[FM20][FM21][FM22][FM23] Calcio

[Weston]

STONKS

[Fraser]

Genoa – 20-21 Serie A to Matchday 30.

Last time we ended matchday 20 in a satisfying 5th place. Level on points with Lazio and a point ahead of Inter. 

Contract extensions were agreed with Radovanovic and Masiello (both to 2022, with an auto 1 year extension based on games played in the final season and with Dalmonte and El Yamiq (to 2023).  We also managed to convince Ascoli to sign Cristian Zapata on a free, removing him from the wage bill.

January:  TIM Cup.  Our second team put in a good performance away to Napoli, taking the lead with a Traore penalty, but goals from Politano and Marcos Llorente gave them a 2-1 win, so we went out of the cup.

We returned to league action with a home game against Roma.  Once more our form in big games was good, as a 5 minute spell early in the second half saw goals from Cataldi and Kishna give us a 2-1 win (Schick scoring for Roma).

That was followed by a 3-1 loss at Milan, their new signing Adolfo Gaich (£9.75m from San Lorenzo) has been phenomenal and he scored twice, followed by a goal from Douglas Costa, before Cassata netted a late consolation.  We end January with a disappointing goalless draw at home to Torino.

February:  It was back to winning ways, with a 1-0 victory against a Verona side who had given us our first defeat of the season.  Pinamonti with the game’s only goal.

Next up was another disappointing home draw, this time with Bologna.  Marko Pajac bagged 2 goals from the bench but Olsen and Barrow netted for Bologna.

One of our better performances followed, with Cataldi firing in two early goals, and missing a penalty, in a comfortable 2-0 win at Ascoli.  February ended with yet another home draw, this time we pretty much stole a point against Fiorentina, with substitute Pajac getting an 84^th minute equaliser after Pezzella had given them the lead.

March:  We continued our strange pattern of form with another comfortable away win. 3 second half goals from Kishna, Cassata and Pinamonti giving us a solid 3-0 win over struggling Benevento.

Next up was out home derby, and a continuation of my 100% record against Sampdoria, who are really struggling in the league.  A 10^th minute opener from Kishna gave us the lead but we had to wait until the 88^th minute for Cataldi to seal a 2-0 victory.

March ended with the first in the reverse run of ‘nasty’ fixtures that we’d had in October/November.  Simone Inzaghi’s Lazio dominating in an easy 2-0 win, with goals from Lazaro and Escalante.

We end Matchday 30 down a place in 6^th, level on points with Inter.  We are still well ahead of expectations, but the number of draws is really stalling our progress.

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Another bug or thing's not working like it used to is the promotion of u18s to the u20s.

In FM19, players too old will be promoted automatically at the end of each season, so you will know who is available or not next season.

Now in FM20, I have to manually clicked on my Assistant Manager's notice or manually promote them by checking the u18s squad. Since 17 years old can still be ineligible for the u18s, this was not straightforward at first glance. Only the 'ineligilble' red-status helped to know who to promote, only after the u18s have their fixtures generated. Unless I'm missing a setting here?

I'm now left with only 5 players in the u18s (apparently the regens starts at different age in this FM? It used to be 15/16s, so they have 2-3 years in the u18s). I guess I will get my wish of early End of Season break now, as my u18s is 2nd from bottom at the moment

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Guess the number of matches Cornelius' goal-drought was before scoring this?

In the first 30 minutes against Milan, he had pressed and stole the ball away from their LB, one of their CB, and Donnarumma - twice! Determined!

This was a first for me, where my player directly scored a goal after pressing the GK. I've scored from winning the ball against defenders, intercepting a back pass before. I've charged down a few kicks from the GKs (didn't score) but never scored after winning the ball off the GK feet.

[WilsonJuve]

10 hours ago, Weston said:

Not sure how this clean sweep is possible, especially considering none of them played for more than half the calendar year:

Odd was same as when that random english guy won player of the year in my save.

[WilsonJuve]

7 hours ago, quee said:

Another bug or thing's not working like it used to is the promotion of u18s to the u20s.

In FM19, players too old will be promoted automatically at the end of each season, so you will know who is available or not next season.

Now in FM20, I have to manually clicked on my Assistant Manager's notice or manually promote them by checking the u18s squad. Since 17 years old can still be ineligible for the u18s, this was not straightforward at first glance. Only the 'ineligilble' red-status helped to know who to promote, only after the u18s have their fixtures generated. Unless I'm missing a setting here?

I'm now left with only 5 players in the u18s (apparently the regens starts at different age in this FM? It used to be 15/16s, so they have 2-3 years in the u18s). I guess I will get my wish of early End of Season break now, as my u18s is 2nd from bottom at the moment

I have seen regens as young as 14 in the current game.

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Just now, WilsonJuve said:

I have seen regens as young as 14 in the current game.

Yeah, that's normal. I've never seen regens mostly first appearing at 17 in FM19 though. My previous intakes in FM20 had three 17 years old.

