[FM 2024] Torino FC - Sogni di battere la Juve

[El Payaso]

59 minutes ago, CameronFM said:

It will be interesting to see if the GK coaches are Torino will be able to push him in the right direction in terms of distribution - aerial is a tough one though, but Vanja is a man mountain in his own right!

Hope so. On the other hand I wouldn't be surprised to see Vanja transfer listed in a few months as he is unlikely to get much game-time at Arsenal. But obviously re-signing him would only be possible in summer 2025 the earliest, and this also only if our current keepers clearly aren't up to the job. 

[El Payaso]

NEW SIGNINGS ARRIVE

1.7.2024 - New signings Jacopo Sassi, Marvin Keller, Marc Casadó, Stefano Sensi and José Manuel Lopéz join the club. 

At the same time, Demba Seck, Emirhan İlkhan, and Nemanja Radonjić rejoined the first team after their loan spells.

Another loanee Yann Karamoh becomes the first player to leave the club as Alavés made an offer worth 2.5 million euros to sign the 26-year-old winger who spent last season playing with Montpellier in French Ligue 1.  

FRANCE TAKE THE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP

France continued as the dominant force in Europe by winning the EURO 2024 tournament. They beat Germany narrowly 1-0 in the final thanks to the Golden Boot winner Kingsley Coman.

Torino was well-represented in Serbia’s team where Vanja Milinkovic-Savic, Ivan Ilić, and Nemanja Radonjić were all included in the final squad that were eliminated in the first play-off round by Wales.

Nikola Vlasic continued his strong form by scoring 4 goals for his country Croatia. The midfielder was thereby joined second in the goal-scoring charts. 

Norway was the surprise package of the tournament as they made it to the semi-finals.

PRE-SEASON STARTS

15.7.2024 - All the players have returned to training. We will first train for one week in Italy before heading out to Austria for our week-long training camp. 

The training season started in a less ideal way as both Pietro Pellegri and Jose Manuel Lopez injured themselves in the first training sessions. Pellegri’s injury would keep him out for the next two weeks while Lopez would only miss about five days.

DORTMUND MAKE THEIR MOVE FOR ILIC

17.7.2024 - The pre-season started with Dortmund coming in for midfielder Ivan Ilic with a bid worth 28 million euros. The bid was rejected, which unsettled the young midfielder. 

After a chat, we agreed that we would accept a 38 million bid for his services. Ilic would have been happy with a promise for Champions League football but I doubt that we can make that happen next season.

The good thing is that Dortmund are currently the only team interested but not prepared to place a new bid due to the high asking price.

THE BIG RELIEF

19.8.2024 - José Manuel Lopéz cannot be registered to the Serie A squad as he is currently counted as an extra non-EU player. 

We finally managed to get past this by selling Nemanja Radonjic, who had recently signed a new contract with the club. It took weeks of persuading to finally get Everton to offer us the amount our board was satisfied with as the Serbian international joined the Liverpool-based club for 5.25 million euros. 

This would mean that Lopéz would be allowed to represent the club in the first leg of our Conference League draw against Norwegian side Kristiansund BK despite missing the whole pre-season due to being ineligible. 
PRE-SEASON RESULTS

I decided to take a different kind of approach for the pre-season this time by arranging three cup competitions and sanctifying the Austrian training camp purely on training. 

The rotation worked in a way that the first team would be taking care of the cup semi-final fixture and the rotated squad would play full minutes in the final or third-placed playoff fixture. This will allow both the starters and rotation players to have five efficient training days a week, one match day, and one rest day. 

The training schedule itself consisted of mainly two physical training sessions, followed by one general training session. This excludes Friday which ended in a match tactics session. 

Due to the high workload, we struggled quite a bit with injuries. Pietro Pellegri was the least fortunate as he suffered two knee injuries, which kept the Italian forward sidelined for most of the pre-season.  

As mentioned José Manuel Lopéz was unable to represent the club due to his non-EU limitations which means that at the beginning of the season, we only have Demba Seck and Antonio Sanabria match-fit. 

Otherwise, things seemed to work out well enough. It is going to be interesting to see whether the team will have some kind of edge thanks to the hard physical training later on in the season. 

In terms of performance, the team looked fairly poor. We were error-prone and conceded a lot, especially from corner kicks and throw-ins which is a worry. 

TACTICAL APPROACHES

We haven’t changed much compared to last season. We will be looking to utilize all three formations and try to keep things as simple as possible by having only a few team instructions as well as including mainly the same set of roles in all tactics to maximize tactical and role familiarity. 

Team instructions

In possession

• Pass into space
• Slightly higher tempo
• Run at defense

Transition

• Counter

Out of possession

• Low block
• Lower defensive line
• Close down more

The style of plays aims to keep our end as tight as possible while encouraging counter-attacking football. 

During the season, we will have the team split into halves: the first team will be taking care of Serie A which is our main priority while rotation, backup, and youth options will play UEFA Europa Conference League fixtures. 

AUGUST SCHEDULE

Edited June 25 by El Payaso

[El Payaso]

SERIE A SEASON PREVIEW

Title-holders AC Milan go to the season as the number one favorite. Rossoneri are closely followed by local rival Inter who had a disappointing season under Simone Inzaghi last term. Unai Emery is the man trying to bring glory back to Nerazzurri.

After the two Milan-based clubs, there is a clear gap to Juventus and Napoli. This is again followed by a pack of two local clubs Lazio and AS Roma who are predicted to finish 5th and 6th. 

Atalanta came close to a Scudetto last season but the team that has used 62 million euros this summer, has only been ranked 7th. 

Fiorentina’s hopes for another European qualification took a big hit as their biggest star player Nicolás González was sold to Tottenham in a deal that could reach 77 million euros. Another team qualified for Europe, Torino, are ranked 9th.

Out of the three recently promoted sides, Como, are predicted to fare the best as the team is ranked 16th in the season preview. The team has been strengthened with no less than 13 new players out of which the most interesting are experienced Davy Klaasen arriving from Inter and young Claudio Cassano who joined the club from Cittadella. 

 The two other promoted sides Spezia and Brescia are predicted to finish in the two last places. At the same time, last season’s survivors Frosinone and Salernitana are thought to be battling against relegation this year too. 

DREAM TEAM

The defense is expectedly dominated by AC Milan players as the meanest defense in the league is still led by excellent Mike Maignan.

The biggest surprise probably is the fact that three Juventus players make the cut and the team thereby beats Inter with one player difference.

The attack is brutal as so many good names such as Lautaro Martinez get excluded.

BIGGEST TRANSFERS

The already mentioned Nicolás González transfer to Tottenham has been so far the biggest signular deal that we have seen in Italy. The second biggest one was Paulo Dybala’s 39 million euro transfer from AS Roma to AC Milan. 

Atalanta on the other hand have bolstered their defense with young Lorenzo Pirola who moved to the club from Salernitana for 30 million euros. Elsewhere Napoli captured AC Milan’s Tomasso Pobega for 29,5 million initial fee. Another larger domestic one has been Davide Frattesi’s 27 million euro move from Sassuolo to Inter. Arthur also expectedly joined Fiorentina permanently on a 19.25 million deal.

Interesting younger players have arrived in Italy too. Oscar Gloukh made a 15.5 million move to Juventus from Red Bull Salzburg and Devyne Rensch moved to Atalanta from Ajax. Atalanta also brought in Alexsander for 10 million euros from Fluminense.

The more familiar names include João Félix’s move to Inter with just a 9 million euro initial fee. The deal might reach 27 million euros if the included clauses are fulfilled. AC Milan on the other hand brought in 32-year-old Danilo Pereira to even further improve their defense.

MANAGERIAL MOVEMENTS

It has been a quiet summer in terms of managerial movements. Vincenzo Italiano is the only one who made his move out of the country after being offered a position at Barcelona. Simone Inzaghi was the one to replace the promising 46-year-old at Fiorentina.

[El Payaso]

AUGUST 2024

August is almost like a continuation of our pre-season as we will only feature in one Serie A match while looking to qualify for the new league phase of the UEFA Europa Conference League. I would expect the team to do well during the month as we are probably considered favorites in all three fixtures. 

As the season is now starting, it would be a good moment to talk about the aims for the upcoming season. 

I don't think that the team has strengthened a lot compared to last season, maybe even the other way. This means that we will be aiming for a top-half finish along with a solid defensive record which could mean that we concede less than 35 goals in Serie A. 

In Europe, we are looking to make our way to the league phase and thereby get as many starts as possible for our youth players. Jacopo Sassi, Alessandro Dellavalle, Marc Casadó, Gvidas Gineitis, Emirhan İlkhan, and Demba Seck are players whose development should be getting a nice boost thanks to our participation in Europe. This will also allow us to keep them in the first team. 

Out of singular players, I am most excited about Stefano Sensi who will be playing the advanced playmaker role while mentoring young İlkhan who will start the season with an ankle injury. Sensi's contract is only one season long which is probably good to test out the 29-year-old who decided to join the team with rather high salary but with a fringe player squad status. 

I will probably write a separate post about the team, squad hierarchy, and player development at some point in the first half of the season. 

KRISTIANSUND (A)

Starting the season just four days after the last pre-season game turned out to be not a good idea. 

We slightly controlled the first 45 minutes of the game but the hosts got the upper hand in the second. 8 shots against 6 and 0.68 against 0.54 in xG aren’t disastrous numbers and I think the backups in our defense did a fairly good job here while Jacopo Sassi finished his debut with a clean sheet and 4 saves in total which are good stats. 

SALERNITANA (A)

The initial plan for us was to keep things solid at the back and hit Salernitana back once or twice. This plan went to the drain early on as we conceded after just 14 minutes. After that, the hell was loose which saw us coming back to the game three times before taking the lead in such a typical way through Pietro Pellegri. It wasn’t meant to be though as we conceded the second corner kick goal of the game in the 7th additional minute. 

If playing in front of Marvin Keller is going to be like this, it is going to be a long season for us. Out of 9 shots in total, the young Swiss conceded 4 while saving only 3. It wasn’t his fault though as we looked uncomfortable throughout the whole 90 minutes. We were always 1-2 steps behind when defending against their passing moves and shaky in set pieces. 

The defeat meant that it was time to say goodbye to Yasinthe Oinsou who had only joined the club as a set-pieces coach in May. After his arrival, our deadball defending has been woeful which means that we have to look elsewhere for a more solid option.

On the positives, Raoul Bellanova continued where he left off during pre-season. The Italian wing-back recorded a goal and two assists which means that he has surpassed his last season’s goal contribution after just one game. 

KRISTIANSUND (H)

I would like to call the 3-0 victory a routine performance but cannot say so. We deserved the victory here and should probably have scored 2-3 goals more against the Norwegian side.

The biggest worry was though the fact that we were constantly leaving their midfielders unmarked close to our penalty area for pull-backs. A better side would have punished us more than once with these gifted chances.

Gvidas Gineitis was the standout player here in his segundo volante role. The Lithuanian had almost moved to Cosenza on loan just a day before but we luckily canceled this loan deal. I think the minutes in Conference League are going to be extremely helpful for the 20-year-old who is already a key player in his national team. 

