FM Dynasty - Hungarian Nights, Balmazújvárosi Days - Now with U.S. Sassuolo

[Abe Sargent]

That was Berardi’s 250th league appearance!
That’s a few shut outs in a row, by the by.

I promote from my U20 squad Matteo Maffezzoli 21 years old DC and 21 year old DM/MC Alessio Acquafresca.

I transfer list 22 year old Simone Franchini



Serie Game #8 – Home vs Bari – I begin controlling, so I’ll lose badly…

Notes

10th Minute – Politano crosses nasilty to Babacar for goal
HALF – Close in stats. Don’t get complacent!
51st Minute – They score of an IFK
Marchizza for Acerbi; Dickmann for a carded Lirola
72nd Minute – They score off a counter – I move to attacking
Garcia for Ferrari

We cannot score and lose 1-2 to a relegation favorite.

[Abe Sargent]

Serie Game #9 – Away vs Fiorentina – I begin countering,

Notes

17th Minute – Cross by FB Lirola to Babacar for goal
40th Minute – On a counter, Politano feeds Babacar for goal
HALF
Marchezza for Ferrari; Garcia for a carded Acerbi; Sensi for Vicente
Berardi a late card as well as Matsuidi

We win 2-0, MOM is Babacar

[Abe Sargent]

Serie Game #10 – Home vs Genoa – I begin controlling

Notes

They get a card in the 2nd minute
HALF – I’m far from pleased….
Leandrinhino for Berardi; Sensi for Pires; Marchizza for Ferrari
Matuidi a late card
We tie 0-0. MOM is Leandrinhio

[Abe Sargent]

Now let’s look at the Serie A table after 10

https://i.ibb.co/B34dx3b/Balmaz-120.png

Here is everyone after 10. As you can see, our 5 wins and 3 ties has given us 18 points for a solid 6th, which is where I’d hope I’d be after Season 1, in the last guaranteed EURO spot. Not bad, and we finished 11th last year, so we are playing well thus far.

Now, let’s do a deep dive of my starting 11 after 10 since all of these players are new to me

GK Karius – 6.88 rating, 6 shuts out
DC Acerbi – 6.93
DC Ferrari - 6.97
DR Lirola – 7.33 rating, nice
DL Clyne – 6.97 rating

My defenders, save for Lirola, are all with high 6s.

DMC Matudi – 7.07 rating
MC Vicente – 7.12, 1 assist
MC Pires – 7.27, 1 asst

Our three central middles all have solid 7+ ratings. Pires is very nice.

AMR Berardi – 7.20, 3 goals, 4 asst
AML Politano – 7.23, 2 goals, 3 asst
ST Babacar – 7.65 rating, 9 goals, 2 asst

Good stuff from my attack as well.

As a reminder, I inherited Acerbi, Ferrari, Lirola, Brardi, Politano and Babacar.

[Abe Sargent]

November

2nd – Away vs AC Milan
8th – Home vs Juventus
21st – Away vs Napoli
28th – Home vs Empoli

Good Training – Vicente

I talk to my board and…

https://i.ibb.co/vvMm0sD/Balmaz-121.png

We get new training facilities!

But not youth…



Serie Match #11 Away vs AC Milan – I begin countering.

Notes

HALF
49th – They score
57th Minute – Berardi feeds Babacar on a counter for goal to tie it
Sensi for a carded Matuidi; Garcia for Clyne; Bessa for Vincente
82nd Minute – Pires feeds an attacking Politano for goal – can we hold on to win?
84th Minute - They score on a counter

We tie 2-2. MOM is Politano

[Abe Sargent]

Matuidi is banned for the next match, Sensi will start

Serie Match #12 – Home vs Juventus – I begin countering

Notes

They are carded in the 3rd
Sensi an early card and I pull him for Bessa
HALF – Can I keep up a tie? We only have 3 fewer shots.
Leandrhino for Politano; Dickmann for Lirola
Dickmann a late card
0-0 tie. MOM is Clyne. I’ll take it

[Abe Sargent]

Serie Match #13 – Away vs Napoli – I begin countering again

Notes

4th Minute – Pires feeds Politano for goal! Nice start
21st Minute – They tie it
29th Minute – On an IFK, Politano feeds Acerbi to score
35th Minute – Babcar’s header hits Berardi for goal and we’re up 3-1
38th Minute – Pires sinks a DFk. WOW
HALF – What do you say when you are up 4-1 away against Napoli? Nothing!
Marchizza for Ferarri; Fratessi for Vicente; Bessa for Matuidi
82nd Minute – Politano drives to the corner on a counter, crosses to Berardi for goal
87th Minute – Bessa feeds Babacar on an attack run, goal

We win…SIX TO ONE over the #2 team Napoli in their home! MOM is Berardi

See!

https://i.ibb.co/NTJkksY/Balmaz-122.png


Wow! And remember, I inherited this offense! Now sure I changed my tactics around those three to make them work from the default last yar, but…dang!

[Abe Sargent]

I find my new DMC that I can build up around 34 year old DMC. He;s a 16 year old Italian wonderkid who plays for Pescara named Francesco Arena. We have agreed to a 6 mill deal and 50% profit of next sale. Is he willing to come?

SIX of my players are named in Team of the Week!

Serie Game #14 – Home vs Empoli - I begin controlling

Notes

They have three cards in the first 17 minutes
21st Minute – Babacar heads the ball to Politano for goal.
HALF – Don’t get complacent
60th - Clyne scores on a corner kick

We win 2-0, MOM is Clyne



December

December 3 – Away vs Bari, Cup
December 7 – Away vs Bologna
December 13 – Home vs Udinese
December 20 – Away vs Lasio
December 27 – Home vs Palermo

Good Training – Vicente, Pires

[Abe Sargent]

Italian Cup – Away vs Bari – Countering, revenge!

Notes

13th Minute – Lirola feeds Politano on an attack run for goal
26th Minute – They tie back
HALF – We can still win this!
Marchizza for Acerbi; Berardi for Leaandrinhio; Sensi for Vicente
End of 90 minutes
92nd Minute – They gift me an OG. I’ll take it
Lirola a card
HALF
109th Minute – They score in a counter to tie things

PKs
They make theirs
Politano…is blocked!

They make theirs
Babacar sinks

They sink
Sensi…sinks

They hit
Marchizza…is blocked and they win and we are out of the Cup.

[Abe Sargent]

Arena joins with us in the winter break! That removes my major budget for the year at transfers

We are tied with Torino at 26 points with a game to go as we play last. If we win we’ll move cleanly into 5th by three points rather than being tied with them at 5th.

Serie Game #15 Away vs Bologna – I begin countering

Notes

Babacar an early card, I’ll leave him in
20th Minute – Berardi feeds Babacar for goal
HALF – Don’t get complacent!
I pull Lirola after a card for Dickmann; Politnao is carded, in goes Leandrinho
59th Minute – A bad clearance by Acerbi gives them goal
Marchezzi for Acerbi
Dickmann a card
85th Minute – They score off a rebound
Five minutes – we don’t score

We lose 1-2, and stay at 6th with Torino and that’s our third Serie A loss this year

[Abe Sargent]

I pull Franchini off my transfer list since he’s trained at the club.

The 18.5 mill we spent this year is a record for the club, we previously spent 13.75


Serie A Game #16 – Home vs Udinese – I begin controlling – vengeance!!!

Notes

They get a card in the 3rd minute and another in the 16th another in the 37th
42nd Minute – They score off a corner
HALF – Show me something else!
47th Minute – They get a double booking. I move my 11 vs 10
52nd Minute – Lirola feeds Politano for goal
61st Minute – Berardi to Babacar for goal
66th Minute – Pires to Matsudi for goal
Sensi for a carded Matsuidi; Marchizza for Ferarri; Garcia for Clyde
We hold and win 3-1 and MOM is Lirola

[Abe Sargent]

Torino lost and we are now solely in 5th.


