The Italian Job! Italian league thread is here!

[Raymond85]

5 ore fa, luka_ ha scritto:

My #1 priority in the summer is Nicolo Barella

Mine is Manuel Lazzari, but by the looks of it Cagliari is going to be relegated, and maybe even Atalanta.... i might be tempted to go on a spending spree if my board feels generous, and if i get some offers for my stars

[D0bi]

Currently nearing the end of my first season with Inter, going very well so far.

 

 https://pasteboard.co/I6EKqSw.png

In Summer I signed Tonali, Maggiore & Viviani to bolster my youth ranks, and sent them all out on loan for the season. Also brought in De Ligt for £22.5M (rising to £32.5M with clauses).  The only main outgoing transfer was Ranocchia to Mainz for £5.5M.

In January, despite only scoring 9 league goals, Icardi was wanted by half of Europe so left for £99M (Release Clause) to Manchester United. I was tempted to see how Lautaro Martinez would step up so hesitated on replacing him. I ended up bringing Ibrahimovic back for £2.3M to see out the rest of the season and help us in Europe. Using the Icardi funds I also purchased Politano outright using the loan clause from Sassuolo.

Juve are unbeaten and look like remaining so, my only three loses have been twice to Juve (2-1 both times) and Bologna. I'm about to face Juve in the Coppa Italia final, so expecting to lose again there.

In Europe we're having our best season since the Treble winning side:

After finishing second in our group behind Barcelona (and ahead of Tottenham and OL - very similar to our group in real life)

 https://pasteboard.co/I6EN6Cm.png

After finishing second we drew PSG, where an Ibra brace at the Parc des Princes was enough to help us through. We then managed to nick a 1-0 at the Nou Camp (Shades of Mourinho) before holding them 0-0 at San Siro to go through. A favourable draw against Benfica gives us an excellent chance at a first Champions League final in just under a decade.

At the end of the season I'm targeting Pellegri from Monaco to boost my attack, as well as bringing in at least one more winger (Potentially Chiesa) and a new RB (If I don't sign Cedric or Vrsaljko following their loanes).

Edited March 22, 2019 by D0bi

[Raymond85]

So this is it, with one match to go in the season we have finished with only one trophy out of four our second round. But it was nonetheless a great season, where we established ourselves as a force in Italy, and understood we could do well in Europe.

 

Despite us doing on par with last season, Milan was unstoppable with Rafa Benitez, never losing points in the final rush. We suffered all the close matches, and a smaller squad depht. We will close Serie A in a great second spot anyway.

Although we had it quite easy, we did a splendid job in Champions League, losing 2-1 in Barcellona, and not managing to score in Udine. We were eliminated with honour.

TIM cup was a huge let down, we were winning 3-1 in the second half of the final, but the team was so tired from the double match with Barcellona and the race for Scudetto with Milan, that we collapsed. Also we had our keeper Scuffet out for injury, and it wasn't the best match for Sepe to have his first cap.

Only joy of the season came from the Supercup, that we won against fiorentina in Abu Dabhi

Squad is developing nicely, at last we are starting to look more "italian" in nationality. It was a fantastic year for Inglese, and Doucouré, but i am happy about every single player on my team. Big guns are starting to sniff on some of my best players, it might be time to cash in something this summer and make upgrades on some roles (mainly defence).

Under 20s won Viareggio, Primavera (league), and under 20 cup. Some of them look ready for the jump into the first squad (Viviani, De Graca and Ibrahimi above all)

Under 18 also are storming their league, some of them will be promoted to under 20 even if underage (Sasso above all).

We also still have 30 players out on loan developing or of little use to the 3 squads. So main objective will be thinning that list during the summer, while strenghtening to make a better challenge in the next season.

On a side note, Cagliari, Atalanta and Genoa were surprise relegations, so i have sent my scouts to sniff out all players i like from them (Barella and Mancini above all).

Edited March 23, 2019 by Raymond85

[Raymond85]

So another transfer window is over, and we shifted quite a lot of dead wood this time too. But it was a summer to consolidate and strenghten, and i think we made the best possible use of all that Champion's League money. Let me show you:

our new right wingback

one of my favourite centerbacks

our new left fullback, came free from Watford with other young talents since they were relegated

mister mini-milinkovic savic, poached from Cagliari who now are in Serie B

a more defensive option as a full back on the right, on loan from spurs

and our two serbian wonderkids who we registered at last from January

 

Here is the summary of ins and outs, in an expensive summer 2020

 

As you can see we loaned out Tonali, i couldn't resist Barella. A midfield of Barella-Mandragora-Fofana-Doucouré is just perfect now. Tonali will be back stronger as soon as the season ends.

Incredibly we held on to all our stars, noone came even knocking on our door. They are all more interested in our youngsters.

