rycl77 Posted March 23, 2017 Author Share Posted March 23, 2017 11 hours ago, ManUtd1 said: Whoa...nice intake! Thanks! Hoping I can frequently be churning out 1/2 Serie A level standard Sammarinese players a year now but not sure if this was a fluke intake. These sorts of intakes really do give you the motivation to keep playing Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kandersson Posted March 23, 2017 Share Posted March 23, 2017 that Zavoli guy will be a special GK sooner rather than later, I say make him first choice right now and also free kick taker! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbokav1971 Posted March 23, 2017 Share Posted March 23, 2017 On 23/11/2016 at 20:16, rycl77 said: Youth Intake All in all a pretty decent one. The Italian prospects are useless to me as they aren't eligible for San Marino. I hope you haven't been ignoring 2nd Nationalities? (It's not shown on your graphic). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbokav1971 Posted March 23, 2017 Share Posted March 23, 2017 32 minutes ago, kandersson said: that Zavoli guy will be a special GK sooner rather than later, I say make him first choice right now and also free kick taker! Yep. Get him on Free-Kicks and pens immediately and just keep playing him. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 23, 2017 Author Share Posted March 23, 2017 3 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said: I hope you haven't been ignoring 2nd Nationalities? (It's not shown on your graphic). I always check but just didn't have it in the selection view, I've added it now for the future, none of them have any atm Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 23, 2017 Author Share Posted March 23, 2017 3 hours ago, kandersson said: that Zavoli guy will be a special GK sooner rather than later, I say make him first choice right now and also free kick taker! Nice to see you bro! Yeah I'm think I'm gonna let Marco Renzi go somewhere he'll get first team football and Zavoli is the future. I don't know about free-kicks hahah Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidthekid Posted March 23, 2017 Share Posted March 23, 2017 Do San Marino players automatically have Italy as a second nationality? If so, that will be tragic as the really good ones would want to play for Italy. Great progress though Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 23, 2017 Author Share Posted March 23, 2017 Season 2027/28 - Serie A Season In Review - Meh League Table Was hoping we'd have an outside chance of sneaking into the Europa League but it wasn't to be, we just need to score a bit more really. I'm in the market for a big time striker this summer. Results Our league form was pretty erratic and we had an absolute disaster end to the season with one win in 9 games which killed off any hopes of Europa. On the Italian Cup front we crashed out on pens again to Bologna. Ffs Team Of The Season We actually got two players into the Serie A TOTY which was a nice surprise, not sure how Grilli snuck in considering he went on a 10 game goal drought at one stage but Teqja for sure deserved it & cleaned up at the club awards too, he's the real deal. Got him on a pre-contract from Dortmund and he's by far our best player. He had a release clause of 4m for Champions League clubs so after about 4 games of the season where he'd scored 3 and assisted 2 I re-negotiated and gave him a pay rise to get rid of that clause. An absolute key player for us. I've lined up another pre-contract from Dortmund too, hopefully he lives up to Teqja. I made quite a lot of signings, some of them pretty useless. For example Suk Hyun-Jun was signed to tutor but decided to retire in pre-season despite having signed for us about 3 weeks ago, this signing was also terrible because he's non-EU and you're only allowed 2 non-eu players (which I forgot). Key signings were Grilli & Teqja, the big signing Kandji was average and I'll probably move him on because I've got a good pre-contract LWB. In terms of players leaving I sold Di Silvio who was our #1 keeper so I could start Marco Renzi, a 19 year old keeper from San Marino. Other key departures included Da Silva-Lopes who helped us get out of Serie B and Jonas Petersson who was also instrumental in securing promotion. Squad Youth Intake Our youth intake this year was brilliant, the new facility upgrades paid off massively with not one but two 5* prospects from the beautiful country of San Marino. One is a goalkeeper who looks destined to be better than Marco Renzi and will probably start next season for us at the age of 17. Conti on the otherhand is a RB who with the right development looks like he could be a very solid player for us and hopefully first team material. New Stadium The board announced last year they were looking for a site for a new stadium and after the final Serie A game of the season they announced the San Marino stadium to be completed at the end of the 2029-30 season for a cost of £21,000,000. 