[FM20][FM21][FM22][FM23] Calcio

[The Art of Drowning]

I'm managing Cesena and I can confirm that Amadori is 100% ready to start immediately!  But he's not the only one, they have a whole load of talented players in their U21's and U18's so I decided to either sell or not register most of the experienced players in favour of youth.  This has lead to a Serie C win followed by a Serie B Win.

Spoiler

Thomas Lepri - First choice Centre Back and great to have on the left side of the partnership

 

 

The main man Amadori, stats aren't as good as normal due to returning from injury but he is unreal.

C Shpendi -  I'm pretty sure he was capped for Albania along with his exceptional brother but he's showing as Italian now

S Shpendi - Unbelievable player as a shadow striker behind Amadori

 

Ghiradello - Signed him from Padova after seeing a post on here about him.  Converted him into a RM(Winger Attack) and he has been brilliant.

 

Berti - Starts the game at Fiorentina where they have an option to buy him.  Thankfully they didn't and he was first choice in our midfield in Serie B

 

Ghinelli - Mostly a squad player as you can see with the 16 sub appearances in Serie B but he is ready to play immediately

 

 

Francesconi - Lurking in the youth teams at the start, he's an absolute hidden Gem and has been a starter for us right from the beginning

 

 

Diego Rossi - Been 2nd choice left back 2 years in a row but gets plenty of minutes and has been capped for Italy at youth level

 

Galassi - First choice keeper from the start after being promoted from the youth team.  Just won keeper of the tournament at the Olympics for Italy.  What a player.

 

There are a few more who are good squad players too, great potential throughout the squad.

 

 

[Big Yellow]

3 hours ago, WilsonJuve said:

Sorry only just seen your message. The logos are included in the Sortitoutsi megapack not come across the kits though.

Thanks! i downloaded a new logo pack and sorted it out and ended up making my own kits!!

[WilsonJuve]

2 hours ago, The Art of Drowning said:

I'm managing Cesena and I can confirm that Amadori is 100% ready to start immediately!  But he's not the only one, they have a whole load of talented players in their U21's and U18's so I decided to either sell or not register most of the experienced players in favour of youth.  This has lead to a Serie C win followed by a Serie B Win.

  Hide contents

There are a few more who are good squad players too, great potential throughout the squad.

 

 

He hasn't really clicked with the tactic I'm working with at the minute only one goal in 5 I believe. The Schpendi twins are doing great Stiven has 7 goals in 6 games from the wing and his brother 4 from 6 games upfront. Also trying to avoid the rapid promotions so if we do go up this season and start well in Serie B a may hold the team back until we are actually ready for Serie A because currently there is a chance this could be a complete youth only save.

[The Art of Drowning]

Yeah the issue with holding back is you might find the better young players kicking off wanting to leave.  Amadori is currently in a strop because I rejected an Arsenal bid and Stiven Shpendri has loved a moan.

Im most likely screwed in Serie A with next to money to spend but hopefully will earn some money while we are there.  I've been quite fortunate with a couple of great youth intakes so far.

[causticgrip]

Great thread guys. Serie A seemed like a fun, open, competitive league to do a save in and i went for Torino, as they have a promising squad, a few wonderkids and that at the start. Just finished season 1:

 

Pleased with Europa league qualification. Unfortunately a lot of draws cost us top 4 but when the team was firing, picked up some big wins.

A lot more to come from this team, there won't be many changes for next season. Just a case of replacing the loan players and some squad players that i think i can replace with better, younger talent.

 

[WilsonJuve]

18 hours ago, causticgrip said:

Great thread guys. Serie A seemed like a fun, open, competitive league to do a save in and i went for Torino, as they have a promising squad, a few wonderkids and that at the start. Just finished season 1:

Pleased with Europa league qualification. Unfortunately a lot of draws cost us top 4 but when the team was firing, picked up some big wins.

A lot more to come from this team, there won't be many changes for next season. Just a case of replacing the loan players and some squad players that i think i can replace with better, younger talent.

 

Fantastic first season. To be that close to top 4 season one with Torino is awesome. Its made all the sweeter finishing ahead of Inter and relegating them to the conference league  

[3maldini3]

On 27/11/2022 at 10:31, causticgrip said:

Great thread guys. Serie A seemed like a fun, open, competitive league to do a save in and i went for Torino, as they have a promising squad, a few wonderkids and that at the start. Just finished season 1:

 

Pleased with Europa league qualification. Unfortunately a lot of draws cost us top 4 but when the team was firing, picked up some big wins.

