[FM19] One night in Serravalle

[_Ben_]

17 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

I'm not finding it that easy to judge your players, but at 1st glance all 3 shown from intake 4 look excellent if I squint and imagine I am looking at numbers, (try it. It works). 

I'm not sure that I agree about players in certain positions/roles having a requirement to be good. I think there are things that they have to be good at, but I'm not sure that they have to be better on average than someone playing in a more standard position, (but don't let that stop you educating me). 

I know @Cleonhas been playing with absolutely no attributes available and instead managing based just on performances, game stats & coach reports. That seems like overkill to me. I don't find the game as easy as others as it is, so making it that hard would be too much for me I think. Your visuals are a little different in that I guess if you hover over the attribute bars then the exact level becomes visible. Is that right? 

Looking at the hexagon's, (I love a glance at a player hexagon), then I'm intrigued by that of Giorgetti. I think it's probably that you have changed the attribute colours, but if I look at his physical bars, they don't seem to quite match up with the physical representation on his hexagon. 

Nor am I - and I think that is part of the beauty of these bars. I can very quickly tell if I rate a player when I see a lot of numbers in double figures, or numbers close to 20 for a world class player. Whereas now I have to look a little closer.

I don't think I explained the roles bit too well - let me try again. If you look in the lower levels - you are not going to see players who are classed (and I know that this is the judgement of an assistant, not to be taken as gospel) as an RPM, CF, RMD etc - they are normally a MEZ, AF/P or W because you 'need' less high attributes to be considered good for that role. It doesn't mean that I won't play them there - I use either the PF(a) of CF(a) for my strikers but I know that to be considered a good CF(a) you need something like 22 attributes to be a decent standard - the game/ass. man might only see 7 or 8 that are good and list the player as a P(a) or an AF(a). When I see a youngster that the assistant rates as being able to play in one of these specialist roles (again - SK, CWB, BPD, LIB, REG, SV, RPM, RMD, F9, T, CF) I automatically presume they have a higher CA in order to balance out enough 'high' attributes to be suitable for the role. I don't know if that makes more sense?

Hovering over the bar doesn't tell me the value - no. But, and I guess this does make it easier, I know a 'ball-park' figure thanks to my attribute colours. 1-4 is white-ish, 5-9 is light green, 10-14 is dark green and 15-20 is yellow. This gives me a rough idea but I do like now the idea that the dark green is good, and the white is very poor for example.

Not sure about Giorgetti's attributes - it does look a bit low but I would presume that those bars are probably around 10 (dark green) which is why it looks as if he is quite weak physically yet the bars indicate he is good.

[Jimbokav1971]

Yeah, I get what you mean about the positions now. I tend to not pay too much attention to what the Ass Man thinks about player roles though. I'm never going to change a player role based on what suits a player, (well not unless he's obviously hugely flawed), I know how I want the team to look and players will fit into that framework rather then me building a framework that suits the players in the squad. 

Something else I've stumbled on is that I'm not sure than an IWB needs to be wrong-footed, (in fact quite the opposite). I know that an IF is best wrong-footed, and it stands to reason than an IF is as well, but an IWB is different. It's mentioned in the description for both IF and IW, but interestingly missing for the IWB. 

IF. 

IW.

IWB. 

[_Ben_]

@Jimbokav1971 - no, I don't really care what the assistant says but I always try and look for little hints when the youth candidates come through or when trying to assess a player. In my last save - I was looking at their media description - it looks as if 'young x position' is used when a player has less CA. If the player is generated with good CA - it may say 'promising' or just 'striker.' That isn't a hard and fast rule but one that works most of the time, I found. Just another one of those things I guess...

Interesting about the IWB and I agree with you and the roles completely. In an ideal world, playing beautiful possession football - I'd love both of the IWB's to be either footed so they can bring play inside to the DLP or even to the opposing flank or take it outside to the winger in front of them. It would bring me great pleasure to be able to use two IWBs alongside a regista and have three defensively situated players who can retain the football and make things happen behind a midfield four and maybe even a false 9. That is the end goal here! Giorgietti, should he have the potential will be able to do just that but I'll never be able to retrain Muratori (left foot: weak, right foot: very strong) to be either footed, sadly.

[_Ben_]

2023/24 Season Review

I have started with the overview of our season this time so that I can begin to compare this season to last. We have finished three places lower but progressed further in the playoffs and, in my mind, are a much better team. Firstly - here is the full league table and the tree of the playoffs:

We ended up ninth place this year - two points behind last year but with more wins and, unfortunately, more defeats. Our play, at times, was considerably better than what we have ever been able to achieve before. In the end, Cesena won the league, beating us on the final day as AlbinoLeffe faltered. If you look at the league table though, Rimini and Lucchese, like us, are very much on the up and they may have an appalling season next year and return to what has been reality for them. Of the teams that didn't go up - Arezzo have recently moved to the Girone so may move away again should the relegation/promotion impact on the geography of the league and AlbinoLoffe, Latina , Fano and even Ascoli have proved themselves to be beatable by us. I would like to think that we can have a good crack at finishing somewhere between 3rd and 5th next season - depending on the team that is relegated.

