilian Overmeire, Jorge Caballero and Andrej Music ran out, and DM Ayhan Kuzu who was loaned out last season was sold by 100K€.

Days later, I took the plane to Italy and Westerlo opened a managerial vacancy.

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Turin - 12th of July, 2018

160px-Torino_FC_Logo.png

I am delighted to be welcomed to the 27994-seater Stadio Olimpico, built in 1933 and renewed in 2006 for the Winter Olympics:

torino_stadio_olimpico.jpg

This may not be the career path I was expecting, but it's quite exciting nonetheless.

TorinoOverview_Profile.jpg

Torino were once a very big club. Winners of the italian league in 1927, 1928, 1943, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949 and 1976, the club is mostly famous for that 1940s four-consecutive-title side who unfortunately died all together in a plane crash, the famous Superga accident in the 4th of May, 1949. Never was the club going to have a team anywhere near as great, and despite the 1976 title, and a cameo presence in a UEFA Cup final in 1992. it's all been very much downhill since.

Indeed nowadays Torino are a yo-yo club between the Serie A and the Serie B. I take charge right after the club won the Serie B title and got promoted directly, but manager Franco Colomba retired and I fill in his place.

TorinoFCSquad_Players.jpg

Just one more player who wouldn't fit the screenshot

Likely key players:

Osariemen Giulio Ebagua (ST / AML) – Quality striker, unfortunately is 32 years old and his physicals will start to decline any time soon.

Lucio Bussi (MC / ML) – An excellent product of the Torino youth academy, at the age of 20 is already a key player, it’s quite exciting to arrive to a club with homegrown talents like this, and am looking forward to developing more like him.

Alexandru Matel (D/WBR) – Pretty good Romanian attacking full-back who is our captain. Difficult to spell properly though!

Finances and transfers

Merely 4.3M€ in the bank, which is strange because I have 15M€ to spend as transfer budget – and a wage budget of 2M€/month of which 1.5M€ is used.

I’m not sure about sustainability but I’m going to use it, I need more quality if we’re to survive Serie A without stress.

Goals for this season

Media prediction is 15th so at this moment I just want to stay clear of relegation and slowly build a squad for the coming seasons – as I’ve signed a 4 year deal. Not sure I’ll stick around for that long but I always plan long-term no matter what.

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Good luck - hopefully you can channel the spirit of il Grande Torino :)
Good luck at Torino :thup:
Well done with Westerlo and good move to Torino.

Thanks! If the goal is to emulate that classic team then the bar is set very high!

By the way, I am an absolute idiot, Torino hasn't just gotten promoted, that was the season before last, last season they finished 14th in Serie A. Not sure how I managed to miss that detail. I did think a media prediction of 15th seemed a tad high for a team that had just bounced back...

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FIFA World Cup 2018

fifaworldcupoverviewsta.jpg

Golden Ball: Romário (BRA)

Golden Shoe: Javier Hernández (Mexico), 6 goals

Team of the Tournament: J. Hart (ENG); L. Baines (ENG), Dedé (BRA), A. Storey (ENG), Romário (BRA); Willian (BRA), C. Fàbregas (SPA), J. Wilshere (ENG), Pedro (SPA); J. Hernández (MEX), A. Costa (POR)

Sort it out SI, England is winning things. It's also ruined the dream of a perfectly good Portuguese generation of players. :(

Regens have a link to a profile pic.

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Pre-season: July/ August 2018

160px-Torino_FC_Logo.png

Transfers (in)

Quite the spending spree here as I signed no less than 13 first team players:

Mykola Matviychuk (GK) (1.3M€) – 1st slot of non-EU signings used. I agreed to a ridiculously inflated wage to ensure this deal, but he’s quite a fantastic keeper, a position that makes such a big difference, and he’s still just 22.

Luca Barlocco (DR, DC) (free) – Rotation first team player, very good in the air and still quite young (23).

Granddi Ngoyi (DM) (free) – I like to have at least 3 DMs in the squad as I believe we’ll play the very deep 4-2-3-1 with 2 DMs in some matches, and I only had one so here is another.

Ebenezer Edwini-Bonsu (M/AMR) (1.3M€) – 2nd of the 2 non-EU signings, and it’s a guy I poached from my previous employers Westerlo. I’m quite surprised I didn’t manage to poach any others, because I tried a lot but it didn’t happen for various reasons.

Eros Pisano (DR / DC, WBR) (free) – I needed another right-back for reasons that will be explained further down.

Idrissa Coulibaly (DC / DR, DM) (130K€) – Big wage but it’s a short-term contract so it’s ok. Utility player who can do very well the 3 positions he plays in.

Nolito (M/AML, AMR) (free) – The former Barcelona youth player and Benfica fan favourite is now on the wrong side of 30 but still handy albeit not an obvious starter.

Bruno Marchelli (D/WBL) (575K€) – I had only 1 left-back and he was the cheapest solid player available for the 2nd option.

Sean Morrison (DC) (1.8M€) – An Englishman in Italy! I am pleased with this deal as he should be a starter.

