[FM17] Maldini's Milan, Rebuilding the Rossoneiri - Stream Save

[VikingDan]

Its been a while since Milan sat atop the league in Italy.

Once a dominant side, both domestically, and in European competition. AC are now resigned to battling over the upper mid table places in Italy's Serie A.

They have gone for one of their own, a player who spend half of his life playing for, captaining, and leading the Rossoneri to huge achievement.

Paolo Cesare Maldini has just been named the Manager of his beloved hometown club, and he has his sights set on returning them to the top of the food chain.

[VikingDan]

So, we're almost up until Christmas in the save, and its going VERY well.

The tactic i have gone for is aiming to me reminiscent of the late 90's/early 00's 'Christmas Tree' formation. We have a lof of the right players already at the club, and really wanted to bring back the flair of the old AC Milan.



 

Attacking in intent, the forward players press up high, with the defence staying solid at the back. Good freedom and support up front from the midfield, with Montolivo playing the 'Pirlo Role', not ideal, but doing a decent job.

I didnt do a huge amount of transfer business, but will admit that i let Luiz Adriano go for too little, he's right behind bacca in the scoring stakes. The reason was the wage budget was very inflated and i couldnt justify having 2 strikers on £90k+ p/w. I did try to bring in Belotti as cover, and the future number 1, but he went to PSG for less money... go figure!

With a league record of 14-3-1, our only defeat coming to a brilliant free kick from a Genoa side that defended in huge numbers, we found them difficult to break down. A similar story with Torino in a 0-0 draw.

Consistency is something we are looking to find, always looking solid in defence, but we fluctuate from being incisive and clinical in front of goal, to being impotent. More work is needed, or perhaps just slightly more suitable personnel.

All in all, loving the save, and hopefully we can complete out aim of champions league football next year, and winning the Serie A, and Champions league titles within 5 years.

If you'd like to see how the save progresses, you can see this on twitch.tv/VikingDan, Weekdays from 7pmGMT.

If you have any questions, Fire away!

Thanks for stopping by,
VKD

[Keano16]

Very good start so far, your defence is keeping clean sheets and the attack is firing. Any positions you know you want to improve on?

[WeegieFM]

Good start so far! Love the look of a Milan save this year. The team already has so much potential and with the right signings could be a real force. Like the classic throw back formation aswell!

[VikingDan]

On 2/24/2017 at 23:45, Keano16 said:

Very good start so far, your defence is keeping clean sheets and the attack is firing. Any positions you know you want to improve on?

CM/DLP is one im looking at really. Montolivo is doing a decent job, but i think its a very important position, and he's not quite up to it. I have Locatelli and the long term prospect for there, but would like a more specialised, experienced player to sit in there. Also, i think we can do better at LB.

On 2/25/2017 at 04:02, WeegieFM said:

Good start so far! Love the look of a Milan save this year. The team already has so much potential and with the right signings could be a real force. Like the classic throw back formation aswell!

I'm loving the tactic so far, lets hope we can keep the form up over the season.

[SpillBlood]

Good to see you on the forums .  I enjoy the stream. 

Do us one favour and see how Emil Audero turns out for me.  He turned into such a quality 'keeper in my Rotherham save but obviously you have Donnarumma ^_^.

[Adonalsium]

Very entertaining!

If you're looking for a great striker, Islam Slimani in Sporting is (from my experience) a fabulous goal-scorer. Guy is a natural finisher. And would probably be available for around the ballpark of €15M.

[VikingDan]

22 hours ago, SpillBlood said:

Good to see you on the forums .  I enjoy the stream. 

Do us one favour and see how Emil Audero turns out for me.  He turned into such a quality 'keeper in my Rotherham save but obviously you have Donnarumma ^_^.

Thanks for the kind words Spill, online tonight ;-)

19 hours ago, Adonalsium said:

Very entertaining!

If you're looking for a great striker, Islam Slimani in Sporting is (from my experience) a fabulous goal-scorer. Guy is a natural finisher. And would probably be available for around the ballpark of €15M.

Slimani? I'll take a look, i may have to invest in a new striker if the many suitors for Bacca make a bid...

[Adonalsium]

He is a target-man with fabulous Finishing (somewhere around 16-18 in my saves) and very solid physicals. He isn't as explosive as Bacca when it comes to speed IIRC, but he's definitely not a Giroud either.

