[FM20] Champagne Football II: Calcio Offensivo

[noikeee]

March 2021: 1 point only in tough month
 

Serie A round 28
Juventus 4-1 Cremonese: Destroyed by the champions
(Alex Sandro 12, Ronaldo 27, 37, Dybala 50; Esposito 91)

Away to the reigning champions, and with our first 3 choices for CB (Bettela, Tisserand, Walace) all suspended or injured, this was never going to go well. Juventus were rampant in the 1st half and beginning of the 2nd, having loads of clear chances as they showed clear superiority, through pace upfront, overloading the base of midfield, and dangerous attacking fullbacks. They went 4 goals up and then relaxed a bit, allowing us to have a few chances as well later on, and eventually scoring one through a wonderful first time long shot by Esposito. But Juve's big win is fair.

Serie A round 29
Cremonese 0-2 Milan: Undone by set pieces
(Piatek 41, Caldara 57)

Another defeat as we struggle to show the giant-killing ability we had been showing up until here in the season. We played reasonably well, Ecuatorian ball wizard Juan Cazares finally starting to show a bit of his flair as he played a couple of delicious through balls for Esposito and Salcedo, the young forwards squandering it. At the other end Milan would not squander their opportunities. A deep freekick and a corner resulted in 2 goals, and that gave them the win.

Serie A round 30
Fiorentina 2-2 Cremonese: Excellent draw even with 10 men
(Pedro 66, Milenkovic 83; Vignato 35, Martins 82)

A crazy game in Florence. We looked bad out of the blocks, but got a goal against the run of play after 35 minutes. In the 2nd half Fiorentina went at us with everything, we regrouped tactically and started looking very good on the counter. However they drew, and minutes later Walace saw the 2nd yellow so we were down to 10. Sensationally, this didn't stop us putting in venomous counters, and Fábio Martins put us ahead again, with our LB Marko Pajac's 2nd assist of the night. Fiorentina drew again just the next minute, but we managed to avoid conceding any more and brought a point home.
 

This never looked like an easy month, and I'm a little disappointed we didn't continue with the pattern of getting points against the big teams here - though the point in Florence was great. This allowed Udinese to overtake us in the table, relegating us to 11th, but we continue well clear of the danger zone with just 8 matches to play.

[noikeee]

Youth intake
 

 

 

 

 

 

I honestly don't understand the star ratings as again I see players low in stars that look much nicer than those above. My favourite player here is right-back Carlo Alberto Piani. I'm not entirely sure there's a future Serie A star in here, but there's quite a few decent defenders around who should have future careers in Italy's lower reaches.

[SRL88]

Piani and Marchetti coming through at the same time is brilliant. They both look really good. 

[noikeee]

42 minutes ago, SRL88 said:

Piani and Marchetti coming through at the same time is brilliant. They both look really good. 

Idk, I'm not a huge fan of Marchetti. I see pace and not much more...

[noikeee]

April 2021: Four 1-0 wins
 

Serie A round 31
Cremonese 1-0 Brescia: Penalty decides unbelievably poor match
(Esposito pen 62)

Wow, I'm glad I didn't watch the full match here. At half-time the total shot count registered: 1 for Cremonese, 0 for Brescia (!). By full time it was a slightly more bearable 6 for Cremonese, 3 for Brescia, but that's still **** poor. We got lucky we got a penalty kick and that was it, 3 points.

Serie A round 32
Sassuolo 0-1 Cremonese: Lucky win
(Martins 69)

The home side were unquestionably on top the first half here - we held on but they could've scored a few. However as the match went on, they lost desire. Then we put on together one of our signature moves, a crossfield ball to the LB (this time Kevin Rodrigues instead of Pajac) who then releases the LW (Fábio Martins) free on goal. It went in. We held on for the remainder of the match, for a fortunate win.
 

Serie A round 33
Cremonese 1-0 Empoli: Very late goal finally breaks down deep defence
(Salcedo 93)

A one-way traffic match here. For 92 long minutes, we shot and shot and camped around their area, and nothing. I was experimenting here with a 4-1-4-1 formation due to not being happy with the performances of the AMC and AMR in the Champagne Tuchel tactic I've been playing most of the season, and I was starting to wonder if having more deeper players was taking away a scoring edge from us. Until on the very final minute of injury time, Salcedo got one. Okay then.
 

Serie A round 34
Cremonese 1-0 Verona: Salcedo solves everything again
(Salcedo 71)

A very similar match to the one above, now against dead last Hellas Verona. We camped in their area in the new tactic and waited for the goal to come. It came from Eddie Salcedo again, coming in as a sub again, but a little earlier now, on minute 71 - a short corner from Juan Cazares found him free and he blasted one in from the edge of the area.

I'm not entirely sure racking up wins on binary scores counts as "champagne football", but it's working for us now. This was a great month, we're back to 10th and it looks like that place will be ours now. Outside chance we could still nick 9th from Roma.

[noikeee]

May 2021 (1): Run continues, now in style

Serie A round 35
Bologna 0-3 Cremonese: Vintage performance results in big away win
(Esposito 28, Vignato 40, Cazares 79)

Wow. In the previous 2 matches I had tried a new, deeper 4-1-4-1, that had worked well but given us 2 very boring wins. In honour of its stifling dullness, I dubbed it "Champagne van Gaal" thinking of his "wonderful" time at Man Utd. And then I brought the tactic to Bologna and we were... magnificent. Utterly dominated the match, made a total of 32 shots and 3 of them found the back of the net, including a wonderful team play finished by Vignato after a delicious assist by F9 Sebastiano Esposito. Horny football indeed.