Since the team quality is growing, i'm going to experiment with some more positive possetion oriented tactic, steering away from our hoofball. But if i'm not satisfied, i'll go back to that, it's still in my 3 tactics. But i'd like to play some sexier football this year

I'm very happy to see that the squad is turning more and more italian, we shall see if we can hold on to everyone during this third season and at the end of it.

[Raymond85]

Gamechanger incoming......

 

[Carlf788]

How much was doucoure?!

[ParanoidBuddha]

Guys, I am the biggest noob of this game then I need some suggestions because I want to focus well in my new career and try to get some good result in the longterm (yes, even with Juve I need time. I am not good like you all  ).

The mentoring...
Then, is it useful just to change the player personality or does it have a direct impact on attributes too?
I read that even PPM can be transfered like this and there is a problem, I wanted to create a group with Ronaldo/Mandzukic + Kean and that's amazing but I don't want he acquires Mandzukic's PPM! What do you think?

[Raymond85]

1 ora fa, Carlf788 ha scritto:

How much was doucoure?!

I got him for free for the agreement between Udinese and Watford, who can freely move players. Watford also got relegated, so it made everything easier. Wages are huge though

 

10 minuti fa, ParanoidBuddha ha scritto:

Guys, I am the biggest noob of this game then I need some suggestions because I want to focus well in my new career and try to get some good result in the longterm (yes, even with Juve I need time. I am not good like you all  ).

The mentoring...
Then, is it useful just to change the player personality or does it have a direct impact on attributes too?
I read that even PPM can be transfered like this and there is a problem, I wanted to create a group with Ronaldo/Mandzukic + Kean and that's amazing but I don't want he acquires Mandzukic's PPM! What do you think?

Yep, there is a chance that they could transfer. You have to risk it. It influences personality, determination and PPMs. Only it's a very slow process

Edited March 25, 2019 by Raymond85

[ParanoidBuddha]

11 minuti fa, Raymond85 ha scritto:

Yep, there is a chance that they could transfer. You have to risk it. It influences personality, determination and PPMs. Only it's a very slow process

Would be such a pity if he becomes a Mandzukic kind of player.. not because I don't like the croatian but Kean has completely different charateristics.



Then these are the players:





And this would be the group:




The fact that Ronaldo has a bigger estimated influence means that Kean has more probabilities to get PPM from him than from Mandzukic? I really don't want he acquires the ''argue with officials'' for example.
And is possible that the young player loses his PPM?

Edited March 25, 2019 by ParanoidBuddha

[Raymond85]

 

3 minuti fa, ParanoidBuddha ha scritto:

Would be such a pity if he becomes a Mandzukic kind of player.. not because I don't like the croatian but Kean has completely different charateristics.



Then these are the players:





And this would be the group:




The fact that Ronaldo has a bigger estimated influence means that Kean has more probabilities to get PPM from him than from Mandzukic? I really don't want he acquires the ''argue with officials'' for example.
And is possible that the young player loses his PPM?

 

These two threads should answer everything

 

 

 

[ParanoidBuddha]

@Raymond85 li ho letti ma grazie mille comunque!

I think I'll take the risk  

[Raymond85]

31 minuti fa, ParanoidBuddha ha scritto:

@Raymond85 li ho letti ma grazie mille comunque!

I think I'll take the risk  

Figurati! Anche io farei lo stesso.

Nice to meet a fellow italian

[Raymond85]

My highest moment untill now, fielding 9/11 italian players

[zlatanera]

@ParanoidBuddha Ideally you'd have another less influential player in with Kean and Ronaldo, and use Mandzukic to mentor someone else. I guess as Juve you don't have many youngsters though, and certainly not ones who'd want Ronaldo's ppms. 

[ParanoidBuddha]

4 ore fa, zlatanera ha scritto:

@ParanoidBuddha Ideally you'd have another less influential player in with Kean and Ronaldo, and use Mandzukic to mentor someone else. I guess as Juve you don't have many youngsters though, and certainly not ones who'd want Ronaldo's ppms. 

Like that is there not the risk that Ronaldo influences Kean less? And why ''not ones who'd want Ronaldo's ppms''? I agree though that not many have a good potential, specially in my save that seems to be really unlucky (all youth players seem to have got low potential and the random attributes are all low or unbalanced  ). 
At least Kean seems good though 

Edited March 25, 2019 by ParanoidBuddha

[zlatanera]

1 hour ago, ParanoidBuddha said:

Like that is there not the risk that Ronaldo influences Kean less? And why ''not ones who'd want Ronaldo's ppms''? I agree though that not many have a good potential, specially in my save that seems to be really unlucky (all youth players seem to have got low potential and the random attributes are all low or unbalanced  ). 
At least Kean seems good though 

Well the ideal mentoring group is probably one influencer (i.e. Ronaldo) and two players being influenced (i.e. Kean and someone else). That way you wouldn't have the risk of picking up Mandzukic's ppms. 