A lot more to come from this team, there won't be many changes for next season. Just a case of replacing the loan players and some squad players that i think i can replace with better, younger talent.

 

Very good! I finished my first season with Napoli and I will post some screenshots on the weekend.

[Daws88]

On 28/11/2022 at 23:01, turgi said:

Very good! I finished my first season with Napoli and I will post some screenshots on the weekend.

Did you manage to keep hold of Osimhen? Real Madrid have triggered his release clause in my save.....

[causticgrip]

Finished my 2nd season with Torino= it went really well, way beyond expectations:

 

So yea, won the double! Made a few key additions without spending much and having a pretty reasonable wage budget. Pleased with the solid defence and Schjelderup is just insanely good lol. Average age of the team only 23 too, so much more to come I feel.

[3maldini3]

On 01/12/2022 at 06:20, Daws88 said:

Did you manage to keep hold of Osimhen? Real Madrid have triggered his release clause in my save.....

Madrid came on the first day of summer and took him.

Politano, Lozano and Zielinski were quick to follow and it broke my heart. Therefore, this save is dead to me now.

[Daws88]

On 03/12/2022 at 09:12, turgi said:

Madrid came on the first day of summer and took him.

Politano, Lozano and Zielinski were quick to follow and it broke my heart. Therefore, this save is dead to me now.

Was waiting for your updated screenshots dude!? But I get that haha. Osimhen went to Liverpool on my save, which I'll take as that's my team, but still not easy to find a replacement. Gakpo is the one I've gone for, will rotate him with Raspadori and see if they can both perform. 

[3maldini3]

On 05/12/2022 at 08:22, Daws88 said:

Was waiting for your updated screenshots dude!? But I get that haha. Osimhen went to Liverpool on my save, which I'll take as that's my team, but still not easy to find a replacement. Gakpo is the one I've gone for, will rotate him with Raspadori and see if they can both perform. 

 I understand it's part of real life for footballers to move, but half a team is gone in one summer was too much for me.

[JoOSTAR]

On 02/12/2022 at 23:41, causticgrip said:

Finished my 2nd season with Torino= it went really well, way beyond expectations:

 

So yea, won the double! Made a few key additions without spending much and having a pretty reasonable wage budget. Pleased with the solid defence and Schjelderup is just insanely good lol. Average age of the team only 23 too, so much more to come I feel.

 

 

Insane results dude, congrats!

 

Can you post your whole tactic? (with team instructions/player instructions?

Really curious how you achieved this!

 

Thanks!

[WilsonJuve]

A.C Cesena Season Update.

As I mentioned before I had unfinished business at this club following a failed save in last years game. Let's start off with the league table and although we are 8 points clear at the halfway stage with a MASSIVE goal difference it hasn't been all plain sailing. Up until match day 13 we were bouncing between first and second place and Gubbio were unbeaten. A dip in our form and tactical change seen us get 7 wins from the last 8 games and put pressure on those below us.



The reason for the massive goal difference is down to the two starting strikers at the club who have both been in fantastic form throughout the year. First up the KING going into pre-season he had a tremendous record and had already established himself as my first choice for the start of the season. The fact that he was trained at Juventus who I support at youth level makes it even sweeter for me. A record of 11 goals in 18 starts where he is shooting above his XG has proved valuable for the club and at only 25 there is a lot more left in the tank.



Next up a man I thought I was going to phase out of the club Simone Corazza. At 31 years of age earning the 2nd most wages things weren't looking great for him but boy has he proved me wrong. An incredible return of 10 goals in 15 games where he is more than doubling his XG and has a 60% shot on target percentage has seen him become a valuable member of the starting 11 at least until we advance to the next division.



I also wanted to do a quick shoutout to Matteo Francesconi who at only 18 years of age finds himself capped at Italy U19 level and also breaking into the first team with some fantastic performances. He already has 2 goals for the club from the middle of the park and currently has a very respectable 7.22 rating from the games he has played.



And finally our Youth Intake Preview for the season. I have learnt to take these with a pinch of salt but any decent kind of players from this will be very valuable going forward as the clubs finances are heading in the wrong direction and maybe youth Is the only solution going forward to keep the club in a secure position. 

[WilsonJuve]

What a difference a couple of days makes 
 

[sedge11]

Last couple of fm's I have had great saves with Lazio and Fiorentina, in particular the Fiorentina one. So am back again for another Italian save.

So who to be this year, there was only 1 team I wanted to be, and that is........

