The Italian Job! Italian league thread is here!

[phoenixemperor]

Well I was expecting to do well but...

 

[Mikal]

3 hours ago, phoenixemperor said:

Well I was expecting to do well but...

43 league goals! How did you play him?

[Mikal]

Last update

Last update was at the end of September '19 and I've now finished the season.

Serie A

An awesome season for us saw us push from 7th place last season to title challengers this season. Juventus did drop some points toward the end to make it look closer than it was, but they wrapped the league up comfortably. There were a few ropy moments where I thought we were going to get caught by the chasing pack, but we ended the season with an unbeaten run of 13 games, 12 of those wins.

Europa League

Winners! A mix of fortune and domination saw us progress through the tournament and pick up a good 2-1 win over Gelsenkirchen Schalke in the final. I thought it was going to be an all Italian final vs. Juventus, but Schalke picked up a 4-0 win in the second leg! From the above, you can see the tightest affair was against City with two 2-2 results (we threw away a 2-0 lead in the second leg) and a penalty shootout to secure our route to the semi's. Simeone keeping up his fantastic record of missing penalties. 

Player Stats

Chiesa is absolutely amazing. Extremely happy with that return, 27 goals and 14 assists in all comps is spectacular (we'll ignore the most yellows across the team as well!). We penned him down to a new 5 year deal and his current value is £63m, so it's going to take a lot to prize him away now. Benassi coming in strong with the passing % which is exactly what you want from your main man in midfield.

Here's all the team stats sorted by appearances. Stand out performers for me were Lafont, Sensei (bought for £9m), Palacios (what a steal at £12m), Mauro Junior (heavy rotation but really impressed when played) and Biraghi (who you won't see in the above because at this point I had *spoiler alert* sold him - but very consistent player).

I couldn't get a striker to nail the position down full-time, between Arp and Simeone they rotated based on who was in form, with Arp coming heavily out of form at the end of the season allowing Simeone to take all the limelight in the final stages of the season. 

Tactic

On my last post I had a 3-4-1-2 on the go, but after a couple of months I changed to the above, mostly because I simply couldn't get my two strikers scoring consistently, so I decided on only having one and we performed excellently with this tactic, albeit some of the weaker teams were hard to break down. It's how I'll be going into next season as well, but I may look at a 4-2-3-1 against the weaker opponents to see if it helps in breaking them down.

Transfers

A few faces have already left us:

As much as I liked Biraghi, there's no way I'm turning down that sort of money for him. A shame to see him go, but I was looking to replace anyway. Ramiro was good for us but wanted a new deal, and at 27 I didn't think he was worth the expense, so to receive up to £36.5m for a player we purchased for £1.2m is an impossible sum to turn down. Saponara also makes way, he was never going to get into the squad and was best to get him off the books.

That does leave us almost empty in the full back positions with Kevin Diks as our only RB and Kevin Rodrigues and Hancko at LB. I don't think any of these players are good enough so full backs are priority for us this window. So by position here's what I'm looking to do:

GK - Lafont #1, but need to bring in back up keeper as my last backup fodder has just retired

RB - need a first choice. Diks to play backup

LB - need a first choice. Rodrigues backup

CB - Sensei and Pezzella will remain first choice. Magnani and Tonelli (free from Napoli) will be backup

DM - Ivan Sunjic first choice. Murgia as backup

MCL - Benassi first choice. Veretout as backup (if he stays). Mauro Junior and Murgia can also fill in here. May look to strengthen this position

MCR - Palacios first choice. Same backups as above, may look to strengthen for depth

AMR - Chiesa first choice of course. Mauro Junior can play back up, but may look for a natural winger as back up

AML - Olmo first choice, but currently out injured again for 3 months - his second major injury in quick succession. Mina or Mauro Junior can play there, have also promoted Koffi to first team as backup. 

AMC (if played) - Olmo, Junior, Murgia, Mina can all play there

ST - Arp or Simeone for first choice. I just don't know who. I may also keep Vlahovic in the first team squad this season unless a good loan opportunity comes around (first teamer in a top league).

Current transfer budget (with the sales above): £117m

Wage budget remaining: £141k p/w

[phoenixemperor]

7 hours ago, Mikal said:

43 league goals! How did you play him?

Complete Forward (Attack) since I found Mandzukic wasn't doing very much as Pressing Forward and moved him out to his wide target man role at AML instead.

[jonathan44]

Those stats for Ronny are insane, he's scored ~20 in the first two seasons for AI Juventus.

