El Payaso

Maldini is an interesting signing. I was considering him with Palermo but opted to look elsewhere due to some of his negative tendencies as a player. Serie A tends to create these kind of endings to the seasons due to the fact of it being very hard to predict. I don't know why Inter often struggles under AI Inzaghi, but that has been the case in all of my saves.

This is why I never use asymmetric formations on FM. At least on previous editions the AI was not able to deal with them. Haven't tried those for years now.

I usually use 2, 4, 7 and 8. In a long-term save I would probably shift to number 1 too. Generally the less transfers I do, the more I will be interested in the career. Something like 2-3 new signings per season, if really needed is the best and if I can stick to zero, then it is perfect. For me the biggest problem with squad building is the lack of competition from the AI. This means in general that if you find yourself a clear target who you want to sign, it is really rare that you don't also get that player. You know, the kid in a candy store thing. I think this part of the game needs a lot of work in terms of development as it affects the difficulty so much. Squad building should be one of the most difficult areas of the game. Makes no sense that we need to restrict ourselves in this area. I remember back in FM 2007, for example, that the AI would practically always bid against you when you placed a bid for a player that they are also interested in. Nowadays you can have a long list of interested ai clubs but none of them doing anything when you make your move.

I'm taking it just as a positive thing when people ask me these kind of questions. Makes me think way more about the reasoning behind my decisions and also rethink things. So: thank you for asking. I still have lot of work to do to master the Catenaccio style which I have switched to after failing with the counter-attacking approach. And mastering something usually comes when you learn how to question yourself and are thereby ready to make changes.

It's more related to the players in my case as Ricardo Rodríguez is actually a former full/wing-back and also the most capable of our centre-backs in possession. I am also at times changing the left wing-back into an inverted wing-back, especially when I see the segundo volante finding space higher up the pitch. This leaves more space down the flank for Rodriguez to cover. The CWB that I use is on support duty and unlike last season, Raoul Bellanova has been quite solid in defense. His attacking contribution on the other hand is covered more by the defensive midfield on defend duty. But you do raise a good point here and I've been actually thinking about this lately.

Interesting system. Has many same aspects that I use with Torino. Haven't mastered the 3 CBs yet but so happy that I have gone away from the safe 4-3-3 systems on this FM and tried something else. And with kinda Catenaccio approach is impossible to take things granted and go away from the comprehensive highlights as the approach can be a real hit or miss. I think this also applies quite well to all 3-something-something tactics.

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

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

If this is the aim, I would build the rest of the team to support this. This would mean that the main goalscorer down the flank would probably be an inside forward (or wide targetman) on attack duty. If the formation only uses one striker, I would use more of a creator role like deep lying forward or false nine. In midfield I would probably have an advanced playmaker on the inside forward's side to feed him with through balls while on the other flank I would probably be instructing the wide players to mainly look to cross to the far post in an attempt to find the inside forward. I'm not currently using AMLR positions with Torino but with Betis I had Rodri as my main goalscorer and goalscoring threat.

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

Definitely. And if things don't work with him, we can just let his contract run out at the end of the season. With a fringe player status we don't have to worry too much about his game time but with 56k per week contract, he is going to be an expensive option not to be used. It might be that a Vlasic type of attacking midfielder suits our style of play better as compared to both Ilic and Sensi, he has been by far the most productive. I'm also looking forward to see how good Emirhan İlkhan can be for us. Like Pellegri, he has been suffering from injuries so far this season but one of the reasons to bring in Sensi was the opportunity to get him mentor the young Turkish whom I want to mold into a modern #10 for a long time. Just hoping that we can get him fit soon.

Yeah, even though it was an easy run, I would say that the team was playing better than at any point last season. I think this current team has better balance, especially at top compared to last year. 3 in 5 with zero 90 minuters is probably a good return for Pellegri. I am more worried about his quality of finishing and now also the injury-proness. Demba Seck is playing well at the moment but he should be behind Pellegri in the pegging order. Thank you so much! I still have high hopes for Sensi. His stats are showing good signals and I have to take into account that he has mainly either come on as a substitute or played with our second team. I was hoping to get him ticking against Spezia but sadly the muscle injury ruined my plans. He has five assists in just seven appearances at Inter last season which clearly tells you that he can be effective. Could even be that when I have Sensi on as an advanced playmaker that it would make sense to move Sanabria also to a more goalscoring role such as complete forward or target forward on support duty to give him options to feed.