FIXTURES ANNOUNCED

These don’t look too bad. If we play well, the second team should be able to get us a decent mix of results here. 

SEPTEMBER FIXTURES

Will be adding these later...

[Jogo Bonito]

I love this story and the updates, and really align with your strategies and ideas. The recruitment ideas seem logical, sensible and realistic. The tactical approach of putting a defensive first focus suits the scale of the club, and the graphical presentation is always delightful.

I've taken weeks to consider where my Italian adventure was going to start, Torino was always a really strong contender but I wouldn't be able (or want) to compete with this thread. I like the Juventus squad (and real life summer transfer focus), but not so much the club. I like Milan (AC) and the history and stadium, but not at all their squad. And these two are big clubs with high expectations that may not suit my style.

After looking at all Serie A sides (numerous times). Lecce (colours, history) and Atalanta (squad, achievements) in particular had some appeal. But I think I may have found a similar club to Torino that would enable me to try a more Italian counter-attack style, outside my comfort zone. I'll give it a month or two to ensure it sticks, and will be using lots of your ideas in here as an inspiration.

Forza Toro!

Edited June 30 by Jogo Bonito

[El Payaso]

29 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

I love this story and the updates, and really align with your strategies and ideas. The recruitment ideas seem logical, sensible and realistic. The tactical approach of putting a defensive first focus suits the scale of the club, and the graphical presentation is always delightful.

I've taken weeks to consider where my Italian adventure was going to start, Torino was always a really strong contender but I wouldn't be able (or want) to compete with this thread. I like the Juventus squad (and real life summer transfer focus), but not so much the club. I like Milan (AC) and the history and stadium, but not at all their squad. And these two are big clubs with high expectations that may not suit my style.

After looking at all Serie A sides (numerous times). Lecce (colurs, history) and Atalanta (squad, achievements) in particular had some appeal. But I think I may have found a similar club to Torino that would enable me to try a more Italian counter-attack style, outside my comfort zone. I'll give it a month or two to ensure it sticks, and will be using lots of your ideas in here as an inspiration.

Forza Toro!

Thank you once again for your kind words. Believe it or not but I am finally quite happy with the graphical representation and also quite interested in writing the updates, hopefully both of them are showing in my content. 

Looking forward to your career update to start. Serie A is obviously going to be appealing to me and when you combine that with my favorite tactical approach, you have a keen follower. 

For all the readers: I am already at the end of September which means that there should be an update coming up soon. 

[Jogo Bonito]

I'm pleased you're happy with the graphics now!

I hope my planned career save will stick and that the approach will not disappoint. The graphical presentation certainly will not match this, but hopefully the story will be told in a way that holds some interest.

Looking forward to your next update!

Edited June 30 by Jogo Bonito

[El Payaso]

1 minute ago, Jogo Bonito said:

I'm pleased you're happy with the graphics now!

I hope my planned career save will stick and that the approach will not disappoint. The graphical presentation certainly will not match this, but hopefully the story will be told in a way that holds some interest.

Looking forward to your next update!

Just learn the basics of Canva and utilize their templates and you're on a good road with limited skills needed. 

I would never accept any if my graphical designs at work but as this is only a free time hobby, I can go with something way more basic and especially less time-consuming. 

[billmatic]

I can't believe I've only just come across this thread through your mini update in the Defence-First thread. This is incredible, such an enjoyable read. I hope you feel your efforts are appreciated and your enthusiasm shared. Like Jogo Bonito before me, I'd been thinking about which club to start a (hopefully) long-term save with and Torino was one of the top contenders. Chose them at random on FIFA 17 and fell in love with Il Gallo and co.

[El Payaso]

32 minutes ago, billmatic said:

I can't believe I've only just come across this thread through your mini update in the Defence-First thread. This is incredible, such an enjoyable read. I hope you feel your efforts are appreciated and your enthusiasm shared. Like Jogo Bonito before me, I'd been thinking about which club to start a (hopefully) long-term save with and Torino was one of the top contenders. Chose them at random on FIFA 17 and fell in love with Il Gallo and co.

Thank you so much for the kind words. 

I think many good threads here might have gone unnoticed for many people who actually might be interested in reading the story. I'm glad to see that my post in the tactics forum has found some of the interested readers. 

Obviously I'm not as good FM-writer as many more experienced but I've had a really good time with this one and I think I have finally also found my graphical style. 

I also think that I made a perfect choice of a club in Torino which aligns really well with the style I want to play with. 

[Captain_T]

Is it possible to have a look at the attributes/skills of Manager Marchisio?

 

Realy enjoying this thread!

[El Payaso]

13 minutes ago, Captain_T said:

Is it possible to have a look at the attributes/skills of Manager Marchisio?

 

Realy enjoying this thread!

I'll try to remember including them in my next post. I normally use attributeless Skin but for my own attributes it is okay for me to see them. 

[SixPointer]

Loving this. Great write up style. A love the subtle differences in your three systems. Allowing you flexibility but not massive shifts in emphasis 

[El Payaso]

10 minutes ago, SixPointer said:

Loving this. Great write up style. A love the subtle differences in your three systems. Allowing you flexibility but not massive shifts in emphasis 

Thank you so much for the comment. 

I really like tinkering with the systems as they are so close to each other. The one with a DM and two MCs has been the least used by far but definitely something that I could optimise more in the future. I would also say that this is the defensively most solid system even though the other two have a double pivot. It also would suit players like Ivan Ilic a bit better. 

Planning on publishing September update either today or tomorrow as I have the text content ready. Still have to wait and see if I can find a moment to create the graphics which take a bit of time. 

[SixPointer]

4 hours ago, El Payaso said:

Thank you so much for the comment. 

I really like tinkering with the systems as they are so close to each other. The one with a DM and two MCs has been the least used by far but definitely something that I could optimise more in the future. I would also say that this is the defensively most solid system even though the other two have a double pivot. It also would suit players like Ivan Ilic a bit better. 

Planning on publishing September update either today or tomorrow as I have the text content ready. Still have to wait and see if I can find a moment to create the graphics which take a bit of time. 

I operate in the same way. Three tactics that offer something a little different but the main philosophy remains the same.

Yeah I can see why the graphics take a fair bit of time. It’s worth it enough cause there really good and give the updates a real edge 

[El Payaso]

SEPTEMBER 2024

Even though we will not yet be featuring in the Conference League, September will be a packed-up month. The schedule is rather kind to us though as we will have four games that we could and probably should win if we are playing at our level. 

(H) UDINESE

A 1-0 victory was probably not the likeliest result here if you look at the events. We were favorites but were not able to perform to the level that people were expecting as Udinese were by far the better team here. 

The game's only goal came from a nice setup play where Antonio Sanabria dropped deep to play Nikola Vlasic through on goal. The Croatian was then able to round the opposition keeper to make it two in two for this season which means that the attacking midfielder is continuing from where he left last season.

Jacopo Sassi played his first Serie A game and was deservedly named the man of the match. Relying so heavily on the goalkeeper’s performances is a real point of worry which we need to sort out sooner or later

(A) BOLOGNA

Like last spring, we played an excellent away game against Ivan Jurić’s Bologna who were holding 10th place on the table. 

The game included an early controversy as the VAR turned down Antonio Sanabria’s tap-in due to Pietro Pellegri blocking the goalkeeper’s view. In my opinion, the whole blocking had nothing to do with the scenario as Sanabria had an open goal ahead of him as the duo was on the other side of the goal.

We luckily got a late goal through a nice passage of play where Demba Seck made a good darting run to the byline before setting up Toni Sanabria for another tap-in. For Pietro Pellegri it was a frustrating game as the young striker missed one sitter along with cancelling our first goal.

The main tactical change that we did for this game was bringing in Marc Casadó in the double pivot and placing him to a defensive midfielder role on a defense duty. The Spanish youngster formed a rather solid duo along with Samuele Ricci who continued playing as a segundo volante. 

(H) COMO

I was expecting this to be a potential game where the team becomes complacent. Early signs were suggesting so as Pietro Pellegri was single-handedly trying to ruin our chances of winning. The striker missed two easy chances presented by Stefano Sensi and Toni Sanabria early on in the game along with being offside three times during the first 15 minutes.

A low cross from Raoul Bellanova and the third easy chance for Pellegrini brought the result that we needed as the young man was finally able to convert with his effort.

The 1-0 lead was always a dangerous one but luckily we were able to extend it early on in the second half. First Stefano Sensi’s half-space cross was guided in by one of the opposition defenders before Ivan Ilic set up Pellegri for his second.

I think the international break was good for the team as we have now played two solid games for the first time since the victory against Juventus last season. 

(H) FROSINONE

Demba Seck got his first start in Serie A alongside Toni Sanabria thanks to Pietro Pellegri and José Antonio Lopéz both having food poisoning which kept the duo on the bench.

We weren’t at our best here but luckily the striking duo combined once in the first half and Nikola Vlasic scored his third of the season with one of his trademark runs to a through ball.

The 75th minute almost worked as the culmination point of the game as we had Demba Seck’s goal disallowed with the narrowest offside and just a minute later Antonio Elanga put in a cross to the far post where Marvin Çuni got a gift from Marvin Keller who missed an easy catch that has been pasta and tomato sauce for Jacopo Sassi so far this season. 

It was a routine performance from us excluding the goalkeeping error. I think there should be no doubt about who is going to be our first-choice keeper from now on. 

(A) NAPOLI

I would have taken an away draw if this would have been offered before the match. Maybe rather with a 0-0 instead of 2-2.

Even though José Mourinho’s team was in control of the statistics, this game left a sour taste in our mouths for a long time as it was the second time this season that we threw away the victory from a last-minute corner kick.

We were in trouble in the first 45 minutes as I had Rodriguéz facing Victor Osimhen and Giacomo Raspadori was dropping deep for them from the other central forward position which also led to their opener. 

We got almost an immediate response from Nikola Vlasic’s trademark run. In the second half changing Alessandro Buongiorno to play against Osimhen on the left and going back to a two-forward system with Toni Sanabria turned the game to us. 

In the 66th minute, Vlasic hit the post and just minutes later Lopéz scored the first of his Torino career from a nice lofted ball from Samuele Ricci. 

We hadn’t given the hosts much in the second half but somehow you knew that the goal was going to come when we conceded the corner in the last 30 seconds of the game. Ricardo Rodriguéz summarized his fall from grace by being the culprit on both of the goals, and it now looks inevitable that the ongoing season is going to be the Swiss’ last here in Torino.

For Jacopo Sassi, these were the first two conceded goals in Torino shirt but we cannot blame him much as both of them were scored from clear-cut chances.

(H) SPEZIA

I had Stefano Sensi’s and Pietro Pellegri’s names drawn to the starting eleven against Spezia who had surprisingly beaten AS Roma at home in the previous round to give them their first victory of the season.

Both Sensi and Pellegri suffered foot injuries which saw Emirhan Ilkhan making his first Serie A start of the season. The young Turkish twisted his ankle before the half-hour mark which started a substitute show as Demba Seck came on. 

