Maldini - A Father & Son tale

I would certainly be shocked and besides myself with fury if my side bottled it now. haha yes he looks a decent talent, I've been trying to give him plenty of opportunities in the first team but with big games coming so thick and fast at the moment he may have to wait until the league title is officially secured before his next chance as I look to my experienced stars.

February & March 2024

The dream of an unbeaten league season inches ever closer for my Rossonari, however we can no longer say we are without defeat in all competitions any more, although both defeats came in two-legged ties, both of which we ultimately won.

Novara became the first team to beat us at the San Siro in almost a year when they snatched a first leg advantage in our Copa Italia semi-final, however we well and truly extracted a painful revenge on our fellow Lombardi side as we crushed them 5-1 in front of their own supporters, their dream of playing in their first Copa Italia final since 1932 was obliterated before half time as we set up a final with my old club Fiorentina.

We also came close to blowing our passage to the last eight of the Champions League as we allowed Zenit dangerously close to turning around our 5-2 win from the first leg, the Russians gave us the toughest game I can remember this season as they dominated the second leg from start to finish, thankfully we clung on to our advantage by the skin of our teeth to qualify 5-4. We will have to sharpen up for Manchester City if we are to continue on in Europe's elite competition.

Serie A however looks to be all but over, a run of three draws on four games this period saw our eighteen point lead narrow to eleven but with a game in hand, It's difficult to see that not being enough now.

I want the league signed, sealed and delivered ASAP so we can concentrate on bringing the European cup home for the eighth time!
Can we finish off the Serie A season unbeaten? Only Juventus have finished a 38 game season unbeaten before, back in 2011/12, both ourselves and Perugia have also had unbeaten seasons in 91/92 and 78/79 respectively but they were with fewer games played.

In other news we have welcomed our next class of academy players;

Rated at 4 1/2 stars, Michele is the pick of the bunch, he's the first really good prospect I've had come through the system, I've been quite disappointed previously, the academy is of course imperative to my ambition of establishing a dynasty here, not to mention we have real difficulty meeting our quota of home grown players trained by the club.

Italy

I have been paying close attention to all of Serie A recently as I look for not only my senior squad to take to the Euros but a team to represent us at the Olympics also. As I said previously my Olympic squad will be made up of uncapped players in order to give me a chance to see them in action close up and give me a good idea who will form part of my senior squad in the coming years.

Christian

Returned from injury earlier than expected, making his comeback against Zenit in the first leg, Christian has slotted straight back into the team with a series of composed performances and barring any further injuries he looks a dead cert for my Euro 2024 squad.

Tough draw against Man City Good to see you didn't throw it away against Zenit

April & May 2024

The curtain comes down on another season, culminating in us lifting our 24th Serie A crown, our third in a row. Unfortunately the league was all we wound up lifting as we crashed out of the Champions League as well as only collecting runners up medals in the Copa Italia final;

Things were looking good in the CL when we came away from the Etihad Stadium with a 3-2 advantage, things looked even better when we took a 2-0 lead in the return leg, however we buckled under the weight of expectation as City's formidable front line ruthlessly sliced through us to come back from 5-2 down by scoring four second half goals as our supporters watched our semi final dreams eviscerated.
Things went from bad to worse in the following game as rivals Napoli ruined our unbeaten league season, we had battled back from 2-0 down, only to lose it again in stoppage time as Chilian winger Bryan Rabello ensured we wouldn't have a '0' in our defeats column this season, relegated Catania added further insult to injury as we capitulated from a 3-1 winning position to again lose it in the dying moments.

Undoubtedly the biggest disappointment however was slipping up at the final hurdle of Copa Italia as we were bested by my old side Fiorentina

The referee was very much center of attention in this one, for all the wrong reasons, much to my displeasure!

