[FM24] Football Italia

[BillHoudini24]

Love the analysis of the recruitment options you had in mind, whether they ended up joining or not. Same with the super immersive Twitter graphics, setting the bar high for the rest of us!

I've played in Serie B for a season in fm24, my observation was that if you walk the league, then your squad is definitely good enough to survive in Serie A, assuming that bigger teams won't come knocking for all your best players.

[_Ben_]

Thanks for the kind words!

1 hour ago, BillHoudini24 said:

I've played in Serie B for a season in fm24, my observation was that if you walk the league, then your squad is definitely good enough to survive in Serie A, assuming that bigger teams won't come knocking for all your best players.

I agree. I think it's really important  - and something that I've touched upon in the update I'm writing now actually - to build a core of players who can take the team into the top flight, meaning that I don't need a total rebuild. I think that this is particularly useful with the non-EU roles in Italy and my love for bringing over South American players to Italy, given the nostalgic elements of Batistuta, Recoba, Balbo, Ronaldo, Crespo, Zamorano, Veron, Dybala, Zanetti, Cambiasso etc etc etc!

[_Ben_]

Season Five: High hopes for a bright future

As I play through the first few games of the season, I decided to put to use the hours of PlaygroundAI work before this save, ensuring that the D'Anzi from his playing days looks different to when he took over and now, at 40 years old. What is more, I decided to take a short break from playing to look through the leagues and re-immerse myself with all things Italian football. My love of calcio has meant that I've visited these shores in pretty much each edition from FM05 onwards, as, from what I remember, my CM experiences were somewhat different and involved Diablo, Freddy Adu and Orri Frey Oskarsson! I looked through the teams playing in the Prima Categoria - the seventh tier - and found teams like Fano and Chieti, who I remember facing off against in previous years. In the sixth tier is Pistoiese, who played Serie B football at the start of the century and started the 23/24 season with a ninety-point penalty as, in real life, they’re out of business again. This is like a Championship team falling to the Vanarama North or South in the space of fifteen years. In the Eccellenza, two tiers above, I found the new Lanciano team - once a Serie B side - as well as Castel di Sangro, where this story very nearly started and only didn't as I was unsure whether I'd have enough playing time to get to this kind of level to make my statistics and player development stuff properly worthwhile!

Back at Messina, Braschi was subject to a huge big from Saudi Arabia and, with only the free transfer window open - and free transfers available to sign at any time - nomadic striker Marco Tumminello joined us. He's a journeyman but has scored across most levels of Italian football and his experience will be useful. The biggest thing, for me, is that the financial support, to the tune of €2.13m next year alone, will set us up for a great opportunity to build a bit more heavily towards a Serie A squad. Before I reach the promised land, I want to secure the strong, Italian spine and compliment that with players who are ready to make the step up with us, rather than needing recruiting over what will always promise to be a mad summer! However, that is, at least, ten months away, and my focus must remain on the now and not just the next!

The biggest change here is the role of Lucenti. Whilst still a DLP(s), he's worked hard over the last six months and has added the 'Comes Deep For Ball' trait to his 'Wants Ball Into Feet' and 'Plays One-Twos' meaning that he is very much the hub in our central build up. His deeper position in the earliest part of our transition puts him into space and allows him to take the ball either facing our goal or the opposition's, depending on the intensity of their press. However, when we move forward, he resumes his position in the double pivot and box shape continues, ensuring that we have the overload in the centre that has been really important to us. An injury to Ciurria means that, currently, we have no fit left wing backs at the club and might need to re-evaluate how we play given this news!

The season started in a way that reminded me why I cannot bank on prize money! We faced Serie A Frosinone and I smelt an upset. With 1.41xG to their 0.03xG, where their only shot of the game didn't hit the target to then bow out on a penalty shootout defeat - with my purposeful choices of Verre and Ciurria taking penalty four and five, given their vast experience - was heartbreaking. The league season then kicked off in the hardest possible way, playing two of the relegated sides first. 2.17xG to Cagliari's 1.87xG (which included their penalty) means that a 2-1 defeat, particularly so late in the game and for such a soft penalty, felt like daylight robbery. We then backed that up with another xG win against Cremonese but couldn't find the goal in a pretty dull affair.

Following that, we've not played a team who finished in the top half of our league, as seen on the season planner, below:

Therefore, despite the strong performances, including a big derby win over 9-man Catania, these results were pretty much expected. Next month will see us play a plethora of teams who finished up and around us last season, including a Cesena side we beat in the playoffs. That being said, their current positions this year are not as strong as I'd have expected, with SPAL sat bottom of the league and Brescia struggling, too.

With significant pressure on Lecce boss Lamberto Zauli, their game against table topping Verona will be a big one for us as well. I am happy with our lofty position here but don't expect it to necessarily look this way by the time we have progressed to close to Christmas as the game against Lecce in December makes that most significantly harder, given the start that ex-midtable sides Verona and Salernitana have had.

- - -

Arana | Moraga | Owusu | Biagioni| Tedesco | Gambardella | Kouakou | Nicolini

A note from an unexpected mentoring change reminded me that, post Catanzaro tie, I had twenty days before our Cesena fixture and I really need to sort out the individual training plans for my most talented youngsters. These star ratings are not everything but are good indicators of who needs time put into them to develop a lot, meaning that I don't see captain and vice captain duo Lucenti and Bellino here - they are just honing their skills and ensuring they get high quality playing time, good morale and consistently high level coaching.

With no money prior to our lovely new Saudi friends, I was unable to properly staff the youth coaching ranks but will spend significant amounts of time now getting adverts out for and using some elements of searching - keeping it as realistic as I can by searching for those within the Italian game etc rather than specific attributes - to build the coaching team, ensuring that those not within my first team have the best opportunities.

I will then assess their attributes creating the rolling P/R/D and additional focus areas with monthly notes to track their progress.

- - -

Lots to do and lots to be excited about! Forza Biancoscudati!

Edited August 10 by _Ben_

[El Payaso]

Good start to the season and especially the defensive record is impressive. 

Don't remember seeing a screenshot of the tactic, at least lately. Would be interesting to see how your style of play has evolved. And especially how you set up your defense. 

Ps. I think the link to Tommanello's profile is a wrong one. 

[_Ben_]

31 minutes ago, El Payaso said:

Good start to the season and especially the defensive record is impressive. 

Don't remember seeing a screenshot of the tactic, at least lately. Would be interesting to see how your style of play has evolved. And especially how you set up your defense. 

I think my pragmatism will always lead to a defensively solid tactic!

It's a fairly basic 3-4-3 and has mirrored versions that swap around the box as well as a shape with more movement in the defence and a HB(d) to fill in for them. It's certainly becoming the blueprint rather than the tactic and I say that, not just to add another silly word into things, but because it's just the basis that often gets pretty heavily changed throughout the games.

This is the shape against a two-striker formation but, when there is an AM there, I'll move Amey to a NCB(St) so that he can press more aggressively. This shape could leave me more open but I've not yet come across a team who play two strikers, an AM and aggressive wide midfielders, so the WBs often find themselves sitting in as covering defenders, which is great.

Against a lone striker, I can switch between WCB(d) and WCB(s)/(a) depending on how aggressive I want to be. This often coincides with a weak side as the WCB is used when I want to push the WB on more to create another attacking midfielder. Otherwise, I will use the L(s) across any of the roles (and, when using a HB, sometimes more than one at a time) to add more build up players when facing a deeper block. I've used L(s), L(s), NCB(d) before to create a really deep box, allowing the SV(s) to not need to drop so deep to pick the ball up.