16,000 seats will be a much needed upgrade for the club after we sold out out 5000 seater stadium every game for the past two seasons. The capacity of 16,432 means it will take more than 50% of the population of the country to fill We will say goodbye to this fortress soon. Season Thoughts An okay season really, we fell apart a bit at the end but Europe was always a bit of a pipedream. One or two good signings and I think we can make it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 23, 2017 Author Share Posted March 23, 2017 14 minutes ago, kidthekid said: Do San Marino players automatically have Italy as a second nationality? If so, that will be tragic as the really good ones would want to play for Italy. Great progress though No they do not my friend, the goalkeeper Zavoli doesn't have Italy second nationality but the RB Conti does, however I'm hoping Conti just agrees to play for San Marino and we cap him at age 17 or something. I'm debating taking the national team over again to make sure both of these guys get caps ASAP. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 24, 2017 Author Share Posted March 24, 2017 And with that the Zavoli era begins for San Marino in goal, good luck Renzi Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 24, 2017 Author Share Posted March 24, 2017 We start our keepers young in San Marino Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 24, 2017 Author Share Posted March 24, 2017 He's in demand too, Arsenal offered 4m for him earlier too. We got a star on our hands! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belgrave Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 On 28/11/2016 at 00:31, rycl77 said: The power of tutoring. Incredible increases in his determination, when he came in through the youth intake it was 6, now it stands at 16! Always love a good San Marino save so just wanted to say fantastic work so far and keep it up. I've never given much heed to determination/personality tutoring but any additional stats and development aids would probably be a bonus in the early years especially, is there a particular format you take to development, signing specific tutors, always implementing on and off the field tutoring or something else? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbokav1971 Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 21 hours ago, rycl77 said: No they do not my friend, the goalkeeper Zavoli doesn't have Italy second nationality but the RB Conti does, however I'm hoping Conti just agrees to play for San Marino and we cap him at age 17 or something. I'm debating taking the national team over again to make sure both of these guys get caps ASAP. The problem I found was that they don't even have to be good enough to play for the (ITA) NT for this to be a problem. If Conti is the 2nd choice right back for (ITA) U19's just for 1 specific squad, then that might be enough for him to decide to hold out and wait for an (ITA) Senior Cap. After I had beaten (ITA) in the Word Cup Final, I was STILL getting Sammarinese youngsters who were being enticed away to lay for 2nd Nationality Italy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 24, 2017 Author Share Posted March 24, 2017 2 hours ago, Belgrave said: Always love a good San Marino save so just wanted to say fantastic work so far and keep it up. I've never given much heed to determination/personality tutoring but any additional stats and development aids would probably be a bonus in the early years especially, is there a particular format you take to development, signing specific tutors, always implementing on and off the field tutoring or something else? I'm not an expert on developing young players but my usual approach is to always make sure as soon as you can that they have a very good tutor (with professional personality and at least 15 determination) . If they're exceptional players I'll sign a tutor specifically for them (I've done this for Conti and Zavoli) with 20 determination to shoot their determination up even more. Then I just focus on making sure they're capable of playing positions I need and individually training their weaknesses. First team football is the main factor for their development imo. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 24, 2017 Author Share Posted March 24, 2017 2 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said: The problem I found was that they don't even have to be good enough to play for the (ITA) NT for this to be a problem. If Conti is the 2nd choice right back for (ITA) U19's just for 1 specific squad, then that might be enough for him to decide to hold out and wait for an (ITA) Senior Cap. After I had beaten (ITA) in the Word Cup Final, I was STILL getting Sammarinese youngsters who were being enticed away to lay for 2nd Nationality Italy. Ah yeah I didn't really think about that stupidly. I'm gonna hope that Conti will stick with San Marino but you can never be sure till he's capped. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 25, 2017 Author Share Posted March 25, 2017 The power of good tutors, here's the progression in Zavoli and Conti's determination from 5 months of tutoring. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 25, 2017 Author Share Posted March 25, 2017 I'm back as manager of the country, time to make sure dual nationality players like Conti are capped as soon as possible. Taken over on January 9th 2029 so expect yearly National Team updates again. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 25, 2017 Author Share Posted March 25, 2017 Oh bloody hell here we go... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 27, 2017 Author Share Posted March 27, 2017 Season 2028/29 - Serie A Youth Intake Pretty nice intake on the face of it, not as nice as last years but still good. Three 4.5* potential players, shame one of them is Italian only. Arzilli being Italian second nationality could be a problem. Andrea Arzilli This guy looks great. Central midfield is always a key position in any team and he looks like he's going to be a very good player for us if developed properly. For sure the best player in this intake. Fabrizio Volpinari This guy is a bit of a problem. He looks good but he's not really relevant to me because I just don't play with wingers and rarely ever do. Might try and turn him into a CAM or just move him on early to somewhere he'll actually get first team football. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 27, 2017 Author Share Posted March 27, 2017 The situation as I head into the last day of the season. Only the top 6 qualify for Europa League or Champions League, if we finish 7th we will miss out. There are more permutations though. We hold the head to head records over both which is used before Goal Difference. If Sassuolo finish 7th but win the Italian Cup (they're in the final vs Roma) they will take a Europa League spot from whoever finished 6th. Here is who we all play. Palermo 8th vs San Marino 5th Caligari 20th Relegated vs Sassuolo 6th Fiorentina 7th vs Bari 18th I've got by far the hardest game but I'm in probably the best position. This is gonna be close and the nail biting will carry on if Sassuolo finish 7th and I have to wait to see if they win the Italian Cup. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 27, 2017 Author Share Posted March 27, 2017 Disaster. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 27, 2017 Author Share Posted March 27, 2017 I doubt this will last but hahahah please hold on pls. Off to cook some dinner so I'll finish this up in next half an hour. Crazy start though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 27, 2017 Author Share Posted March 27, 2017 Here come Sassuolo.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 27, 2017 Author Share Posted March 27, 2017 A massive deflection takes it past Zavoli and Palermo lead. We're relying on Bari to hold off Fiorentina for us at this point As it stands we're in Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 27, 2017 Author Share Posted March 27, 2017 Sassuolo are gone but Fiorentina are still losing as we stand in the 75th minute. Unless they score 2 quickfire goals we're headed for Europe! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 27, 2017 Author Share Posted March 27, 2017 Goal for Caligari but it's pretty much irrelevant at this point, all that matters is this 92 mins on the clock, Fiorentina down to 10, they're dancing in Palermo, San Marino are heading for Europe! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 27, 2017 Author Share Posted March 27, 2017 18th place and ultimately relegated despite winning Bari have beaten Fiorentina against all the odds to help us into Europe. How very lucky! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keano16 Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 Yes, get in! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 27, 2017 Author Share Posted March 27, 2017 Season 2028/29 - Serie A Season In Review - Europe Calling League Table Bang bang! A little bit fortunate to scrape into Europa League in the end with a very fluky result of Bari (18th) beating Fiorentina last game meaning we held onto 6th but I will defo take it. This means our last season at our current stadium will feature European football for the first time in club history. So happy we made it as we have been close in the past. Results We started out horrendously and at one stage I feared we would be battling relegation. In a desperate search for a bit of form I changed up the formation and tactics a little and added a CB and a CAM over having a DM and three in CM which greatly improved our form. We hit another roadblock about halfaway through but finished the season relatively strong. We always seem to do terrible in the Italian Cup apart from one fluke run ages ago, knocked out by