FM16: Serie A / B / and lower - Calcio is here! We have pizza & spaghetti!

[MartinGregory84]

Started my first ever Foreign save with Pisa right down in Serie C, Thought it would be a breeze but the problem being English is past Serie A I have not a lot of knowledge of players etc. Thought I could waltz in with my attacking 4231 wide.

First game I lost to local rivals Luchese then humbled 3-1 at home to bottom club Savona. I decided to change my tactic to a flat 442 with one winger and one wide midfielder with TM and AF upfront. Straight away I saw Peralta banging goals in for fun and now 12 games in unbeaten in my last 10.

As an FM veteran of the English and Scottish Leagues I am enjoying the challenge of managing further afield.

[Orikoru]

Started my first ever Foreign save with Pisa right down in Serie C, Thought it would be a breeze but the problem being English is past Serie A I have not a lot of knowledge of players etc. Thought I could waltz in with my attacking 4231 wide.

First game I lost to local rivals Luchese then humbled 3-1 at home to bottom club Savona. I decided to change my tactic to a flat 442 with one winger and one wide midfielder with TM and AF upfront. Straight away I saw Peralta banging goals in for fun and now 12 games in unbeaten in my last 10.

As an FM veteran of the English and Scottish Leagues I am enjoying the challenge of managing further afield.

4-4-2 served me very well in Serie C as well. I think it's because most of the opposition sides play a back 5, or 4-1-2-3 DM wide - they're not used to coming up against a good old-fashioned two banks of four.

[MartinGregory84]

4-4-2 served me very well in Serie C as well. I think it's because most of the opposition sides play a back 5, or 4-1-2-3 DM wide - they're not used to coming up against a good old-fashioned two banks of four.

Exactly the reason I went basic I noticed the 5 Bank formation at the back, Out of Interest did you target oppo players etc or did you just use your own shouts?

[Orikoru]

Exactly the reason I went basic I noticed the 5 Bank formation at the back, Out of Interest did you target oppo players etc or did you just use your own shouts?

I play touch mode so opposition instructions are done by the assistant anyway.

[MartinGregory84]

I play touch mode so opposition instructions are done by the assistant anyway.

Thanks mate,

I am so inconsistant one week we win 4-1 next week we lose 3-0, I play to my oppos weaknesses but seems to get me nowhere I might just scrape the playoffs.

[Orikoru]

On my game I got offered the Roma job halfway through 2018/19. They were lower-mid-table in Serie A while my Parma side were languishing mid-table in Serie B, so I took it.

The squad is a bit of a shambles - first I tried to go with what I thought would suit the teams strengths and went for an attacking 4-1-2-3, but I made a hash of it really. After 5 draws 1 defeat in the league, I rebooted it back from where I just took the job. This time I've stuck with my more favoured 4-4-1-1 (asymmetric front two so it's essentially almost 4-4-2) and had a more encouraging start, still drew the first two games, but loads of my key attackers were injured or on international duty, and then we beat Inter away in game three.

As I say, the squad is a bit thin and they only gave me about £15mil - I spent 9 mil on a right back and left it there, since a low sum of money like that wasn't enough to improve any other position anyway. Up front all they have is a 32-year-old Dzeko (3.5*) and Bonazzoli on loan from Arsenal (2.5*). The best player by a distance is Florenzi, he's 4.5* at right mid and at right back, plus 4* at CM - I accepted a £58mil bid from Barca but had a last minute change of heart and cancelled it - he's the heart and soul of the club! Salah is 4* and looks immense but he's been on international duty the whole time so far. Pjanic and Gerson are quality as well, but the entire defence is shocking. Bazoer (3*) and Diego Reyes (2.5*) are the best centre backs, and they had a 34-year-old Ivanovic at RB (2*), which is why I spent £9mil on Vitturini to replace him. Basically I'm just hoping to settle in the top half somewhere and rebuild in the summer - if they actually give me some money.