The rather young striker combined well once again with Toni Sanabria. He scored 4 goals in total out of which the VAR overturned two. Seck also won us the penalty to see the game through.

Toni Sanabria also continued his excellent start to the season by converting the penalty and providing assists to Seck’s opener with a traditional target-man flick-on and playing Ivan Ilic through on goal late on for the fourth. 

Perr Schuurs also joined the already existing trio in the sickbay by twisting his knee. This is going to open up new opportunities for one of our four existing options: Saza Sabonov, Alessandro Dellavalle and Fabio Desole, and Koffi Djidji who are also all seeking a place in the starting XI in our first Conference League fixture. 

Marvin Keller finally got his first clean sheet for the club and was forced into action five times by the visitors who sought a goal mainly from crosses with little luck. Quality of chances was the main difference here as we converted 4 of our 12 in total while the visitors got 0 out of 10.

LEAGUE STANDING

Our first good fixture of the season against Bologna seemed to kick off something as the team was playing quite well throughout the month, even against Napoli. 

We shouldn’t get too excited though as the schedule last month should be considered easy. But three points from all the games we were expected to win, along with a decent return against Bologna and Napoli is all we can do in this situation.

INSIGHTS OF THE START

Even though it is still early days, and we have had an easy schedule so far, I think it is still a good moment to talk a bit about team performances.

This list includes two new arrivals who have taken their place in the team with a bang, two who have improved their performances significantly, and one who has continued from where he left last season.

Even though many players like always reliable Mergïn Vojvoja and Perr Schuurs have performed well so far while for example Ivan Ilic and Samuele Ricci have managed to raise their level of performance, I think these five are worth lifting above others.

In football, there are also always going to be those who struggle. 

Out of the important players, Ricardo Rodriguez was already showing signs of decline last season as he was by far our weakest centre-back. This has continued with the experienced Swiss who is definitely playing his last season with the club. 

Marvin Keller’s start at the club has also been quite horrible, especially when you compare him to Jacopo Sassi who has taken the starting goalkeeper’s position from his Swiss counterpart. The lack of penalty area organization has made the young keeper a liability so far this season.

Stefano Sensi came into the club with the idea of being an impact-maker from the bench and orchestrating our attack in Europe. His stats have been alright so far but only one assist in 7 games is not good enough for an advanced playmaker. He is also currently suffering from his first injury.

The next ones are our two strikers Pietro Pellegri and José Manuel Lopéz. Pellegri was our player of the year last season but he has struggled with injuries so far this fall. The striker has scored 3 in his 5 appearances but has also missed plenty of good opportunities along with struggling with his match fitness.

The Argentinian striker Lopéz on the other hand scored an important goal against Napoli to open his tally with Torino but has otherwise been our weakest striker in terms of stats. Demba Seck has left the tall Argentinian into his shadow while performing well as the Nightwing of the club with 2 goals and 2 assists. 

TACTICS

Tactically, we have only tweaked the tiniest things, including the double pivot now consisting of a Segundo Volante (S) and Defensive Midfielder (D) role. This alongside Marc Casadó taking the starting spot instead of more experienced Karol Linetty and Adrien Tameze, seems to have improved both our buildup and defensive solidity significantly.

As our attacking play is quite often flowing more and us being more attacking than I would probably like us to be, I have often reverted to a defensive mentality even against lesser sides that we are expected to beat. This has allowed us to give the opposition more hold of the game which on the other hand opens us the chances to hit them on the break.

Antonio Sanabria (4 goals and 3 assists)  has been the vital player in our attack by dropping deep between the opposition defense and midfield where he has been able to feed both our advanced forward and on-rushing Nikola Vlasic who has had a superb start to the season with four goals and one assist. The Croatian’s good performances along with our tendency to play with two strikers means that for example, Ivan Ilic has found it difficult to break into the starting lineup. 

I have also found a well-working pattern to defend our leads. I usually tend to change multiple roles when going up:

I tend to change the left-hand wingback to defend duty, the defensive midfielder into an anchor man, the segundo volante to a supporting defensive midfielder, the right wing-back to a supporting wing-back, and the deep-lying forward to a pressing forward on support duty. 

This often results in the games becoming less eventful and we might even have long passages of play without any highlights in comprehensive mode. 

INJURIES PILING UP

DON CLAUDIO

[SixPointer]

Great run of form, even if you consider it and easy run of fixtures. Still need to put the points on the board.

Strange to see last years player of the season struggle so much, your small tactical tweaks maybe take emphasis away from him? Or is someone else just taken their chance?  

[Jogo Bonito]

This is a superb update, absolutely loved it. The graphics, the stories behind the impressing and unimpressive performers, and the tactical insights which are detailed but not too heavy.

A good start to the season and I look forward to the next update with a very high level of interest.

In my Bologna career (where Torino are absolutely flying), I also picked up Sensi on a free transfer. After a few games in he is playing a small role from the bench,so time will tell on that.

Keep up the great work with this mate, it's excellent.

[El Payaso]

9 minutes ago, SixPointer said:

Great run of form, even if you consider it and easy run of fixtures. Still need to put the points on the board.

Strange to see last years player of the season struggle so much, your small tactical tweaks maybe take emphasis away from him? Or is someone else just taken their chance?  

Yeah, even though it was an easy run, I would say that the team was playing better than at any point last season. I think this current team has better balance, especially at top compared to last year. 

3 in 5 with zero 90 minuters is probably a good return for Pellegri. I am more worried about his quality of finishing and now also the injury-proness. Demba Seck is playing well at the moment but he should be behind Pellegri in the pegging order. 

7 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

This is a superb update, absolutely loved it. The graphics, the stories behind the impressing and unimpressive performers, and the tactical insights which are detailed but not too heavy.

A good start to the season and I look forward to the next update with a very high level of interest.

In my Bologna career (where Torino are absolutely flying), I also picked up Sensi on a free transfer. After a few games in he is playing a small role from the bench,so time will tell on that.

Keep up the great work with this mate, it's excellent.

Thank you so much! 

I still have high hopes for Sensi. His stats are showing good signals and I have to take into account that he has mainly either come on as a substitute or played with our second team. I was hoping to get him ticking against Spezia but sadly the muscle injury ruined my plans. 

He has five assists in just seven appearances at Inter last season which clearly tells you that he can be effective. 

Could even be that when I have Sensi on as an advanced playmaker that it would make sense to move Sanabria also to a more goalscoring role such as complete forward or target forward on support duty to give him options to feed. 

[Jogo Bonito]

You are sensi-ng something there with him then, let's hope he can contribute more in time. Agreed it is hard for a central midfielder to make a big impact off the bench.

[El Payaso]

12 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

You are sensi-ng something there with him then, let's hope he can contribute more in time. Agreed it is hard for a central midfielder to make a big impact off the bench.

Definitely. And if things don't work with him, we can just let his contract run out at the end of the season. With a fringe player status we don't have to worry too much about his game time but with 56k per week contract, he is going to be an expensive option not to be used. 

It might be that a Vlasic type of attacking midfielder suits our style of play better as compared to both Ilic and Sensi, he has been by far the most productive. 

I'm also looking forward to see how good Emirhan İlkhan can be for us. Like Pellegri, he has been suffering from injuries so far this season but one of the reasons to bring in Sensi was the opportunity to get him mentor the young Turkish whom I want to mold into a modern #10 for a long time. Just hoping that we can get him fit soon. 

[danyates8]

Very impressive blog, the graphics are really good, tactical explanations on point and good storytelling. I've learnt a lot from from reading through this. Thanks

[El Payaso]

9 minutes ago, danyates8 said:

Very impressive blog, the graphics are really good, tactical explanations on point and good storytelling. I've learnt a lot from from reading through this. Thanks

Thank you for the positive feedback. I'm hoping to be some kind of ambassador of the low-block and keep-it-simple-stupid systems. Not the easiest style of play to master but trying to do so is super interesting. 

[Jogo Bonito]

45 minutes ago, El Payaso said:

Definitely. And if things don't work with him, we can just let his contract run out at the end of the season. With a fringe player status we don't have to worry too much about his game time but with 56k per week contract, he is going to be an expensive option not to be used. 

It might be that a Vlasic type of attacking midfielder suits our style of play better as compared to both Ilic and Sensi, he has been by far the most productive. 

I'm also looking forward to see how good Emirhan İlkhan can be for us. Like Pellegri, he has been suffering from injuries so far this season but one of the reasons to bring in Sensi was the opportunity to get him mentor the young Turkish whom I want to mold into a modern #10 for a long time. Just hoping that we can get him fit soon. 

I'm sure it will all work out. I wouldn't have recruited Sensi on those wages, I got him at 28 for two years on 18,500 Euros per week so it seemed a risk worth taking.

[_Ben_]

Beautifully written and hugely insightful! Feel a little guilty that I lost track of this thread for a while. Will definitely keep on top going forward.

[El Payaso]

41 minutes ago, _Ben_ said:

Beautifully written and hugely insightful! Feel a little guilty that I lost track of this thread for a while. Will definitely keep on top going forward.

Thank you Ben. By far my most interesting save on FM 2024. Hope it is showing also in the content. 

[AM23]

Such a good start to the season! If you can just keep winning those 'easy' games you're already a long way. Will be interesting how the squad handles the next few months with midweek European fixtures.

[El Payaso]

27 minutes ago, AM23 said:

Such a good start to the season! If you can just keep winning those 'easy' games you're already a long way. Will be interesting how the squad handles the next few months with midweek European fixtures.

Yep. I had a clear plan of having practically two separate squads for domestic matches and European fixtures but the sudden pile of injuries is going to put these plans into the bin. Luckily October isn't that difficult in terms of fixtures and I'm hoping that we are rather getting some of the players back instead of having more injuries. 

[Jogo Bonito]

On 08/07/2024 at 08:59, El Payaso said:

Thank you Ben. By far my most interesting save on FM 2024. Hope it is showing also in the content. 

For me, it really does show that. Every update is eagerly anticipated and I've used some of your ideas and aims at Bologna also, so thanks for the story so far. I'm enjoying 'my' club, but still wish I had got to Torino before you 

[El Payaso]

OCTOBER 2024

SCHEDULE

October doesn't bring anything crazy with it, even though we will have at least two difficult challenges in terms of Atalanta and AS Roma in the league. Atalanta has been a difficult team for us, as we lost our two encounters narrowly against them last season. AS Roma on the other hand was one of the few big teams, along with Juve, against whom we did well. 

(H) MACCABI TEL AVIV

Injuries started to pile in as José Manuel Lopéz injured his ankle before the game in a training session. We had also made the mistake of allowing our younger players to participate in a U-20 match just two days before, keeping Alessandro Dellavalle, Fabio Desole, and Rodrigo Mendes on the bench. This meant that Gvidas Gineitis had to start as a left wing-back and Adrian Tameze as one of our center-backs.

I was expecting a difficult game with the rotated team but thanks to our sharp finishing, we put the game into bed during the first 45 minutes. 