With us falling a little below last year in the regular season - I wanted to compare the players who played a large part of both seasons. Firstly, our defence welcomed a new player, Pietro Della Pina, but the rest remained the same and all of the players seemed to perform better. Finally goals came for Manca and Muratori, the first of their careers and they all upped their interceptions per 90 minutes as we looked to press a little more aggressively where possible. Pellini, in front of them, performed well too but did take a dip creating and scoring goals for us. Gasperi had a much better season, making double figures for goals once again but his partner Battistini is slowly losing his place - racking up one more assist but one less goal and generally looking a lot less threatening in the CM(a) role. Up top comes the big change - Molinari has scored a decent amount of goals and I hope he can go on and improve that again next year. Our backup striker Casali only scored once (and has 3 in 31 so far in his career) so there is little depth but, if I can keep him fit, I hope he'll do even better.

Below are the new additions:

Stefanelli has played every minute and notched up 20 clean sheets - a fantastic achievement for a 17-year old. Likewise, Della Pina and Casadei have come in and made positive changes to this team and I hope they will continue into next season as they have now cemented themselves as first choice. Below that - Maiolo, Giorgetti and Mularoni have made a good breakthrough towards the end of the season but Mangione, Casali and Gaggioti are all very poor backup players at this point.

---

I'm happy with the progress we have made and hope for more next season!

[_Ben_]

Maybe because ten of the starting XI play for my club?!

[kidthekid]

2 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

I'm not finding it that easy to judge your players, but at 1st glance all 3 shown from intake 4 look excellent if I squint and imagine I am looking at numbers, (try it. It works). 

I'm not sure that I agree about players in certain positions/roles having a requirement to be good. I think there are things that they have to be good at, but I'm not sure that they have to be better on average than someone playing in a more standard position, (but don't let that stop you educating me). 

I know @Cleonhas been playing with absolutely no attributes available and instead managing based just on performances, game stats & coach reports. That seems like overkill to me. I don't find the game as easy as others as it is, so making it that hard would be too much for me I think. Your visuals are a little different in that I guess if you hover over the attribute bars then the exact level becomes visible. Is that right? 

Looking at the hexagon's, (I love a glance at a player hexagon), then I'm intrigued by that of Giorgetti. I think it's probably that you have changed the attribute colours, but if I look at his physical bars, they don't seem to quite match up with the physical representation on his hexagon. 

Yes I was going to mention Cleon's project. It's absolutely mental (mental in a good way). I'm considering using the bar charts as well, since it seems like a nice compromise. 

[_Ben_]

51 minutes ago, kidthekid said:

Yes I was going to mention Cleon's project. It's absolutely mental (mental in a good way). I'm considering using the bar charts as well, since it seems like a nice compromise. 

I would love to read about someone else's interpretation of the bars. It's a strange thing that they were included in every iteration of the game up to this one, yet were removed. I, now, think they are a great feature!

[_Ben_]

2024/25 - A season of hope?

 

A quick look at the odds predicts us to finish 11th this season but I fancy our chances of finishing a little bit higher. I have just quickly looked back at the ten teams predicted to finish above us, to gauge what competition could be like this season. I believe that Pisa are the strongest team in this league, performing well in both of the GIrones they have been in. They will be a good indicator of how good we are - we only lost 1-0 to them both times last season, although they did have their worst finish to date. Livorno are a bit of a yo-yo club at the moment but have managed to keep pretty much the whole team that played last year and they can offer a significantly bigger financial package than any of the other clubs - it'll be interested to see how their morale is though. Ascoli are on a downward trend and I expect them to be beatable, as with the teams below them, even runners-up AlbinoLeffe. Arezzo beat us last year over and we lost once and won once against them - they are probably my biggest threat.

On the other hand - we have five new teams to this league from Serie D. I know that Modena used to be a good solid side (and I know that my balsamic vinegar comes from there) but they've been out of the reckoning for far too long. Rieti, Santacargelo and Savona were also very much beatable the last time they played at this level and Pontedera struggled for a couple of seasons in Girone A before spending two years in Serie D. My aim is to take 30 points from these teams and pick off what I can from the higher rated clubs.

[WillHoward42]

1 hour ago, _Ben_ said:

I would love to read about someone else's interpretation of the bars. It's a strange thing that they were included in every iteration of the game up to this one, yet were removed. I, now, think they are a great feature!

If I knew how to get the bars on, I wouldn't mind giving this a go.

Probably with a more established team so I can get my bearings with how it works and understanding what I need to analyse to make a decision on who plays where and what players I bring in.

I am an Arsenal fan... so I might start there with this!

2 hours ago, kidthekid said:

Yes I was going to mention Cleon's project. It's absolutely mental (mental in a good way). I'm considering using the bar charts as well, since it seems like a nice compromise. 

What and where can I find this project to read through?

I always, always... pick players and a team over their attributes despite past performances. I know I should shy away from this, but it's hard to when it's such a habit!

