[FM20] Champagne Football II: Calcio Offensivo

[noikeee]

10 hours ago, quee said:

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.

Yeah it's been quite the huge fall from grace for Parma from one season to another!

Kiyine didn't quite excel for me, the game rated him very highly, he has good attributes (even better attributes now he's back at Lazio), but he missed a few too many goals as IW, I ended up playing him mostly in the middle as RPM, he did well but not super brilliant.

[ManUtd1]

Lovati...ooh.  I like the look of him.  Even if he isn't ever more than a squad player, in your 2nd XI, he could be solid.

[noikeee]

18 hours ago, ManUtd1 said:

Lovati...ooh.  I like the look of him.  Even if he isn't ever more than a squad player, in your 2nd XI, he could be solid.

There's definitely a player in there, but I'm super picky. I think I'm just not a good youth developer the way I want players to tick every single box I want for my tactical systems. 

[noikeee]

April 2022 (1): Feeling the pressure from Juventus

Serie A round 30
Cremonese 0-0 Torino: Festival of missed chances hand 10-men Torino a point

An absurd match. With Torino's Gastón Togni sent off after just 3 minutes, we had an easy match ahead of us, and indeed spent the following 87 minutes camped around their area, creating chances. Somehow, none of the 23 shots we made, including 15 on target, went in. Again Trincão missed a penalty (minute 39), after a 1st half in which we were increasingly releasing players free for shooting at goal, but in the 2nd half we got too frustrated to think clearly, no goals.

Serie A round 31
Sassuolo 0-4 Cremonese: Reiss Nelson brace opens up path for big win
(Nelson 14, 64, Munteanu 75, Vignato 86)

A much nicer match as almost all went to plan. A beautiful combo down the right flank freed up Bartolec to cross for Nelson to open up the scoreline at the back post, and we sat on that for half-time. We were doing well, but things only got less tense when Nelson again scored from a deep N'Doram cross, giving us a nice 2 goal cushion. This stress-free environment allowed Munteanu to finish a long goal drought and for Vignato to finally score his first of the season, for a big 4-0 win.

Serie A round 32
Cremonese 0-0 Napoli: Good performance but no goals

A key match in the battle for Champions League positions as Napoli have been falling back. The first half was even, the second we were more on top, we had twice as many shots, got several of their defenders booked. But we couldn't score. It all feels like a bit of a missed opportunity, Napoli looked vulnerable and had we won we would've cut the gap to them to just 3 points.

 

Looking at the league table, it is easy to see the danger. Atalanta have faded slightly, but Juventus have been on a roll lately and have come within just 2 points of us. Our campaign to get into the Champions League is starting to look shakier...

[noikeee]

April 2022 (2): Holding station in 4th place
 

Serie A round 33
Udinese 0-0 Cremonese: Another goalless draw despite dominating

It's the 3rd match in the last 4 that's ended 0-0 despite us being the superior side. With Udinese's 3-4-3 giving us space to play, and us shooting at goal 21 times compared to their 8 shots, we should've won this. Yet, again, despite a few chances, nothing went in. I suspect a few players were just tired, after all this was a mid-week game after the big one vs Napoli.

Serie A round 34
SPAL 0-5 Cremonese: Shy start followed by tsunami of goals
(Walace 34, Nelson 44, Munteanu 54, Bartolec 60, Martins 72)

We were under some pressure coming into this one as Juventus had beaten Milan and momentarily overtaken us in the table. And after a poor initial half hour, I thought we were heading into another poor goalless draw. But the inevitable Reiss Nelson was here to save us - taking the wide FK that resulted in Walace's opening goal, then putting in a Trincão cross. Winning 2-0 at half-time, the team was relaxed and the goals just piled up in the 2nd half.

 

We remain on a very similar position that we were in before, but now also secretly hoping for Milan to lose steam in the remaining matches, we can still catch them! The Juventus threat continues to be very real. Meanwhile, at the top of the table, it looks like our former forwards Salcedo and Esposito will be crowned champions for Pochettino's Inter.

Edited April 9, 2020 by noikeee

[noikeee]

May 2022 (1): 1 point away from the Champions League

Serie A round 35
Cremonese 5-0 Verona: Valente's wonder exhibition the engine behind another big win
(Munteanu 24, Valente 73, Trincão 75, Tisserand 84, Cazares 91)

A 2nd consecutive 5-0 win as Verona are the victims. The star here was Rodrigo Valente, who I've been playing as RPM lately - he performed the best I've seen from him in a Cremonese shirt yet. The 1st goal came from a genius assist from him, the kind of rare central through ball we almost never see in FM. We sat on 1-0 for a very long time, until late in the 2nd half Valente himself added a 2nd - his 1st goal of the season. This opened the floodgates as Verona gave up. But the good news didn't end here, as we later knew Juventus lost to Torino!

Serie A round 36
Lazio 1-2 Cremonese: Very fortunate win keeps us on the right track
(Zapata 14; N'Doram 26, Valente pen 32)

This looked a tricky tie on paper, and really did prove to be very difficult on the pitch. They were feisty on their 4-4-2, clearly had the share of chances early on, and opened the score in a corner. A little later against the run of play we equalised also on a corner, Kévin N'Doram's first goal for the club, and a bit later had a penalty. Rodrigo Valente stepped up to take it, and this time did not miss, unlike a couple occasions earlier in the season. Lazio went at us with everything - hit the woodwork 4 times, we had to clear it off the line. With my side with the back against the wall, I decided to switch from our trusted Champagne Favre tactic to the older, more solid Champagne Rodgers for most of the 2nd half. It worked, locking in the 2-1 advantage. Could well prove to be decisive!
 

Juventus' loss to Torino made all the difference - it's almost done now, we just need one point in the next match at home against Genoa to qualify for the Champions League (we beat Juventus twice this season, so in case we end up tied in points with them, we will finish ahead). 

Meanwhile, Pochettino's Inter have been crowned champions, and we retain an outside chance we can still overtake Napoli or Milan for the places ahead of us. However, we play away to Inter in the final day, so I wouldn't bet on that.