Transfers for Palermo before the first game of the season (vs Juve :()

Nothing major, no money to buy a better CB than I have, I tried to sign Ross McCrorie and Jasper van der Werff but I simply don't have enough. Both Samper and Chochev recieved offers leading me to splash out on Tonali, but Samper rejected the contract and the offers for Chochev were far too low for one of my team leaders who is very happy to stay. I really needed more depth at RW so brought in Mboula from PSG who's now out for 3 months. The other 3 loanees have optional purchases written into the agreement. De Stefano has been brought up from U20's after a loan spell at Sampdoria and looks a real prospect:

Here's Santoro (new vice captain) and Da Graca who I hope will really come into their own this year:

 

[Mikal]

Last update

Transfer window has closed, here's how we got on.

Made a £14m profit and I think we've definitely improved the squad.

Here's a few of the main incoming players:

Antonio Barreca - our new first choice left back. I tried to sign him last season but didn't happen, this time I'm very happy to bring him in. Looks class and is Italian to boot

Aaron Martin - when I was looking for a left back, and in the process of bidding for Barreca, I came across this guy who looks tremendous. For £13.5m I thought he was worth the gamble to bring in. I'm going to try and convert him to a right back as an inverted wing back. As I haven't signed any natural right backs, this could be a risk but one I'm willing to take to get him and Barreca in the same team.

Roberto Gagliardini - transfer listed at £7m, and wanting a bit more depth at CM I thought this was a great deal. He looks very good and could push for a first team spot. Another Italian added to the squad.

Nicolo Zaniolo - he is a young Milinkovic-Savic (comparison in spoiler). He looks so good. Brought in on deadline day for £17m which I know is going to be a steal. He will be in the first team before too long. Bagged two goals in our first game of the season after coming on as a sub; not a bad introduction. Also only noticed after he signed that he came through at Fiorentina, so a nice homecoming!

[Ranquelme]

Trying to choose between Roma and Napoli for my first save at the moment. Any recommendations?

[Lufcberg22]

Im just starting with Roma, Spent big this summer and brought in some great young talent to build on. Looking forward to it

[represor]

On 26/12/2018 at 10:08, phoenixemperor said:

Well I was expecting to do well but...

 

 i lost 2 games from the first 10 played against chievo and cagliari (ranked 18 and 16 in serie A) after games dominated with 65% possesion and both games, I had over 30 shots and over 15 on goal while they finished with 1 shot on goal and won 1-0.

Same crap that happens since FM08.

 

also I noted that Ronaldo scored 13 goals in first 8 games and 12 goals were head shots and 1 was from penalty. At the end of first half of the season over 90% of my goals are head shots ... and they say FM19 is realistic or a football simulator ... yeah sure.

[bangkonggedek]

2 hours ago, represor said:

also I noted that Ronaldo scored 13 goals in first 8 games and 12 goals were head shots and 1 was from penalty. At the end of first half of the season over 90% of my goals are head shots ... and they say FM19 is realistic or a football simulator ... yeah sure.

Weird. My striking partner for Sampdoria barely ever scores from headers, perhaps only about 3-4 headed goals each per season. And they both scored a lot of goals.

The one thing of note that feels quite off about the match engine this year for me instead is how easy it seems to score from long range shots, compared to the previous editions.

[sgevolker]

Hi Everybody,

my first save in Italy and my first post in this tread. Let me introduce myself first. My Name is Volker, I'm German and I'm a Fan and season ticket holder of Eintracht Frankfurt. After 30 years we won the German Cup in Sommer for the fifth time and play a remembering Euro League Group phase. We've got a lot of promising Players in our actual squad like Ante Rebic or Luka Jovic. I really enjoy at the moment watching this team. 

I play FM since 2013 and I choose every year a new country for my long term save. So this year it is Italy and I really like this save. I choose Brescia Calcio as my team, the only reason for that was that I like to play with a second  tier team for my long term save. There was no other reason it's just coincidence. As usually when I play I get connected to the team and with surprise I saw a lot of prominent names in the club history like Pep Gardiola, Andrea Pirlo or Roberto Baggio. 

My goals for this save are:

• Reach Serie A in the first three years
• Establish Brescia in Serie A in the first seven years
• Win a title in the first ten years
• Improve youth development and build a squad with only Italien players

In the lasst years before the start Brescia didn't perform well, so I didn't expect too much at the beginning.

Surprising we did very good in the first season, after half time we were at place two and at the end of the season we reached place 6

and failed in the playoffs against Salemitana.