[john1]

Fantastic progress!  

[_Ben_]

6 hours ago, WillHoward42 said:

If I knew how to get the bars on, I wouldn't mind giving this a go.

Probably with a more established team so I can get my bearings with how it works and understanding what I need to analyse to make a decision on who plays where and what players I bring in.

I am an Arsenal fan... so I might start there with this!

What and where can I find this project to read through?

I always, always... pick players and a team over their attributes despite past performances. I know I should shy away from this, but it's hard to when it's such a habit!

Have you found it yet? It's on page 1 of this thread...

I will definitely drop by and have a read.

3 hours ago, john1 said:

Fantastic progress!  

Thank you! We are really starting to gel now, so hopefully can start to make a move to challenge for promotion to Serie B.

[kidthekid]

17 hours ago, WillHoward42 said:

What and where can I find this project to read through?

I always, always... pick players and a team over their attributes despite past performances. I know I should shy away from this, but it's hard to when it's such a habit!

It starts on this thread 

but it continues on his blog, which he links. Essentially, he relies on coach reports, stats and watching the matches.

Edited June 1, 2019 by kidthekid

[Aidan48]

Fantastic write-up. I've got the bars on my save too, but how did you get rid of star ratings? I really want to do the same.

[_Ben_]

2 hours ago, Aidan48 said:

Fantastic write-up. I've got the bars on my save too, but how did you get rid of star ratings? I really want to do the same.

Admittedly, I haven't been able to remove all traces of them but I have managed to download/ask for help to remove them from some of the panels. I used the below thread to start and worked my way through some other panels, but sadly, couldn't tell you exactly which ones they were!

 

[_Ben_]

2024/25 Mid Season Review

 

Mid way through the season and I am very happy with where we are and how we are playing, on the whole. Only two defeats, both narrow, but both to late goals and an absolute rock solid defence but we have been somewhat stagnant again upfront - with Molinari failing to find the net since the first game of the season. My pre-season predictions of Pisa being towards the top have been accurate but a solid 1-1 draw away from home has given us the upper hand. It is Viterbese, though, that have surprised everyone, however I do expect them to fall away as the season goes on. I don't know if I'd yet class us as title contenders but, from our experience two years ago, getting into the playoffs as a higher rated team does count in the event of a draw.

[_Ben_]

Money made from players that haven't impacted our club in my time makes it even better

[_Ben_]

Season Five Youth Intake

I've had a good look through this intake and I think that it is the weakest of the lot but it has provided me with one player in a role I need depth for, centre back.

[Aidan48]

12 hours ago, _Ben_ said:

Admittedly, I haven't been able to remove all traces of them but I have managed to download/ask for help to remove them from some of the panels. I used the below thread to start and worked my way through some other panels, but sadly, couldn't tell you exactly which ones they were!

 

Knew there had to be a thread somewhere! Your save has massively inspired me, I've been subconsciously relying on CA/PA stars for ages and it's frustrating.

Would you be able to share your skin? If not I'll get working on these panels now :P

Edited June 2, 2019 by Aidan48

[_Ben_]

2024/25 End of Season Review

We very much bumbled our way along to the end of the season - infuriating draws and dull football where I even switched to only commentary for periods of extreme boredom. We managed to find the net a meagre 38 times this season - 1.0 a game, but did keep the defence exceedingly tight, conceded less than 0.5 a game - at just 16 goals. Viterbese faded, as I predicted and Pisa pushed Arezzo all the way.

We then entered the playoffs, which went well - until this.

The second leg of the semi final, we are 1-0 up against Latina, who finished 4th in Girone C. Yet the National Team have a fixutre on the very same day. Six debuts were handed out to my youth team and that marked the end of the road. We are always asked about postponements but, as I presume this game falls outside of regular season time, we were missed off for this one.

Next year - I want to avoid the lottery of the playoffs and win the league. To do that, I must become more aggressive and we must turn a significant portion of those draws into wins. I will be looking at moulding the 4-1-4-1 into a 4-4-1-1 and try and push on. Six seasons in this league is more than I had planned for but, finances aside, we are building something very strong - we just need to find that last bit.

[_Ben_]

2025/26 Squad Preview

As mentioned at least fifty times so far in my journey - my squad overall is poor, but I am at a point where my first XI is getting quite strong. As we go into the season with an outside shot at promotion - I thought I'd quickly profile them.

Stefanelli has been an absolute revelation since being generated in my academy. The 18 year old has 51 clean sheets in his first 95 league games and my staff believe that he is already at a Serie A level. He has great handling and reflexes and makes great decisions. He leads from the back and communicates well with the defence. He has incredible vision but not really the passing and technique to pull it off but I'd like to think that his mental attributes do offset that somewhat. He is also two-footed so his attributes are lower than his overall CA would suggest, which tells you just how good he actually is. My team, as mentioned, rate him as being good enough for Serie A but also being able to improve a lot more in the future. He has two years left on his deal and, realistically, I stand little chance of being able to extend this unless we are in Serie B, which adds extra impetus to our challenge this year.