[Raymond85]

So it's been a great start to the season, especially in Champion's League, where we manage to batter both Madrid and Dortmund. Inglese is still shining, but the whole squad is really contributing.

The other italian teams are working hard too, and there is a lot of competition for the Scudetto this year. All new players have been easing quite a bit into my squad.

 

Let's start the half season transfer market, where we will start buying youngsters to develop, as my first team looks quite fine. Although, the big guns are starting to sniff seriously around my best players, i have a couple of "wnt" starting to float

[KF1990]

All this talk of Serie A being too easy for a surprise team winning it is bewildering to me. I've just finished my 6th season with Brescia and had my best finish with them and that's a 7th place. Such a competitive league, the title has also been changing hands between Juve, AC Milan and Napoli.

[SwedenYid]

I'm playing as AS Roma on a save that I created just for fun, or so it started at least. Currently sitting first in the league in February and we look unstoppable at times. But seriously, how good is Zaniolo and Lorenzo Pellegrini really?! They have been immense for me. Scoring screamers every other week and Nzonzi/Cristante can't even get near them. Honorable shout to Florenzi as well who's also been fantastic. I really like this squad  

[Raymond85]

A very quiet transfer window. PSG were sniffing Doucouré, but probabily went with someone else, since they didn't make one single offer.

Inter were offering for Mandragora and Scuffet, laughable offers that we rejected. Only move was bringing back Mertens for peanuts, after his loan last year (his contract was running up), so he can mentor my young strikers and see out the rest of the season, as he adapts better than Petagna (7.25 mln€ to Sassuolo) to our new tactics. The rest of the transfers are young 5 star potential 15 to 18 year olds that my scouts found, and i made space for them loaning out our ready for first squad youngsters.

 

Edited March 26, 2019 by Raymond85

[oze07]

4 hours ago, SwedenYid said:

I'm playing as AS Roma on a save that I created just for fun, or so it started at least. Currently sitting first in the league in February and we look unstoppable at times. But seriously, how good is Zaniolo and Lorenzo Pellegrini really?! They have been immense for me. Scoring screamers every other week and Nzonzi/Cristante can't even get near them. Honorable shout to Florenzi as well who's also been fantastic. I really like this squad  

im tempted with a roma save. what formation you using? any good signings? id love a midfield of zaniolo,pellegrini and barella.

[zlatanera]

On 23/03/2019 at 23:15, Raymond85 said:

So another transfer window is over, and we shifted quite a lot of dead wood this time too. But it was a summer to consolidate and strenghten, and i think we made the best possible use of all that Champion's League money. Let me show you:

our new right wingback

one of my favourite centerbacks

our new left fullback, came free from Watford with other young talents since they were relegated

mister mini-milinkovic savic, poached from Cagliari who now are in Serie B

a more defensive option as a full back on the right, on loan from spurs

Managing Roma and those are probably 4 of my top targets to have by the start of 2nd season (I need two RBs as I plan to move Florenzi forwards, he's wasted at right back unless you use him like Dani Alves under Pep. 

Anyone else managing Roma, what are the finances like in terms of transfer budget, percentage of transfer revenue? I'm not hopeful looking at those debts. 

[Raymond85]

12 minuti fa, zlatanera ha scritto:

Managing Roma and those are probably 4 of my top targets to have by the start of 2nd season (I need two RBs as I plan to move Florenzi forwards, he's wasted at right back unless you use him like Dani Alves under Pep. 

Anyone else managing Roma, what are the finances like in terms of transfer budget, percentage of transfer revenue? I'm not hopeful looking at those debts. 

I think three of those italians are a must for every save in Italy, almost the best you can get for their roles. I was lucky Atalanta and Cagliari got relegated second season.

 

 

Soon i will post end of third season update. It has been spectacular untill now. But i'm afraid it will suffer a problem i have had on FM18 too. Too much success straight away, and reputation fails to catch up, meaning not much interest in my star players by big teams. But at the same time, it's too high for medium teams to bid. So i can't shift my stars to make space for my young prospects who are starting to be ready for the first team. And if that happens this season too, it means game over for this save.

[zlatanera]

10 minutes ago, Raymond85 said:

I think three of those italians are a must for every save in Italy, almost the best you can get for their roles. I was lucky Atalanta and Cagliari got relegated second season.

Soon i will post end of third season update. It has been spectacular untill now. But i'm afraid it will suffer a problem i have had on FM18 too. Too much success straight away, and reputation fails to catch up, meaning not much interest in my star players by big teams. But at the same time, it's too high for medium teams to bid. So i can't shift my stars to make space for my young prospects who are starting to be ready for the first team. And if that happens this season too, it means game over for this save.