[WilsonJuve]

Just now, quee said:

Yeah, that's normal. I've never seen regens mostly first appearing at 17 in FM19 though. My previous intakes in FM20 had three 17 years old.

Had any gems yet? My intakes have all been poor this year I have a second save where Im managing Cesena in a youth only save, recently had a "golden generation" intake but they dont seem to be too good best one is 4 star potential. And for the league we are in with the players we have that is not good. By the time he is ready to play we will have outgrown him.

[quee]

Nope, none that I'm excited about. One did attracted an offer of £12m+ in installments and bonuses.

From experience, only when my facilities and recruitment are maxed out will there be someone worth building my side around (5+ seasons in).

[Muttley84]

Finally got the time to play the end of the season. Unfortunately no time for an in-depth season-review, but we won the Serie B and are now struggling to attract Serie A level players.

[Vizzini]

A.C. Milan 2024/2025: Start of the Season

After finally capturing the coveted Champions League-trophy, there were some big changes at Milan. Early in the summer, Man City came in for Sandro Tonali, who left for 98 million pounds, so I had to move swiftly to secure a big player to make up for this loss. Funnily enough his replacement could be found at the same club, as Phil Foden was available for 58 million. This saw a change in tactic, which meant that I also had to find a suitable back up for Bennacer, which came in the form of Matteo Guendouzi, who I had on loan in the 2021/2022-season. In other major moves, Esposito went to Tottenham for 51 million and Juventus aquired the services of Sergi Roberto for 38 million.

My inital plan was to deploy a 4-2-3-1DM-Wide, with Foden playing behind Cortez, but I did not like what I was seeing, so I changed to a 4-3-3 Tiki-Taka style. After several years playing high tempo football, I am curious to see how this patient style will work in the Serie-A. The start to the season has not been the best, but I hope to switch gears and change my fortunes quickly.

 

[john1]

16 hours ago, Weston said:

STONKS

Absolutely amazing profit  

Hoping to complete my season tonight, also sold Alejandro Gomez, to West Ham for 9M. Struggled to fit in my tactic as he plays in AM position which I play 4-1-2-2-1 tactic.

Edited April 25, 2020 by john1

[john1]

Just got my youth intakes and meh, only few good ones  
 
 

 

Liking the look of this guy attributes, hopefully will train his physical up. 
 

[quee]

Anybody using Technical Director and Loan Manager? I wonder if the bug where the 'Responsibilities' keep resetting itself still exist?

This is especially problematic for Loan Manager, who loaned out your players despite it requiring the Manager's approval (according to google).

I just found a decent, real-life, Loan Manager It was all regens staff before, so never bothered with it.

[sedge11]

So a little update on how my 1st season with Lazio is going.

We have just finished January and ended up being quite busy.

Gouiri comes in on an 18 month loan with view to buy for 22 mil, on my previous save with Man Utd, he went to Madrid and was unreal for them so I had to try get him in, I couldn't afford to buy him so an 18 month loan guarantee's I have got him and no one else can buy him, and I know Italian teams love a loan.

Almada is someone I have never brought, but know he is a favourite of the fm community, and with Correra and Alberto having interest, I got him in as an early replacement on the cheap.

All the outs where players I just weren't using and wanted off the wage bill, as the wage bill is quite tight.

I'm also having to fend off man city for Armini, I will be doing my absolute best to keep him.

This is how the season is going.

Ronaldo is just destroying the league.

We lost 2 of our 1st 3 games and were struggling to score, most the players hated me on the dynamics, but tweaked the tactics and as soon as won the players over we are now performing well and Immobile is scoring quite a few.

Edited April 26, 2020 by sedge11

[RVP32]

Okay so after having not enjoyed this game for a long while (THe match engine is just horrendous) I do feel the burning itch to pick up the game and start a save. Since I went to the Bundesliga last year, I'd like to do the Serie A this time around.

After starting some saves and running pre-seasons I ended up with 2 options: Inter and AS Roma.

As far as Inter goes, their frontline is godly with Lukaku, Lautaro, Esposito for the future and Icardi maybe returning (When I commit, I definitely hope PSG won't sign him for the clause.) and other good players like Brozovic, Barella, Eriksen, De Vrij and Skriniar. All it really takes is to keep the key players and improve the depth and you're done imo.

Meanwhile, Roma is a bit of a shambles. THey have a good young backbone with Kluivert, Under, Diawara and Zaniolo, but key is keeping those while also improving the rest of the squad who's either not good enough or too old. Dzeko and Kolarov for example are getting old and other options in the squad either aren't good enough long-term or lacks depth so in terms of rebuild, I find this more of a challenge especially since the other contenders do have pretty strong squads.

Thoughts and does anyone have any previous experiences with either of them this edition?

[Stackalee]

Bleugh, after Juve had one decent season they went bonkers and started playing Ronaldo on the wing, where he can barely score.

 

Plus side, Tonali has made an excelent libero, and the two chaps I brought in to replace Balotelli have done so and then some. Thought Lucca's lack of pace would be an issue but not so - when he gets a turn on somebody he's often away from them with his first touch, oddly enough.