Edited April 9, 2020 by noikeee

[noikeee]

[noikeee]

May 2022 (2): Main goal accomplished, as we finish on a run of 11 unbeaten

Serie A round 37
Cremonese 2-0 Genoa: Cremonese qualify for the Champions League
(Trincão 11, Walace 40)

Biggest match of the season and... no Reiss Nelson, injured, Keita Baldé coming in to replace him. I should not have worried, as we have other talents. It was an all-Portuguese goal on minute 11, Rodrigo Valente crossing for Francisco Trincão's successful header; and later Walace would head in a Kévin Rodrigues corner. The 2nd half was unremarkable, but it didn't need to be. Cremonese reach the Champions League for the first time in our history.

Serie A round 38
Inter 2-2 Cremonese: Partially spoiling Inter's title party
(De Paul 6, Esposito 12; Vignato 28, Baldé 90)

Last match and not much to fight for other than a bit of pride and maybe 3rd place if Napoli mess up against Florentina in their match. In the first minutes it looked like we were little more than hired extras in Inter's title party - they scored twice within 12 minutes, the 2nd goal from our former forward Sebastiano Esposito. Do I get a champions medal for having helped develop Esposito and Salcedo when they were here last year on loan? Inter basically camped on our area all match long, but Vignato reduced in a slightly bizarre goal, Inter's keeper Radu parrying Vignato's shot into right in front of him, nobody reacting other than Vignato himself again. And the game went on and on, until the 90th minute when, after doing very little, we scored again on another bizarre goal - Keita Baldé stealing a bad backpass back to the keeper. This got us a point - but no 3rd place, as Napoli were winning in Florence anyway.
 

Must say I'm pretty damn happy with this season. I was aiming at maybe one of the lower European places if we progressed a little, I didn't expect to get into the Champions League. The football we've played since switching tactics midseason has been great as well, and much more like what I want. We've only really lost one match since switching tactics, too, the 6-1 to Roma at the beginning of March, it's been 11 undefeated matches since. Overall, pretty happy days in this alternate footballing universe.

For next season my main worry so far is how to replace Reiss Nelson as inverted left winger, since Nelson was so ridiculously overwhelmingly the best player by miles. The plan is to use Baldé in his place but I've not been super convinced in the few cameo appearances he did on the wing, I find him better upfront. Meanwhile the CL money is a big door that opens up for improving the team, I'm already sealing deals and more will come as players are also already being scouted.

[noikeee]

Season review - Cremonese - 2021/2022

Competitions

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

Club vision

I think the board was a little demanding with their requirement of making it to the top half again, which we had barely done last year (though we do have a tycoon, so I guess a little pressure makes sense), but we still easily cleared that goal. The cup performance was poor, however.

Finances

 

No issues as Kirill Popov's fortune still covers the club's expenses easily.

Squad statistics

Top 5 players of the season

5. Louis Munteanu (ST)

 

The Romanian teenager proved an excellent signing as he seamlessly replaced Esposito upfront. A goal drought mid-season slowed down his numbers, and the hiring of Keita Baldé meant I temporarily dropped him to the bench to play Baldé instead, but quickly returned to him. 10 goals isn't a bad number for his first season in Italy, specially since in the 1st half of the season we were playing a very low scoring tactical system.

4. Kévin Rodrigues (DL)

 

Hired midseason last year, I hesitated in replacing Pajac with him, as Pajac was in such good form. This season I gave him a go and it was worth it. 8 assists was one fewer than what the other fullback Bartolec managed on the other flank, but his performances were overall superior, an average of 7.18 ratings. Also got 2 goals. Solid, solid season.

3. Kévin N'Doram (DM, DC)

 

I hired him to play CB despite him being a natural DM, on the belief that his "plays short simple passes" trait would go against what I wanted. This was misguided. Once I relegated Matt Smith to the bench to try him, I never looked back. This French lad was just superb all season long and improved a lot in training as well.

2. Marcel Tisserand (DC)

 

Another player that arrived in the middle of the last season and really, really shone this year. Marcel was superb at the back with his physicality, and also added 6 goals on set pieces. As he approaches the age of 30, and as he's wanted by clubs such as Inter, I'm wondering whether I should sell, but a low market value of 5.5M€ really undersells his importance to my side, so I'm leaning towards holding onto him.

1. Reiss Nelson (ML)

 

The absolute #1 star, as he exploded this season on loan from Arsenal. 16 goals, 11 assists, 9 player of the match awards. Unquestionably the most influential player of the team by miles. Arsenal obviously want him back, I will miss him.

 

Other honourable mentions

Francisco Trincão (MR)

 

On my system the IWs shine the most in terms of goals, so this also applied to Trincão on the other flank, on loan from Southampton as he got 9 goals and 5 assists. However I was nowhere near as convinced by his performances as I was by Nelson's. Renewing the loan is a possibility which will sort out the flank for another year - another option is to buy him permanently, I had negotiated a 15M€ option buy clause but I feel that's far too high.

Individual competition stats

At one stage midseason Nelson was high up on goals, assists, and ratings, but others such as Ronaldo eventually overtook him. Still ended as the player with most player of the match awards.

[kidthekid]

Really great season. Curious to see how you'll replace Nelson's output.

[ManUtd1]

Tremendous season, man! Strong finish, speaks volumes.

[deltablue]

Have fun in the CL.

[KrKAlex]

Well done, the CL will be interesting!

Edited April 10, 2020 by KrKAlex

[noikeee]

14 hours ago, kidthekid said:

Really great season. Curious to see how you'll replace Nelson's output.

 

11 hours ago, ManUtd1 said:

Tremendous season, man! Strong finish, speaks volumes.

 

3 hours ago, deltablue said:

Have fun in the CL.

 

2 hours ago, KrKAlex said:

Well done, the CL will be interesting!

 

Thanks folks. I'm currently overworking the scouts and the player search function as usual in any pre-season, trying to look for new players...

[noikeee]

World football

Quick overlook at what happened in the past 3 seasons.

Italy

 

We've been following this closely from Cremonese's POV, but the most interesting thing from Italy in recent years is the Juventus dominance is over. Last season saw Simone Inzaghi's Lazio surprisingly pip them to the title, but this year has been even more surprising. Lazio tanked from 1st to 8th and Inzaghi has just been sacked, but Juventus did not recover, far from it, as we beat them for the final CL slot. Instead it's Mauricio Pochettino's Inter that rose to prominence, whilst Stefano Pioli has also quietly been doing some solid work in the other Milan club.