Yeah, I've been partial to Davide Calabria from Milan as a RB for at least the last 4 FMs, Lazzari looks really good this year though. 

Really? I've never seen that happen, I usually get the opposite problem when I overachieve - struggling to hold onto players. Maybe if a bunch of them get international call-ups and perform well that will boost interest. 

Edited March 27, 2019 by zlatanera

[Raymond85]

6 minuti fa, zlatanera ha scritto:

Yeah, I've been partial to Davide Calabria from Milan as a RB for at least the last 4 FMs, Lazzari looks really good this year though. 

Really? I've never seen that happen, I usually get the opposite problem when I overachieve - struggling to hold onto players. Maybe if a bunch of them get international call-ups and perform well that will boost interest. 

not much to be honest. It's been like this in the past 2 fm's for Udinese. I am doing great and my players are worth up to 62 mln € now, and nothing much, just some sniffing around then interest fades.

[zlatanera]

30 minutes ago, Raymond85 said:

not much to be honest. It's been like this in the past 2 fm's for Udinese. I am doing great and my players are worth up to 62 mln € now, and nothing much, just some sniffing around then interest fades.

Weird. Sometimes I get that with one or two players...although I guess I normally play with someone like Fiorentina, Real Sociedad sort of level of fame which is a bit higher than Udinese. 

That's an outstanding squad btw, I can't get those two Serbs as I didn't load their league (my computer doesn't have much power). Looking at Elneny for the Half Back in my Overload 433 though, in case I can't get Benassi from Fiorentina. 

[Raymond85]

37 minuti fa, zlatanera ha scritto:

Weird. Sometimes I get that with one or two players...although I guess I normally play with someone like Fiorentina, Real Sociedad sort of level of fame which is a bit higher than Udinese. 

That's an outstanding squad btw, I can't get those two Serbs as I didn't load their league (my computer doesn't have much power). Looking at Elneny for the Half Back in my Overload 433 though, in case I can't get Benassi from Fiorentina. 

He's being doing great as a ball playing defender for me, so he'll be perfect as half back i'm sure. I worked the transfer market hard, they were all bargains when listed, except this last season i've been lucky with relegations, and went in for Barella, Lazzari and Mancini in May, before everyone else

[Raymond85]

The most annoying thing is that i've had 3 consecutive under 20 manager's poached into first team managment jobs. Maybe it's because my youth squads are winning everything

[zlatanera]

2 hours ago, Raymond85 said:

He's being doing great as a ball playing defender for me, so he'll be perfect as half back i'm sure. I worked the transfer market hard, they were all bargains when listed, except this last season i've been lucky with relegations, and went in for Barella, Lazzari and Mancini in May, before everyone else

Yeah that is a great lot to go down, if Cagliari do half-decent Barella ends up at Bayern with Federico Chiesa in January, I find. 

2 hours ago, Raymond85 said:

The most annoying thing is that i've had 3 consecutive under 20 manager's poached into first team managment jobs. Maybe it's because my youth squads are winning everything

Not a risk for me - Roma's youth ranks have about 5 decent options in them, and only 1 of those is over 18. I think my u20s has 4 players total. Its always an issue with an Ajax save though - their B team is a mid-table Eredivisie team in-game, so being unable to be promoted just leads to Jong Ajax managers racking up title wins and suddenly looking a really great option for Eredivisie sides. 

[Raymond85]

5 ore fa, zlatanera ha scritto:

Yeah that is a great lot to go down, if Cagliari do half-decent Barella ends up at Bayern with Federico Chiesa in January, I find. 

Not a risk for me - Roma's youth ranks have about 5 decent options in them, and only 1 of those is over 18. I think my u20s has 4 players total. Its always an issue with an Ajax save though - their B team is a mid-table Eredivisie team in-game, so being unable to be promoted just leads to Jong Ajax managers racking up title wins and suddenly looking a really great option for Eredivisie sides. 

yep, my saves every year are Udinese and Ajax, so i know well what you mean. Btw my original youth squads had only 2-3 great youngsters, the rest i brought in or came through the ranks these 3 years

[Raymond85]

Well, it seems very possible i'll end my save and look for a new challenge. What i thought is happening, no interest in my star players going into the end of June. It's a shame, i'll have to think about an interesting save now.

Was thinking of going Juventus and making an Italians only policy for signings, or Ajax with academy challenge, or Scotland trying to make the league reputation grow

Edited March 28, 2019 by Raymond85

[SwedenYid]

On 26/03/2019 at 20:54, oze07 said:

im tempted with a roma save. what formation you using? any good signings? id love a midfield of zaniolo,pellegrini and barella.