SEPTEMBER 2024 Even though we will not yet be featuring in the Conference League, September will be a packed-up month. The schedule is rather kind to us though as we will have four games that we could and probably should win if we are playing at our level. (H) UDINESE A 1-0 victory was probably not the likeliest result here if you look at the events. We were favorites but were not able to perform to the level that people were expecting as Udinese were by far the better team here. The game's only goal came from a nice setup play where Antonio Sanabria dropped deep to play Nikola Vlasic through on goal. The Croatian was then able to round the opposition keeper to make it two in two for this season which means that the attacking midfielder is continuing from where he left last season. Jacopo Sassi played his first Serie A game and was deservedly named the man of the match. Relying so heavily on the goalkeeper’s performances is a real point of worry which we need to sort out sooner or later (A) BOLOGNA Like last spring, we played an excellent away game against Ivan Jurić’s Bologna who were holding 10th place on the table. The game included an early controversy as the VAR turned down Antonio Sanabria’s tap-in due to Pietro Pellegri blocking the goalkeeper’s view. In my opinion, the whole blocking had nothing to do with the scenario as Sanabria had an open goal ahead of him as the duo was on the other side of the goal. We luckily got a late goal through a nice passage of play where Demba Seck made a good darting run to the byline before setting up Toni Sanabria for another tap-in. For Pietro Pellegri it was a frustrating game as the young striker missed one sitter along with cancelling our first goal. The main tactical change that we did for this game was bringing in Marc Casadó in the double pivot and placing him to a defensive midfielder role on a defense duty. The Spanish youngster formed a rather solid duo along with Samuele Ricci who continued playing as a segundo volante. (H) COMO I was expecting this to be a potential game where the team becomes complacent. Early signs were suggesting so as Pietro Pellegri was single-handedly trying to ruin our chances of winning. The striker missed two easy chances presented by Stefano Sensi and Toni Sanabria early on in the game along with being offside three times during the first 15 minutes. A low cross from Raoul Bellanova and the third easy chance for Pellegrini brought the result that we needed as the young man was finally able to convert with his effort. The 1-0 lead was always a dangerous one but luckily we were able to extend it early on in the second half. First Stefano Sensi’s half-space cross was guided in by one of the opposition defenders before Ivan Ilic set up Pellegri for his second. I think the international break was good for the team as we have now played two solid games for the first time since the victory against Juventus last season. (H) FROSINONE Demba Seck got his first start in Serie A alongside Toni Sanabria thanks to Pietro Pellegri and José Antonio Lopéz both having food poisoning which kept the duo on the bench. We weren’t at our best here but luckily the striking duo combined once in the first half and Nikola Vlasic scored his third of the season with one of his trademark runs to a through ball. The 75th minute almost worked as the culmination point of the game as we had Demba Seck’s goal disallowed with the narrowest offside and just a minute later Antonio Elanga put in a cross to the far post where Marvin Çuni got a gift from Marvin Keller who missed an easy catch that has been pasta and tomato sauce for Jacopo Sassi so far this season. It was a routine performance from us excluding the goalkeeping error. I think there should be no doubt about who is going to be our first-choice keeper from now on. (A) NAPOLI I would have taken an away draw if this would have been offered before the match. Maybe rather with a 0-0 instead of 2-2. Even though José Mourinho’s team was in control of the statistics, this game left a sour taste in our mouths for a long time as it was the second time this season that we threw away the victory from a last-minute corner kick. We were in trouble in the first 45 minutes as I had Rodriguéz facing Victor Osimhen and Giacomo Raspadori was dropping deep for them from the other central forward position which also led to their opener. We got almost an immediate response from Nikola Vlasic’s trademark run. In the second half changing Alessandro Buongiorno to play against Osimhen on the left and going back to a two-forward system with Toni Sanabria turned the game to us. In the 66th minute, Vlasic hit the post and just minutes later Lopéz scored the first of his Torino career from a nice lofted ball from Samuele Ricci. We hadn’t given the hosts much in the second half but somehow you knew that the goal was going to come when we conceded the corner in the last 30 seconds of the game. Ricardo Rodriguéz summarized his fall from grace by being the culprit on both of the goals, and it now looks inevitable that the ongoing season is going to be the Swiss’ last here in Torino. For Jacopo Sassi, these were the first two conceded goals in Torino shirt but we cannot blame him much as both of them were scored from clear-cut chances. (H) SPEZIA I had Stefano Sensi’s and Pietro Pellegri’s names drawn to the starting eleven against Spezia who had surprisingly beaten AS Roma at home in the previous round to give them their first victory of the season. Both Sensi and Pellegri suffered