I was luckily able to bring in some of the tired youngsters in the second half. As we had applied a defensive mentality already after the second goal, the visitors weren’t able to do anything to us.

We had 6 shots in total and 4 of those were on target. Three goals from those and with a 1.07 xG is quite an excellent return. Hope to see this kind of finishing also in Serie A. 

(A) ATALANTA

Despite our injury problems, we were able to name a decent team against Atalanta in a difficult away game. 

I was expecting this to be a clear battle between Raoul Bellanova and Matteo Ruggeri but it turned out to be more so between Davide Zappacosta and Mergïm Vojvoda who were both in trouble defending against each other. 

Atalanta controlled the game but mainly created shots from set pieces. 

Miranchuk who had had a superb start to the season with 7 goals already came to life in the second half as Marc Casadó had the worst game of his Torino career so far. Samuele Ricci was brought in after the 65th-minute mark which calmed things down significantly. 

Our closest shave came in the 74th minute as Toni Sanabria escaped his marker to an open channel before sending a squared pass towards Demba Seck, which was deflected to the post by one of the defenders looking for an interception. 

We were knackered in the last 20 minutes of the game and happy to see things through to get a draw. The hopes were shot down though once again from set-pieces as Ivan Ilic headed Rafael Toloí to an open scoring chance from a direct free-kick. 

There wasn't anything left to seek for a reply as at this point we had dead Ilic and Nikola Vlasic up top and zero substitutions left. 

Despite our game plan working out almost perfectly it was a disappointing result and the third point drop of the season. All of them come from late set-piece goals which is becoming a real worry. 

(H) GENOA 

Even after the international break, we didn't have too much further help available for squad selection as practically none of the returning players were fully fit. The only one brought into the starting XI was Perr Schuurs who wouldn't be featuring in our Conference League match less than a week later. 

We didn't play well against the 13th-placed opposition and despite us having 3-4 scoring chances where we could have scored, a goalless draw was a fair result. 

Toni Sanabria and Nikola Vlasic have both been poor in the last two and thereby our best chances were presented to Ivan Ilic, twice, and Raoul Bellanova who both managed to miss opportunities where they probably should have done better. 

Substitutes failed to make an impact in our favor. José Manuel López came closest to doing so by setting up Bellanova through on goal with a good flick-on in the 74th minute. 

Our biggest downfall was the amount of unnecessary offsides, especially through our wing-backs. Those stopped multiple promising-looking build-ups. 

The only real positive thing was the fact that as I took responsibility for the set pieces for the first time ever, we looked much more comfortable when defending them. It might well be that this part is in my hands from now on. 

Marvin Keller had injured himself on the previous day for the next  2-4 weeks. Jacopo Sassi on the other hand continued to show confident performances with his 6th clean sheet already. 

(A) HNK RIJEKA 

A total day off from the whole team in an away game that was hard to predict. 

After an uneventful first 44 minutes, Jacopo Sassi made a rare error by dropping an easy cross straight to the opposition striker to convert. 

I was expecting a response in the second half just to be followed by some more large errors. Sassi’s game came to an end after the third goal in which he let in a shot almost straight towards him. 

Pietro Passador played only two minutes before letting in his first one with the club. This time due to a missed header by Saba Sazonov from a long throw-in. 

Sazonov’s second goal in Europe this season was a small consolation after a really bad day in the office from the whole team except young centre-back Alessandro Dellavalle who seemed to be the only one up to the level of the game. 

Letting in 4 goals from 1,27 xG is something that should not happen too often. We move on. 

(A) LECCE

Lecce have been the surprise package of Serie A so far this season as Roberto D’Aversa’s men held the fourth position before our meeting. 

Even though the numbers tell you a different story, the game itself was uneventful if we didn’t include the last 30 minutes. 

It even took almost 28 minutes for either of the clubs to record a shot at goal. The first one resulted in a goal as Jacopo Sassi let in Lameck Banda’s rather tame effort from a throw-in at the edge of the penalty area. 

The game itself looked to be over early on in the second half as Lecce hit us twice early on. First straight from the kick-off and the second after a poorly cleared corner kick which resulted in a beautiful volley from Banda to get his second. 

Demba Seck was once again the player to change the rhythm though as the pacey striker escaped three times through on goal finishing securely. 

Another substitute duo, Emirhan Ilkhan, and Stefano Sensi looked to give us the victory as the Turkish youngster played his more experienced companion through on goal ten minutes before the final whistle.

It wasn’t meant to be though as we were again denied by a late goal which came from a counter after a poor corner kick from us and Demba Seck missing his opportunity to win the ball back in midfield.

The final pass itself looked like a clear offside but quite surprisingly the goal wasn’t even checked with the VAR which probably would have turned this goal into an offside.

Jacopo Sassi made his first two saves of the game in the added time of the game to give us at least a point.

We're in a rare situation now as we have conceded 8 in two matches. Nothing in our style of play suggests that we should perform like this. 

(H) AS ROMA

We decided to go into the game against Roma with two clear changes: going with the formation with two attacking midfielders which saw us beat them 3-0 in Rome last May. I also decided to employ the ‘regroup’ instruction for the first time if I remember correctly.

There was absolutely nothing wrong without our defensive effort but as the snowball starts to roll, you concede from the strangest chances. This time the opener came from a deep cross that Perr Schuurs headed straight at Raoul Bellanova’s back where the ball was deflected to Nikola Zalewski for the opener.

The turning point of the game came in the 35th minute when Jacopo Sassi made a game-saver to deny Matteo Politano who got halfway through on goal from a narrow angle. 

We had some nice fluid movement, especially through the middle of the pitch in the first 45 minutes and we also scored twice from quick passages of play. Samuele Ricci scored his first of the season and Nikola Vlasic appeared for the first time this month in an important place.

Taking into account our recent defensive performances, I was terrified to move into our defending game plan during the second half but we did surprisingly well not giving Roma any chances to even seek an equalizer.

During the last ten minutes, I decided to employ a box midfield with double DMs and MCs to see the game off. Stefano Sensi seemed to be like a fish in the water in this system as after our defensive midfielder duo, he set up Antonio Sanabria, Gvidas Gineitis, and Adrien Tameze to good scoring chances, which the trio were not able to convert.

A narrow home victory means that a disastrous month could now be considered just poor. 

WHAT WENT WRONG? 

Conceding 9 goals in 3 games is a big worry. Especially as defensive stability is one of the cornerstones of this career update as well as the only requirement for style of play from our board. 

When something goes wrong and when trying to approach things logically, you start looking for patterns aka things that keep happening. 

Here is a list of goal types that we conceded during our spell. 

HNK RINEKA

1. Goalkeeping error (dropped cross) 
2. Marking error after a poorly cleared set-piece
3. Badly organized offside trap and goalkeeping error from a through-on-goal chance 
4. Missed header from a throw-in. 

LECCE

1. Poor marking in a throw-in and a goalkeeping error to a tame effort. 
2. Badly organized defense after a kick-off. A goal from a through-on-goal chance. 
3. Half-volley after a poorly cleared corner kick.
4. Naively played attacking set-piece and two missed interceptions in midfield. Likely a refereeing error. 

AS ROMA

1. A deep cross which was followed by a bad clearance and unlucky deflection. 

The two main patterns that I can find in these are personal errors and set pieces that have played a huge part against us this season. After three months of the new season, almost 50% of the goals that we have conceded have come either directly or indirectly from deadball situations. 

What we need to concentrate on in the upcoming games are especially the second and third balls after the initial clearances. Those are the ones where we have been poor so far this season. 

Here is a new thinking about the tactical approach that we might employ in the upcoming months to find further defensive solidity:

SASSI’S PERFORMANCES 

Our young goalkeeper, who had had a brilliant start to the season had a miserable spell at the end of the month. Lately, the number of personal errors has gone up and the save percentage dropped. 

As Marvin Keller is again fit after his injury, it is going to be interesting with whom are we going to go in November. 

STANDINGS

It has been a kinda crazy season so far. AC Milan's 4-3-3 seems to be strong this season with Paulo Dybala up top, creating space for Rafael Leão's in-cutting runs. The second-placed Atalanta, on the other hand, are relying heavily on set-pieces this season as they have scored 12 of their 22 goals from dead-ball situations. Lecce and Fiorentina, under the guidance of Simone Inzaghi, are the main surprises so far this season but as expected, the top-7 is still very tight this season, even though AC Milan look to be the favorites as they aim to retain their title. 

[danyates8]

Your graphics are sensational

[El Payaso]

3 hours ago, danyates8 said:

Your graphics are sensational

 

On 13/07/2024 at 01:08, Jogo Bonito said:

For me, it really does show that. Every update is eagerly anticipated and I've used some of your ideas and aims at Bologna also, so thanks for the story so far. I'm enjoying 'my' club, but still wish I had got to Torino before you 

I have actually been quite surprised how much content I manage to write when just picking up the main points about our matches. But I do enjoy it way more than just saying "we won and played well".

Obviously I am not as good at picking up interesting details as some of the better writers are but doing my best. 

3 hours ago, danyates8 said:

Your graphics are sensational

Thank you. I think I have always tried to do these in my own way and currently fairly happy with the visual side. 

[_Ben_]

4 hours ago, El Payaso said:

I have actually been quite surprised how much content I manage to write when just picking up the main points about our matches. But I do enjoy it way more than just saying "we won and played well".

Obviously I am not as good at picking up interesting details as some of the better writers are but doing my best. 

It's a great read! Keep it up.

[Los_Culés]

What a read man! 

The last time I used 3-4-1-2 with AMC was in CM 01/02 with Parma (Ortega as AMC ). Such a great memories. Nowadays as a fan of defensive/cautious football I rather prefere 4 men defence (Cholo Simeone, C. Ranieri and Ó. Tabárez influence), nevertheless I will follow this thread for inspiration. Trigger Press More Often combined with Low Block (& potentially Lower D-Line) is one of the things I will try in my save in order not to be so passive in my own half.

[El Payaso]

On 15/07/2024 at 22:34, _Ben_ said:

It's a great read! Keep it up.

Definitely until November. 👍

2 hours ago, Los_Culés said:

What a read man! 

The last time I used 3-4-1-2 with AMC was in CM 01/02 with Parma (Ortega as AMC ). Such a great memories. Nowadays as a fan of defensive/cautious football I rather prefere 4 men defence (Cholo Simeone, C. Ranieri and Ó. Tabárez influence), nevertheless I will follow this thread for inspiration. Trigger Press More Often combined with Low Block (& potentially Lower D-Line) is one of the things I will try in my save in order not to be so passive in my own half.

I used to be a 4-4-1-1 and 4-3-3 all the way until FM 24 and now so happy to have tried something else as it changes the gameplay a lot. I have already decided my team on FM 2025 and that with traditionally take me to something else again as I want to continue paying tribute to the style of play and formation that the team is known for. 

I've also been thinking a few things to do with the three systems that I'm playing with at Torino. This generally because I feel that the team is playing too adventurous football even with all the roles and duties combined with cautious mentality. 