Vito Merafina (DC / DM, MC) (7.25M€) – The big signing of the Summer. I nearly bankrupted the club but it was worth it, in Vito we have a 20 year old who is on the verge of reaching the Italian national team, and still has plenty to develop.

Jacques Adoue (ST / AMRL) (2.1M€) – Fantastic prospect. Assman rates him at 2* of CA but he looks far better than that to me.

Roy Veldman (ST / AMRL) (1.2M€) – Squad player who does have some chance of grabbing that place as a lone striker upfront.

Diego Buonanotte (AMC / AMRL, ST) (free) – I’ve managed Diego before in another edition of FM and had loads of success with him, let’s see this time as he’s older! He seems ready to fight for a starting AMC spot with Benito Nicolas Viola and Quentin Pereira.

Transfers (out)

The sales of Jérémy Gavanon, Marco Sangalli, Francesco Caputo, Corrado Conchin clearly weren’t unexpected as I never considered them for the team. I also loaned for money Ignacio Fideleff and Mamaye Tounkara.

However the big news is the sale of captain and star right-back Alexandru Matel, and just for 3M€. I obviously didn’t want to let him go, but an unfortunate clause in his contract gave him parity with the highest paid player in the squad, and once Matviychuk started earning 200k€/month, Matel started to earn the same. I just couldn’t cope with that and Matel left.

Finances

Oh crap. It’s all my fault. I squeezed every little drop of wage and transfer budget.. and the club is now 10.4M€ in the red.

Squad for the 2018-2019 season

TorinoFCSquad_Players-1.jpg

Much better now particularly with the arrivals of Matviychuk, Merafina, Edwini-Bonsu and Morrison. But I’m still not fully happy, an obvious weakness is full-backs, and I just sold a perfectly capable quality right-back…

Fixtures

TIM Cup 3rd Qual. Rnd: Torino 2-0 Ascoli (Ebagua, Merafina)

This was only Serie B opposition but it was an encouraging game, a completely ungelled team asserted their superiority regardless of that. Vito Merafina got a goal on his 1st game for the club.

Competitions

Serie A: I’ve no idea why is this starting only in September, but it is.

TIM Cup: into the 4th qualifying round to face Modena at home. Modena are my old mates from that one previous FM career when I had Buonanotte. FM08 maybe? I really liked that squad.

Summary

I went way over the top with spending, so this means we need to have a really good season to help paying for it. Not the ideal scenario because I often take a season or 2 to finally “click” with the team as I figure out which players, formations, combinations work in the context.

Whatever happens I think this is going to be a fun season, let’s have it.

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You certainly like to spend!

Well yes and I sort of regret it already as I've put the club in a difficult position. Their fault for giving me that much money to play with anyway - but I intend to eventually set the finances right even if it may take a couple of seasons.

Good luck in Italy, let's hope those signings can pay off on the pitch!

Some are paying off already!

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September 2018

160px-Torino_FC_Logo.png

Fixtures

Serie A: Sampdoria 2-1 Torino (Buonanotte)

Entertaining, tense, tightly-contested match which unfortunately went the way of the hosts. We were losing through most of the game until a run by the middle from Buonanotte gave us the goal midway through the 2nd half, only for Sampdoria to hit back immediately with the winner by Castaignos.

Serie A: Torino 0-2 Lazio

Disastrous match as Lazio eased past our defence continuously, even after they got a red card. We also managed to miss a penalty by Ebagua late in the game. Alessandrini picked up a 2 months injury.

Serie A: Torino 3-0 Foggia (Ebagua(2), Merafina)

I decided to watch the full match and tweak tactics, it worked. Convincing win as we had the ball all game long and made the most of our few chances. Nolito got injured.

Serie A: Inter 1-1 Torino (Merafina)

The old Westerlo ultra-defensive 4-2-3-0-1 tactic doing wonders just like the good old times. We did go briefly in front in the 2nd half but they quickly responded back, Inter probably will feel aggrieved as they had the better chances but it’s not our concern. Edwini-Bonsu got injured and will stop for about a month, that’s the third consecutive game we lose a winger…

Serie A: Torino 4-3 Parma (Veldman, Buonanotte, Ebagua(2))

Crazy scoreline but I’m not sure how we managed to concede 3 as we were by far the better side, playing some quality possession football. Parma were never in the game.

Serie A: Catania 0-3 Torino (Veldman(2), Buonanotte)

This was an hugely enjoyable win not just because we played well, but also because both our first 2 goals came from tactical features I intentionally designed for this game: the 1st a quick long cross from my ML Bussi, who had just been instructed to cross to far post and not waste much time dribbling, to my AMR Veldman who is a natural striker; the 2nd a run from AMC trequartista Buonanotte in the huge space between defence and midfield created by Catania’s flat 3-4-3 formation and my “drop deeper” shout.

We picked up yet another injury here however – 7 weeks for Buonanotte…

Player of the month

Vito Merafina (DC) – Great start to life in Turin from the kid, fully justifying his huge transfer fee: 3 goals in 6 games, playing as a centre-back…

Competitions

Serie A:

SerieATIMOverview_Stages.jpg

TIM Cup: Into the 4th qualifying round, to face a team I know a lot about because I managed them to quite a bit of success in FM a few years back, Serie B team Modena.