Going forward - he is already a pretty complete keeper but I will continue to train him as a sweeper keeper with a focus on passing. It has definitely risen over the few years he's been in the team and, even if I can't make him particularly great at it, it'll certainly minimise a weakness. 

My favourite player of this save to date.

Alberto has broken into the team over the past twelve months and is a perfect fit for what I want at full back - either footed and able to play on both flanks. Sadly, he lacks the the technical prowess to really contribute to our possession style but he's quite physical, works hard and knows how to tackle. Right is his strongest foot but he may actually find himself moving over to the left flank allowing Muratori to come back to his favoured right hand side at some point. He's consistent, currently a good player for this level and, I'm told, will improve a fair bit in the future. Maybe not the wing back I want at the club in fifteen years, but certainly a good addition to the team right now.

Pietro epitomises our struggle really - he's good enough for this level but not the type of player I want. Far down the line, I want to be able to play with ball playing defenders, but Della Pina is way from that - he can barely control and move the ball on. That being said, his actual defensive attributes are really solid - heading, marking, tackling, bravery and positioning. He does lack a little in pace and we do play a fairly high line but I've not really seen him be exposed of yet. My backroom team feel that he is potentially going to be able to play at Serie B level but is not far from being usurped by 16 year old Selva, the last product of my academy as his lack of consistency does let him down along with his height and very poor technical attributes.

I could pretty much copy and paste what has been said above for Nicola, a player who was already at the club when I took over. He too has potential for Serie B but is also very limited on the ball. I am training him as a BWM(d) at the moment in an attempt to make him useful if and when I can develop a more technical centre half as he's a well rounded and high ability player as well as being our captain at the moment. 

Like Manca before him, Muratori has been at the club since before I took over. He was shoehorned into the left back slot as an IWB(s) but with the emergence of Giorgetti, I may look to move him back to the right. As I am toying with the idea of removing the DM role, I fear his (lack of) dribbling may come into play a bit more with more space in front of him - but everything else he does for that role, he is actually pretty good at it.

I've struggled with wingers in this save - clearly a difference between the footballing upbringing in Italy and Portugal, and Casadei isn't really an exception to that. He's pacey and is good at dribbling but is clumsy in possession and has no real end product. Still - he's got a fairly professional personality and seems to quite a good character - he's one of the few that hasn't moaned about bids being rejected.

Pellini has previously played as the DLP in the DM strata but with my probable move to an AMC instead, I need to decide which role to use him in. He is one of only two non-newgens left within the XI now and is well rounded, mostly. I have written about my worries for him as a team leader with such poor determination and such open personality and media handling but, since he's signed a new deal as a backup, seems to have moved down the pecking order a little. I do have another midfielder who is quite close to taking over his place in the first team, so his minutes may be limited this season.

Mularoni has made himself a regular despite his very young age as he is probably the most technical player in the first team. He's developed reasonably well over the past two years and is quite well rounded mentally - even if he is lacking in some technical aspects. He can, however, pick a pass and this is something I'll look to develop him to do with the correct traits over time. 

As I said - I don't seem to be particularly blessed with great wingers so far in this save. Segoni is pretty physical and works hard and can dribble - but again, his final ball or finish is lacking. He plays a supporting winger role, and will now be aiming to link up with the AP so time will tell just how much his lack of on-the-ball ability will hold him back. Another one with a solid personality who has developed pretty well of late.

The second non-newgen, Gasperi has played as an MC for the majority of this time. I will look to use him a bit further forward from now on (now my experiment at IWB has ended, anyway). He's solid across the board to be fair.

Found form at the latter end of the season, coinciding with the trait of trying first time shots. He now looks a lot more threatening in the box but sadly his pace doesn't really lend itself to the slow and methodical build up we are using. Much like some of our defensive players, he's the type I need right now but not who I'll want in the future.

[_Ben_]

Hopefully the new chairman can clear these debts...

[_Ben_]

2025/26 Mid Season Review

If I was to say that we were flying, I may be slightly overestimating our attacking prowess, but we are making really good progress and our position within Serie C is the best that it has ever been. Despite moving to a more offensive shape, with largely similar instructions, we have maintained an incredibly tight defence. We are sometimes rather lacklustre going forward and that has shown as we have failed to break down teams and not scored more than two goals in a game this season. I worry that Ascoli are very strong this year and catching them may not be particularly easy - even if we held them to an away draw.

[_Ben_]

I have been incredibly careless in my squad depth for goalkeepers and, above, is listed the total amount of keepers across my three squads. Of course, I post this when Stefano Stefanelli injures himself and is out for two months. I can only hope that my youth intake contains at least one goalkeeper...

[_Ben_]

Season six youth intake

Here is the overview but I'll save time with the information - not one I'm proud of. Domenico D'Urso signs, due to only the fact he's a goalkeeper but due to my money saving necessity, there isn't a lot else to post about.

[_Ben_]

With a goalkeeper...

Without a goalkeeper...

