A Decade in The Sun - The Very Best of A New Roman Empire

[zlatanera]

The "worst" pre-assist I've ever seen...

Pellegrini running onto that ball and then passing...like that? Nuts. 

[zlatanera]

Mercato - Invierno 2028

...I should have probably just waited to post and merge this into the summer one. If I keep up the save into year 11, I will.

Two pre-arranged transfers confirmed, one deceptively late move for yet another Bayern youth product, and another young German arranged for the summer. At least Bucci is Italian (not that I really need to push to naturalise a forward, the stolen Brazilian Jorge Luís still only has 4 caps).

Le Scorta di Talenti

Spoiler

Mirko Bucci was something like 90+ recommended by my coaches when on trial - so probably yet another history glitch victim, sadly. Still, he's not looking any less appealing 6 months later and still has his great personality. As I said previously, he's part-Italian too so perhaps living in the country will persuade him to switch.

Of course coaches impressions can be misleading. Erman Uğurlu has lost 1.5 stars of potential versus when I scouted him before arranging the transfer. Still, his personality should mean he maximises what he has, and his attributes are mostly in the right places - a bit of intense training is needed on both Composure and Off The Ball however.

Although the press suspected this was a deadline-day impulse signing, Birkel has been on my radar since 2027's trials. Not that Lafont will need replacing any time soon, but I now have 4 excellent candidates from the last 3 intakes in this position. The high potential price was necessary to keep down the initial investment as I've struggled to make money on goalkeepers with the exception of Francisco Pinto - Roger Martin had a cap for France age 20 yet I could only get €5.5m for him 6 years after purchasing him for €4m. Communication is often a weak point for young goalkeepers with acceptable distribution, so to already have 12 is great. 

Ancora un altro per il prossimo futuro

Spoiler

Oliver Brinkies is potentially a very costly outlay - €4m initially but it could rise to €40m. If the previous big youth transfers are anything to go by, he'll be a roaring success: Alen Miletic has already fulfilled all his clauses (including 50 league goals in just 61 appearances), Jan Böhler performs well but is still only at €7.5m because a creative AM isn't scoring 50 any time soon, and Nicolò Bardini has more goals than games for Roma and is running at 1:1 for Italy. 

Brinkies himself has a great personality, is incredibly fit and is so young that any apparent weakness such as 10 Flair, 8 OTB and 7 Composure will no doubt soon no longer be weaknesses. He's also two-footed. 3 different scouts, my best coach, and my DoF all gave him 90+ recommendations so I'm not expecting to see his potential downgraded any time soon - he'll be a world beater.

 

[zlatanera]

FIFA Ballon d'Or 2027

To cap our centenary year - although Roma were founded in spring so another CL title could be the official 'cap' - we matched Barcelona's historic achievement of 3 players from the same club finishing on the podium for the Ballon d'Or! Cengiz Ünder was unlucky not to retain it - he deservedly had the highest average rating of the three - but D'Ambrosio has been immense. I think his insane 10 goals in the first 3 Champions League group stage games this season probably clinched it. 

D'Ambrosio is the first Italian winner since Fabio Cannavaro in 2006! The other Italians to have taken the award are Roberto Baggio (1993), Paolo Rossi (1982), Gianni Rivera (1969), and Omar Sivori (1961).

[zlatanera]

Giovani Lupi 2028

Tarantino: "Adriano Mariani looks as if he could possibly emerge as one of the best players of his generation."

On 27/06/2021 at 22:55, zlatanera said:

Zlatan da Era: "He's another ***** defender, isn't he?"

He's Not!

Two-footed, a good starting personality, solid Rushing Out, and no real weaknesses in his game. The Sicilian really does look like the next great Italian goalkeeper!

...that may be a slight problem. Look at the standard of goalkeeping in the academy:

That is an awful lot of competition, so he'll struggle to stand out. My youth hoarding has been so effective that this may well be the future top 5 world goalkeepers, so I'll have to do a better job of selling them than I did with France international Roger Martin (a pathetic €5.5m).

[zlatanera]

Tiki-Roma

I realise on the rare occasion I upload highlights, its either a set piece or a screamer. Well, we actually score after passing moves too. It may not be what Barcelona used to stand for, but this is one of the better ones I've seen!