Serie A Game #17 – Away vs Lasio – I begin countering

Notes

We injure one of their middies
13thMinute – They injure Babacar in the box and Berardi…sinks the PK
35th Minute - They score off a rebound
I pull Pirola after he s carded for Dickmann
HALF – Not bad…
Christieg for Ckyder, card by Babacar and Berardi
90th Minute – Chiristieg from Babacar for goal
We win 2-1 narrowly, MOM is on their team

[Abe Sargent]

Lirola is suspended for the next match Dickmann starts for him

Serie A Game #18 – Home vs Palermo – they are 1st in the league, and we begin standard – vengeance!

Notes

Dickmann an early card, I send in…Garcia and swap him and Clyde.
17th Minute - Vicente feeds Berardi for a goal on an attack run
19th Minute – Acerbi to Babacar on a corner kick
31st Minute – Garcia gives up a PK and they…sink it
I injure one of their players and they head off
HALF – Don’t get complacent
47th Minute – They score a long shot and tie it
52nd Minute – They get a red card on a professional foul on Babacar
Marchizza for Ferrari; Leandrinho for Politano
2-2 tie against the top team in the league I’ll take – MOM is on their team

[Abe Sargent]

Replace Dickmann with Lirola

Here’s the Standings after the Halfway mark:

https://i.ibb.co/JBJV0Kz/Balmaz-123.png

As you can see, after our tie, we are in 5th by one point over Torino, but 4 under Inter at 4th.

[Abe Sargent]

Babacar came in 2nd in African Striker of the Year!


January

3rd – Away at Perugia
10th – Away at Sampdoria
24th – Home vs Torino
31st – Away at Atalanta

Good training – Vicente and Pires


The Transfer window lifts

Here’s Arena


https://i.ibb.co/RyMHgmr/Balmaz-124.png

As you can see, this guy has a nice work rate and he’ll be my big backup behind Matuidi. I move him to my subs.

I link up Sensi and Arena.

[Abe Sargent]

I confirm my season expectations of Top Half although o get 2 more mill transfer most and 75k per week if I go to EURO.

I check to see if any new people are free that I want to bring in for free. Nope.

Serie Game #19 – Away at Perugia – I begin countering

Notes
They get a card in the 3rd minute
Pires a card in the 12th and I send in Sensi
Clyne a card, Garcia in
HALF – Show me something else
60th Minute – IFK, Ferrari to Lirola
66th Minute – Berardi sinks a PK
We hold and win 2-0 MOM is Berardi

[Abe Sargent]

At the Winter Break, Balmaz is currently…6th….weird

They got rid of GK Rimniceanu to the subs, MC Vicente obv, ST Dodoi, German defenders Kempf and Diekmeier, their starters they retained are Ross, Jung, Rodriguez, Dinga, Mendes,they moved to DC already on the team Safar, Allison, Barker and Baranowski.


Lazio are interested in my backup GK. We agree to 850k

Serie Game #20 – Away at Sampdoria – I begin countering. This is Babacar’s 125th game for us!

Notes

Lirola a card and I send in Dickmann
HALF – Nope!
58th – they score offside
Leandrinho for Politano
Sensi for Vincente
0-0 tie. They had 18 shots and we shut them down. MOM is on their team

[Abe Sargent]

Inter lost to Juve so we gained a point on them.

My Head of Youth Development has made an offer to bring in Jacob Baranowski, for 1 mill, which is accepted, not sure what he’s doing…

Luckily my Head of Youth Development ends at the end of the year.

Maybe he made an offer because he was on my short list?

We sell our backup GK and now I need to look for a replacement

Let’s start with free GKs from the EU.

None are free that I care about, and none that I like to develop for free with a hot prospect deal How about non-Eu? Nope. What about EU’s transfer listed for a mill or less? I make an offer at 230k for Spanish Andrés Prieto from Malaga.We agree to a backup offer for 2 years.

Baranowski joins, I send him on a detailed Italian course. He’s a hot prospect with a 5.5k/week contract.

Wanna see my new backup GK?
https://i.ibb.co/yq80t1z/Balmaz-125.png


Here you go! As you can see the dude is 2.5 stars just like y old backup.

Matuidi bagged his coaching license

Karius with 11 shuts out has tied the club record.

Do I accept an offer from Inter for Ferrari? For 3.5 mill now and 1.4 mill in installments and 1.5 after 50 games. Meh. I was probably going to move on from the guy at the end of the year, but he has rated 6.90 with 20 league games with 11 shuts out. He’s only 3 stars. Can I find a good replacement?

I pull the 50 games 1.5 and raise the installments to 2.6 and counter. They accept. That will give me time to find a replacement.

[Abe Sargent]

How about DC Pedro Bigas Spanish, 30, transfer listed asking price is 350k. I scout him.

How about DC Italtian 30 year old Nicola Rigoni? He is transfer listed for… 1.1 mill

I offer to Bigas. He’s a backup in the Spanish league I’m sure he’d be happy with a rotation deal here.

Inter tied Atalanta

Serie game #21 – Home vs Torino - This is a big one! I start countering because even though I’m home I don’t trust myself. I hand Prieto 22

Notes

We injure one of their fullbacks
HALF – Okay, we have 6 shots to their 8
60th Minute – Berardi drives the corner on a counter and crosses to Politano for goal
62nd Minute – They get a second booking,
Leandrinhio for Babacar
67th Minute – They score off a counter
Marchizza for Ferrari
Garcia for Acerbi
5 Minutes – Can we score?
94:51 mark – Politano feeds Pires for goal!!!

We hold and win 2-1!!! MOM is Pires

[Abe Sargent]

That win moves us up to 4th, with 40 points tied with Napoli but we beat them 6-1 so we have the tie breaker. Napoli lost to Juventus.


Bigas agrees to my rotation offer

We sell Ferrari.

The 21.5 mill in fees we got on the transfer market sets a new high, our previous high was 15.5

Bigas joins us


https://i.ibb.co/WcBmS1v/Balmaz-126.png

Here he is. He is a patch until we can find a better starter, he’s fine in stats like marking and heading and tackling. We only have him for a year and a half.

[Abe Sargent]

https://i.ibb.co/znbypGV/Balmaz-127.png


We have put some distance between us and Torino at 6th with 7 points between us.


Inter lost to Napoli.

Matuidi is studying another coaching coarse.

Serie Game #22 – Away vs Atalanta – They are back at 19th but Ill be countering still. I have Bigas number 19 – big rain

Notes

7th Minute – Off a corner kick, Pires feeds Matsuidi for goal
35th Minute – Berardi to Politano on an attack run for goal.
HALF – Nice!
60th Minute – Babacar and Berardi back and forth and Babacar scores
I send in Leandranho, Sensi and Garcia
We hold and win 3-0, MOM is Politano.

On his debut, Bigas had a shut out, and a 7.70 rating!

That is a record 12 shut outs for the team

[Abe Sargent]

That win moves us into 3rd

February

1st – Window Closes
7th – Home vs Inter
14th – Home vs Cremonsa
21st - Away vs Cagliari

Good training – Vicente, Pires

Transfer Deadline Arrives –

It passes quietly for us

Serie Match #23 – Home vs Inter – This is a big one. We begin countering. Vengeance!

Notes

I pull a booked Lirola for Dickmann
28th Minute – They score
HALF – Show me something else
Arena for Matuidi; Leandrinho for Babacar – I move to control
2 Minutes – Can we score?
We lose 1-0. They had 15 shots to our 12. We were swept by Inter so if we are tied in points they will have the higher ranking


That loss dropped us to 4th and Inter 3rd - we are tied with Napoli at 5th with points.

[Abe Sargent]

Serie Game #24 – Home vs Cremonese – they are 19th, I begin controlling

Notes

21st Minute – Vincente connects with a long shot by Berardi
46th Minute – Corner kick, Vicente intercepts a tackle and scores another long shot
HALF – Don’t get complacent!
48th Minute – They score on a counter
76th Minute – Pires a long shot from Vicente that rifles off the GK for goal
79th Minute – They score on a corner – that’s 3-2 will they tie?
93rd Minute -Berardi scores a PK.
We win 4-2 and MOM is Vicente

[Abe Sargent]

Vincente wants to negotiate a new deal and I agree. I make him a first team offer four 4 years.