I'm gutted we couldn't retain the cup, not least as this is now the third time I have been the losing manager in the final after previously finishing runner-up with Roma in 2018 and Milan in 2022.
In other news;

I asked the board to bring the facilities back up to date, however the worsening financial problems at the club have prevented that, I may have to sell one or two players this summer to prevent things getting out of hand.
It's bizarre to feel downbeat at the end of a title winning season, however I can't help feeling a little downhearted after this series of set-backs and heatbreaks. The summer break is most welcome for me personally.

I retained the manager of the year award for the third successive year;

My central defenders both form part of team of the year;

Italy

My Preliminary squad for Euro 2024;

Seven of these players well have to go home disappointed as I have to decide my final 23 for the tournament, I've a pretty good Idea what my final squad will be so barring any injuries in the next week or so, this shouldn't be a complex decision.

Unfortunately there will be no Olympic games for my under 23's afterall as the groups were drawn with us not being a part of it, which left me feeling quite confused as to the rules of qualification as we have played no qualifiers, I had assumed we were automatically in it. ah well.

Christian

Finished the 2023/24 season with thirty appearances for the first team with an average rating of 7.17. another good campaign and winners medal for the 28 year old. his attention is now on his first International tournament in Spain.

The Euro's have come and gone for another four years, it was a tournament in which my Italian side started slowly but gathered momemntum for a charge all the way to the final itself! Did we have enough to lift The Henri Delaunay Trophy for the first time since 1968?

Before the Champioship kicked off we prepared for our group games against Ireland, England and Slovenia with three warm-up games against geographically similar opposition;

Fairly encouraging stuff, particularly the mauling of Austria, I felt happy ahead of the opening group game....


Throwing away a two goal lead against weaker opposition was not how I wanted to get the ball rolling in the competition, much improvement was needed in the next game.

I'll admit that when we fell behind I was beginning to fear this tournament would turn out like the Olympics in Tokyo last year when my side failed to even register a single win as we crashed out at the group stage, however a strong second half performance averted disaster in Sevilla as we ran out worthy winners in the end.

My anger at throwing away a two goal lead....again....was great, My team just about qualify in second place with England winning the group and Ireland also making it through as one of the four best third placed teams. however we have to sort out our habit of throwing away games like this.

The last sixteen pitted us in what I felt was a favourable draw with Ukraine in Zaragoza;

Easy does it! Not a showstopping performance but an effective one as unlike any of the group stage games we were in full control throughout as we ran the Ukraine ragged, both goals coming from set pieces, Tulisi curling in a lovely freekick from the edge of the area before another Milan star Nicolo DiMarchi lashed home a penalty to secure safe passage to the last eight where the Danes awaited in Valencia;

A superb individual showing from Di Marchi saw off Denmark as my milan winger netted a wonderful hat-trick to steer the Azzuri into the semi final, where we would meet the Republic of Ireland again at the Bernabau.

Perhaps because a place in the final was at stake this time, but the Iuck of the Irish finally ran out as my team assumed control after falling behind to go on and comfortably beat the ROI to send us all the way to the final at Barcelona's Nou Camp, I couldn't believe we had got this far, perhaps there was hope for me as an International manager after all!

The final was another group stage rematch, this time against England, it's fair to say we had charted one of the easiest possible courses to the final, avoiding any of the traditional powers of European football, Brendon Rodgers's side however had been forced to overcome Portugal, Germany and hosts Spain since we last met in the final group game which I suppose made them slight favourites ahead of the big game.

My final line-up;



So, did we end up lifting the title?....

Summer 2024

With me in Spain overseeing Italy in Euro 2024 my time has been limited for Milan this summer, however I have managed to bring in a few new faces;

My marquee signing this summer, Alessio made over 150 appearances for Lazio after making his debut in 2018 as a sixteen year old, I gave him his first Italy cap against Armenia two years ago. All in all he has set us back a possible £45M, £20M up front with a further £10M to follow over two years and another £15M based on appearances and various criteria. With Nicusor Staniciu beginning to decline with age, Alessio is my chosen successor to the great man's place in the team as I begin to faze him out, a big responsibility.