[04texag]

Hey bud, was wondering what you're doing tactically these days? Mind sharing an update on your current setup?

[zlatanera]

@04texag last couple of seasons I've stuck with the same 4-3-3 from about 2021 onwards, but added in a 4-2-3-1 and 4-2-4 to for my rotated line-up. Its really been more about squad-building, training, and chasing down records than tactics. I'd kinda written off FM19 for attempting Pep-style football by the time I resumed this save after the first hiatus last year and just enjoyed it for what It is.

The instructions are a constant:

Then I have the main 4-3-3:

In 2025/26 my alternate was a 4-2-4 to accommodate both Fenu and Miletic:

The in the 2026-28 period its been a 4-2-3-1 with first Fenu then Bardini ahead of Jan Böhler:

As I said in a previous post, through careful squad planning I've put myself in a position where I can build all my formations out of the 4-3-3 without having to adjust set piece takers, which is highly beneficial as we might actually have took 100 goals from set piece situations in the most recent seasons (although my definition is a lot wider than the game's, which would probably only show 60+). Italy - usually drawing 8-12 players from the Roma squad - use the exact same setups, although I only remember to fix set piece takers for the tournaments.

I'm actually considering properly ending the save - I've got to the end of the domestic season, its just whether or not I do Euro 2028. Mostly due to the record glitch, as what's the point in having Alen Miletic on course to smash through Totti's goalscoring records before he's 27 if the game won't acknowledge it? There are still joys to be found though, like the absurdity of such a tight defence in that 4-2-3-1 when Roman Dryshlyuk - fluent in Russian and Ukrainian, no other acknowledged languages - must have no idea what anybody's saying!

[04texag]

8 minutes ago, zlatanera said:

@04texag last couple of seasons I've stuck with the same 4-3-3 from about 2021 onwards, but added in a 4-2-3-1 and 4-2-4 to for my rotated line-up. Its really been more about squad-building, training, and chasing down records than tactics. I'd kinda written off FM19 for attempting Pep-style football by the time I resumed this save after the first hiatus last year and just enjoyed it for what It is.

The instructions are a constant:

Then I have the main 4-3-3:

In 2025/26 my alternate was a 4-2-4 to accommodate both Fenu and Miletic:

The in the 2026-28 period its been a 4-2-3-1 with first Fenu then Bardini ahead of Jan Böhler:

As I said in a previous post, through careful squad planning I've put myself in a position where I can build all my formations out of the 4-3-3 without having to adjust set piece takers, which is highly beneficial as we might actually have took 100 goals from set piece situations in the most recent seasons (although my definition is a lot wider than the game's, which would probably only show 60+). Italy - usually drawing 8-12 players from the Roma squad - use the exact same setups, although I only remember to fix set piece takers for the tournaments.

I'm actually considering properly ending the save - I've got to the end of the domestic season, its just whether or not I do Euro 2028. Mostly due to the record glitch, as what's the point in having Alen Miletic on course to smash through Totti's goalscoring records before he's 27 if the game won't acknowledge it? There are still joys to be found though, like the absurdity of such a tight defence in that 4-2-3-1 when Roman Dryshlyuk - fluent in Russian and Ukrainian, no other acknowledged languages - must have no idea what anybody's saying!

Any tactical instructions you can share on that 4231? Thanks! Just looking for new ideas to get my team scoring more consistently. Squad built is top notch, performance has been sub par.

[zlatanera]

11 minutes ago, 04texag said:

Any tactical instructions you can share on that 4231? Thanks! Just looking for new ideas to get my team scoring more consistently. Squad built is top notch, performance has been sub par.

Yeah, forgot about those haha

For all three systems:

BPD-Co has Dribble More personalised for those capable of it (Upamecano, Busti)

IF-At both Sit Narrower

In the 4-3-3 the RPM is told to Move Into Channels

In the 4-2-3-1 and 4-2-4 the AP will Hold Position

In the 4-2-3-1 the AM will Dribble More, Get Further Forward, and Move Into Channels.