 

This is the squad at the end of the season. The greatest talent is Sandro Tonali, I didn't expect that he is playing

very long in Brescia, but I will try to keep him as long as possible.

In season two we manage to finish first and get promoted to Serie A

Season three let's us finish at place seven, but luckily we were able to play in Europe because 

of the cup win from Juve.

In Season four we managed to finished at place five, shortly after a Champions League place.

So again we can play in Europe.

Most of the time I play with a 4-1-2-2-1 wide with possession oriented football.

Actual I'm in season five now. This is how my squad looks today.

Tonali is at Bayern Munich, but I've got a view other promising young players which I was able to develop.

I managed to increase the youth development and the training ground. Also the board is thinking about building a new stadium. 

So I really like this save and I hope that I can make Brescia to an Italien top team which is able to win a title and got a lot of Italian players in the squad.

At last I would like to apologize for my english writing. As you know from the beginning I'm not a native english speaker.

I hope you enjoy reading, I think I will post an update from time to time about this save.

Cheers

Volker

 

[bangkonggedek]

Welcome aboard, fellow SGE fan

Are these custom regen faces, by the way? Looks quite nice. Where can I get it?

7 hours ago, sgevolker said:

 

 

 

[sgevolker]

Hi,

they look really nice. Some of them are for free.

https://twitter.com/wtforkgaming

https://www.mediafire.com/file/konb3xx3ru2s1x9/WTFG+Image+Pack.zip

https://www.mediafire.com/file/6p85djn9aj2a6qu/WTFG+Pack+2.zip

Regards

Volker

[represor]

Realistic game ... yeah right.

this is in first season and I used my first squad that is dominating in serie a and UCL ... but when AI decides that you must lose then you will lose no matter what and in whaever manner.

 

for me the game has the same ******** crap engine since 2006, absolutely no change, always the AI scores on first shot, only the AI can win games having a single shot all game, I always hit the post at least 6-7 times a game ... yeah, indeed realistic game ... simulator they say.

what the hell is this game simulating ? the total imbecility of a programmer that prolly didn't graduate highschool?

[saosinfan4]

Yeah, this has nothing to do with reality. The team lost 7-0 and the losing manager did not make any tactical changes during the match.

Edited December 29, 2018 by saosinfan4

[bangkonggedek]

18 hours ago, represor said:

Realistic game ... yeah right.

this is in first season and I used my first squad that is dominating in serie a and UCL ... but when AI decides that you must lose then you will lose no matter what and in whaever manner.

 

for me the game has the same ******** crap engine since 2006, absolutely no change, always the AI scores on first shot, only the AI can win games having a single shot all game, I always hit the post at least 6-7 times a game ... yeah, indeed realistic game ... simulator they say.

what the hell is this game simulating ? the total imbecility of a programmer that prolly didn't graduate highschool?

You find the game's engine has been consistently crap and unrealistic since 2006 (or was it since FM08 like in your earlier post?) yet you still stick with it up to this year's edition? That's pretty damn impressive.

[represor]

13 minutes ago, bangkonggedek said:

You find the game's engine has been consistently crap and unrealistic since 2006 (or was it since FM08 like in your earlier post?) yet you still stick with it up to this year's edition? That's pretty damn impressive.

if you don't try it, how can you know if it's good or bad ?

I don't stick with it, I play when and if I have time ... I understand that it's just a game and we, as players, will always be able to exploit the game engine one way or another ... I do not understand all the praise for the game being a real football simulator ... or maybe the people praising tried football only on PC games and on TV.

 

PS: I think I started playing this game in 2004 or 2005, I can't remember exactly but I'm sure it was those years, I see my account here was made in 2007 so I'm not messing up too much for sure.

Edited December 30, 2018 by represor

[saosinfan4]

I won the Serie A in February. 

[CRN711]

Le 23/12/2018 à 18:03, CRN711 a dit :

That was tight... Thanks Dortmund!

A few games later...

It was quite an unbelievable game after the 2-1 defeat in the first leg. So we're in UCL Final against Man. City !

[bangkonggedek]

16 hours ago, represor said:

if you don't try it, how can you know if it's good or bad ?

I don't stick with it, I play when and if I have time ... I understand that it's just a game and we, as players, will always be able to exploit the game engine one way or another ... I do not understand all the praise for the game being a real football simulator ... or maybe the people praising tried football only on PC games and on TV.

 

PS: I think I started playing this game in 2004 or 2005, I can't remember exactly but I'm sure it was those years, I see my account here was made in 2007 so I'm not messing up too much for sure.