Serie A round 36
Cremonese 3-0 Genoa: Another really good match as we keep on winning
(Vignato 5, 52, Esposito pen 38)

6th consecutive win, 6th consecutive match without conceding. This wasn't quite as dominating as the previous match in Bologna, but still very comfortable. We were ahead as soon as minute 5 with Vignato stealing the ball from a defender then running at goal and scoring; Esposito added another from the spotkick before the break; then Vignato early into the 2nd half headed another in. Genoa probably deserved a goal with some efforts late in the game but we're worthy winners.
 

2 matches to go and we're putting pressure on Roma for 9th. The next match? Away to Roma. Bring it on.

There seems to be an epic fight building up at the top of the table between Lazio, Juve and Napoli, too. There's a Napoli-Juve in the next round that could hand the title to Lazio.

[Deisler26]

It's all going down in Italy!!

[kidthekid]

Did you make any changes that lead to this win streak?

[ManUtd1]

Excellent form in the run-in!  Does it presage a run for the European slots next year?  I hope so!

[noikeee]

11 hours ago, Deisler26 said:

It's all going down in Italy!!

Err... yes, it is.

 

3 hours ago, kidthekid said:

Did you make any changes that lead to this win streak?

Yes and you helped me name it yesterday! For the past 4 matches I've been playing a new one now named "Champagne Rodgers" (briefly "Champagne van Gaal" before I realised it's got nothing to do with the Dutchman, albeit it sure as hell produces horny football):

 

We spent most of the season before this playing Champagne Tuchel. I still think it's a very viable weapon to keep on my swiss army knife of tactics, given how successful it was at giant-killing:

 

1 hour ago, ManUtd1 said:

Excellent form in the run-in!  Does it presage a run for the European slots next year?  I hope so!

It should be a decent possibility... don't forget we have a tycoon. If I get some good deals in the summer and Mr. Rich Man pumps some cash, it should be possible to improve and move up the table.

I do kind of hate the tycoon.. puts a bit more pressure, takes away a bit of the feeling of achievement. On the other hand, it's nice to have some spare cash. And we've not really spent THAT much, 13,25M€ in signings this year (and offset by 3M€ in sales). The squad still feels a bit rubbish for this level - it's time to start bringing in some players that are more clearly suitable for Serie A.

Edited March 30, 2020 by noikeee

[noikeee]

This news item shows how reliant we are on young Italian talent, with 4 of our starters called up for the Italian U21 squad. Unfortunately only Vignato is truly our player, the other 3 prospects are on loan from Inter!

Edited March 30, 2020 by noikeee

[ManUtd1]

#NetSpend

[noikeee]

That's an interesting way for Juventus to lose the title...

[ManUtd1]

31 minutes ago, noikeee said:

That's an interesting way for Juventus to lose the title...

*makes uncomfortable Gary Neville sounds*

I'm going to need a minute...

[noikeee]

May 2021 (2): Winning run over in the last day

Serie A round 37
Roma 0-2 Cremonese: Dominant showing in Rome promotes us to 9th
(Bettella 16, Salcedo 77)

I was expecting quite a bit of resistence from Roma here, instead it's just the continuation of our run with the 7th straight win without conceding. Again we camped in their area mostly all match long, scoring early in a corner, then adding another late in the 2nd half with a delicious Juan Cazares through ball assist for a run by Salcedo from the wing. They woke up in the final minutes and hit the post, but far too late. We overtake them for 9th place.
 

Serie A round 38
Cremonese 0-1 Torino: Uninspiring showing results in defeat to end the season
(Berenguer 37)

Well this is not how I wanted to end the season. We basically did nothing all match long, always coming up against a large wall of Torino shirts - late on I basically threw out all caution and just moved a few players up the pitch to see what happened, and still nothing. It's not as if Torino did much neither. They scored on a counter from one of our attacking corners and uh, that's it. Roma win, so we drop back to 10th.

 

This wasn't a bad season, I guess? Hovering around midtable all year long is very unexciting and doesn't make for a great story, but we were well clear of the relegation battle all year long and that's what mattered. Now it's time to add some pinches of talent over these building blocks, and see how far can we go in the next few seasons.

Lazio did win the title after 9 years of Juventus dominance! Props to AI's Simone Inzaghi, great job.

[noikeee]

Season review - Cremonese - 2020/2021

Competitions

• Serie A: 10th
• Coppa Italia: Knocked out in the 4th qualifying round by Inter

Club vision

Well above the board's expectation of merely avoiding relegation. I did sign players under 23 who made a big impact in the first team, I guess the fact they're on loan makes them not count, which is fair enough...

Finances

 

Still living off Mr. Rich Russian's personal fortune.

Squad statistics

 

Top 5 players of the season

5. Sebastiano Esposito (ST, AMC)
 
One of two very young forwards I loaned in from parent club Inter, he'd prove slightly more influential than Salcedo and I kept playing him upfront - albeit on F9 role, whilst Salcedo was shoved to a wing. I know he's a huge prospect IRL. he had a good season, but I still would've wanted more goals. 9 of them was a decent tally.

4. Emanuel Vignato (MR, AMR, AMC)
 
The only player to shine that was here last year in Serie B already, finished the season as our top scorer on 12 goals. The early season plan to make him a goalscoring trequartista didn't exactly do super well, but he started scoring more regularly once shoved to the right wing as inverted winger, despite the fact he's right footed. Vignato is the most exciting youngster on the squad that's contracted permanently to us.

3. David Bettella (DC)
 
Another super exciting youngster, but again, on loan from Inter. Despite us spending big on centerbacks Walace and later in January, Marcel Tisserand, the 21 year old Italian was no doubt the first name on the team sheet at the back.

2. Marko Pajac (DL)
 
A bit of a weird one, he's not that good on paper and in January I signed another leftback (Kevin Rodrigues) in order to try to get a minor upgrade. But Pajac just kept on racking up assist after assist, up to a total of 13, aided by taking a few set pieces but also quite a few from open play as well. This let him have the 2nd highest average rating in the squad. A very good year by the Croatian fullback, feels like he outperformed his talent level.