I'll actually just upload my main 4-3-3 as well, as I have too many set piece routines to share screenshots of them all:

4-3-3 Total 3-1-6.fmf

Set piece takers are like so:

Mixed Corner: best takers (inswinging)

Short Corner: specific position (DM)

Near Corner Keysi: best takers (outswinging)

 

Direct: best takers (rank by footedness)

Small Chance: specific position (DM)

Wide 25: specific position (near-side wide attacker)

Wide (Keysi): specific position (MCR)

Deep 25: specific position (DM)

Deep (Keysi): specific position (MCR)

 

Throw: specific position (near-side full back)

Throw 25: specific position (near-side full back)

 

That is obviously customised to my squad: my DM will usually have acceptable set piece attributes and the mental abilities to be trusted with those short routines and the deep free kick, both MCR options (Lorenzo Pellegrini and Patrice Grall) are my top playmakers and also great set piece takers, whilst my AML/AMR all have good Free Kick Taking (a quirk of FM19 preferring newgen strikers with that attribute, whom I then retrained to the wings). The Keysi routines' provenance should be obvious, but I've tweaked them slightly so I see no harm in sharing them within my tactic. 

Lastly, my full backs mostly have rubbish Long Throws, but that doesn't matter as both routines are short. I do think its a bit of an exploit how effectively you can create a textbook overload play from an attacking throw in FM19, so it maybe wouldn't translate to more recent editions.

[04texag]

4 minutes ago, zlatanera said:

Yeah, forgot about those haha

For all three systems:

BPD-Co has Dribble More personalised for those capable of it (Upamecano, Busti)

IF-At both Sit Narrower

In the 4-3-3 the RPM is told to Move Into Channels

In the 4-2-3-1 and 4-2-4 the AP will Hold Position

In the 4-2-3-1 the AM will Dribble More, Get Further Forward, and Move Into Channels.

I'll actually just upload my main 4-3-3 as well, as I have too many set piece routines to share screenshots of them all:

4-3-3 Total 3-1-6.fmf 44.26 kB · 0 downloads

Set piece takers are like so:

Mixed Corner: best takers (inswinging)

Short Corner: specific position (DM)

Near Corner Keysi: best takers (outswinging)

 

Direct: best takers (rank by footedness)

Small Chance: specific position (DM)

Wide 25: specific position (near-side wide attacker)

Wide (Keysi): specific position (MCR)

Deep 25: specific position (DM)

Deep (Keysi): specific position (MCR)

 

Throw: specific position (near-side full back)

Throw 25: specific position (near-side full back)

 

That is obviously customised to my squad: my DM will usually have acceptable set piece attributes and the mental abilities to be trusted with those short routines and the deep free kick, both MCR options (Lorenzo Pellegrini and Patrice Grall) are my top playmakers and also great set piece takers, whilst my AML/AMR all have good Free Kick Taking (a quirk of FM19 preferring newgen strikers with that attribute, whom I then retrained to the wings). The Keysi routines' provenance should be obvious, but I've tweaked them slightly so I see no harm in sharing them within my tactic. 

Lastly, my full backs mostly have rubbish Long Throws, but that doesn't matter as both routines are short. I do think its a bit of an exploit how effectively you can create a textbook overload play from an attacking throw in FM19, so it maybe wouldn't translate to more recent editions.

Sorry to bother, but what about the team TI tactics on the 4231? Thanks

[zlatanera]

55 minutes ago, 04texag said:

Sorry to bother, but what about the team TI tactics on the 4231? Thanks

They all use the same TIs. I found a system that works, and stuck to it

[04texag]

1 minute ago, zlatanera said:

They all use the same TIs. I found a system that works, and stuck to it

Cool, that's great, thanks!

 

[zlatanera]

Roma 2027/28

I actually completed this season a month ago. Work commitments, deliberating about whether or not to continue the save etc. mean I've only finally had chance to bombard this thread with yet more screenshots of my successes.

A somewhat nervy start - our statistical domination not being backed up by the scoreline had me fearing a long overdue instance of being "FM'd". But no, Giovanni D'Ambrosio came up with the goods! I would say its nice to see Schalke in this fixture but there would be enough Gazprom advertising there even without them.

This comprehensive win saw us beat our own record with 13 goals in just 2 games in the Club World Cup. Rare goals from Marcello - never as prolific since joining the 'A' team and thus losing out on free kicks to Pellegrini and Ünder - and Patrice Grall were nice to see.