Two other signings this summer, albeit for much less money;

A promising young striker from Sparta Prague who joins for a bargain £56k, I decided to loan him to one of our affiliates, FC Utrecht for this season and see how he gets on in Holland.

I've been chasing the Porto goalkeeper for several years now, I finally got my man this summer on free transfer. He won an impressive nine trophies with Porto in his time there, He'll be hoping to add some more to his collection in Italy with us.

Outgoing are Maik Kamps who I signed last summer to deputise for Tim Krul, the young German was unhappy with the amount of games he started and decided to leave on free, he's currently in talks with Fiorentina and Leverkusen.
Midfielder Oliver Hiljermark has also left the club on free after finding his first team chances limited last term, it looks as if he will join Toulouse on free after signing for us for £30M from Monaco three years ago.
The expensive Depprau transfer was largely paid for by the sale of Pasqual Di Giacomo, a good young player who came through our academy, however he was only really back-up to the first team and with Atletico Madrid offering £25M I was happy to let him go. Another youngster Antonijo Pavelcic has also departed, I signed him from Dinamo Zagreb for £1.1M three years previously, I sold him on to FC Twente for £5M, netting a nice £3.9M profit on a reserve player.

So here's my squad as a whole;


Tim Krul will be my number one again, however I will have to ensure Marco Sampaio gets plenty of time to develop and avoid the same situation I had with Maik Kamps this summer. Jesper Cillissen will provide back-up.

I'm happy with my defence, Ricardo and Dragovic will again be the rock upon which my team is built but there is plenty of competition for places back there.

Plenty of options in midfield too, Tiziano Tulisi and Giles Castel are two of the finest in the world and will be integral to our chances again, Depprau will sit ahead of them with Staniciu rotating with him. Nicolo Di Marchi and Mariottini will be out wide with Nessett and Hailovic providing cover.

I'm not sure if we require another forward, I only use one in my 4-2-3-1 tactics so three is probably enough, Stephane Fournier and Lorenzon Pezzi are both top class finishers, young German Ryan Keller could be a real talent as he gains experience.

My team handled pre-season well, just one defeat throughout, unfortunatly it was to rivals Juventus which didn't go down to well with the fans;

The tour of China helped increase our profile in Asia further after we visited Japan last season, we then had a good win over River Plate in a charity competition which included ourselves, Juve, River and Boca. Bringing together two of the biggest rivalries in the world into one competition. losing to Juve was a blow, even though it was only on penalties.

We are favourates to win the title for the fourth time in a row, before that however we have to face Fiorentina in the Supercup with revenge on our mind following the Copa Italia defeat to La Viola last May.

Great league win, unlucky against City and then Fiorentina in the cups though mate! Hard luck in the Euros to, I thought you had it, had a nice easy run through to the Final!

Love this story and the legnth of it, good to see one from you thats lasted so many seasons and still going strong!

Thanks Dan, are you not tempted to return to the scene as the new game is still three months away?

No problem, I know we've both had commitment issues to long term saves at the start of the year but it is really good to see this career going strong!

I have been tempted yes, but I don't think anything will come of it just yet, I've been struggling to find time at the moment on 6 day weeks due to the bloody summer holidays! I may have a play around and bring something in the first week of September, which would give me to months to play through but not decided just yet

Gutted to see you lost in the final against England Good signings to strengthen your team

Thanks mate, yeah it was a horrible feeling getting so close to an International trophy, just to have it wrenched from our hands in the 91st minute. I've decided to stay on with Italy though so hopefully we can go one better at the World cup!

August & September 2024

2024/25 is up and running, my Rossonari are off to a decent start to the new season, collecting another Super cup to get the ball rolling in the best possible way;

Extracting a measure of revenge on Fiorentina who beat us in the Copa Italia final just three months ago was satisfying, this is our third consecutive super cup, meaning we have won it six times in the last seven years.
The league season is off to a steady start, we did suffer a defeat to Napoli which is disappointing, although I suppose I would prefer any thoughts of an unbeaten season go out the window early on rather than having them heartbreakingly dashed in the final few games like last season. Even worse was that we had lead 2-0 in that game, however Napoli clawed their way back to 2-1 before Christian got himself sent off with ten minutes to go, which proved the catalyst Napoli needed to go on a complete their comeback.