1. Matt Smith (DM, MC, DC)
 
Player of the year could've gone to any of the past 4 players but I decided to give it on average rating to our defensive midfielder because there wasn't really a super standout performer in attacking actions. Plus, how often do you get defensive midfielders topping the ratings, even if FM20 is a little kinder to them?! The Welsh youngster on loan from City was super consistent all year long, he is one of the best talents in the squad, and fully deserves the unofficial award.

Other honourable mentions

Eddie Salcedo (ML, ST, AMC)
 
The other teenage forward on loan from Inter, I ended up adapting him to the left wing so he can run with the ball at pace and hopefully score a few. We got mixed results. He was very, very good at getting himself into scoring positions but I felt he squandered a few too many chances. Still got 7 goals and is only getting better and better.

Individual competition stats

Pajac is the only of our players that managed to get near Serie A's top numbers - not a huge surprise given we're still a small club for the division.

[noikeee]

I can work with that.. that's roughly almost twice the budget we had this year for wages, and almost twice what we spent on transfers as well.

[noikeee]

New HOYD for the new season. Argentinian model citizen. 

[noikeee]

For the new season, we're unfortunately about to lose all of these players as they're all wanted at their parent clubs...

The only loan I managed to renew for a 2nd season is Man City's DM Matt Smith - our player of the season! I'll miss Salcedo, Esposito, Bettella, Kiyine and Kingsley a lot, though.

[noikeee]

Pre-season 2021-2022: Rejuvenating the squad

 

So I'm finally done with pre-season, in which we've splashed some of our dear rich Russian's cash to bring in a few new faces:

There's a mix of different kinds of signings here. We have 5 permanent signings for the first team, 3 new loanees, and 3 free punts on youngsters for the future. The one clear pattern about every signing, including the big ones, is that we're betting on youth as much as possible, or at least players with still many seasons ahead of them before they decline. The 2 oldest signings are 26 years old.

 

We've lost two excellent young strikers in Esposito and Salcedo, it would always be very difficult to replace them. In light of this, I don't think I could've done any better. This young Romanian comes cheap, is almost at the same level as them, and has big potential. And he's permanently contracted to us, so by playing him we'll be improving a club asset, instead of someone else's asset. Also I think he's a great fit for the false nine role, plus has pace so I can play him in a different, more penetrating role whenever I feel necessary.

 

We've invested big on our midfield and our first signing for the position is Brazilian Thaciano. A true all-rounder, he'll probably be starting as mezzala or rotating with Juan Cazares or Rodrigo Valente for the spot, but can easily fill in as RPM, or as DLP behind the midfield 2 as DM, too. He's probably a touch less talented than I would've wanted (I was eyeing an Argentinian midfielder that would've cost twice as much), but is a fitting player for our level for now.

 

Our most expensive signing is another midfielder, the slightly less well-rounded, but probably overall more talented, American midfielder Keaton Parks. I'm not entirely sure he's a perfect fit for our game but I think his mental attributes are excellent and hired him mostly for it. Will likely slot as the less offensive of the two MCs (in the current tactic, RPM, though the role might change).

 

The first of the loanees is a modern day FM legend who recently got a transfer for Barcelona in real life. In this universe he's on loan from Southampton, I see him as a good fit for the IW role on the right wing cutting in to his left foot. I had been playing the right-footed Vignato on this role, with some success, but I need a different kind of option.

 

Our new right-back, given we've lost Michael Kingsley. I'm not super convinced, this wasn't exactly the player I wanted as he has a few noticeable flaws. However I was out of EU slots and this was the best I could get on the market for a reasonable price (2.5M€). I see him as a temporary fit, before I possibly invest on this position again next season, or even in January.

 

Having lost 2 loanee CBs, I needed 2 new players to add cover for the position. The first is this loanee from Arsenal. He'll probably be 4th choice but is talented enough to compete for a place.

 

The other player I loaned in from Arsenal is one of the players I'm most excited about for the new season. Reiss Nelson has bags of talent, I think he's an upgrade for the IW position on the left compared to the departing Eddie Salcedo that I had adapted to the position. And of course we still retain Fábio Martins as an alternate option, but Nelson is better.

 

I picked up this player half-blind having not scouted him properly, because of how desperate I was to add depth for the CB position, but I think this might've been a really good transfer for 2.8M€. Naturally a DM, he is also a strong option for the position, attribute-for-attribute probably better than Matt Smith, but I dislike the "plays short simple passes" for that position as in our system I need the DM to distribute long-ish passes to the wings. I see him fighting Walace and Tisserand for a CB slot and quite possibly winning that position on the long term.

 

The first of 3 punts I took on young players free of contract offered by agents. Okay forward with some potential, is on the U20s for now, I might loan him.

 

Another okay youngster, plays DM. It was important to pick up players like this because our U20 and U18 teams are almost all absolute crap, so if I ever want to trim down the size of the main squad there's no remotely half-decent youngsters to cover for them.

 

The last of these youngsters is the better one and I integrated him straight into the senior squad as he was as good already as the 2nd and 3rd choice keepers I had - and has bags of potential. Not sure what's the right path for him, as he should be playing football to get fit... Probably needs a loan if he's ever to remotely fulfill the potential.

 

Squad looks like this after the turnover of players:

 

We still have 4 loanees which is not ideal, but it's an improvement on last year in terms of having more proper talents that are the club's own assets. The squad doesn't feel much superior to last year's, but feels like it has more depth. Most deadwood has been cut, except for maybe Martinelli and sadly, Piccolo, who was amazing in Serie B but way past it now. Other than them, the backup keepers, possibly 2nd choice RB Fahd Moufi and backup winger Luca Paganini, everyone has quality. I'm very happy with the depth from midfield onwards, with lots of creative players who know how to pass a ball.