Nothing like a derby as your first game of the calendar year! Just a shame its taking place so far from Italy in order to help with some "sportswashing". 

We racked up a couple of absurd scoreline on our way to this final (the Palermo fixture was a single leg, only 1 goal shy of beating the club record win of 9-0 in 1929!). Inter gave us a proper game of football here, carving out a 2-goal lead following that insane start that saw the score at 1-1 inside 120 seconds, before we turned it around late on. This wouldn't be the first time Luca Busti scored an important goal this season...

300 games without a loss...we beat Chievo in early 2028. I honestly reckon I could go the entire decade unbeaten in domestic competitions, which is truly absurd.

The previous record of 55 was ended by that 3-3 draw with Napoli in 2027. For context, our new record of 56 wins in a row is basically two months on top of the Arsenal "Invincibles" unbeaten streak which included draws!

Experience with last season's glitchy gift of a league winners' medal to Andrea Gagliardi saw me try to game the system here by subbing on our backup goalkeeper Romulo...it didn't work. But sealing a decade of Serie A titles against the team that fell short of it irl due to their own hubris is extra sweet!

Concessions are still in double digits, but that's a consequence of a more gung-ho attitude. In the 2026 "half" of the season we had scored 128 goals in just 26 games, for an insane 4.92 goals per game! So I set myself the task of chasing down our own league scoring record from Jovic's last season, and we blew past it by over 10 goals! I think poor Chievo alone conceded 12. The makeup of the top 7 is disappointingly realistic, with Empoli dropping out of continental contention as I couldn't loan them the same quality of player as last season, but Bologna are back in Europe for the first time since Eddy Salcedo's career-making loan spell with them, which is nice. Napoli dropping off means nobody else even cracks 80 points which is dull. Sampdoria's kits will be missed. 

After a solid 2026/27 as Campanella's backup, Alan Miletic well and truly came into his own in smashing José Gayà's rating record. I think next season he could make the fans forget all about the great Luka Jovic by pushing on to 50 goals!

 No messing around with the 'B' line-up in the knockout rounds this time, we went out all guns blazing and obliterated Neverkusen before moving on to "European Royalty" with a ruthlessness that would make a Roma fan of Napoleon. Our eventual tally of 58 goals in the tournament would lay down yet another record for Zlatan da Era's Roma. For only the third time we would face non-English opposition in the final. Given Kylian Mbappé has been posting 30-40+ goals each year of the 2020s its surprising we hadn't met the Qatari branding project at this stage before (although I'm sure we dumped them out a couple of times).

An absolute cracker this one too. Alen Miletic and Mbappé trading blows like the CGI monsters at the end of a marvel movie (although style-wise, Mbappé's flair and grace would probably mark him out as the hero versus the aggressive, committed Austro-Croat), masking the fact that PSG were the better team. Luckily, that all counted for nought with another cup final goal from Roma's Roman Luca Busti!

 

 

I would place more stock in this season's record, as D'Ambrosio actually appeared in knockout fixtures as I was hoping to chase down some of Messi and Ronaldo's goal records after he made an incredible start to the season. 

Oh, and another thing(s):

• Dani Alves irl with 44 competition wins is the most successful footballer of all time. We have a fully XI - at least - who can beat that, with joint-record holders Lorenzo Pellegrini, Sandro Tonali, and Nicolò Zaniolo all on 55! 
• 2027/28 was our first entirely winning season!! We didn't draw or lose a single game! Our 251 goals in all competitions is no doubt some sort of record too.

Edited September 9, 2021 by zlatanera

[zlatanera]

Azzurri 2027/28

Although we are in Euro2028, I chose not to play it as any reasonable run would see me through into the summer transfer window and I like to make longer-term save points before any deals are done - in this case immediately after the Champions League final (although I skipped ahead a few days to get all the awards).

As usual, I named an unchanged squad from the previous summer's tournament in the first international window, before mixing things up a bit as form and fortune changed - Alessandro Cortinovis for example had an insane start to the season, scoring a hat-trick on opening day to match his previous seasons' tallies of 3 league goals (yes, every year) and ending up with 11 in before I brought him into the fold. Our final game of the year, a 3-0 home win against Bulgaria, saw Gianluigi Donnarumma pick up his 100th cap age just 28! I doubt he'll catch Buffon though, as some newness could be looking to usurp him in 3-4 years.