The table doesn't mean much at this early stage, however it looks like Inter may be our biggest threats this season.

The suspension of Christian and an injury to my other right-back Hugo Mallo forced me to call upon an untried sixteen year old against Cagliari;

Paolo did a wonderful job considering his inexperience, picking up a 7.90 rating. This is also a significant breakthrough as he is the first academy player to graduate during my time at the club to make it into the first team, a big step towards establishing the Ferguson esc dynasty I covert here.

The Champions League is also underway as he kicked off with a comprehensive win over Dinamo Kiev, the real test will be going to Man United though;

Italy

I was undecided as to whether I wanted to take control of another long qualification schedule following the gutwrenching defeat in the final of Euro2024, I have in the end stayed on for another four years, the prospect of managing in the biggest tournament of them all was just too enticing to throw away, so down to business;


This friendly served little purpose but to try out a couple of new faces, Napoli's Pietro Galeoto made his debut right from the start and got a wonderful 8.90 rating, Udinese right-back Stefano Cenzato who was included in my preliminary Euro2024 selection but didn't make the final cut also made his bow as a substitute, as did Schalke goalkeeper Niccolo Pilion.

On to the more serious business of beginning our qualifying campaign for World Cup 2026 in Mexico, first up was a trip to Helsinki;

Nice a straightforward, which is exactly what our qualification should be in this group;

Christian

Largely dependable as ever, however he did get on my bad side with that red card that cost us the game against Napoli, it cost him a weeks wages also.
In off field news, at the age of 28 Christian has just become a mentor for the first time as I asked him to work with young Paolo Vannini who plays in the same position so it should be an ideal partnership. I eventually want Christian to join my coaching staff before he strikes out on his own management adventure, this could be a significant milestone in his coaching development.

October &November 2024

It has been a slightly shaky couple of months for us as we have lost ground to league leaders Inter despite only losing the one league game;

Obviously there is a long way to go and we are still more than capable of winning the title again, but draws with the like of Empoli are simply not acceptable. Only Juventus have managed to beat us in Serie A during this period in what was a close game. Inter are our next opponents so we have an opportunity to close the gap as well as get one over on our bitter rivals.

A 5-1 win over Dynamo Kiev ensured safe passage into the last sixteen of the Champions League for the third year running;

We still have a trip to Athens for the game against Olympiakos before we find out who we will face in the next round.

Italy

It's been a busy couple of months with the Azzuri as we completed four games, two competitive and two friendlies.

A nice straight forward win to follow up on our opening day result over Finland. There were no injuries so I was able to name what is probably the strongest selection available to me. There might have been a few eyebrows raised when Albania took the lead, however we responded well, My Milan winger Giovanni Mariottini leveled up, we shifted up through the gears after that to go on and win comfortably.

It's not often an international manager names an unchanged team, however thats exactly what I did for this trip to the Caucasus, although Lazio's exiting Ciaro Oliviera did come off the bench to make his debut;

The game itself was nice and straight forward as Liverpool's Lorenzo Insigne and my Tiziano Tulissi got the goals to keep us top, despite having played two games less.


After these European minnow games, we headed took on some stronger and more exotic opposition in the November friendlies;

A pulsating game against the Uruguayans, just one change to my starting line-up, and one that I had mixed emotions about, Pascal Di Giacomo came in to fill the advanced playmaker role, I allowed Pascal to leave Milan this summer for Atletico Madrid, I was convinced he was never going to make it at the highest level, however it seems I was wrong as he has been one of La Liga's brightest stars this season, he followed up on that form by scoring twice on his Azzuri debut, I thought I had a good deal in getting £25M for a player who was merely a bench warmer, however on this evidence perhaps I should have given him more of a chance.