foot injuries which saw Emirhan Ilkhan making his first Serie A start of the season. The young Turkish twisted his ankle before the half-hour mark which started a substitute show as Demba Seck came on. The rather young striker combined well once again with Toni Sanabria. He scored 4 goals in total out of which the VAR overturned two. Seck also won us the penalty to see the game through. Toni Sanabria also continued his excellent start to the season by converting the penalty and providing assists to Seck’s opener with a traditional target-man flick-on and playing Ivan Ilic through on goal late on for the fourth. Perr Schuurs also joined the already existing trio in the sickbay by twisting his knee. This is going to open up new opportunities for one of our four existing options: Saza Sabonov, Alessandro Dellavalle and Fabio Desole, and Koffi Djidji who are also all seeking a place in the starting XI in our first Conference League fixture. Marvin Keller finally got his first clean sheet for the club and was forced into action five times by the visitors who sought a goal mainly from crosses with little luck. Quality of chances was the main difference here as we converted 4 of our 12 in total while the visitors got 0 out of 10. LEAGUE STANDING Our first good fixture of the season against Bologna seemed to kick off something as the team was playing quite well throughout the month, even against Napoli. We shouldn’t get too excited though as the schedule last month should be considered easy. But three points from all the games we were expected to win, along with a decent return against Bologna and Napoli is all we can do in this situation. INSIGHTS OF THE START Even though it is still early days, and we have had an easy schedule so far, I think it is still a good moment to talk a bit about team performances. This list includes two new arrivals who have taken their place in the team with a bang, two who have improved their performances significantly, and one who has continued from where he left last season. Even though many players like always reliable Mergïn Vojvoja and Perr Schuurs have performed well so far while for example Ivan Ilic and Samuele Ricci have managed to raise their level of performance, I think these five are worth lifting above others. In football, there are also always going to be those who struggle. Out of the important players, Ricardo Rodriguez was already showing signs of decline last season as he was by far our weakest centre-back. This has continued with the experienced Swiss who is definitely playing his last season with the club. Marvin Keller’s start at the club has also been quite horrible, especially when you compare him to Jacopo Sassi who has taken the starting goalkeeper’s position from his Swiss counterpart. The lack of penalty area organization has made the young keeper a liability so far this season. Stefano Sensi came into the club with the idea of being an impact-maker from the bench and orchestrating our attack in Europe. His stats have been alright so far but only one assist in 7 games is not good enough for an advanced playmaker. He is also currently suffering from his first injury. The next ones are our two strikers Pietro Pellegri and José Manuel Lopéz. Pellegri was our player of the year last season but he has struggled with injuries so far this fall. The striker has scored 3 in his 5 appearances but has also missed plenty of good opportunities along with struggling with his match fitness. The Argentinian striker Lopéz on the other hand scored an important goal against Napoli to open his tally with Torino but has otherwise been our weakest striker in terms of stats. Demba Seck has left the tall Argentinian into his shadow while performing well as the Nightwing of the club with 2 goals and 2 assists. TACTICS Tactically, we have only tweaked the tiniest things, including the double pivot now consisting of a Segundo Volante (S) and Defensive Midfielder (D) role. This alongside Marc Casadó taking the starting spot instead of more experienced Karol Linetty and Adrien Tameze, seems to have improved both our buildup and defensive solidity significantly. As our attacking play is quite often flowing more and us being more attacking than I would probably like us to be, I have often reverted to a defensive mentality even against lesser sides that we are expected to beat. This has allowed us to give the opposition more hold of the game which on the other hand opens us the chances to hit them on the break. Antonio Sanabria (4 goals and 3 assists) has been the vital player in our attack by dropping deep between the opposition defense and midfield where he has been able to feed both our advanced forward and on-rushing Nikola Vlasic who has had a superb start to the season with four goals and one assist. The Croatian’s good performances along with our tendency to play with two strikers means that for example, Ivan Ilic has found it difficult to break into the starting lineup. I have also found a well-working pattern to defend our leads. I usually tend to change multiple roles when going up: I tend to change the left-hand wingback to defend duty, the defensive midfielder into an anchor man, the segundo volante to a supporting defensive midfielder, the right wing-back to a supporting wing-back, and the deep-lying forward to a pressing forward on support duty. This often results in the games becoming less eventful and we might even have long passages of play without any highlights in comprehensive mode. INJURIES PILING UP DON CLAUDIO