[VikingDan]

5 hours ago, Adonalsium said:

He is a target-man with fabulous Finishing (somewhere around 16-18 in my saves) and very solid physicals. He isn't as explosive as Bacca when it comes to speed IIRC, but he's definitely not a Giroud either.

Unfortunately, he's already at Leicester.

[VikingDan]

So, we got to the end of January and managed to keep hold of the goal machine that is Bacca, just! He's not too happy about it, and if he still wants to leave at the end of the season, so be it. We did clear out some dead wood though, whilst bringing in some support up front in Andrea Belotti, and the midfield experience of Michael Carrick for an absolute bargain.

Belotti offers another option if Bacca isnt at the races, and also a long term replacement for him. Carrick has come in to play the 'Pirlo Role', as Montolivo wasnt cutting it, and Locatelli is just too young to start there every game. Carrick is tutoring Locatelli though. Both players are welcome additions to a side that are challenging for the Serie A crown!

 

Our form COULD have been better, but the winter break came just in time. We lost to Juve' in the supercoppa, but made up for it in the league, allowing us to keep in touch with them at the top of the table. Some really rouch results against teams we should really be beating, but just not able to break down their 7-9 at the back formations... aah, Italy!

 

I have tweaked the tactic a little, the BBM role has been switched to a BWN/S role, to help cover the gap left by De Sciglio surging forward. And is also probably a bit more true to the role Gattusso played in the tactic i am trying to recreate.

I will be uploading the tactic on the workshop once the season is over, to allow for tweaks and such.

So far in the season, here are some telling stats. Despite being the 5th highest spenders on player wages, and the lowest transfer spend in the league (£20m profit) we are playing some great attacking, and defensive football, with a lot of youth players being given time, and playing some really accurate, expressive football! Big shout out to Gabriel Paletta, who started the season due to injuries, but has been an absolute rock at the back for me. With 3 young and players in Donnarumma, Romagnoli, and De Sciglio, his experience has been invualuable. With that, he is currently the best performing player in the league!

  

I'm enjoying this save a ton, much more than i expected! We certainly are on track to bring some glory back to the Rossoneiri.

If you'd like to see how this save progresses, you can tune in on twitch.tv/VikingDan from 7pm GMT, weekdays.

Cheers for dropping in,
VKD

[Adonalsium]

I would suggest a Lower game tempo with a Control / Counter mentality if you want to 100% emulate Maldini's formation. Since I remember his style of play was about a slow build-up from deep via Pirlo (Carrick), and then in the attacking third the playmaking was controlled by the advanced playmaker, Saponara in your case.

[VikingDan]

15 hours ago, Adonalsium said:

I would suggest a Lower game tempo with a Control / Counter mentality if you want to 100% emulate Maldini's formation. Since I remember his style of play was about a slow build-up from deep via Pirlo (Carrick), and then in the attacking third the playmaking was controlled by the advanced playmaker, Saponara in your case.

I'll try training that, we've hit a rough patch in form recently and a tweak might do us good.

[VikingDan]

The first season is over, we will be recapping and doing preseason this evening on stream.

It'd be great to see some of you drop by.

[VikingDan]

So, we got to the end of the season huffing and puffing. At the start of the season, we were expected to finish in the European places, and we did! The real sore point is that we finished outside the Champions League places, and a couple of stupid results re the ones that cost us. Oh well!

As you can see, a rough 1-2 loss to Lazio cost us in the end, the real sore point? One of our best performing players, Antonelli, was the reason. A poor backpass header went through to our ex player, Luiz Adriano for the equalising goal. Also, a chaotic game that was down to 10 v10 after 30 minutes against Fiorentina eventually cost us the Champions league spot. But in all, too many poor draws cost us, something that we cannot afford next year!

We also managed to get to the Italian cup final, losing 1-0 there. A particularly sore point (non keyfabe now) as the game glitched out after half time, and wouldn't let me make any substitutions or tactical changes. Even without being able to do that, we had a goal (wrongly) disallowed!!

Here's the squad, and the tactic we ended the season on, looking to take a bit more control in the midfield, whilst emulating Anceotti's Christmas Tree formation, saw us finish strongly, if not prolifically. Stand out performers for the season were Bacca and Saponara. Di appointment, was Bacca! After Chelsea wanted to sign him in January (and I said no) he completely downed tools! He will be gone in the summer!