Empoli in the 4th qualifying round while I was undergoing a rough start to the season. I was 3-0 down in 15 minutes, terrible. Team of the Season Last year we managed to get two players into the Serie A team of the year but this year we had none. The two who made it into the Serie A TOTY Teqja and Grilli were both pretty awful this year. Grilli lost his place in the starting lineup and didn't even make the club TOTY and Teqja went from 14 goals & 6 assists in 32 games to 1 goal and 1 assist in 31 games. Tim Fritszche did well at the awards but I would argue that Gianluca Di Mitri was best player of the season. Transfers I mentioned in the last season review I had another freebie from Dortmund joining and that was LWB Tim Fritschze who was very good this year. Blano and Pecoraco were both signed as tutors and didn't play a game. Arien How for 800k was an absolute steal, Fernandez on loan was superb this year. Juan Carlos was awful despite looking like he would be great. Di Mitri banged in 20 in the league and was exactly what we needed to get into Europe and Marcelo was meh but his stats are absolutely amazing and I'm hoping next year he will kick on and start to dominate. Squad Squad Intake Our youth intake last season was simply incredible and this years wasn't much worse. Two 4.5* Sammarinese players means I can hardly complain. Arzilli will be a very key player for the National Team over the coming decade if he can develop properly. Center mids are always in demand so I will be paying extra attention to make sure he fulfils his potential. Will also be re-training him as a CAM just to make him more versatile. Volpinari looks to be a good player but his biggest issue is that he's a winger. I'm re-training him to play as a CAM so he has more use for me but I don't use wingers at all. Goodbye El Hilali Club Legend (in my eyes) El Hilali will be moved on at the end of the season after 12 years at the club from Serie C to Serie A. He asked me for a move as his first team football was getting reduced and I'll let him go because he deserves it. A remarkably consistent player who never looked out of his depth even as we moved through the tiers. One of my all time favourite players on a Football Manager, he leaves as 'Favoured Personnel' which is a bit harsh considering we have players who were literally here on loan for 2 years in that category. Season Thoughts Very happy with this season. Our last season at our 5000 seater stadium will feature European Football for the first time in club history. Onwards and upwards from here. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 27, 2017 Author Share Posted March 27, 2017 Sheesh, look at the interested teams for Conti. Europes Elite has made moves for both Conti and Zavoli, two absolute stud Sammrinese players. Just wish Conti would accept the callup Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 27, 2017 Author Share Posted March 27, 2017 Starting to hate this guy, first he's too good for the National Team and now he's too good for the club as well? If he carries on I'll be giving him the Kandersson career killer treatment and freezing him in the reserves for years. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 28, 2017 Author Share Posted March 28, 2017 This summers main signing, only 4.4m for a wonderkid who looks amazing. Buzzing with this. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidthekid Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 1 hour ago, rycl77 said: This summers main signing, only 4.4m for a wonderkid who looks amazing. Buzzing with this. he does look special. Good physicals and defense attributes at only 19 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 28, 2017 Author Share Posted March 28, 2017 Comfortably into the next round after an easy win vs Slovakian opposition. After a 7-0 first leg away win I played a few youth players in the second leg, Arzilli picking up his first goal for the club and 2 from Perna who's an Italian youngster who's come through our academy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 28, 2017 Author Share Posted March 28, 2017 We've got work to do in the second leg. Think I deserved to win but away to Austria we go. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 28, 2017 Author Share Posted March 28, 2017 Well that was easier than I expected. Into the Europa group stages we go. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 28, 2017 Author Share Posted March 28, 2017 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keano16 Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 Not the worst possible group, but still tricky nonetheless. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 28, 2017 Author Share Posted March 28, 2017 First battle vs an enemy we'll be fighting a lot over the next few years, mostly for dual nationality players. They've already got Conti and Arzilli hostage. Expecting a battering here but maybe if we can fluke a draw Conti and Arzilli will re-consider their allegiance to Italy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 28, 2017 Author Share Posted March 28, 2017 Haha, hopefully Arzilli and Conti didn't bother tuning in or this will have put them off San Marino for life Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRamis Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 17 hours ago, rycl77 said: Haha, hopefully Arzilli and Conti didn't bother tuning in or this will have put them off San Marino for life Incredible work so far buddy. Really good follow. can you post your full tactics and instructions for both club and country? Do you use the same tactics for both? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 30, 2017 Author Share Posted March 30, 2017 9 hours ago, SRamis said: Incredible work so far buddy. Really good follow. can you post your full tactics and instructions for both club and country? Do you use the same tactics for both? Yeah atm I use the same for both with defensive tweaks for the country. Here's the formation and instructions Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 30, 2017 Author Share Posted March 30, 2017 Pretty gutted with this. Going into the last game against Feyenoord at home we needed a win to go through over Feyenoord. Had a few clear cut chances but blew them and the Dutch side clung on for a 0-0 draw to advance. Sad times, all focus on the league & Italian Cup now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 30, 2017 Author Share Posted March 30, 2017 San Marino National Team - 2029 Update My first year back in charge of the National Team after an 8 year exodus. Not a lot has changed, we still suck. Results A full slate of losses other than a solid draw at home to Armenia. Needless to say we didn't qualify for the World Cup. We scored 4 goals which is decent with some goals against teams like Italy & Russia but we're still miles and miles off competing for qualification. I think it could be a decade before we're competitive in groups. Ranking We're not exactly flying up the world rankings after 7 losses and a draw. The Traitors This section is dedicated to the players who possess the dreaded dual-nationality of Sammarinese and Italian and think they're better than their country of birth and reject San Marino for Italy. These players are a big issue as in a few years they will be considered to be the best San Marino players but not playing for the National Team. Andrea Arzilli has the potential to be an absolute stud for us in the middle of the park where we desperately need a bit of quality to play alongside Davide Colombini. However as of right now he's rejecting all call-ups from me in favour of waiting for a call-up for the Italian under-19's. I don't know if this guy has what it takes to start for Italy's full national side in a few years but even if he can't it could be a long few years before I get my hands on this guy for the country. Conti is a little bit different to his fellow traitor Arzilli as he's actually playing for Italy Under19's already, note his listed nationality on his stats page is Italian but I can assure you he was born and bred Serravalle, San Marino. I think this guy could be an issue because if he develops properly I reckon he has an outside chance of gaining a full Italian cap. So I'm faced with the dilemma of not wanting him to get too good that he plays for Italy but wanting him to be good enough to still be great for when he decides to come and play for San Marino. Hmm. Main Players We know all about Zavoli, he's the starting keeper for San Marino Calcio at age 17 and has a massive future ahead of him for both club and country, a gem of a player not infected with the disease of dual nationality. Michelotti was a player who came through our academy, had a good few years at the club and was moved on to England where he plays for Tranmere. He's head and shoulders above any other defender in the squad. Canti is the record goalscorer for the nation, he left the club very early for Entella but his career never took off and he now plays in Serie D, he's great in the air. Records Michelotti already has 100 caps for the country aged 29 and looks a shoe-in to break Elia Benadettini's 112 cap record. Elia actually retired recently perhaps sensing his days as San Marino GK were over with the arrival of Renzi and Zavoli on the scene. We also broke the record for most games without a win at 37 and this record continues to grow as of this day. Here's to hoping there's a win around the corner. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 30, 2017 Author Share Posted March 30, 2017 Season 2029/30 - Serie A Youth Intake An average youth intake this year with two Sammarinese 4*'s and a few 3*'s, of which one is a keeper and effectively useless as I've got much better options available there. Four star potential now however is a very good Serie A player so these players can expect to feature heavily if they reach their potential and could be supporting cast to the stars of the future. Massimo Colonna is a central defender with single nationality so he will be thrown into the National side as soon as possible as we're in dire need to capable CB's to go alongside Michelotti. He looks to be a promising defender and with a bit of improvement will easily be Serie A standard in my opinion. Very happy to have this guy with us and I think he will be a big asset for years to come, more so if we play with 3 CB's. Another Massimo but it's Michelotti this time who's of no relation to 100 cap San Marino legend Andrea Michelotti. Massimo is a right back which could be an issue for him if I can pry the immensely talented Matteo Conti from the clutches of Italy. If I can't and I expect it'll take a few years for Conti to come to his senses maybe Massimo Michelotti can be a nice stop gap and give us some decent quality. 9 determination will need a bump so I'll get into tutoring and re-training him to play RWB so he fits my system but his stats are largely very solid ATM. For years the goalscoring burden of a nation has rested on the shoulders of Andrea Canti, a targetman who came through my academy when we were in the depths of Serie C. An immensely talented youngster he fled the club for Virtus Entella and while never fulfilling his potential he has been a prolific (by San Marino standards) goal threat for the country pretty much on his own. Finally it looks like we have someone who will at least be better than him even if his 3* potential doesn't exactly make me drool. A strong finisher with amazing determination I think this kid will end up breaking Andrea Canti's goalscoring record of 20 goals and counting, you heard it here first. For anyone who wanted to see the state of my facilities here they are. They've come a very long way since I started and we're now at the stage where we can expect at least 1 Serie A level starter from San Marino a season, we're just waiting on the star without dual nationality. I'll be looking to call these three up to the national team in the next round of fixtures. Reggini and Michelotti both possess dual nationality for Italy which is a bit of a pain and I wonder if they'll look to hold off my advances of an early cap. Here's to hoping they don't because otherwise this save is going to take a very long time if every Joe Bloggs with dual nationality doesn't want to play for San Marino. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 31, 2017 Author Share Posted March 31, 2017 Jesus christ, really!? It seems every dual nationality player who comes through is gonna reject us for a while which is a shame, just means the road is going to be a little bit longer. There isn't a hope in hell Reggini ever gets an Italy cap so it's a shame he won't just commit to San Marino. Maybe he won't break Canti's goalscoring if he spends 10 years dreaming of playing for Italy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted March 31, 2017 Author Share Posted March 31, 2017 Setting club records at 17, hell of a player Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted April 1, 2017 Author Share Posted April 1, 2017 Season 2029/30 - Serie A Season In Review - A little improvement Serie A We moved up one spot from last season, finishing 6th this time around. A lack of ability to pick up points against the big boys and a few frustrating draws was the difference between us and the top four. 13 draws is far too many for us to be competitive. Still we retain Europa League status for next season which is always nice as we move into our new stadium. Highlight was a 7-0 win over bottom feeders Carpi and the lowlight was a 2-0 loss away to Livorno who finished 15th. Lazio finished dead last and it wasn't even close, might have to raid them for any good players they have. Italian Cup Same old story in the Italian cup. Cruised through in our first match and disappointed in the next. Don't let the 4-3 scoreline fool you, it was 4-0 to AC Milan by halftime, I went on contain to just keep the score low and somehow ended up scoring 3 and almost getting back into it. Wouldn't have complained if we did but we threw the game away in the first half. The Italian Cup is our best chance of silverware but the way it's seeded is terrible and makes it much harder as you're guaranteed to be away from home against the likes of Roma & Juve at some stage. Europa League Our first season in Europe was a tad disappointing. A 10-1 drubbing of minnows Zilina got us into the play-offs where we saw off Austia Wien. The group stage is where we fell. We went into the last game vs Feyenoord needing a win to go through and knock them out but they parked the bus and got the 0-0. So frustrating. Transfers Spent 17.5m and re-couped 20m, did some good business in this window and feel like we did get stronger. Notable Departures - Mattia El Hilali left the club after 12 years of service, a