Edited April 26, 2020 by Stackalee

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1 hour ago, RVP32 said:

Thoughts and does anyone have any previous experiences with either of them this edition?

Welcome!

Both teams can be a good career save, depending on your style of play, I guess. I always see Roma as a long term save, do a Totti or a De Rossi.

As you said, Inter have a stronger side now, with only some of the older players need replacing in the next couple of seasons. I think it is also easier to keep the players due to the status and size of the club.

Roma is the better challenge, young and exciting players with lots of players in the squad good enough for a while, age and ability. Keeping the players together will be the extra challenge, especially Zaniolo. I would personally keep Kolarov and Dzeko until they retire, always troubled me when playing against them.

There are others who have played as either teams, you can wait for them to get back to you or follow your heart and start now

[Muttley84]

A busy summer with a lot of transfer activity. We already achieved one of the side objectives of the career, in that the squad is now consisting entirely of Italian players. Not a lot of big names in there, but a nice mixture of young players on loan and not so young players owned by the club (but contrary to Italian tradition only two players over 30). We did some pretty good deals on players like Dimarco (who I saw performing well for others in here), Cucchietti (who was a bargain buy and might replace Cordaz soon when he settles in), extending Millico and Junior Bianchi loan deals, and even bringing in Palombi with a loan to buy next season. We already played two games, the cup first game - getting over Carrarese and the first match in Serie A.

The odds where not in our favor with the scheduling, as in the first game at our comeback in Serie A we were faced with the reigning (again) champions - Juventus. Not an easy fixture to start our Serie A journey, but I guess we gotta play them at some point. Here goes nothing:

Spoiler

 

Edited April 26, 2020 by Muttley84

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Twelfth Update.

Season 3 - Summer Transfer Window 2021/2022

Transfer Budget:

Spoiler

Previous Windows Budget: Zero, £1.9m (can be adjusted to £2.2m), £5.93m (£6.5m), £1.36m (£4m), and the current budget above which can be adjusted to £18m.

Transfer History:

Spoiler

Transfers Out

Spoiler

Managed to get decent fee for Grassi (valued at £5m).

There were only low bids (~£2+m) for Sepe (valued £5.75m) in July, and it was only after Roma had sold Pau Lopez for £8m at the end of July did they came with a good fee for a goalkeeper I hardly used.

Torino made a deadline-day offer for Colombi (valued at £275k), who was not transfer listed. Decided to accept and made Colombi decide himself if he wanted to go. He did and Parma got a great amount for a 3rd choice goalkeeper in his final year and only played 1 Coppa Italia game.

Got some income from some of the loans, so quite happy with that. Renewed Diakhate's contract first before sending him out on a 1-year loan, as his contract only have 2 years left.

Transfer In

Spoiler

Cornelius is of course a D'Aversa signing, made permanent after a 2-year loan.

Transfer #1

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Got one of my target this year! Happy with this, though I think I did overpaid for Tomiyasu a bit (valued at £5m). Basically made use of all my budget + Grassi's fee to bring in one player, who I hoped will be here for the long term.

Should I have been smarter? Most likely yes, but with lots of interest in him, I decided I didn't want to lose out again like Castrovilli.

Was hoping to get Nakata's name mentioned here, but I guess they went with the * record instead.

Athletico and Milan showed their interest as well when we were negotiating, luckily they didn't join in the bid.

Despite getting some more transfer budget in from the sale of Sepe in August, I decided against making further permanent signings, mainly because of the squad registration restriction limit in Europe.

Transfer #2

Spoiler

Hence, the arrival of Hannibal Mejbri, who I can leave out of the CL without him being unhappy. He will be joining on a 2-year loan. He only came into my radar in early August, so was happy with the scouts recommendation.

Transfer #3

Spoiler

As Colombi had left on Deadline-day, I had to bring in a 3rd choice GK, so came in Willy Caballero on a free, after his release from Juventus. This will be a single season deal, as he will retire next season. I'm hoping he can do some mentoring in the meanwhile, as he is unlikely to play any game. Sorry, Willy, no CL for you 

Transfer Review:

Overall, quite happy with my dealings. Managed to sell off those not in my plan (except one in the u20s). Acquired one of my top target since the beginning of the save, albeit a bit on the expensive side.

Ideally, I would have like a new player for starting spot in midfield, but because I still have too many there that I had set out not to sell or keep until they retired or ran out of contract. Mjebri will hopefully can develop and help provide some creativeness, which I think will be lacking this season.

I did tried to bring in Mertens on a free after his release from Napoli, but he rejected my offer and went to Portugal instead. I would have sold Gervinho if Mertens had arrived.

Contracts Renewal:

Spoiler

At the start of the 3rd season, I have 11 players in the first-team who are in their final year contracts.

Gagliolo and Brugman got a renewal after the Transfer Window shut, along with Batogh Bolond from the u20s, who will be part of the first-team this year (together with Laurenzi).