[ManUtd1]

Overall, solid business in the transfer window.  I definitely agree that you have more depth, quality throughout the squad.  Excited for the season to kickoff!

[Deisler26]

Some nice additions to the squad there. You should be poised for a good season!

[noikeee]

August 2021: Big win in Turin marks beginning of the season

 

Coppa Italia 3rd Qual. Rnd
Cremonese 1-0 Crotone: Minimum service to progress in the cup
(Munteanu 10)

Not a super inspired day. We did start great with Louis Munteanu scoring his first goal for the club on his debut on minute 10, the rest of the match was a bit laboured and boring, although we were on top for most of it. Disappointing given we faced Serie B opposition - but lots of players that were on the pitch for us, are still adapting to their new club.

Serie A round 1
Juventus 2-3 Cremonese: Starting the season at our giant-killing best
(Bonucci 87, Higuain 94; Munteanu 11, Walace 37, Nelson 78)

I wasn't very looking forward to going to Turin on the very first day of Serie A, but woah, this was some fun. I knew we were onto something when on a long passing move from the very back on a goal kick, Reiss Nelson dribbled past Danilo like he was made of butter, in a humiliation most reminiscent of Messi dicking past Jerome Boateng, then feeding Louis Munteanu for an easy goal. Juventus pressed, had chances mostly on set pieces, but we took our set piece, Walace making it 2-0 on a corner. We held on most of the 2nd half, until we did the ridiculous, going 3 goals up, Nelson heading it home after a Bartolec cross. Juve got 2 fair goals in the dying minutes, but their scalp was ours.

 

Serie A round 2
Cremonese 1-2 Fiorentina: Slight edge on talent gives visitors the win
(Nelson 25; Pulgar 2, Belotti 68)

This started wrong - we were a goal down as soon as it started, due to a set piece, and Fiorentina were well on top. We later balanced things, and the lively Reiss Nelson again looked awesome with a solo goal that equalised things. In the 2nd half however, we progressively lost a grip on the match as Fiore went to a narrow 4-3-3, and eventually their recent signing Andrea Belotti got them the winner on a counter. Nelson still had another lovely run-and-shot, but it went wide. Bit of a missed opportunity to get a point.

 

We're looking okay, I'm particularly enjoying watching Reiss Nelson play, he's the form player at the moment. Nice of Munteanu to score on his debut in both the cup and the league, too.

[smp20]

Just caught up on this, very interesting to see the champagne football spring into action and I think the tycoon adds more flavour to it. Champagne is expensive, afterall..

Looking back at the signing and retirement of Ricardo Ferreira was interesting, he's one I've signed in my save but with an injury release clause which I may have to use if he, of course, messes his knee up again.

Congrats on promotion and the top half finish and good luck for the season ahead. I reckon you could push for a European place!

[noikeee]

5 minutes ago, smp20 said:

Just caught up on this, very interesting to see the champagne football spring into action and I think the tycoon adds more flavour to it. Champagne is expensive, afterall..

Nice way of putting it, hadn't thought about that.  

Yeah I'm cautiously optimistic Europe might be possible, but I might need one of the bigger Italian clubs to slip up.

[noikeee]

****. Keeper down for 3 months. Now I regret loaning out Matteo Soncin (the new 20 year old keeper I signed this Summer), which I did later in the transfer window.

[noikeee]

September 2021: Inconsistent month shows some promise then disappointment

Serie A round 3
Parma 1-2 Cremonese: Tight match decided by late Munteanu goal
(Inglese 29; Nelson 16, Munteanu 85)

It wasn't the most exciting of matches at the beginning but then suddenly a goal came at either end - a wonderful connection between Kevin Rodrigues and Reiss Nelson down the left giving us our 1st, then a sudden through ball for Inglese to tie for Parma. Teams started shooting more often afterwards, we looked like just slightly more dangerous, but never quite pulling anything remarkable off. Until minute 85 - a long ball from Bartolec found Munteanu and the Romanian forward blitzed one in from just outside the area. Done.

Serie A round 4
Cremonese 1-0 Cagliari: Domination but only one goal to show for it
(Nelson 51)

A match of total Cremonese domination from minute 1 to 90, as proven by our 23 shots to Cagliari's 4, none of them on target. After a fairly muted start I switched roles for Munteanu upfront from F9 to CF/A and this helped us slightly, nevertheless nothing we did went in, in the 1st half. After the break the inevitable Reiss Nelson scored from a Vignato cross, and later Nelson would win us a penalty kick... for Vignato to miss. We should've scored more but we got the 3 points we wanted.

Serie A round 5
Cittadella 0-0 Cremonese: Lucky to get away with a point

A mid-week match meant a little rotation and some tired legs. This didn't help, but doesn't justify a pretty bad exhibition against a team that's only just been promoted. Cittadella were much better in the 1st half, and we only looked close to our best at the beginning of the 2nd half with the odd chance or two. But later, Cittadella went for it with increasingly more and more concerning counters that really tested us. They even had a penalty kick in the 81st minute - Sportiello saved it, clinching the player of the match award. That's 1 point which is better than nothing, but this wasn't champagne football. 
 

Serie A round 6
Cremonese 1-2 Atalanta: Luck smiles on our opponents this time
(Nelson 88; Muriel 7, pen 94)

Atalanta scored much before anything had happened, on a set piece, and... stood passive for a very, very long time. We were against perhaps not very inspired, but nevertheless pressured them all match long, and were clearly the superior side. Finally, by minute 88, a through ball for Reiss Nelson and in scrappy fashion with a couple rebounds, it goes in. Surely we get to salvage a point here at least? Well, no. Atalanta woke up for the dying instants, Muriel had a one-on-one Ravaglia saved, but in the very last minute of injury time, they got a penalty. And Muriel scored again, for a very fortunate Atalanta win.