 

Saponara though, Played 37 games, scored 12, assisted 5, and had 39 key passes. A very good signing for 15m, and a key member of the squad for next season. Shout outs also to Paletta, De Sciglio, and Romagnolli who were the top 3 performers in the league, as well as Donnarumma finishing only 1 clean sheet behind the legendary (and soon to be retired) Gianluiggi Buffon. Is this a sign of the torch being passed?

 

All in all, a successful season, even if we did fall at the last couple of hurdles. The board are happy and, hopefully, we can continue next year by strengthening the squad throughout. FORZA MILAN!

Im really enjoying this save, and hopefully, with a good preseason, we can really push for the title next year!

Thanks for checking in,
VKD

[VikingDan]

We've got to the start of preseason, and oh, what an eventful one!

First off, I want to thank everyone for the interest in the save and the stream. I really means a lot. We spent a good 4 hours today, scouting, wheeling, dealing, and getting things tied down.

We'll start off with the main squad overview. As you can see, we've done a lot of business. Both bringing in promising youth, experienced class, and a lot of quality!

You can see some well known names there! Robben, Rossi, Jefferson, and... of yeah PIRLO IS HOME!

I wanted to bring in some good experience and quality to not only be able to make a difference on game day, but also tutor the future stars and lend their experience to what will hopefully be, a title charge!

And what did we play for this mezze platter of class? Only a cool £2m in total. Picking up Rossi and Robben on a free, with Jefferson and Pirlo £1m each.

We have Jefferson tutoring Buffon's heir Donnarumma, Robben showing Lincoln the ropes as loose cannon attacking force, Rossi showing Isak where the back of the net is, and Pirlo giving Locatelli the tips that will show him control the Milan midfield for the next 15 years!

 

 

Very excited about both the experience, and the youth in this squad, im really hoping that Marco benassi can play that Ambrosini role well. Sitting in the midfield, being solid defensively, but also being the spare man in attack if needed. He certainly has the attributes to allow for that, and at only 22, plenty of time to grow into the role! Further up the field, Robbens long time relacement, Lincoln, shows amazing promise. He will be coming on as and when able, and playing against lesser teams and in the cup. I really feel like this kid can turn into the Kaka of this decade if given the opportunity.

We did also strengthen with Alex Telles at LB, and Mandragora who can cover in cm/dm/cb with a lot of promise too. We have ended up making a 22m profit on transfers this year, even if we did get a bit less from a few transfers than we would have liked!

  

Here is the new tacticwe are working on, incredibly similar (save individual instructions) to what was happening last year. This is designed to get the most out of Porlo/Carrick/Locatelli in the Regista role. Whilst keeping our defensive structure and attacking freedom. The SS (Kaka role) is a roaming one, to hopefully both score goals and assist more, that hopefully Robben and Lincoln will fulfill!

We have also dropped some of that cash on improving the training and youth facilities, as well as the youth recruitment network and spending more on the youth training. Hopefully ensuring the production of Milanese talent into the future! Our finances are looking great, and do have a lot of funds available should we need to bring in reinforcements in January. The only place we are looking a little thin is CB, at the moment, hopefully our talented youth can step up!

We have also invested a lot into the backroom staff, boasting the best training and medical team in Italy, we are also putting major work into our scouting and recruitment!

  

Im very happy with our transfer dealing and our backroom appointments. The new season promises to be entertaining!

Make sure you join me, weekdays from 7pm GMT on Twitch, to see how the save progresses.

Thanks for checking in,
VKD

[Marbah]

good read so far

 

a bit sad that I missed the stream so far, definitely gonna tune in this weekend.

[Zane Sherratt]

Hey Dan nice recap from the Stream given me a idea for a my forum post resize images yes good idea

[VikingDan]

Small update before the season starts. We have brought in Edoardo Goldaniga, I wasnt quite ready to thrust Matteo Gabbia into first team action, he is still only 17. Goldaniga offers a solid option with the opportunity for him to improve nicely and build a solid partnership with Romagnoli. At 14m straight up, i think this was a very solid option.

 

 

We have also moved out a few more players. Operating on an 8m profit on transfers, the bank account is looking healthy and still have a bit of money should we need reinforcements in January!

Bit of sad news, Pirlo has decided he is retiring in November. Hopefully i can convince him to stay on til at least the end of the season!