I like to use WB(au) because they have a completely blank slate. Currently, the right sided WB is more defensive (hold position) because of the SV(s) next to him. I've used the left WB as a deep inside forward - dribble more, sit narrower, cut inside, get further forward when wanting to overload with a WCB(s) behind him. I tend to start Lucenti as a DLP(s) but he's pretty much the perfect Regista, which is my first go-to when chasing the game (the REG and DLP both have a matching mentality to my team so are currently Balanced). If there is space within the centre and we're not really exploiting it, I'll use Bellino as an RPM rather than a Volante, too.

Clemenza is a pretty vanilla AM, except that he holds the ball up because it helps his traits of dictating the tempo and playing key passes. The extra seconds there allow the SS(a) to move into channels, largely because the AF(a) is pinning the centre backs back. I have less fluidity here because I have less difference in players in terms of asking them to play different roles. Owusu wouldn't be suited to a F9(s) but one could work here against a deeper block, pulling a defender out. I really rate Owusu as an out-and-out scorer but he does hold us back in terms or ability to change things up here!

45 minutes ago, El Payaso said:

Ps. I think the link to Tommanello's profile is a wrong one. 

Fixed!

[_Ben_]

#

Season Five: Settling near the top and 'Ruben Amorim x Francesco D'Anzi'

We are at the turn in what is now our second Serie B season and my fifth - fourth full - season in charge and I'm really secure on what I want to achieve, the time frames and the steps to success. We're moving really well towards the top of the table, but, honestly, more time in Serie B would not be a problem as I look to craft and create a team that can survive and thrive, especially now that we are somewhat more financially stable than before.

I dipped into an unusual market - for me: the British market - to bring in free agent Charlie Patino after he was recommended to me. A little bit of research tells me he's currently one of the hottest prospects in Arsenal's Hale End academy and he's modelled his game on players like Fabregas, Santi Cazorla and Frenkie de Jong, making him feel a little less British than he may actually be! His coach report has him as versatile, resolute and skillful, even if he's not currently at the level we're at. He moved early in the game to Fulham - for €3.4m - but, despite excelling in the PL2 - has lacked the first team exposure to kick on. I'm hoping that, at just 25, there's still plenty of time for him to find that spark against and grow into the player I think he could become. However, it was the comparison between he and Lucenti that really triggered this deal - an almost identical profile as well as a complementary set of traits that will see him performing in the same was as my mercurial captain. The recruitment team were able to pounce on this undiscovered potential, seal him a Fringe Player and give him a low wage. It's odd to think that, at his age, he'd be a project player but I really do see him as that!

With January looming, the sale of Braschi in September and the much stronger financial position, I boosted that even further by selling the clause for Merola, who hasn't featured at all for Torino and is quickly losing his value and sale potential. That now gives us just over five million in the bank with just over €3m to spend. I'm sure I'll barely touch it with only a couple of areas I'm directly looking to recruit in, but it is there should I need it!

Sixteen points from a possible thirty has seen me feel a little concerned about our ability to go up this year, although, as I've said many times, I'm absolutely not against that - I just hope that the board isn't, either. We're playing well and most things are clicking - as seen by our demolition of Lecce but we should've beaten relegation threatened Cesena, SPAL and - certainly - Sudtirol.

Ten games has given me more time to learn about the team that I have at my disposal this year and, overall, I think I'm really happy with it. Not scoring enough goals seems to be the biggest issue that we have, bar the Lecce and Ascoli games, and a lot of that is from the reduction in outputs from the attacking midfielders since Merola left in the summer. When comparing the four that I have, I think that the ove-riding thought is that I just haven't brought in a proper shadow striker. With Verre's advancing age and diminishing physical attributes, he's going to become more and more of a static playmaker, even if his (restricted minutes) stats are the best at the moment. Santos isn't a true shadow striker either and lacks the top end pace to really scare other teams. Clemenza, like Verre - is very much your stereotypical Italian #10, although he does work hard in defensive areas, just isn't too successful. I had banked on Biagioni being the man for this role and, if he'd scored at the expected rate - where instead he is some 0.30 goals below it per ninety - his stats would look much better. However, watching him play again makes me feel that, with his composed, laidback demeanour and ability to pop up in spaces, he's more suited to be a player who can create for others as opposed to score heavily.

That being said, we're still in a strong position, even if we've slipped back a little from the top two and, likely, will fall back further still over the festive period as we face table topping Salernitana twice. Aside from that, there are three very winnable games and I want to see us pushing on and becoming more of an aggressive threat going forward. Defensively, we are still solid and can control the games: I just want us to become a little more lethal!

- - -

I've been doing some further reading this week as I try to build more knowledge around the three at the back shape, which, of course, rose to fame during the 90s in Italy. One particularly successful real life manager who utilises it well is Ruben Amorim, so I thought I'd see where our similarities like. In game, he's out of work - sacked by Sporting and then by Vitoria but, sadly, has no interest in becoming my assistant manager at this stage. Google is full of lovely write-ups on the man and I've dug through them, seeing many similarities. The only difference, from our blueprint, is that I can see, is that their main centre back, Coates, has license to step forward and play the ball, whereas ours - Amey - has the same license but that is to engage with duals and lay the ball off. I can see that his vertical play between the centre backs, deepest midfielder - in this case Hjumland - and then onto the more advanced one in the pivot can be seen replicated here. Likewise, his overall 3box3 shape is similar to ours and the overall average positions looks similar, too. 

I'm certainly not a tactical recreation kind of FM player but it's good to see that my methodology here does seemingly have some crossover to real life!

- - -

Forza Biancoscudati!

[danyates8]

Charlie Patino was excellent for me in the Championship on a previous save, he could be an excellent signing for you

Edited August 12 by danyates8

[lfds89]

I can talk about Amorim, as I like watching Sporting play (not a fan of the team, though). He does play a 5-2-3 / 3-4-3 / 3-2-5. Coates didn't venture forward much. Only in goal kicks, would he sometimes make a diamond with the other 2 CBs and the GK. Amorim changes it depending on how the opposition presses. Sometimes it's Morita/Hjulmand in that role or even both when they start with 1+2+2.

Against Porto in the Supercup it looked more like a 4-4-2, though. With Eduardo Quaresma as the FB and Quenda as the RM (watch him, he's great), it might just have been another adaptation to fit the opposition. In the last game against Rio Ave, the positional map shows the 3-4-3:

The guys that play behind the striker are difficult to adapt to FM. They are almost Trequartistas in the sense that they have the freedom to roam, sometimes shadow strikers (last year with Paulinho, this year with Rodrigo Ribeiro, especially), he has also used Mateus Fernandes who is usually sort of DLP. They defend on the wing mostly. Sometimes one on the wing and the other stays upfront.

In the middle, it's usually a defensive-minded BWM-like (Palhinha/Hjulmand) and an engine/progressor (Matheus Nunes - through dribble; Morita - through pass) - probably a B2B/RPM/SV (it's difficult to pinpoint one exact role).

The WBs are wingers. 1v1 / offensive players (Catamo, Nuno Santos, Quenda, Porro, Nuno Mendes). This season and the last he used a left-footed player on the right. I think it's not a very planned decision, but an answer based on the squad he has available.

[Hootieleece]

Charlie Patino made a good player for me becoming my Captain at Preston North End in a save earlier this year.

