HorusFM
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Posts posted by HorusFM
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11.08.2085
FK Partizan vs. Cukaricki Stankom
Viktor Hark Stadium, 100,182
Jelen Superliga, 4/37
Camba; Vernaglia, Sanou, Blanchard, Messaoudi; Ellis, Vinicius, Gregorio, Gill; Iglesias, Gallucci
We made two defensive changes, as Blanchard came in to replace the unfit Cano, for his debut, and Vernaglia returned in place of last week’s hero Aubert. Having witnessed a flurry of loan deals outwards, we were still well equipped in the youth side so we put some youngsters on the bench today to potentially give them a chance. Gregorio opened the scoring for us with a low drive from outside the box very early on, before Ellis crossed deep to allow Iglesias to get on the end of it to slide it in. Gregorio bagged another before half time, midfield maestro Vinicius sending a freekick right on to the top of the guy’s head with supreme precision. The second half brought more of the same, and when Vinicius made his mark yet again by bending in a superb freekick, I decided to introduce two central midfielders for their debut, Nolan and Kabore. Grundemann also came on for Iglesias but there was no impact from him, and we saw the game out easily once more. Blanchard had a great debut at the back and we are very excited by him, potentially as the long-term successor for Sanou, but the game belonged to Gregorio who was unplayable.
FK Partizan 4 – 0 Cukaricki Stankom
Gianluca Gregorio 2, 44, Joaquin Iglesias 16, Murilo Vinicius 6012.08.2085
We today made a further £14m on Pascal Paul (50% of next sale clause) as he moved from FK Rad to Gladbach for £28m. We sold him originally for £4.2m.0 -
04.08.2085
Javor Ivanjica vs. FK Partizan
Slavisa Vukobratovic Arena, 10,797
Jelen Superliga, 3/37
Camba; Aubert, Sanou, Cano, Messaoudi; Ellis, Vinicius, Gregorio, Gill; Iglesias, Gallucci
We had to make a couple of changes for this away fixture against last season runners up Javor, remarkably their first top two finish since 2073/74 season. Aubert and Gallucci came in for the failed fitness pair they replaced. It was of course always reasonable to assume that Aubert and Gallucci would either shine or simmer on their debut, and when he snapped a right foot cross in for Gallucci to slice home, it was the former. Aubert continued to play out of socks for most of the match, passing to Gregorio who then looped a ball to his right that Vinicius took a touch with and then slotted past the home keeper. Aubert had a debut to remember and picked up the player of the match award. It was nice for Camba to pick up his first clean sheet of the season too as we ran out easy winners.
Javor Ivanjica 0 – 2 FK Partizan
Hugo Gallucci 34, Murilo Vinicius 49
05.08.2085-10.08.2085
TRANSFERS OUT| --------------------------------------------------------------------| | Name | Club | Age | Fee | | --------------------------------------------------------------------| | Jasmin Dedic | Napredak Krusevac | 19 | Season-loan | | --------------------------------------------------------------------| | Nedeljko Leposavic | Mladost Lucani | 18 | Free | | --------------------------------------------------------------------| | Bojan Fazliji | Borac Cacak | 19 | Free | | --------------------------------------------------------------------| | Luis Antonio | Academica Coimbra | 21 | Season-loan | | --------------------------------------------------------------------| | Nikola Boras | Javor Ivanjica | 18 | Season-loan | | --------------------------------------------------------------------| | Gonzalo Mendez | Hamburger SV | 18 | Season-loan | | --------------------------------------------------------------------| | Gavin Hancock | Javor Ivanjica | 21 | Season-loan | | --------------------------------------------------------------------|
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Voted. I must be getting older or blinder or both - I never saw this thread at the top of the page.