They have never won Serie A, haven't won the Coppa Italia since the 60's, and failed to qualify for europe last season after a run of champs league finishes, where they played some very exciting football. So lets see if we can finally bring some glory days to Atalanta.

They have a really interesting squad, some valuable experience in Zapata, De Roon and Toloi, mixed with some very exciting youngsters in Scalvini, Hojlund and Okoli. So got some great building blocks to start with.

I have started with the transfer window disabled, though they are spending all their wage budget, so come Jan I think I will need to sell before I can buy.

This is the tactic I have set up and am thinking about using. It's going to need some tweaking along the way.

No europe means its all on the league and we have been given a pretty tough start to the save. The 1st 2 games are nice, then it gets very difficult.

 

[Brescia Calcio 1911]

Brescia Calcio 1911 

I have started my FM23 save in Serie B with Brescia creating this tactic switching mentality both during games and for certain games and it's working really well so far with my last game a 5-1 win at Genoa. I have decided to document my save on the FM Career Forum 

 

 

Edited December 12, 2022 by Brescia Calcio 1911

[john1]

Good luck with Brescia @Brescia Calcio 1911  

[jordan.shaw93]

On 22/11/2022 at 20:07, Big Yellow said:

Thanks! i downloaded a new logo pack and sorted it out and ended up making my own kits!!

Hey man! @Big Yellow Nice job with the kits! Is there any way I could download them now? or how do I go about creating for myself?

[WilsonJuve]

2 hours ago, jordan.shaw93 said:

Hey man! @Big Yellow Nice job with the kits! Is there any way I could download them now? or how do I go about creating for myself?

This is a good place to start with a whole ton of templates.
https://fmkitcreator.com

[Emozil]

6 hours ago, jordan.shaw93 said:

Hey man! @Big Yellow Nice job with the kits! Is there any way I could download them now? or how do I go about creating for myself?

I'll make you some if you want man. Drop me a DM.  

[JohnShepard]

Any good DL full back and DM MC from seria a or b?

Edited December 22, 2022 by JohnShepard

[WilsonJuve]

1 hour ago, JohnShepard said:

Any good DL full back and DM MC from seria a or b?

What kind of budget are we talking and what season?

[JohnShepard]

Only loan

Foggia second season

 

[WilsonJuve]

For the full back if Parisi has left Empoli he may not be getting enough game time he is really good. Josh Doig might be a shout. But hard to know who would be loan listed

[SanTullo]

Il 22/12/2022 in 13:58 , JohnShepard ha scritto:

Only loan

Foggia second season

 

Serie B I presume? Niccolo Armini from Lazio is a solid defender, and can play as a wing back. Usually available for loan, unless someone got him already. Also, Kamenovic from Lazio. Very similar player, a defender can also play wing back. Both are ideal wide center backs.

[smplfc123]

Hey Guys,

After simulating as unemployed through to the break for the World Cup, I trawled through the managerial vacancies and decided the team I wanted to save from their dreadful start was Torino. Here's how the table looks at the point of my takeover:

As you can see, the club find themselves in the relegation zone after a very poor start. Furthermore, the wage budget is £82k in the minus, meaning there will need to be some outgoings before any new signings in the upcoming January window.

My aim is to make us tight at the back, hard to beat and then slowly work our way back up the table. 

[smplfc123]

Saving Torino

So as stated above, I took the reigns at Torino with the club sitting in 19th place having just picked up 2 wins in 13 games. I came in to the club during the world cup break and I used the pre-arranged friendlies to try and figure out tactics and best 11's:

The aim moving forward is to try and make us solid at the back and with confidence and morale within the group almost rock bottom, I knew it was going to be a tough task. We took the lead against Piacenza, but our weak bench options cost us. We just couldn't compete with West Ham, whilst away at Angers we blew another lead. We absolutely battered Hannover with our returning World Cup players, but couldn't get the goal and once again, couldn't keep the clean sheet.

It didn't bode well for the upcoming league games, so I tweaked the formation slightly, alternating between a 4-1-4-1 and a 4-3-3 (DM Wide). I made the tactical switch of moving Schuurs in to a CDM role, to try and give us some protection in front of the back 4. Here's how January went:

Brianza were a team flirting around the bottom 3 with us and when we took an early lead through Vlasic, I was hoping for the perfect start. However, as per the friendlies, we surrendered the lead, but all in all, not the worst point.

Especially as we followed that point up with 3 at home to Cremonese. Buongiorno, Linetty and Karamoh found the back of the net and quite frankly, I knew it was a must-win with the run of fixtures we had coming up. 

