[FM24] Football Italia

[_Ben_]

Season Nine: Final push

Nearly there! The European adventure is over and has added significant fatigue to this long season but has been a great learning curve for this developing side.

Some quite big victories from relatively low xG games has been the story here: twelve goals against Parma, Bologna, Salernitana and Como from little over 7xG may not be a long term solution to this problem but I've got Zimmermann showing his creative force and even got Chester and Acosta scoring - the former showing his class moving into the first team and just seventeen and the latter trying to salvage something from what has been a really poor first season in Italy.

We've moved ourselves back into Europa League or Conference League contention and that is great. With that, our little run is seeing us now look to slightly exceed our points tally from last year but our xGD/GD has taken a significant jump, suggesting that, as I mentioned, we've been good but maybe not performing at a level that we can maintain long term.

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With the youth intake, I've been able to take a quick look at where I sit with my current academy players who I have the highest hopes for:

 I'm using a percentage increase from their starting point to their end point and have four years worth of 'progress' to look at for my older players. Those listed to the right, in purple have been away from the club whereas those in gold are at the club. The figures I'll quote are pretty much entirely comprised of their growth between 2032 and 2033, unless otherwise stated.

Honestly, I don't think I've done the loans very well this year. I'm fine with that though as this has been a curve in which I want to explore and get better at, creating a true pathway to the first team. With some deeper analysis, it looks like those who stayed developed better, suggesting that the level that they went to wasn't appropriate, especially since the league standings of both Trapani and Palmese is really good. Things get ever cloudier when you start looking back, assuming that I'm taking into account improved staffing and facilities, and yet still seeing a slowing year to year with almost a complete stop once they leave the sunny shores of Sicily. This is, of course, speaking for the majority and certainly not Gueye, who spent time at top tier Rudes and then top tier Santa Clara before a broken leg has curtailed his season. I do wonder whether that is going to be something to consider - top flight as quick as possible.

Furthermore, I am really impressed to see that, even from this tiny little sample, is that there is so much more variation in what works than when I've looked at this in previous years. Whilst those with driven personalities did make the best increase, a player with '2' for Determination made the third most improvement - which seems to go against most things that previous FMs would do. This leads to the biggest takeaway - for me - that I cannot disregard anyone at day one. I've said this many, many times but always seem to fall into the trap of doing so. In fact, the top 25% of players at the start progressed the least amount last year.

I'm not trying to game this, at all - just wanting to identify any trends and ensuring I am giving the most appropriate youth diet to these players!

Forza Biancoscudati!