3 hours ago, danyates8 said:

Charlie Patino was excellent for me in the Championship on a previous save, he could be an excellent signing for you

Charlie played a BBM type role for me in the central midfield and got a respectable number of goals and assists.

Edited August 12 by Hootieleece
added words I forgot

[Jogo Bonito]

A strong season again, with good defensive numbers. I see a tough test against the leaders coming up, good luck with that! 

[Deisler26]

Charlie Patino is one of the IRL hyped youngsters that hasn't quite made it. But I have faith in your skills to polish him up

[_Ben_]

21 hours ago, danyates8 said:

Charlie Patino was excellent for me in the Championship on a previous save, he could be an excellent signing for you

17 hours ago, Hootieleece said:

Charlie Patino made a good player for me becoming my Captain at Preston North End in a save earlier this year.

Charlie played a BBM type role for me in the central midfield and got a respectable number of goals and assists.

4 hours ago, Deisler26 said:

Charlie Patino is one of the IRL hyped youngsters that hasn't quite made it. But I have faith in your skills to polish him up

Thanks for the Charlie Patino feedback!

I don't think he's going to truly ever be a superstar, particular given that he's now 25, but, if I'd have asked you to name me a more complete set of player traits for the playmaker who initiates the early transition, I don't think you'd have bettered this list:

[_Ben_]

16 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

A strong season again, with good defensive numbers. I see a tough test against the leaders coming up, good luck with that! 

Thanks. Yeah a double header against them may go someway to deciding the top end of the table come June.

17 hours ago, lfds89 said:

I can talk about Amorim, as I like watching Sporting play (not a fan of the team, though). He does play a 5-2-3 / 3-4-3 / 3-2-5. Coates didn't venture forward much. Only in goal kicks, would he sometimes make a diamond with the other 2 CBs and the GK. Amorim changes it depending on how the opposition presses. Sometimes it's Morita/Hjulmand in that role or even both when they start with 1+2+2.

Against Porto in the Supercup it looked more like a 4-4-2, though. With Eduardo Quaresma as the FB and Quenda as the RM (watch him, he's great), it might just have been another adaptation to fit the opposition. In the last game against Rio Ave, the positional map shows the 3-4-3:

The guys that play behind the striker are difficult to adapt to FM. They are almost Trequartistas in the sense that they have the freedom to roam, sometimes shadow strikers (last year with Paulinho, this year with Rodrigo Ribeiro, especially), he has also used Mateus Fernandes who is usually sort of DLP. They defend on the wing mostly. Sometimes one on the wing and the other stays upfront.

In the middle, it's usually a defensive-minded BWM-like (Palhinha/Hjulmand) and an engine/progressor (Matheus Nunes - through dribble; Morita - through pass) - probably a B2B/RPM/SV (it's difficult to pinpoint one exact role).

The WBs are wingers. 1v1 / offensive players (Catamo, Nuno Santos, Quenda, Porro, Nuno Mendes). This season and the last he used a left-footed player on the right. I think it's not a very planned decision, but an answer based on the squad he has available.

Such a useful post, thanks!

The thoughts on Coates then makes our shapes even more similar - what I'd read almost made him out to be a libero, and that isn't the case then.

I think that there is some work to be done with my attacking two, but, currently, one is an SS(a) so that is quite close. I really like the idea of the wrong footed wingers, too, particularly for the one that I instruct to be the most aggressive.

I think - with a DLP(s)/VOL(s) - I have nearly what Amorim has, but do miss out on the physicality that a BWM(d) or even an A(d)/HB(d) would bring in that role. I would suggest that - if anything - we can be a little soft in the middle - hence the reason for recruiting Amey and getting him to step ahead into that role where Lucenti and Bellino aren't quite suited to winning duels and tackles. Something to look at going forward, definitely!

[Hootieleece]

4 hours ago, _Ben_ said:

I think - with a DLP(s)/VOL(s) - I have nearly what Amorim has, but do miss out on the physicality that a BWM(d) or even an A(d)/HB(d) would bring in that role. I would suggest that - if anything - we can be a little soft in the middle - hence the reason for recruiting Amey and getting him to step ahead into that role where Lucenti and Bellino aren't quite suited to winning duels and tackles. Something to look at going forward, definitely!

Find a player that is more physically gifted and is brave and aggressive and you will get that physicality back.

In my current save I added a physically imposing aggressive Italian player and it changed my midfield making the Carrileo-S Role the most important in my midfield three.

[lfds89]

8 horas atrás, _Ben_ disse:

The thoughts on Coates then makes our shapes even more similar - what I'd read almost made him out to be a libero, and that isn't the case then.

He was comfortable on the ball but it was an exception when he ventured forward.

8 horas atrás, _Ben_ disse:

I think that there is some work to be done with my attacking two, but, currently, one is an SS(a) so that is quite close. I really like the idea of the wrong footed wingers, too, particularly for the one that I instruct to be the most aggressive.

I think - with a DLP(s)/VOL(s) - I have nearly what Amorim has, but do miss out on the physicality that a BWM(d) or even an A(d)/HB(d) would bring in that role. I would suggest that - if anything - we can be a little soft in the middle - hence the reason for recruiting Amey and getting him to step ahead into that role where Lucenti and Bellino aren't quite suited to winning duels and tackles. Something to look at going forward, definitely!

The most difficult to replicate in FM are both DM/CM and both CAM/Wingers. The dynamic is a mix of many roles with specific movements. I would say, you have the roles right with DLP/VOL, but you need a very physical player in both roles. In a way transform the roles with the players, if it makes sense.

About the wrong-footed winger, I tried it with Lazar Samardzic as a RW and I loved the result. He would go 1-1 from wide positions, but then come inside and play that cross/through ball. I have never tried with the WBs so don't know if it works the same way.

[_Ben_]

13 hours ago, Hootieleece said:

Find a player that is more physically gifted and is brave and aggressive and you will get that physicality back.

9 hours ago, lfds89 said:

The most difficult to replicate in FM are both DM/CM and both CAM/Wingers. The dynamic is a mix of many roles with specific movements. I would say, you have the roles right with DLP/VOL, but you need a very physical player in both roles. In a way transform the roles with the players, if it makes sense.

Whilst I'm trying to recruit and develop physically imposing players for the midfield roles, I'm really trying to build around my best, and - arguably - one of my few Serie A ready - players, Jacopo Lucenti:

He's very much of the Andrea Pirlo type which might mean that a focus on a more destructive Volante - my current being Bellino - might be the next step. Interestingly, I'm trying to improve the all around game of centre back Moraga by developing him in the SV(s) role and, since turning accomplished there, his 'best role' is now considered a midfield one. I just saw this as an initial bit of training but it's one that I may continue to pursue now.

I'm not trying for a tactical recreation - at all - but I do think that there is a lot of sense in the need for a physical element in the midfield roles.

[danielgear]

On 12/08/2024 at 15:51, _Ben_ said:

I've been doing some further reading this week as I try to build more knowledge around the three at the back shape, which, of course, rose to fame during the 90s in Italy. One particularly successful real life manager who utilises it well is Ruben Amorim, so I thought I'd see where our similarities like. In game, he's out of work - sacked by Sporting and then by Vitoria but, sadly, has no interest in becoming my assistant manager at this stage. Google is full of lovely write-ups on the man and I've dug through them, seeing many similarities. The only difference, from our blueprint, is that I can see, is that their main centre back, Coates, has license to step forward and play the ball, whereas ours - Amey - has the same license but that is to engage with duals and lay the ball off. I can see that his vertical play between the centre backs, deepest midfielder - in this case Hjumland - and then onto the more advanced one in the pivot can be seen replicated here. Likewise, his overall 3box3 shape is similar to ours and the overall average positions looks similar, too. 