And that worry became true. We held our own against Inter going in to half time, with us being just 2-1 down. Unfortunately, our lack of quality in depth meant that as we made changes, they steamed ahead to take a 4-1 win.

Then, disaster hit. With 4 games in 10 days, my regular core were tired and the fringe players, well they did nothing to enhance their chances of breaking in to the first team. The 6-1 defeat was embarrassing and made what already seemed an impossible task in the next game away to Napoli even harder with morale so low. I almost just wanted the Napoli game to be over before it started. 

I knew that the most important game of the month was the final one, at home to fellow relegation candidates Spezia. A Lukic pen and a Rodriguez free kick was enough to secure a massive 3 points and leaves the table looking like this after my first month in charge:

Well we are out of the relegation zone for now! Empoli do have 2 games in hand, but we've managed to double our wins this season and have now also got 2 very tough away games out of the way. We do have a very tough looking February coming up, with games against Roma, Atalanta, Inter and Fiorentina to navigate. /

As for the squad, about 9 of the 11 are now nailed on. I sent Lazaro back to Inter to cut down on or wage bill and released 22 year old French Midfielder Michel Adopo, but we are still operating at £45k over the wage budget.

We've made a decent start, but need to keep chipping away to ensure we survive and then look to rebuild in the summer of 2023.

Edited December 29, 2022 by smplfc123

[smplfc123]

Saving Torino

So we moved in to January sitting just outside of the relegation zone on 15 points after 18 games. We didn't really make any moves in the window, with me already being well over in the wage budget and not having the depth in order to really lose anyone. 

We headed in to what looked to be a very tough month of fixtures, with Roma, Inter, Atalanta, Salento and Fiorentina standing in our way. Here's how we did:

Where we were lucky is that 4 of the 5 games were at home and I knew we had to use that to our advantage. Miranchuk got us off to the perfect start against Roma, but an Abraham penalty meant we shared the spoils. 

Boyed by a good performance, we headed to the San Siro with a plan to get in and get out with a point. And if it wasn't for a lazy pass across his own box by Buongirono that went straight to Lukaku, we would have got away with it as we defended excellently. 

The real pain came when we lost at home to Atalanta. I was caught in two-minds as to whether to stick with my defensively-solid outlook, or take it to them as we were at home. The indecision cost me, with us rarely laying a glove on Atalanta, with them taking all 3 points home with them.

That meant that once again, our final games of the month were must-wins. A visit from bottom-placed Salento seemed the perfect game, but when they took the lead early on, I feared the worst. Goals from Vlasic and Pellegri had us 2-1 up, but the away side scored on the hour mark to peg us back to 2-2. Thankfully, with just a few minutes left, Vlasic scored a crucial third to ensure we took all 3 points.

The morale-boosting win give us a great bounce going in to Fiorentina at home where we were defensively excellent. We didn't offer too much going forward, but thankfully a silly foul by the away side was punished from 12 yards by Lukic.

Those results meant the table looks like this going in to March:

7 points in February has shot us the table, but there's just 4 points separating 19th and 11th. We've done well and we look much better defensively, mainly down to now settling on a back 4 of Singo, Djidji, Buorngiorno and Rodriguez. Hopefully we can keep the defensive resolve up going in to March, with 3 of our 4 fixtures coming against sides sitting above us in the table.

Edited December 29, 2022 by smplfc123

[smplfc123]

Torino Update

My last update at the end of February saw us rise up the table to 13th, but just 2 points clear of 19th placed Sampdoria. With only 3 competitive games in March, I decided to wait until the end of April to provide this update:

We started March with a 1-0 defeat to table-toppers Milan. We held our own for over an hour, before Brahim Diaz struck the winning strike. We followed up the defeat with a very good win over 9th placed Bologna. Goals once again from Lukic and Vlasic giving us a vital 3 points. We rounded off March in the league with a point away to Verona, with Pellegri scoring for us.

We headed in to April in good spirits and it showed with the absolute thumping of Sampdoria. Schuurs, Buongiorno and Vlasic gave us our most complete win of the season. We then followed it up with an extremely important away win against Salernitana. Linetty, Buongiorno and Miranchuk on the scoresheet this time.

A spiritied 2-2 draw away to Udinese followed, with Pellegri bagging both goals to put us 2-0 up early on. Unfortunately, we just couldn't hold on, but I'd have taken a point if you'd offered me that before the game. I would have wanted more than 1 against Empoli, but I was happy to keep our unbeaten run going, especially with the next 2 fixtures in mind.