[zlatanera]

Premi del Club e Statistiche della Squadra

The fans continue to reward those just behind the headlines in this team with their voting for Player of the Season. Swap out Jan Böhler for Marcello in a 4-3-3 and that Team of the Season is my 'A' line-up. Penalties inflating his statistics - and some strong performances - mean Böhler is averaging a high rating despite being an AMC.

Cengiz Ünder's Goal of the Season was the first of a hat-trick as we demolished Juventus 5-0 in their own stadium!

As usual, some impressive numbers here, with not one but five players averaging over 8.0! Not pictured are newgens Gabriele Sannino (1 app 6.90), Souleymane Diallo ( 7(2) apps, 3 goals, 1 PoM, 7.96), and Andreas Evers ( 3(1) apps, 4 goals, 7.95). Roman Dryshlyuk - one of only 4 players signed age 18+ in 6 years, Dynamo Kyiv record sale at €34m (rising to €52m with add-ons), and Ukraine youngest goalscorer at 18 years 287 days in 2026 - used his 18 Crossing to good effect with 17 assists in his first season with us. That sees him down an assist and a goal on Kevin Rossini's final season but he's a superior player. With the towering Miletic and Bardini its not surprise our wide players outshine the likes of Pellegrini and Grall (France's youngest goalscorer - 19 years 51 days vs. Finland in September 2024) in the centre this year.

Nicolò Zaniolo started out with 7 assists in his first 6 league games, matching his totals 18/19 and 23/24 and beating his all comps totals for five previous seasons, going on to produce a personal best for both goals and assists with 31 involvements! Jan Böhler improved his totals year-on-year, whilst Pedro Paulo actually saw a slight drop-off in form. Giovanni D'Ambrosio scored fewer than last season, yet assisted more and scored 10 goals in the first 3 CL group games, going on to grab 14 of his total 19 goals for the season by 23rd November with only 2 league goals all year. Weird.

Cengiz Ünder was his usual brilliant self. Marco Campanella became a natural at AML on the way to breaking 20 goals for the first time - like Zaniolo he had a lightning start with 8 goals in our first 6 Serie A fixtures. Alen Miletic almost doubled his previous season's totals despite only 4 more starts, whilst Nicolò Bardini likewise had more goals than starts to his name, seeing him now with a 1:1 goals to game ratio for Roma!

 

The Roma all-time top scorers table now looks like this. Kyle Belford (40+) and Bardini (33 in 33) are the two most notable forwards not to make the ranking. Giovanni D'Ambrosio and Alberto Fenu's numbers are remarkably similar, only D'Ambrosio is doing it all 3 years older and didn't turn around a World Cup final, so I rate the younger man higher. Both Nicolò Zaniolo (surprisingly) and Lorenzo Pellegrini (less so) are now past 100 goals for Roma! 

Alen Miletic is fast climbing the ranks, with his current goals-to-games ratio putting him on course to beat Totti's goalscoring record in just 250 appearances. He'll probably catch Campanella in 2-3 years depending on if the Italian's 20-goals season is a one-off or not. Speaking of Campanella, its not meant feet for a homegrown player to outscore Amadeo Amadei, given he was firing them in age 14! Cengiz Ünder - the only foreigner to pass 300 appearances on this ranking and one of only 5 players to pass 400 - could theoretically also chase down Totti in 4-5 seasons, although given that would see him 35-6 years old its unlikely (he's not the most physically imposing, so once his pace his gone he'll be a non-entity unless the ball is at his feet, with too direct traits to adapt as Totti did).

 

I'll finish up with my usual spoiler-heavy awards post, but I have to say I think this may be the end of the save. 10 years is a nice round number and I don't really care for sticking out to chase the really big records such as Totti's goals (5-6 seasons minimum), Real Madrid's European Cups (4 seasons), or Juventus' Serie A titles (almost 30 further seasons). Taking Euro 2028 then Confederations Cup 2029 to give Pellegrini, Tonali, and Zaniolo the international clean sweep holds some appeal but there's an entire season of club football between the two tournaments sadly. Its been a fun ride though, and I'm sure eventually I'll be able to put this insane level of sustained success behind me and actually be brave enough to start another save 

Edited September 9, 2021 by zlatanera

[zlatanera]

Premi

• FIFA

Spoiler

It should be noted that all these awards were given in December, hence the statistics will mostly not match the previous post.