England

 

After 4 titles in a row for Pep Guardiola's Manchester City, they've had a lesser season, dropped to 4th and Pep was... sacked. Frank Lampard's Chelsea won the league comfortably, in large part thanks to Erling Haaland. Klopp's Liverpool remains relevant, it has been boosted by the addition of Harry Kane, but a Premier League trophy still evades them. Man Utd are in freefall, finishing a dismal 11th. Their current manager is the Belarrussian Viktor Goncharenko, I suspect he won't be there for much longer.

Spain

 

Simeone is having his finest years with Atlético, having won three titles in a row, albeit they pipped Real Madrid by just 1 point this season in an incredibly tense final day. A draw at home to Barcelona was enough for Atlético whilst Real lost points in Seville. Speaking of Barcelona, they are in crisis - 5th place only this season.

France

 

Lyon sensationally managed to beat PSG to the title last season, but it's business as usual again this year. Tuchel is still in charge of them and their side is still all about Mbappé and Neymar.

Germany

 

The most boring league as Bayern continues to dominate, there's not much of a story here. Max Allegri is their manager.

Portugal

 

Porto has returned to domestic dominance, having sealed the past 3 championship titles - Sérgio Conceição is still there leading the club. Alexander Isak is their major figure.

Champions League

 

The 2019-2020 final saw Bayern beat Barcelona 1-0 in the final with a Lewandowski penalty kick in the final minute. The following year saw an all-English final, Man City finally clinching their first European trophy under Pep, de Bruyne scoring the only goal in a finally, surprisingly, against Arsenal.

This season saw another all-English final. Despite outrageously poor form domestically, Man Utd reached the final, but then were only bitterly beaten by their rivals Liverpoool 2-1. Mané, Greenwood and van Dijk scored in this final, and Jurgen Klopp got his 2nd European cup.

Euros

 

The 2020 edition saw Spain return to international glory under the command of Robert Moreno, beating Croatia in the final 2-1. Isco and Morata were the scoring heroes. Harry Kane was named player of the tournament despite England crashing out in the last 16 (SI, please fix this, it's been in the game for years and makes no sense - it's very rare that someone wins an award like this without reaching the final, the only case I can remember was Diego Forlan in World Cup 2010, and even then he was a semi-finalist).

World Cup

 

The rather nonsensical Qatari World Cup comes this season... starting in November, which will surely cause fixture pileups for my Cremonese side and everyone else in Europe. DR Congo and Uzbekistan seem to be the most exotic nations that have qualified.

Ballon d'Or

 

Ronaldo won it in 2019 again but since then the Ronaldo/Messi dominance is over - Kylian Mbappé has won the last 2 awards. Perhaps the huge shock here is that Álvaro Morata came 2nd here in 2021, largely thanks to his excellent scoring record with the 3 times Spanish champions Atlético in La Liga.

[noikeee]

Another big influx in cash, this seems to be ADDED to the sponsorship we already had:

[noikeee]

I'm starting to get sick of this. Any suggestions to prevent this from happening, other than increasing club reputation?

[noikeee]

Pre-season 2022-2023: Further increasing squad depth
 

8 new players in, much like the previous season I decided to split the available cash between quite a few different players instead of investing big in 1 or 2. It was important to reinforce several different areas of the squad because we'll have more fixtures to play now, as we enter the Champions League, so depth is crucial. We did beat our transfer record by splashing 8.75M€ on Nordi Mukiele, I feel this is justified.

... specially since he was funded by the 15M€ we received for Marcel Tisserand's move to Spurs, as a direct replacement. This is the first time I make a big sale. I wasn't keen on letting Tisserand go, as his performances last year were great, but he was about to turn 30 soon and if I refused the deal I'd have an unsettled team leader in the dressing room.

Our first signing is someone unusual for me... a veteran. I had to give Perisic big wages to convince him, but for a 12 months deal I think I've got little to lose. With his pace gone I'm not intending to play him on the wing, but as shadow striker, I think his skills are quite fitting for the role. High natural fitness makes me think he won't go downhill too much throughout the year.

 

I needed a keeper upgrade, and although Badiashile isn't an amazing keeper, he's slightly better than Sportiello, came cheap, and still has a little room to improve at the age of 24. Sportiello had a few injuries last year and had no good backup, so it was absolutely critical to get a new keeper either way.

 

First of two centerbacks. For now I think Walace is just about starting ahead of this guy, but he is a very promising young Italian talent, and it shouldn't be long until he grabs the place. Cost me 6.25M€ and comes from a Bologna side that just got promoted to Serie A.

 

A giant prospect that cost us a super cheap 3.4M€, he is amazing already at the age of 18. I intend to use him as DLP/D on the DM position, the only questions are a) his low technique attribute, b) my scouts warned me he might struggle to adapt to Europe. For now I'm keeping cautious and starting N'Doram ahead of him, but he's got more talent.

 

A strong alternative to Francisco Trincão as the winger cutting in from the right, might well be the slightly superior player. Also comes from Portugal (although born a Brazilian), got him for 3.2M€ from Sporting.

 

The closest thing to a replacement for Reiss Nelson - there just wasn't a player that was as good as the young Englishman on the market. My thinking here is that I'll try him, I'll try Keita Baldé who is being adapted to the ML position, I'll try Vignato, whoever performs best will start. I need at least 2 very good players for the position anyway, with Europe and Serie A. Cost me 5.25M€ from Lazio. Unfortunately picked up an injury in pre-season.

 

The direct replacement for Tisserand as centerback, can also perform as rightback if necessary (although "stays back at all times" trait goes against what I want from my wingbacks, would be great if not for that). I am very happy with this deal, even if I broke the club transfer record to get him. He is great, pretty much same level as Tisserand but 5 years younger.

 

A last minute loan deal from Inter just to get us a bit more depth upfront (he can also be a 3rd option for the right wing). I expect Munteanu or Baldé to start as strikers, but if Baldé is shoved to the wing I need an alternative upfront specially if I have to rotate heavily. This kid is okay but in this plan I don't intend to start him much.