Bruno Alves is expected to retire at the end of the season, alongside new signing Willy Cabalero. Captain Alves will hopefully join our u18s coaching staff.

Iacoponi, Kucka, and Gervinho will be released at the end of the season, saving the club more than £80k p/w in wages.

Radu, Martinelli, Esposito will have their 2-year loan finishing as well. Though, I would like to extend Radu and Martinelli if possible. I did have the option to extend Martinelli in this Summer, but decided against it as I wanted to see more from him as he can go missing quite a bit, despite providing goals and assists here and there. Without these 2 loans (Esposito is free), I would save £48k p/w in wages next season if they would not return.

I haven't decided what to do with Scozzarella, though I might keep him for mentoring purpose (Driven). Kurtic (Driven), who have another 2 year on his deal is in the same boat - sold next summer or keep for mentoring in his final season.

 

Transfer Targets:

Spoiler

Lots of the players I have targeted for future transfers have moved in this window. Quite disappointed I will unlikely get to get them now, but it adds to the challenge. For a club like Parma, this is enjoyable, as I have to find new alternatives.

Below are some of those players:

I'm especially disappointed with Tales Magno, as I feel he would be perfect for my LW's IW-S role. Next season he would have been an achievable target, especially wage wise. 

Initially, I was happy with Martinelli, but so far, it seemed he is more suited to what Kulusevski was doing on the opposite wing, IF-A. Since I have an attacking LB, I want my LW to be the creator, and my RW to be the goalscorer. Of course, all of this is with Kulusevski in mind 

Manager's Movement:

Spoiler

Only one major movement in the summer, with Sarri sacked after Juventus only playing Europa League football this season. Not sure what this would mean for Kulusevski, though, as Sarri was adamant he's not going to let him go again this season.

Speaking of Kulusevski..

Spoiler

Key player already, over Ronaldo? No chance then to get him 

Of course I went and visited him at Juventus on the first day he left Parma.. 

Can a Scout Report reach 100? My first 99 

Transfer Window Roundup:

Spoiler

July

At this point, I'm resigning myself to never having the chance to bring Chiesa to Parma.

August

Deadline Day

Interesting Transfers on Deadline Day

I think Benitez have been great for Inter in their transfers, Orsolini to replace Chiesa, and bringing in Lucumi are two good businesses.

Start of the new season:

Spoiler

Ready, Parma?

Spoiler

Mejbri and Caballero joined after the number assignment, they wore 34 and 25 respectively.

Next Update: Midseason break 2021/2022.

Edited April 26, 2020 by quee

[dennislauridsen]

I an big fan of milan, so i Will start my final save Tonight.

Nu plan is to be the best in the World. But there will be Some terms. 

I Will split my team up. So i have 3 groups for my wage budget. Talents and backups goes under the same category. The ned Group, Will be starter and important players and the last Group Will be starplayers. Each group will get 33% og the wage budget.

The next thing, is Before i buy a New Player, i Need to check my talents, so if i have a Player that Will be good Enough or Maybe a season later, then I Will use Him instead of buying a New Player.

I Will Also go for bargins players from Leagues outside the 5 big. 

I Will report back when i have played more

[Weston]

11 hours ago, quee said:

Anybody using Technical Director and Loan Manager? I wonder if the bug where the 'Responsibilities' keep resetting itself still exist?

This is especially problematic for Loan Manager, who loaned out your players despite it requiring the Manager's approval (according to google).

I just found a decent, real-life, Loan Manager It was all regens staff before, so never bothered with it.

No, they're all pointless. And it's only worth having a Director of Football when you can use him as a scout before you're allowed to have more scouts.

[Weston]

8 hours ago, sedge11 said:

Gouiri comes in on an 18 month loan with view to buy for 22 mil, on my previous save with Man Utd, he went to Madrid and was unreal for them so I had to try get him in, I couldn't afford to buy him so an 18 month loan guarantee's I have got him and no one else can buy him, and I know Italian teams love a loan.

Gouiri is fantastic and carried me from Serie C to Serie A before Lyon sold him to Barcelona and he was gone. Wish I could've afforded him!

[Weston]

2 hours ago, Muttley84 said:

We already achieved one of the side objectives of the career, in that the squad is now consisting entirely of Italian players.

Do you consider those with Italian as a second nationality? This is a bold choice, really interesting challenge. I feel like Sassuolo are the closest we get to this in real life. Can you imagine taking over Inter with this rule? Would be impossible haha

[quee]

Thirteenth Update.

Season 3 - Midseason Break 2021/2022

UEFA Champions League:

Spoiler

Will do a section on UCL first.

Groupings

Was again the last team out of the hat.. Spanish Champion, Germany's 3rd place team, French runner-up and current leader - all in one!