And those 2 went as predicted. We held our own again for a long time against Lazio, but an 80th minute Zaccagni strike killed us off. That blow took the stuffing out of us right before the Turin derby and Juve's quality told, comfortably putting us to the sword. However, over the 2 months, we racked up 3 wins, 3 draws and 3 losses in 9 games, with the 3 defeats coming against those in the top 8. This has left the table looking like this:

With 6 games to go and us sitting 9 points above and with 4 teams separating us from the relegation zone, I'd like to think we are pretty safe. We do have Napoli, Sassuolo and Atalanta still to play, but we also have Brianza, Spezia and Cremonese, so I'd like to think I'll be able to pick up the extra couple of points that should see us through. 

Buongiorno has definitely stepped up, with the left-footed CB earning himself a long-term contract. I can see the rest of the squad having quite the upheaval in the summer though, with Singo wanted by the likes of Dortmund, Rodriguez and Linetty wanting to explore their options when their contracts run out in 2024 (so do I cash in this summer?) and Miranchuk, Vlasic and Radonjic to return to their parent clubs. 

Edited December 30, 2022 by smplfc123

[smplfc123]

Saving Torino

We did it!

Having taken the manager's job with the club sitting in 19th with just 2 wins in 13 games, I was delighted to finish the season sitting in 13th and on 40 points. We cleared the relegation zone by 9 points and put ourselves in a good position to rebuild in the summer.

The rebuild however, is going to be a bigger job than first feared. I've only been given £5m to spend, meaning I'm going to have to cash in on a few players in order to strengthen elsewhere. Singo is wanted by some very big clubs, so he's likely to be off. I'll look to sell Rodriguez and Linetty whilst I can get money for the pair, Karamoh and Aina are leaving on free transfers this summer and i've got 3 loanees returning to their parent clubs. 

It's going to be a very busy summer!

Edited December 30, 2022 by smplfc123

[TheJanitor]

Purchased FM a few days ago and trying to get my first save going with Juventus. Don't think I ever picked them and I have been playing since 2008. They seem like an interesting team. Obviously lots of high quality players, but imbalanced squad, with aging players and average players with bloated wages. The expectations is to win Serie A and reach the latter stages of the CL which I don't think is THAT easy.

Tactically I'm thinking about a 442. I want to use the strength of Vlahović and Milik upfront, as I have good crossing wingers Kostić, Di Maria, Chiesa, and Cuadrado. Also this should hopefully provide enough cover for what I think is an average defence.

Anyone else playing with them? What do you do with Pogba when he returns?

[warlock]

Kinda quiet in here. Which is disappointing because - having promised myself to get it done for several FMs - I've finally started my very first Italian save. The original plan was to manage one of the Sicilian clubs, for no other reason than Sicily is one of my favourite places in the world. But the thing that always put me off an Italian save was the weird nature of squads in Italian football... hundreds of players, half of them out on loan, replaced by more loanees not noticeably better (or even different) from the club's own players. It's all rather strange after managing in England, France, Germany and Spain. Starting with a club in the lower reaches of the pyramid seemed daunting. Instead, I thought I'd start at the top of the pyramid, but not the very top, not a club expected to win the title, or even qualify for the Champion's League.

Looking through the squads, one club stood out for me: Atalanta. A number of excellent young prospects, a few top players who might need replacing sooner rather than later, a board that demands European qualification but a media prediction that suggests such qualification might be just out of reach. For much of the last 30 years Atalanta was a yoyo club, but after another promotion in 2011 managed to establish itself in L1 and, between 2019/2021, recorded three consecutive seasons in 3rd place. But in the 21/22 season the club suffered a setback, finishing in 8th place and outside of the European places. Which presents our first challenge: the board demands Europa League qualification (ie, a Top 5 finish) while pre-season predictions have us finishing no higher than 7th.

Our second challenge is to overcome a much-depleted squad at the start of the season:

Two first choice CBs out for 2-5 months; an important RB out for up to 3 months; and a key CM/AM out for 2-3 months. As for Palomino, hovering over that 'Sus' icon suggests he's banned for our first match of the season; turns out he's banned for the entire season .