I'm certainly not a tactical recreation kind of FM player but it's good to see that my methodology here does seemingly have some crossover to real life!

I did a recreation based on some research on him during the 2022/23 season 

https://www.viewfromthetouchline.com/2023/04/26/ruben-amorim-343-fm23-tactic/
 

He is very flexible in how he adjusts his 343, it can change game by game depending on the opponent or his player availability. 

[BillHoudini24]

2 hours ago, _Ben_ said:

Whilst I'm trying to recruit and develop physically imposing players for the midfield roles, I'm really trying to build around my best, and - arguably - one of my few Serie A ready - players, Jacopo Lucenti:

He's very much of the Andrea Pirlo type which might mean that a focus on a more destructive Volante - my current being Bellino - might be the next step. Interestingly, I'm trying to improve the all around game of centre back Moraga by developing him in the SV(s) role and, since turning accomplished there, his 'best role' is now considered a midfield one. I just saw this as an initial bit of training but it's one that I may continue to pursue now.

I'm not trying for a tactical recreation - at all - but I do think that there is a lot of sense in the need for a physical element in the midfield roles.

What I've found interesting in this year's edition is that you can place a player in a specific role, but this mostly* dictates the player's movement across the pitch. The rest can be modified with further Individual Instructions, Traits, and ultimately Attributes, way more than in previous FMs.

To use an example based on your outlined thinking:

Bellino can totally function as a Segundo Volante in your system, but my guestimastion is that his low Aggression, Bravery and Positioning will lead to less "destructive" results compared to what you are expecting. On the other hand, his First Touch, Decisions and Agility will provide benefits in retaining possession and, depending on his position on the pitch on each occasion, either a quality "first pass" to start an attacking sequence, or a proper chance creation at the final third.

* This doesn't mean that the player won't be taking the risks imposed by his role, or that the Attributes influence his behavior to a large extent, all I am saying is that key attributes for destroyers, creators, anchors, runners, etc, play a bigger part compared to previous years, when you could see people press aggressively solely because their role was "Pressing Forward", "Ball Winning Midfielder", etc.

[_Ben_]

3 hours ago, danielgear said:

did a recreation based on some research on him during the 2022/23 season 

https://www.viewfromthetouchline.com/2023/04/26/ruben-amorim-343-fm23-tactic/

Interesting, thanks Dan!

I'm not sure about the wing backs as, for me, the WB(au) defend as a five anyway! Otherwise, I do think that there's plenty of similarities.

2 hours ago, BillHoudini24 said:

What I've found interesting in this year's edition is that you can place a player in a specific role, but this mostly* dictates the player's movement across the pitch. The rest can be modified with further Individual Instructions, Traits, and ultimately Attributes, way more than in previous FMs.

To use an example based on your outlined thinking:

Bellino can totally function as a Segundo Volante in your system, but my guestimastion is that his low Aggression, Bravery and Positioning will lead to less "destructive" results compared to what you are expecting. On the other hand, his First Touch, Decisions and Agility will provide benefits in retaining possession and, depending on his position on the pitch on each occasion, either a quality "first pass" to start an attacking sequence, or a proper chance creation at the final third.

* This doesn't mean that the player won't be taking the risks imposed by his role, or that the Attributes influence his behavior to a large extent, all I am saying is that key attributes for destroyers, creators, anchors, runners, etc, play a bigger part compared to previous years, when you could see people press aggressively solely because their role was "Pressing Forward", "Ball Winning Midfielder", etc.

Absolutely my findings, too!

Bellino plays very much as a playmaker with a bit more license to get forward but also who is good in the air. That works nicely but I probably want to build the SV(s) role around someone more suited to be a BWM(s) or a BBM(s) because that is the twist on the role I want to create.

[leobiazzi]

Is your skin available for download? The more I see your posts, the more I feel like using it.

[_Ben_]

1 hour ago, leobiazzi said:

Is your skin available for download? The more I see your posts, the more I feel like using it.

Yep. It's in the Skinning Hideout - called Statman. There will be an update within the next few days though, so you may want to hold fire.

[leobiazzi]

Thank you!

[_Ben_]

Season Five: Promotion hopes still strong

Plenty of thought has gone into my tactical design over the last week or so, and, as such, I've made some subtle changes to my 3-4-3 shape, with specific differences for Michele Carboni's role and my January transfer business. 

  

Luca Langoni was the first man through the doors as I wanted a proper second striker, who had pace, works hard and can finish. Luca was previously at Udinese, following a big move from Boca but struggled to settle and barely played. Whether that is an indicator for bigger issues, I do not know, but we all felt that it was a reasonable risk. His coach report has a couple of things to work on but his ceiling should be quite high and, because, technically, his last club was Udinese - I've been able to sign a non-EU player for the team, because he was still based in Italy. His arrival, as a right footer - made me think about swapping the sides of the box in the midfield, moving the SS(a) to the left, with the VOL(s) behind him and the more static AM(s) and DLP(s) on the right hand side. This worked really well with left footed Merola being able to cut inside on his favoured foot.

That meant that I also flipped around my wing backs, too. Opting to try and repurpose Carboni on the left to be a more static, but playmaking, wing back, I then had an opportunity to experiment on the right hand side. Jeremy Leon - a winger from Serie D side Alessandria - comes in to try and be part of that experiment. His coach report reckons he's not quite good enough for this level but my intentions were clear: a wrong footed converted winger who is more about attacking than defending. He'll still sit in the five when we do defend, but, ideally, I'm trying to create a deep inverted winger - hence the need for Work Rate and, for future players here Stamina and Teamwork. I set my recruitment team up to sign him, as he was available for around €100k but, for some reason, they decided to go down the 'end of contract' route, meaning I was left with the option to 'Buy Now' for €275k. A huge transfer record for the club, and, to be fair, one that fits the positive recent history of a form player but far more than I actually intended to spend. I wanted him now as I really don't see him as an experimental wing back in Serie A - should we get there - and, therefore, wanted to try this whilst we're among the better teams. There are much better players out there but this will serve a purpose.

This is, of course, to create more options within my tactical style. I still have Tripaldelli (quite traditional outside wingback), Frey (more defensive minded and a body in attacking play) as well as Ciurria (often on the physio table, like he has been for over 60% of the season) but it's important that I can play in different ways within the same 343 shape and, even, within the same roles, duties and instructions from that 343 shape.

Lastly, the youngest of the sons of Patrick, Shane Kluivert, came in on loan from our parent club, Napoli. He's on about €18k p/w but, thankfully, we have to pay nothing for this deal and will give him some exposure to first team football as the season progresses. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for two of our players out on loan - Salerno and Fucili - who moved to Mantova at the start of the season. I was excited to see them move to a recently relegated team, thinking they'd be in with a shout for promotion, but, instead, they've struggled, sacked youth-developer Ignacio Abate and replaced him with someone who plays a flat 4-4-2, meaning that neither of these two can play their favoured positions. To make matters worse, no recall clause was added so two of my hottest prospects have sat in the Modena youth side, rotting away!