Fixtures & Results

Matchday 1

Matchday 2

Matchday 3

Matchday 4

Matchday 5

Matchday 6

Final Table

Champions League Review:

In the end, the competition is just a few steps above our current level. Losing both Pezzella and Karamoh before Matchday 2 to long-term injuries meant that we struggled to create chances. After the Lyon 0-2 lost, I played more cautiously, hoping to get more point on-board, which we did. We improved, by being defensively solid, but struggling to create that meaningful chance in the attacking department. The goals scored by Martinelli on Matchday 5 was a superb solo effort after coming off the bench, whilst Pezzella was back for Matchday 6 to create the goal for Inglese.

Lack of goals, and creativity meant that we couldn't win any of our game. Learning curve for our first season in Champions League. The best game was the 2-2 draw against Barcelona, twice coming back from behind. At least we are unbeaten in 3 games against Barcelona (including the home friendly in preseason ).

Last season, Alastra played all of the Europa League matches and did exceptionally well. I tried to give him the CL matches as well, but he struggled early on and decided to persist with Radu instead. Though, Radu was in goal for both away loses against Bayern and Lyon, whilst Alastra was in goal in the 2-2 draw against Barcelona.

At least the fans should be entertained 

Results so far until December 2021:

Spoiler

Some matches I want to highlight:

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Injury trouble!

Spoiler

The aforementioned double long-term injury to Pezzella and Karamoh.

Turning point?

Spoiler

30 GAMES GOAL-DROUGHT?!

In the previous game, on Matchday 4 of the CL, Cornelius came on to replace Inglese with 29 minutes left. I've never seen a sub player got more than 7.0 rating in those minutes, not without scoring or assisting. He even got Player of the Match!

In the next game against Milan, decided to start Cornelius. How he had repaid me! In the first 30 minutes alone, he had won the ball from the LB, one of the CB, and from Donnarumma -  twice! (I posted the video of the goal on page 20) The second was of course his drought-breaking goal! 30 games! Even I was ecstatic for him.

After this match, the performances had generally improved and gotten better and better, even though we lost the next game against Juventus 0-1.

So, I credited Cornelius and his beautiful determination to score a goal, after all those doubts - from me especially! 

A few days later, saw this in the news section..

Donnaruma can't use that as an excuse! haha nothing will take it away from the Big Dane! 

 

Serie A Table:

Spoiler

Best season yet, in terms of competitiveness. 4th - 10th can all fight for European places, 3-horse race for the title, 11th - 19th a win away for anybody to climb or drop down the table.

Roma had actually been buying well in the summer, under the radar! De Rossi had brought in Maxi Gomez, Pedro Neto, Aaron Martin, Marcus Acuna, Gianluca Scamacca - all contributing to their rise to the top.

Serie A Stats:

Spoiler

Best first-half season so far from Inglese. He had scored 2 in his first season (finishing with 13), and scored 6 in his 2nd season (finishing with 17). Currently 13 in his third season, can he break the 20-goal mark by the end of the season? He has definitely stepped up without Kulusevski this season.

I believe this was the first Player of the Month a Parma player had won since I had been in-charge! Not even Kulusevski had won it, I think.

Parma Stats and Competitions:

Spoiler

Parma Squad Stats:

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Manager's Movements:

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Despite new owners and fresh investments, Pioli was just not the right person to carry Milan to the next level. A disappointing collapsed from last season.

 

So, how about Kulusevski..

Spoiler

I first noticed this as early as September..

By the end of December..

What have they done to Kulusevski @ParanoidBuddha? 

Potential reason? Still no excuse for Allegri not to start him even once!

Parma News:

Spoiler

Transfer Budget

Spoiler

First time I got a notification about transfer budget for the Winter Transfer Window.

Retirement Plans

Spoiler

As expected, our Captain is retiring, despite asking him to reconsider.

Iacoponi confirmed his as well, and I didn't asked him to reconsider.

Potential Transfers?

Spoiler

I was this closed in deciding to sell Kurtic this January, as he had complained and become unhappy despite already reducing his playing time status. Kucka went against him, as well. So, I feel supported. I played him in u20s matches to build his sharpness, and surprisingly he did okay when he played in the first-team.

 

Spoiler

First interest from a Chinese club, mega money transfer? Might be tempted, though I would like to keep Darmian.

Spoiler

Setback in trying to get him? Or blessing in disguise as I can delay getting him a bit longer?

Stadium Expansion

Midseason Review

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As it was, losing Kulusevski and putting all of my transfer budget into one player backfired slightly. Lack of creativity and major chances meant we struggled to win a lot of games. The upside was Inglese's form, who seemed possessed to find the goals, sometimes on his own! As can be seen from the lack of assists from one particular player.

Palmucci had a slow start to the season, whilst Amrabat had a strong start to his season. Both went the opposite way in their form, and Palmucci finished the year in better form.

How about Tomiyasu? His form wasn't helped by having to play both RB and LCB (after Pezzella long-injury) alternately every week. He became easily fatigued after International Break as well, due to the travelling with Japan. I'm hoping for a better 2nd half of the season!

I can write this season as a transition, as it will be the final seasons for so many of the original players that I wanted to keep and be loyal to. Next season will be a bit of a rebuilding as well, though I would want to find some senior players as replacement in the upcoming leadership and experience void.

