[FM19] I Blucerchiati

[zlatanera]

Alternate title: zlatanera's "...and now I'm going to slum it in mid-table". 

When you think of cool clubs, let's be honest for most of the English users here you instantly think of Calcio. A lot of the FM fanbase are probably a little bit older than me and have nostalgia for 90s' Serie A, but I tend to think more of AC Milan with a team of 40-year olds and Kaká being a Champions League mainstay in terms of real football. Virtually however, Sampdoria are one of the standouts due to having the coolest kits. Given the club's colours affects the colour of your actual game on FM, that's a somewhat unheralded aspect of choosing a club - especially if you're not one of those who plays on 2D. That's a primary reason I'm not using Torino (sorry @john1 but those colours just look ugly on the Champions League trophy) or Genoa Cricket and Football Club. 

Be honest - everything about this image just looks right. 

Other reasons are that everything about the modern Sampdoria just trends slightly differently to how I play the game and my usual club picks (Ajax, Manchester United, Lyon, Real Sociedad, Dortmund, Fiorentina). Like any well-run club outside of the elite they may sell players, but rather than developing their own its more of a buy low, sell high philosophy. Whereas the likes of Lyon and Real Sociedad have a strong local contingent and pride themselves on this in my starting squad there are 0 Home-Grown players as Samp look towards exploiting value in talents from Belgium, Poland and The Netherlands alongside using their nEU slots on South Americans. Whilst Lyon had youngsters like Gouiri and Aouar in the first team ready to develop into world class talents, the best player on the books at Sampdoria is 35-year old Fabio Quagliarella (although there are young talents, as will be displayed a couple of posts down). Every club I name checked owns their own stadium, whilst Sampdoria share the municipally-owned Luigi Ferraris with fierce rivals Genoa...I could go on. Anyway, there were a lot of reasons to pick them when deciding to continue playing FM19 despite a new game coming out. 

One Scudetto, one European trophy (and a European Cup final loss to Cruyff's Barcelona 'Dream Team')...you can see the rest above. Point is that whilst there's a little history, its not an overpowering weight of history like with Manchester United or Ajax. Sampdoria hasn't won a trophy in my lifetime either, so I'll be taking the Coppa Italia seriously.

Fitting what I said earlier, we have Superb training facilities in order to best develop those young talents and flip them for a profit like Torreira, Schick and Skriniar before, and although we have Good youth facilities, the fact that we're no Atalanta is reflected in the levels of Junior Coaching and Youth Recruitment. As well as sharing our stadium, our youth teams share a stadium with Bogliasco - luckily they're not in an active league so I don't think this will have much of a negative effect on us.

That's right - no philosophies! I could request my usual ones of developing youth, signing youngsters and attacking and/or possession football, but I think I'll leave it at nothing for now - my natural instincts tend towards signing young players, and I'll need to in order to pay off the £30m of debts the club has amassed - as the lack of a defined playing style means less of those "the fans will be disappointed you didn't play in an x manner today" questions after a hammering. 

 

Edited November 27, 2019 by zlatanera

[zlatanera]

I'm using the 19.3 database as the main man Fabio got a boost, and have disabled the first transfer window as standard - don't need even more turnover before the start of the season. This is a larger amount of leagues than I usually load as a) Italy has a lot more neighbouring countries than France or Spain and b) per this piece Sampdoria have recently exploited the Belgian, Dutch and Polish talent pools to great effect. I also added in the Czech top division in the hopes of getting another Patrick Schick (when he was in Genoa, not the struggling Roma player). 

As ever, I play FM on easy mode, so my manager has the top qualifications and playing experience. He's fluent in the three languages I can introduce myself in - Italian, French and German - as well as my native English. Those high mental attributes are to help deal with the board and the players more effectively. I could probably have knocked down Working With Youngsters a bit and boosted Defending or something, but I was a wide attacker when I played at school (Attacking, Technical, WWY) and find my greatest joy in the tactics side of the game (Tactical). I'm weird (Mental), spend all my time playing FM and have the hand-eye coordination of a snake so those low attributes are appropriate too.

Edited November 27, 2019 by zlatanera

[zlatanera]

In general for a mid-table club Sampdoria have a decent set-up in terms of staff. Two weak points were Head of Youth Development and the scouting department. I've addressed one of those issues and bypassed the other.