 

Current squad and the 11 I'm counting on to start the season:

I'm gonna write pretty much what I wrote last season: there doesn't seem to be much of an upgrade in the starting 11 - in fact I lost 2 huge players in Reiss Nelson and Marcel Tisserand - but the depth is better. A pretty key fact is now we only have 3 loanees, although I'm trying to hire a 4th, but they're all squad depth options, not players planned to be part of the starting 11. This means we're relying on loans less and less and spending more time adding value to our own players.

The squad is slightly unbalanced, I'd like one more centerback (he's been hired as I write but probably won't arrive until after Serie A starts) and one midfielder less - might be time to already get rid of Thaciano if we get a good deal. There's also a lack of a proper backup RB, I renewed Matt Smith's loan to adapt him to that position as we've got better DMs now, I think Fábio Martins could be adapted to RB too.

[noikeee]

The final deals

 

Turns out 2 deals still happened before the first match, as fixtures are crazy due to the Qatar World Cup, so the first match got postponed. In comes the player I had talked about:

Comes on loan from Barcelona. He is no superstar by any stretch of the imagination, but I wanted a 4th designated centerback to be able to rotate more easily. We had Walace, Mukiele, Corbo as 3 CBs, plus N'Doram but he's the starting DM, plus Smith but he's backup RB/DM and pretty bad at CB anyway due to weak aerial skills.

 

To free up a place in the squad which would be getting too big otherwise, I sold midfielder Thaciano:

I lost cash on this guy as I had spent 4.2M€ on him last year and he didn't really impress. Too bad, that's sometimes the way it goes.

[noikeee]

[noikeee]

August 2022: Very poor start to the season

 

Serie A round 1
Milan 2-2 Cremonese: High-scoring show to kick off the season
(Kessié 34, 61; Baldé 22, 55)

A very tough match to kick off the season, but the spectators must've loved this open contest with 4 goals. Milan were superior from the beginning, yet we scored first from a wonderful Perisic assist to a Baldé rushing in from the left. Milan equalised soon, but Baldé after the break added his 2nd on a Bartolec cross. However they had a super inspired player as well, Franck Kessié, who scored his 2nd goal as well with a powerful shot from outside the area. We held on for the rest of the match - but I feel lucky to get away with a point.

Serie A round 2
Cremonese 0-0 Genoa: Wasteful in front of goal

We fail to win again, but not for lack of trying. In the 1st half Baldé shot at goal a hell of a lot, Mukiele hit the bar in a corner, but nothing. In the 2nd half we ran out of legs and stopped creating danger. Disappointing. Feels as if the squad is still far from gelling.

Serie A round 3
Cremonese 1-3 Udinese: Dream start turns into farcical defeat
(Pereira 1; Kingsley 19, Lasagna 50, Ascacibar 69)

10 seconds in, we were winning. Straight from kickoff, wonder run from Matheus Pereira, shoots from right outside the area, goal, his first for the club. Easy win incoming, right? Wellllllll about that... First we had our former RB Michael Kingsley score against us. Then in the 2nd half we camped in their half, both our CBs hit the bar on corners, only for a guy named Lasagna to score for them. As if not bad enough, everybody completely forgot to mark one of their players in a counter, 1-3. This season isn't starting very well.

Serie A round 4
Frosinone 0-0 Cremonese: Lack of inspiration continues

Away to tiny Frosinone who just got promoted, it was a chance to get our first win of the season. It still wasn't to be. They cut off any path to their goal well in the 1st half, and just after the break Keita Baldé saw a red card for 2 yellows, so we were down to 10. We did okay to create some chances with 10 men, but this was still a terrible, drab match.

 

Wow, this was bad. I know we'll get better as players gel, but I'm a bit concerned with the early results here. This is a season in which fixtures will pile up dramatically due to both the mid-season World Cup and our entry into the Champions League, so it was important to get a solid base from the beginning, but that's not happened.

[noikeee]

September 2022: Win over PSG sparks recovery, but we're seriously on the backfoot

Serie A round 5
Cremonese 1-2 Crotone: Another embarassing home defeat
(Despodov 57; Doffo pen 19, Hassan 54)

5 matches, no wins in Serie A. This was another really poor match against a team that has just gotten promoted from Serie B. We gave away a penalty kick in a corner, and then again we conceded the 2nd in a corner. We were playing badly, but improved when I took Kiril Despodov out of the bench and he scored, his 1st for the club. We put the pressure on for the remainder of the match but it wasn't enough.

Champions League group stage round 1
Benfica 2-1 Cremonese: European adventure starts with defeat
(Pérez 6, Kaio Jorge 80; Trincão 79)

Fielding a demotivated side away to Benfica was always likely not to result in a great debut in the Champions League. We were a goal down since the beginning, conceded in a corner, and struggled to have much of the ball. Against the run of play, we managed to equalise late in the 2nd half through a wonderful long range Trincão freekick... but Benfica scored the next minute.

Serie A round 6
Napoli 1-0 Cremonese: We outplay Napoli but still lose
(Koulibaly 83)

A much better performance on the pitch, to my surprise. We were better than Napoli for large stretches of the match, creating chances, Matheus Pereira hit the post in the 2nd half. It was all looking pretty promising... until they scored on minute 83. On a corner, again - we seem to be conceding from corners every match lately.

Champions League group stage round 2
Cremonese 1-0 PSG: First win of the season comes against team of world superstars
(Pereira 35)

Well, what about that? I entered this match fully expecting to get trounced, but instead I guess our status of heavy underdogs helped us. It was an even first half, but we got the goal thanks to a Baldé cross to Matheus Pereira on the backpost. For the 2nd half we tried to defend our advantage on Champagne Rodgers, and it worked. Huge win, for our European ambitions, and for morale.

Serie A round 7
Cremonese 3-0 Verona: First league win
(Parks 8, Baldé 32, Despodov 94)

At last, a win in the league, and in pretty stress-free fashion. Keaton Parks took a rebound in the area to score an early goal, Baldé did something similar, and we were well clear going into half-time, so we managed this advantage the rest of the match. Despodov added a 3rd in the last kick of the game, from outside the area.