2 good matches and 2 bad ones. A lot of the new youngsters have been constantly anxious on the pitch, which might be the root of the problem, and I also feel we've already grown too reliant on Reiss Nelson, although he's been great. I'm not too sure what to make of this all. We look good but perhaps not massively improved from last season, and definitely still with a vulnerable spot or two. The good news is a lot of players are still gelling and have lots of potential, so I think there's lots to improve as the season goes on.

[ManUtd1]

Cittadella and Atalanta...so frustrating.  You're on the verge of turning the corner, it feels like.

[noikeee]

23 hours ago, ManUtd1 said:

Cittadella and Atalanta...so frustrating.  You're on the verge of turning the corner, it feels like.

Maybe...

I think the 4-1-4-1 I have now is very effective, very solid defensively, but can be a bit low scoring! Feels like every single match is really even and only the tiny details make the difference.

[ManUtd1]

13 minutes ago, noikeee said:

Maybe...

I think the 4-1-4-1 I have now is very effective, very solid defensively, but can be a bit low scoring! Feels like every single match is really even and only the tiny details make the difference.

That might just be a factor with your team needing to develop a bit more.  I always feel like there are times with a young team (or a team that hasn't fully gelled yet), where we're controlling matches and keeping the opposition at bay, but struggling to break them down.  And I've found that on 20, defensive/cautious sides can be absolute hell to break down, even when you outclass them on every level.

[noikeee]

October 2021: Undefeated run elevates us to European places

Serie A round 7
Brescia 0-0 Cremonese: Feisty Brescia forces us to drop deep and hold out for draw

We seem to be off form and this was another instance of that. Brescia were by far the better side in the 1st half, continuously getting set pieces around our area whilst we struggled to reach their final third. Frustrated with events and also seeing them break past our high line occasionally, I dropped back and tried to soak up pressure in a more defensive stance that doesn't really merit "champagne football" descriptions. It worked and we were better than them from then on, but couldn't score neither.

Serie A round 8
Cremonese 1-0 Roma: Late corner gives us 3 points
(Thaciano 79)

Another tight, even match, looks like I'm writting this about almost every single match. This could very easily have gone both ways - us having more of the ball, Roma creating more danger, but mostly in set pieces. This pattern remained for 79 minutes, until in a corner Summer signing Thaciano was on the right place at the right time, scoring his first for the club. Roma switched to 3 strikers to try to force an equaliser, but it was too late for them.

Serie A round 9
Sampdoria 1-2 Cremonese: Sleek team goal opens up path to away win
(Matan 70; Munteanu 33, Trincão pen 79)

This was you guessed it, a tight even match where the tiny details made the difference. Again. We didn't start very well, but first blood went for us - a beautiful team move from the left to Juan Cazares, to Trincão cutting inside, to a through ball for Munteanu, precisely driven low at goal. We sat on that lead until mid 2nd half, when we were reckless passing it from the back, offering Samp an easy chance and they took it. I thought we'd let the win go, until a penalty came later. Trincão took it, scoring his first Cremonese goal, which on top of the earlier assist, gave him a deserved player of the match award.

Serie A round 10
Cremonese 0-0 Milan: Late switch to 2 upfront nearly pays off

Yet another boring tight match, in which we were slightly on top but never quite enough to truly bother Milan. Sick of this, I decided for the final 20 minutes to give up on caution and switch a midfielder for a 2nd forward. It made for a much more exciting finale. Twice we created clear chances down the right flank, first RB Bartolec squandered it then RW Paganini did the same. On the 88th minute, the big chance: we got a penalty kick. Unfortunately Rodrigo Valente missed it, but we gained a pretty promising new tactic, probably to use sparingly on occasions like this - it definitely leaves the midfield more than a little open, which isn't ideal against teams that exploit it:

I named it Champagne Jesus in honour of the one and only JJ Boss!

We've not been super amazing, and stylistically it's not quite the football I want, as I'm looking not just for pretty moves but also for goals! We're missing the sheer goalscoring numbers. But we seem to be on the right track, and on the mix for European places for now.

[ManUtd1]

Why is the tactic called...and why is Jorge's hand reaching down his...

Nevermind.

I don't want to know.

[noikeee]

3 minutes ago, ManUtd1 said:

Why is the tactic called...and why is Jorge's hand reaching down his...

Nevermind.

I don't want to know.

[ManUtd1]

Keeping it classy.  Nice.

[noikeee]

November 2021: Undefeated run over, but we remain in a good position

Serie A round 11
Torino 1-3 Cremonese: Nelson the unlikely target man in fun away win
(Baselli 22; Nelson 35, 38, Trincão 63)

We went to Turin to be on the backfoot for a while, Daniele Baselli's missile from long range making it to the back of the net. But everything changed in the space of 3 minutes a little later. Reiss Nelson hit home first time two crosses, one from N'Doram the other from Bartolec, to put us ahead. In the 2nd half the other winger Trincão would pounce on a rebound to put us 3-1 up. Torino had enough late chances to reduce, but we had the match sealed by then.

Serie A round 12
Cremonese 1-0 Sassuolo: Nelson saves us again as we do the bare minimum
(Nelson 72)

After an impossibly boring first half against a well setup Sassuolo diamond, it was time to switch to Champagne Jesus. It took a while to get going, but finally it worked - a Vignato cross found his way onto Reiss Nelson and he scored the decisive goal again. We switched back to default 4-1-4-1 waiting for the Sassuolo onslaught and it never came, but we got the win.