Those 4 scouts that went out all sucked. Like really sucked - JPA/JPP of 10 or lower, and in 2 cases low Determination and Adaptability too. Porchia, Larsen and Gerets are significant upgrades. The rest of the hires are just filling available staff slots - David Platt returning as u18s Assistant Manager 20 years on from managing the club is exciting. I hope to bring Gianluca Pagliuca onto the backroom staff as soon as I get more spaces too. So scouts were easily sorted, but Head of Youth Development was Giovanni Invernizzi - a club legend with 183 appearances for the club - so despite his 2 Determination meaning I didn't want him influencing our newgens, and his coaching abilities not being up to much either, I didn't want to get rid of him. The solution? Change the responsibility for youth intakes over to our Director of Football, Carlo Osti:

Everything about his tactical preferences is a positive, and he has 10 more points in Determination than Invernizzi. Normally I take control of literally everything, but I've decided to put him in charge of setting up assignments for our scouts, making offers on youth players, and conducting press conferences for all new signings. 

I had always been planning to take a slightly more hands-off approach to training, but upon realising we had a staggering 119 players on the books, I moved all the best youth players to the u20s to supervise their individual training (u20s Manager doing team training) and put my u18s Manager Felice Tufano entirely in charge of training for his squad. I will obviously be training the first team, with team training inspired by this post on Strikerless. By the end of the 2019 summer transfer window I hope to have those numbers down to a more manageable 55-69, but I'm not optimistic.

Edited November 27, 2019 by zlatanera

[zlatanera]

I'm going to save any readers - and myself - a huge amount of time by not talking about my youth players and loan army (43 players). 

The first thing to notice is this squad is perfectly setup to play my predecessor Marco Giampaolo's 4-3-1-2 system - 2 players for each position in the back four and central trio. There are issues further forward, however, where we have 2 attacking midfielders, 4 strikers but then also Gianluca Caprari, who can play both positions, as a 3rd / 5th man. As a £13.25m signing from Inter in 2017/18 I can't really afford to leave him rotting on the bench...but I will probably have to. 

The squad is generally young, with only two players over 30, and 3 outstanding youth prospects in Audero, Tavares and Vieira. I wanted Audero on my Lyon save but he wasn't interested, so I'm glad I get him here. Tavares was a favourite on FM18 too, and Vieira is a rare Englishman abroad - asking him to replicate David Platt's success in Italy may be a bit much but at the very least he can develop as a footballer and earn us a pretty penny when he leaves.

Edited November 27, 2019 by zlatanera

[zlatanera]

As said previously, the squad is set up for a 4-3-1-2. Behold!

Look on in awe, as my formation is in the exact centre of the post! Why? Because I'm using a Balanced mentality and no instructions! I've replicated Marco Giampaolo's tactic before, but I don't want to wed myself to that style this time, in particular after coming off a possession-based career with Lyon. The shape is probably the best way to get the most out of my current squad though, I can look into moving to either a back 3 or a 4-4-2 (something I've done never / not for about 6 months, respectively) in 2019/20. 

WB-At will be Bereszynski - the best full back on the books, he'll be our main wide attacking outlet. DCR will usually be Joachim Andersen, but his partner will alternate. Murru and Tavares are both defensively suspect so they get the Au duty as it doesn't have Get Further Forward but isn't as overly cautious as the De duty. 

In the midfield Ekdal / Vieira will be our deep conductor in the centre, Jankto / Praet on the left will provide a bit of creativity whilst workhorses Barreto and Linetty on the right will help cover for the right back's forays forward.

Ramírez and Saponara will be our No. 10s, playing balls through to the forwards or out wide to the full backs and hopefully getting into the box a little themselves if we're camped in the opposition half.

Quagliarella will be the DLF for any game he's fit - got to enjoy him whilst I can - whilst Gabbiadini and Defrel will alternate as his partner. The idea is to get goals either directly from crosses from the full backs or for the MEZ or AM to slide a ball through for the AF who, being left-footed, will square it for Quagliarella. 

Edited November 27, 2019 by zlatanera

[zlatanera]

Usually when it comes to set pieces I put my favourite player on direct free kick duty, customise corners and attacking throws and leave it at that. To contrast with my no instructions tactic, this time I decided to customise takers and routines for all 24 set pieces. 

Corners:

Spoiler

We're not the tallest team around, hence quite a cautious corner set up. AMCs take them as they're the best for the job - having 1 position set as takers also means I know what I'm getting with my routine. both Jankto and Praet are tall but not strong aerially, so I have them mark the goalkeeper just to get in the way. My centre backs attack the posts, whilst my forwards use their movement to pounce on any knockdowns / clearances. Full backs stay back to use their pace to thwart counters whilst my two remaining CMs sit outside the box to try and prevent counters by either having a pop or recycling it to the takers to put it in the mix again.