Update:

We finished 7th after that half-season, for some reason the board were unhappy with this, which is an utter ****-take considering the crap squad and no money I inherited. Managed to hold onto my job though. In summer they gave me another poor budget of £12 mil, but luckily De Rossi and Ivanovic retired, their 150k and 50k wages coming off the bill and gave me an extra £10mil to spend once I'd adjusted the budget. I bought Stefan Bell (German CB) and Berahino up top. I'd also brought Kostic (left wing) and Donsah (CM) into the fold on free transfers when their contracts expired. Also brought in Bertrand Traore on loan for cover in all attacking positions.

We had a thin squad, but Berahino and Salah were banging the goals in, and long story short, I'm now three games from the end of my first full season with them, and we're 3rd - highly likely to finish there since we're 5 points behind Sassuolo and 4 ahead of Inter. We've had some outstanding results this season, including beating Juve away, and crushing Milan 4-1 at home (this Milan side has Bale, Berardi & Gabbiadini among others, so not to be sneezed at). But we've also lost to rock bottom Cesena, despite having 27 efforts on goal (hate this game sometimes). Anywho, the board told to me finish top four, and that's what I've done, so I'm happy.

Next season - already got Bellarabi and Insigne arriving on free transfers, so my attack is sorted. All of the money I get given (and I hope it's a reasonable amount this team, with Champs League qualification in the bag) will be spent on defensive areas.

[Quinby]

Hi guys Looking for Italian CB and DM for Milan season one. Any ideas?

[Orikoru]

Hi guys Looking for Italian CB and DM for Milan season one. Any ideas?

My mate says Crisetig is superb at DM for him.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Milan already has Romagnolli for CB and Poli for DM, why would you need anyone else or you on about Inter Milan.

[Orikoru]

Milan already has Romagnolli for CB and Poli for DM, why would you need anyone else or you on about Inter Milan.

He could easily be playing two CBs and two DMs and wants another of each...

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Yeah true, best thing to do then is scout the Italy National team, under 21's etc.

[MarinoMolin]

I think I just had a bad transfer window

Playing as Roma

15/16

Szczesny(Loan)

Florenzi - Manolas - Castan/Rüdiger(Loan) - Digne(Loan)

De Rossi

Pjanic - Nainggolan

Salah - Dzeko - El Sharaawy(Loan)

16/17

Rulli

Florenzi - Rüdiger - Manolas - Masuaku

De Rossi

Pjanic - Nainggolan

Salah - Calleri - Sansone

I feel that Sansone is worse than El Shaarawy, Calleri is worse than Dzeko and Masuaku is worse than Digne... at least Rulli is better than Szczesny

Tried to get Digne and El Shaarawy but they wanted astronomical wages, managed to sign Rüdiger at least.

Sold Dzeko because his wage was ridiculous.

[Orikoru]

MarinoMolin - I'm playing as Roma myself, but I only took over in January 2019, and their finances are awful. They never give me any money to bring in decent players yet they expect me to get Champion's League every time. So I feel your transfer window pain there. I'm surviving just on free pre-contract signings and the fact that they have a fairly strong youth system. Currently trying to integrate an 18-year-old CB as first choice since I couldn't afford to buy a good one. Salah is amazing though, he's probably my best player. Florenzi and Pjanic are world class too, and Gerson is pretty awesome but Salah keeps him out of my team unfortunately. Try and play Gerson as much as you can.

[johnjako2010]

I've got a save with Lazio. Absolutely loving it. Signed Jay Rodriguez for 30 million. Sounds alot but he's been immense. Anderson and basta have been players of the year. Absolute class down the right.

Anyone wants screenshots let me know.

[Sunstrikuuu]

Trying to rediscover both a save I enjoy and the control I felt I had over the game back in the day, and doing so with the same team. Started a Pro Vercelli save, and we'll see how it goes. The hope is to play 5-flat 4-1 for the first time long-term and, eventually, make it through a league season conceding fewer than half a goal per game. So far I've had a 1-0 over Livorno despite having a man sent off in the first five minutes. So far so good, said the man as he fell off a fifty-story building.

[rastaman219]

How much did El Shawaary want for you? I got him end of the first season for his buyout with wages the same as what he was getting at AC (I think 60k?). Was worth it for me as he got me 15 or so goals the first season!