We've been annoyingly inconsistent of late, but, then again, so have the entire top half of the league with only Taranto - down in eighth - unbeaten in their last five. Despite holding up our end of the bargain by beating Salernitana at home, where a nice run of form for Biagioni began, and beating the three weaker teams with ease, we then lost it, at the death, in the return fixture against the table toppers. That then started a period of some inconsistency, where we ceded ground to Verona by losing, pretty tamely, at home to them, before picking up one point from six against two of the relegated sides: Cagliari and Lecce, neither of whom are setting the league alight this year.

That being said, we're still in a pretty strong position where we are. Our next five are quite comfortable fixtures for us and we're also look at the gap between ourselves and fourth place; fourteen or more points removes the playoffs and just promotes the top three.

Lots to be excited about here! I'm continuing to try and build a squad that can survive in Serie A, so, if we aren't successful this season - I'm in no way disheartened. I've just signed a new three year deal and the goal in that is to keep us in the top half, something which I see being achievable. Furthermore, in the next couple of weeks there'll be a new youth intake and my favourite part of the season - the set for release day!

Forza Biancoscudati!

[leobiazzi]

Langoni was incredible for me when I signed him in Brazil. He did well in both the First Division and the Libertadores, so I imagine he'll do fine in Serie B.

[_Ben_]

2 minutes ago, leobiazzi said:

Langoni was incredible for me when I signed him in Brazil. He did well in both the First Division and the Libertadores, so I imagine he'll do fine in Serie B.

Doing ok so far for me when compared to other attacking midfielders:

But I am asking a lot right now - learning the AMC position, strengthening his weaker foot and bringing him into the first team mid-season without a lot of football behind him. What I see on the pitch looks pretty good and I think that, once he's fully integrated, he'll be a really decent option for me. Such little experience at 27 means that he'll hopefully still grow as well as familiarise himself with my style.

[El Payaso]

That's a mean defensive record from you. Way better than I have managed to achieve with a low block this season. 

[_Ben_]

58 minutes ago, El Payaso said:

That's a mean defensive record from you. Way better than I have managed to achieve with a low block this season. 

We've never played with a low block!

Our press is quite split, because, with our bottom heavy formation, the strikers aren't huge pressers of the ball given the amount of space there and, by using opposition instructions, I tend to make pressing traps that suit our style anyway. However, what I will say is that we play 90% of matches on Balanced or Cautious, with two  players on attacking duties, three on defend and the rest on support in order to give us fluidity within the team. The lack of risk here is something that is almost certainly accounting for our tight defensive structures.

[El Payaso]

37 minutes ago, _Ben_ said:

We've never played with a low block!

Our press is quite split, because, with our bottom heavy formation, the strikers aren't huge pressers of the ball given the amount of space there and, by using opposition instructions, I tend to make pressing traps that suit our style anyway. However, what I will say is that we play 90% of matches on Balanced or Cautious, with two  players on attacking duties, three on defend and the rest on support in order to give us fluidity within the team. The lack of risk here is something that is almost certainly accounting for our tight defensive structures.

Yep, I know. 

As it is nearly a similar formation compared to mine, I'm trying to get fresh ideas for my approach. 

I was actually thinking of being a more pragmatic manager and instead of having three formations as low block, I might try mid block also and try to have three different kind of approaches. 

I generally like how low block combined with close down works in terms of making matches boring but it is also highly reliant on the defense or keeper not making mistakes. 

[danyates8]

19 goals conceded in 29 games is a staggering stat, impressive stuff using a non meta formation. 

[_Ben_]

5 hours ago, El Payaso said:

I was actually thinking of being a more pragmatic manager and instead of having three formations as low block, I might try mid block also and try to have three different kind of approaches. 

My thinking has been more specific than that - creating many different shapes within the same formation or same style. For example - at right wing back, I have variation from 4.34 dribbles and 44 passes attempted per game to 8.34 dribbles and 34 passes based on whether I'm playing my conservative right back or my deep inside forward. Because the WB(au) role is so easy to manipulate, I don't need to change the roles, just find the combinations of players who play around it.

It's been such a interesting thing to experiment with.

1 hour ago, danyates8 said:

19 goals conceded in 29 games is a staggering stat, impressive stuff using a non meta formation. 

We conceded 23 across the entirety of last season, too, so I'm confident it's not a flash in the pan! I think we've got the best keeper in the league and a Serie A level defender, which obviously helps!

[_Ben_]

.

Season Five: More playoff heartbreak!

Heading into the last few games of the season, I found a couple of prospects set for release, but not quite as strong as the group last summer. The youth intake brought about three new faces for the youth side: Luca Palazzolo, Demetrio Mirabelli and Federico Migliori. They'll join the ranks of a team that is continuing to grow in quality in the hope of being able to provide me with more first team options soon.

When I get to this stage of the season, it's an exercise of heads down, constant work on tactical ideas and ensuring that I have the best players on the pitch. That makes for alarmingly quick progress between games as I take nothing in of the wider world but it does come at a cost. Sometimes, I cannot see the wood for the trees; sometimes, I get stuck in a bit of a rut and sometimes, I make quite big decisions that have quite big implications on our season.

Following the trends from earlier in the season, nobody really wanted to win the thing, probably with the knowledge that promotion to Serie A does feel like a bit of poisoned chalice, as seen by the teams that are often yo-yoing around between these divisions - with two of them, Pescara and Palermo, coming back down to Serie B next year after just one season away. A series of pretty poor outcomes - where just nothing we touched turned to gold: 1.15xG versus Modena but zero goals, 2.04xG versus Cremonese but only one goal, 3.27xG against Sudtirol and a late, late headed goal saving us the points - meant that we went into the last game with a lot at stake. Verona played Salernitana knowing that they needed to avoid defeat to go up but knowing that, if we won, we'd join them. We couldn't win the league if Verona drew because our head to head was 0 wins and 2 losses against them but we would have taken second place if we could beat the inconsistent Venezia side.

That we did not do.

It was languid and tired and, despite 61% of the ball, just far too safe. We had shots and we created chances but we never truly looked like doing enough. Can I blame injuries and fatigue? Absolutely. Can I blame difficulties against opponents who also play three at the back? Yes. But will I? No. We didn't do enough and I had my head in my hands on 81 minutes as they pretty deservedly took the lead.

Playoffs it was.

And those weren't much better. Full of praise for a Como side who've just been promoted here but we were second best throughout. Again, a late goal in the second leg curtailed some decent attempts at clawing the game back, knowing that a 2-1 win would give us the stupid Italian rule of going through as the higher placed team.

As with last year, we bow out to the team who eventually win promotion and, holding my hands up, cannot say that the form team didn't deserve it. It's a huge jump to make consecutive promotions and I do wonder how they'll get on next year. As for us, we've improved our record a little bit, finishing three points better off than last year but conceding six more goals.

Both seasons for us in Serie B have now ended in playoff defeat and it's now up to me to work out whether we're getting the label of Italy's biggest bottlers or just a team who have reached the end of their fitness tether, besieged by injuries with a squad still in the transformation stage. It hurts. Absolutely. But, if you'd have given me the option to take a third season in Serie B where I - if I get things right - could be fighting, once again, for promotion, I'd have bitten your hands off!

This team is special and their performances are matching that 90% of the time. The heads down approach is working and gets me through the last slog of the season but I'll need to go away, lick my wounds and work out just why we couldn't capitalise on Verona and Salernitana's poor form and why we didn't have enough steam of our own heading into these playoffs.