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28.07.2085
FK Partizan vs. Borac Cacak
Viktor Hark Stadium, 94,136
Jelen Superliga, 2/37
Camba; Vernaglia, Sanou, Cano, Messaoudi; Ellis, Vinicius, Gregorio, Gill; Iglesias, Grundemann
We named an unchanged side as went up against one of our favourite whipping teams from the past ten years. Still high off the back of the derby mauling, we went ahead early on again, and once again it was an own goal that helped us on our way, Stamenic looping the ball over his own keeper’s head. Iglesias was next to find the back of the net, meeting the cross of Gill from the left and powering a header home. Iglesias struggled last season so it’s good to see him scoring. Owen Ellis bagged the third, smashing home from long range just before half time, but that only came after Borac bagged a consolation from the penalty spot, Cano the culprit, former Partizan alumni Surdoski slamming home from the spot. It’s worth knowing that this was the first time Borac had scored against in three years. Murilo Vinicius came out for the second with a fervour, slotting home from the spot after Iglesias was fouled before tucking another one in for his second of the game. He then sadly went off injured and was replaced by Tanaskovic. We kept plugging away as we tried to make the most of being on top, but there wasn't much action following that second Vinicius effort, and we ran the game out as easy winners.
FK Partizan 5 – 1 Borac Cacak
Dulsan Stamenic og27, Joaquin Iglesias 30, Owen Ellis 41, Murilo Vinicius pen48, 52 – Saso Surdoski pen3801.08.2085
Murilo Vinicius claimed the July award for Player of the Month, having scored four goals in the two games this season, whilst our left midfielder Stuart Gill also made the top three.| ------------------------------------------------------------| | | Name | Club | Apps | Avg. | | ------------------------------------------------------------| | 1 | Murilo Vinicius | FK Partizan | 2 | 9.35 | | 2 | Zoran Gegic | FK Rad | 2 | 8.95 | | 3 | Stuart Gill | FK Partizan | 2 | 9.15 | | ------------------------------------------------------------|
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21.07.2085
Crvena Zvezda vs. FK Partizan
Rajko Mitic, 69,422
Jelen Superliga, 1/37
Camba; Vernaglia, Sanou, Cano, Messaoudi; Ellis, Vinicius, Gregorio, Gill; Iglesias, Grundemann
Our first game of the new season saw us head to arch rivals Crvena Zvezda, the only team who took points off us last season in the final game of the campaign. There were no new seasonal debuts as all players resumed from last season, and we got off to a flyer early on. Opposition defender Gabor Horvath found the back of his own net twice, both being super unfortunate for him but great for us. The first was a rebound from the keeper after he saved a tasty shot from Gregorio, but then the second he made a complete hash of an attempted clearance that just rolled into his own goal. Gregorio lashed in a superb low effort after he picked the ball up in midfield to make it three before half time, but this game was about to get manic in the second half. Vinicius whipped in a freekick from the right side to get his seasonal scoring under way before Igor Ristic pulled one back for the home side, robbing Sanou of the ball and calmly slotting one in for the home side. Vinicius then scored again just after that one, a low drive finding the bottom corner, before a late Obradovic stunner off a superb volley that had been saved tried to put the dampener on the game. Gill and Iglesias both found the net in injury time with simple tap in's, the home side looking shockingly tired by this point, but we also simply couldn’t be stopped towards the end. It was a great win to start the season, especially against them. Belgrade runs black and white for another portion of a season.
Crvena Zvezda 2 – 7 FK Partizan
Igor Ristic 57, Vasilije Obradovic 89 - Gabor Horvath og5, og25, Gianluca Gregorio 37, Murilo Vinicius 50, 60, Stuart Gill 90+1, Joaquin Iglesias 90+30 -
6 hours ago, oche balboa said:
Will look forward to this.
What leagues are you running and how has the Premier League changed in those years?
Strange one with leagues really, I've put some on and off for years in the save file. But currently, I've got;
All leagues from Croatia, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Iceland, Italy, Portugal, Scotland, Serbia and Spain.
Top leagues from Romania, Russia and Belgium.
We've not had any strange teams magically working their way up the leagues, and every team currently in the Premiership has been there before. Chesterfield have been there before, and Bristol City and Brentford have been there too, but no other teams who haven't played there have made it up yet.
Current big guns are Everton and West Ham, they've dominated the top two for a good ten years now, but in the 65 years of game play, only Man Utd, Man City, Everton, West Ham have won the title, except Liverpool who finally managed to win it for the first time in 2071/72. Chelsea got relegated last season, and Man Utd are currently bottom of the Premiership. Closest team to the Premiership who haven't been there before is Colchester, 23rd in the Championship. Notts County and Wrexham are top of League One, while Dulwich Hamlet are the the most random team in the football league, while Bradford City are the lowest ranked former Premiership team, 11th in League Two.