Didn't get Digne in either. Bought in Alex Telles from Galatasary as he was one of the best value LBs I could find, and Torosidis can play there more than well enough.

Got to admit Florenzi has been a lot better for me on the right wing than Salah, got the leagues highest assists. Looking forwards to seeing how Gerson does, also wanna see if I can get Iturbe playing as well for me as he did in last years edition.

[Orikoru]

How much did El Shawaary want for you? I got him end of the first season for his buyout with wages the same as what he was getting at AC (I think 60k?). Was worth it for me as he got me 15 or so goals the first season!

Didn't get Digne in either. Bought in Alex Telles from Galatasary as he was one of the best value LBs I could find, and Torosidis can play there more than well enough.

Got to admit Florenzi has been a lot better for me on the right wing than Salah, got the leagues highest assists. Looking forwards to seeing how Gerson does, also wanna see if I can get Iturbe playing as well for me as he did in last years edition.

Salah was flipping amazing for me in 2019-20. And I played him at either LM or CAM(shadow striker). He doesn't have the best role ability in either but he still smashed it in both positions. I would advise you playing him as much as possible as he becomes class. Florenzi does too though, particularly at RM as you say. Retrain Salah as a CAM or a left winger.

[MartinGregory84]

I am currently in my second season with Foggia first season I won promotion with a 442 attacking lineup via the playoffs, Currently 2nd in Serie B in my second season hopefully grab that last playoff spot. Had to adapt to a 4312 narrow very compact but does the trick with a DLF and AF. Only changes I have really made is bringing in 3-4 English loan players.

[Sunstrikuuu]

Scrapped my 5-4-1 partway through my first season and eventually finished sixth. Switched to a W-W formation on contain after experimenting for 15 games and made a run through the playoffs, benefited by upsets elsewhere and a red card for Cesena in the 5th minute in the home leg. So now I'm up! And I suspect I'll be coming straight back down, but who cares? Pro Vercelli are broke and the stadium only seats 5,500. Getting into Serie A a season early kickstarts my youth and training improvements, and maybe I can snaffle a prized prospect or two.

[annan17]

Anyone playing in Serie D or lower? I've just downloaded the Serie D/Eccelenza database, going to start with Parma and see if I can bring the glory days back.

[Quinby]

Anyone playing in Serie D or lower? I've just downloaded the Serie D/Eccelenza database, going to start with Parma and see if I can bring the glory days back.

Hey is that with the latest patch (6.0.3)? Or orginal patch? I wanna know if that custom db works with latest patch... thanks

[lukekarts]

Finally got this at the weekend and my first game is dedicated to one of my favourites: AS Roma.

There is a great core to the squad at the start of the game, and here's my mini assessment. The best formation appears to be the wide 4-3-3, with a DM, two CMs and two wingers.

Goalkeepers:

Wojciech Szczesny (on loan from Arsenal, no fee agreed)

Morgan De Sanctis

Bogdon Lobont

Goalkeepers fine for the first season, but De Sanctis is nearing retirment, Lobont will likely leave on a free, and Szczesny is only on loan. Szczesny is a good first choice, but may not be the ideal long-term solution. You will want to prioritise a goalkeeper signing next summer; whilst keeping Skorupski (on loan at Empoli) as a cheap backup.

Centre-backs:

Kostas Manolas

Antonio Rudiger (on loan from Stuttgart, £6.25m option to buy)

Leandro Castan

The squad isn't loaded with depth, but Manolas is one of the better U25 defenders in the game and Castan/Rudiger battle it out for the 2nd spot. Making Rudiger a permanent acquisition isn't a bad idea - you won't find better for the money - but in the longer run you will need to look at a better option next to Manolas if you want European domination.

Full-backs:

Lucas Digne (on loan from Paris Saint-Germain, £11.25m option to buy)

Alessandro Florenzi

Maicon

Vasilis Torosidis

It is worth pointing out that Florenzi is by far the most versatile player in the squad, capable of playing anywhere along the right-flank as well as the midfield, but he is really, really good at right-back. At 34, Maicon is passed his best, but can play well at the right-back spot, whilst Torosidis offers cover at both full-back positions. Digne is the natural starter at left-back, he has good attributes and at 21/22 he has time to develop. He's not a bargain, but well worth the fee as a long-term solution.