I'm using a 442 formation. I have found out on other saves that this formation is very overpowered after the 19.3 patch but you can play some beautiful football so for me it's all good for now.

The first thing I did was to offer Manolas a new contract since he's having a ridiculous release clause for clubs abroad so I really recommend doing that.

Regarding transfers see the screenshot below starting from van Drongelen and downwards:

Pastore didn't fit in my formation so I had to sell him as he's on huuuge wages. De Rossi and Karsdorp was making a lot of noise after their lack of playing time so I had to ship them out. I'm looking to bring in Luan in the summer window since I need a quality F9 and they do not grow on trees... 

It's an enjoyable save so give it a try. It's been more fun than I first thought!

[oze07]

On 28/03/2019 at 10:29, SwedenYid said:

I'm using a 442 formation. I have found out on other saves that this formation is very overpowered after the 19.3 patch but you can play some beautiful football so for me it's all good for now.

The first thing I did was to offer Manolas a new contract since he's having a ridiculous release clause for clubs abroad so I really recommend doing that.

Regarding transfers see the screenshot below starting from van Drongelen and downwards:

Pastore didn't fit in my formation so I had to sell him as he's on huuuge wages. De Rossi and Karsdorp was making a lot of noise after their lack of playing time so I had to ship them out. I'm looking to bring in Luan in the summer window since I need a quality F9 and they do not grow on trees... 

It's an enjoyable save so give it a try. It's been more fun than I first thought!

442 with roma? where you play under? hows the money situation?

[SwedenYid]

7 hours ago, oze07 said:

442 with roma? where you play under? hows the money situation?

My usual XI is: 
Olsen
Florenzi - Manolas - Meré - Kolarov
Ünder - Pellegrini - Zaniolo - El Shaarawy
Dzeko - Schick

The money situation is okay. Roma have some massive debts so I guess it's not English Premier League level but i's fine. I can't remember how much you start with in your transfer budget though.

[oze07]

10 hours ago, SwedenYid said:

My usual XI is: 
Olsen
Florenzi - Manolas - Meré - Kolarov
Ünder - Pellegrini - Zaniolo - El Shaarawy
Dzeko - Schick

The money situation is okay. Roma have some massive debts so I guess it's not English Premier League level but i's fine. I can't remember how much you start with in your transfer budget though.

oh right. what roles you have for under,zaniolo and pellegrini?

[SwedenYid]

On 30/03/2019 at 12:20, oze07 said:

oh right. what roles you have for under,zaniolo and pellegrini?

We play a narrow 442 so Ünder and El Shaarawy is a WM(a) and Zaniolo and Pellegrini are both BBM. 

[oze07]

Thought about a roma save but they just dont seem right to me. thinking of a napoli save. not sure about tactic. i see they play 442. anyone tried a save with them?

[GunmaN1905]

22 hours ago, oze07 said:

Thought about a roma save but they just dont seem right to me. thinking of a napoli save. not sure about tactic. i see they play 442. anyone tried a save with them?

They play 4-4-2, but in the game the team is much more suited for 4-3-3, imo.

Relatively easy save, they have a very good squad and enough money to bring in a couple of players.

[rafaelbenitez]

Started a save with Fiorentina with the first window disabled. Wage budget was at its maximum and I had Milenkovic, Veretout and Simeone all ask for new contracts. Couldn't offer them ones but they're all only "influential" players and just formed a clique amongst themselves.

My intention was to keep all 3 and luckily I managed to win 6 of my first 7 league games and asked for a new contract with an increase in wage budget. Got an increase of 180k p/w to around 816k p/w. Offered out contracts to the aforementioned three, pretty much gobbling up my new found budget (Milenkovic only 60k, Veretout on 50k and Simeone on 70k). Milenkovic also wanted a release clause, which I managed to negotiate upto 35m. Not too unhappy with this. Don't know how much room in terms of transfer and wage budget I'll have in the summer, so if we secure Champions League football, might be important to sell him to add depth to the squad.

Good start to the league, haven't played any of the traditional bigger ones yet although I won at Sassuolo (who had won their first 5 and were top of the table) and Atalanta. Only loss was a late home defeat by Torino.

In terms of players, my best performer has been Biraghi. Front three have been solid, very impressed by Mirallas who I had to throw into the first team thanks to an injury to Chiesa. Muriel has barely stayed fit but he's behind Simeone anyway who tops my goalscoring charts with Mirallas and Pjaca with 3 goals.

I had hoped to secure Europa League next season but we could be heading for CL football. A little worried as I've gobbled up the wage budget for now and will most likely lose players like Mirallas, Edmilson, Gerson and Pjaca at the end of their loans. Plus, I'm sure Lafont and Chiesa will start pushing for new contracts too. I'm kinda hoping for EL football as that's the logical next step and would allow me to promote some youngsters and allow them to develop with lots of game time. Champions League might just be a step too far although the money and possibly keeping my best players happy might just be worth it.