real legend who came from Serie C to Serie A with us. He wasn't getting football and asked to move on so I had to let him go. Zdislaw Krupski was signed from Dortmund and was amazing for us at CB for a number of years but continually asked for moves away. Decided to cut losses and move him on and in return I signed two stud CB's for the same cost as we sold him. Noteable Signings - Hassan Nwakaeme was on the transfer list at Man United for 4.4m, his stats were outstanding and he came with the tag of wonderkid, who can say no to that for 4.4m? Signed him up straight away, good player but a bit inconsistent atm. Cristian Martino was another CB on the transfer list for a similar price. A bit older than Nwakaeme but a bit more polished. He slotted right into the side and was solid for us, althought I'd like an improvement on his 6.8 avg match rating next season. Andrey Vasilchenko stands out for his price tag, 9.25m was a lot of money for a guy I was never sure on. My scouts rated him very highly as a RWB and we desperately needed an improvement there, I couldn't really see why they were so certain he was amazing but I trusted my scouts and brought him in from PSG in Jan. With a 7.08 avg match rating he played well and gave us the upgrade we wanted in the RWB role. Best XI Tim Fritzsche had another good year and took the fans player of the season, I'd have probably given it to Kaan Seker but Fritzsche is a good choice. Kaan Seker stepped up massively this season for us and ended with 19 league goals, 6 assists, 7 MoTM's and an average rating of 7.26. I was considering selling him at the start of the season but he was immaculate and better than Di Mitri this season to be honest. Marco Zavoli continued his rise to the top of football with a stellar season. He's now rated as a Serie A level keeper at the age of 17 and the amount of first team football he's been getting since 15 played a big role. He made 49 appearances for club & country this year which is a crazy amount of experience for someone so young. He broke the club record for clean sheets, conceded less goals than he played games in the league (35 goals conceded in 38 games) and finished with an average rating of 7.04. This guy is San Marino's goalkeeper for the next 20 years in my opinion, BALLER. Youth Intake An average youth intake this year with two Sammarinese 4*'s and a few 3*'s, of which one is a keeper and effectively useless as I've got much better options available there. Four star potential now however is a very good Serie A player so these players can expect to feature heavily if they reach their potential and could be supporting cast to the stars of the future. Massimo Colonna is a central defender with single nationality so he will be thrown into the National side as soon as possible as we're in dire need to capable CB's to go alongside Michelotti. He looks to be a promising defender and with a bit of improvement will easily be Serie A standard in my opinion. Very happy to have this guy with us and I think he will be a big asset for years to come, more so if we play with 3 CB's. Another Massimo but it's Michelotti this time who's of no relation to 100 cap San Marino legend Andrea Michelotti. Massimo is a right back which could be an issue for him if I can pry the immensely talented Matteo Conti from the clutches of Italy. If I can't and I expect it'll take a few years for Conti to come to his senses maybe Massimo Michelotti can be a nice stop gap and give us some decent quality. 9 determination will need a bump so I'll get into tutoring and re-training him to play RWB so he fits my system but his stats are largely very solid ATM. For years the goalscoring burden of a nation has rested on the shoulders of Andrea Canti, a targetman who came through my academy when we were in the depths of Serie C. An immensely talented youngster he fled the club for Virtus Entella and while never fulfilling his potential he has been a prolific (by San Marino standards) goal threat for the country pretty much on his own. Finally it looks like we have someone who will at least be better than him even if his 3* potential doesn't exactly make me drool. A strong finisher with amazing determination I think this kid will end up breaking Andrea Canti's goalscoring record of 20 goals and counting, you heard it here first. For anyone who wanted to see the state of my facilities here they are. They've come a very long way since I started and we're now at the stage where we can expect at least 1 Serie A level starter from San Marino a season, we're just waiting on the star without dual nationality. And predictably neither of those with Dual Nationality are interested in playing for San Marino right now, sigh. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rycl77 Posted April 1, 2017 Author Share Posted April 1, 2017 Boring name Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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