Summary

We had a big wobble at the start of the month, but some breakthroughs in tactics since the Foggia game have made me a lot more confident about this: the team has quickly learnt to play some exciting football and it’s giving us points, too. However, bar Inter we’ve been playing mostly against the weakest sides in the league so it’s far too early to say this is working.

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October 2018

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Fixtures

Serie A: Torino 3-1 Lecce (Ebagua(3))

We were one goal down and this was looking like a very difficult match when Ebagua decided to make this game a one man show, scoring an hat-trick almost without help from his team-mates. Fantastic individual performance, altho I’m not sure why Lecce decided to give him tons of space through all of the 2nd half.

Serie A: Bari 0-2 Torino (Ebagua, Veldman)

Easy win with the 2 goals within the first 15 minutes, we carefully managed the lead afterwards.

Serie A: Torino 0-0 Palermo

Palermo are a strong side in 2018 – they’ve finished in the top 5 the past 3 seasons, and won the league 5 years ago. They also play a very attacking 3-4-2-1. So I set my team slightly more defensive than in recent matches, but was still surprised the game turned out to be a very boring stalemate.

Serie A: Bologna 0-5 Torino (Pereira, Morrison, Ebagua(3))

One of the most bizarre FM matches I’ve seen. We somehow scored 4 in the first 20 minutes with some fantastic finishing, and then at the other end our keeper Matviychuk saved everything the rest of the match. Ebagua added another on the counter midway through the 2nd half to finish his hat-trick, making it an even more inflated result.

Player of the month

Osariemen Giulio Ebagua (ST) – On insane form, with 7 goals in 4 matches this month including two hat-tricks. I knew he was good but I wasn’t expecting this level of performance.

Competitions

Serie A:

SerieATIMOverview_Stages-1.jpg

TIM Cup: Still waiting to face Modena in the 4th qualifying round.

Summary

I’m very surprised, never expected to have reached this level of efficiency and understanding between the players after 2 months in charge. I certainly didn’t expect being anywhere near 2nd place at this stage (or any other stage of this season). That being said next month is our first true test as the three league fixtures are vs Roma, Juventus and Milan, the table being as tight as it is we could easily drop 7 or 8 places quickly.

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Doing very well! Looks like spending does help.
Shock move to Torino. Good luck. It's always nice spending money that isn't yours.... :D

The money is helping (altho it's worth mentioning it has already ran out, and big time, it's not like I have a Man City/PSG style sugar daddy), but it gets even better... ;)

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November 2018

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Fixtures

Serie A: Torino 3-1 Roma (Bussi(2), Yahaya)

Another weird game, we scored 3 in the first half with 4 shots on goal, then Roma dominated the second half but only got 1 goal. Also strange that our plan was from ML Bussi’s crosses from deep from the left to find the more advanced AMR Veldman on the right, but the first 2 goals came from exactly the opposite direction, Bussi finishing moves that came from the right.

Serie A: Juventus 0-1 Torino (Ebagua)

This might be the big derby, and we might be a lot of positions above Juve in the table, but I’m not an idiot and knew not to bring pride into this – Juve have players that can hurt us and are just a superior side, so we had to set up defensively. And guess what, the old defensive tactic from the early Westerlo days worked wonders again… it took a bit of a dodgy penalty kick though.

Serie A: Torino 1-0 Milan (Merafina)

So, beyond my wildest expectations we arrived to this match in the unlikely position of going into 1st place if we beat Ruud Gullit’s Milan. Again, I picked the defensive tactic as no way we could beat them on merit. We were very lucky to get into half-time 0-0 as they pretty much were parked in our own half all game, but were less dangerous in the 2nd half and in the 85th minute a corner into Merafina’s head gave us the win. Torino lead the table!

TIM Cup 4th Qual. Rnd: Torino 1-1 Modena (4-2 a.p.k.) (Edwini-Bonsu)

Embarassing. We spent the whole game looking stupid as we continuously failed to open up Modena’s defence until Edwini-Bonsu finally got us the winner.. only for Modena to equalize in a penalty shortly afterwards. Then Merafina got sent off and our team was so tired our only hope was to hang on for penalties really. We did win it on penalties but you’d expect better from the Serie A leaders vs. the 19th in the Serie B.

Player of the month

Lucio Bussi (ML) – Great stuff from the youth product of our academy, who I've been playing on the left despite being more accomplished in the center. He was the star of the game vs Roma, scoring a brace. Has grabbed 7 assists already this season.

Competitions

Serie A:

SerieATIMOverview_Stages-2.jpg

TIM Cup: Playing Catania away in the first round (last 16).

Summary

Further beating expectations with 3 unlikely wins. Seriously we should be midtable by now. Many of these wins have been flukes however, certainly we will run out of them sooner or later, so I have no illusions of making it for another 25 games and fighting for the title. One thing is certain however - the team has got a hell of a lot more potential than I thought…

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