The game's engine has never been perfect at any point of its iterations for sure, but has it ever occurred to you that pretty much no one else here have it as extreme as you made it out in your earlier posts?

[jonathan44]

Third year of trying, I have finally made it past the 1st round of the Italian cup! Napoli, Juventus and Napoli...

This may not seem a big deal, but I'd actually like to play more than a game a week.

Edit: Also welcome my new supreme overlords:

Edited January 5, 2019 by jonathan44

[JaytheGreat]

1st Season with Juventus and we dominated Italy winning Serie A by 12 points and winning the Italian Cup and the Italian Super Cup. Not only that but we sent a new club record in goals scored in a single league season with 107. We won the the Champions League by beating Man Utd 3-2 in the round of 16, beating Barcelona 6-3 in the Quarter Finals, followed by beating Man City 7-4 including beating them 6-0 nothing at home, and finally beating Liverpool in the finals 3-2 with Juan Cuadrado scoring the game winner in the 108th minute. 

I didn't bring in anybody this season but sold Benatia to Man Utd in the winter window for 45 mil, he wasn't going to get much time here and getting 45 mil for him is a steal. Also Brazgali is leaving on a free to China in the summer. Ronaldo lead the team in scoring 34 goals in 39 games, he moved around from the Right wing up to the striker position after Mandzukic got hurt for awhile. He lead Serie A with 21 and was 2nd in the Champions League with 10. Started Dybala as a CAM playing as an attacking playmaker while he started red hot he started to cool off and didn't return to form until I changed his role to the attacking midfielder role, also he can not play as a solo striker. Costa, Caudrado both played very well in rotation, Bernardeschi will be special if he can stay healthy and Moise Kean had a great year for being just 19 and only getting a handful of starts. In the midfield Pjanic unsurprisingly had a great year spraying passes, while Bentacur lead the team in passing completion percentage, he and Khedira actually worked really well at keeping possession. Can had a good 1st season as he battled injuries and red cards but it was really Matuidi who shined in his box to box role along side Pjanic. Not much to say about they defense and GKs they made up a very solid defense that a 7 game shutout streak from mid January to mid February, and only conceded 22 goals in Serie A. 

Forza Juve

Edited January 10, 2019 by JaytheGreat

[Gungner]

Has anyone gone Palermo? Was thinking of starting a save with them...

If anyone has a save going, then what's the first thing that needs looking at?

[Ant26587]

Man, Ronaldo took a while to heat up only scoring 4, 3 of which were pens into December. But just scored 11 in 3.

[dothestrand]

46 minutes ago, Gungner said:

Has anyone gone Palermo? Was thinking of starting a save with them...

If anyone has a save going, then what's the first thing that needs looking at?

I haven't started a save with them but they're usually my go-to side in Italy. I think the squad should be good enough to get promoted without needing many changes. You should have some great young players though.

[ChelseaJr]

Time to take Torino back to the top of the city. Everybody hates Juve

[jonathan44]

1 hour ago, Gungner said:

Has anyone gone Palermo? Was thinking of starting a save with them...

If anyone has a save going, then what's the first thing that needs looking at?

Check a few of my posts throughout this thread, just got to march in my 3rd season with them.

 

First season is pretty easy, lacking wide options but otherwise a good squad great defenders and some top quality CM's. If you get promoted and serie A is ok, but be prepared to get hammered by the top 4-5 teams, they're just too good.

[FMbeginner]

Is anyone playing with Sassuolo? I got bored of my Roma save and fancied a different save in Serie A. In the first season I finished 9th with 53 points, which I was very happy with, although I crashed out the TIM cup early on.

My transfer budget was nicely cushioned by the outgoings of Alfred Duncan for 19mil and Politano for 15mil as well as various other players for a few million here and there. I was able to sign the following players:

Zlatan Sehovic 500k, Tonali 9mil, Graca 725k, Lovro Majer 5.25m, Plizzari 10.75m, Nahitan Nandez 9mil as well as loan deal for Arana (2 years) and Orsolini

I also have Marcos Senesi for 9.25m joining in January. 

The second season has been bit of a struggle with the team not scoring many goals. 

 

[BadAss88]

9 hours ago, Gungner said:

Has anyone gone Palermo? Was thinking of starting a save with them...

If anyone has a save going, then what's the first thing that needs looking at?

Literally two posts above you there's someone posting about Palermo!

Mamma de mia! Pippa de poppedie!