Bonfiglio should be a huge coup for you. Looks like a player that could score some goals even at Serie A level. Hopefully his development continues and he can stay along with you for a long period. I think the playing level also helps you with youth development as the better individuals can make their way to the first team almost immediately after appearing. If you would be playing in Serie A, you'd probably have to wait a few years before it would be a good idea to promote them to the first-team but Serie C is a different story. Enjoying this story a lot!

Looks good (if you exclude the face)! Aerial reach and commanding of the area(?) are probably the two main attributes I look in my keepers. And kicking is another one as I love the occasional route one approach.

This has been vital for my Torino team and it's why I was absolutely devastated when my board decided to sell Vanja Milinkovic-Savic to Arsenal. Couldn't imagine more suitable goalkeeper to my system. Never seen as aerially dominant keeper on FM.

In past editions used to go either with minimum or long but haven't paid attention in this version. I would say that long would probably suit my Torino team the best as I would be looking to make it as difficult as possible for the opposition to exploit the flanks that usually are the main weakness in my 3-man defense + wing-back systems. Then on the other hand a long pitch suits the team well when going forward as our deep-lying forward would have plenty more space to operate in and search for the runners. Come to think about it, might try this next season and see how it changes things.

Thank you so much for the comment. I really like tinkering with the systems as they are so close to each other. The one with a DM and two MCs has been the least used by far but definitely something that I could optimise more in the future. I would also say that this is the defensively most solid system even though the other two have a double pivot. It also would suit players like Ivan Ilic a bit better. Planning on publishing September update either today or tomorrow as I have the text content ready. Still have to wait and see if I can find a moment to create the graphics which take a bit of time.

I think Inter at least should be close to these super teams if you base it on real life and also transfermarkt data. The AI Inzaghi, for some reason, seems to struggle though and AC Milan actually often performs better of the two Milan-based sides. Not totally sincerely but anyway: congratulations to @flauta kicma. I finished seventh in the first season with the same team and struggled especially against the big sides.

Not far from truth for an ADHD person and introvert.

At the moment really hard to find any time to play FM or even produce content. Will try to get at least one update done this week on my Torino career update. My holiday starts tomorrow but as the in-laws are visiting us this month, it ain't going to give me any extra time for FM. Wedding planning, running and relatives. Time consuming areas in life.

A decent of not even good start to the season. What I love in Serie A is the fact with a club like Torino there are at 6-7 teams that are really hard to beat even at home. Based on the start, you also hit this wall with Lazio and Atalanta who are of course part of that group of teams. I of course also have a boogey team in Salernitana whom you luckily managed to beat.

Beautifully written and detailed post of the backroom staff and players. A nice addition as at least I didn't have a clue about either of them. Especially staff is often overlooked in career updates, so it adds a lot of depth. That AI tool that you are using seems interesting. Definitely going to check it out and see if it could produce some usable content for my own Torino career update. Looking forward to the first matches!

Really nice choice of club. Hopefully you can continue building up where Thiago Motta's reign ended. Or are you starting in 2023?

Yes, this tells you a lot. Is there anything particular your team is struggling with? With a quick look, I would probably change a few things here. First I would drop the two central midfielders to DM position and might consider maybe a DM(D) and VOL(S) combination. I would also change the sides so that the defensive minded DM would be on the left hand side to cover the attacking wingback. Down the flanks, if possible, I would utilize the inverted winger/wide playmaker or wide midfielder role to allow more roaming and space for overlaps done by the attacking wingback. On the right hand side, it might be a good call to use a regular full-back on support to bring more stability. Or maybe even take a look at the inverted full-back which would make your buildup phase so that you had three centre-backs. This would allow the right winger to be fully attacking and also the segundo volante to support attacks quite freely. I would probably also remove some of the team instructions. Overlaps from both side as this should happen naturally and I would make the right-hand side so that this would not be needed. You could even try an underlap on right if you decide to follow my tips on the player roles. I would probably also get rid of the focus play instructions as the segundo volante and deep lying forward would probably be the heartbeat of your buildup play from now on. The deep-lying forward and advanced forward is a really strong combination as the defenders are still at times unable to cope with a striker who drops between the lines. You should also see the DLF feeding the winger and SV quite nicely when set up well. The third one to consider getting rid of would be the width instruction as with wingers and wing-backs the formation is naturally going to be fairly wide. Hope that these will give you some food for thought.