Serie A round 13
Napoli 2-1 Cremonese: Greediness prevent us from a great result
(Origi 31, Thauvin 85; Munteanu 70)

Business as usual as again this was playing out in the "tight, even" manner. In those matches the tiny details make the difference, and Napoli being title contenders, at home, had the details in their favour - they got the opener in a corner through Divock Origi. It was really a 50/50 match but midway through the 2nd half I had to go for a goal and switched to the Champagne Jesus tactic. It worked immediately: 1-1 with the duo of strikers combining, Vignato stealing the ball from a defender and feeding Munteanu for the equaliser. Now I had a dillemma, do I continue with 2 upfront or return to default? I decided to continue, we were outplaying Napoli anyway. And we kept outplaying them, but they got the goal against the run of play instead, Thauvin pouncing on a cross. That'll teach me not to be greedy.
 

The sequence of 6 matches undefeated is over, but we did well in Naples anyway. This season is looking good for now, last year we never troubled European places yet here we are hanging on to one. Is this our real level now, or will we drop when teams like Roma and Juve (down to 10th!!), wake up?

[noikeee]

December 2021: Cup disaster, but we hold on in the league

Coppa Italia 4th Qual. Rnd
Cremonese 0-0 Venezia (3-5 on penalties): Valente's penalty misses costs us against Serie B opposition

A very embarrassing day in the cup. I rotated the whole side to give chances to players that haven't played often... they didn't take the chance to impress. We were awful, Venice's side for long looking like they were the Serie A team, not us. I switched to the 2-upfront setup, this made things riskier at the back and we didn't regain control of the match, but at least started doing more things upfront and ended up forcing Venezia to take 6 yellow cards. On one of those, we got a penalty. Rodrigo Valente took it... and missed, again (had already done so recently in a Serie A match). Extra time, nothing happened, we didn't take our chances. It went to penalties... guess who was the only player to miss one? Yes, Valente. We're out of the cup and our pride is hurt.

Only if I ever let you take another one again, mate.

Serie A round 14
Cremonese 0-0 SPAL: Red card to Reiss Nelson stiffles our attack

Another dismal goalless draw at home, but this time we had a better excuse. 34 minutes into the first half, Reiss Nelson makes a dreadful tackle, sees red. This put us down to 10 men, against a team that didn't really wanted to attack. In these circumstances there wasn't much we could do, we put a few dangerous crosses late in the game but nothing went in.

Serie A round 15
Cremonese 1-0 Udinese: Munteanu on form returns us to winning ways
(Munteanu 71)

A much better performance and a livelier match of football, largely thanks to Udinese wanting to play much more aggressively than previous opponents. Louis Munteanu was clearly the key man here, with all the chances belonging to him. He anticipated backpasses twice to put himself in scoring positions, he danced past defenders, but was only just missing the finishing touch. It came by minute 71 - we insisted after a corner was initially cleared, the ball was crossed again by Vignato, and the Romanian forward put it in the back of the net. It was the only goal of the match, but it was a deserved victory.
 

Serie A round 16
Verona 1-0 Cremonese: We go attacking, but fail to score
(Badu 53)

Disappointed with recent matches in which we've been boring, I decided to play the entire match on the Champagne Jesus tactic, and then keep tweaking things throughout it. This gave a bit of space for Verona to play through, but we were the team that most attempted to get goals. Sadly for us, it was them that got it - through a long shot by Emmanuel Badu a bit after the break. I tweaked and tweaked until our setup more resembled past tactics in a 4-2-3-1ish formation, we had a few chances late on, but missed all of them. Feels like a bit of an unlucky defeat, really.

Serie A round 17
Cremonese 3-1 Lazio: Fine-tuned tactics rewarded with attacking show
(Trincão 28, Walace 42, Cazares 89; Correa 51)

With the tactics tweaked throughout the previous match, consolidated into a new plan "Champagne Favre", we looked more on it here, but the first 2 goals came from corners - the first through insisting on a corner rebound, Nelson crossing towards Trincão, and the second direct from a corner, headed in by Walace. Lazio put us under more pressure on the 2nd half, reducing the score, but in the dying minutes an absolutely delicious mazy run from Reiss Nelson resulted in an assist for a free Juan Cazares arriving to the area. The Ecuatorian didn't miss, and the score line was over, 3-1, deserved win.

Note: stay on feet was added because I was seeing too many yellows throughout this match, it's not an instruction I use by default.

Can't say I'm happy at all with that early exit from the cup, but it's looking okay in the rest. I think I might be finally stumbling into a not-boring plan that works, and although this wasn't a super brilliant month in league results neither, with a defeat and a goalless home draw, we're in a Champions League place. It's super tight in the league table from 3rd to 9th though!

Edited April 4, 2020 by noikeee

[noikeee]

A huge signing is here

One for the next few years. I could wait a bit and get him for free in 6 months time as his contract would run out, but I thought 900K was a fair price to have him earlier. My plan is to have him replace Reiss Nelson as the IW on the left for next season, as I suspect Arsenal will recall Nelson as he's been so good. For now, he'll likely play upfront instead of Munteanu - we were a little light on forwards and it's gonna be nice to have a player like Munteau as an alternate plan from the bench. 

Baldé's gonna earn "**** you money" in wages, but you do what you have to do to get quality players.

[noikeee]

January 2022: Champagne flavour intensifies as we eye the Champions League

Not much going on in the transfer market apart from the big Keita Baldé signing, we sold Martinelli (backup DM) and also let our former Serie B star Antonio Piccolo get some matches out on loan.

Serie A round 18
Genoa 1-1 Cremonese: Dazzling exhibition in Genoa, but no win
(Calò 34; Trincão 6)

We kicked off 2022 with some fine champagne football. Minute 6, goalkick for us, played out from the back short but quickly, ball eventually finds its way to Keaton Parks, through ball for Trincão, nice driven low shot onto the back of the net. It was a glimpse of what would come throughout this match... but no more goals. Not for us at least, as Genoa equalized with a beautiful freekick. We created and created, attempting a total 26 shots, many of them golden chances, but nothing. Top marks for performance, not so much for the finishing.