Last seasons Premiership top four was Everton, the winners, Brighton runners up, Newcastle 3rd and West Ham 4th. Everton have won the league ten times in thirteen seasons.
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Training Camp, Cuneo, 3rd August 2018
The fans weren’t happy.
As news had broke that Daniele Rugani had effectively been swapped for Jamaal Lascelles, they expressed severe disappointment that the signing of Lascelles reflected a poor change in stance on the club transfer policy. Having spent the money to bring in Cristiano Ronaldo, they had now paid for a Newcastle United defender. They were definitely not happy. They even expressed that they didn’t expect him to be back-up. They just hated the whole transfer.
The whole thing had angered Tina. The club wasn’t in need of a first team world beating defender straight away, and Lascelles had plenty of time to improve. He was playing, above average at times, in a very sub-standard Newcastle United side. At least give him the chance, she thought.
In turn, it just made her more certain that she wanted to play him in the friendly against Cuneo, and that could happen as he had already arrived in Turin, and was on his way out. The club was heading straight to Germany for the friendly against Bayern Munich on the 7th so he would be joining up with them regardless.
The idea of playing Lascelles picked up further when Chiellini hurt himself in training. A tight calf had limited his involvement in the early training session of the day, and by 2pm he had checked out completely for the afternoon.
Another player had made the journey out, travelling with Lascelles, having impressed in training and in the previous U23 game at Perugia. Grigoris Kastanos was relishing the chance to join up with players he admired, and it would be a great experience for him.
The pre-match press conference for Cuneo hurried round, but as expected, the media weren’t interested at all in the game. “How do you think the fans feel knowing a respected defender in Rugani has been replaced by a second-rate Premiership defender who has only ever excelled in English Championship football?”
Tina shrugged, “A player has to start somewhere, and whether that be Barcelona, Manchester United or Newcastle, it doesn’t make a difference. Jamaal brings a solid pedigree, and a proven record of excelling in a very, very physical division of football. Give him a chance, he might just go on and surprise you."
“There are rumours that you will blood him in straight away against Cuneo?”
"I’m not sure at the moment what my starting eleven will be, but looking at our injury list, it’s very possible who will not be there. We are missing a few of those defenders, so we may need to look at him for the job tomorrow.”
“Should we expect any more signings to come from the club?”
“We are looking at a few targets, and are still in the hunt for Willian Jose, but that is literally all for the moment. A few players may leave if the right offer comes in.”
And with that, the press conference dwindled to a close. There was hardly any mention of tomorrow, and Tina was unable to avoid the backlash of the fans for the moment.
She needed a big win tomorrow to begin the forgetting process.0 -
A pleasure as always. Been playing this game for so long... if anyone has any questions btw, regarding teams, I will certainly oblige. All players have vanished so I can't help with them.
01.07.2085
Season Squad Overview
Having decided to make no signings this season, this is the squad we go into the season with. There are over 40 players in the reserve squad as development players but hopefully we don’t need to make use of these for now. We have the best right midfielder in the world with Owen Ellis, and the most talented goalkeeper in Edson Camba. Having recently lost two strikers to retirement who bagged a total of around 750 goals between them for us, we now look to new striker partnership of Iglesias and Gallucci for the goals.