[dothestrand]

Right....I'm starting a game with Palermo, taking over at the end of the first season (they were promoted). Now to sell all the non-Italian players!

[bangkonggedek]

28 minutes ago, dothestrand said:

Right....I'm starting a game with Palermo, taking over at the end of the first season (they were promoted). Now to sell all the non-Italian players!

I like your style

 

[jonathan44]

6 hours ago, dothestrand said:

Right....I'm starting a game with Palermo, taking over at the end of the first season (they were promoted). Now to sell all the non-Italian players!

Good luck with that, I found most of the players in the squad to be unsellable!

[dothestrand]

57 minutes ago, jonathan44 said:

Good luck with that, I found most of the players in the squad to be unsellable!

Had to sell them cheap, doesn't matter what their value is. The club is in financial trouble as it is; way over the wage budget, not much in the way of a transfer budget, and not much of a percentage of transfer revenue generated. Thank God for the young players!

[jonathan44]

49 minutes ago, dothestrand said:

Had to sell them cheap, doesn't matter what their value is. The club is in financial trouble as it is; way over the wage budget, not much in the way of a transfer budget, and not much of a percentage of transfer revenue generated. Thank God for the young players!

Yea, the budget was tiny in the second season, but I got lucky with teams actually wanting to sign Balogh and Murawski, both have barely played since the move... Most of my strengthenign were loans from the premier league, but always found other Italian clubs (and therefore Italian players) wanted alot more £££ per month for a poorer loanee.

What a game... First trophy on FM19, 2 nil down so I went all out for it in the first half!

[dothestrand]

First season back up, we finished 12th, comfortably clear of relegation. The second half of the season was more productive than the first.

As we shipped out the non-Italian players, we saved a lot on wages but didn't generate much in transfer funds as the board was only willing to give us around 30% of what was generated.

Viviani, Longo, Di Chiara and Del Fabro were good signings though and will continue in the first team in the next season. Valzania was great as a loan signing and wouldn't sign for us on a Bosman as he wasn't sure about out Serie A status - then signed for Perugia. who're mid table in Serie B!

We have this guy coming from Lazio on a free in the Summer; he can play across the forward line - Longo is likely to be first choice still. We have another 13m and around 60k in wages left, so hopefully we have some room for manoeuvre.

Is De Graca top quality in other games too? I think I'll loan him another season, this kid is dynamite! 

Edited January 13, 2019 by dothestrand

[dothestrand]

8m on a relegation release clause fee!

 

[jonathan44]

I brought De Graca into the first team at the end of the second season, this is him at the end of the 3rd. He's displaced Cannavo who couldn't keep injury free (still a good play though) and Puscas who played amazing for the first half of the season to then self implode after requesting a new contract, I'm selling him this summer. He's good enough for the first team 20/21, so if you do loan him out I'd include a recall clause just incase.

 

[jonathan44]

20/21 End of Season Review

I've already spoke about my summer window but January was a busy window. After a number of disapointing windows, I finally found a CB who would improve the team and want to join me in Lenglet! He was a major improvement on both Mbemba and Szyminski, I had hoped that Mbemba would receive a bid with 3-4 teams interested, but in the end Szyminski left which I'm still not overly happy with. He was alot cheaper than Mbemba and never complained. Due to a downturn in form and 3 injuries to Xadas, I moved from 4-2-3-1 to 4-1-2-2-1 and therefore had an extra space in midfield so was on the lookout when Sergio Gomez was listed for Dortmund. With my scouts quoting a 91 rating, I moved quickly to bring him on loan with the option to buy for 6 million which I exercised a week later. Brignoli agreed a contract with West Ham so I let him leave, fairly disruptive chap if he doesn't play so Rajkovic came in.

#

League wise I did ok, top scorers with the 6th leakiest defence suggests my issue. Jordan Lukaku was not improvement at lb and struggled for fitness. Diego Dalot who I've had on loan for 30 months will go back to Man U this summer and with Rispoli getting on, I'm on the lookout for a whole new set of fullbacks.

21 million to spend, 20k in the wage budget. I've had to give a number of players new contracts to remove/increase their minimun fee release clauses, as most players have taken a step down to join me they insist on low-ish clauses, so it's gonna be a tight summer. Main focus will be RB and LB, major improvements required.

[El Pibe]

Parma it is! What a satisfyng save!

Just finnished the first season and we managed a 5th place in the Serie A, just above Udinese and Lazio. Roma took the title, Napoli, juventus and Inter followed.
The begining was dificult but and was looking like a relegation battle but a series of nice results and very few losses took us to the top half and a good season brought us to the 5th.