Serie A round 19
Cremonese 2-0 Inter: Precise counters devastate league leaders
(Nelson 64, Munteanu 85)

A difficult match as we faced the league leaders, who are our parent club (still!) and have 2 players that shone for us here on loan last year, Salcedo and Esposito. We were, however, just about better than them! In "Champagne Favre" I got rid of the high defensive line, which has the subtle implication of giving us more space to run into. That's exactly what happened here in the first goal, Munteanu finding Nelson with a diagonal aerial ball after a lightning quick counter. Inter did make us a bit nervous, but in the 85th minute after a throw-in Trincão crossed for Munteanu to score as well. A very fun win!

Serie A round 20
Cremonese 2-1 Juventus: Another big win with good football
(Nelson 14, Trincão 20; Rabiot 55)

After the positive signs in Genoa and the great win over Inter, this was just the continuation. A fragile Juve having a terrible year could not cope with our side high in confidence, and both our wingers got early goals after quick passing moves - Nelson in particular shining again with a goal and an assist. We were flying, but trembled in the 2nd half as Rabiot reduced in a corner. I stubbornly insisted on this attacking plan instead of reverting to the boring 4-1-4-1 but it could've easily backfired, Juve hit the crossbar and had Higuain and Dybala free on goal on other occasions. We avoided a 2nd goal though, and won in style again.

Serie A round 21
Fiorentina 1-3 Cremonese: First-time scorers shine in frenetic match in Florence
(Chiesa 11; Baldé 45, 80, Parks 61)

We started on the backfoot here, 1-0 down to a well placed Chiesa shot. In this open, fast paced match, we had space to do our thing, though. New signing Keita Baldé equalised, on his first appearance as a starter, right before half-time. In the 2nd half Fiorentina went at us with absolutely everything in an attacking narrow 4-3-3. They had their chances, but we smiled more. Keaton Parks too got his first Cremonese goal with a wonderful shot from right outside the area; and with 10 minutes to go Baldé added a second, a wonder solo goal in a counter. Player of the match went to our new big signing, deservedly so.

Serie A round 22
Cremonese 2-0 Parma: 4th win in a row
(Parks 28, Nelson 64)

A little bit of a less exciting match than the previous ones, thanks to Parma being much more defensive. Nevertheless, this means the tactic also worked against a defensive side, which is great news! We were on top the whole match, although with our open midfield there's always a little gap for the opposition to go at us and there were occasional Parma chances. Keaton Parks decided to score for the 2nd match on a row, deflected shot going in; and later in the 2nd half the inevitable Reiss Nelson got his 11th goal of the season, taking a free rebound in the area. That was it, 2-0.
 

This feels great, we're really on a roll now, playing good football and winning matches against all sorts of opposition, big teams, small teams. We're all the way up to 3rd which is Champions League territory. I don't know if we're gonna hold on to this form for the rest of the season but we look strong now - it's not just the new Champagne Favre tactic, don't forget players have been gelling and developing through the past few months, also Keita Baldé seems a big boost.

[noikeee]

One player stands out so far

Quick mid-season look at the numbers, focusing on attacking contributions (goals and assists)... how good has Reiss Nelson been for us!

I've already tried to renew the loan for another year, but obviously Arsenal "are looking to give the player a run in the first team next season". I don't blame them!

[ManUtd1]

January, immense. That's the double over Juventus, isn't it?!

[noikeee]

7 hours ago, ManUtd1 said:

January, immense. That's the double over Juventus, isn't it?!

Yeah but who cares about the double over some random midtable side. 

The craziest thing is Sarri is still there. Lost the title last year. Knocked out in the CL group stage 2 years ago, and in the last 16 last season. Languishing in 9th place by the end of January. Job is still only "insecure".

[noikeee]

Uh, I'll pass, thanks.

[noikeee]

February 2022: Firmly fighting for Champions League football

Serie A round 23
Cagliari 0-3 Cremonese: Clinical finishing on set pieces
(Nelson 35, Rodrigues 37, Parks 75)

The result flatters us a bit as we initially struggled in Sardinia. Cagliari, despite being last on the league table, dominated the first half hour or so. However once we got a goal the match was ours, albeit all our goals came on set pieces. The first and second in quick sucession, both identical insistence moves after corners - notable for left-back Kévin Rodrigues scoring his first for the club. Keaton Parks got the 3rd heading in a freekick, but the star was, as usual, Reiss Nelson - 1 goal and 2 assists...

Serie A round 24
Cremonese 3-0 Cittadella: Winning run continues
(Tisserand 31, Nelson 36, Baldé 76)

A pretty similar match to the previous with the same scoreline and the goals coming at almost identical times, but this seemed a fair bit more comfortable. We took a while to get going but Cittadella never really bothered us. The major talking points were Marcel Tisserand's first goal for the club, and yet more Reiss Nelson brilliance - although he scored the 2nd goal, the really shining moment was the 3rd goal as it came to a rebound to Baldé after an incredible run by Nelson, taking the ball on the halfway line, dancing past 2 defenders and shooting at the keeper.

Serie A round 25
Atalanta 1-1 Cremonese: We survive a key match
(Muriel pen 59; Trincão 66)

A very important match, as Atalanta are not just local rivals, but also the club that's more closely challenging us for a Champions League place. It played out in a surprisingly dull way, specially a very poor first half in which the spectators only watched a total 4 attempted shots, 2 for each side. The 2nd half had a bit more football. Muriel opened the scoreline for the home side in a penalty kick, but we didn't took long to equalize, Trincão heading in Pajac's cross. At the end our winning run was over but I'm happy with a draw, as this locks in the 5 points advantage we had over Atalanta. And in truth, Atalanta had probably just been slightly superior on the pitch.