| ------------------------------------------------------| | Name | Position | Age| Nation | | ------------------------------------------------------| | Nemanja Jovanovic | GK | 23 | SRB | | Malte Garner | GK | 20 | GER | | Edson Camba | GK | 20 | BRA | | ------------------------------------------------------| | Celso Luis Vernaglia | DR | 22 | BRA | | Jessy Aubert | DR | 17 | FRA | | Abdoul Sanou | DC | 32 | FRA | | Florent Cano | DC | 28 | FRA | | Justin Blanchard | DR/C | 20 | FRA | | Nils Beihl | DC | 20 | GER | | Youssef Messaoudi | D/WBL | 29 | ESP | | Piotr Mikolajczak | D/WBL | 21 | POL | | Xabier Perez | DL | 21 | ESP | | ------------------------------------------------------| | Murilo Vinicius | DM/M/AMC | 33 | BRA | | Gianluca Gregorio | DM/MC | 31 | ITA | | Mohamed Kabore | DM/MC | 20 | FRA | | Maxence Colin | DM/MR/C | 20 | FRA | | Ratinho | DM/MC | 18 | BRA | | Jamie Dolan | DM/M/AMC | 18 | ENG | | Owen Ellis | MR | 23 | ENG | | Axel Allerheiligen | MR | 21 | GER | | Bogdan Tanaskovic | MC | 22 | SRB | | Prince Gyimah | ML/R | 34 | GER | | Stuart Gill | ML | 24 | ENG | | ------------------------------------------------------| | Joaquin Iglesias | AMR/C/ST | 24 | ESP | | Thomas Grundemann | AMR/ST | 21 | GER | | Ardian Berisha | AMR/ST | 19 | GER | | Hugo Gallucci | AMR/L/C/ST | 24 | ARG | | Paul Mathieu | ST | 18 | FRA | | ------------------------------------------------------|
Pre-Season Overview
04.07.2085
Energiya NK 0 – 10 FK Partizan
Cano, Gyimah 3, Basanovic, Gregorio, Iglesias 2, Ellis 2
07.07.2085
Proleter Novi Sad 1 – 6 FK Partizan
Iglesias 3, Phillips, Stanovcic 2
11.07.2085
FK Partizan 4 – 0 Rheindorf Altach
Vinicius 2, Boras, Cohrs
14.07.2085
Lokomotiv Plovdiv 2 – 6 FK Partizan
Gallucci 2, Stanovcic, Mendez 20 -
FK Partizan – 2085/86
So, you’re joining me on the eve of my 21st season in charge of FK Partizan in Serbia. We have been monumentally successful over those years, and hope to continue this as my manager nears his 80th birthday, having been in charge of just under 3,500 matches in 55 years of management, winning 44 league titles and 85 cup trophies across the world. Enjoy the trip.
Balance
£950,289,398
Transfer Budget
£882,000,000
Viktor Hark Stadium
100,182-seater
Staff| ------------------------------------------------------| | Name | Staff Role | Age| Nation | | ------------------------------------------------------| | Viktor Hark | Manager | 75 | RUS | | Jerome Durand | DoF | 49 | FRA | | Miroslav Djordjevic | Assistant Manager| 55 | SRB | | ------------------------------------------------------| | Jacob Dalgaard | HoYD | 62 | DEN | | Luke Blackwell | Head Physio | 55 | ENG | | Miguel Bento | Chief Scout | 46 | POR | | ------------------------------------------------------|
Staff Overview
Miroslav is the best assistant manager in the world and has been with me all 21 years of my second stint with Partizan. Dalgaard has been with us seven years, and has done a grand job in helping nurture our young players. Blackwell and Bento both joined three years ago, while Durand has only been here six months.
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I was born in Newcastle, but we moved to Sheffield fairly young, so by the time I was turning 10, I was interested in football. Sheffield Wednesday were the closest one, but I never attached to them or Sheffield United, and my granddad said support Newcastle, they are your birth town club. So I did, and then a few months later we smashed Sheffield Wednesday 8-0, and that was the time in my life where I held the greatest amount of power over others.
Strange for my granddad to send me towards Newcastle, he was from there too and supported Man United.
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You're one of those writers where it just flows and reads wonderfully.
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Not really funny or dodgy, but I couldn't find the old forum screenshot thread.
I've had this guy for 13 seasons now, a solid £40m purchase from Leeds United. He has been phenomenal, so I took a screenshot as he could possibly be my most favourite player on FM ever. He's still in first team and I'm just going to keep playing him until he is only my director of football. (a bad one I might add)1 -
Training Camp, Cuneo, 2nd August 2018
There had been Champions League football the night before, but there was no real shakers or movers causing any real upsets. Celtic hosted Sutjeska in their second leg, coming out 6-1 aggregate winners thanks to a 3-0 home success. Goals from Odsonne Edouard, twice, and Rogic all came in the first eight minutes of the match.
Ajax beat PAOK 2-1 to progress, despite conceding first, and Basel sneaked past Sturm Graz on the away goal ruling.