Defensive Midfield:

Daniel De Rossi

Seydou Keita

William Vainqueur

De Rossi is the heart of Roma's midfield and although he is on the decline of his career, it feels only fair to keep him here for a while. Keita at 35 is a good squad player but may retire in the summer, whilst Vainqueur just makes up the numbers.

Central Midfield:

Miralem Pjanic

Radja Nainggollan

Kevin Strootman (injured for 3-4 months)

Pjanic is probably one of the best creative midfielders in the game; when paired with the hard-working, ball-winning Nainggolan, forms one of the best duos in football currently. Both players are highly sought after by foreign clubs for good reason. Strootman is a good player, but will not regain full fitness until the end of 2015, so you will rely on injury cover from Keita and Florenzi for the first half of the season.

Wide midfield/Wingers:

Stephan El Shaarawy (on loan from Milan, £9.25m option to buy)

Mohamed Salah

Diego Perotti

Iago Flaque

El Shaarawy has been rejuvinated at Roma, and given his age, nationality and potential, he's a worthwhile investment for a long-term solution to the AML position. Salah fits perfectly at AMR, with great pace and dribbling. He seems to have a knack for scoring goals, and performs as well in-game as he has done on the field for Roma. Falque and Perotti are servicable backups, but you may wish to consider Florenzi as a starter at AMR should Salah get injured, as Maicon slotting in at DR is less of a downgrade overall.

Forwards:

Edin Dzeko

Francesco Totti

Ezequiel Ponce

Dzeko is a good fit as a lone striker, his aerial ability makes him great at holding up the ball, allowing plenty of goals from the likes of El Shaarawy, Salah and Pjanic. Totti is a relic at this point, and will likely retire in the summer, whilst Ponce is simply a prospect at the beginning of the game. If Dzeko gets injured this is the hardest spot to fill; El Shaarawy would be your best alternative solution.

Notable Out on loan:

Juan Iturbe

Seydou Doumbia

Adem Ljajić

Notalble Youth:

None

Overall assessment:

The Roma team has a great foundation to build upon, with Manolas, Florenzi, Pjanic, Nainggolan, Salah being key, whilst De Rossi and Dzeko offer shorter term options at key positions. On-loan players, Digne and Shaarawy should be regarded as essential purchase whilst Rudiger is a good value option but not essential.

The squad's weakness is its depth - and you will rely on Florenzi's versatility and some older players in Maicon, Keita and Totti more than you would perhaps like. The £9m budget doesn't really allow any substantial acquisitions, and is best left unspent unless you spot a bargain on the market.

2nd in the league is comfortably achievable, but you'll find the lack of depth hurts in cup competitions during the first season.

Summer 2016:

Unfortunately, your first objective will be to ensure you sign El Shaarawy and Digne for a combined £19.5m. They are long-term solutions to two positions, the misfortune comes from the fact they're already in your squad so you'll be spending almost half your budget just to stay still. With aging players in key positions and no goalkeeper, you'll have to be really smart about how you do your business. I recommend selling Strootman (who is incredibly injury prone) for between £15-20m, and the three out-on-loan players (Llaljic, Iturbe and Doumbia) who may fetch a combined £20-25m. That should give you enough money to make some key signings over the summer.

[lukekarts]

What I Did With Roma

In line with my post above, I played the 4-3-3 with Roma, finishing second in the league to Juventus, and going out in the CL group stages (I got Bayern and Real Madrid...). Florenzi was my best performer, whilst Pjanic and Nainggolan formed the best central midfield in Italy as I'd expected.

Going in to the summer, I quickly worked on deals for Digne & El Shaarawy, whilst also making Rudiger's transfer permanent. I also brought in Mammana (DC) from River Plate. This left me around £15m of my £42m budget to make further acquisitions.

Meanwhile, both Totti and Keita decided to retire, and Mancini refused to sign an contract extension.