At one point, I was at C-, was worried I would not last the season. It turned around quite quickly, though, so hopefully it can only get better from now on. I also got my first 'failed' in the CL, though they do understand the toughness of the draw 

Next Update: Winter Transfer Window 2022.

[quee]

1 hour ago, Weston said:

No, they're all pointless. And it's only worth having a Director of Football when you can use him as a scout before you're allowed to have more scouts.

I found a former Parma player, that's why I want to sign him. Though, I don't want to do it if the bug still exist.

[bendixkunert2]

7 hours ago, RVP32 said:

Okay so after having not enjoyed this game for a long while (THe match engine is just horrendous) I do feel the burning itch to pick up the game and start a save. Since I went to the Bundesliga last year, I'd like to do the Serie A this time around.

After starting some saves and running pre-seasons I ended up with 2 options: Inter and AS Roma.

As far as Inter goes, their frontline is godly with Lukaku, Lautaro, Esposito for the future and Icardi maybe returning (When I commit, I definitely hope PSG won't sign him for the clause.) and other good players like Brozovic, Barella, Eriksen, De Vrij and Skriniar. All it really takes is to keep the key players and improve the depth and you're done imo.

Meanwhile, Roma is a bit of a shambles. THey have a good young backbone with Kluivert, Under, Diawara and Zaniolo, but key is keeping those while also improving the rest of the squad who's either not good enough or too old. Dzeko and Kolarov for example are getting old and other options in the squad either aren't good enough long-term or lacks depth so in terms of rebuild, I find this more of a challenge especially since the other contenders do have pretty strong squads.

Thoughts and does anyone have any previous experiences with either of them this edition?

Roma is definitely a nice challenge for a top squad. Finances will be tough to overcome in the first few years, you can't spend without selling and the board still expects titles right away. 

[sedge11]

1 hour ago, quee said:

Wow you couldn't of got a harder group, even as a 4th seed that's just bad luck.

[sedge11]

2 hours ago, Weston said:

Gouiri is fantastic and carried me from Serie C to Serie A before Lyon sold him to Barcelona and he was gone. Wish I could've afforded him!

Yea for madrid on my previous save, he was brilliant and developed well for them.

I can't afford him as Lyon wanted 20 odd mil and I didn't have the budget to spend, and no extra wage budget to adjust, so an 18 month loan works perfect as with any luck I should be able to afford him then.

Edited April 26, 2020 by sedge11

[quee]

2 hours ago, sedge11 said:

Wow you couldn't of got a harder group, even as a 4th seed that's just bad luck.

I think I didn't get any luck at all, tbh. When I saw that we didn't get drawn in the first 4 groups, it had to be the last 2 since E and F already had Italian teams in them. So, it could have easily been Liverpool, Atletico, Leverkusen as well. Not sure which is harder compared to what I ended up with? I always hated playing Liverpool in FM19, and they won both CL so far in the game. Was hoping to sneak into the Europa but Lyon is currently leading Ligue 1 ahead of PSG and out of all the games, they gave me more problems over both games.

I was a bit surprised with the draw that I forgot to stop it before Parma's turn to take a screenshot (But you can easily tell we were last since 4th seed and in the last group).

For comparison, Group B and C were more balanced on paper.

Edited April 26, 2020 by quee

[Weston]

2 hours ago, sedge11 said:

Wow you couldn't of got a harder group, even as a 4th seed that's just bad luck.

 

30 minutes ago, quee said:

 

Wish I could find the screenshot (if I even took one) - in FM19 my Bari was drawn with Man U, Barca, and Dortmund. I think I managed 3rd, which was really something.

[Sh0tee]

 

I've been doing a journeyman save recently where I did a 6 year stint with Parma and had a lot of fun with it, so I decided to do a fresh save with another mid-table team with a lot of history. Mostly going to be focusing on trying to build up youth players as I did in that Parma run.

1st season

Transfers: 

 

Table: 

 

Not an amazing season, but not a bad one either, ran into a lack of form towards the end. Knocked out of Coppa Italia in the Quarters against Juventus.

Edited April 27, 2020 by Sh0tee

[Muttley84]

13 hours ago, Weston said:

Do you consider those with Italian as a second nationality? This is a bold choice, really interesting challenge. I feel like Sassuolo are the closest we get to this in real life. Can you imagine taking over Inter with this rule? Would be impossible haha

Actually no, I've set my filter to nationality is Italian, so those who have Italian as second nationality do not qualify for this (I don't even see them :)) ). I fell like it's a challenge easier to make in the lower leagues or with a struggling relegation side in Serie A, but would be more difficult to apply to a big side which competes for the title and Champions League. Not impossible, but difficult and might take a while until you clear your squad, but no idea how competitive you will be at that point.

[quee]

52 minutes ago, Sh0tee said:

I did a 6 year stint with Parma and had a lot of fun with it

Welcome! 

How did your Parma team go? Mind sharing your squad at the end?

 

[Fraser]

Genoa – 20-21 Serie A to Matchday 37.