I decided to go for a fully zonal approach to defending set pieces. Quagliarella should be able to stop quite a lot of corners getting past him, but any of his replacements will necessitate a rethink. My centre backs cover the rest of the 6 yard box, and for reasons outlined with the attacking routine MCL has the furthest reaches of the 6 yard box. AMC lurks waiting to release STCL - our fastest attackers - on the counter, and I hope that by putting the rest on Go Back that they'll intelligently cover the spaces and pick up any runners from deep. 

Attacking Free Kicks:

Spoiler

Quagliarella gets free kick duties as whilst others are stronger than his 12 Free Kick Taking I want to give him maximum opportunities to score. The AMCs are 2nd choice, so no matter who takes the shot I should have someone lurking at the edge of the area in case of a desperate clearance. All those men forwards are so hopefully should the taker hit the woodwork / the keeper not push it out of play we can get a goal. 

I'm not quite sure which ones the Direct (Small Chance of Shot) free kicks are. So this is a bit of a hedging of bets. AMCs take them, with strikers on standby for a short option (Quagliarella and Gabbiadini both have 17 Long Shots so I flipped the two striker positions on the left-sided version). The usual suspects are sent forward to try and score in any ensuing scrambles, but as this may backfire spectacularly I've left the DLP back to help the full backs. MCR is on Stay Back If Needed as I'm really unsure what I'm doing here.

We have 3 players left back as there are more counter opportunities from indirect free kicks, the MCR lurks for a similar reason. DCR goes near post as Andersen is our best aerial threat, STCR at the back post to bury any flick-ons. The other 3 all line up to attack the ball (DCL and MCL being tall, STCL being a good finisher).

As this one is (in my mind) more of a long hopeful punt I've just left all of the guys in the area on Go Forward - I imagine we'll see them all line up and charge as the ball is hit. The same setup of counter-prevention personnel as the wide free kick.

Defending Free Kicks:

Spoiler

Plenty of players in the wall, the Advanced Forward waiting to counter, and our 4 tallest roles going back - as none of them are slouches they should be able to deal with rebounds both in the air and on the floor. A 5-man wall should be a good enough obstacle to ensure the guys in the box aren't needed that often.

As said before, I don't really know what the Direct (Small Chance of Shot) free kick is. So we have the AF waiting for the counter, 3 players forming a wall, AMC waiting to spring the counter and the rest going back. If it works as I hope, that'll mean a good zonal coverage in the box. If it works badly, they'll all stand around looking at each other whilst the opposition attackers give Audero one hell of a workout. 

Our lack of height is going to hurt us off the indirect free kicks. So I set the two centre backs to cover the corners of the 6 yard box and rely on Audero to cover directly in front of himself. AMC to spring counters, STCL to carry them, two midfielders in the wall to ensure some effort on the taker's behalf, and the rest go back.

The only difference between my setup and the default setup is putting the AMC on the Edge of the Area role instead of just sending him back. Saponara and Ramírez aren't going to contribute much defensively anyway, I'd much rather use their creative talents and rely on the other 7 to defend. 

Throw-Ins:

Spoiler

We lack both an aerial presence and wannabe Delaps, so its a short routine. 3 players back to defend, two short options to either give it back to the taker to cross, or move it onto the guys at the edge of the box. They cane either shoot or try to play in the strikers if we're quick enough.

You don't get as many defensive options as attacking options on a throw. So the defence is very similar to the wide free kick defence - in case of a long throw the centre backs and keeper will cover the 6 yard box and we have 5 men back in the area. If its short I guess they'll spread out a bit more to cover the opposition players. We have the AMC and Quagliarella to either spring the AF on the counter or carry it themselves.

 

Edited November 27, 2019 by zlatanera

[zlatanera]

Reserved

[zlatanera]

Reserved

[zlatanera]

Reserved

[Muttley84]

Reserved

[kingjericho]

Why FM19? Have you tried 20 and didn't like it, or are you just still hooked on the previous one?  

[zlatanera]

@kingjericho FM19 didn't work properly for about 3 months on Mac. That's the sort of thing that makes you not want to buy the new one. That I also had plenty I still wanted to do on FM19 is a bonus.