The phones kept ringing early summer, after I faxed every manager about the availability of Strootman, Llaljic, Iturbe, Castan, Vainqueur, Falque, Perotti Doumbia. Strootman was still valued at £27m, but Bayern's offer of £17.25m was enough for me. The others left for a combined £39m, giving me a £70m budget to buy.... a goalkeeper, a right back, a couple of backup midfielders, a backup striker, and any sort of squad improvements I could find...

Then of course, the phone rang for Dzeko. Arsenal offered £26m for this 30 year old who was taking up 10% of my wage budget. And I caved in. Whoops.

You see, having £100m to spend is nice, but only IF ANY CLUB IN THE ENTIRE GAME WOULD SELL ANYONE TO ME AT A REASONABLE PRICE. But no. I made about 10 offers a day for a month. I fell off my chair in excitement when Inter eventually caved to my £37m offer for Icardi, and I offered him a contract and he was happy. Happy to accept Arsenal's terms over mine, though. Juventus accepted the Morata offer too, but he chose Arsenal. It seems, Arsene Wenger's in-game retirement meant Arsenal spent money, hoarding strikers, ruining my summer. Getting desperate, I signed Lacazette for £34.5m. It seemed way too much, but it was honestly all I could achieve.

It wasn't all bad, though. I signed Bernd Leno for £20m to become my first choice goalkeeper. And my academy produced a young defensive midfielder touted as the next De Rossi, who I dumped straight into the first team squad (fantastic attributes, screenshot coming later...). I also completely forgot about the pre-arranged Gerson acquisition (a versatile AMRLC) and spent £23m on Fabinho, because I really wanted a Brazilian DR whom I could pretend was the new Cafu. I started the season with a somewhat optimistic outlook, considering.

Squad:

GK: Bernd Leno / Skorupski

DR: Fabinho / Torosidis

DC: Rudiger / Mammana

DC: Manolas

DL: Digne

DMC: De Rossi / De Peluso (wonderkid)

MC: Florenzi / Nainggolan

MC: Pjanic

AMR: Salah / Gerson

AML: El Shaarawy

FC: Lacazette / Ponce

Oh and almost a season later, I've had a bid accepted to buy Romagnoli back from Milan...

[annan17]

Hey is that with the latest patch (6.0.3)? Or orginal patch? I wanna know if that custom db works with latest patch... thanks

Yeah latest patch, working great so far. Only annoyance I've found is the match day criteria where you must include a certain amount of u18 and u19 players in both the starting 11 and the match day squad. I'm coping so far though because Parma are way too good for this division!

[Quinby]

Ah k cool.

I started with latest patch dB and holidayed until season two so parma obviously got promoted. Should be fun. Gives me flexibility to release dead wood for nothing.

[annan17]

Ah k cool.

I started with latest patch dB and holidayed until season two so parma obviously got promoted. Should be fun. Gives me flexibility to release dead wood for nothing.

With the reputation Parma have in-game it should be easy making Serie A with back-to-back promotions. I've won every game in Serie D so far, in December now!

[wakesta]

My First Season with A.S Cittadella in Serie C/A

What Players should I buy for next season?

[Trainspotting90]

Do any of you use an expansion file? or can recommend one?

I've just done a google search but can only find links to broken download areas and corrupt files once downloaded off of various sites.

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/449100-FM2016-FUSION-DB-Prima-Categoria-Italiana-(italian-7th-level)

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/454756-FM2016-FMITA-Serie-D-Extended

[Drew the Cookie Eater]

Started a game with Hellas Verona.

Squad is okay, but I only took over as them because of Luca Toni, sold Romulo to Chelsea and brought in Oscar Romero from Racing Club.

In the Under 20's I found a little gem, Mohamed Fares; 19 year old Inside Forward currently has 1 and a half star CA with a 5* PA, looks very promising.

[bestbrother]

Started a game as Bari.

Won promotion in the 1st year as Runners Up to Pescara, pretty comfortable, lost just 8 games and didnt spend any money just added a couple of frees that appeared in my news feed.