 

Edited June 4, 2019 by _Ben_

[_Ben_]

Takeover.

Interestingly, it was a consortium that has taken us over, rather than a board member, as first predicted.

It seems Maurizio doesn't like being out of football...

But doesn't really give managers too much time...

[Sysiphus]

Absolutely love this. Your goalkeeper looks incredible and I like your striker a lot, but as you say he might not fit perfectly with your playing style.

[LUFCspeni]

Agree with the above, this is very good! I would love to have a go at something like this with FC Andorra but can't find a lower league database for that level, so I'm living vicariously through you

[_Ben_]

11 hours ago, Sysiphus said:

Absolutely love this. Your goalkeeper looks incredible and I like your striker a lot, but as you say he might not fit perfectly with your playing style.

 

8 hours ago, LUFCspeni said:

Agree with the above, this is very good! I would love to have a go at something like this with FC Andorra but can't find a lower league database for that level, so I'm living vicariously through you

 

Thanks both! I do love Stefanelli and hope that we can progress enough in time to be able to keep him. FC Andorra were also on my list of teams to do this kind of job with but it looks like that's going to FM20 now...

[_Ben_]

2025/26 Season Review

The goalkeeper misdemeanour really hurt us but we finish in our highest ever position at this level with a record amount of points amassed. It was, as first predicted, Ascoli, who went on to win the league with recently relegated Ternana not even making it back into the playoffs. Two whipping boys in the shape of Sanremo and Viareggio are always a bonus when it comes to securing the 'easy' points but we do seem to be pulling away from the chasing pack of playoff hopefuls now and are able to mix it with the bigger boys in the league.

Sadly, we were unable to mix it with the bigger boys in other leagues. Cremonense, also fourth places finishers in their Girone, took us apart in the return leg and give us our seventh season at this level to look forward. Disappointing, definitely, and one that can probably be attributed to a mistake on my behalf - only having one goalkeeper within the whole club.

My player performances are, once again, a little inconsistent and somewhat disappointing. Striker Molinari has, once again, had a really poor season up top and has only found the net nine times but wingers Casadei and Segoni has performed admirably, which was a role reversal from previous years. Whilst this first team squad is now delivering on levels of versatility, with most players being able to play in two positions, it is still threadbare and injuries have and will continue to decimate it.

Going in to next year my thoughts are that we probably have a strong enough first team to earn promotion to Serie B but we certainly do not have the squad depth to be able to stay there in the long term.

[_Ben_]

Amadou Diawara - the gift that keeps on giving...

[psychonaut]

Great save so far. Good to see you sticking with San Marino through all the play-off disappointments. Maybe next season could be the one for celebration!

[_Ben_]

18 hours ago, psychonaut said:

Great save so far. Good to see you sticking with San Marino through all the play-off disappointments. Maybe next season could be the one for celebration!

Thank you - let's hope so! I am enjoying this season a lot more at the moment which might give away where we are in the league...

[_Ben_]

2026/27 Mid season Review

A couple of evenings worth of pure investment into the game has seen me fly through another half season and move towards the top of the league. We are much more potent going forward actually managing to score more than twice a game, something we didn't do last season. A strange week in November saw two very heavy defeats against poor teams - which knocked us back fro our strong start. We have been a little inconsistent, particularly towards the latter part of this half-season but chasing down Cesena is my main ask now!

[Lewis89]

I have noticed stefano pellini and Mateo Gaspieri are now Sammarinese in your save, how has that happened? Didnt think it was possible to gain Sammarinese nationality?

I am San Marino in my save and would love to have them play for the national side.

Cracking progress btw, really enjoying the save. 

Edited June 8, 2019 by Lewis89

[_Ben_]

13 hours ago, Lewis89 said:

I have noticed stefano pellini and Mateo Gaspieri are now Sammarinese in your save, how has that happened? Didnt think it was possible to gain Sammarinese nationality?

I am San Marino in my save and would love to have them play for the national side.

Cracking progress btw, really enjoying the save. 

That's what I thought, too. However- around the age of 24/25, they decided to take up nationality in order to play for the national team. I guess they kind of realised they'd never play for Italy and took up our citizenship.

It has happened to the majority of the older players left in the squad actually.

I will pop over to your thread and have a proper read shortly - always interesting how your version of each player developed compared to mine!

[_Ben_]

Season 2026/27 Youth Intake

I am still utterly shocked that the small city of Serravalle is producing so many footballers, year on year and we are not even a big footballing team at this point. I am less happy, however, with the personalities that the people of Serravalle have towards football - probably knowing that they aren't all going to reach the heights of professional football and that they may end up representing a team ranked in the bottom 20% of the world.

Immediately from this, I have identified a player that I like the look of - Davide Zafferani. He's a DLP, which requires a good spread of attributes for my assistant to think that this is his best role, he's a team leader - so I would indicate he's probably one of the better players and has better CA and he's also Sammarinese, which is great for us. Below is the personality/media handling breakdown:

Media Friendly
This is similar to balanced and covers options which aren't covered by anything else.