I've used an assymetric 4231:

Sepe (Frattali)

Iacaponi (Gazzola) - B. Alves (Sierralta) - Bissek (Bastoni) - Dimarco (Gagliolo)

----------- Stulac (Krichhoff)

Gnoukouri (Deiola) --------------------

Ciciretti (Gervinho) - Xadas (Cuenca / Gaudino) - Di Gaudio (Da Cruz)

Inglese (Kean)

This system started as a 4231DM but ended up this way as the team evolved to a more ambicous football. For the big teams I would drop Gnoukouri to the defensive midfield, going back to the initial plan.
I also used a 41221 (mostly pre-season), but then I got Xadas...


Mentality:

So as an underdog, I set up a thight block between the defensive and pressing lines. I moved up and down the block according to the opposition and the mentality was set on positive/attacking. I started with the tiki-taka preset and changed the passing style to normal, speed to normal and the tackle mode to assassin.
In some games where I would drop the defensive line, the passing style would be more direct to allow the counter and make up for the distance of the block to the goal.

Market:

Out with: Biabiany, Baraye, Rigoni, Siligardi, Scozzarella, Munari, Dezi (He would stay, but didn't convince me)
In: Gnoukouri, Xadas, Krichhoff, Pelayo Morilla, Bissek, Cuenca.

I am just entering the shopping season with alot to do, these loans seem impossible to keep so the plan is to fill these positions with young prospects and hope for the best, I haven't seen how much the board will give me this window, but without a cash injection and with Europa League to play, this 5th, seems hard to repeat.

P.S: This is my first post, please forgive any rules broken or bad english.
And the manager could only be GOD, Armando!!!!!

Foto Credits go to Suara at www.suara-store.com

[JohanCruyff#14]

9 months into my Italian career save, tried something different this time and started off unemployed to see what jobs came up, bided my time until January 2019 and eventually took over at Genoa, with them hovering one place above the relegation zone. Managed to finish the season in 11th, and including wins over Lazio and Milan. 4 games into the 19/20 season and 2 wins and 2 defeats after 4 games

[jonathan44]

All summer a few teams have been trying to unsettle him, he agreed to only leave for his release clause but its now the end of the Italian window and is wanted by 10 teams, all of which have a higher reputation than me. I have no idea why the Italian window is so short compared to the rest of europe. All being well they'll run out of time, but these are my other transfers:

Puscas and Cataldi are the major outgoings, Lucera didn't make any appearances last season so he's out on loan for some game time. In: Mercado, Galbignani, Valencia and Suarez are all regens and due to the 'foreign' player rules, the later two have gone strait out on loan. Galbignani is the best young Italian rb I could find, he's good enough to play in serie A as backup to Lazaro who joins on loan (cheap one aswell, paying 30% (20k) of his wages).

Gunn joins to provide competition to my other 2 GK's. No clear no1 but my other two have had teams interested and I don't particulary like either of them. My big two signings were Firpo who will be first choice lb, he's still got room to improve which is good as well. I had previously tried to sign Alberto Moreno and Toni Lato, the former only wanted to move back to Spain, and latter who didn't want to leave due to signing a new contract with Seattle.

Embolo joins and is my second highest payed player at 57k, I needed both a reserve rw and a striker so I'm fairly happy with his price.

I originally went for Vietto but he went to AC Milan, Josh Simms but he went Watford and Rhian Brewster who just didn't want to join me at all. Been another frustating summer transfer window.

[Carefree_Since_1905]

Playing as Fiorentina and hoping for some advice on a transfer bid received at the end of season 1 / just before pre-season season 2.

Chelsea originally bid £100m (80 up front, 20 over the next 3 years) for Chiesa. I re-negotiated and they pulled out. I managed to keep Chiesa happy by  telling him he was an important influence in the dressing room.

Chelsea have now bid again which is £106m up front and £39m over 3 years so a total of £145m. Would you accept? He is homegrown and my vice-captain so really in two minds. The money would be really useful for the whole squad as i lost some important players when their loans ended (Pjaca, Fernandes).

[mrw072]

I decided to start a game off in Serie B as Venezia.  I thought they would be a good team to manage, with the potential to become established in Serie A after a few seasons if we achieved promotion.  I had a great start to the season and won my first few games but after that just couldn't find a win from anywhere.  Plenty of draws though.  Towards the end of my first season I was given an ultimatum by the board that I needed 9 points from 5 games or i'd be sacked.  Anyway the inevitable happened and I got 8 points from 5 games, so was looking for a new job.

