TorreZ - Comments

Just caught up on this. Doing awesome Dan!

The big clear out of a new club happened and 16 players and staff left the club freeing up space to bring in my own people. Managed to get myself a limited yet half decent back room with only 4 coaches.



as you can see from above we have a strong potrntial squad, whether that potential will shine through is something we will have to see. I did bring in 5 different players. 4 of those were really to just bulk out teh squad and nothing to huge although I am very happy with the signing of Lars Gulpen for 300k from Fortuna Sittard.



As you can see for a 21 year old its a pretty big coup for a relegation threatened Jupiler League team and I am hoping he can prove his worth to us.

So after getting bored relativity quickly starting off at the top with Roma I it was time to go the whole hog and start off unemployed with Sunday League rep.

So after not being able to land a job until March 2014 we finally landed the job of Almere City in the Jupiler League, Netherlands. We took over with Almere hovering above the relegation zone and for the last few game of the season I managed to keep them around that position and stay within the Jupiler League.

So we will now be going into the 2014-2015 season starting fresh and ready to put in a decent challenge. Predicted to finish mid table I hope to maybe sneak into a playoff place.

That is not a great pre-season to get this save underway. Lets hope that form doesnt follow us into the opening fixtures...

As you will see from my previous saves in FM13 I love young squads and this save will be no different. I have even set one of the clubs philosiphies to sign young players and have them be a part of the sqaud. I feel with the like of Totti and De Rossi showing them the ropes we can do well.

Luciano Vietto



we begin with the young striker Vietto signed from Racing club for 3.3 million he will be playing with the reserves when not needed for first team duties I feel he will be behind Totti and Destro for the center forward position but the young age will not put me off if he takes his chances.

As you can see he is far from a polished article but he has the raw talent to grow I just hope he has the mentality to follow it up


Eder Alvarez Balanta



Next up is 20 year old Balanta. The monstrous Colombian is already well know in FM but here you can see he is and will be slipping straight into that central defensive spot next to Benatia/Castan.

At the age of 20 he already has stats that you would see coming from top centre halfs at their peak. I gladly parted with 11 million for one half of my future brick wall.


Brice Samba



This was a late transfer that came near the end of the window I was diliberating whather or not I wanted a new Keeper as De Sanctis is 36 and deteriorating. I am still not sure if I want to throw a 19 year old with limited competitive football between the sticks.

I may stick with Sanctis for this season and try to slowly work Samba in. I don't want to ruin what could be a class keeper in a few years.



Gabriel Iancu



Saving what I believe my best transfer of the Summer, Gabriel Iancu. My Romanian Coutinho. He will sit in the hole between midfield and attack and will hopefully pick the holes with his creativity and flair that will only get better.

I won't chuck him straight in the deep as I will try to work him in slowly but I believe once he gets his foot in the team it will be very hard to take him out. 6.5 million from Bucharest could very well be a steal.


So there you can see my policy of youth coming through loud and clear I just hope that the likes of Totti and De Rossi are enough to keep the young boys in check.

After sorting out the backroom it was time to trim the wage bill and thanks to a 10 million recoup on Bradley a decent transfer kitty too.

A few loans in there and a thankfully managed to let Sergio go who was on a fair chunk.

First order of business was to get a backroom that could turn this team into a well oiled machine. This meant a complete revamp from top to bottom.

Ooo South Africa, have had great and absolutely terrible times there!

Looking forward to this

banner was nicked from here

Amazing detail here, keep it up!

Awesome to see you back Dan, has given me some motivation to maybe start a save.

We managed to pick up a big win against Inter in the domestic cup thanks to 2 goals from Mish'an, and our reward a Semi Final against Milan.

Drawn against the Germans Schalke. Being honest coming second in the group it could have been worse. Schalke will not be easy but at least it isn't Barca.

Thats a huge gap between the top 2 and the rest!

OK so instead of doing lots of updates I have decided to play the first half of the season straight through.





As you can see our form has been very good over the first half of the season. Picking up only 2 losses in all competitions. Sadly one included a 5-0 spanking from Madrid.



However we have now drawn 4 games in a row in the League which has pushed us out to 5ht place and we ened to start turning them into wins before we drop away from the top. 8 draws already is not good enough.





As predicted we managed to qualify with ease but Madrid stormed the group and we couldn't touch them. Although a 1-0 victory against them at home gives us hope that we can match the giants of European football.





Finally a 1-0 win against Genoa was enough to see us through to the Quarter Finals of the TIM Cup.


Now were are past the halfway mark I will update more regularly.

A fantastic start to the season sees us pick up the first Trophy of the season. A massive 4-0 win against Palermo with Mish'an pixking up from where he left off.

A strong group again and this time we are faced with the other Spanish giants. Qualification should be fine but first place will be hard.