Another debut in this one as Roma wide man Alessandro Ciarocci came into the side and performed solidly. defender Elio Caprodossi pulled us from a goal behind to put us ahead with his brace of headers from corners, however Mexico didn't surrender and managed to turn the tables again. It wasn't until the 89th minute PSV defender Nicola Murru slammed home a equaliser to secure a decent draw.

There's no more International duty until next March so it's time to focus on getting Milan back to the top of Serie A.

Christian

A first international goal against Uruguay was a wonderful moment for the lad, It was his first goal full stop for five years, the last time he found the net was for Fiorentina in a Europa League qualifier against Russian outfit Krasnador back in 2019. Christian doesn't score many, but when he does they tend to be spectacular long rangers, as was this one as he belted home a poor clearance from a corner from all of thirty yards.

Like the kits matey! up and down form, lets hope you find something more consistant and soon!

Thanks Dan, I'd had the previous ones for three years and had grown bored of them so I made some new ones. Yeah I hope so, We've not been that bad, just not quite at the level I've come to expect of my players.

Alot of daws Why are Inter are so good on your save?

They have produced some great academy players, as well as having a pretty extensive affiliate club system, particularly in South America which has given them some real gems such as Brian Britos who is now one of the top strikers in the world.
It's a set-up we can learn from after our facilities were down graded last summer.

Why don't you follow them and get feeder clubs from South America

Screenshot of him?

I tried to engineer a link with Boca Juniors (the board allows me to choose clubs to make a link with as I have been manager a while now) but Boca wern't interested in being a feeder club. Currently our affiliate network looks like this;

Aston Villa (England)
Bolton Wanderers (England)
Chievo Verona (Italy)
Admira Wacker (Austria)
FC Utrecht (Holland)
Guangzhou Evergrande (China)
Nacional de Madeira (Portugal)
Persepolis (Iran)
Skonto Riga (Latvia)

Getting some North/South American and African clubs within our system is a priority for future development at the club.


His attributes aren't particuarly amazing, but his goal and assist record stands for itself;

He seems to score at least once against us every time we meet Inter despite my best tactical efforts, I have even tried playing dirty and declaring interest in him a couple of days before a game in the hope it would put him off, to no avail. If we had any money for an expensive transfer he would be my guy.

unlucky against england. you would have had them if it went to penalties.

December 2024 and January 25'

It's been a busy couple of months for us as we made headway in all three of the competitions we are aiming to collect at the end of the season.

Smashing Inter was of course the high point, don't forget we beat them 5-0 last season also, so keeping the noisy neighbours in their place was fun. Shutting up Gianluca Atzori at Brescia was also sweet, I like Brescia, it's where my career started twelve years ago, however I don't like the manager who is constantly talking about me. I've done a bit of digging back through my history and have realised that I have actually only lost to a former employer twice in my career, once to Fiorentina in last years Copa Italia final and once to Brescia in 2020 when I was still Fiorentia manager, only two losses in 35 meetings with my ex's isn't bad at all!



Our commitments in the Champions League mean we have played two games less than the clubs above us, if we win both of those matches we will once again me sitting pretty at the top of Serie A.
Speaking of the Champions League; we are comfortably through to the last sixteen after finishing runners up to Manchester United in the group;

Next up are Spanish outfit Valencia, not an easy tie bit one I think we should win.

I want to at least match last season's quarter final place, and hopefully surpass it. I can't help notice there are quite a few smaller clubs still in the competition which could be a nice easy ride to the final should they, and indeed we, manage to stay in the running.

And finally, we are through to a fourth successive Copa Italia final after edging out Napoli over two legs, we face a rematch of last year when we meet Fiorentina again, this time I'm determined we shall be the ones celebrating. This will be my fifth Copa Italia final, so far I've only lifted the cup once after losing with Milan twice and Roma once.