Serie Game #25 – Away vs Cagliari - I begin countering – they are 17th but I still will want to be professional

Notes

14th Minute – They score off a long shot
HALF – Nope
Garcia for Clyne
66th Minute – Pires to Matsudi ties it!
Leandrinho for Babacar
Marchezzi for Bigas
6 Minutes – Can we score?
Nope, we tie 1-1 and dropped points against the top talent against a 17 team

Matuidi is MOM

[Abe Sargent]

Here is the table after 25

https://i.ibb.co/YZ2w3rF/Balmaz-128.png

Juve just moved into first for the first time this season, and we are still 4th but dropped points against Napoli.

Vicente signed his new first team deal for 4 years that pays him 14/kweek – he has risen to 3.5 stars and Pires to 4 stars

Serie Game #26 – Home vs Roma – I begin standard, they are 8th so I won’t open with controlling

Notes

HALF – That was a fast half. No one has any shots on target.
48th Minute – Politano intercepts the ball and feeds Babacar for goal
I ease back to counter
62nd Minute – Our goal is called offsides
Ricci for Berardi
Sensi for Vicente
Marchizza for Bigas
4 Minutes – can we hold? We do and win 1-0. Another shut out. MOM is Clyne

[Abe Sargent]

I make a million from an old deal that had 50 starts

Napoli lose to Lazio

March

7th – Away vs Bari
14th – Home vs Florintino
20th – Away vs Genoa

Good Training – Pires, Vicente, Arena

We have a new intake of youth players!

https://i.ibb.co/y0q381L/Balmaz-129.png

Any wonderkids or potential studs? I start with Tarabelloni. He has a work rate of17 but just a 3 start potential. Anyone else that jumps out?

Not really. Any amazing wonderkids that I might want to put on my shortlist?

[Abe Sargent]

A few on major teams like a stud GK for Napoli and DC for Juventus that won’t come here or a stud DL for Juve.

Serie Game #27 – Away vs Bari – I begin countering for the team we are 0-2 against. Vengeance!

Notes

27th Minute – Berardi intercepts a ball and scores
HALF – Don’t get complacent - we have 13 shots to their 1
Marchizza for Bigas; Leandrinho for Babacar; Arena for Matsuidi
5 Minutes – Can we hold on?
92nd Minute – They score an equalizer
1-1 tie, another dropping of points

Bari are our Kryptonite.

[Abe Sargent]

Juve lost to Sampdoria 2-0. That opens up the top for Palermo again. They win 3-2 over Empoli and move back in first.

Serie Game – #28 – Home vs Florintino – I begin controlling, it’s driving rain

Rules

21st Minute – They score
Garcia for a booked Clyne
Dickmann for a carded Lirola
41st Minute – Berardi feeds Politano for goal.
HALF – Nope – they have just two shots, one on target
Garcia a card, I send in… Marchizza and swap him with Bigas
1-1 tie. Dropping more points.

[Abe Sargent]

Napoli won and pulled two points closer.

Serie Game #29 – Away vs Genoa – I begin countering.

42nd Minute – Politano feeds Babacar for goal on a throw in
HALF – Don’t get complacent!
Arena for Matuidi
65th Minute – They foul Pires in the box and Berardi steps up and…it’s blocked! Uh oh
Ricci for Berardi
Sensi for Vicente
4 Minutes – Can we hold? Yup, wee win 1-0, MOM is on their team

Napoli won 4-0 and Inter at 3 won so they still are 4 points above us

[Abe Sargent]

I offer to extend Matuidi by a year whose deal was just a one year patch, and Marchizza and a few hot prospects.

April

4th – Home vs AC Milan
11th – Away vs Juventus
17th – Home vs Napoli
21st – Home vs Empoli
25th – Home vs Bologna

Good training – Vicente and Pires

I offer Berardi a new deal. He’s playing at a 7.25 rating and he’s one of my homegrown players at the club.

Napoli and Inter won

Matuidi signs

Serie Game #30 – Home vs AC Milan – I begin standarding

Notes

29th Minute – They score
HALF – Show me something else!
Marchizza for Bigas; Sensi for Vicente; Garcia for Acerbi
5 Minutes – Can we tie?
94th Minute – Sensi gives up a PK which…Karius blocks!

We lose 0-1. That’s our first loss in a while

[Abe Sargent]

Here’s the table after 30!

https://i.ibb.co/T8MWM5Q/Balmaz-130.png

As you can see, Palermo is still at the top spot, and we only have three points that separate us and Napoli from 4th in Champions and 5th for EURO, and we have back to back games against Juve and Napoli coming which means we might not hold that for long. Inter has moved well in front of us. There are 8 games left!

[Abe Sargent]

Marchizza signs

Berardi signs 4 years for 89k/week.

Inter defeated our Nemesis 2-0 Bari

Serie A Game #31 – Away vs Juve – Uh oh, I begin countering. We tied them at home 2-2 earlier this year. This is Acerbi’s 250th league appearance

Notes

35th Minute – They score
Card for Matuidi
Half – I send in Arena – we have 7 shots to their 9
Dickmann for a carded Lirola
60th Minute – They get a red card!
Marchizza for Bigas
Card for Dickmann
4 Minutes
93rd Minute – They score on a corner kick

We lose 0-2, another shut out by us.

[Abe Sargent]

Napoli won and we are now tied.

Serie Game #32 – Home vs Napoli – I begin standarding, if we lose we drop from 4th to 5th by 3 points. If we tie or win we remain in 4th in a Champion’s spot.

Notes

We injure one of their middies they stay in
45th Minute – They score off a counter on this first shot on target
HALF – Nope! I have 7 shots to their 6
48th Minute – They score again
Leandrinho for a carded Babacar
We have our first shot on target in the 61st
Sensi for Vicente
73rd Minute – They get a red card, I push forward – come on let’s at least score one goal…
Garcia for Bigas
Pires a card
4 Minutes…Game we are shut out three games in a row and lose 0-2.
Napoli jumps past us into 4th.

[Abe Sargent]

Three losses in a row suck – especially when we were doing so well…

Torino in 6th catching up with us lost as well. We are still 5 points up on them, and 7 on 7th with 6 games left.

Palermo defeated Inter to remain in 1st 1-0



Serie A Game #33 – Away at Empoli – I begin countering – can we get back to our winning ways? Will we score again?

Notes

HALF – We have 9 shots 6 on target to their 5 and 2.
Marzchizza for Bigas; Leandrinho for Babacar; Sensi for Vincente
4 Minutes…

We tie 0-0 another shut out by my offense and defense. MOM is on their team

I move Marchezzi to start for Bigas for a few games

We now have 3 ties and 3 losses in the last 6 games, and have gone 6 games in arow without a win

Palermo, Juve, and Napoli all won.

[Abe Sargent]

Serie A Game #34 – Home vs Bologna – I begin standarding – vengeance!

Notes

Leandrinho for a carded Babacar
HALF – Nope!
47th Minute – Politano drives a corner and crosses to Leandrinho for goal – we won’t be shut out today!
Garcia for Marchezzi, Sensi for Vicente
3 Minutes can we hold on? We can! We win 1-0, MOM is Politano

Inter won

Ready for the top table with 4 games left?


https://i.ibb.co/Vqg70YY/Balmaz-131.png


This is with a game left that got pushed back by the Italian cup by Inter, AC Milan, Roma and Fiorentina. As you can see, we are very comfortably in 5th with Napoli up 5 points in 4th and Sampdoria down 4 points in 6th. Palermo lost and Juve tied against Roma since the last showing and they are now just one game apart.

[Abe Sargent]

May

2nd – Away vs Udinese
9th – Home vs Lazio
16th – Away vs Palermo
23 – Home vs Perugia

Good training – Arena, Berardi, Vicente

Serie A Game #35 – Away vs Udinese – I begin countering

Notes

1:28 – Matuidi feeds Vincente for goal -that’s our earliest score in this campaign thus far
Card by Matuidi, Arena heads in
HALF – We each have 4 shots – don’t get complacent
Garcia for abooked Clyne
62nd Minute – A double booking for them, I push forward
Ricci for Berardi
81st Minute – IFK – Politano to Acerbi, goal
4 Minutes – can we hold?