There was also news from the youth sides, who were both in action last night too. The U23 side travelled to play Perugia, but suffered a 1-0 defeat thanks to a second half Pasquale Mazzocchi header. Both Albiciade and Nocchi provided decent performances, but Nocchi is rumoured to be leaving the club soon. This game will have done him no harm.
The U20 side faired far better as they dismantled their Padova counterparts 7-0. There were goals from Caviglia, Portanova, Fernandes, Fagioli and Di Francesco. Caviglia in particular was the standout of the game, and would benefit largely this season from a loan deal to continue his development.
Tina was now occupied dealing with the speedy nature of the transfer surrounding Daniele Rugani. Liverpool had flown representatives out to meet the defender, and the deal was now a dead certainty. Daniele was very pleased to be moving to the Premiership, and now Juventus just needed to make sure that the replacement of Jamaal Lascelles was a certainty too.
The Juventus board had actually negotiated a further £7m as part of the deal, providing Rugani would make the Italy side and from there make ten appearances for them. The deal stood at a total potential of £37m, a huge amount for a defender that wasn’t a regular.
“Fabio,” Tina said, “Tell me all is going well over in Newcastle. Rugani is now confirmed as leaving and we need to tie this one up completely.”
She could hear Fabio chuckle slightly, “Don’t worry love, Jamaal is on board. He has accepted our terms happily, Rugani can leave as he wants, and we will have this all tied up by 4pm.”
Tina smiled, “Speak later, ring me if anything pops up.”
Training at Cuneo continued, whilst the report on their previous game came in via Landon. Cuneo were beaten 6-0 by Roma in their previous game, a thrashing that consisted of a hat-trick for Patrick Schick. They weren’t likely to pose much of a threat for Tina’s side, but then you never really know for sure.
As Fabio had promised, both deals for the defenders were tied up by 3:30pm.
But there was about to be backlash.0 -
Thank you very much guys. It has been a real delight getting to know each and every one of you. I came to the forum looking for help on something game related, ended up reading a Spav story, and then never left. FM itself is a game I've come to love but it was made more lovable by reading your thoughts and game stories (and even at times playing with some of you, will never forget that save game we had!)
You're all a bunch of top guys, so I will of course be keeping myself in here. I have of course got plans to continue writing some stuff, I've got some stuff still to catch up on, and a certain character is requiring my utmost attention soon, to ensure she sticks around too. It just felt like the right time to step down and allow someone else the chance to hopefully enjoy the same experience that I found here over the long term. I've been here about 12 years!
Stay as safe as you all can in the current climate. I'm glad to have met people here that I can legitimately call mates.
You're in the safest of hands with Mark, he is the absolute life force of this section of the forum we call home.0 -
Hello mate. In what is likely to be my final piece of work on the forum, I have to point you in the direction of the House Rules. We don't allow the use of pictures in our section of the web. I'll lock it, and if you want to take them out and go forward, we can unlock it for you, otherwise maybe Career Updates is the place to go for what you might be wanting to achieve.
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Always fancied myself a left back. Also, that thigh injury is definitely the kind of bruising you'd be hoping for.
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Hi Omega. If you could find a way to turn those screengrabs into pure FM literature, you'd be heading in the right direction. Good luck at Hannover 96. Always liked their logo.
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Training Camp, Cuneo, 1st August 2018
Since beating Livorno in Venice, the club had now travelled onwards to Cuneo, five hours away, for their next friendly. This was the final match of the tour coming up, but this time a few more of the returning World Cup players were meeting the squad in Cuneo. Tina would finally get the chance to see some of her worldwide stars, the ones who had yet to return to the training and were yet to feature in the pre-season.
Sadly, there had been a bit of backdraft from the game against Livorno, with two of Tina’s defenders being ruled out with injuries. Head physio Emanuele Randelli had travelled out with the club and was the one delivering the news. “I’m sorry to say that Del Prete will be out for eight to ten days,” said the 52-year-old, “He has pulled his groin, and the idiot admitted to continuing on despite feeling the pull down there. He likely made it worse.”
Andrea Barzagli also picked up an injury, though Tina had been aware of that one from the end of the game. “Andrea will be out ten days too, He’s bruised his thigh from a reckless tackle against him, and while I’d normally admit just a week before a return, he may need just that bit longer. We can keep it under check when he returns to Allianz.”