[MrZollo]

I too started a save with La Viola this week, it's my first FM19 save after spending some years playing FM17. I've disabled the first transfer window and tried to evaluate each player in the squad and see how I expect them to fit into the team. I'm retraining Giovanni Simeone as an inside forward and Vitor Hugo is being retrained as an anchor man. My idea is to play what the game calls a 4-1-4-1DM Wide which is a 4-1-2-3 in my eyes. The front 5 will have license to attack, roam and create whilst the defence, defend. At times, like my first match against Juventus, my idea is to have a solid defensive shape, using a low line of engagement enabling us to encourage the opposition forward ready for us to counter at speed. 

Here's how I see my first choice XI, Marco Benassi looks like the perfect box to box midfielder, with the added 'runs with ball rarely' PPM/trait I'm interested to see how he plays in the matches, so far in friendlies, he's been great. I've never used a Mezzala before but I'm hoping Veretout turns out well there. The front three looks exciting and I expect goals galore! We lack strength in depth so I'm looking forward to scouting a few gems to replace the likes of Dabo and Norgaard, and also the loanees (Gerson, Pjaca, Miralles) when they return. New contracts have been handed out to Federico Chiesa, Marco Benassi and Giovanni Simeone, all of which sign up until 2023. Along with a few others, they will be the core of the team moving forward. 

I've maxed out my staff across all three teams only sacking a few members of the group I tookover. My scouts are set to scour all three leagues in Italy whilst I have a couple of Argentine scouts in Argentina. I want to steer clear from obvious signings that everyone makes such as Tonali. There's a few youngsters from Palermo who interest me at the moment, I'm not sure what budget I'll have in January but look forward to making my mark on the team, I like to focus on certain attributes and personalities to mould the squad to my liking.

That's it for now, I'll report back when I hit January, Forza I Viola!

 

[MrZollo]

7 hours ago, rafaelbenitez said:

Started a save with Fiorentina with the first window disabled. Wage budget was at its maximum and I had Milenkovic, Veretout and Simeone all ask for new contracts. Couldn't offer them ones but they're all only "influential" players and just formed a clique amongst themselves.

My intention was to keep all 3 and luckily I managed to win 6 of my first 7 league games and asked for a new contract with an increase in wage budget. Got an increase of 180k p/w to around 816k p/w. Offered out contracts to the aforementioned three, pretty much gobbling up my new found budget (Milenkovic only 60k, Veretout on 50k and Simeone on 70k). Milenkovic also wanted a release clause, which I managed to negotiate upto 35m. Not too unhappy with this. Don't know how much room in terms of transfer and wage budget I'll have in the summer, so if we secure Champions League football, might be important to sell him to add depth to the squad.

Good start to the league, haven't played any of the traditional bigger ones yet although I won at Sassuolo (who had won their first 5 and were top of the table) and Atalanta. Only loss was a late home defeat by Torino.

In terms of players, my best performer has been Biraghi. Front three have been solid, very impressed by Mirallas who I had to throw into the first team thanks to an injury to Chiesa. Muriel has barely stayed fit but he's behind Simeone anyway who tops my goalscoring charts with Mirallas and Pjaca with 3 goals.

I had hoped to secure Europa League next season but we could be heading for CL football. A little worried as I've gobbled up the wage budget for now and will most likely lose players like Mirallas, Edmilson, Gerson and Pjaca at the end of their loans. Plus, I'm sure Lafont and Chiesa will start pushing for new contracts too. I'm kinda hoping for EL football as that's the logical next step and would allow me to promote some youngsters and allow them to develop with lots of game time. Champions League might just be a step too far although the money and possibly keeping my best players happy might just be worth it.

Sounds like you've had a great start to the season @rafaelbenitez - how have you set the team up?

[rafaelbenitez]

16 hours ago, MrZollo said:

Sounds like you've had a great start to the season @rafaelbenitez - how have you set the team up?

Cheers mate. Good luck with your Viola save too. This is largely my first team and tactics:

Mirallas and Pjaca would be interchangable and I just lost Pezella to injury. Vitor Hugo takes his place for now, he's just returned from injury.

[Chelski Shogun]

So after seven seasons managing in Scotland I felt like starting a new long-term save. After looking at multiple clubs all over the world I finally decided on F.C. Südtirol who are based in the city of Bolzano in the north of Italy. A couple of things drew me towards Südtirol, the first being their facilities. They currently have both great training and youth facilities after the FCS Center (this video showcases the new facilities) was fully completed in 2018. Also I generally don't like starting in the top division of a country and since Südtirol currently compete in Serie C that all but cemented the fact I would be managing them.