Champions League group stage round 3
Cremonese 1-1 Ajax: Positive showing but not quite enough
(Pereira 5; Batshuayi 18)

2 early goals in this tie - first we had Perisic releasing Matheus Pereira who then scored from an impossible angle, but then not much later Ajax easily found space down our left flank for Batshuayi to score. There would be no more. We played well, but our opponents also looked strong and didn't give us much space.

 

I'm not entirely sure what's going on here with that horrible run up until the PSG match. It might well be that we're missing the benefits of having a well gelled 11, last season we had a superb defensive record yet we're conceding goals right left and center this season, specially from corners. Maybe it's the fact we're no longer heavy underdogs, which puts pressure on us and opens less space to play in, as the AI is more defensive.

Either way, we have a lot to recover from in Serie A. Maybe the sensational win over PSG has sparked the beginning of a positive run. The fixtures for next month look very, very difficult though - we play Juventus, Roma and Inter and have 2 CL matches in-between.

[Deisler26]

[noikeee]

October 2022: Glory in Europe, serious trouble in the league

Serie A round 8
Juventus 1-0 Cremonese: Ronaldo penalty the only difference
(Ronaldo pen 30)

We went to Turin to play some pretty good football, unfortunately they got the goal in the 1st half through a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty. The rest of the match we looked the slightly superior side, but to no avail as we missed our chances. In normal circumstances I'd be okay with this performance, but we badly need points.

Serie A round 9
Cremonese 4-0 Roma: A confident Cremonese is back
(Baldé 22, Munteanu 30, 79, Vignato 83)

A much better result than I expected. We played motivated, with confidence, and it showed. It started with a wonderful throughball from Keaton Parks to Keita Baldé. Munteanu then added 1 which is great news as he'd been on a drought for a long time, and on the 2nd half he also scored a great solo goal. 4-0 is great but far too harsh on Roma who also attacked a lot.

Champions League group stage round 4
Ajax 2-4 Cremonese: Sensational match in Amsterdam
(van de Beek 20, Gravenberch 59; Munteanu 10, pen 22, Pereira 38, 88)

What a match, proper Champions League football this between 2 open sides. We continued to show confidence, starting by Louis Munteanu, the Romanian forward scoring the 1st, then a little later the 2nd from the spotkick after Ajax had equalised. He'd shine again by assisting Matheus Pereira for our 3rd of the night, a wonderful low drive from outside the area. I added caution for the 2nd half but Ajax were having none of it, going all out attack, and reducing to 2-3 with 30 minutes to play. They attacked and attacked, but in the dying minutes we put in a venomous counter, and a cool Keaton Parks assisted Pereira for his 2nd of the night as well. Massive win.

Serie A round 10
Sampdoria 1-0 Cremonese: Bad results return
(Pizzi 43)

We're not catching any break in away league matches this season, here's yet another defeat. I did gamble a bit rotating a few players ahead of the big CL match against Benfica and it backfired. The 1st half was Sampdoria's, the 2nd was ours, but they scored and we didn't. Very disappointing.

Champions League group stage round 5
Cremonese 1-0 Benfica: Professional job as we clinch qualification
(Munteanu 24)

If things are going badly in Serie A, not so much in Europe. This was a really, really tough match, as tight as it gets with neither team getting an edge. Luckily, we were the ones who scored. It was an atritional goal, a cross from the right finding Baldé, it rebounds to Munteanu, it goes win. Benfica could easily have equalised, Carlos Vinicius hitting the bar. But we held on, for a very precious win - this is already mathematically enough to qualify for the last 16!

Serie A round 11
Cremonese 1-1 Inter: Missed chances festival
(Vignato 34; De Vrij 42)

Facing leaders Inter, I didn't fancy our chances. We vastly outplayed them though, but for not much of a reward. Vignato opened the score thanks to directly mugging a defender and running at goal, but they scored on a set piece (indirect wide FK) - this remains our weak spot for the season. In the 2nd half we had loads of chances, and nothing. So frustrating.

 

This has been such a strange season. We've beat expectations in Europe with a surprise early qualification for the CL last 16, but in Serie A we are absolutely nowhere. Particularly worrying is the terrible away form, we're yet to win a single match away from home in the league. Yet we do have ability, as the 4-0 over Roma shows, or the pretty competitive performances against Juve and Inter.

We now enter a very long period without matches, as the Qatar World Cup is about to start. We play PSG in a dead rubber in the CL as the only match in November, then we only play again in the 31st of December.

[ManUtd1]

Jekyll and Hyde stuff from Cremonese here.  You have as many points from 5 matches in the Champions League, as you do from 11 in Serie A.

That's insane!

It'll turn around domestically, but man...

[noikeee]

3 hours ago, ManUtd1 said:

Jekyll and Hyde stuff from Cremonese here.  You have as many points from 5 matches in the Champions League, as you do from 11 in Serie A.

That's insane!

It'll turn around domestically, but man...

Yep, it's pretty nuts. I'm certain a lot of it is the underdogs/favourites effect - changes how the AI sets up and makes players feel pressured or relaxed.

I also think in the first few matches in the league I had a very ungelled side, which was very bad timing as that coincided with some very winnable games. Now that we're more on it, we have to face tougher sides so it doesn't translate to points neither. Were it the other way around I think we'd have had like 4 defeats in 4 at the beginning, but then lots of wins afterwards, which is more points overall.

Reiss Nelson also hasn't been properly replaced, I'm not getting performances neither out of Keita Baldé nor Kiril Despodov, who are the 2 players I'm rotating for the position. Although on the other flank I'm noticing Matheus Pereira is an improvement on Trincão - I think Pereira has been the best player this season so far.

[noikeee]

November 2022: Busiest month ever
 

Champions League group stage round 6
PSG 1-1 Cremonese: Strong showing in Paris
(Piatek 74; Bartolec 39)

With nothing to lose as we had head-to-head over Benfica therefore qualification in the bag, we went to Paris to attack. It was a fun match - PSG going at us but then giving us space to counter. In one of those counters, the ball fell to Bartolec, the Croatian fullback opened the scoreline for us. We held on for long, but late in the 2nd half, that ****er Piatek that they just hired from Milan, decided to score against us again - I do not miss playing against him in the league. I'm very happy with a draw, it was a 50/50 match which was great, and we win the group.