Tina thanked Emanuele for his time and he made his way back to training.
Del Prete, Barzagli and Alex Sandro would be making their way home, Sandro having failed a fitness test and being ruled out for the Cuneo game. Six players however made their way out to the camp, and Tina was thrilled. Cuneo, whilst only a Serie C side, were about to feel the full force of a Juventus attacking side.
Juan Cuadrado arrived in good spirits to bolster the right side of the squad, while three midfielders in the form of Blaise Matuidi, Rodrigo Bentancur and Douglas Costa. The arrival of Costa would take the pressure of Bernardeschi, who would likely not succeed in his next fitness test. And then Dybala and Ronaldo followed them in.
The air that followed the Portuguese striker around was borderline mental. A tonne of fans had turned up from neighbouring and local areas to catch a glimpse of the man that singlehandedly has 15% of Instagram’s whole userbase following him. The man exudes confidence, and Tina even felt herself swoon, despite her obvious choices in lovers.
The group met with Tina and Landon, talked in brief about how the World Cup had gone, and then got straight on to joining the remaining members of the side for training. One player who was still exempt was Mandzukic, and he was now the only player still on extended holiday leave.
Tina read over the injury risk update report from Randelli, and wasn’t surprised to see both Khedira and Pjanic on it. Both had put their all into the recent friendly tour, and in the end, she would likely leave them out for Cuneo with the arrival of both Matuidi and Bentancur.
There was however, major news on the transfer front that surprised everyone, including Tina. Jurgen Klopp was back in an attempt to raid the Juventus side of yet another defender, this time tabling a bid for Daniele Rugani. The 24-year-old had openly spoken of his failure to cement a permanent first team place, and as Tina had previously expressed, it was not always totally likely to change this season. And now there was a big bid on the table, for a defender who only cost Juventus £4.1m from Empoli in 2012. Liverpool had offered £23m up front, with two additional payments of £3.5m on a six-monthly basis.
Tina knew what the right option was. Rugani, who had made no long-lasting impact at the club, would be allowed to leave. Tina immediately consulted the black book she kept on her person, and looked at the list of players Quagliarella had referred to her for the moment. They were a list of defenders, potential replacements, and she knew in that instant who to go for. Newcastle United had an open, yet unspoken policy, of selling their players for higher amounts than they bought. She would need a younger defender to replace both the outgoing Rugani and ageing Barzagli.
So, she contacted her club secretary and informed them of her desire to sign Jamaal Lascelles.
By the end of the evening, a £20m offer had been accepted, and so had Rugani’s.0 -
On 27/12/2019 at 05:54, BenArsenal said:
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone.
You too, sir!
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30th July 2018 - Friendly
Pierluigi Penzo, Venice, 5,980
LIVORNO vs. JUVENTUS
Perin; Chiellini, Benatia, Del Prete, Evra; Khedira, Can, Cancelo, Pjanic, Bernardeschi; Kean
After the loss at Cittadella, there had begun an underwhelming sense of disappointment drifting around. Tina felt that her appointment as manager had captured zero imagination of anyone. There weren’t many who had openly expressed any positive statements, and the second arrival of Patrice Evra on a free transfer early in the morning yesterday had done nothing to help.
Alex Sandro had committed himself to the club, despite rumours of interest from Liverpool and Manchester United, and at least two bids from Liverpool and Arsenal. The board had accepted the high offer bids, but Alex had decided he had wanted to stay in Turin. And Tina had been heartened by his response. “I’ve chosen to stay with the club, a club that has many memories for me already. We want to win the Champions League one day, and under our new manager, we have many aims for this. #juve.” He had posted on Instagram, and while Tina was really thrilled with his response, there was an underlying message regarding the Champions League.
For her second friendly of the summer tour, Juve would face Livorno, who hadn’t seen Serie A football since the 2013/14 campaign, and last season won promotion from the C/A division.
Having made the changes for this one, she was expecting a better performance than she had gotten on their previous outing. Losing to Cittadella was a blip, she was confident of that. The small stadium contrived to promote an edgy atmosphere.