In Serie A things were tough. We spent little (upfront, but loaded deals out on promises), ended up with a bunch of foreign journeyman in the squad. First 8 games, 1pt and a -18 goal difference. From there we picked up and in the end somehow survived on the final day by virtue of a better head to head over... Napoli! The fallen Italian giants (still with Hamsik and Insgine) would go down

We did manage a decent Coppa Italia run as well, making the Quarters before losing on Pens to Fiorentina.

A huge rebuild on for season 3, everyone is up for sale and im hoping we can coup a few of Napolis better talent out of Serie B.

[Duckelfsc]

If I have Jhon Arango coming in on the 1st of July 2016 does that count as a first season signing or a second season signing?

Just trying to figure out if I can sign another non-EU player.

[grulli]

Found this forum (and thread) a bit too late (currently I'm in the 2021/2022 season) to detail my whole save so far. But I'm gonna talk about it anyway tho.

Since my grandfather is from Parma (I'm brazilian), wanted to start a save with them, so I holidayed the first season and started my manager in the 16/17 season, as Parma got promoted to Serie C/A.

First thing I realized was that there was no one in the staff, only me and the President!!! With some of the few players contracts running out, I think the main squad had something like 12, 13 players. First took care of the staff, then I brought around 10 players on free transfer and another 10 on loan (starting lineup was mostly of loaned in players). Since the big clubs want their youth players to gain experience they tend to loan them, and that was enough for a competitive squad for serie C/A. Ended up losing in the first round of the Serie C Cup, but with 23 wins, 10 draws and only one loss, I won serie C/A.

Second season still had a very, very, small budget, so more of the same formula, free transfers and loans. The loaned in players being the bulk of my starting lineup. Managed to loan in Marcus Rashford, was the leading goalscorer for me that season. I also lost in the first round of the Italian Cup this season, and also won the league and a promotion. The beggining of the season was bit rough, but by the end of the first third of the season was on the top of the table and managed to win the Serie B with a huge margin (104 points to Chievo's 85).

Third season was the toughest one, adjusting to life in the big leagues, finally had some money, around 20M Euros to work with in terms of transfers, which of course I screwed up at the time and spend it all in a GK (Udinese's Alex Meret). Couldn't renew Rashford's loan, so loaned in Adnan Januzaj, Edoardo Degl'Innocenti, Patrick Roberts and a couple of other players, mixed with a couple free transfers as well since i burned my money on Meret. Couldn't make it to the round of 16 in the Italian Cup, but at least I advanced in the first round. Finnished 5th and earned an Europa League ticket lol

Something I started to do was to develop the youth and training facilities aswell as expand the stadium since I was playing a continetal tournament. With even more money (and no dumb moves) I assembled a pretty good team, with the likes of Stefano Sturaro, Marcus Rashford (yeah, Im a fan, but he didnt developed well in my save :/), Sergi Roberto, DeAndre Yedlin, Kyriakos Papadopoulos, Cristiano Biraghi. Both my cup runs ended in the quarter finals and in dramatic fashion as I was eliminated in the penalties in both Italian Cup (AC Milan) and Europa League (Atletico Madrid). Finished 4th in the Serie A and earned a playoff spot for the UCL, which of course I lost and ended up playing the Europa League.

Bought a few good players at the start of the season, Gabriel Jesus, Bernardeschi, Sheyi Ojo, and also bought Cameron Borthwick-Jackson and Ante Coric (highly overrated in terms of transfer value) in the winter transfer window. Lost to Sampdoria on penalties in the round of 16 of the Italian Cup, and lost to Everton in the quarter finals of EL. Managed to finish the season in 3rd (finally, UCLs group stage!!!). Also, notice that since arriving in Serie A, I'm slowly improving (5th, 4th, 3rd...) it will only take another couple seasons before bringing in the "scudetto"... Also this season, got offered a jog to manage the England National Team, which I accepted, but Im not enjoying it.