The immediate impact of this is two-fold: first, the club's preferred 3412 system is out of the question, since we don't have enough defenders; second, do we spend a limited transfer budget on plugging those gaps or try to muddle through until injured players return to fitness? In the end I decided to compromise on a 4312 to make the most of player familiarity, while trying to invest the available transfer budget in midfield where the squad was notably weak. That plan was tested further when we lost another good RB in Hans Hateboer early in pre-season when Wolves made a transfer bid and he decided that a bottom-half English team was more appealing than a top-half Italian side. And even the addition of his £9m transfer fee seemed to be inadequate when it came to attracting new recruits. In the event, the only signing we made was for a young CM from Roma, Edoardo Bove, who has already proven to be a good investment with the ability to perform at any CM role:

Early results

We enjoyed our first month of the campaign with a 100% record in the league. Our second game saw the visit of Juventus and, despite their real-life form, I was somewhat concerned about being on the receiving end of a spanking. In the event, we handed one out. September was largely good, too - apart from our trip to bottom-of-the-table Empoli where we simply failed to turn up. But we followed that with a comfortable win against Fiorentina, who are predicted to finish above us in the league. So a record of Played 6; Won 5; Lost 1 took us to the top of Serie A:

The strike partnership of Duvan Zapata and Luis Muriel has produced 9 goals from those 6 games, while Ruslan Malinovskyi, playing behind them as an AP-att, added another 3. In total, we scored 14 while conceding just 4.

Early days, but a promising start to the campaign.

[Raymond85]

I was wanting to update on my Udinese save, but i am so into it i have been just going and going and going.

Season 1:

Transfers

 

I always play with first transfer window deactivated. Not much money to work with, but we plugged some holes in January. Esposito, Ceballos and Arias getting lots of game time, Almasi and Beljo are great cover for Beto and Deulofeu

 

We managed a great first season, with club record points and a 7th place that meant European football in the Conference league thanks to the mess that came out of Inter winning Champions League, Roma winning Europa League and Fiorentina winning Conference League

Season 2:

 

First overhaul in summer, with a new board and some transfer money to do well in Europe.

The summer started with a 41 year old Ibrahimovic providing cover and much needed international experience. It went on with Scuffet and Torregrossa as club grown players for deep cover and registration, and Buongiorno, Aina, Doig as new important first team upgrades. We also bought Lucca and left him on loan one season, and got extra cover with Pirola, Terzic and Faticanti all on loan with option to buy, as we had some free slots on deadline day.

Also, by some miracle we offered European football to a certain Cristiano, you might know him. He agreed to a 1.2 mln yearly wage with 30 minutes to go, so Beljo went in Serie B on loan for some playing time.

This is how we have settled on, after flirting with a 3-5-2 wingback and a 4-4-2 diamond counter tactic. We needed some more modern possession tactic that would make Beto, Deulofeu, Ronaldo, Ibrahimovic shine, supported by Samardzic or this homegrown amazing wonderkid (who i have been playing since the start)

 

November 2023 looks really good, i don't want to make much transfer activity, if not replacing some of our stars who will have much interest in the coming market (i almost lost Beto to Leicester on last transfer deadline, and now all the big guns are sniffing around him)

 

 

 

 

PS sorry for the screens in italian, i just noticed i forgot to set the game in english

[Raymond85]

15 ore fa, warlock ha scritto:

Kinda quiet in here. Which is disappointing because - having promised myself to get it done for several FMs - I've finally started my very first Italian save. The original plan was to manage one of the Sicilian clubs, for no other reason than Sicily is one of my favourite places in the world. But the thing that always put me off an Italian save was the weird nature of squads in Italian football... hundreds of players, half of them out on loan, replaced by more loanees not noticeably better (or even different) from the club's own players. It's all rather strange after managing in England, France, Germany and Spain. Starting with a club in the lower reaches of the pyramid seemed daunting. Instead, I thought I'd start at the top of the pyramid, but not the very top, not a club expected to win the title, or even qualify for the Champion's League.

Looking through the squads, one club stood out for me: Atalanta. A number of excellent young prospects, a few top players who might need replacing sooner rather than later, a board that demands European qualification but a media prediction that suggests such qualification might be just out of reach. For much of the last 30 years Atalanta was a yoyo club, but after another promotion in 2011 managed to establish itself in L1 and, between 2019/2021, recorded three consecutive seasons in 3rd place. But in the 21/22 season the club suffered a setback, finishing in 8th place and outside of the European places. Which presents our first challenge: the board demands Europa League qualification (ie, a Top 5 finish) while pre-season predictions have us finishing no higher than 7th.

Our second challenge is to overcome a much-depleted squad at the start of the season:

Two first choice CBs out for 2-5 months; an important RB out for up to 3 months; and a key CM/AM out for 2-3 months. As for Palomino, hovering over that 'Sus' icon suggests he's banned for our first match of the season; turns out he's banned for the entire season .