The evening game in Venice cut the quiet nature of the area when Bernardeschi struck a stinging effort that Zima saved decently with his left palm. It was still beaming down at 30c, the stadium slowly turning into a cauldron of heat.
Nicolo Fazzi picked up the first booking of the game for a light-hearted challenge on Kean, the striker bustling under the pressure of his over the top pulling. The resulting freekick led to Can forcing a shot off a defender before Bernardeschi hit the crossbar with a thunderous effort that Zima was nowhere near. He was supremely lucky.
Livorno then pushed back at Tina and Juventus, earning a freekick close to 25 yards out that Murilo struck well, Perin making a decent save to keep it out of the net. His subsequent clearance led to Bernardeschi bombing down the centre before unleashing Evra on the left. The newly re-acquired full back sent the ball into the box, it was cleared, but then it landed at the feet of Lorenzo Del Prete, who struck a first-time effort. The shot wasn’t actually very good in truth, but she was thrilled when the keeper was misplaced from the previous effort and the shot trailed in.
The pressure eased up after the goal, allowing Juventus a chance to reset and begin again, leaving ten minutes of quiet game before Pjanic won and stepped up for a freekick. His effort was on target, though lacking curve, and Zima somehow made a hash of the save. He did keep it out though. Lucky again, really.
Michele Rocca picked up a booking just before half time, the whistle bringing a relief from the heat box of the stadium.
The second half started with a far quicker tempo, something Tina had emphasised during the half time talk. They had listened intently, and Pjanic was continuing to show how important he would be, with a delicious ball that tore open the Livorno defence. Bernardeschi was on hand to stroke the ball in with his left foot, a sumptuous pass and a delicious finish. Even Landon was out of his seat.
Pjanic continued to torment again, playing in a freekick that looped over every body before Emre Can missed a sitter of a header from literally on the line. Tina laughed, “It was far easier to score than miss that one,” she said. “Good job this is a friendly.”
A double change was called in, Bernardeschi and Cancelo leaving the field to avoid fitness issues, while Petrelli and Mavididi would come on for them.
The impression that Pjanic was having on Tina was insane – he was running everything in midfield and doing so with poise. His next pass found Mavididi, and a one-two with the striker saw the youngster strike from just outside the area past Zima for the third goal.
Barzagli came on to replace the tiring Del Prete late on, while Frederiksen replaced Kean in what Tina would decide as her final alteration of the day.
A sublime freekick would find the back of the net 80 minutes in, and it was a deserved goal for the talisman Pjanic. Petrelli had won the freekick and the dispatch was acutely accurate, finding the corner at the bottom left. A stunning freekick.
The final whistle was a welcome respite for Livorno who had given up after the third goal. The 1700 travelling Juventus fans had been given a great showing from a side still lacking in its major names.
This had been far better.LIVORNO (0) 0
JUVENTUS (1) 4 Del Prete 29, Bernardeschi 47, Mavididi 75, Pjanic 830 -
28th July 2018 - Friendly
Pier Cesare Tombolato, Cittadella, 5,961 att.
CITTADELLA vs. JUVENTUS
Pinsoglio; Chiellini, Benatia, Barzagli, Sandro; Khedira, Can, Cancelo, Pjanic, Kean; Petrelli
Franco Baldini agreed terms to join the club, having delayed the deal for a week. No-one ever said why, but there was belief that a managerial position was on the table, or at least potentially. He clearly didn’t get it, but Tina and the Juventus board were still super keen to bring him on board as a coach.
The town of Cittadella itself, a walled city in the Italian province of Padua, was actually quite picturesque. The former military outpost is one of only two still walled towns in the region, along with Montagnana.
There were a couple of changes as Tina altered the front line, while she also gave a slight re-jig to the back line after reducing it from a back five. Benatia came in, as did Cancelo and Pjanic. Petrelli replaced Mavididi.
There was an air of anticipation as the game kicked off, but within thirty seconds there was an absolute disaster that left disappointment on the whole Juventus side. Cittadella had kicked off, and with Adorni on the ball, Emre Can rolled in and two footed his way to an instant red card. It was a disgusting challenge, absolutely worthy of a red card, and Tina had to bite her tongue as he walked past her to leave the pitch. Pjanic had to drop back from his attacking midfield role, though playing with ten men for a whole game was going to be tough.