Fairly Sporting
Sportsmanship 15-20, Determination 10-14, Ambition 1-14
Professionalism <15

Not ideal - he's reasonably determined but not hugely ambitious nor hugely professional. The squad is listed as professional so hopefully that will have a knock on effect and most of the established players also share a good level of determination, so I wouldn't expect to see that move too much. Should he become a top player for my first team, I am unsure that he has exactly the right personality to be a team leader.

He lists U20 manager Valerio Rosseti as his only favoured person - he has a determined personality but is also media friendly so I cannot take anything from the mentoring the manager had on him as a youth product. However, his playing style is passing and his coaching style is mental - two things which I feel he has influenced on Zafferani. He would also fit into his preferred formation of a 4-2-3-1 wide, in either the MC, AMC or AMR position.

Here is what he looks like:

Natural in two positions gives me a nice choice - to play him as a deeper playmaker in the middle, in competition with Mularoni and Maiolo or to use him in a weaker area of the team - AMC. His player trait isn't the best for what I want, especially not that far forward, so I will look to remove that from him. I would like him to be an engache or similar, a proper #10, to take into account his good first touch, passing and overall technique combined with flair, decisions and balance. He isn't the best off the ball so I do worry that the free-role will see him go missing at times but his training for the Engache role does focus on that. I want him to beef up a little bit - he's small and weak, mainly so that he can hold his own on the ball - particularly when we are at a level where the teams around us don't necessarily try and play football themselves.

Looking behind his attributes - I am told that he is consistent. In his intended role this means he should be able to maintain good performances unless he is marked out of the game. I also like to think that being consistent means a little about that his individual facets are good too - like his passing accuracy will always be consistent, similar to the amount of chances he creates. He does have a competitive streak, a reasonably good/high level of aggression and is very brave

Once his trait is removed - I think that I want him to move into channels and try killer balls, as these are both things I think would work with his attributes (minus possible his vision, which again should grow with his schedule). I might experiment with the dictates tempo but I do worry that having a player so far up the pitch that is the focal point to the attack may lead us to danger when he is not on form or marked out of the team. Likewise, I may get him to ease off tackles given his competitive nature - although that is not one I will necessarily focus on early in his career.

For now, Davide will play a part within the first team it is pretty weak. My backroom team feel that he will improve a lot in the future, which is fantastic.

 

[_Ben_]

2026/27 End of Season Review

CHAMPIONS! One of the most relieving feelings I've had playing FM over the past few years - particularly when it has taken us seven seasons to make the first step up the ladder. We managed to claw back the seven point deficit from Cesena with some efficient football and a fantastic winning, and not conceding, streak. I haven't been hugely involved with the on-field slog to this point, admittedly, preferring to watch some highlights of the match and speed through - this will change from now on with our arrival in what is considered nearly the big time.

Looking at the players below - I have every reason to think that we do need to be more than astute tactically to survive:

The difference between this season and previous seasons is goalscoring - or more specifically, having a striker that has scored heavily, although, even this achievement has been at the expense of any one else making a real mark. Manca, Muratori and Giorgetti, common names for this accolade - all performed well and led the average ratings although I do plan to move them back on to their favoured sides next year - and still keep them as IWBs. This screen still shows the massive issue I have with squad depth - the gap between minutes played two thirds of the way down is extreme but, quite simply, these players are/are no longer good enough to warrant first team football. My intakes have been good but not hugely deep and I've not been able to flesh out more than just a solid starting line up.

Time to start prep for a long old slog next season!

 

[kingjericho]

Great achievement!  

I think this is one of the most detailed saves I have ever followed, the amount of work you seem to put on judging your players and developing them is very good.

You said you changed tactics, can you detail a bit more?

[_Ben_]

2027/28 Pre Season: Part 1 - Analysing the squad

Since removing the stars, sharing what my squad looks like has become significantly more difficult. Never the less - I have created an overview again (last time I did this may well have been the starting squad and there are only four remaining players from seven years ago).

Initially - I would say that the squad is very bland. There are no leaders within the team based on personality or media handling and the pull of the 'professional' squad hasn't had a big impact on anyone, really. I have a professional backroom and I am spending time developing this but even with my younger players- Arzilli (F.Det), Bianchi (Light-Hearted) and Zafferani (F.Sport) - the abundance of professionalism isn't there. I have added Determination to that column as well but, again, that doesn't show too much - except for Bianchi and Arzilli leading the way, probably because it hasn't been brought down by the rest of the squad. Pellini is, sadly, lacking enough determination to even colour the cell!

Next - I have decided to screenshot all of the numerical numbers and create an average of the hidden cells. The colour scheme matches that of the attributes: 1-5 is white, 6-9 is light green, 10-14 is dark green and 15-20 is gold. This matches with their 'colour' on the comparison screen but, as of yet, I've found no way of getting the colours exported. I figured that copying and pasting four hundred odd numbers hasn't really given away anything for me by seeing the attributes and it does make for an interesting thing. I could definitely break that down a lot further and look at specifics - attacking play, defensive play, set pieces etc but that might come in time. It does show that we are all weak technically - something which should probably make possession football harder than it needs to be. Naturally, my better performers tend to be those who are better mentally and we have a surprisingly high average physically - yet are the weakest and have the least stamina when comparing our club to the rest of Serie B.