We win 2-0. Tha’ts our third straight shut out in a row and my first multi-goal win in a long time, see?



https://i.ibb.co/SrKghvx/Balmaz-132.png

Vincente is MOM! Three games left.

We qualify for the EURO!

[Abe Sargent]

Napoli won

Clyne is banned for the next match and Garcia will start for him

Baranowski and Derbali are called up for the U20 World Cup

I move up two players from the U20 squad that are now 21 - Alessandro Tripaldelli plays DL and has 2 stars and Giacomo Satalino who plays Gk and is 2 stars

Serie A Game #36 – Home vs Lazio – We begin standard

Notes

43rd Minute – They score off the crossbar
HALF – Nope – I move to control, they only have 3 shots and one on target but we only have 5
60th Minute – They intercept a pass by Berardi and score
Dickmann for Lirola; Arena for Matuidi; Berardi is injured and I send in Riccci for him
5 Minutes – Can we score and keep another shut out? Nope

We lose 0-2

Napoli tied

I return Clyne to start

Berardi is out for two weeks and will miss the rest of the season, Ricci will start for him

Palermo won and Juve tied.

[Abe Sargent]

Babacar is called up by Senegal; Arena and Vicente are called up by Italy and Spain respectively for the Euro U21.

Juve tied Genoa; Napoli won.

Serie A Game #37 – Away at Palermo – Uh Oh. I begin defensively. We tied the league leaders at home earlier this season. Woodshed time! If we win Palermo will still be #1 with the Juve tie.

Notes

29th minute – Norbert Balogh, on my Hungary National Squad, scores
HALF – No thanks
Dickmann for Ricci; Arena for Matuidi; Garcia for a carded Lirola
3 Minutes – Can we score late?
We lose 0-1, MOM is Balogh. Well good for him I suppose. Anyways, we lose close, but I hate two more shuts out of my O and losses in a row.
Good Effort!!!

Palermo have won the Serie A!

[Abe Sargent]

With just one point between us and Sampdoria at 6 we could fall, but we are locked into no less than 6th and EURO.

Italian Cup Final

Napoli
Vs
Juventus

Napoli wins 2-0. Nice! That means Juve didn’t win the Serie A or the Cup

Uh oh…our owner announces his retirement…

Lirola is suspended for this match and I’ll start Dickmann

Series A Game #38 – Home vs #20 Perugia – I begin controlling – this is Politano’s 200th game for us

Notes

7th Minute – Politano feeds Babacar for goal in a nasty cross – that’s his first goal in games
15th Minute – They score back. Uh oh
Ricci an early card and I send in Pierini for him
Dickmann an early card, I send in Garcia
25th Minute – They score again
Garcia a card – Bigas heads in
Clyne a card
HALF – That was a busy half
Matuidi a card
Pierini a card
59th Minute – They score again on an DFK
Acerbi a card
We lose 3-1, seven cards! Wow. That’s a game we won’t speak of again

Final table

https://i.ibb.co/c2zXPDJ/Balmaz-134.png

We backed into 5th but I wanted to get to the EUROs in year 1 and we did. Good job Palermo! Roma finishes in EURO and Torino isn’t in.

[Abe Sargent]

First Team Overview

I will be ranking these 1-3.

GK Karius – 27 years, German, 6.91 rating, 16 clean sheets in Serie A, 3.5 stars, 2 – I brought him in and he started fast with 6 shut outs in 10 games, but then he faded and had a lot of games down the stretch where he was just okay and allowed goals with just a few shots on target.

DC Acerbi – 33 years old 3 star rating, 6.97 rating, one year left on deal – 2 - I inherited Acerbi and my goal is to replace him and Ferrari’s spot, but I might only be able to find one space

DC Bigas – 31 years old, 3 star rating, 6.67, 1 – looking actively to replace him

DR Lirola – 23 years old, 3.5 stars, 7.14 rating, 3 – he played well and he’s a homegrown player at the Club

DL Clyne – 30 years old, 3.5 stars, 6.94 rating – 2 – he was fine, but he takes up a precious non-EU spot on my roster

DMC Matuidi – 1/3 – 34 years old, 3.5 stars, 7.02 rating, 4 goals 1 assst, singed for another year already have Arena to replace

MC Vicente – 20 years old, 3, 3.5 stars and growing, 3 goals, 3 asssit, 7.05 rating

MC Pires – 19 years old, 3, 4 stars and growing, 3 goals, 6 assist, 7.20 rating 3 - solid

AML Politano – 27 years old, 3.5 star rating, 7.26 rating, 9 goals 13 assist – 3 solid

AMR Berardi – 26 – Homegrown player, 4 stars, 3 - no desire to move from him.12 goals, 11 ass, 7.13

ST Babacar – 28, 3.5 stars, 7.05 rating, 18 goals 5 assist, 2 – Older, but was fine


Politano was my highest rated player, and Pires right behind

[Abe Sargent]

5th is the highest we’ve ever been, our previous high was 6th

Karius was 3rd best GK in the Series

Stats

Politanos 5 MOMs were tied for 7th most

Dist Covered – Pires 1st, Politano 2nd, Vicente 7th
Dis Cover/90 – Politano 5th
Politano 7th with rating; Pires 16th best
Headers Won – Acerbi 9th
Goals – Babacar tied for 5th
Avg Min per Goal – Babacar 9th
Shots – Babacar 5th
Shots on Target – Babacar 10th
On Target % - Politano 6th
Asst – Politano 3rd; Berardi 7th
Key Passes – Babacar 4th, Politano 5th
Chances Created – Politano 3rd
Pass Completio – Vicente 3rd, Matudi 8th
Drib/Game – Politano 5th
Key Headers Acerbi 9th
Shots Blocked – Pires 9th
Shutouts – Karius 3rd
Saves Held – Karius 4th


We scored 56 goals and were tied with Juve for 5th most
We allowed 33 and were 3rd best

[Abe Sargent]

Our initial budget next year is 945k and 15.71 transfer

https://i.ibb.co/hcnLv1K/Balmaz-135.png

End of Season Awards. You can see the players Team of the Year, their fav (Politano, Berardi and Pires) their goal of the season and the signing of the year which is Pires’s.

I hold my End of the Year meeting and tell them we’ll get EURO again

Let’s head to Austria for training camp!

The players complain to me about a bad locker room feeling, I hold a meeting

Matsuidi bags another coaching license

[Abe Sargent]

My Goals


Year One
1. Get to a place where I can threaten for a EURO spot in 5-7. Just getting 6th would increase our table ranking by 5. DONE
Year Two
2. Earn qualification for the EURO DONE
3. Do some serious damage in the EURO as a Italian squad
4. Get a Champion’s qual spot in 4-1
5. Do some damage in the Champion’s league
6. Win a cup
7. Win Serie A

We only need more consistency to rise from #5 to #4.

[Chas in Cinti]

So glad to see this back... We needed a sports sim dynasty again!

[Abe Sargent]

This were my new additions to the Senior Squad and key additions to U20 and u18

I sold three starters, an MC Alfred Duncan that was rated 3.5 for 10 mill before I brought in replacements and DC Ferrari rated 2.5 for 5 mill in January, and GK Andrea for 1.4 mill after I brought in Karius, and Ondrej Duda a rotation 2.5 stars for 3.2 mill, and my backup GK was sold in Winter

I purchased these players to start:

GK Karius – 6 mill from Liverpool
MC Jose Vicente – 2.5 mill, Balmaz, wonderkid, started
MC Pires – 1 mill from Braga, wonderkid, started
DC Farfan – 2.9 mill from Atletico National, wonderkid, loaned to Roma for the year, started, had a 6.79 rating non EU from Columbia he was capped this year

These players were added for free

DMC Matuidi
DL Clyne
DR Mathias, 17 years old, on my U18 squad, Belgium, 1.5 stars, 4.5 star rating, wonderkid but low work rate.

Winter
DMC Arena – 6 mill from Pescara, wonderkid, sub future starter
DC Bigas – 350k rotation, 3 stars
DM/M/AM C Baronowski – 1 mill from Balmaz, on my U20 team, 2 stars, 4.5 star potential
Backup GK Pries – 2.5 stars, 230k

Ideally I want to find more Pires’s to build my squad around – 1 mill, 7.20 rating, 4 stars and growing, but that might be overkill.