Anyway on to the first season. The media predicted us to finish 11th which would leave us just outside the playoff positions. Having looked at the squad and the rest of teams in the division I felt that with some additions and the right tactics we could definitely achieve better than that. Tactically I settled on a 4-4-2 but we needed more depth in certain areas, mainly up top and on the flanks. So into the transfer market I went (just a heads up I always select "Use Fake Players and Staff" so none of the players are recognisable) and I ended up bringing in nine players during the summer transfer window, seven of which were on loan. The cream of the crop being Erik Karlsson who would be our starting left-winger for the season.

With the summer window all done and the season underway we somehow managed to go on a 21 match unbeaten streak (17 wins and 4 draws) in the league which had us sitting comfortably at the top of the table ahead of 2nd placed Pordenone by 16pts with 17 games left to go. Now the winter transfer window was fast approaching and truthfully I had no real intention to add anyone to the squad. But a few things happened that forced me to act. I had been scouting Elia Viola and Daniele Lenzi from Virtus Entella in a bid to bolster my midfield for next season, both of their contracts were due to expire at the end of the season and I was looking at getting them on pre-contracts. However Virtus Entella had different ideas, they decided to terminate both of their contracts just before the winter transfer window opened. I immediately offered them contracts and both of them accepted. Welcome to Südtirol Viola and Lenzi!

Then I noticed a couple of clubs were interested in some of our fringe players who's contracts were expiring, so I decided to cash in. The first to go was our third choice pressing forward Alessio Liberti who joined Portuguese side Nacional da Madeira for a fee of £78k. Soon followed by our backup goalkeeper Gabriele Perrotta who stayed in Italy at Ascoli for a fee of £48k. Finally our fourth choice central defender come full-back Patrizio Bartolucci joined bottom of the league Vis Pesaro for £30k.

So three fringe players gone for a total fee of £156k. But due to the transfers out it meant we needed either a new full-back or central defender. So back into the market I went and I managed to sign Riccardo Zito who was transfer listed by Vicenza for £18k.

As you can see he's a decent backup option who is capable of playing the full-back role either on the right or left side. Anyway skipping forward to the end of the season we managed to stay top and win the league rather easily, scoring 62 goals on the way and conceding a league low of 18 goals against. We suffered our first league defeat away to Sambenedettese, the new signing Zito came on as substitute and gave away a penalty in the 83rd minute which gave Sambenedettese the win. Unfortunately we were knocked out in the fourth qualifying round of the Coppa Italia by the far superior side Torino. Still we did very well only losing 1-0 away and in the grand scheme of things had our strikers been in better form on the day we would've come away with the victory. As for the other two competitions, we got knocked out on penalties in the Coppa Italia di Serie C in the quarter finals by Triestina and we managed to win the Supercoppa di Serie C, beating Juventus' U23s and drawing against Reggina.

With my first season of management finished with Südtirol it's time to turn my eye towards improving the squad and hopefully finances (we're currently in the red at -£383,647 but the wage budget is under control) ahead of our debut season in Serie B. If we want to survive next season looking at the current squad and the fact that some loanees and players are going to be leaving us we're going to need approximately 11 new players, yes that's right... 11 new players. A starting goalkeeper, three central defenders, a right-sided full-back, a better backup right-midfielder, two new left-wingers (Atalanta won't extend Karlsson's loan as they want him to play with better players) and finally three new strikers. It's currently the 1st of June in my save and I've managed to acquire on pre-contracts our new starting pair of central defenders and starting right-sided full-back (thanks again Virtus Entella). Welcome to the club Agnaldo, Gonçalo Magalhães and Marco Moras!

So that's my first post in this thread. Hopefully you enjoyed it, if not sorry for rambling on. I'll probably come back and do a little squad update once I've finished my signings for the new season. Until then.

[Woolly]

Not yet got round to starting my usual Italian save with Cags but that's mainly because I'm very involved with a Salford City save currently. No doubt I will get round to it at some point if only to see if I can get the half decent results I've had in the past.

[MrZollo]

Looks like a nice setup @rafaelbenitez - are you aiming for high possession? Looks like you're system is inspired by @herne79 's recent thread. I have something similar with the addition of a DLP, which I'll deploy against certain lower teams. 

Cracking season @Chelski Shogun - I bet you're glad you steered clear of the promotion playoffs. They seem difficult to get out of in Serie C. I like the look of Agnaldo, good luck with Serie B!

-

For me, things started well. My low defensive block worked wonders against Napoli and Juventus, I'm really satisfied with the counter-attacks we had during the game. Simeone is settling into his new inside-forward role well. Unlike Vitor Hugo who is huffing and puffing about learning his Anchor Man role, despite this he's putting in some great performances, his successful tackles and interceptions are just what I imagined they would be. If it wasn't for Lazio scoring a 94th-minute penalty (given by VAR) we'd have been top of the pile. Being the only unbeaten side left in the division will have to do. 