[john1]

Such a shame you didn't like Torino's colours   However, good luck with Sampdoria  

[zlatanera]

So the reason for so many Reserved posts was that I hadn't figured out the spoiler button until just now - I'd always been creating them manually and then struggling to get more than 1 per post work. So I'll either put the first few months of the season up there, or keep them as summary posts (trophies, transfers, job offers etc.).

[zlatanera]

We’re predicted 10th, which seems about right for the squad - we have some talented players but not enough depth to be expected to push into Europe. The board wants top half, which 10th would be enough. That means as long as we finish strong I can probably get away with 13th. I’m aiming higher though - I think we can get up to 7th and then hope a team higher up than us wins the Coppa Italia so we can have some fun Thursday night adventures in July 2019!

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

After finishing my 4th and final season with Nantes I fancied managing an Italian team I have never managed before and Sampdoria looks like a good prospect.

I like what you have done so far.

Just curious do you think the players are capable of playing a formation like Klopp's Liverpool in real life @zlatanera

[zlatanera]

@Ronaldo Beckham Are you talking FM19 or FM20? I'm assuming Klopp's formation is considered a 4-3-3 - I really don't watch much football bar highlights of the teams I follow, mostly read about it - but on FM19 I'm not sure the squad would be immediately suited to it. Manolo Gabbiadini and Grégoire Defrel are both natural Inside Forwards at AMR, but you have no natural AML and the only players comfortable there would all be unsuited for their own reasons: Dennis Praet (slow, really a CM), Gastón Ramírez (doesn't have the right attributes to press like a Klopp side at all, and left-footed), Gabbiadini (left-footed, would waste his 17 long shots if he can't cut inside), and Gianluca Caprari. Then again I'm a perfectionist when it comes to FM so maybe you'd be fine. 

FM20 I don't know enough about: on the one hand they hired Eusebio Di Francesco for the start of the season and the man loves a 4-3-3, but on the other hand I believe part of the reason he failed is they recruited poorly. 

On FM19 if you didn't want to play a narrow formation another option would be a 4-4-2. Jacopo Sala is a natural MR (but has the trait Runs With Ball Rarely) and Bereszynski is accomplished their too, you'd still have Alex Ferrari to cover DR. On the left Jankto is a natural W-Su and could be backed up by Júnior Tavares, who is better going forward than defensively anyway. You'd definitely end up with unhappy players though - either a 4-4-2 excludes Gastón Ramírez, who is quite unprofessional, and Saponara (loaned, don't worry) or you have a 4-4-1-1 with 5 players vying for the striker position. 

Edited November 27, 2019 by zlatanera

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Yeah I meant FM2020. I am thinking of starting a Sampdoria save.

Would Mo Daramy be a good player to sign for them?

[zlatanera]

8 hours ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Yeah I meant FM2020. I am thinking of starting a Sampdoria save.

Would Mo Daramy be a good player to sign for them?

Not sure, is he a really fast striker? If so could pair well with Quagliarella in a 4-4-2. But I would definitely just go ahead and start a save with them. I usually boot up a save then spend about 4 hours figuring out what I’m doing before I press continue.

Alternatively whilst watching a movie I made a save with every global top division, 20 JPA/JPP manager and no attribute masking, with a top club so I had the full scouting packages. If I ever press continue my computer will explode but it’s great for getting a look at a club. 

Edited November 28, 2019 by zlatanera

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Cheers mate, I think I might start a save with them tonight. 

I will let you know how Daramy does but I will inbox you as I don't want to bombard your careeer thread on here.

[zlatanera]

August 2018

AlbinoLeffe (H): Jankto (96, 107)

Bologna (H): 54’ my set piece routines appeared to be working - defensively at least - as a deep free kick didn’t clear Ramírez, but Tonelli had pushed over a man in the box. Rodrigo Palacio stepped up…and Audero saved the pen! Otherwise a bore draw.

Cagliari (A): 15’ when Luca Pellegrini had the ball in space I was fearing for our defenders against Pavoletti’s 20 Heading, but instead we won the ball, Ramírez carried it right up the pitch and crossed for Quagliarella to finish at the near post! 27’ Ferrari threw it forward, Quagliarella flicked it on to Ramírez who drove the defence back to the edge of the box before laying it off to Jankto, who took a touch and blasted it into the net! 45+2 Defrel shot was deflected and Ramírez got one for himself. A good win, although I am concerned at Audero making 17 saves in 2 games.