The home side hit the post fairly early on, Lori rising highest to head past Pinsoglio but meet the woodwork on the way. But Lori would be the difference as ten minutes later he pinged a ball over the top that left Benatia caught out. Finotto raced away with it, and despite Pinsoglio getting low to stop the first one, the second found the back of the net and just like that, Juventus were behind.
The home side continued to be a real threat from aerial dominance, and they struck again, catching a lethargic Juventus defence napping. Strizzolo crossed from deep, and Adorni, who may have actually fouled Barzagli, headed in to an empty goal with Pinsoglio nowhere in sight.
The first half had been an utter right off for Tina and she couldn’t believe her side were two goals down to a Serie B side with little to have shown for the first half. She would deal with Emre Can later, but for now, she had to try and make some impact at half time, as the whistle blew bringing the turgid forty-five to an end.
Barzagli wasn’t one to emerge for the second half. Tina could see that he wasn’t coping so there was little point in leaving him on there. Del Prete came in for him.
The second half was equally as rubbish as the first had been and Tina couldn’t get anything to change the slowness of the game. Mavididi was the next to appear as a substitute, replacing Petrelli
It was hard pinpointing where the last contribution had been from the youngster.
Pjanic had a superb chance as the game went on, some decent left-hand side play by Sandro and Kean allowing him the free space to hit a shot, but it narrowly went wide and had the keeper scrambling.
Bringing Bernardeschi on as late as she did do really didn’t present Tina with any super come back in her head, but she was now just determined to get fitness for as many players as possible. Pjanic was the only player really showing much effort, and he eventually broke the Cittadella wall that Juventus had struggled with all day. His freekick into the box was cleared but only to Mavididi, who hit a wonderful first-time effort. With eighty-six on the clock, was a comeback now possible?
And then the flag was spotted.
Pinsoglio made a wonderful late save, but Tina was just glad to finish this match. And when Bernardeschi limped off injured she had just had enough.
The walled town had won out. What a disappointment.
CITTADELLA (2) 2 Finotto 14, Adorni 32
JUVENTUS (0) 00 -
Sherm is back, we're in for a treat.
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20 hours ago, Rien102 said:
9 December 2060???
Do you not go this far!?
10 hours ago, Mandy42 said:how dare you take away his dream!
It needed taking away. Useless skill in the Vanarama!
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Always happy when a non-league player sees sense.
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Welcome to the Future
in FM Stories
Posted
12.08.2085
TRANSFER OUT
18.08.2085
Radnicki Nis vs. FK Partizan
Cair, 18,151
Jelen Superliga, 5/37
Camba; Vernaglia, Cano, Blanchard, Messaoudi; Ellis, Vinicius, Gregorio, Gyimah; Iglesias, Gallucci
Radnicki are back in the top flight for the first time in twelve years. Club legend Gyimah returns to the first team squad for the first time this season, the 34-year-old having been with the club since he was 19 and is the club record assist maker. Cano also returns for Sanou as I seek to make a him and Blanchard the eventual pairing. Early chances fell our way with Gyimah and Gregorio missing before Vinicius hit a belter from just outside the area to open the scoring. We were wasteful in front of goal as the half wore on, but Gregorio added to the tally with a carbon copy of the Vinicius goal, while Camba made three top drawer saves. The second half saw Vinicius bang another top finish in within minutes of the restart, Gregorio hitting the post trying to copy him. Ellis picked Gallucci out with a great corner that the Argentine striker looped into the bottom corner from a tight angle. Gyimah had a quiet game so we replaced him with Allerheiligen. Vinicius completed his first hat-trick in three years with the pick of his goals, a low driven shot that fizzed into the goal. We took him and Iglesias off, who had been absent, for Kabore and Mathieu, who would be making his debut. Mathieu picked up a debut goal when he chucked himself at an Ellis cross that was meant for Gallucci, scrappy at best but who really cared, the lad done good. We are now unbeaten in twelve in all competitions.
Radnicki Nis 0 – 6 FK Partizan
Murilo Vinicius 16, 47, 66, Gianluca Gregorio 44, Hugo Gallucci 59, Paul Mathieu 86