[Abe Sargent]

So glad to see this back... We needed a sports sim dynasty again!

You know it!!!

[Abe Sargent]

Homegrown Players at Our Team Update

Here are my current Homegrown Players at our Team we need 4 of to make our team

Starters:

Lirola
Berardi

Rotation/Backups

MC Franchini – 1.5 stars
DC Erlic – 1.5 stars



Hot Prospects/Youngsters

AM RL Pierini – 2 stars
ST Cappa – 2 stars
DC/MC - Alessio Acquafresca – 1.5 stars
DC Matteo Maffezzoli – 1.5 stars
MC/DM Davide Frattesi – 1.5 stars

I need to keep these in my Senior Squad.

[Abe Sargent]

Ideally, here is what I am looking for for my next Squad:

Every starter having at least 3.5 stars (this would preclude Acerbi and Bigas) and all of my key subs being 3 stars. That’s true for Sensi at MC (3 stars) and Acerbi/Bigas if I dropped them but these key subs are not 3 stars:

Garcia – 2.5 stars
Dickmann – 2.5 stars
Marchezzi – 2.5 stars
Ricci – 2.5 stars

And then my loanee at AMRLST Leandrinho is heading home.

That means I need to bring in:

Striker backup better than 2 stars
AMLR better than Ricci
DR/L backup better than Garcia and Dickmann

At DC Farfan is sitting at 3.5 stars, but I was unable to add him to my squad, so I loaned him out for a year. There is nothing that says you can only have one non-EU player in your team, but this is my first time in Italy and their rules are pretty byzantine for an EU nation.

https://i.ibb.co/ZTkXhqX/Balmaz-136.png


No where does it mention EU players.

Ideally many of my sub additions will be Italian so that we’ll be at 8 in the country.

[Abe Sargent]

Let’s start by looking at players coming free in a month

I scout DL/C Spanish Mario Hermoso for a rotation deal
I scout DR/DC Italian Kevin Bonifazi for a rotation deal
I scout ST French Enzo Crivelli for a rotation deal

No AML/R are good enough to scout up.

What about transfer listed?

None at ST for a backup; I have some that would be around Babacar level of ability
There is a decent non-Italy EU wingers. I make a 1.2 mill offer to Belgian AM RL Theo Bongonda.

I make an offer for Crivelli and Hermoso for rotation deals

Theo will join us at the transfer window!

[Abe Sargent]

Hermoso will join us

Arena enjoyed his link up with Sensi

https://i.ibb.co/rsZTB55/Balmaz-137.png

Whoa! Napoli failed to qualify for the Champions Cup due to financial regularities so we get their spot! I don;t know how to massage that with my goals...

Criveli joins us.

I decline an offer for Karius.

No changes in the 3rd rating in Serie A after Spain and Englerland.

We made 11.5 mill last year – helped by me being almost 100k under the salary

I decline more offers for Karius

No pushback

I extend a bunch of staff but I’ll let my AssMan go I don’t like him that much

Baranowski made it to the Finals for Germany

AS Monaco have made a large offer for Karius – 10 mill, 4 mill than we spent for him…I’ll still reject it, but I’m tempted

I select my squad for Vienna’s training camp

[Abe Sargent]

June 30th is here

We received 38.7 mill in TV rights

Our youth team is promoted

https://i.ibb.co/Z1ZdKH4/Balmaz-138.png

Check out this fun thing. As you can see I cannot transfer more than one nonEU player this upcoming year and they are ineligible for play unless they are 5 international matches in their career or called up twice recently.

Loans end

Ricci’s deal ends

https://i.ibb.co/5T9pkpR/Balmaz-139.png

Contracts about to expire next year, obviously the big ones are Babacar.

Tons of raises happen.

I am able to register Farfan so hopefully he can start for me.

Goodbye June!

[Abe Sargent]

July 1st

I set up 5 friendlies with Swiss teams

Let’s look at Theo!


https://i.ibb.co/VTLQ5VR/Balmaz-140.png


As you can see, Theo is a 3 star, rotation, 25 year old Belgian with 20k for three years. He’s well rounded and should be good coverage for Berardi or Politano. I bought him for 1.2 mill from Southampton. Good stuff! Welcome to the club! Bongonda is also Gabon.

[Abe Sargent]

Here is my new ST

https://i.ibb.co/LRs4kxc/Balmaz-142.png

As you can see, he is a 3 star, 26 year old, rotation, ST from France. He is at 19.5k/year for three years. Good stuff!

https://i.ibb.co/BPhZLG6/Balmaz-141.png

This is my new DC/L Mario Hermoso and as you can see, he’s very well rounded, here for three years, at 27.5k/week and looks fine as FB, he’s rated 2.5 stars, but I think his stats are better than that.

[Abe Sargent]

My new board agree to improve my youth facilities which the old one rejected

https://i.ibb.co/H7FQSw6/Balmaz-144.png

My new AssMa is good at attacking (4 star) so I fire my attacking coach and then hire another GK coach - René Stam from Holland

Willian Borges da Silva heads home to Brazil

No one has been knocking down Mesut Özil so he now is willing, but his starting range in salary is 200k which I cannot come close too, our starting salary is 115k.

I cut my transfer fee by 10 mill and add it to salary. We make him an offer at 175k.

Politano comes to me asking for a new deal so I accept. I make him an offer

Erlic wants to leave, but he’s one of my key homegrown at the club so I tell him no.

How about 32 year old José Paulo Bezerra Maciel Júnior? He’s Brazilian and Spanish so he’s EU. I am looking for another DC and he’s not good at it he’s a better MC, so nope.

Turkey and Germany’s Ömer Toprak? 31 years old, plays DC, he has bids from 12 clubs so we won’t persuade him. I make him an offer for 110k and we’ll see what happens

[Abe Sargent]

Ozil joins us!

https://i.ibb.co/3MJcsGt/Balmaz-145.png

We need more goals, we finished tied with Juve for 5th most goals, and had lots of shuts out, and my offensive players I inherited I cannot really l move they are too good, so I am trying to move an MC to an AMC. I slide Vicente to hot prospect and move to AMC in my tactics. I also register Ozil. This is also just a two year deal in case it fails.

[Abe Sargent]

Pires wants an improved deal and I Agree and offer it.

Politano’s new deal is 4 years for 90k which is a big increase than the 55k he was at.

I get an offer for over 10 mill for Lirola but I cannot accept it

I loan a player to one of my old teams, Sepsi OSK

I agree to a Testimonial with Villareal for a former player of ours named Mario

My DC is heading to Span for 25k less. Dumb.

Now I need to find a new DC on the transfer market

What about 18 year old DC Sascha Guerrina who plays for Genoa? He’s a first team with them so I doubt he’d want to come over. I reach out to them and see what we can negotiate, since it seems like he is an Italian wonderkid.

As a backup, how about Spain’s 18 year old Marcos Rubio? I make an offer to his team Real Madrid.

How about Austria’s Tom Novak? He’ll be another backup.

Pires’s new deal pays him 35k/week a big increase from his 5.5k/week.

Friendly #1 – Home vs Young Boys – We win 6-2. MOM is Babacar

We sign Rubio for 8 mill – he’s currently on duty over at Spain. He wanted a bigger salary by far and first team action.

https://i.ibb.co/HGPCsrL/Balmaz-146.png


Here you go. As you see it’s a first team deal for a big 35k/week, and that’s like 10x more than he was making, and he’s not on their youth squad anymore. He’s just 18, will start at DC, and will grew just like a Pires or Vicente. I also don’t need to register him since he’s U21.

[Abe Sargent]

The transfer window is now mostly done, we brought in three subs and two starters. Good stuff!