 

The attention now turns to the Qatari World Cup... we send 4 players to this weird tournament:

Edited April 12, 2020 by noikeee

[noikeee]

[noikeee]

FIFA World Cup 2022 - Group stage

 

Some surprises have played out already:

• Italy's 2-0 defeat to Senegal mean they're out of the World Cup despite beating Germany and Panama. Very harsh!
   
• England started well with a 3-0 win over Uzbekistan, but then lost shockingly to Mali and also to Belgium and are out of the world Cup as well.
   
• DR Congo on what I believe is their first World Cup, knock out Sweden and hosts Qatar
   
• In fact it's 5 African nations in the last 16 (!!!), a major record, with Algeria also overcoming Uruguay to qualify from Group G, plus a less surprising outcome in Group B as Ivory Coast beat South Korea and Colombia to qualification.
   

This is the scenario for the last 16:

The tastiest match is unquestionably Argentina-Brazil. Neither side is in fantastic form, the Argentines have been solid but unspectacular, the Brazilians very dodgy as they lost a match to the USA and only beat Portugal and Australia both 1-0 with penalty kick goals.

However the real most competitive match might actually be Germany-Belgium, with the Belgians having a Eden Hazard at his very best, currently top scorer, highest rating in the tournament. Another team that is on absolute form are the French, the issue is that both Belgium and France have potentially tough paths to the final - Belgium have to face the Germans already and then possibly the Dutch; the French will face the winners of Argentina-Brazil.

Another fun fact is we have the first time ever all-African knockout match, between Senegal and Mali. The winners face DR Congo-Croatia, I'm actually quite fancying the odds of a Sadio Mané-led Senegal to make it to a semi-final...

[noikeee]

FIFA World Cup 2022 - Last 16

The shocks did not end in the group stage. This is proving to be one of those memorable World Cups, with the right mix of surprises and tense matches between big nations.

 

• The Ivory Coast destroy the Netherlands 3-0!!
   
• Belgium-Germany proves to be the match of the tournament so far, absolute sheer insanity with the late German 3 goals, all for nothing. The Belgians win on penalties, and now seem to be favourites to reach the final from the top branch. Eden Hazard remains on sublime form, even if he missed one of the spotkicks.

• A Portuguese side that is no longer super reliant on Cristiano Ronaldo, had to sweat to beat the Turks but did so with 4 extra time goals in another great match - albeit the Turks were down to 9 men! They are Belgium's main opponents from the top branch. Major note: Mourinho is the manager.

• Mexico knock out Spain on penalties!
   
• Brazil beat their bitter rivals with a late turnaround, but have to face an extremely confident French side next. My money's on the French to win the competition.

• Brazil-France is unquestionably the big tie of the quarter-finals, let's hope it delivers.

[noikeee]

FIFA World Cup 2022 - Quarter-finals

A very strange quarterfinals. Pretty all of the opposite that I expected happened. The matches were poor. But there were some pretty crazy surprises!

• Ivory Coast take out a Belgian side that were absolutely flying. You thought the Didier Drogba, Yaya Touré generation was the Ivory Coast golden generation? That's because you've not heard of the Franck Kessié-led side yet, the Milan midfielder on absolute peak form. Zaha, Aurier, Bailly are other major stars.
   
• Almost just as shockingly, Mexico took out Mourinho's Portugal. This means one of Ivory Coast or Mexico will be in the World Cup final for the first time!
   
• I had the sneaky feeling Senegal could reach the semi-final and they did so beating Croatia. 2 African sides in the semi-final!
   
• Brazil-France underwhelmed and it was a goalless draw decided on penalties. I thought the French were the form side in the entire tournament, but now Brazil are the last team standing of major pedigree - although they've been a boring, low scoring side all competition.

Edited April 12, 2020 by noikeee

[noikeee]

A brief interlude from the Qatari winter World Cup...

We face Frank Lampard's Chelsea, led by star forward Erling Haaland. They are the reigning Premier League champions but are having a bit of a bad season, 5th in the Premier League at the moment.

It's a tough draw, but there weren't a lot of possible good options. These days at this stage of the competition you start having to face the best.

[noikeee]

FIFA World Cup 2022 - Semi-finals

• No African side in the World Cup final. Mexico get the unlikely honour of reaching it, despite not really having all that great of a team. Their most well known player is Hirving Lozano, but he's having a poor World Cup, the closest thing to a star on form is PSV's midfielder Erick Gutiérrez.
   
• Senegal were 3 minutes away from a penalty shootout in the World Cup semi-finals, and were even briefly ahead. They did not resist. Brazil-Mexico in the final it is, then.

[noikeee]

FIFA World Cup 2022 final
 

 

One of the greatest upsets in the history of football.

I actually watched this, on key highlights. Who would've thought that the World Cup is decided through a Hector Herrera long shot, a backpost header by Jurgen Damm, and then Coutinho and Casemiro missing spotkicks.

Mexico deserved it, there were very little chances other than the goals, except they hit the woodwork twice. Danilo also committed a professional foul in the 121th minute, and Brazil couldn't create chances from open play, both their goals were scrappy set pieces. What a bizarre competition.

Edited April 12, 2020 by noikeee

[ManUtd1]

Amazing World Cup, man. Almost perfect in my eyes.

DR Congo was actually there in 1974, really horrible stories around the pressure put on the players (which is what led to the much-mocked free kick incident against Brazil).

https://www.tifofootball.com/features/the-misinterpreted-tragedy-of-zaire-at-the-1974-world-cup/

My daughter being Congolese, I even had a replica of the 1974 jersey at one point 

[noikeee]

5 hours ago, ManUtd1 said:

Amazing World Cup, man. Almost perfect in my eyes.

DR Congo was actually there in 1974, really horrible stories around the pressure put on the players (which is what led to the much-mocked free kick incident against Brazil).

https://www.tifofootball.com/features/the-misinterpreted-tragedy-of-zaire-at-the-1974-world-cup/

My daughter being Congolese, I even had a replica of the 1974 jersey at one point 

Yes of course, DR Congo = old Zaire!