Edited July 18 by El Payaso

[Los_Culés]

@El PayasoFor FM25 I hope to continue in my current saves (I do not know how the feature works exactly but hopefully it will be possible). One year is just not enough for me to properly develop my obscure teams . Also in connection to your "For the friends of Catenaccio" thread I am also playing Low Block, Defence-First Football. I will hopefully post my tactic in future but unfortunately I did not have much time recently to advance in my saves.

[El Payaso]

16 hours ago, Los_Culés said:

@El PayasoFor FM25 I hope to continue in my current saves (I do not know how the feature works exactly but hopefully it will be possible). One year is just not enough for me to properly develop my obscure teams . Also in connection to your "For the friends of Catenaccio" thread I am also playing Low Block, Defence-First Football. I will hopefully post my tactic in future but unfortunately I did not have much time recently to advance in my saves.

That's the thing with FM, we all play it in a different way. I haven't found a long-term save for years as I lose the interest very easily, especially when I start winning. 

Even with Torino it would be highly unlikely that I would opt to stay with this save after FM 2025 is published. Starting over doesn't sound that appealing either as a new kind of team and system tempt me more. 

I'm hoping that the Catenaccio thread would become and remain active as it is a style of play from the past and probably not the easiest to set up, especially when playing with a mid-table club. 

I'm happy to say that the next update is going to include something related to tactics. 

[SixPointer]

Interesting to set pieces being an issue, especially when you’re shaping your teams to being defensively solid. I’ve found a goalkeeper with a lack of 

height, jumping, Aerial and command of area can become a real issue at set plays. Especially if like me you leave the centre of the box for him to come get a hold off. Given his recent errors as well it could all come down to the keeper himself.

another sublime write up. 

[El Payaso]

1 minute ago, SixPointer said:

Interesting to set pieces being an issue, especially when you’re shaping your teams to being defensively solid. I’ve found a goalkeeper with a lack of 

height, jumping, Aerial and command of area can become a real issue at set plays. Especially if like me you leave the centre of the box for him to come get a hold off. Given his recent errors as well it could all come down to the keeper himself.

Yep, they have been since the early parts of 2024. But obviously there are ways to deal with them. 

Vanja Milinkovic-Savic was rock solid for most of last season but obviously with Jacopo Sassi still being just Serie B level and Marvin Keller being afraid of his own shadow, we have invited trouble. Still absolutely gutted to lose Vanja. 

November update is almost done as I have completed the month and also produced most of the graphics. The publishing moment could be either tomorrow or Thursday. 

6 minutes ago, SixPointer said:

another sublime write up. 

Thank you. Much appreciated. 

[El Payaso]

NOVEMBER 2024

November is going to be an extremely difficult month due to the 3 away games in a row along with playing back-to-back games against Inter and Fiorentina who have both been difficult opponents to us in the previous season. 

The month also consists of two Conference League fixtures where I am hopefully able to rotate the squad heavily and give our youngsters some much-needed game time. 

(A) AC MONZA

SHOTS: 5-14 | ON-TARGET:: 2-5 | xG: 0.34-1.72 | POSSESSION: 68-32

If there is such thing as good old Torino, then this was probably it. 

We took a fairly defensive approach to the game but were the better team since the start. 

Nikola Vlasic regained some confidence after his goal against Roma, and he was our liveliest player by some margin. The Croatian also converted the spot kick that Pietro Pellegri won us before the break. 

The second 45 minutes was a fairly dull affair as we were just looking to secure the much-needed clean sheet which we also got. 

The second goal, on the other hand, was a collector's item as we scored from a corner kick for the first time this season in Serie A as Mergim Vojvoda fed Ivan Ilic to a free shot from a narrow angle. 

There were two slight worries here as Raoul Bellanova was in trouble and very tired down his right flank for the first time this season. Many people are also already thinking about where Batman and Robin have disappeared. Injuries seem to have taken their toll on the Italian while Toni Sanabria’s linkup play has disappeared. 

The strange thing here was all our centre-backs recording sub-6.5 ratings as a reward for a convincing clean sheet that was secured by the returning Marvin Keller who looked calm and secure throughout the 90 minutes. 

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: Ivan Ilic (7.4)

(A) FK RJS

SHOTS: 11-13 | ON-TARGET:: 4-8 | xG: 1.31-1.81 | POSSESSION: 36-64

We had made the same mistake as once before this season as centre-backs Alessandro Dellavalle and Fabio Desole had featured in a U-20 match just two days before, forcing the duo out of the starting lineup.

Young Portuguese Rodrigo Mendes made his first start for the club playing as a right wing-back which was also the fate of fellow midfielder Gvidas Gineitis who started at left. Marc Casadó missed the game thanks to a pulled groin.

Stefano Sensi had played good games recently but his match ended after just 14 minutes due to an ankle injury. 

Despite being a tight affair, we played a decent away game in Latvia. An unlucky penalty from a corner kick seemed to make things difficult for us even in terms of qualifying but we responded well as Pietro Pellegri scored a trademark goal from close to the goal line after less than 5 minutes on the pitch, and the towering Georgian Saba Sazonov then headed in his third during our European campaign. 

In my eyes, Gvidas Gineitis (7.7) was by far our best player today as the young Lithuanian, playing close to his home, was winning the ball back regularly and starting the majority of our quick breaks. Another youngster, Emirhan Ilkhan (6.4) on the other hand, still seems to struggle to make an impact for us. The same applies to José Manuel López (6.8) who has been a big disappointment. 

We move on to the visit to San Siro. 

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: Saba Sazonov (7.8)

(A) INTER MILAN

SHOTS: 15-8 | ON-TARGET: 9-5 | xG: 2.69-1.07 | POSSESSION: 44-56

Unai Emery’s side had started the season quite poorly, finding themselves in the 6th place, two spots behind us.

I took a bit of an unorthodox approach to this by applying the regroup instruction and having the strikers mark out their two defensive midfielders Nicolo Barella and Hakan Çalhanoğlu.

Despite doing well in terms of stats, Inter struck us twice from their two first shots of the game. First Lautaro escaped to a channel between Perr Schuurs and Alessandro Buongiorno and then Çalhanoğlu converted from a penalty kick from Mergïm Vojvoda’s foul.

We fought back through Pietro Pellegri getting one one-on-one from Nikola Vlasic through-ball and Perr Schuurs hitting his first Roberto Carlos-esque free-kick of the season.

We trailed at the half though as Inter also scored with their third shot of the game, again from a narrow angle where Marvin Keller should have done better.

At half time I was thinking that we had never played this well against Inter before. We had a draw and two away defeats against them last season but this time we weren’t in the game like Rocky Balboa taking hits and just waiting for the bell. 

Inter were the better side in the second half though but bringing in Jacopo Sassi in goal and Valentino Lazaro to the left wing-back position solidified our defense a bit. Sassi made four saves for us in the second half which is three more than the abysmal Swiss.

We were constantly 2-3 steps behind in the second half but also had that quick counter up our sleeves as Inter played with their aggressive 4-2-4. The equalizer was again a trademark goal from Pellegri inside the penalty area to Lazaro’s low cross. 

We almost bottled it once as Sassi dropped the ball from a cross almost immediately after our equalizer and the ball found its way to the crossbar and goal line. 

Marvin Keller, Raoul Bellanova, and Mergim Vojvoda were not up to the standards of the match today. Along with the individual performances the main worry here was us letting Inter’s attack flow too smoothly even when having more than enough numbers under the ball. Inter could have punished us with their long runs with the ball more often than just three times. 

Pietro Pellegri on the other hand is again finding his grip on the game. The 15 minutes of football and a relieving goal last week seemed to make a big difference to his self-confidence. This is quite remarkable considering that Toni Sanabria disappeared into the abyss after September. 

The rarely mentioned duo Adrien Tameze and Karol Linetty also managed to slow the game down with their appearance. Tameze also made the important interception starting the move that led to our third goal. 

A point was more than we expected but we can't be happy with the display in total. Conceding 3 against any side is not the Torino way that we are looking to construct. 

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: Pietro Pellegri (8.5)

LIFE WITHOUT VANJA IS BAD

Even though we are past the 10-game mark already, the difference from last season is huge. A year ago with Vanja Milinkovic-Savic in goal, Torino had conceded only 5 goals in their first 10 Serie A fixtures while this season we have 16 in 13 and 12 in 10.

More often than not, the team has succumbed to errors or simply poor performances by the young goalkeeping duo Jacopo Sassi and Marvin Keller. Sassi started the season well and thanks to that is still one of the best goalkeepers in Serie A based on stats. His performances have dropped lately though which has cost us in goals conceded.

While Vanja also had his moments of weakness last season, he performed as a top-5 keeper in Serie A last season and was for long periods just behind Mike Maignan who has better defenders playing ahead of him at AC Milan. 

Vanja’s career at Arsenal has started as expected as the Serbian international hasn’t recorded a minute of game-time behind Aaron Ramsdale who has been preferred in both UEFA Champions League and Premier League fixtures as well as their only EFL Cup match against West Ham. 

With the current rate, it’s only a matter of time before the tall Serbian becomes unhappy with his lack of game time. This is also the moment when we have to be awake and make our move in an attempt to bring the club icon back to Piedmont.

This is down to the fact that even though we are not close to the midway point of season two, I have already seen that Marvin Keller will not be the goalkeeper who we can rely on long-term. The disastrous 5.7 performance with one easy save and three conceded has practically sealed the deal for him. 

Jacopo Sassi on the other hand fits the goalkeeper profile that we are looking for and has also shown mostly positive signals in terms of performances. He has also developed significantly thanks to him being exposed to the senior level so actively. 

The question here is whether we will be chasing the replacement for Marvin already or waiting for the year to change. We have already reached the maximum amount of signings this season but finding a replacement to join the team next season would be okay. 

Ever since Marvin Keller appeared for us for the first time, I have cursed myself for deciding to sign him almost immediately after Vanja was sold. Our scouts have found quite a wide selection of keepers who would probably have been better choices for us. 

Our main requirements for the new number one keeper:

• A good personality to work as a mentor for Jacopo Sassi. 
• Height of at least 195cm. 
• Strong (+16) aerial presence and bravery. 
• Good command of the area and Italian language skills. 
• Good (16+) long distribution. 

TACTICAL CHANGES

Based on what I have noticed and our limitations, I've decided to make a few changes to the tactical approach. 

Both wing-backs are now on defense duty which should mean that when in possession and especially in countering, they are going to be active in the buildup but should be more cautious in general and thereby return to their defensive position quicker than before. 

Especially with Bellanova down the right-hand side, I have noticed that he is pushing at times to be our highest player in the formation which is not the aim even though he is one of our most capable individuals. 

Up top, I have changed our striker pairing to an attacking defensive forward and deep-lying forward tandem. This is down to the fact that we are taking an approach where we are going to be soaking a lot of pressure and I want to try and prevent the opponents from being able to recycle the ball to the less dangerous areas with ease. 