I sell a few youthers

Friendly #2 – Vs Luzern – We win 3-1, MOM is Berardi

Baranowski and Rubio return from their international gaming

I get a loan offer from AC Milan for first team for Vicente, do I do so to continue his growth? Since I replaced him in the first team with Ozil and moved his spot to an AMC, he would be my key replacement for just Pires, I accept it

Good bye July

August

8th – Friendly vs Basel
11th Friendly vs Villareal
15th – Fr vs Sion
22nd – Home vs Cagliari, Serie A Debut
29th – Away vs Empoli

Good training - Bessa, Christig, Acerbi

I confirm my pitch sizes

I loan a backup player to Roma

I promote 4 from my U20 squad

Vicente heads out

I loan ST Cappa who is my 3rd best ST and a homegrown player

I loan Marchizza

I give Ozil his requested 10, and hand out jerseys

I loan Garcia out to Empoli with the idea of them buying him for 1.7 mill after

I reject loan offers for my GK

I accept a first team loan offer for Baronowski

Friendly #3 – Vs Basel - we win 3-1, MOM was Theo Bongonda

We sold 7k season tickets

I link up Arena and Matuidi

Leandrinho was blocked from trying to come back to us on loan from his club Napoli and he had a major falling out with his coach.

Testimonial – Vs Villareal – 1-1 tie for helping out Mario, Ozil with our only goal.

Friendly #4 – Vs Sion – We win 4-0, MOM is Berardi

I name Berardi my captain again and Matuidi my vice since Acerbi isn’t starting anymore

[Abe Sargent]

My transfer kitty is down to 4 mill

I massage my set pieces with my new arrivals

Dickmann is suspended from last season

Serie Game #1 – Home vs Cagliari – I begin controlling Let’s kick this thang off right!

Notes

Rubio a card, I pull him for Acerbi
HALF – Hmpf
Bongonda for Berardi
Lirola a card and I send in Bigas
I move to attacking
86th Minute - Politano leaps on a blocked shot and score
Matuidi a late card
We win 1-0, MOM is Ozil with a 7.9 rating

https://i.ibb.co/dpfWNmL/Balmaz-147.png


My first win of season 2!

[Abe Sargent]

Dickmann returns to my sub list.

We make 12.75 mill for making the Group Stage of the Champions Cup

The Group Draw Happens – We are seeded 4th

Group D

Man Utd
AS Monaco
Ajax
Us

Wow, not easy that

Acerbi and his group have dropped their locker room concerns. That’s nice. Maybe Mesut Ozil cleared it up.

Farfan is called up

Serie A Game #2 – Away vs Empoli - I begin countering.

Notes

Berardi an early card, Bongonda heads in
Bongonda a card – uh oh
HALF – Quiet, we had lots of shots and a few nasty ones on target.
Arena for Matuidi
69th Minute – Politano feeds Babacar for goal
72nd Minute – Bongonda feeds Politano for another goal
Hermoso for Rubio
Pires a late card
5 Minutes – can we hold and get back to back shut outs? Yup! MOM is Politano

[Abe Sargent]

Transfer Deadline

Finishes with a few more loans of ours heading out

September

11th – Home vs Salerno
14th – Away at Ajax
18th – Away at Inter
22th – Home vs Roma
25th – Away at Ascoli
29th – Home vs Man Utd

Good training – Pires, Arena

Matuidi is now an Italian citizen

Champion’s Cup Reg

[Abe Sargent]

We are 33-1 odds of winning the Champions League which I’ve only done in one of my dynasties once, with Nacional da Madeira in Portugal.

Serie A Game #3 - Home vs Salernitana – Our foes are recently promoted fun times. I begin controlling. Hello Baranowski!

Notes

Lirola carded in the 41st – Dickmann heads in
HALF – We have 8 shots to their 1 but just 1 on target
47th Minute – Pires feeds Ozil for goal.
Acerbi for Farfan
65th Minute – They score off a counter
69th Minute – Clyne feeds Babacar for goal
Arena for Matsuidi
We hold and win 2-1, MOM is Clyne

[Abe Sargent]

Champions Group D Game #1 – Away vs Ajax – I begin countering

Notes

7th Minute – They score
13th Minute – They score again
21st Minute – Ozil feeds Politano for goal
25th Minute – Ozil feeds Babacar on a counter to tie it!


https://i.ibb.co/Tt4ytzV/Balmaz-148.png


Wow this game has been crazy so far!

HALF – Can we steal points from Ajax on the road? We have 5 shots to their 10, but 4 on target to their 3
Politano a card – Bongonda heads in
Acerbi for Farfan
67th minute – They break the tie with a goal. Can we steal it back?
Hermoso for Clyne
4 Minutes – we lose 3-2. MOM is on their team

[Abe Sargent]

Only two teams, us and Juve, are 3-0-0.

Matuidi starts another coaching class

Serie A Game #4 – Away vs Inter – Could this be our first loss this year? I stay countering.

Notes

Lirola a card, I send in Dickmann
HALF – That was a rough half they have 12 shots to our 1 – I’ll be shocked if the 0-0 result stands.
Clyne a card and Hermoso replaces him
Arena for Matuidi
4 Minutes – Can we hold? We hold and tie 0-0. They had 26 shots to our 5. MOM is on their team.

[Abe Sargent]

Serie A Game #5 – Home vs Roma – I begin standard

Notes

HALF – Show me something else
Acerbi for Farfan
We injure their fullback
61st Minute – Politano feeds Barardi on a counter
Crivelli for Babacar
70th Minute – Politano targets Crivelli for goal and that’s his first goal for us.
Hermoso for a carded Clyne
4 Minutes…
94th Minute – Politano feeds Babacar for another goal!
We hold and thump Roma 3-0!

Wanna see?

https://i.ibb.co/f1HpDWS/Balmaz-149.png

You got it baby! Berardi is MOM. Good win, and this is 4 shuts out in five games.

[Abe Sargent]

Serie A Game #6 – Away at Ascoli – I begin countering – hello Marchizza!

Notes

We are in weird blue kits. Yuck. Give me back the black and green kits.

7th Minute – They score on a loop over our GK who came out to block it.
Farfan an early card I send in Acerbi
38th Minute – Pires feeds Ozil for goal to tie it.
HALF – Hmpf
Bigas for Rubio
66th Minute – They score off a corner
Crivelli for Babacar
4 Minutes – can we tie? Nope, we lose 1-2. That’s our first loss of the year

[Abe Sargent]

Champions Group D Game #2 – Home vs Man Utd - I begin standard

Notes

We are back in black and green
They an early card
32nd Minute – Politano hits wonderkid DC Rubio for goal on a long IFK. We are up 1-0

https://i.ibb.co/zV06gnJ/Balmaz-150.png

I doubt that lasts…
HALF – Okay. Don’t get complacent!
48th Minute – Ozil feeds Poltano for goal on a counter…

https://i.ibb.co/TMSX5X5/Balmaz-151.png

I still don’t think this result lasts…

Arena for Matuidi; Bongonda for Berardi; Crivelli for Babacar
4 Minutes…We shut out Man Utd! MOM is Rubio

We made 1.5 mill for the win

That puts us right back into this thing. Oh, our youth team thumped them 5-0. Monaco beat Ajax and now everyone has 3 points.

[Abe Sargent]

That was a record attendance and gate receipts at almost 350k. And we won!

October

Oct 3rd – Home vs Sampdoria
Oct 16 – Away vs Torino
Oct 20th - Away vs Monaco
Oct 24th – Home vs Atalanta
Oct 27th – Away vs Palermo
Oct 30th – Home vs Bologna

Good training – Politano, Carrichi, Arena

Arena has risen to 2.5 stars from 1.5 last year.

Series A Game #7 – Home vs Sampdoria – I begin controlling

Notes

HALF – Quiet, show me something else
Crivelli for Babacar, Bongonda for Berardi - I move to attacking
Sensi for Pires
Matuidi a card
5 Minutes – Can we score?
Farfan a card. Game, we tie 0-0. MOM is Matuidi with a 7.6 rating.

[Abe Sargent]

Rubio has risen to 3.5 stars

Serie A Game #8 – Away at Torino - I begin countering - this is Babacar’s 150th appearance for us

Notes

They get a card in the 1st
I pull Farfan for Acerbi after he is carded
22nd Minute – They score
Clyne for HErmoso after a card
Arena for a carded Matuidi
I tell my lads to stay on their feet
HALF – Show me something else!
62nd Minute – They get a double yellow. Can we get a result in 30 minutes?
Arena a card
82nd Minute – Off a corner, Politano feeds Rubio for goal to tie it
84th Minute – Babacar crosses to Berardi for goal, we have broken the tie!
85th Minute – Poltano feeds Berardi for goal!
4 Minutes…we win 3-1 = MOM is Berardi.