I have then taken a look at the coach reports and gathered information about hidden attributes. It is really positive to see that we are becoming versatile, something I alluded to in an early post. We have nearly weeded out all of those who hate big matches, with just two non-newgens left and there are a lot less one-footed players than ever before. Sadly, consistency seems to be a big issue but I would expect that with a squad who's average age is a little over 21. 

I have looked into the roles that I feel the players can play in, some of which do not fit my 'first choice' tactics but I will be planning to implement a kind of 'if x plays, adopt this strategy' which I will try and document.

As you can see, from the coach ratings - some of the team is cut out for this league, but there is a substantial chunk who are not. I can build a team around Stefanelli - Muratori - Selva - Manca - Giorgetti, all of whom are good enough to play at this level. Add in to that a midfield combo of Maiolo and Mularoni with Molinari up top, and we have a base of players who should be ok. However, the issue comes when trying to supplement those players or deal with injury worries.

My plan, over the course of pre-season, is to get the team playing how I want them and then delve deep into training and preparation!

[_Ben_]

35 minutes ago, kingjericho said:

Great achievement!  

I think this is one of the most detailed saves I have ever followed, the amount of work you seem to put on judging your players and developing them is very good.

You said you changed tactics, can you detail a bit more?

Many thanks - glad you posted that before I made my last post - maybe it is overkill...

Yes - tactics. I have changed them a little. I want to thoroughly look at pre-season and then I'll post up what my plans are.

[_Ben_]

Player profile - Andrea Arzilli

A player that I didn't profile when he came into the team as, to be fair, my coaches got pretty much everything wrong with him. I kept him on as he looked the best of a terrible bunch two years ago since then he has made some fantastic strides in his development. Here is his attribute development (still haven't found a way of hiding those '1s' and '2's but the key information is that he, even at this level and age, has made major improvements in the last 12 months. To find out why, I have delved a little deeper into his personality and media handling style:

Fairly Determined
Determination 15-17
Professionalism <15, Leader <19

Level Headed
Professionalism 13-20, Loyalty 12-20

From this, I can ascertain that he has professionalism of either 13,14 or 15 (I'm not trying to find exact numbers, but this ball-park figure would suggest that it is good, not great) and is pretty loyal to the club. I do wonder what will happen to his personality if/when his determination drops below the 15, which it is almost certain to do given the overpowered-ness of the feature that brings them all to a rough line. 

I've always been really interested in looking at the favoured personnel of these youth players - especially when it even says that 'x player has been brought through with influence from x coach' or words to that meaning. Whilst it does not list every coach who has had any kind of impact on every player, I am always trying to look for some kind of link. There must be a reason why we are informed to get a good HOYD, with a good personality etc and to see his link with the players. It may only be a small area, but I do try and get the best youth coaches with the best personalities I can. Below are the two players listed on Arzilli's profile: 

Valerio Rosetti (U20 Manager) - F.Det and Media Friendly. 4-2-3-1 wide, prefers short passing, adventurous style and is a mental coaching specialist.

Fairly Determined
Determination 15-17
Professionalism <15, Leader <19

Media Friendly
This is similar to balanced and covers options which aren't covered by anything else.

Rosetti shares a very similar level of determination and, I would imagine, a similar level of professionalism. Arzilli would fit into any side managed by Rosetti as he would play at the tip of an attacking foursome. He's ok mentally, which might suggest that Rosetti hasn't passed on too much of his coaching to him but a F9 (or at least a player who could potentially play in that kind of role) does fit the short passing, adventurous style.

Francesco Valiani (a real player - link to his wikipedia page) - M.Citizen and Unflappable. 4-4-1-1, short passing, attacking and tactical.

Model Citizen
Determination 14-20, Professionalism 15-20, Ambition 12-20, Loyalty 15-20, Pressure 14-20, Sportsmanship 15-20, Temperament 15-20
Unflappable
Temperament 15-20, Pressure 15-20

Again - I feel that the determination level could be passed on as well as the loyalty of Valiani. I can't really ascertain much more about him - the pressure and sportsmanship probably haven't been passed over as there is no positive or  indication on a coach report (thrives in high pressure matches/has a competitive streak). Again, Arzilli would fit into any Valiani managed side and the short passing and attacking style fits the kind of mould that he is developing into.

So what do I want from him...

We want to play a slick passing style, retaining possession and working the ball through the areas, utilising the space that we can make. Therefore, I think that rules out a PF or an AF (Molinari plays as an AF as that is where he is comfortable but he is often carried in the build up play for us) and leaves us with a CF or F9 will be the best options. I do have an issue with playing an F9 and an EG because they are both dropping deep but that is an issue I will look at addressing when it is needed.