Last time around March had just ended with a defeat by Lazio leaving us in 6th place in Serie A with 8 games left.

April:  Our tricky mini-run of fixtures continued with a 1-0 loss at home to Inter, with a late Lukaku goal giving them a deserved 1-0 victory.  That was followed by a costly 5-0 thrashing at Juventus, in a game which saw Pajac and Kishna injured in the first 25 minutes and Cataldi sent off with 15 minutes to go.  Juventus goals were doubles for Betancur and Ronaldo and one for Higuain.

We really needed a win vs Udinese, and duly delivered with a 2-0 victory. An even game was decided by goals from Criscito and Pinamonti.  April ended with us stealing a point from Atalanta, who raced into a 2-0 lead in the first 12 minutes with gaols from Zapata and Muriel. We responded quickly through Pinamonti and he then added a second in the very last minute to ‘earn’ us a draw.

May:  The final month of the season started with a home fixture against struggling Frosinone.  They couldn’t lay a glove on us as we played out a comfortable 2-0 win, with a Criscito penalty and a Kishna goal giving us the points.

Our toughest remaining fixture, at table-topping Napoli, followed.Again we struggled to compete with the big team, as Fabian and Manolas scored in a routine 2-0 win for them.

The last home game of the season saw Sassuolo as the visitors.  We were still in with a shout for Europe, while they had nothing to play for, but we still made hard work of it.  The ever-impressive Cataldi would fire home on the game;s only goal a minute after half time.

With one game to go we sit in 6th place, level on points with Cagliari.  The final day will decide:

• The champions - with one point separating Napoli and Lazio
• The Champion’s League places –Inter, AC Milan and Juventus all on 77 points
• The last Europa League spot – us and Cagliari on 68 points
• The final relegation place (technically) – Sampdoria 3 points ahead of Benevento with an equal head to head record, but Samp are 19 goals better off in goal difference.

Key final day fixtures are:

Napoli (1st) vs Milan (4th)
Lazio (2nd) vs Benevento (18th)
Inter (3rd) vs Fiorentina (9th)
Juventus (5th) vs Ascoli (20th)
Cagliari (7th) vs Genoa (6th)
Sampdoria (17th) vs Parma (13th)
 

[quee]

10 minutes ago, Fraser said:

Cagliari (7th) vs Genoa (6th)

Goodluck, @Fraser!

[Sh0tee]

1 hour ago, quee said:

Welcome! 

How did your Parma team go? Mind sharing your squad at the end?

 

Some players have since left, but here I what I would consider to be my best/memorable players (all bought as 16-18 year olds)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, there wasn't a whole lot of success with only 1 Serie A and 1 Coppa Italia to my name. We did finish at least top 4 my last 4 seasons however.

[quee]

7 minutes ago, Sh0tee said:

Some players have since left, but here I what I would consider to be my best/memorable players (all bought as 16-18 year olds)

 

Any real player still in your squad in 2032? 

[Sh0tee]

1 minute ago, quee said:

Any real player still in your squad in 2032? 

There re real players hanging around, but none of them were in my squad.

[DaaNMaaN]

First season with Lazio - Coming to half way point and didn't expect it to go this well, whole team is flying. Leroy sane for 12.5 mill has absolute bargain man shout out for Luis Alberto  an Milinkovic-Savic aswell running the show haha  

just wondering for people who always play in serie A an Italy do they find it easier than other leagues or what ? this is my first time on fm 20 in Italy 

[oze07]

Anyone into a save with roma? just wondered on finances etc? I want to build a team around zaniolo.

[Stackalee]

45 minutes ago, DaaNMaaN said:

just wondering for people who always play in serie A an Italy do they find it easier than other leagues or what ? this is my first time on fm 20 in Italy 

I don't always play Italy but I have played quite a few saves there now, Serie A is easier than Premiership, Bundesliga or La Liga imo. Flip a coin first season to decide if you get a decent Juve (I've seen them get anywhere from 79-95 points first season), but none of the other teams ever seem to perform as well as their players should and I've not yet seen Juve stay good after season 1.

[Adzke]

REGGINA 1914

We are now at 12 games into my first season in Serie B, and it's been quite a wild one so far.

I had put my mind to building the squad around Franck Koulibaly, but Napoli started sniffing around in the early summer, and even though I rejected all offers from them, Milan eventually swept in and bought him for a fee of up to €6M (with a friendly and 40 percent of the profits from next sale), which my chairman accepted. Didn't sit too well with me to begin with, but I can understand why a newly promoted Serie B club just can't decline such an offer.

I've brought in a some free players: Lucera from Palermo on his potential, Beruatto from Juventus for my WBL, Andy King for my central midfield, and Fernando Forestieri for attack. Lucera has hardly played for me, but Beruatto and King are doing well, while Forestieri is behind Colidio upfront. A bit disappointing for a player making €25k a month.

I've also loaned a bunch of players, even though that feels a bit like gaming the game, as I have far more players on loan than I can offer first team football to. Still, that seems to be the Italian way of doing stuff...