Serie A round 26
Cremonese 2-2 Brescia: Defensive lapses cost us points
(Trincão 12, Tisserand 87; Ayé 11, Papetti 83)

A tricky match in another derby against a Northern side. They got the first goal, a long ball onto Florian Ayé who then beat our keeper. But no big deal as Trincão equalised in the very next minute. I thought it'd be a normal easy match from then on, but no, we kept on squandering our chances despite being on top of them all match long. Then with 7 minutes go, the shock came: they added a 2nd in a wide FK. We still had time to equalise again, Tisserand in a corner, but not enough time to score a 3rd. This should've been our match...

Despite drawing the last 2 matches, we're on a run of 10 unbeaten. I think it's safe to say now that we're really in the running for a Champions League place - looks like it's a very Northern fight between us, Milan and Atalanta for 3rd and 4th.

[smp20]

Fantastic progress, particularly in Jan. Another player we have in common - Keaton Parks. Had him for a season before selling on.

Keep up the form and CL football looks nailed on, could even push for a title race if Napoli slip up.

[noikeee]

March 2022: Big defeat, but we bounce back quickly from it

Serie A round 27
Roma 6-1 Cremonese: Good form balloon suddenly deflates with humiliating defeat
(Ivanusec 13, Pellegrini 34, Galeno 49, Zaniolo 67, Man 83, 89; Tisserand 70)

Uh-oh, there goes the sequence of 10 matches unbeaten. 1st half was a close contest between two open sides, apart from two long-range screamers from Roma that went in - one from open play, the other from a direct freekick. After the break, we immediately had a penalty kick, minute 46, but Trincão let Pau López save it. This demotivated our side, whilst a high-octane Roma took the occasion to completely dismantle us. We did score one in a corner, but they'd score another 4 to give us a lesson in humility... And as if the result wasn't bad enough, we drop below the CL places as Atalanta overtakes us for 4th.

Serie A round 28
Cremonese 1-0 Sampdoria: Fortunate to win with underwhelming performance
(Tisserand 52)

Not our nicest exhibition, perhaps still scarred from the big defeat to Roma. We shot at goal more than Samp, but often aimlessly, and other than the goal we scored in a corner kick, we didn't really pose a serious threat, whilst we had 1 or 2 hairy moments at the back. Vignato did miss a crystal clear chance in the very last moment of injury time, but by then we had the match won. In these low morale moments all you want is the 3 points anyway - and Atalanta lost, so that's us back to 4th.

Serie A round 29
Milan 1-2 Cremonese: Crucial win over strong Milan side
(Piatek 25; Tisserand 24, Rodrigues 45)

Huge match for our Champions League aspirations as 3rd (Milan) meets 4th (us). We looked unsettled the first few minutes, but then center-back Marcel Tisserand scored for the 3rd consecutive match, this time heading in a indirect FK. It was a short-lived advantage, as Milan scored straight from kickoff through a Krzysztof Piatek that is absolutely on fire (26th goal this season!). But right before the break, we scored again - wonderful throughball from Vignato to LB Kevin Rodrigues, and goal, 1-2. The 2nd half was an exercise in holding on to the advantage, but we now looked suddenly reassured, and earned the win, even if Milan had a late rush with several chances in injury time. Massive, massive win.

 

Bizarre that despite such a crushing defeat, we're now in a better place to access the Champions League than one month ago. Atalanta has lost the last 2 matches and suddenly dropped 6 points behind us, the worry now is that a resurgent Juventus might come after us. 9 matches to go.

[noikeee]

On 05/04/2020 at 17:12, smp20 said:

Fantastic progress, particularly in Jan. Another player we have in common - Keaton Parks. Had him for a season before selling on.

Keep up the form and CL football looks nailed on, could even push for a title race if Napoli slip up.

You're way more optimistic than I am.  

Keaton's good but I'm not super sure he fits my side particularly great, so I'm now kind of second-guessing whether it was a great idea to buy him or not, and whether he's one for the long term. He's a strange mould of player, good technically but not excellent, very strong physically and mentally except... he's a bit soft? Low aggression, bravery, tackling. And I kinda like those skills as extras in a midfielder, although I'm looking for passing/technical ability as the main thing. Feels like the softness wastes a bit the physical/mental side he excels in.

Also he slots in my tactic as RPM, which isn't a brilliant fit of a role.

[KrKAlex]

Torino is in a very bad spot. You might have a look at their players and find some that you could bring to Cremonese for cheap. I do not know what their squad looks like atm, but I am pretty sure some are interesting. I do not know if you tend to do it, on my side I always try to pick some players from good teams having bad years in order to bring them home 

[noikeee]

1 hour ago, KrKAlex said:

Torino is in a very bad spot. You might have a look at their players and find some that you could bring to Cremonese for cheap. I do not know what their squad looks like atm, but I am pretty sure some are interesting. I do not know if you tend to do it, on my side I always try to pick some players from good teams having bad years in order to bring them home 

Yes, I do the same, often look at teams that get relegated and pillage their best players. 

It's not always possible.. Last summer I didn't do it because the good players there were still a bit expensive for us (I was trying to stretch my transfer budget as far as I could to strengthen many positions). Next summer it might well be that, since we're now looking at establishing ourselves at a higher level (fighting for Champions League qualification), players from relegated teams might not be good enough. It's always worth a look, though. 

[quee]

Sad to see Parma doing well in season 2 before crashing out in season 3.

Loved Kiyine, he was one of my favourites in FM19.

[noikeee]

Youth intake

 

Not a bad intake, the striker Lovati in particular looks good with some potential, I just don't quite think he's gonna ever shine for us, given we're already at such a level that we're fighting for the first few places in Serie A! In reality once I reach a high level like that, I think kids from youth intakes only look particularly interesting if they can be future wonderkids, or have an attribute combo that covers a particular role or need that suits me.