I thought i'd try and get another job in Italy so continued my game and applied for every Italian managers job that became available.  I had a few interviews, but most of the time got nowhere.  Then by chance Verona who were two thirds of the way down Serie B ended up hiring me.  I thought that was a step up really, because they appeared to be greatly under achieving.  So felt quite lucky to get the job.  The only reason I thought that might have been because was that I was very complimentary about them when I managed Venezia, during a press conference.  Although that may just be a coincidence.

Anyway, finacially they're struggling, but they appear to have some really good players for Serie B, and i've managed to gel them into a team that's top of the table with about 10 games to go.  So fingers crossed I could be taking them into Serie A.  My only worry is that most of my players are wanted by other teams and I don't have the finances to sort out any new contracts at the moment.

My aim now is to take Verona up into Serie A and hopefully stay up, so I can build the team up a bit.  Or pray for a tycoon taking over.

[jonathan44]

On 22/01/2019 at 12:37, Carefree_Since_1905 said:

Playing as Fiorentina and hoping for some advice on a transfer bid received at the end of season 1 / just before pre-season season 2.

Chelsea originally bid £100m (80 up front, 20 over the next 3 years) for Chiesa. I re-negotiated and they pulled out. I managed to keep Chiesa happy by  telling him he was an important influence in the dressing room.

Chelsea have now bid again which is £106m up front and £39m over 3 years so a total of £145m. Would you accept? He is homegrown and my vice-captain so really in two minds. The money would be really useful for the whole squad as i lost some important players when their loans ended (Pjaca, Fernandes).

If he's submitted a transfer request and unhappy, that money is far better used elsewhere, especially as RW/LW is (IMHO) the easiest position to find replacements in (I swear half the players in the game are RW or LW). I find once a player is unhappy it's very difficult to come back from it.

 

If you feel that he's your capitain and irreplaceable though reject it and deal with the concequences.

[Gungner]

Started as AC Milan, and Chelsea quickly comes along with a £36 million offer for Suso. I reject and he becomes unhappy, and won't even be reasoned with.

But that is nowhere near the offer I would consider accepting for him... But is it just me, or can you no longer give a reason for why you reject an offer?

Edited January 25, 2019 by Gungner

[FMbeginner]

Just starting my 4th season as Sassuolo and I have qualified for Champions League!! I finished 5th in the league, but Juventus were thrown out for financial reasons. I'm hoping to push for the top 4 more convincingly this season as well as challenging for the TIM Cup and the Europa League if I happen to drop into it from the Champions League. I had a takeover just before the summer and they have limited my transfer budget, so I've had to sell in order to buy.

My current squad is young and has plenty of potential:

GK: Plizzari, Consigli

RB: Lirola, Adjapong

CB: Magnani, Senesi, Luperto, Pongracic

LB: Saracchi, Regen

CM: Locatelli, Melegoni, Tonali, Nandez,

CAM: Lovo Majer, 

LW/RW: Berardi, Orsolini, Brignola, Kenedy

ST: Odgaard, Da Graca

 

On the way out is Locatelli, who will finance my move for Barella and maybe Gravenberch too. I'm also looking at another striker, either Jovic on a free or a loan deal for Andrea Favilli. I had Lacazette on loan last season who did quite well, but I can't seem to replace this quality for this season so far...

Any inputs about my squad, please let me know. Always open to suggestions and to see if anyone else is playing with Sassuolo.

[AndySummers]

I'll try and keep this relatively short, as I find posting images on here a real chore. For my opening FM19 save I wanted a club not in the top division, not rich, but with an able youth setup. So Brescia Calcio it was.

I identified five players that I wanted to develop as priority; Sandro Tonali, Mattia Viviani, Guilio Magri, Matteo Cortesi and Brijan Ibrahimi. Tactically, I set up with a primary 442, a secondary 433 and a 2341 as the option (credit @VinceLombardi as the progenitor of this, it was a shape that interested me). With a mid-table finish expected, 2018-19 started slowly as the squad began to familiarise my demands. Midtable after the first half-dozen games, we then moved steadily upwards and began to play the kind of football I aimed for, eventually losing out to Pescara in as close a title race as you could imagine. With funds low, Luca Tremolada was the only signing of note. Player of the season, Felipe Curcio with 16 assists from left back.