- - -

In my eyes, squad building is around progressively getting better - whether that is through upgrading the players or upgrading the ability of the players at the club. The former is easier but the latter is something that I'm striving to do. To assist with this, I've gone back into my metric tracker and used the averages we made last season to create the baseline. Any player with a green background has achieved the averages set by the rest of Serie B, and any player with a star next to their name has achieved better than the average set by us last time around.

I'm really happy to see that a lot of players have stepped up their games and we're becoming better at performing the things I want us to do. If you look at someone like Amey, you'll see that he's not the kind of player someone who loves stats would like - as he doesn't appear to do a lot! However, I can assure you that his presence is often enough, as that defender who steps forward, to make entire moves go around him, playing to our strengths. Midfield duo Lucenti (16) and Bellino (12) both have been involved heavily with goal contributions whilst Owusu has once again scored well for us.

There will be some players who just haven't hit the targets I have set, haven't had enough playing time or no longer have the pre-requisite amount of quality I require:

With these leaving, I can add €5.3k p/w, potentially rising to over €10k p/w with a couple of hundred thousand euros made from transfer deals, maybe. Gonzalez and Frey haven't been too happy with their lack of football, despite agreeing to those squad statuses and the remainder are leaving at the end of contracts or, for Verre and Ciurria, are retiring. With Saudi Arabia being the place where players' careers go to do, I've decided to cash in on the sell on clause for Braschi, meaning I can reinvest that amount in a number of things, for example:

• Wage - £58,654
• Scouting and Wage - £50,577
• €1m transfer, scouting and wage - £31,346
• €2m transfer, scouting and wage - £12,115

Add in the returning Riccardo Vinci - who has improved despite not actually doing that well for a poor Catanzaro side - and I have a decent idea of what I need to do over the summer! It's going to be a fun one!

Forza Biancoscudati!

[El Payaso]

A productive season, even though it ended in a disappointment. Unlucky to face such in-form team in the promotion playoff.

Looking forward to seeing what you will do during the summer. 

[Jogo Bonito]

As has been said above, a really strong season again and there should be no inquest about losing out to an in-form Como at that very late stage.

I'm sure you will go well again in the new season, this might be your year!

 

[_Ben_]

Season Six: Evolution not revolution

Honestly, my transfer dealings - incoming ones, anyway - were done by the first week in July. I'm really happy with the squad that we have and would rather spend some time developing some concrete targets that, potentially, could be coming to the club as we make the step up to Serie A. I had a big in for Almeria wingback Ruben Vinagre, and had got them to agree to pay half of his €33k p/w wages for a year, but, in the end, decided to pull out when I knew that I'd be having to renegotiate that potentially after a promotion to the top flight. I'd pay him around €8k for the season but then would see that double or even triple and that's just not what I wanted.

Therefore, once again, the recruitment was pretty safe but essential areas have been strengthened and I feel that I have a good squad at my disposal, ready for the kickoff against Brescia in late August. With little else to do, I've spent far too long making those graphics, cutting heads out onto our kits - but it's been a fun process!

The two new players and a third - returning - to the first team are: 

Pau Cubarsí is an absolute class act and a real coup for the club. Anyone training at the Barca academy, La Masia, is worth their salt but even more so when they come with over 150 career appearances in their system. Pau has excellent footballing intelligence and possesses a trait that I think will be really important in our early build up - stopping play. I think that, against high pressing sides, this ability to bait a press will allow us to get the ball through the first line of press to our most creative players to begin the next phase of our transition. His coach report lists him as, already, a Serie A defender and this is key as I look to build a long term partnership with him and Wisdom Amey. Naturally fit, consistent and enjoys a big match - he's got it all. Whilst he's current a peripheral member of the squad and alone in a social group, I hope that he can build on the strong leadership skills he already has and become an important part of the furniture here for many, many years to come. The top name of my 'right centre back' list is in the door!

Whilst Mattia Viti - previously of Nice - was top of the list for the left centre back, a deal could not be agreed, so the recruitment side moved to the experienced Lautaro Valenti. The ex-Le Havre man has played over forty games in Ligue Une, had a half season loan at Cincinnati and started the game with over thirty Serie A appearances for Parma. As a robust centre back, he'll add some more mettle to the defence - again being consistent, versatile and fit, as seen by his coach report. Maybe starting to slow down a little bit but still a player I couldn't pass on.

Riccardo Vinci is back a year older and a year better following time at Serie B side Catanzaro. He wasn't too effective, scoring once and assisting four times in nearly thirty appearances but his playing style across pre-season, including finishing a direct, line breaking move, tipped the scales for him staying. His ball carrying ability is great even if there are some holes, according to his coach report. I envisage that, particularly in the short term, he'll play second fiddle to Luca Langoni.

- - -

There is, of course, still plenty of time before the transfer window closes and I need to tie up the exits of a few youngsters and those who have been banished to the U20 team but, providing nothing out of the ordinary happens, I'd like to introduce to you the Messina side of 2029/30:

The star men.

With, at least, thirty-eight games to play this season, I expect the vast majority of minutes to be played by this lot and, further ahead, I would like to keep the majority of these within the squad if, or when, we reach Serie A. The most contentious pick here is Ali Owusu - who, honestly, will struggle to make the step up to Serie A but has produced the goods at important times across his career here to date so often that I was left with little choice to but to agree to his demands. Jacopo Lucenti is the key player and the initiator of my transitions, coming off the back of sixteen goal involvements last season. I do wish he had a little more composure on the ball to make him even more perfect of a playmaker but he's certainly a strong player for us. Pau joins this group and will play as much football as physically possible this year, as will Filippo Bellino, fresh with a new AI-face! Longer term, he's not quite suited to exactly what I want in the Volante role: he's more playmaking volante but I really want a destroyer volante but his partnership with Lucenti has been strong. Wisdom Amey is the second of my three centre backs and will continue in the middle of the trio, stepping forward to win the ball and lay it off. I wish he was more of a natural leader but, with Cubarsi next to him and another left sided player, he'll be fine. Matteo Esposito was not only the best keeper in Serie C, but also is - in my eyes - the best keeper in Serie B. I'm very, very happy to have him and appreciate his outputs in the build up phases, too.

 

Both Floriani Mussolini and Tripaldelli are decent players but, given the lack of options and depth here, are both considered pretty important members of the team, with the latter being a team leader too. Longer term, these both need upgrades but I have a year to utilise the transfer budget for scouting purposes in order to decide how I want to play this, with - currently - the left side being the more offensive of the two.

 

Vinci and Langoni are both listed as squad players, although I envisage that the minutes will be closer to 70/30 in favour of the Argentine, as the young academy lad will get most of his chances from the bench or in easier games. The idea with the second/shadow striker here is simple - pace and ball carrying ability to expose holes that the advanced forward creates by pushing defenders back. Ex-Inter forward Biagioni and Santos are two quite similar playmaking options who will rotate, but, unlike the second striker role, will go much closer to 50/50 game time.  Carboni (11 months) and De Leon (nearly 7 months) have both completed their positional re-assignments to offer me different wing back options - with the former being a creative hub and the latter operating as a really deep inverted winger. I am, honestly, undecided about what I want to do with these roles going forward but the scope I now have to change games with their introductions is really useful. Valenti will probably become an important player although experienced Montero didn't put too many feet wrong last year. Marco Tumminello offers an option off the bench but, for my liking, is too similar to Owusu to really provide a proper option other than just fresh legs.