Edited April 7, 2019 by MrZollo

[themario]

I still can't believe it : )

[rafaelbenitez]

17 hours ago, MrZollo said:

Looks like a nice setup @rafaelbenitez - are you aiming for high possession? Looks like you're system is inspired by @herne79 's recent thread. I have something similar with the addition of a DLP, which I'll deploy against certain lower teams. 

Cracking season @Chelski Shogun - I bet you're glad you steered clear of the promotion playoffs. They seem difficult to get out of in Serie C. I like the look of Agnaldo, good luck with Serie B!

-

For me, things started well. My low defensive block worked wonders against Napoli and Juventus, I'm really satisfied with the counter-attacks we had during the game. Simeone is settling into his new inside-forward role well. Unlike Vitor Hugo who is huffing and puffing about learning his Anchor Man role, despite this he's putting in some great performances, his successful tackles and interceptions are just what I imagined they would be. If it wasn't for Lazio scoring a 94th-minute penalty (given by VAR) we'd have been top of the pile. Being the only unbeaten side left in the division will have to do. 

Yes, mate. It's been my tried and tested variant of the 4-3-3 for the last few versions of FM. I'd managed to average 62% possession in the league by December.

Sadly, I managed to get sacked. I was doing reasonably well. We were 5th, just 3 points off the top, very congested. Unfortunately I'd started the game with Sunday League Rep and Benassi became a team leader and was asking for 100k p/w for his new contract. I couldn't afford it and it just kicked off, he managed to get 9 players to support him and I "lost the dressing room".

Still wanted to play as Viola, so I loaded up a save on the Touch version as I didn't fancy crawling to 6 months and encountering more dynamics related situations. At least in the Touch version I can rule with an iron fist! So far so good, won my first 3 tricky fixtures, away games at Milan and Lazio with Sassuolo at home sandwiched in between.

That's a really good start mate to a tough fixture list. How have you managed your wage budget and have you had many players annoy you with their requests for a new contract?

[MrZollo]

Cheers @rafaelbenitez - sorry to hear about your sacking, hopefully, you can get back on track with the new Touch save. Being new to FM19, I'm really wary of the new Dynamics feature, I've been trying to be nice to everyone! Sometimes I think FM is more morale manager, I've been conscious of this so far and have been praising players match and training performances on a regular basis. This has actually led me to be labelled as Federico Chiesa's favoured personnel, which in light of recent contract negotiations and interest from many European clubs has been favourable for me. That leads me on to your question, new contracts have been handed out to most of my important players, my DoF has handled some of the negotiations while I've also managed a few. I went €100k p/w over my wage budget and my board changed the % of transfer revenue retained down to 55%. When I got to January, I was able to change my expectations and now I have around €3m to spend with €100k p/w in wage budget to use. 

We've had a really good run in the past weeks, I switched my anchor man and used a defensive midfielder instead and we seem to be recycling possession a lot better than before, I also encouraged my wingers, Simeone and Chiesa to roam from position more. We've beaten Atalanta 3-0, Empoli 2-0, Genoa 3-1 but have lost to Milan, Torino, Sampdoria and Roma, a reminder how even the league can be. Chiesa is on 8 goals for the season while Muriel and Simeone follow that with 5 each. My Mezzala, Veretout is my other main goalscoring threat with 4 goals this season.

During the January transfer window, I'm trying to tie down a deal for Victor Nelsson but I'm unsure if I can beat Arsenal and Manchester United to him. I'm also looking at Erik Majetschak from RB Leipzig on a bosman deal for the summer. I might sign a youngster from Palermo this window too but just seeing what my scouts make of him. Vitor Hugo may leave as he had interest from China while I'm hoping I can hang on to Simeone and Chiesa.

[Chelski Shogun]

On 07/04/2019 at 17:41, MrZollo said:

Cracking season @Chelski Shogun - I bet you're glad you steered clear of the promotion playoffs. They seem difficult to get out of in Serie C. I like the look of Agnaldo, good luck with Serie B!

Thanks man! Having looked at how the promotion playoffs work I am very happy to have gained automatic promotion. Essentially teams that have placed 5th to 10th from Groups A, B and C in Serie C enter in the first round. Then the 4th placed teams enter in the second round. The 3rd placed teams enter in the third round and finally the 2nd placed teams enter in the quarter finals. In the end it was Pordenone who finished second to us that actually went on to win the final of the playoffs and have been promoted as well.

Agnaldo is set to be the main man in the heart of our defence. As for Magalhães he was set to be our other starter but I've managed to sign someone better, so he'll be a rotational option.

Edited April 8, 2019 by Chelski Shogun

[MrZollo]

He looks tasty!