No streams until Wednesday as I'm away, but we will be kicking the season on Weds 8th March.

[Adonalsium]

I'm still amazed that you managed to capture Robben! And even more amazed that you got the one and only... spoilers... FYLTHI...

[VikingDan]

Pre January window update.

We had a good preseason with the newer tactic with a 5-2-1 record. A nice mix of middle reputation and tough teams to not only get fitness, but put our players through their paces. Feeling pretty happy with how things are looking going into our second season in Serie A.

Our season started off pretty well. We found ourselves at the end of December in the top 4. Only 4 points off leaders Sassuolo (crazy, i know) with a record of 12-4-3. We have the best goal difference in the league, both leading the scoring with 35 goals scored, and only 9 conceded.

  

We also finished top of our Europa league group winning 5 and losing 1 (which was our youth players). Things are set up really well for the second half of the season, if we keep outscoring our opponents, we will win more than we lose!

[VikingDan]

January was eventful! We started off by tweaking our tactic a little bit. I wasnt happy with our buildup play, and were finding it hard to break down the more defensive sides. So we dropped the defensive line a little bit, and play in a slower, more direct style. We sit deep and hold onto the ball, Then try to break quickly with balls into the channels or out to our fullbacks to get the ball into the box in 2 or 3 moves. Perfect for how I want us to play, and helps draw the more stubborn defences up to hit them with our pace and decision making!

We have also done a bit of transfer business, as you can see!

 

We have let Gustavo Gomez go, he was complaining about not getting much first team football. He was a decent player for us, but never going to get in the team ahead of Romagnoli and Goladniga. We managed to negotiate the fee up to a possible 15.75m from Southampton, and let him go. Kucka was a bit more tough, not a massive fee, but he was on a decent wage, and has spent most of the last 2 seasons on the treatment table. Finally, the loans of Bertolacci and Bertolacci. They were both taking first team chances from our promising youth prospects, and taking a decent wage whilst they were at it. There are 5+10m future fees for them, so hopefully, we will see a bit of a cash windfall coming in at the end of the season. So that's 4 gone, but who came in?

First up, Francis Coquelin. Listed by Arsenal for 15.5m whilst valued at 20m. He's the true ball winning midfielder i was looking for at the start of the season. In the prime of his career, with a great engine and brilliant defensive attributes. He is the perfect foil for Pirlo's free moving, deep lying playmaking as the Regista. Came in for 65k, a pay cut from what he was on at Arsenal, very good player. Unfortunately, he picked up an injury in training, and has only recently started playing games. I['m sure he will be a fantastic signing going forward, though.

Secondly, the man, the legend, Fylthi Gylfi. I love Gylfi in Football manager, and always find myself picking him up at somepoint in most saves. Excellent mental, technical, and physical attributes for an attacking midfielder. He can score and create, and with his high work rate, puts the effort in closing down up front, as well as dropping back to defend really well. Roll this in to the fact he was listed for £21.5m, and would settle for a 50k p/w contract, and how can i say no? The perfect replacement for Robben over the next couple of years, but also can play alongside Sarponara and Lincoln. Him and Belotti are almost always guarantee'd to start up front as long as they're fit.

Also, a special mention for Pirlo, who at 38 is having an amazing season, anchoring the midfield and spraying passes in behind for out fullbacks and forwards to get on to. He has been a revelation. Not to mention he is the perfect captain, leading on the field, as well as helping to settle off the field issues. We're really going to miss him next year!

  

With the two new additions, the new tactic, and the youth being promoted. Our form has been nothing short of imperious. We sit atop of the league after 30 games. 8 games to go, with a 4 point lead. We are also into the Europa league quarter finals, we could possibly do a European double in our second season!

We have a couple of tough games in the league to come, but its all in our hands. With the goal scoring of Belotti and the stringency of our defence, hopefully we can lift at least one piece of major silverware this season!

 

As always, the support on stream has been amazing, so thanks to you that have been checking it out. If not, drop in one evening to see how the season unfolds!

I'll be live every week day, from 7pm GMT, it would be great to see some of you drop by

Thanks for checking in,
VKD
twitch.tv/VikingDan

[Zane Sherratt]

Good update Dan I am glad to see you setting up the AC Milan Retirement Program  

But Pretty sure this need a update have you not finished this season now??