On the other hand, I want the deep-lying forward not to be chasing the ball that much and just be there for other players to find, hold the ball, and then feed the others when we counter. This is also because especially Antonio Sanabria has recently looked fatigued and I want to save his legs so that he doesn’t have to be subbed off so early on. 

With a low block, this should lead to a situation where the striking duo puts plenty of extra pressure, especially on the opposition DMs and MCs from whom we are also actively looking to win the ball back and cause turnovers for counters. 

I wanted to keep the segundo volante in our double pivot as I see both Ivan Ilic and Samuele Ricci as important and impactful players from whom we need to try and get the best out. Ilic’s season has already been good as he has contributed to seven (3+4) goals in total. 

In our DM & 2 MCs formation, I wanted to have two default roles that I am going to tailor for each player playing there. For example, Nikola Vlasic will be given the instructions to get further forward, roam from position, and move into channels. 

In terms of team instructions, I am basing them on where we have struggled the most. I would like us to concede fewer set pieces and also win the ball back more effectively in areas where I see it beneficial and where we should be at our strongest when defending. 

I haven't been happy with how we have performed so far this season and this was also why I wanted to make a clear difference to the systems. 

(H) FIORENTINA

SHOTS: 14-8 | ON-TARGET: 5-5 | xG: 1.01-0.96 | POSSESSION: 56-44

Two big injuries fell for us during the international break as Samuele Ricci had a gashed leg and Perr Schuurs injured his ankle which will keep the Dutch defender out of action for 4-6 weeks.

This wasn’t something to hope for as Fiorentina had been one of the two teams, along with Inter, that outplayed us last season. 

We were outplayed here too in the first half but somehow led after 45 minutes. The main reason was Raoul Bellanova whose crosses found our striking duo twice. For Toni Sanabria, this was the first goal since September while Pietro Pellegri is continuing in a hot streak of form.

Fiorentina on the other hand scored a beauty through a passing play which saw Bonaventura escaping from Adrien Tameze behind our defensive line before putting in a perfect ball for Lucas Beltrán to convert.

I had to make minor changes to our defense to change the game's rhythm. I did this by changing Alessandro Buongiorno to a ball-playing defender role on cover duty and making Ricardo Rodriguez a second wide centre-back on defend. 

I don’t know if it was this tiny tweak but in the second half, we played way better and limited Fiorentina to zero real attacking highlight on comprehensive.

The third goal was again set up by Bellanova, this time with a nice pull-back to Ivan Ilic who is also having a productive season compared to last year. The Serbian had to leave the game early though when he also suffered a gashed leg and was replaced by 21-year-old Tommaso Di Marco who made his senior debut for the club.

What is worrying is the fact that despite employing the pressing that to guide the opposition to the central areas, I didn't see any real difference. This means that our defensive display was once again a lot down to how our wing-backs were able to deal with their 1 vs 1 battles. 

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: Raoul Bellanova (9.5)

(H) PETROLUL

SHOTS: 14-12 | ON-TARGET: 8-6 | xG: 2.03-1.09 | POSSESSION: 56-44

The home game against Petrolul included a nice amount of squad rotation which was also the aim. 

Marc Casadó was back for the first time since his injury and the young Spanish midfielder returned with a man-of-the-match performance thanks to the two through balls and assists he provided to our strikers in the first 45 minutes. 

It looked as routine as a match possibly can but at the end of the first half, Alessandro Dellavalle fell asleep as the covering centre-half and allowed a through on goal opportunity. Sadly it was another shot that Jacopo Sassi should have saved comfortably. 

The visitors controlled the second half but the closest they came was in the 88th minute when midfielder Tommi Jyry hit the post from long range. 

The game would probably have been smooth sailing without the goal just before half-time but you have to be happy every time the second team beats an opponent going into the game with their best squad. 

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: Marc Casadó (8.7)

LEAGUE STANDINGS

It is becoming a season where wing-backs are playing a huge part for many clubs. Even though for example Raoul Bellanova has been in a rich vein of form, it was Pietro Pellegri who took the Player of the Month award this time around. Ivan Ilic, Bellanova, and Pellegri also made their way to the team of the month. 

During November, Napoli, Monza, and Brescia have sacked their managers. José Mourinho was replaced by Vincent Kompany at Napoli while Massimiliano Allegri made a surprising move to Monza who are battling against relegation. 

With two victories, the table is looking a bit better again for our second-choice team. We are still going to face Fenerbahce and TSC during the league phase, and I think at least one of these needs to be won for us to qualify. 

[leobiazzi]

If you still had Vanja, no doubt you'd be more of a threat to Milan. But you're still doing quite well.

Love the graphics as always!

[danyates8]

Going along very nicely. As mentioned above the graphics are top class

[El Payaso]

TEAM REPORT

SQUAD HIERARCHY | SOCIAL GROUPS

As promised earlier this season, it is time to write a bit more about the team. This is because even though Torino has been an established team in the Serie A for ages, many people probably don't know the squad too well as there are only a few names familiar to the larger crowds. 

GOALKEEPERS 

Marvin Keller | Jacopo Sassi | Pietro Passador

Opposite to last season when we had Vanja Milenkovic-Savic and Luka Gemello at the club with a clear starter and backup tandem, this season it has been difficult to find the one above the other. 

Jacopo Sassi has surprisingly been featuring more than Marvin Keller but none of the two has found consistency and my trust. 

As we are playing with three young keepers, some kind of leadership and dominant presence is lacking and I think this is showing in our performances quite significantly. 

Pietro Passador has recently signed a new contract that will keep the number three at Turin until 2027 but he isn't likely to ever be anything more than a backup. 

Luka Gemello, who moved to Leverkusen, might even had a chance as our starter this season if he had opted to stay. 

This is by far our weakest area this season and it is showing in the scoreboard also as even with a defensive system we are leaking goals in for fun. 

WING-BACKS

Raoul Bellanova | Mergim Vojvoda | Valentino Lazaro

Unlike the three goalkeepers, this trio is featuring a lot. Raoul Bellanova is our best wing-back and he has been close to his creative best this season, yet also struggling defensively in the last couple of plays. 

Kosovan and Austrian internationals Mergim Vojvoda and Valentino Lazaro are the ones battling for a place down the left. Vojvoda was better of the two last term but Lazaro has turned the things around so far this season. 

What is a strange thing here is the fact that all our wing-backs are right-footed and this also led to some beautiful screamers from our left-sided ones last season. 

Ricardo Rodríguez is the main player to offer cover in this area but we have also seen almost all our defensive midfielders appearing in these two positions. 

The left wing-back position is one that we need to upgrade in the future if we want to become a stronger team. 

CENTRE-BACKS

Perr Schuurs | Alessandro Buongiorno | Ricardo Rodriguez | Saba Sazonov | Koffi Djidji | Alessandro Dellavalle | Fabio Desole

Alessandro Buongiorno and Perr Schuurs are the duo that could still be the backbone of the team if we ever happen to be fighting for trophies. 

Ricardo Rodríguez was the third one forming the wall of Piedmont in the earlier parts of last season. The second half of season one and the start of the second have shown though that it might have been a good time to let the experienced Swiss go. 

Saba Sazonov has been our option number four and his only real problem is the lack of in-possession talent. As long as the Georgian international is happy to start less than 10 games per season in Serie A, he can be a handy option for the club. He has done a decent job this season covering both Schuurs and Rodriguez during their injuries.

Koffi Djidji didn't play practically at all in season one and he is looking for a way out even though he's been ever-present in the Conference League this season. 

Alessandro Dellavalle and Fabio Desole are both young and still difficult to say anything about their future. Dellavalle, like Djidji, has played a lot in the Conference League but is still far away from the Serie A level. Desole is even more raw and not looking as promising as Dellavalle. As both of them are our own youth products, I would love to see them both being at least rotation options for us in the future. 

For the next season, we are looking for a left-footed centre-back who is both strong in the air and capable in possession. This would allow us either to get rid of Rodriguez and have him as a rotation option or even return to wing-back position. I think the Swiss could still play a part for a season or two in a smaller role. 

DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDERS 

Karol Linetty | Samuele Ricci | Gvidas Gineitis | Adrien Tameze | Marc Casadó | Ivan Ilic

Ivan Ilic and Samuele Ricci are both crown jewels of the club but it has proved to be difficult to play them at the same time as neither of them is that defensive-minded. 

Karol Linetty is probably playing his final season with Torino. The Polish international once held a valuation of 15 million euros but has since declined and is on the final year of his whopping 56k per week contract. I would love to keep him as a backup but with his salary request, it would be wiser to look elsewhere.

Adrien Tameze is a notch or two better player than Linetty but more than twice as cheap with his new contract that will hold him at Turin until 2027. Both of the duo are good defensive options when we are looking to hold on to a result and even the most reliable starters when you want stability. 

Marc Casadó started well for us but has since struggled with his performances and fallen behind the more experienced duo. I hold high hopes for the La Masia product and see him as the One who can be the backbone of our tactical approach for years to come. 

Gvidas Gineitis got plenty of game time last season (28 appearances) for us but has featured mainly in the Conference League so far this season, playing almost full minutes. If we would happen to sell Ivan Ilic, I would probably then throw the young Lithuanian to the deep end and see what he can do. 

Rodrigo Mendes was promoted to the senior team this season and has played his minutes in the Conference League. I would say that he is never going to be a starter for Torino but might have a future as a versatile backup.

The midfield is in a good state, especially if Marc Casadó can grow into the shoes that he needs to fulfill. It's quite storytelling that it wouldn't even be a disaster for us to lose Ivan Ilic who is a really good player as Samuele Ricci is probably the better of the two for our system. 

At the moment the main challenge is keeping the whole selection of midfielders happy as well as offering all of them enough game-time to keep them developing. Gvidas Gineitis and Rodrigo Mendes are the main concern and if we are eliminated from the Conference League, I will probably loan them out for the second half of the season. 

ATTACKING MIDFIELDERS 

Stefano Sensi | Emirhan Ilkhan | Nikola Vlasic | Aaron Giammanglichella

Nikola Vlasic has been one of our best individuals so far in this career update. The attacking midfielder works hard and tends to score important goals by making Well-timed runs to the penalty area. His customized attacking midfielder role seems to suit him well and he has slowly become one of the most important players for the club. 

Stefano Sensi was a player that I had high hopes for but he has continued to suffer from injuries with us. He has so far mainly played as a substitute in Serie A and a starter in the Conference League. Nothing really wrong with his performances but he might need a bit more tough games in a row to find the rhythm. It's unlikely that we will extend his contract even though I simply love his player profile. 

Emirhan Ilkhan has struggled a lot with both injuries and his performances. I was hoping more from the young Turkish who played more than 30 games in the Turkish Super League last season. If we would happen to be eliminated from the Conference League, I would probably look for a loan deal for him either in Serie A or La Liga. 

Young Aaron Ciammagliachella has only recently rejoined the club from Finnish Veikkausliiga side SJK where he was on loan for the last six months. His first appearances for the club will probably come in Europe too.