I know you want to see this crazy comeback!!!


https://i.ibb.co/SKQ1cw8/Balmaz-152.png

I got ya! The guy who scored for them is our loanee to them so we scored all goals in this game.

[Abe Sargent]

Babacar’s rating is 6.48, he is not doing well right now

Champion’s Group D Game #3 – Away as AS Monaco I begin countering. If I can get points away from them when we all have 3 points, that would really help.

Notes

Pires a card, in heads Sensi
Berardi a card and I send in Bongonda
Clyne is injured but I leave him in
Lirola a card and Dickmann heads in
HALF – We have 7 shots to their 10
65th Minute - They score
Three Minute – Can we score and equalize? Nope, we lose a close one 1-0.

[Abe Sargent]

Babacar’s goal drought is now making the news and I’m getting asking questions in news conferences about it.

Serie A Game #9 – Home vs Atalanta – I begin controlling.

Notes – it’s driving rain, today is Fan Day!

9th Minute – Ozil feeds Clyne for goal
Farfan is carded and Acerbi heads in
41st Minute – They score
Pires a card Sensi heads in
HALF – Nope
51st Minute – Politano feeds Berardi for goal
I send in Dickmann for a carded Lirola
We hold and win 2-1, MOM is Politano

[Abe Sargent]

Babacar compared to Crivelli

https://i.ibb.co/bLCjdNp/Balmaz-153.png

As you can see, Crivelli in green is better at mental, def, aerial and they are tied for vision and worse at speed, physical, tech, and attacking. I did;t sign the Frenchman to be a starter, but a backup, but I a thinking about giving him some time in the sun here soon.

Serie Game A #10 – Away vs Palermo – Last year’s winner but 11th right now, so I am countering – vengeance!

Notes

They get an early card and then another
27th Minute – They score
Dickmann for a carded Lirola
HALf – Wow
Clyne pulled for Hermoso
64th Minute – They score again
Dickmann is injured and I send in Bigas
83rd Minute – They score again

We lose a harsh 3-0. That’s our first loss of more than 1 goal this year even in the Champions League.

Dickmann is out for a few weeks

[Abe Sargent]

Here is the Serie A after 10 games

https://i.ibb.co/HTgY4h3/Balmaz-154.png

That loss moved us into 3rd. Last year we were 5-3-2 this year 6-2-2. But we are still playing down to bit talent.

Serie Game #11 – Home vs Bologna – I begin standard – can we get back to our winning ways?

Notes

21st Minute – Berardi hits Rubio on a corner kick for goal!
W injure their DC and they replace him
HALF – Don’t get complacent, we only have a set piece goal
50th Minute – They get a double booking
Crivelli for Babacar who is 6.3
Acerbi for Farfan
We hold and win just 1-0, a bit sad in my attacking, we had 13 shots, but just one on target, but I’ll take any win and a shut out at that right now

I move Crivelli into starting.

[Abe Sargent]

November

2nd – Home vs Monaco
7th – Away at Napoli
20th – Away at AC Milan
24th – Home vs Ajax
28th – Home vs Lazio

Good training – Rubio, Arena, Pires


Champions Group D Game #4 – Home vs AS Monaco – I begin standardly = If I can win this match I’ll dial myself back into the race

Notes

17th Minute – They score off a DFK
We injure their MCL and they head out
34th Minute – They score again
39th Minute – They score again
HALF – We have one shot to their 9, but they only have 4 on target – this is the first time my D has not shown up
Hermoso for Clyne
57th – They score again
64th Minute _ Crivelli scores after intercepting the goal a great solo strike, so we won’t be shut out
Babacar for Ozil
76th Minute – A long shot by Lirola sinks to bring us to 2-4
Arena for Matsuidi
4 Minutes – Can we score again? Game, we lose by two.

[Abe Sargent]

11 players are called up

Serie A Game #12 – Away at Beater Napoli – I begin countering this was our biggest win last year a 6-1 thumping, but I’ll take any positive result. Vengeance!

Notes

Clyne is carded and I send in Hermoso
18th Minute – They score
44th Minute – Politano feds Rubio for goal in an IFK
HALF – Okay.
I pull Crivelli for Babacar
60th Minute – Berardi scores
Babacar a card
Arena after Matudi gets ccard
4 minutes, can we hold and win 2:1? Nope they score in the 9oth minute, we tie them 2-2

[Abe Sargent]

Farfan asks for a new deal and I agree and offer him one

Dickmann is back from his injury

Serie A Game #13 – Away at AC Milan – This is a big game as they are 3rd and us 2nd, and they are just 2 points behind us, so if we lose then they’ll cross into 2nd. I begin countering again. Hello Vincente!

Notes

We injure their MR
Lirola a card I send in Dickmann
HALF – Okay! I doubt this will stand they have 65% possession and 10 shots. A tie will keep us in 2nd
Bongonda for a 6.2 Berari; Hermoso for a carded Clyne
Theo a card
Politano a late card
4 Minutes – can we steal a win that we didn’t deserve? Can we hold them to a shutout?
92nd Minute – On a corner Crivelli’s header hits Farfan’s leg for goal!
Wow we stole that game:

https://i.ibb.co/fkdh3wL/Balmaz-155.png

Ozil is MOM, 12 shots 5 on target 43% possession, 4 yellow cards, 13 fouls, that was not the good stuff. But we stole it and I’ll take it.

[Abe Sargent]

Farfan signs his new deal paying him 28k/week and 4 years

Champions Group D Game #5 – Home vs Ajax – I begin standarding

Notes

HALF – Quiet, we had 5 shots to their 3
49th Minute – Berardi pounces on a rebound and shoot and score
Acerbi for Farfan; Arena for Matsuidi
Babacar for Crevelli at 6.5
3 minutes – can we hold and win?

https://i.ibb.co/h8QYT1g/Balmaz-156.png

We hold and win 1-0 over Ajax – good shut out and win! MOM is Berardi

We win 1.5 mill

Now you want to see something really crazy?

https://i.ibb.co/kXcYWdS/Balmaz-157.png

We are tied for 6 points with Ajax and Man Utd. That means we could, with one game left, qualify. But…it’s away at Man Utd. If I can tie Man Utd and ASM beats Ajax, we would play extra time tied I GD right? And then PKs if I recall correctly, I’ve never had that happen before. But a win against Man Utd and we are in if Monaco is professional.

[Abe Sargent]

Lirola is suspended

Serie A Game #14 – Home vs Lazio – I begin standarding – vengeance!

Notes

20th Minute – They score called offsides
22nd Minute – They score off a corner
HALF
Hermoso for Dickmann
65th – They foul Politano in the box – Berardi sinks the PK
Bongonda for Politano
Arena for Matuidi
Pires a card – I head to attacking
88th Minute – Berardi feeds Crivelli on a counter after they had a corner and scores. I ease back to counter.
5 Minutes- Can we hold? We they score?
93rd Minute – Berardi feeds Bongonda for goal!
We hold and win 3-1

Wanna see?

https://i.ibb.co/FJXMZCK/Balmaz-158.png

They did very well, but we would have won even without the PK.

Lazio fired their manager!

Return Lirola to my main starters

[Abe Sargent]

December

4th – Away at Udinese
7th – Away at Man Utd
12th – Home vs our Kryptonite Bari
15th – Atalanta, Cup
19th – Away at Genoa
26th – Home vs Juventus

Good training – Pires and Arena

Hermoso can now speak fluent Italian


Serie A Game #15 – Away at Udinese - I begin countering. This team bought Leandrinho, so he is starting.

Notes

Farfan is carded and Acerbi heads in
26th Minute – They score
HALF – Nope!
49th Minute – Berardi feeds Politano for goal to tie things up
We injure Leandrinho and he heads out, sorry!
Babacar for a 6.5 Crivelli; Bigas for Rubio
Pires a late card
5 Minutes - Will one of us break the tie?
94th Minute – Babacar feeds Berardi for goal!
We win 2-1, MOM is Berardi!