The F9 is described as below:

What do I need from Arzilli? Well certainly a more technical player. With his pace - coming deep to pick the ball up, being able to orchestrate play and then also being fast enough to take players on or make a late dash into the box could see him being a very dangerous threat. In the short term, I will be focusing on his shooting as it impacts his finishing, long shots and technique, before moving to his passing and then his attacking movement. I want to see what he looks like and how he plays in the F9 role before adding any traits specific to that, in case it doesn't work out.

Hopefully he can fulfil whatever potential he has and be an important player for us!

[_Ben_]

Forced sales

Some deadline day this is turning out to be...

[_Ben_]

August/September 2027

Coming in at 1000-1 to win this league, I think we have made a really promising start to the season. I would say that we have been in each of the games, excluding the first fifteen minutes of the Empoli tie, and we have run the larger sides of the league, Frosinone and Brescia, close. We are going to struggle - that is a given, considering we have the smallest budget, by over £1m an year, the smallest capacity, stadium and, on the whole, weakest squad. 

[_Ben_]

October/November 2027

And here is the struggle. Once again, aside from the Latina tie, we have pretty much been in every game. Losing to Cremonese, at home, was a poor result despite a good performance but only Benevento and Bari are currently in view in the table - showing that this run was tough.

I have held off from looking at anything tactically up until now - I stuck with what worked last year and, on the whole, am 'happy' with what I'm seeing this year; we are in games and we clearly have much poorer players, but I want to take a closer look over the next couple of months to see what I can get from this bunch to set us in good stead for the future.

Financially - here is our current picture:

The £2.575m raised from player sales has massively helped us as we are now comfortably in the black. Projections suggest that I should finish this season with a positive bank balance but this may be offset by prize money if we stay in this division. Whilst relegation wouldn't ruin us financially, and the money gained from staying in Serie B isn't hugely different, we need to ensure we are a team who can stay profitable.

Here is our current books for November:

Each big spike of income signifies season tickets, prize money and player sales - with small bumps coming from the moves of Amadou Diawara. What concerns me is that our income simply does not match our expenditure at this time. Ideally - TV revenue is static each month (I have no historical data but we have accrued just over £400k for four months of this season) which means that, at this point, we can just about cover our player wages. What worries me here though is there is literally nothing that can come close to covering the cost of our staff wages. I have gone a little overboard, hiring eight senior coaches, three youth coaches plus managers for each age group team - giving me a staffing cost of more than the playing cost.  I either need to trim down the playing staff (I only have 32 players in my entire squad to this point), trim down the coaching staff or find some ways of income that are repeatable and monthly!

We do open up December with a cup tie away at Serie A Atalanta. Whilst we are rank outsiders, it should be a lucrative affair!

[LUFCspeni]

Hopefully you can pick up points from the teams around you and survive. How is the national team doing, and how many of your players make up the squad?

[kingjericho]

19 hours ago, _Ben_ said:

What worries me here though is there is literally nothing that can come close to covering the cost of our staff wages. I have gone a little overboard, hiring eight senior coaches, three youth coaches plus managers for each age group team - giving me a staffing cost of more than the playing cost.  I either need to trim down the playing staff (I only have 32 players in my entire squad to this point), trim down the coaching staff or find some ways of income that are repeatable and monthly!

Try to sign staff that do two jobs, e.g. coach/physio, or whatever combinations are possible.

[_Ben_]

6 hours ago, LUFCspeni said:

Hopefully you can pick up points from the teams around you and survive. How is the national team doing, and how many of your players make up the squad?

I agree. We seem unable to stay in games, losing them narrowly - a few extra draws here and there and I hope we'll have enough.

As you'd expect - the NT is made up of predominantly players who have been at the club, with just Berardi never having featured. 

They are currently 133rd in the world and are making steady progress, despite an awfully defensive system and, like our squad, no depth.

[_Ben_]

6 hours ago, kingjericho said:

Try to sign staff that do two jobs, e.g. coach/physio, or whatever combinations are possible.

Unfortunately, we're 'too big' to get away with jacks of all trades and too small to get in properly good coaches who could assist elsewhere.

I think my job is ideally to find more income rather than trim the wage budget...

[_Ben_]

December 2027/January 2028

Despite being, once again, incapable of drawing a game, we have picked up some valuable points in the past two months that have moved us out of the drop zone. December kicked off with what I thought would be a money spinning tie - just £40k was received from ticket sales and an eightieth minute goal saw us only given £9k as losers. Going forward - maybe this is the kind of tie I want to be having at home? On paper, a double header against Udinese and Parma sounds bad but they are both shadows of their former selves and we picked up a good win over Crociati, who are now sitting in sixth place. A poor start to the year was made slightly better with a good home victory over Brescia, another good team in this league, in seventh.

The transfer window is about to slam shut and I have been able to keep my players this time, even with some moaning from the humongous amount of interest. Every player does have their price, and that is something that I want to ensure stays throughout this journey, but I literally do not have the squad depth to allow this - we are now under 30 contracted players across the three squads and the vast majority of those, outside the first XI definitely, are not good enough for this level and never will be.