Although he actually performed better the previous season, I can't argue with this award for a man well on his way to living up to my hopes for a Brazilian Cengiz Ünder.

 

Damn right!

 

As previously stated D'Ambrosio had an insane autumn, putting him in contention for this honour.

• Europe

Spoiler

This one is for the club season rather than calendar year like FIFA's awards. I would argue D'Ambrosio's mediocre 2028 means the likes of Ünder or Pedro Paulo should take 3rd position. 

• Champions League

Spoiler

 

I actually really like him as a player but I would again argue against D'Ambrosio here on account of the role he plays at AML is not a midfielder. 

Those 13 Champions League goals are the highest individual total in the save so far, and go 5th on the all-time list behind:

• Altafini's 14 for Milan in 1962/63
• Lionel Messi's 14 for Barcelona in 2009/10
• Cristiano Ronaldo's 16 for Real Madrid in 2015/16
• and Cristiano Ronaldo's 17 for Real Madrid in 2013/14

Illustrious company!

• Serie A

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

One success that hasn't become rote for me in this save is having my players win golden boot-type awards! Jovic shifted the goalposts a bit further, but 30 goals in 38 games is a great total, let alone in 25!

• Club World Cup

Spoiler

Interesting player, Bardini. Around 6'5", quick, skilful (high Flair, Vision, Composure, Dribbling) with a PA as high as Mbappé yet pretty rubbish in the air or from a distance. He's very different from Miletic yet they're both at such a high level, I'm tempted to switch to a 4-4-2 and have them as a pair. 

• France

Spoiler

 

Jonathan Cloarec is objectively not a good player for a top flight team. Yet he excelled in his homecoming season with Toulouse:

 

• Slovenia

Spoiler

I've actually decided to use our Olimpija Lublana link this year, to a positive effect.

 

[blackmoix]

En 18/8/2021 a las 16:37, zlatanera dijo:

@ 04texag En el último par de temporadas, me quedé con el mismo 4-3-3 desde aproximadamente 2021 en adelante, pero agregué un 4-2-3-1 y un 4-2-4 para mi alineación rotada. Realmente se trata más de formar escuadrones, entrenar y perseguir récords que de tácticas. Descarté un poco a FM19 por intentar el fútbol al estilo Pep cuando reanudé esta salvada después de la primera pausa el año pasado y simplemente lo disfruté por lo que es.

Las instrucciones son una constante:

Entonces tengo el 4-3-3 principal:

En 2025/26 mi suplente fue un 4-2-4 para acomodar tanto a Fenu como a Miletic:

En el período 2026-28 ha sido un 4-2-3-1 con primero Fenu y luego Bardini por delante de Jan Böhler:

Como dije en una  publicación anterior , a través de una cuidadosa planificación del equipo, me he puesto en una posición en la que puedo construir todas mis formaciones a partir del 4-3-3 sin tener que ajustar los receptores de jugadas a balón parado, lo cual es muy beneficioso. de hecho, he tomado 100 goles de situaciones de balón parado en las temporadas más recientes (aunque mi definición es mucho más amplia que la del juego, que probablemente solo mostraría más de 60). Italia, que suele contar con entre 8 y 12 jugadores de la escuadra de la Roma, utiliza exactamente las mismas configuraciones, aunque solo recuerdo fijar los tomadores de piezas a balón parado para los torneos.

De hecho, estoy considerando finalizar correctamente el guardado: he llegado al final de la temporada nacional, es solo si hago o no la Euro 2028. Principalmente debido a la falla del récord, ya que ¿cuál es el punto de tener a Alen Miletic en camino a romper los récords de goles de Totti antes de los 27 años si el juego no lo reconoce? Sin embargo, todavía hay alegrías por encontrar, como el absurdo de una defensa tan ajustada en ese 4-2-3-1 cuando Roman Dryshlyuk, que habla ruso y ucraniano con fluidez, no hay otros idiomas reconocidos, ¡no debe tener idea de lo que dicen los demás!

@zlatanera please, link your 3 tactics? 

this ling 4-3-3 don't charge. 

Thanks. 

Good job!!!