Miro Barac



First up was making sure we had a decent back up striker to rotate when needed and develop well. Wonderkid Barac was the choice. The 19 year old German has some cracking stats and with all the games we will be playing will get a fair bit of game time.


Theo Mercier



With Colin coming in last season we have a strong centre back pairing but they are a bit of a miss match. We have strong ball playing centre halves but no aggressive stoppers to compliment the other. I am hoping with some training Mercier will develop into that other half.


Augusto Almeida



Finally! After over a year of searching I have finally found a decent young attacking full back. Almeida has awesome stats and they will only get better as he will be thrust into first team action as I am very light on full backs.

Nothing huge here. A few players going out on frees. Crescenzi I would have liked to stay as he was a decent left back who would have done a job when needed but he wanted 75k a week and at 30 years old and not a superstar I am not going to be paying that.

We managed to get 10 million for Pardo. Again a decent central midfielder when needed but coming to his last year and just about to pass the 30 mark 10 million and 55k off the wage bill would do me.

As stated in the previous post after a couple of seasons of football I wanted to have a look at how my top players are progressing.

Eli Mish'an



First up is the boy who can not stop scoring. Funnily enough his stats are nothing to scream about. It is his pace, agility and acceleration that get him into the positions he finds himself to be the poacher he needs to be. His finishing amazingly has actually dropped since we first signed him. If his composure and finishing get better he will be one of the best in the world but he still has a lot of training to do.


Fibien Sheta



I remember when I first bought Sheta I new he would develop into the star he is now. He had the raw stats but most importantly he had huge mental attributes which would help him make that step up. he is now one of the best midfielders in the game and at 22 he will only get better. All the stats that are required as an advanced playmaker are amazing. He seems to notch a few goals too so if we can work on his finishing maybe he will knock in a few more.


Xavi



The unsung hero of every team. The engine of the team. He would be equally as good at centre back but I feel he would be wasted there. He has the talents that make him amazing at stopping play but he then has the stats to get us on the front foot again. He is the perfect mix of centre half and pass master. We just need to stop those silly injuries and get his natural fitness up.

So comes the end to a fantastic season. We pipped Inter to the title on goal difference and win it for the second season running. We were so close to the final of the TIM Cup only to be beaten in the semi's on Penalties, and we some how managed to get to the Final of the Champions League but we just didn't have the talent to beat the Catalan giants.

Mish'an again was the shining light scoring 45 goals in 48 games. What stats they are! Sheta is turning into a monster of an attacking midfielder. Both of which I will post there screenies. Xavi is the rock in the middle although he did pick up to injuries this season hoping that doesn't persist, and Captain Rugani was the heart at the defence once again.

Sounds good dude. Dortmund have such a strong young squad that if you make the right signings they are European monsters after a few years.

Not much more I can say. What a man.

So after a ridiculous season we win the League on the final day of the season and now we somehow have made it to the Champiions League Final. We have done amazing to get here and would be proud no matter what but would love to get that win.





Unfortunately it just was not meant to be. We gave them to much respect and it took a 2-0 deficit for us to wake up and realise we were in the final. We gave it a good go in the last 15 but it was too little to late by then. Rugani pulled one back but it was never enough in the end.

As well as we did to get to the final I felt we were a little bit out of our league and we are not quite there yet, but this has been a fantastic campaign and has given us the hope and desire to go and win it soon enough!

We did draw our final game of the season. i risked leaving Mish'an and a couple others out. had them on the bench just incase but they were not needed thankfully Inter didn't win 10-0 and we retain the League for the second year running!

Just the small matter of a Champions League match against Barca now...

It just all seems to be going our way this season. An 89th minute Penalty was enough to see us win the crucial match. Mish'an had the stones to hold his nerve and slot away the Pen.

This puts us 2 points clear of Inter with the last match to play. A draw would be enough unless Inter win by 10+ goals.

The Champions League has taken its toll on this thin squad and we have dropped a few points mainly due to silly draws. Thankfully we have had 2 massive wins in the last 2 games. Especially the game against Bologna thanks to an 88th minute winner that if not would have put us 4 points behind Inter.




We are now just 1 point off Inter at the top and with 2 games to play it is tense stuff and just to top it off our next match.




Of course it is the title decider against Inter. Not mathematically but you would put your house on the winner of the match winning the League.

One of the midfield Trio will miss the rest of the season run in and the Champions League Final...

This means that a retiring, 37 year old Daniele De Rossi will step up and play his last games in football which will include 4 massive league games and a Champions League Final against Barca. Written in the stars?

Going into this match knowing it could go very wrong I was abit wary of the first leg result. Taking a 2-1 lead to Lorient meaning they have that vital away goal to play with.

Thankfully we finished strongly in France and thanks to goals from Mish'an and Rugani we progress to the FINAL of the Champions League after only getting back inot the competition this year.

We will be playing the Catalan giants, but you never know, anything can happen on the night...