FORWARDS

Toni Sanabria | Pietro Pellegri | Demba Seck | José Manuel López

Pietro Pellegri, the young Italian who holds the record of youngest goalscorer in Serie A, has finally found his form at senior level at Torino. Last season the senior-capped striker scored 12 goals in Serie A and was the most effective striker in the league based on minutes per goal. 

Antonio Sanabria, currently struggling with his goalscoring form, formed an effective partnership with Pellegri last season. Finding this combination between the duo again this season would be a key for us. 

While the duo has been named Batman and Robin, Demba Seck has taken the role of Nightwing, often coming in as a super sub, scoring once, twice, or even three times as he did against Lecce. 

Seck also has his weaker side when he is causing our attack more harm by constantly being offside. In general, he is a great asset to have but an on/off -type of striker. 

José Manuel López has found it difficult at Torino so far. The Argentinian missed the whole pre-season due to his non-EU nationality and has since mainly appeared in the Conference League. 

The 24-year-old has been labeled as the new Mario Kempes but so far his only contribution has been the goal against Napoli. As a regular goalscorer in the Brazilian Serie A, López still has a lot of potential. He will join us permanently next season from Palmeiras. 

THE AREAS TO BE STRENGTHENED

For me, it is quite clear that we have three players that we need to sign for the next season. These three are:

• Left-sided wing-back
• Left-footed centre-back to replace Ricardo Rodriguez
• A reliable and experienced starting goalkeeper

I think otherwise we are in a good state and also under a bit of pressure to give more game-time for players like Gvidas Gineitis, Alessandro Dellavalle, and even Saba Sazonov to keep their development going. Marc Casadó, Gvidas Gineitis, and Jacopo Sassi have been the players who have progressed the most so far this season. 

MENTORING

We are lucky to have plenty of good mentors at the club.

• Alessandro Buongiorno is mentoring a group where he has Alessandro Dellavalle and Saba Sazonov with him.
• Perr Schuurs' group consists of Marc Casadó and Jacopo Sassi.
• Raoul Bellanova (along with another resolute personality Samuele Ricci) is in charge of the group with Demba Seck and Rodrigo Mendes. And Adrien Tameze mentors Gvidas Gineitis and Fabio Desole.
• Ivan Ilic (resolute) and Stefano Sensi are in charge of mentoring Aaron Ciammaglichella and Emirhan Ilkhan. 

During more than a season already, I haven't yet seen any significant changes and we still have a few balanced personalities at the club, for example, Gvidas Gineitis and Jacopo Sassi. I am hoping that we will get positive results though already during the ongoing season. 

[Jogo Bonito]

Another great update with outstanding graphical presentation as usual.

I think if you get a reliable 'keeper then your defensive numbers will pick up again as the rest of your regulars are strong enough to be a tough nut to crack. But they're not 'that' bad with only just over 1 goal conceded per game. If Vanja doesn't become an option again, I can highly recommend Di Gregorio who has been top class for me at Bologna. That aside, your form is strong and it seems that you're really starting to make some progress.

Edit: Your squad review crossed over with my reply. That's a great summary of your squad and I always love to see player analysis like that.

I'm envious of Bellanova, Buongiorno and Ricci, all talents I would love to have at Bologna. The only one I have lured from Torino so far was young Ciammaglichella, I have reasonably high hopes for him.

Edited July 24 by Jogo Bonito

[El Payaso]

2 hours ago, leobiazzi said:

If you still had Vanja, no doubt you'd be more of a threat to Milan. But you're still doing quite well.

Love the graphics as always!

I think so too. Somehow the defense seems much shakier without him. Sassi's stats are good thanks to the start of the season but he still ain't reliable. I'm now trying to keep Keller going and give him some game time so that I can sell him for at least the same amount we bought him for. 

2 hours ago, danyates8 said:

Going along very nicely. As mentioned above the graphics are top class

Thank you. I could say that this is still thanks to an easy schedule along with us being the most clinical team in the league. 

December is going to be a really difficult month with seven games in total and those consisting of for example AC Milan, Juventus and Lazio. 

9 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Another great update with outstanding graphical presentation as usual.

I think if you get a reliable 'keeper then your defensive numbers will pick up again as the rest of your regulars are strong enough to be a tough nut to crack. But they're not 'that' bad with only just over 1 goal conceded per game. If Vanja doesn't become an option again, I can highly recommend Di Gregorio who has been top class for me at Bologna. That aside, your form is strong and it seems that you're really starting to make some progress.

Thank you. 

A reliable keeper would be a huge plus and I'm definitely not going to make the same mistake again by signing a young starting keeper without full scouting. 

Marvin Keller has been a huge personal mistake from me. 

[Jogo Bonito]

They say we learn more from our mistakes than our successes! I'm keen to see how young Aaron gets on for you after signing him at Bologna.

[El Payaso]

15 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

They say we learn more from our mistakes than our successes! I'm keen to see how young Aaron gets on for you after signing him at Bologna.

Yep. From now on a good goalkeeper should be priority number one. Preferably the keeper should even be the best player in the team.

Aaron is not ranked that highly by our coaching staff but they do say that he might have Serie A potential which means that he could play a role at the club. Now it is about 50/50 whether I should keep him or give him another loan in January. Anyway he could be the player needed to cover for Stefano Sensi if we will not offer him a new contract. 

Edited July 25 by El Payaso

[Jogo Bonito]

Good luck finding the right keeper! Aaron hasn't yet cemented a spot in my very strong U-20 side yet, so might actually be nearer your first team than mine! I saw in the Good Player & Team Guide forum that somebody is giving him first-team minutes in Season 1, that might be interesting for you to follow.

[El Payaso]

16 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Good luck finding the right keeper! Aaron hasn't yet cemented a spot in my very strong U-20 side yet, so might actually be nearer your first team than mine! I saw in the Good Player & Team Guide forum that somebody is giving him first-team minutes in Season 1, that might be interesting for you to follow.

I actually found almost an ideal looking candidate to fill the void as only one of the requirements is missing. But this time around I am going to take my time before making a decision. 

Aaron doesn't look that promising on my save but obviously the potential ability rating might still change if he gets integrated well in the first team. Would say that a loan deal might be better option for him in January as we have Vlasic, Sensi, Ilic and Emirkhan ahead if him for the AM position. 

Next season could be the one for him as an extention for Sensi looks unlikely. 

[El Payaso]

DECEMBER 2024

I have spoken a lot about an easy schedule which might seem odd considering we are almost at the end of the year.

The schedule tells you why—seven games which could almost all be considered difficult.

Luckily we don't have a large number of injuries as at the start of the month only Ivan Ilic and Perr Schuurs are sidelined. 

The highlight of the month will be the first Mole Derby (Derbi Della Mole) of the season which I will naturally be covering in a bit more detail. 

(A) BRESCIA

SHOTS: 8-14 | ON-TARGET: 4-5 | xG: 0.50-1.27 | POSSESSION: 49-51

The match against 19th-placed Brescia was tighter than I would have liked it to be.

In my opinion, we played almost a perfect first half though as the defensive display was clean. Stefano Sensi had the first real chance of the game in the 15th minute which was followed by a corner kick goal from Pietro Pellegri. 

Brescia had had a few dangerous corners themselves in the first 45 minutes and they made us pay early on in the second from one of them.

The team seemed to lack the ability to get us back in the game and the hosts controlled most of the second half. 

It wasn’t a big surprise that it was the Pellegri and Bellanova duo who saw us through though. The Player of the Month, converting his 8th of the Serie A season already.

The end was nerve-wracking. Karol Linetty and Samuele Ricci were able to disturb the hosts in the midfield but they got a lot of set-pieces which put us in trouble. Saba Sazonov seemed to win every single first ball but his clearances never even cleared our own penalty area which put us under a lot of pressure.

On the other hand, we had plenty of quick breaks, usually started by Ricci and progressed by young Emirhan Ilkhan who had his best performance of the season so far. Sadly we didn’t take any of those chances well enough to even build anything too dangerous. 

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: Pietro Pellegri | 4/4 shots on target |11/14 headers won | 2 goals | 8.50

(H) LAZIO

SHOTS: 2-11 | ON-TARGET: 1-4 | xG: 0.08-1.45 | POSSESSION: 64-36

I was expecting a tough match against Lazio against whom we lost twice last season. 

And it has to be said that Sérgio Conceição’s men were by far the better side at Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino again. 

We were controlling position but the visitors fed us with our medication by constantly nullifying our build-ups and using the turnovers to their advantage. 

The game's biggest moment was in the 26th minute when actively-criticised Marvin Keller made a huge save on Mattia Zaccagni who had an open goal ahead of him from a low cross:

We didn’t seem to have any tricks to go forward against Lazio, and I was more than happy with a 0-0. In the end, we got a lucky break though as Raoul Bellanova was released down his flank, and the wing-back in form pulled the ball back to Samuele Ricci who scored his second important goal of the season from the edge of the penalty area. 

I have to give praise to players like Marvin Keller and Saba Sazonov here. Keller finally had such a performance that you would hope from him and Sazonov is continuing to fill in for Perr Schuurs well.

Then on the other hand I have to worry especially for the left side of our defense. Mergim Vojvoda was once again in big trouble as Lazio overloaded that side of the pitch. In these kinds of games playing Ilic and Ricci together as a double pivot is also a real hit or miss. 

Three points and a clean sheet with probably the weakest performance of the season is a huge bonus for us. 

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: Samuele Ricci | 64/67 passes completed | 1/1 shots on target | 1 goal | 8.20 

(H) FENERBAHÇE SK

SHOTS: 17-11 | ON-TARGET: 5-5 | xG: 2.68-2.34 | POSSESSION: 52-48

I was expecting Fenerbahçe to give us a difficult game but the performance our second-choice team produced was again something hard to predict.

As the stats tell you, we didn’t play that badly in general but succumbed again to big mistakes which has been usual for us in Europe. 

The first goal came from a nice header from a corner kick which is of course difficult to prevent. As we had narrowly edged the half, I was expecting the team to respond well in the second which didn’t happen.

An early penalty from Emirhan Ilkhan’s foul practically sealed the game and the third one came when we had a nice-looking counter-attack which Karol Linetty failed by losing the ball and the visitors hit us from the turnover.

The fourth was another set-piece goal and our evening was summarized by Pietro Pellegri’s missed penalty which was followed by Stefano Sensi’s well-deserved goal. The experienced midfielder played a productive game but can only curse Demba Seck for his really bad finishing here today. 

Jacopo Sassi had yet another shocking performance (5.4) in front of his goal. Just two saves out of the 6 shots he faced, along with a couple of personal mistakes in crosses. The young goalkeeper also should have made a save on the second and fourth goals of the opposition. 

The result doesn’t matter much to anything else than morale as we have (sadly) already qualified for the playoff rounds. Well, at least it has made the board happy. 

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: Alexander Djiku | 2/2 SOT | 2 goals | 8.50

(A) JUVENTUS 

BACKSTORY

We had an unbeaten record against Juventus from our two previous encounters. Against Massimiliano Allegri in charge, we labored to a 1-1 draw at Allianz while the season-ending fixture against Xabi Alonso’s men ended in a 2-0 victory at Grande Olimpico. 