The immediate impact of this is two-fold: first, the club's preferred 3412 system is out of the question, since we don't have enough defenders; second, do we spend a limited transfer budget on plugging those gaps or try to muddle through until injured players return to fitness? In the end I decided to compromise on a 4312 to make the most of player familiarity, while trying to invest the available transfer budget in midfield where the squad was notably weak. That plan was tested further when we lost another good RB in Hans Hateboer early in pre-season when Wolves made a transfer bid and he decided that a bottom-half English team was more appealing than a top-half Italian side. And even the addition of his £9m transfer fee seemed to be inadequate when it came to attracting new recruits. In the event, the only signing we made was for a young CM from Roma, Edoardo Bove, who has already proven to be a good investment with the ability to perform at any CM role:

Early results

We enjoyed our first month of the campaign with a 100% record in the league. Our second game saw the visit of Juventus and, despite their real-life form, I was somewhat concerned about being on the receiving end of a spanking. In the event, we handed one out. September was largely good, too - apart from our trip to bottom-of-the-table Empoli where we simply failed to turn up. But we followed that with a comfortable win against Fiorentina, who are predicted to finish above us in the league. So a record of Played 6; Won 5; Lost 1 took us to the top of Serie A:

The strike partnership of Duvan Zapata and Luis Muriel has produced 9 goals from those 6 games, while Ruslan Malinovskyi, playing behind them as an AP-att, added another 3. In total, we scored 14 while conceding just 4.

Early days, but a promising start to the campaign.

How is your 4-3-1-2 looking? Seems fate i posted just after you with the same formation. I'm curious how you set it up tactically, knowing atalanta squad it should not be very different from mine

[warlock]

6 hours ago, Raymond85 said:

I'm curious how you set it up tactically

I don't speak much Italian and read even less, I'm afraid, but at a glance it looks very similar. The midfield 3 looks identical; I have no attack duty in the back 4 and don't like split duties at CB so I have both on simple defend duties. Up front there's a TM-sup and either a PF-att or AF, depending on who's available. I'd hesitate to attempt a translation of your TIs but I can guess some and again they look similar. My only transition instruction is to distribute to CBs; and in defence I "stay on feet" and ask them to drop off more.

Until now in FM23 I'd played exclusively with a 433. When I realised the 4312 made sense for Atalanta I had a look at @crusadertsar's recent article on the system and found it similar to one I used successfully in FM21 so pretty much copied it. Changed a few roles and TIs to suit the players and my own preferences. Very happy with it so far.

[Raymond85]

29 minuti fa, warlock ha scritto:

I don't speak much Italian and read even less, I'm afraid, but at a glance it looks very similar. The midfield 3 looks identical; I have no attack duty in the back 4 and don't like split duties at CB so I have both on simple defend duties. Up front there's a TM-sup and either a PF-att or AF, depending on who's available. I'd hesitate to attempt a translation of your TIs but I can guess some and again they look similar. My only transition instruction is to distribute to CBs; and in defence I "stay on feet" and ask them to drop off more.

Until now in FM23 I'd played exclusively with a 433. When I realised the 4312 made sense for Atalanta I had a look at @crusadertsar's recent article on the system and found it similar to one I used successfully in FM21 so pretty much copied it. Changed a few roles and TIs to suit the players and my own preferences. Very happy with it so far.

Yes, well.... he was my inspiration too. I transitioned towards his system from my own 3-5-2 wb, as i felt the team was much better suited to something like that, and i have been doing transfers with this in mind.

I haven't changed much of his tactic, just some PI tweaks and adjustments in match, but it's safe to say we play the same way. Very happy too, not only with results, but with the style on a whole.

I hope he gets into a more in depth write up about it

[Adzke]

I have just started a save with Juventus, as I feel their squad mirror some of the (on-field) challenges they are facing in real life. I have no idea how to play Manuel Locatelli, though. I have him as a DMC(d) right now, but I would ideally like to play him further forward. I have both Miretti and Fagioli playing in those positions, however.

[Kibs]

Hi all,

I usually play with Liverpool as that is my favorite team. I decided however to try something different this time around. So I started a save with AS Roma. The first season went very well and I ended up winning the Serie A and the Coppa Italia.

I disabled transfers in the first window, which is the first time I've tried that. I'm not sure if that is the reason, but I saw way more transfer activity in the january window than I'm used to.

Anyway, here are some screenshots and notes on my first season.