In other news there was a Milan debut this month;

Daniel is an academy graduate who has spent time on loan with the likes of Espanyol, Chievo and West Bromwich Albion, he came off the bench in the cup game against Geona, marking his debut with one of the most spectacular goals I've ever seen, he received the ball out wide thirty yards from goal before unleashing an unstoppable shot past the helpless goalkeeper. Not a bad way to announce your arrival, Daniel was recalled from his loan with West Brom due to the sale of Ariel Aguirre to Dortmund for £24M, with the clubs finances precarious I needed to sell a couple of players. I recouped almost all of the £25M I spent on bringing the midfielder from Udinese the previous summer. young defender Dario Almeres has also gone, I sold up to Udinese to £8.75M, not a bad fee for a reserve player. There is no money to bring anybody in so I am now looking closely at my youngsters to see who might make the grade.

Italy

No news at this time.

Christian

A foot injury against Inter kept Christian out for most of this period, young Paolo Vannini, who Christian is currently tutoring stepped up and showed a composure beyond his seventeen years in Christian's absence, my offspring returned for the first leg of the Copa Italia semi with Napoli so he should be fit for the March international with Moldova, could Vannini be part of my squad for that game? It's perhaps too soon for him just now but if he keeps up the kind of form he's shown in the last couple of months then it won't be long until he pulls on the blue shirt of Italy.

Much better form now buddy! Good to see your meetings with the ex's have been huge successes and good work in Europe, comfortably through and a winnable tie against Valencia!

Good December and January month Good record against your old clubs

Thanks Guys.

February & March 2025

The title race is really enthralling this season as anyone from Roma at the top to Udinese in sixth have a good chance of the championship. We are the only team in those six with a game in hand, although with games running out and matches against Juventus and Inter in April we can afford no more slip-up's.

It's going to be a frantic finish, particularly with us still going in the Champions League after beating Valencia 3-0 on aggregate, our path to the semi's is blocked by mighty Real Madrid, we're going to have to put on two season's best performances in order to reach the final four;


Some major transfer news for next season;

Ciro is a lethal finisher who has been the driving force behind Napoli's recent reemergence after scoring 21 goals in 28 games this season and 18 in 24 in 2023/24. He will set us back £28M over the next four years. If he maintains that sort of strike rate he will justify the fee easily.

The Brazilian international's contract is up at the end of the season, I didn't need much encouragement to try and lure him from Atletico Madrid on free transfer, which the midfielder graciously accepted, he could be a great signing.

We have also inducted our new class of academy graduates, although it's not a very inspiring group;

Italy

One World cup qualifier to report on;

A nice easy win which keeps us sailing nicely towards the finals in Mexico next year.

Christian

Earned his 32nd cap against Moldova in addition to picking up a couple of man of the match awards in the games against Valencia (first leg) and Udinese. Unfortunately he seems to be becoming somewhat susceptible to minor injuries and has missed a few games. Paolo Vannini has deputised well and was very close to making my Italy team, however I plumped for another international virgin in the form of Roma's Daniel Nardini as he has several seasons under his belt at Serie A level whereas Paolo only made his first team debut shortly before Christmas. He is very much in mind for future squads though if he keeps his current form up.

Wel its going to be one hell of a close run in! best of luck with hunting down the league title mate! Ciro looks a great addition whilst beating Valencia was good you've got another tough ask with madrid!

Thanks Dan, yep turned out it was a little too tough....

April & May 2025

Fucking hell! My heart has't stopped pounding since the final game of a truly exciting Serie A season....

Major victories over Juve and Lazio as well as holding Inter to a draw despite having had two sendings off put us in good shape as the season boiled down to the very last day.

The five teams who were still in contention in my last update were down to two, us and my old club Roma. Roma had the ball in their court due to their superior goal difference, we would have to score at least seven in our final game against Palermo if, as expected, they beat Carpi at home. A tall order indeed. did we manage it?....