I really liked this world Cup until the quarterfinals, then it got weird. I like surprises but when they have proper talent (ex 1994 Bulgaria with Stoichkov and Balakov and Romania with Hagi, 1998 Croatia with Suker and Boban), which I'm not sure applies to this Mexican side, they're okay but nothing special, just efficiently used average players. I was rooting more for Senegal or Ivory Coast who had Mané and Kessie respectively really shining. 

And it really bothered me that the big side that made it to the final was a very boring Brazil side, I'd have preferred Belgium who had Hazard averaging 9.0 ratings or France who were roflstomping everyone. Feels more satisfying to me when the World Cup crowns world class players at their best, even if they are from a major nation.

[noikeee]

December 2022: Football is back
 

Serie A round 12
Fiorentina 0-2 Cremonese: Return to Serie A with our first away win
(Pereira 10, Martins 83)

The time away to enjoy the World Cup did some good to our boys. We went to Florence to completely dominate - 26 shots to Fiorentina's 6 - and this time, actually take our chances. 2 Portuguese-Brazilian double nationality wingers made the difference - Matheus Pereira scored the first and then Fábio Martins, in a rare appearance from the bench, scored the 2nd.
 

We're still in a dismal 15th, but this result bodes well. And there's a major signing coming our way...

[noikeee]

Pulverizing the transfer record
 

With the board's gift of a 22M€ transfer budget for the January transfer window, I decided to splash almost all of it in a single player, completely overshadowing the previous transfer record set in the Summer when I paid 8.75M€ for centerback Nordi Mukiele:
 

18M€ deal, with a release clause of 81M€. I think I slightly overpaid for the sporting impact I expect him to have on the pitch in the short term, because he's not an ideal fit anywhere. I'm hoping he'll solve the problem I have on the left wing, but he's not accomplished on the ML position yet and has a "runs down the left" trait that goes against the inverted winger role I use. He's also poor defensively like the other options I have like Keita Baldé or Kiril Despodov, which I suspect is one of the issues - when I used Nelson and Trincão last season on the wings, given they played deep on ML/MR positions, they won the ball back very often, launching counter-attacks. Another issue is he's not a great crosser of the ball.

He's also not super ideal as striker due to poor aerial ability. I see him on the long term as an ideal fit for the shadow striker AMC slot, but for now I will not play him there, as that's the least influential position in our attack and since he's now our major attacking talent, I want him to play where he can influence the game the most - hence, the wings. I'm not certain however if the "likes to try to beat offside trap" will be good for playing either striker or shadow striker, might get him more into scoring positions, or take him away too much from buildup, I don't know.

The undeniable good news? A combo of super high acceleration+super high agility sounds extremely promising. He's very two footed, which will be a headache for defenders. He's also young, extremely talented and with potential to grow further - half of Europe wanted him. The re-sale potential is huge. I think worst case scenario, even if flops a little in the pitch, he's gonna make us money.

[noikeee]

First decent job offer I get. They're 17th fighting against relegation, so no thanks, also I think I want to go all the way with Cremonese before leaving, but nice to see.

[PT-KK]

You did not overpay for Boadu.

He's a goal-scoring machine. Or at least he was on my AZ save.

[ManUtd1]

Agreed with @PT-KK re Boadu.

And re Brazil, @noikeee. Them reaching the final takes away from the near perfection in my mind 

[noikeee]

January 2023: The crisis deepens

 

Beyond the huge Myron Boadu transfer, we also switched backup leftbacks, selling Marko Pajac to bring in youngster Leonardo Buta from Braga - we beat Man City to this transfer!

 

He's not super amazing but can still a fair bit improve at the age of 20, if he improves the defensive side of his game he can be a great attacking fullback for us. Most importantly came very cheap and won't complain at being a backup for a while, whilst I was getting sick of Marko Pajac being constantly on low morale because he wanted to leave.

Serie A round 13
Cremonese 0-0 Atalanta: Squandered points again as we fail to take our chances

Uh-oh, this way we won't recover in the league like we need to. Were we the better side all match long? Yes. Did we create chances? Yes. Did we take them? No. The likes of Munteanu had a pretty bad day and couldn't do anything to beat goalkeeper Ivan Zlobin, despite being face-to-face with him several times. New signing Myron Boadu had a quiet, unimpressive debut, but he doesn't appear to be fully fit.

Coppa Italia 1st round
Cremonese 1-2 Genoa (aet): 121st minute goal knocks us out of the cup
(Boadu 84; Ghiglione 54, Omeonga 121)

Last season I made the mistake of rotating the entire team in the 1st round of the cup, and got knocked out. This year I decided to repeat the mistake, because the fixture congestion is crazy. We were awful, Genoa much superior until they scored and I had to bring in some good players. Myron Boadu made his first impact from the club, scoring from the bench and taking us into extra-time. In extra-time Genoa squandered a couple of one-on-ones, only to score the winner in the 121st minute from miles out. Thanks, all I needed right now was 121 minutes on the players' legs plus the motivation hit from this.

Serie A round 14
Brescia 1-3 Cremonese: Defensive Brescia keep us out for long, until they break
(Capone 57; Vignato 23, Baldé 76, Valente 78)

Brescia are 20th in the table but they know how to park a bus. We managed to score a scrappy corner goal in the 1st half, but to my shock, they got one back in the 2nd half, in only their 1st attempted shot in the match! We went at them and went at them, and finally in the last 15 minutes they broke, Rodrigo Valente coming out of the bench with a bang, excellent assist to Keita Baldé then scoring himself 2 minutes later.

Serie A round 15
Cremonese 0-0 Sassuolo: Another agonizing goalless draw

We continue to be in trouble. The first half was total dominance, several chances, none went in, the usual - although Sassuolo had one very dangerous one-on-one in a counter. The second half? We ran out of ideas, constantly banging against their parked bus. We need to do better in these matches.
 

Serie A round 16
Parma 3-0 Cremonese: We play football, they score
(Lekata 10, Rodrigues og 30, Sprocati 89)

Possibly the worst result of the season so far? We're really starting to feel the pressure and demotivation pile up. We started well... until 10 minutes in when they scored in a counter. Then they scored in a scrappy set piece in which resulted in an owngoal. Then late in the game they scored from miles out. We had more of the ball, more shots, more everything. Except goals in which they had 3 more than us.