 

January transfers:

I had bids on numerous players. Ending up Selling Tammy Abraham for 70m as he really wanted to go and it was a lot of money. He was however playing REALLY well for me (13 games, 15 goals, 3 assists). Also sold Smalling for 11m as he was getting on age wise, and Mancini and Ibanez are just as good. I did not expect to sell my GK, but 10m was too good to turn down for an old keeper, so he went as well.

Pellegrini and Mancini also had bids, which I rejected. Both of them were upset about this as they wanted CL football. I promised them that I would let them go, if we didn't qualify ourselves, which they were both happy with luckily. To my shock and horror I saw in January that Dybala had a release clause of just 16m, so I gave him a new contract and upped it to 66m, which was the max.

The sales left me with a very small squad, so I hauled in Russo as a backup GK, Matteo Gabbia as a backup DC and Youssoufa Moukoko as a new striker (for 31m which I think is a steal). And I also brought in some depth in midfield with Gagliardini.

 

Tactics and starting 11:

 

Squad:

Dybala has been the star of the show this season, playing both as SC and AMR.

 

Competitions:

[john1]

3 hours ago, Kibs said:

Hi all,

I usually play with Liverpool as that is my favorite team. I decided however to try something different this time around. So I started a save with AS Roma. The first season went very well and I ended up winning the Serie A and the Coppa Italia.

I disabled transfers in the first window, which is the first time I've tried that. I'm not sure if that is the reason, but I saw way more transfer activity in the january window than I'm used to.

Anyway, here are some screenshots and notes on my first season.

 

January transfers:

I had bids on numerous players. Ending up Selling Tammy Abraham for 70m as he really wanted to go and it was a lot of money. He was however playing REALLY well for me (13 games, 15 goals, 3 assists). Also sold Smalling for 11m as he was getting on age wise, and Mancini and Ibanez are just as good. I did not expect to sell my GK, but 10m was too good to turn down for an old keeper, so he went as well.

Pellegrini and Mancini also had bids, which I rejected. Both of them were upset about this as they wanted CL football. I promised them that I would let them go, if we didn't qualify ourselves, which they were both happy with luckily. To my shock and horror I saw in January that Dybala had a release clause of just 16m, so I gave him a new contract and upped it to 66m, which was the max.

The sales left me with a very small squad, so I hauled in Russo as a backup GK, Matteo Gabbia as a backup DC and Youssoufa Moukoko as a new striker (for 31m which I think is a steal). And I also brought in some depth in midfield with Gagliardini.

 

Tactics and starting 11:

 

Squad:

Dybala has been the star of the show this season, playing both as SC and AMR.

 

Competitions:

Wow what a season, To get 70M for Abraham is epic! 

[n1mez]

2 hours ago, john1 said:

Wow what a season, To get 70M for Abraham is epic! 

I also got that in my Roma save - 70M upfront from Man United. 

 

[john1]

19 hours ago, n1mez said:

I also got that in my Roma save - 70M upfront from Man United. 

 

Impressive! 

[n1mez]

Anybody aware of a database with the -15 points for Juventus? 

[3maldini3]

Who should I get?

[kikko]

On 27/01/2023 at 14:23, turgi said:

Who should I get?

I played with Foggia before, and had Turati as goalie.

He was a great goalie, and if i should go for one of these i hade choose Turati!

[Vizzini]

4 hours ago, kikko said:

I played with Foggia before, and had Turati as goalie.

He was a great goalie, and if i should go for one of these i hade choose Turati!

I use Turati as a backup for Raja in the PL. He has been reliable for me.  Top 6-side

[n1mez]

I think im gonna start a Juventus save after the -15. Probably gonna simulate alot of the first season and then take over them. Sell all the old players they have with high wages, and really start from scratch.

[jdubsnz]

5 hours ago, n1mez said:

I think im gonna start a Juventus save after the -15. Probably gonna simulate alot of the first season and then take over them. Sell all the old players they have with high wages, and really start from scratch.

have literally just started a save with an updated database and the 15 points deduction.  The board are asking to avoid relegation!

Have never done a Juve save - what is their typical formation? is it 352?

[n1mez]

6 minutes ago, jdubsnz said:

have literally just started a save with an updated database and the 15 points deduction.  The board are asking to avoid relegation!

Have never done a Juve save - what is their typical formation? is it 352?

I think it is 4-3-3 this year. The "old" Juventus was 3-5-2 yeah

[jdubsnz]

7 minutes ago, n1mez said:

I think it is 4-3-3 this year. The "old" Juventus was 3-5-2 yeah

cool, thank you. will go 4-3-3. far out this is an old squad on massive wages!