Toni Sanabria has so far been the biggest hero of the Derby Della Mole. The Paraguayan forward scored our equalizer at Allianz and ran the Old Lady ragged with a second-half goal and assist in the returning fixture. Dusan Vlahovic has been kept quiet so far. 

The hosts, who are enjoying a decent season so far with a sixth place, went into the game as slight favorites, partially also thanks to them not having to suffer from mid-week European ties. 

STARTING ELEVENS:

Juventus (3-4-2-1): Szczęsny; Gatti, Bremer, González; McKennie, Fagioli, Miretti, Cambiaso; Gloukh, Yildiz; Vlahovic
Torino (3-3-2-2): Keller; Schuurs, Rodríguez, Buongiorno; Bellanova, Ricci, Lazaro; Vlasic, Ilic; Sanabria, Pellegri

Federico Chiesa continued to suffer from the one-striker formation under Alonso. Adrien Rabiot on the other hand was the only player from Juve to miss the game due to an injury. Otherwise, there were no big surprises for the hosts. 

Perr Schuurs was back for us after his ankle injury while we opted once again to rely on the recently most-used formation with the traditional Italian midfield triangle also known as the 4-3-3 formation. Mergïm Vojvoda missed the game thanks to an ankle injury which will keep the wing-back out of action for the next two weeks.

THE MATCH 

SHOTS: 14-3 | ON-TARGET: 8-3 | xG: 0.89-1.13 | POSSESSION: 57-43

The first twenty minutes of the game were all Juve as the hosts were in control of the ball and trying to break down our sturdy defense. 

Our first attacking contribution led to a big chance though as Oscar Gloukh fouled Toni Sanabria inside the penalty area just after the 20-minute mark and the referee pointed to the spot. Nikola Vlasic kept his cool and netted his 7th of the campaign from the penalty kick.

It was a three-minute double salvo as Juventus’ defense made a huge mistake just three minutes later as Toni Sanabria escaped to the byline before sending in a high cross into the penalty area. Wojciech Szczęsny came for the ball and Federico Gatti folded which left Pietro Pellegri fully open to score his 9th of the Serie A season.

We were hit by injuries after going 2-0 up. Perr Schuurs picked up a knock in the 30th minute while Nikola Vlasic had to come off due to a twisted knee. Just before this Vlasic had had a golden opportunity to make it three-nil from a half-through-on-goal type of chance, but Wojciech Szczęsny was there to make his first save of the game.

When being 2-0 up, it was a bit of a decision time whether to take it safe and bring on defensive-minded Marc Casadó or more attacking Stefano Sensi. I opted with Sensi as he has usually performed well when coming on, and because I want to see him on as much as possible in big games to be able to decide on his future. 

We started the second half in the worst possible way as Toni Sanabria gave the ball away from the starting build-up. Andrea Cambiaso was well pressured down the flank by Raoul Bellanova but managed to send in a through-ball which saw Alessandro Buongiorno making a rare mistake by allowing Dusan Vlahovic to escape through on goal and score. 

Federico Chiesa’s early introduction seemed to fire up the hosts’ attacking play. In the 62nd minute, he collected the ball in front of our defensive line after Vlahovic had made an interception for a pass between Buongiorno and Ricci. The forwards played a nice one-two which ended up with Vlahovic hitting the crossbar, albeit being narrowly offside.

Chiesa himself made an audacious attempt in the 89th minute from 40 yards out, spotting Marvin Keller off-guard and hitting the crossbar with an attempt that would have been a goal of the season material. 

We managed to hold firm despite Juventus controlling the game. Bringing in Saba Sazonov in the last 15 minutes for Schurrs who had given his absolute all brought us some aerial stability when Juventus were desperately trying to unlock us with deep crosses.

Stats might suggest that we didn't deserve the three points, but I would say that with our three first shots, we should have been 3-0 up. The xG paints quite a realistic picture here. Juventus could have gotten a second one but we didn't give away big chances. 

In general, it was an exciting derby once again, and I have to be proud of this team. Despite being under pressure, the boys showed a real character holding firm. 

PERFORMANCES

Out of the two danger men, Dusas Vlahovic (7.5) did better by being a constant threat to our defense, scoring once and picking up the man of the match award. Toni Sanabria (7.4) once again played a big role in our two goals but was also the player losing possession in the Juventus goal as well as in the close shave that Chiesa produced. 

The biggest difference in individuals was in goal. Wojciech Szczęsny (6.2), who performed well against us twice last season, had a poor game with only 1 save and a big mistake in the second goal. On the other hand, Marvin Keller (7.2) had a busy game saving seven out of the 8 shots he faced. 

In terms of team performance, Juventus beat us in the midfield where Samuele Ricci (6.3) was in trouble at times with his progressive passing. On the other hand, Stefano Sensi (7.0) made a decent appearance even though he also lost the ball dangerously a couple of times. Vlasic’s 5-6 weeks of injury will probably give the experienced Italian a good chance to show his quality now also in Serie A. 

Pietro Pellegri had a big all-round performance for us: bullying Federico Gatti aerially throughout the game, making multiple important defensive headers from set-pieces, and scoring the game-winning goal. 

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: Dusan Vlahovic | 4/6 SOT | 3/3 TCW | 7/14 HDRW | 1 goal | 7.50

(A) TSC

SHOTS: 10-9 | ON-TARGET: 4-3 | xG: 0.89-0.91 | POSSESSION: 45-55

There wasn't any kind of stake in the match, and that could be seen especially in our performance. The second-choice team should be more than willing to show their desire to break into the first team but I think the level of them is still quite far away. 

We conceded early on from a through ball and were the second-best team all day long. The substitutes gave us some momentum in the end and this led to a beautiful long-range goal from Stefano Sensi who was brought in as a Regista. 

Aaron Ciammaglichella and Fabio Desole made their debut for the club from the substitutes bench while Tomasso Di Marco got his first start. 

Out of the starters Koffi Djidji (6.6), Karol Linetty (6.3), Demba Seck (6.4), and Emirhan Ilkhan (6.2) were the biggest disappointments for the team. Especially the more experienced ones should be showing their ability to lead the team in these games. 

I'd say none of the starters made a statement here that they should be getting any starts in Serie A, especially against a team like AC Milan whom we face later this week. 

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: Stefano Sensi | 2/2 tackles won | 1/2 shots on target | 1 goal | 8.00

(H) AC MILAN 

SHOTS: 7-14 | ON-TARGET: 2-5 | xG: 0.63-1.25 | POSSESSION: 48-52

I was hopeful that Mike Maignan wouldn't be available for the game due to his strained wrist which had kept him out of the previous two matches. Milan took a risk though and brought in the French number one in an 80% condition.

My tactical approach was somewhat uncommon. I told the team to raise the defensive line and press a bit more aggressively in our own half. This was to make sure that Rafael Leão, Christian Pulisic, and Paulo Dybala would have to put up some work to make things happen at Torino. 

Adrien Tameze was brought in as an anchor while Samuele Ricci moved further forward to tackle the threat of overlapping Theo Fernández. Perr Schuurs was still not fully fit but I had full confidence that Saba Sazonov would be up to the task like he has often been lately. 

The start was bad for us: Alessandro Buongiorno, who had played 55 Serie A games without a booking, got one in the 3rd minute. Just five minutes later Pietro Pellegri was down holding his knee. 

Pellegri got back to the pitch and got the best scoring chance of the game in the 15th minute but was unable to beat Maignan from a narrow angle. 

The Italian’s night came to an early end though in the 34th minute when he fell down for the second time for the same knee problem. Instead of Demba Seck, I decided to bring in José Manuel López as a true joker card and aerial threat. 

We slightly edged the first half with 5 shots to 3 and xG of 0.57 compared to 0.18. The best chance for Rossoneri fell to Leao in the 28th minute when a poor clearance allowed him to drift dangerously inside the penalty area but a block from Saba Sazonov denied him.

The second half was Milan’s though. Bellanova, Rodriguez, and Sanabria all got booked early, forcing us to be careful. 

Milan on the other hand got their wide play going a bit better, especially down the left where Rafa Leao kept escaping from Bellanova. Valentino Lazaro on the other hand kept Pulisic in his pocket almost for the whole 90 minutes. 

The biggest scares once again came from set pieces where we seemed to win the first balls but rarely made decent clearances. 

It was a survival battle in the end as López also pulled a muscle and along with Mergïm Vojvoda being brought in for Bellanova I was too afraid to change anything. 

Marvin Keller continued his Phoenix-like rise back to life by making five saves and a fourth clean sheet in Serie A. 

In the 89th minute we had that typical Samuele Ricci moment from long range but this time the hard-working midfielder dragged his effort high and wide from 25 yards out. 

A clean sheet and bravely fought point is something I would take any day against Rossoneri. 

Pietro Pellegri's third knee injury of the calendar year was milder than we feared and will only keep him out for the next 2-3 weeks. López on the other hand will be missing the whole month of January. 

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: Malik Thiaw | 4 interceptions | 58% headers won | 7.40

(A) SASSUOLO

SHOTS: 11-6 | ON-TARGET: 4-2 | xG: 1.22-0.46 | POSSESSION: 63-37

Sassuolo were a difficult opponent to us last year, and the same fact applied again here. 

I had only applied a tiny change in our regular style which meant that Demba Seck started as a supporting pressing forward while Antonio Sanabria was placed as a complete forward on attack duty. 

This almost paid off as Sanabria had the best chance of the game in the 5th minute and was set up by Seck after a quick passage of play. 

It was an even game where Sassuolo were probably a bit fresher in general. The goal that they scored was bad as it came from a throw-in and a rather long slaloming run inside the area by the scorer Arnaud Lauriente. The Frenchman was also our ruin in the same fixture last season. 

With just two strikers at our disposal, we didn't really have any tools to try to change the rhythm of the game. It turned out even worse as Stefano Sensi’s appearance only lasted about one minute before an ankle injury ended his run. 

There isn't really anything else to say. We looked totally toothless without Pietro Pellegri here and as Raoul Bellanova (6.2) really had an off day, the result looks just about right. 

With Demba Seck being quite useless lately in all competitions, we might have to think about going back to a one-striker formation. 

This took our 10-game streak without a loss to an end and it was also the third consecutive time we failed to score against Sassuolo (0-0, 0-2, and 0-1).

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: Josh Doig | 1 key pass | 1 assist | 7.50

STANDINGS

A better end to the year would have meant that we would be full-on in the title race at the halfway mark of the season. December was a big surprise in terms of results as I was truly expecting us to plummet down the table. We showed some spirit though and also looked more like the Torino that we want to be as our defensive record has been improving. For January it is going to be interesting to see whether we can find answers to Pietro Pellegri's absence. 

Managerial changes took another strange step as Roma sacked Daniele De Rossi who was replaced this time by David Moyes. Moyes' debut with the team was successful as they beat Como away from home 1-0. Massimiliano Allegri's journey with Monza has been painful as the club are clearly on their way to Serie B.

Edited July 30 by El Payaso