After this match I had the board requesting a meeting to discuss my future... I'm in trouble.
 

Serie A round 17
Cremonese 2-2 Cittadella: Extremely unlucky, again
(Boadu 40, Mukiele 84; Diaw 74, Proia 82)

In the previous match in the final minutes I decided to switch things tactically and go to a more patient system, and although we conceded and didn't score, I thought it looked good, and tried it here again. We had all of the ball and some chances, eventually going 1-0 up through a nice solo Boadu goal. Then Cittadella scored on their first shot on target. Then they scored on their 2nd and final shot on target. We still equalised, but bloody hell... how unlucky can we be? Our confidence is completely shot.

 

I'm in serious trouble with the sack looming over my head, the players' confidence non-existent, and although there's a lot of teams just a few points ahead of us in the league table, I have to climb a lot of places until the board's happy - they wanted a Europa Conference League spot, which is 6th place, 9 places above where we are. I now believe I might not last this season.

[noikeee]

40 minutes ago, PT-KK said:

You did not overpay for Boadu.

He's a goal-scoring machine. Or at least he was on my AZ save.

Nice, how did you play him, upfront, AMC or on the wing?

 

20 minutes ago, ManUtd1 said:

Agreed with @PT-KK re Boadu.

And re Brazil, @noikeee. Them reaching the final takes away from the near perfection in my mind 

I guess a random as **** Mexico side winning it is better than the most boring Brazil side in memory...

[PT-KK]

5 minutes ago, noikeee said:

Nice, how did you play him, upfront, AMC or on the wing?

 

I guess a random as **** Mexico side winning it is better than the most boring Brazil side in memory...

upfront. on a 433.

I played counter-attacking, so the pace was my biggest weapon. However, Boadu was a finishing beast as well, striking always to the far post, since he plays well with both feet, he was able to do this either way the ball came.

[ManUtd1]

47 minutes ago, noikeee said:

I guess a random as **** Mexico side winning it is better than the most boring Brazil side in memory...

Every day of the week and twice on Sundays.

[ManUtd1]

Re the league, 9 points is nothing when you've got 21 matches to play. Just need to start turning it around, go on a run!

[noikeee]

I don't think I'll be at this job by March.

[Hootieleece]

That's the problem with Tournament soccer during the Regular Season. By all measures your Cremonese Team over achieved twice. First by getting the Champion League berth and by winning your group. The shear amount of matches your team needed to be up for was too many. Also more teams were Parking the Bus against you because you were favorited in League Play against everyone but the traditional powers. My guess is your team won on the counter attack often now there is no space behind the defense for you to exploit.

I know the pain....I am currently playing as a top side trying to counter attack my way to glory because nothing else allows me to win... 

[ManUtd1]

[noikeee]

February 2023: Point of no return as exit from Cremonese seems inevitable
 

Serie A round 18
Bologna 1-4 Cremonese: More patient approach rewarded by big win
(Orsolini 69; Pereira 37, Parks 39, Rodrigues 81, Valente pen 93)

We needed this. In serious danger of being sacked, I kept on refining a recent tactic I named "Champagne Sarri", which is a more patient version of my tactics designed to dismantle a parked bus. I watched the game on comprehensive and fine tuned things until it... worked! Matheus Pereira opened the score through a freekick, Parks added another with a powerful shot from outside the area. We got a scare in the 2nd half when they reduced, but then Kévin Rodrigues scored a wonder goal from an angle rather far out, and in injury time we still got a penalty kick. Absolutely crucial 3 points here.
 

Serie A round 19
Lazio 2-2 Cremonese: Feisty spirit in tricky match earns us a point
(Correa 22, 72; Pellegrini og 61, Valente 78)

A very tough match as Lazio were very dangerous all match long, it's pretty strange to see them that far down the league table (one place below us, 14th, after this match) as they've got quality. They got the advantage twice through an inspired Joaquín Correa, but twice we managed to equalise a bit against the run of play - first in a scrappy owngoal, then in a far post cross from Kévin Rodrigues that met fellow Portuguese Rodrigo Valente.
 

Champions League 1st knockout round 1st leg
Chelsea 1-0 Cremonese: Lucky to lose by 1
(Haaland 12)

Against an attack that featured Everton, Eriksen, Dembelé and Haaland, this was always going to be an extremely difficult game. It was a massacre all match long. Chelsea attempted 30 shots. Thankfully for us, only a Erling Haaland header went in, early on - I thought it was the beginning of a 4-0, 5-0 win. We did have the odd chance in counter-attacks, but I guess I'm happy with 1-0.
 

Serie A round 20
Genoa 0-0 Cremonese: We do more than them, but don't score

Another frustrating goalless draw. In this case, we played slightly better football than Genoa, created a few more chances, had lots more of the ball, lots more corners (why have we stopped scoring from them?!), a few more shots, but... nope, not today. In normal circumstances an away draw would be okay, but we really need wins.
 

Serie A round 21
Cremonese 0-1 Milan: Early penalty enough for 10-men Milan
(Kessié pen 7)

Oh dear. This was against the league leaders, never an easy match. But we dominated all match long! If only they hadn't scored from a penalty kick early on. Then they went down to 10 after a horrible tackle by Franck Kessié, early in the 2nd half. Yet, we squandered the man advantage. In the final minutes, it got worse - Nordi Mukiele injured for us, after we had done all the subs.

Serie A round 22
Udinese 1-1 Cremonese: My last match as Cremonese manager. Probably
(Lasagna 48; Boadu 31)

Win or bust, a month later after I promised the board we'd improve our position we're still 14th and their patience is running out. In desperation, I return to the original tactic of 3 years ago - Champagne Guardiola. We played reasonably well in the final third. A bit too many long shots, but it was alright. We went a goal up through a Myron Boadu header, and into half-time winning. Second half though, we struggled as Udinese attacked more and more. They equalised through that man again, Kevin Lasagna, and then we were fortunate - Lasagna missed a penalty kick, and we also cleared a ball off the line. We got 1 point at the end, little consolation.

I'm getting sacked.