A lot of aging veterans have left, but I still have Germán Denis, though he is clearly on his last legs.

Coulibaly

Spoiler

Transfers

Spoiler

I am still playing my trusty 3-5-2 with great succes. I am expected to bravely fight off relegation, but I am doing a bit more, and I am actually in play for a promotion if we can keep up the form. We don't have any really top performers, but the squad is doing well. I'm really proud that I have beaten Genoa and Perugia who are also doing well.

Table and results

Spoiler

I play two of my newgen players most of the matches. Bombardieri has really come on strong, and he is consistently the best player in training. I don't know if I can keep hold of him in the long run, but we'll see. Wosniak is my starting keeper, and he is doing well also, though his improvement has been as remarkable.

Spoiler

 

[Weston]

4 hours ago, DaaNMaaN said:

just wondering for people who always play in serie A an Italy do they find it easier than other leagues or what ? this is my first time on fm 20 in Italy 

 

3 hours ago, Stackalee said:

I don't always play Italy but I have played quite a few saves there now, Serie A is easier than Premiership, Bundesliga or La Liga imo. Flip a coin first season to decide if you get a decent Juve (I've seen them get anywhere from 79-95 points first season), but none of the other teams ever seem to perform as well as their players should and I've not yet seen Juve stay good after season 1.

 

I agree that unfortunately the other clubs sell all their good players abroad and do not replace them well, so the overall standard decreases.

Right now it's my 2nd season in Serie A and I'm top of the table. Yes, I'm doing okay, but more realistically I'd be a surging Atalanta, not winning the league. It seems that the points totals in general are lagging behind the other major leagues, where I maybe should have the same amount, but Juve and Inter or whomever should be above me still.

It's frustrating because I want this to feel like a realistic challenge and not too easy, but I don't want to diminish my own efforts, I just wish the others were a little better, I think.

[Stackalee]

1 hour ago, Weston said:

It's frustrating because I want this to feel like a realistic challenge and not too easy, but I don't want to diminish my own efforts, I just wish the others were a little better, I think.

This pretty much sums it up for me. Although last time I mentioned it I was told this is only true if you abuse the game, so perhaps not the common experience.

Edited April 27, 2020 by Stackalee

[Weston]

14 minutes ago, Stackalee said:

This pretty much sums it up for me. Although last time I mentioned it I was told this is only true if you abuse the game, so perhaps not the common experience.

But what am I doing to abuse the game? Where were you told this and how?

The closest I come to that is using the editor to workaround bugs. Maybe there's an argument to be had that I shouldn't be able to see so many of the attributes of staff and players that I manually go scouting for myself, but then I have attribute masking on, and perhaps it should more drastically obscure things. I don't get it, I don't use player or staff guides, I don't download tactics, etc.

I've never won the Champions League in my life and I see people do crazy things so I think maybe I'm an average player, but then times like this I'm not so sure, even if I do not go on to win the scudetto this season. When I failed promotion in my first Serie C season I thought the game was too difficult and now I'm not so sure haha

Edited April 27, 2020 by Weston

[Stackalee]

2 minutes ago, Weston said:

But what am I doing to abuse the game? Where were you told this and how?

Not a clue sorry, the fella wouldn't explain and stuck me on ignore. I think it might have been to do with transfers, but given that Serie A is too easy with or without them I'm not sure!

it was in response to me making the points that the game loses appeal once you are unstoppable and that dominance is too easy to achieve. I guess he hadn't had the same experience and took it personally.

[WilsonJuve]

7 hours ago, quee said:

Any real player still in your squad in 2032? 

Hey in my seperate save which is youth only from serie c to serie A champions something differnet happened with Kulusevski. I told you in my Monza save he ended up moving for around £7m I beleive in like the 4th or 5th season. Well this save he has moved 2nd season to Atletico Madrid for £50m and is already valued higher than this

[quee]

15 minutes ago, WilsonJuve said:

Hey in my seperate save which is youth only from serie c to serie A champions something differnet happened with Kulusevski. I told you in my Monza save he ended up moving for around £7m I beleive in like the 4th or 5th season. Well this save he has moved 2nd season to Atletico Madrid for £50m and is already valued higher than this

What 2nd save are you doing?

Can you show me a screenshot of him? And the career stats as well. He must have done really well at Parma in the first season to be already moving in the 2nd season for that amount of money.

I'm in January 2022 now, and believe it or not, Atletico also had offered £52m for him in the first week, which have been accepted.

[WilsonJuve]

4 minutes ago, quee said:

What 2nd save are you doing?

Can you show me a screenshot of him? And the career stats as well. He must have done really well at Parma in the first season to be already moving in the 2nd season for that amount of money.

I'm in January 2022 now, and believe it or not, Atletico also had offered £52m for him in the first week, which have been accepted.

2nd save is a Youth only save can only use players that come directly through my academy. Im doing it with Cesena. We are performing very well so far. And I  Will just have to scout him to get his stats as I have attribute masking on. Will send it ASAP.