Cue 2019-20 and an expectancy to avoid relegation from Serie A. Personally, I was aiming higher - top 10, but uncertain how the squad quality would hold up in a very competitive league and hedging my bets. With low funds, I had spent little over the summer; improving the defensive situation with star GK Alberto Brignoli and stiffening the defence with Bogdan Tiru, and bringing in the versatile youngster Mads Roerslev. A strong start put the squad on the front foot from the off, although a couple of beatings by Inter and Juventus caused me to rejig the 442 to the version shown.  It made a significant difference and the season developed better than hoped and the side developed a reputation as big-game stuffers; clean sheets away to Napoli, both Milans and Fiorentina the highlight. Tough to beat, we were in the European places all season and in an almighty battle for 4th, before eventually settling for 5th. And that suits me fine; the adage 'don't run before you can walk'. Champions League participation would have been too much at this stage. I am aiming for Europe again next season, no more.

Curcio again won player of the season, although Leonardo Morosini was my pick. Cortesi was the surprise package; he has come full-circle in my estimation. From touted star, he had a torrid end to the promotion campaign and opening to Serie A, before bursting into life and finishing as club topscorer on 14. He is now firmly the no.1 striker. Viviani has gained plenty of game-time, and although Curcio has been a standout, I have given Magri a lot of games at leftback too. Ibrahimi has had little impact to date.

A highlight of the debut Serie A campaign was the accounts. With a tiny wage budget, we made approximately £1.7m per month even with a small ground. That steady improvement enabled me to bring in a marquee signing in January, Antonino La Gumina, and allowed a reasonable summer budget of £8m. Although things have since escalated rapidly as PSG activated Tonali's release clause in a £22m deal. Viviani - almost a carbon copy of Tonali - will step into the breach, and if I can go into the new season with the rest of the squad intact I will be happy. I had targeted BPD and IW(a) as my key areas to improve; I had already agreed a deal for the lightning-quick youth Mohamed Daramy to fill the versatile left wing/forward position and had brought in Luca Valzania in CM, which leaves me not much worse off with Tonali's departure. BPD has proven trickier; I am very strict on maintaining a gentle growth to the wage bill - with a small ground I can't afford not to be - and have scoured Europe and most of my preferred options are out of reach. PSG pipped me to Leo Santos, Jerome Onguene has a cruciate injury, Jules Kounde too expensive in salary, Mavropanos unavailable. The best Italian prospects, Varnier, Romagna and Luperto, are not viable. Looking towards a cheap deal for Matej Chalus; not fully ideal, but has a big value growth potential.

Moving into 2020-21, tactics will again get a shake-up. The 442 is so flexible that it is my constant preference. I loved the 433 asymmetric on FM18, but it hasn't had the same resonance on this version and I will ditch it. The 2341 moves up as the second tactic and I am working on something experimental for the option; potentially a tactic that incorporates as many as four IWBs. That one is for pre-season...

Tactics

Player Development

2018-19 transfers

2019-20 transfers

2020-21 transfers (ongoing)

Edited January 28, 2019 by AndySummers

[VinceLombardi]

7 minutes ago, AndySummers said:

2341 moves up as the second tactic

Glad it made the cut.

You want stupid fun, try the Singleback. 1-4-4-1. It's surprisingly decent in defense, despite only having 1 CB, provided the opposing team only has 1 striker.

I'll be interested in your new tactic with the IWBs. You should drop me a mention again when you break it out. Always looking for ideas.

[jonathan44]

@AndySummersReal shame about that Tonali release clause, but Viviani looks an absolute star replacement. Tonali is my captain and star of the show in season 4 (2021/22) for Palermo. He's upto £20 million value with a £60 million clause in his contract which probably isn't enough as I'm top two. I've just lost Xadas on loan to Juventus with a guaranteed £30 mill at the end of the loan. I usually try my upmost best to sell out of Italy but the max offer I could get was 13 million (which was his value) and with his contract up at the end of next season, Juve was the best option

 

2 games after losing Xadas, I had this absolute cracker of a game. I haven't rated Embolo massively since joining but that was sensational.

[AndySummers]

1 hour ago, jonathan44 said:

@AndySummersReal shame about that Tonali release clause, but Viviani looks an absolute star replacement.

I was in a bit of a bind with that one. The DoF had implemented a £7.5m release clause, which I then had to upgrade further into the season. I could potentially have removed it altogether, but was running so tight on wages I couldn't reasonable afford to overpay Tonali's salary and instead decided to leave it in. Overall, it is too low, but all things considered £22m goes a long way at Brescia.

As it goes, Viviani had beaten Tonali to the main youth awards too.