So after that drama it was on to the Copa Italia final, a competition I have more losing finals in than winning ones;

2024 - Milan 1-2 Fiorentina
2023 - Milan 5-1 Livorno
2022 - Milan 1-1(p) Inter
2018 - Roma 1-1(p) Milan

Could we make it two for three?

Italy

Nothing this month, the next games are at home to Finland and away to Albania in September as we continue on the road to Mexico 2026. I've also set up two friendlies for next november against Canada and the USA as a North American acclimatisation exercise.

Christian

Had a decent season, even though his starting place is coming under some pressure from Paolo Vannini now. The highlight of 2024/25 for Christian will no doubt be scoring his first goal for Italy against Uruguay last November.

Speechless! Absolutely astonishing league win matey!

Thought I was going to have an aneurysm whilst we waited for the Carpi-Roma score, when Roma equalised I was sure they would go on to win, however Carpi pulled off a massive shock with their late goal, much to my delight!

Pre-Season 2025/26

Hard to believe I'm now gearing up for my fifth year at the helm of the Rossonari, time has flown by. This year affords us the opportunity to equal one of Juventus's records as we look to become one of only four clubs to have ever won Serie A five times running, the others are Juve, Inter and Torino. No team has ever made it six in a row. We still need eight more Scudetto's to equal Juve's overall title wins. One step at a time.

I've not been busy in the transfer market, as usual I had all of incoming business done long before the window opened with Atletico Madrid midfielder Cabecao signing on free transfer and Napoli forward Ciro Olivera setting us back £29M in a structured deal. (screenshots in the February/March update above)
Outgoing I have recouped a large portion of that Olivera signing with the sales of centre back Manuel Gaggero to Manchester United for £16M, German midfielder Yannick Gerhart who has taken up a new challenge with Red Bull Leipzig after six years with the club and reserve players Enrico Lovari and Cristiano Galgiardini who leave for £2M and £400k to Cagliari and Palermo respectively. Hugo Mallo also leaves the club by mutual consent after falling out of favour at right back, he's now with Spanish second division side Gimnastic.

So here is my squad in it's entirety;

Goalkeepers

I'll perhaps need to sign a back up to cover any injuries in this department, although I'm very happy with my two primary shot stoppers. Both are very dependable and organise their defence well. Sampaio will be expecting more games this year however as Krul isn't getting any younger and will need to be replaced sooner or later.

Defenders

We do not lack for quality at the back, Aleksandar Dragovic was honored with his testimonial this July which was nice, whilst not as fast as he once was he is still an expert ball winner who's reading of the game is absolutely top notch. Normally he partners Brazilian Ricardo at the heart of defence with Dimitr Hristev rotating when necessary, young Alan Volk has been with the club for a number of years now, spending time out on loan with Steaua Bucharest and Bayer Leverkusen, The departure of Gaggero gives him an opportunity to impress me in the first team.
At fullback, Christian and Endrit Kruja have long been automatic selections, however both have younger men putting on pressure for their places now with the emergence of Paolo Vannini and Janis Seidel, I'm particularly keen for Vannini to develop as he has come through our own youth system, and with very few players capable to deputising for Christian at International level, Paolo could be in for a big year.

Midfielders

Giles Castel is one of the finest ball winners in the world, with the arrival of Cabecao I have a bit of a selection headache now, young Daniel Chiappa will also need game time in that role as I look to aid his development. In the role of playmaker, Alessio Depprau and Diego and two fine options to have, Stanciu no longer has the legs for that role and now plays deeper, providing a rotation option with Tiziano Tullisi.

Wingers

Nicolo Di Marchi and Giovanni Marriotini are two of the best players on the planet, they are essential to my hopes not just domesticaly but also for the World cup next summer. They rotate with Age Nesset and Petr Vlcek who are also very capable.