I had thought about upgrading backup keeper Marchegiani but wasn't really able to find sufficient ability at a sensible price - something that has been mirrored by Marchetti, who is nearing 100 league games for the club and remains a strong servant. I still really rate Charlie Patino, but, as backup for Lucenti, has found minutes hard to come by. Hopefully, I can provide him time off the bench this season, keeping him happy, around and, potentially, a mentor for the younger members of the team if his standing in our dressing room increases. Lastly, Mario Moraga will stay around the first team, not moving out on loan, given his remarkable rise of late. He'll play second fiddle to Bellino but offers quite a different skillset and, despite still lacking some strength and top end aggression and bravery, one who is a little closer to that perfect archetype.

- - -

I'm not making any predictions for the season ahead - the media have us to finish sixth behind Lecce, Parma (R), Cagliari, Cremonese and Palermo (R), with Pescara - also relegated - a little further back. I'm not putting all of my eggs in the promotion basket but, likely, will lose the likes of Amey and Cubarsi if we don't go up - hoping that Bellino and Lucenti stay on pure loyalty alone. 

Forza Biancoscudati!

[BillHoudini24]

Cubarsi is my favourite CB this year, but usually, he ends up in big clubs with a price tag in the 80-100M range. Amazing signing!

[_Ben_]

5 minutes ago, BillHoudini24 said:

Cubarsi is my favourite CB this year, but usually, he ends up in big clubs with a price tag in the 80-100M range. Amazing signing!

I was pretty excited when my scouts told me he was available! He's played just five games for Barca and has clearly stagnated a little as their B side had failed, until last season, to win promotion from the third tier:

[Jogo Bonito]

Wow, awesome graphics, I love those so much and well done for the time and effort making them!

Cubarsi is an amazing pick up for Serie B especially for free! Alongside one of my Bologna youngsters, I would say you now have class and wisdom in a very strong central defensive pairing.

I always enjoy a good squad review too, lovely stuff!

[_Ben_]

7 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Wow, awesome graphics, I love those so much and well done for the time and effort making them!

I've spent ages trying to work out how to do this and, without Photoshop or anything like that, have resorted to using Kitbasher for making the kits and then PowerPoint to make these! The artistic effects are useful because they hide a lot of my amateur work!

7 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Cubarsi is an amazing pick up for Serie B especially for free! Alongside one of my Bologna youngsters, I would say you now have class and wisdom in a very strong central defensive pairing.

Yeah, I think he and Wisdom are Serie A quality, definitely and will hopefully grow and stay together for many, many years.

7 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

I always enjoy a good squad review too, lovely stuff!

It was needed, for me as much as anyone who reads this! I find that squads can easily get bloated or you can get by on players who aren't up to the task, so a little review helps, I find.

[Jogo Bonito]

Agree on all of that, the artistic element on the graphics add real flavour whatever the reasons behind it! I also use Kitbasher for my kits but yours are much better. The sleeve logos never looked good for me so I leave them off, but I love your multi-sponsor versions!

[danyates8]

The graphics are truly excellent, unlucky on failing to gain promotion although I've got a sneaky feeling next year could be the one!

[Deisler26]

Huge oof in failing to get promotion. Sadly, I understand that oof all too well.

[_Ben_]

2 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Agree on all of that, the artistic element on the graphics add real flavour whatever the reasons behind it! I also use Kitbasher for my kits but yours are much better. The sleeve logos never looked good for me so I leave them off, but I love your multi-sponsor versions!

I found a way to amend the templates so that I could add several more sponsors; the Sicily badge actually classes as a sponsor too, which I think is quite cool! I'm going to be doing a big kit rebrand in a couple of years too, as I've found some nice kit templates on their discord to use.

[_Ben_]

1 hour ago, danyates8 said:

The graphics are truly excellent, unlucky on failing to gain promotion although I've got a sneaky feeling next year could be the one!

1 hour ago, Deisler26 said:

Huge oof in failing to get promotion. Sadly, I understand that oof all too well.

Yeah...but there is just something almost romantic about Serie B!

Whilst Como came up and went straight up, Cesena - the team I beat in the playoffs - went down last year. The league has such an eclectic mix of big sides now fallen on harder times: Parma, Perugia, Pescara, Cagliari, Palermo, Sampdoria, Brescia, Venezia and Lecce along with a spattering of smaller teams with their own stories: Taranto, who've never made Serie A; Sudtirol, who themselves had a year there from an unexpected double promotion and Pro Vercelli, the biggest sleeping giant of them all.

Parma have a net spend of €25m this summer yet every first team player at Sampdoria is up for sale or wanted but the level of players is still really strong as new Tottenham signing Wilson Odobert - with over 100 Premier League appearances - is starting for Palermo.

Honestly - Messina are now a stable club, which isn't always easy to achieve in Italy and even less so with the teams in the southern part of Italy. I'd happily avoid Inter, Juve, Roma, Champions League, millions and millions of Euros of players and a necessity to be elite or to fail and stay here for the rest of the save! I'm loving it and, whilst I will not go as far as sabotaging our chances, I'll never moan at just being decent!

[Jogo Bonito]

15 minutes ago, _Ben_ said:

Yeah...but there is just something almost romantic about Serie B!

Whilst Como came up and went straight up, Cesena - the team I beat in the playoffs - went down last year. The league has such an eclectic mix of big sides now fallen on harder times: Parma, Perugia, Pescara, Cagliari, Palermo, Sampdoria, Brescia, Venezia and Lecce along with a spattering of smaller teams with their own stories: Taranto, who've never made Serie A; Sudtirol, who themselves had a year there from an unexpected double promotion and Pro Vercelli, the biggest sleeping giant of them all.

Parma have a net spend of €25m this summer yet every first team player at Sampdoria is up for sale or wanted but the level of players is still really strong as new Tottenham signing Wilson Odobert - with over 100 Premier League appearances - is starting for Palermo.

Honestly - Messina are now a stable club, which isn't always easy to achieve in Italy and even less so with the teams in the southern part of Italy. I'd happily avoid Inter, Juve, Roma, Champions League, millions and millions of Euros of players and a necessity to be elite or to fail and stay here for the rest of the save! I'm loving it and, whilst I will not go as far as sabotaging our chances, I'll never moan at just being decent!

I love this! I had similar views when managing in England and always stopped upon promotion to the Premier League!

Have a fun season whatever the results!

25 minutes ago, _Ben_ said:

I found a way to amend the templates so that I could add several more sponsors; the Sicily badge actually classes as a sponsor too, which I think is quite cool! I'm going to be doing a big kit rebrand in a couple of years too, as I've found some nice kit templates on their discord to use.

The kits and badge look great, but will be very interested to see improvements when the time comes! Great stuff. I've not been on to their Discord for a few weeks, so will do so soon to see if any new templates have landed!

[_Ben_]

Season Six: Not yet where we want to be...

Amid rumours of a board takeover - which, honestly, would be amazing given the fact not a single request - affiliates, improvements, coaching courses etc - has been granted - have somewhat dragged us off course and the season hasn't started in a way that I'd really wanted it to.