This season I bought Callum Gribbin, Christopher Lenz, Andreas Pereira and Mario Gotze (on a free transfer, go figure. But had to sell my soul out to make room for his wage demand), Derlis Aguero (young GK from Boca Junior, dunno if he's a regen or a youth squad member), and a couple other players. My group stage on the champions league was Mancehster City, Paris Saint Germain and Steaua Bucuresti. Somehow I managed to fninsh first, with Man City 2nd. Its currently March 2022 and I lost the first game of the round of 16 to Galatasaray on the road, hoping to turn thing aroung on the 2nd leg and I won the 1st leg against Roma 2-0 in the semi finals of the Italian Cup, playing at home. With 12 games to go on Serie A, I'm 4 points behind Juventus and 8 points ahead AC Milan. Been playing in a 4-1-2-3 DM WIDE since the beggining. I conceed a lot of goals, but I also score a lot. Wish I could be better defensively.

Some thoughts on my save:

- I find it very, very, difficult to develop young players from my own youth academy. My squad is fairly young, but I bring players in when they are in their early 20s. So far only one player came out of the U18s with a good enough PA to make it in the first team (a GK). The rest of the U18s and U20s are mostly one or two stars and in my honest opinion, I have some pretty good staff on those areas, and the reputation level is good enough, still impossible to develop someone I'll really use as a regular in my fisrt team. Juve, Milan, Roma, Napoli, Atalanta... they get the good prospects lol

- I also have a thing where my retrospect against Sassuolo is very bad. Doesnt matter where they are, they always beat me. For instanse, Juventus lost to AC Milan, odd enough I faced Sassuolo, a win would put me one point ahead, but Sturaro got a red card and I lost 2-1... Not sure the rivalries rotate when they are not regional ones, but Parma x Sassuolo is becoming one hell of a match.

- Managed to beat Juventus for the first time this season! In the Italian Cup, which is even more impressive.

- I'm managing England also. Which is cool, qualified for the WC. But I dont like to manage both a club and a national team. Too much to do, thinking about calling it quits on England after the WC (if I dont dont get fired for bad results lol)

I'll post screenshots of my squad etc later

Hope my huge post was good for you guys to read =D

[bogg81]

Started new save with Juve, and I'm in a need of an advice. 

 

I wanted to play 2 striker formation, given quality of the strikerforce, I was thinking about 3-5-2 (with WBs) or 4-3-1-2 (3 MCs and AMC). I was leaning towards second option, however Juve's squad lacks quality AMC. In the meantime, Tottenham made bid to Sassuolo for D. Berardi, so I activated buy back clause and signed player myself, in order not to lose him in the long run. Now, I have the problem because I have 5 quality strikers in my team (Dybala, Mandžukić, Morata, Zaza and Berardi), and 4 of them are recent signings, meaning I'll hardly sell any of them, and I don't want to sell Morata either.

 

On the other hand, I've pretty much spend my whole transfer budget and I can't afford new AMC that I still lack, so I'm limited to R. Pereyra and Hernanes. I was looking through Berardi's stats, and seems to me that he could developed into AMC and used as shadow striker, or maybe even trequartista.

 

My question is has anyone tried to use Berardi as AMC? Additionally, has anyone managed to successfully utilize shadow striker in 4-3-1-2 formation, and could it be possible to pull it off with Juve?

 

Thanks

[Marsupian]

Both Berardi and Dybala can make a great AMC. From my experience players don't really suffer much from playing outside of their natural position and I tend to retrain players fairly often and playing them in big games when they are still unfamiliar with a position.

[forzalazio87]

My proudest moment has to be when I won Serie a with lazio in my second season. It got to the last day and Juventus had tied the day before. I needed to beat Palermo and ended up winning the game 3-1 as Stefano Mauri and Miroslav Klose played their last games before I signed them as coaches. Candreva was player of the year of course, he has done wonderfully for me in the 4 years so far. Keita has been fantastic as well as Parolo and Cataldi. Niklas Sule and Stefan De Vrij have formed a great partnership with Mammana as a backup. I also managed to have Isco for a few years before i sold him for 85 million to Barca. So far my 3 and 4th years havent found the same success as that second, mainly because Juve have gotten so good.. The best part is I have never lost to Roma and they have been languishing lower table for all 4 years

[2calvin]

The race for Europe. 7 Feb first season

[2calvin]

4 games later, 10 to go!

And my transfers