Strikers

Whilst I have some top notch strikers on the book, this is the main area of weakness in my squad, the goals didn't flow too freely last season with Pezzi, Fournier and Vesely nowhere to be seen in the Serie A top scorers list, we instead had to rely on goals from the midfield, perhaps that is due to me constantly having to rate them for the lone striker role. The addition of Ciro Olivera will just intensify competition as Vesely goes out on loan to NAC Breda in Holland.

My squad handled pre-season well, capping it with another Super Cup win

A show of resilience, whenever Fiorentina took the lead we would battle back. I think we deserved to win in the end.

We begin the campaign with yet another meeting with Fiorentina (I'm beginning to get sick of them!) before we welcome Lazio to the San Siro, not the easiest start but I'm confident.
We have also learned our Champions League group;

Again, not a particularly easy draw, but we should get through, probably in second to Bayern.

Right then, here we go again....Looking for five in a row!

Apologises for all the photobucket errors in my previous posts. They should revert back to their working state next Monday when my monthly bandwidth allocation is reset. Until then I am making use of a second account to upload my screenies.

I should also apologise ahead of time that my updates are likely to be much more sperodic from now on as I recently found out I'm to be become a dad next year! obviously there are lots of things that need sorting out before our little bundle of joy arrives so I may not get too much time on FM.

A big thank you to everyone who continues to read my updates, I'm probably going to stick with this one instead of buying FM15, As I say I likely won't have much time to play so it seems silly to spend £35+ on a brand new game. Thanks again for reading. Rick.

August/September 2025

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We've not got off to the greatest start in the world as we stuttered into life in the new season;

Wins over Bayern and Lazio pleased the supporters, however slipping up to the likes of Novara and Empoli are just not acceptable to a club such as ours, those results were results of me feilding weaker selections, perhaps that was arrogant of me, underestimating the opponents, however I expect my younger players to be able to grind our results just as much as I do the senior stars.

Still, it's early days, there is plenty of time to get back on track and hopefully win our 26th Serie A title as we chase Juventus's record 33.

Italy

Mission accomplished!
I will be leading my Azzuri squad to Mexico next summer, with two games to spare.

A straightforward win in the end, Franco Campana's first international goal pulled us from behind before Finland again took the lead, once Spartak Moscow midfielder Pannaci Cannistra put us back on terms though we shifted through the gears and fully deserved our win.

Cannistra and Chiodi continued their goalscoring form from the Finland game to ensure qualification, Roma winger Alessandro Ciarrocchi got himself on the scoresheet for the first time with a lovely solo run culminating in a cool finish, he made his debut in the home fixture against Albania back in October.

Nice and easy, the only challenge now is to try and finish the group with a 100% record, I'll likely put out a changed squad for the final games against Moldova and Georgia next month as I look to give my fringe players a chance to impress me ahead of the World cup, where we have become the first European qualifiers (aside from the mighty reigning champions Switzerland of course )

Christian

With Hugo Mallo now gone, Christian only need contend with up and coming Paolo Vannini for a starting place now, I gave Vannini the Super cup final nod where he coped well with the cup final atmosphere and earned a solid 7.1 rating, however Christian was back in the side for every league game aside from the win over Cagliari when his young apprentice returned for first team action, thankfully the own goal he scored didn't end up costing us the game so it shouldn't affect his confidence too much.

Christian also started both Italy games, getting 7.0 in both, Udinese's Stefano Cenzato was his back up, however with time running out before I have to pick my squad for Mexico, could Vannini force his way onto the plane? I would certainly love to take another Milan player with me, however he will have to earn his seat like everybody else.

Congratulations on the good news chum! However its a shame to see you won't be buying FM15 but a reasonable point! Be good to see you continue this and finish on a high note by eventually smashing Juventus record! Keep up the good work mate

As I had posted in the Night Thread t'other day, congrats on the fantastic news mate and not buying the new game, whenever that shall be released, makes perfect sense as you'll need all the time in the world to look after 'bump'. Onto the career now, good to see Italy have qualified for the next tournament and quite a poor start to the season with AC mate.