Nicely prepared for the new season, we took on Serie A side Empoli and, again, showed our class in cup competitions. A nicely struck goal from Biagioni, bending it to the far post from the edge of the area, was the highlight but - overall - our play restricted the hosts, as they toiled to just 0.42xG to our 1.52. Our Serie B campaign, however, started far from ideally - Venezia may have recorded just 0.74xG to out 2.03xG, but, ultimately, they had the ball in the net twice and we had it in just once, and it came far too late to spark a real fightback. We dominated from the start but it was just one of those days! Our domination continued against Sampdoria, but, this time, we made it count. Allowing the visitors just two attempts at goal, totalling just 0.05xG and allowing them to progress the ball just 26 times, we racked up over three xG ourselves, with a lot of that coming from a Langoni shot from a matter of inches out! Spezia were our next opponents and the utilisation of the deep inverted winger was perfect; their less than aggressive press allowed Cubarsi to play as a L(s), occupying much higher up the pitch and de Leon moved to a CWB(s), cutting inside twice to bend strikes into the corner of the net. These two performances made the Venezia game feel like a distant memory. Riccardo Vinci doubled his tally from the entirety of last year with two lovely goals in a strong win over Cremonese, who are still a top side. Amey's own goal brought about some pressure but we saw it out nicely.

But then Brescia tore us apart, in spells. Striker Sardini scored twice and, when you consider he had four shots in total, amassed 2.33xG himself across the course of the game as we just failed to stop Brescia getting the ball into our six yard box. A Pedro Santos strike had us back on level terms but we succumbed to defeat. The run continued into the Sudtirol game - we won this one on pretty much every metric except for the scoreline, mirroring the Venezia tie at the start of the season. Nothing wrong with our plan but an issue with Owusu running very low on confidence, among others. We almost went 0-3 in this run until Biagioni spared our blushes at home to Catanzaro - a team who we should be beating. 2.52xG to 0.69xG, where the visitors scored with both of their shots. It does, maybe, raise some questions about Matteo Esposito and his 10% difference between what he has saved and what he should save but, without any kind of realistic depth, he knows his place is secured. We bounced back a little with a win over Benevento, creating under 0.8xG but scoring twice; at this point though, the three points are really important. Again, we outplayed a team but failed to take three points as Modena scarpered back from Sicily with a draw, netting one of their three shots in the whole game. 

The xG table has us top yet we sit nine points back from a Parma side that we visit next. Honestly, the board - at present - are more interested in bickering about who'll be in charge to worry about my performances and that should certainly buy me a little bit of time to get our confidence back up and get going again. We've done nothing wrong, as such, but haven't quite clicked yet.

Cutting the squad from 25/26 players to around 21/22 has meant that we've been more demanding on the minutes that need to be played, but the theory behind that was to ensure that I shared the minutes among higher quality players. However, with thirteen injuries already this season, quite some way above last year, we've been on the rails:

Moderate injuries, ones that last a few weeks, have the potential to absolutely derail our season, particularly when they include important players such as Owusu, Lucenti and Amey. I'll never blame injuries and, maybe, this little hit comes at a different time to last year and we can push on in February, March and April - where last year we struggled - but I'm certainly noticing it feeling a little tougher.

But the overarching concern is that we should've picked up more points against Brescia, Sudtirol and Catanzaro. October does see us play two of the newly promoted teams and we've already beaten Benevento once but Perugia, like Como last year, have started really strongly.

We'll get there - I'm sure of it.

Forza Biancoscudati!

[Deisler26]

Ahh, the injury card. I suffered horrifically last season with them. I'm hoping I don't have the same this season

[_Ben_]

18 hours ago, Deisler26 said:

Ahh, the injury card. I suffered horrifically last season with them. I'm hoping I don't have the same this season

Yep, used that card now for this season! However, in my defence - six from twenty-six (23% of the squad) is very different to six from twenty (30%) of the squad being out! The next card I can use is the morale card because that is the thing that is hit when you can't get the good results because you can't put the strongest team out!

[_Ben_]

Season Six: Hard done by?

Amidst Sampdoria's administrators, Lecce's continued struggles and Parma's domination, we sit - neither challenging at the top or worried at the bottom - but certainly regressed from the results of previous seasons. Results is the key word here, because, those statistically driven, may have an argument that we are actually being pretty hard done by. However, we are now at the turn of the season and have a lot of work ahead of us if we want this, our third season in Serie B, to be our last.

For the first time since I started marking this text/image graphic of the table, I've had to include down to tenth place, as we've been sat in the top eight for pretty much the entirety of the last two and a bit seasons. Our form, in patches, has been great - dismantling Taranto and back to back 3-0 wins, with one coming against Cosenza, too, have been really bright sparks. But we've also lost to Parma - probably as expected, lost to Cagliari - against probably as expected and lost to Pescara - again, probably as expected.

What those score lines do not tell you is that we won the xG battle against Parma, dominating the game for long periods of time and restricting them to 0.6xG, compared to our 1.07xG. They completed just forty-two passes in our final third, around 40% of the total we completed in theirs. Against Pescara, the visitors scored twice from their 0.71xG and we only managed a single goal from our 1.67xG and fifteen attempts. Similarly sickening was the Catania tie - two goals from 0.57xG for them and just one from 1.89xG for us. We nearly fell short against Palermo, too, they recorded no shots on target and Moraga saved us in the last minute, despite creating nearly three expected goals across the course of the game.

So, we sit ninth but there is a wild argument to say that we might actually be the best team in the league!

I'm not in the business of excuses and my love for data and data analysis often leads me down rabbit holes - trying to answer the 'why' that very often bugs me. Despite me running things pretty much as normal, we're just not quite as clinical as we have been and have too many players who aren't performing as well as they maybe should be. When you look at the combined xG and xA numbers compared to their actual goal and assist numbers, presented as an over or under performance, you'll see that we have too many players on the wrong side of that line.

Given that I've ran this with players who have accrued more than 1,000 minutes, you'll see that neither second striker - Langoni or Vinci - make it here and, maybe, that is a case of an issue I previously had when I rotated Owusu in and out just too much. Our striker, however, has been woefully underperforming and, as goes with most realy top teams, I'm beginning to feel that a complete striker - one of my better players - probably should be here. Honestly, Ali has plateaued pretty hard of late and I just don't know whether he's good enough to continue. Likewise, when we reach this position - I have to ask myself whether he is regressing to the mean after over performing or whether he is actually having a bad season; the probable answer is the former, which is, ultimately, on me to fix. 

But I do think that our issues run slightly deeper, as shown by this shot xG graph:

Our shooting, to put it bluntly, is poor quality. I, initially, presumed that it was the shooting from midfielders as we get a little too impatient moving through the lines but it really isn't, despite our overall shooting judging us to be wasteful. Our attacking set pieces are providing not enough goals in my eyes but, again, I'm drawn back to things like our shot map that is just full of low quality pot shots. I think that we're missing a truly talented attacking midfielder, too. Clemenza, whilst in Serie C, was able to feed Owusu with through balls and even the aging legs of Valerio Verre could pick a pass but I think that I've got a little lost in the hybrid 8/10 role, favouring more of a runner and, therefore, losing a true creator.

I've not started recruitment for this role, yet, but, just from a quick search, I'd be looking at someone like Theo Zidane. He's, obviously, got that family trait but is pretty strong in a lot of areas that I'd be looking for in a fantasista or truly creative #10.

- - -

Honestly, we're not far away from clicking and the board, despite further takeover rumours (that, again, would be welcomed), aren't too fussed about us being in mid table rather than the top half. We'll keep going, try and recruit one or two really good players and go again!

Forza Biancoscudati!

[Hootieleece]

In my save I am seeing lots of shots and poor accuracy could that be your problem as well?

 

[Deisler26]

3 minutes ago, Hootieleece said:

In my save I am seeing lots of shots and poor accuracy could that be your problem as well?

 

Here too.