[Abe Sargent]

Farfan is banned

Here’s the table

https://i.ibb.co/tLwKbVx/Balmaz-159.png

This is the league with 15 games played save for Milan and Lazio. AS you can see, even if our chasers win there is 5 points between us. Good stuff! There’s also just 3 points between us and Juventus.

[Abe Sargent]

Champions League Group D Game #6 – Away at Man Utd. Rough rain This is likely woodshed time…

Notes

We injure one of their players early
25th Minute – On a counter, Politano drives the corner and crosses to Crivelli’s head for goal!

https://i.ibb.co/9y6HQcH/Balmaz-160.png

I doubt that lasts…they already have 11 shots by the 25th minute to our 2

33rd Minute – That didn’t last long. They tie it.
46th Minute – We give up a PK and they sink it. We cannot give up set piece scores against big bads. Although, to be fair, that’s my first Penalty this year
HALF – Nope!
Acerbi for Rubio
Hermoso for Clyne
69th – They score again and that’s probably out of reach to tie
Babacar for Ozil
78th – They score off a corner
Card for Lirola and Hermoso
Game. They dominated us in goals 4-1, shots 36 to 5, possession 57%, etc


We are out of the Champion's League. I think one of the issues here was that we had Napoli's #4 seed, but if we finish 2nd after Juve, I think we might have something to play around with next year since I think we'd be a #2 seed. This is why I had hoped we would have been in the EURO this year, we don't have talent for Champions League yet, we were spanked by Man Utd, couldn't get anything close to done against Monaco, and we are still the 2nd best team in Serie A, so we should be showing up more against teams like Monaco the 2nd best team from a league that is ranked lower than us in Serie A. Ah well...musings for next year.

[Abe Sargent]

One of my loaness hasn’t played at all given his first team status I talked to his manager and he will give him some first team starts.

Serie A Game #16 – Home vs Bari – I begin standard. Vengeance!

They swept me and knocked me out of the Cup last year. I’ll play gentle this year.

Notes

15th Minute – They score – Bari you suck!
36th Minute - They score off a corner kick. Bari you suckx2!
Babacar for a booked Crivelli
45th Minute – We on a counter Ozil drives the corner, feeds Babacar on an attacking run who slides to Berardi for goal and now we are down by one.
HALF – Nope, show me something else!
Bongonda for a 6.3 Politano;
Bongonda is injured I send in Pierini – I slide to control
Clyne a late card and he’ll miss next match
Lirola a late card
Berardi a late card
4 Minutes – can we salvage a tie?
That’s our third loss of the year. Bari you suckx3!

Replace Farfan and Clyne

[Abe Sargent]

We are now in the EURO – we draw Sporting from Portugal in the First Knockout Leg. Doable.

Italian Cup Round 1, Home vs Atalanta – I begin controlling

Notes

Dickmann an early card I send in Hermoso for him.
Clyne an early card;) I can’t swap another FB for him so I tell him to ease up
20th Minute- Berardi feeds Politano on an attacking run for goal
41st Minute – They get a double booking.
HALF – Don’t get complacent
Acerbi for a carded Rubio; Arena for Matuidi
Pires a card
82nd Minute – They score an equalizer off a counter
4 Minute s- Can we break the tie?
Farfan a card
Extra Time
HALF
One of their players is injured and we are now up 11-9
Pires a second yellow and it’s 11-10
Hermoso a card
PKs

We go first

Berardi steps up and…sinks it
They makes theirs and tie it

Politano steps up and….sinks it again
They hit us back

Arena is next and…the wonderkid sinks it!
They tie

Ozil steps up and…drills it!
They step up and…our GK guesses right and stops it!

If Crivelli can sink this we win! And….nope they block it
They sink and tie it 4-4

We are down to Farfan…he…makes it, good job kid!
They step up and…miss! We are through 5-4!

https://i.ibb.co/KqDR6LQ/Balmaz-161.png

Wow!

[Abe Sargent]

Pires is banned for a match

Next is…Inter, uh oh; but at home, not as bad

Serie A Game #17 – Away vs Genoa - begin countering, Hermoso is starting for Clyne – it’s rough rain today.

Notes

Berardi a card and Bongonda heads in – that’s his 5th
HALF – Quiet
Babacar for a 6.3 Crivelli
71st Minute – We score, offsides
Sensi for Pires
76th Minute – Babacar feeds Bongonda for goal! Good job subs!
Here they come!
Politano late card
5 Minutes – an we hold a shut out one goal lead? Yup! MOM is Ozil

[Abe Sargent]

Clyne is back

Napoli offer a job interview, but no thanks!

Serie A Game #18 – Home vs Juventus – The big bad. I begin standardly – vengeance!

Notes

Bongonda for a carded Berardi
I ease to counter they have 6 shots in the first 15 minutes
HALF – I’d take a tie here.
Babacar for a 6.3 Crivelli
Acerbi for Farfan
80th Minute – They score – can we respond?
82nd Minute They score again
We lose 0-2, they had 22 shots to our 4

[Abe Sargent]

https://i.ibb.co/KrSVFwh/Balmaz-162.png

I make some offers to a few players like hot prospects but not Babacar, Acerbi or Matsuidi


Pires is suspended for this match

Italian Cup, QF – Home vs Inter – I begin standardly

Notes

21st Minute - They have a corner kick, Ozil drives down the counter and feeds Politnao who drives the corner and crosses to Berardi for goal.
HALF – Tight match, we each have 6 shots, 8 fouls, and 50% possession. Don’t get complacent.
Babacar for a 6.5 Crivelli
Acerbi for Farfan
Hermoso for a tired Clyne
4 Minutes can we hold?

https://i.ibb.co/nMdnpKZ/Balmaz-163.png


Game, we win!

Return Pires

[Abe Sargent]

Bongonda will start for a banned Berardi

We get Udinese in the Semi Final

That was our first win against Inter.

I offer to extend my deal

January

2nd – Away vs Novara
3rd – Transfer Raise
9th – Away at Caglia
22nd – Home vs Empoli
30th – Away at Salernitana

Good training – Arena, Rubio

I sign a 4 year deal at 12.5k/week

Serie A Game #19 – Away at Novara – I begin countering – the halfway point!

Notes

Politano an early card..Dickmann for him
HALF – We have three more shots, 2 fewer fouls, 55% of possession but a blank game. Show me something else!
Babacar for a 6.4 Crivelli
Clyne booked I send in Hermoso
4 Minutes
94th Minute – Dickmann feeds Babacar for goal, that’s his first goal in 17 games. Good job subs!

Return Berardi and Pires, I left Sensi in.

We hold and win 1-0, Ozil is MOM.


The Table after 19


https://i.ibb.co/FnTRtvP/Balmaz-164.png


As you can see, we are in 2nd by a full three points over AC Milan and a big 7 points behind Juve. We are 12-3-4 in the first 19. Good stuff!

[Abe Sargent]

The next question I need to deal with…who is going to be my ST moving forward?

Babacar in 12 starts and 5 subs in Serie A, 6.74 rating, 3 goals, 6 assist

Crivellii in 7 starts and 5 subs, 6.72 rating, 2 goals, 1 assist

Neither are doing well. For a team in the 2nd spot, normally your ST would have a massive great rating.

Ozil – 7.19
Berardi – 7.21
Politano – 7.14

See?

Now, the transfer window has lifted and I have…5.3 mill in kitty. I could bring in someone now to start and grab the best one. Who is available for 5 or fewer mill? Note that many starters and future starters were more than 5 (Karius 6 mill, Arena 6 mill, Rubio - 8 mill) but if there is a cheaper option I’d be all over it.

I begin searching for EU national STs that are transfer listed.

Mariano Díaz Mejía over at OL? He is coming free at the end of the next 6 months so I could just sign the 28 year old now. He’s the best that is available on the TL list…

Check out the comparison

https://i.ibb.co/fdr2D93/Balmaz-165.png

Mariano is green to Babacar’s blue. Babacar is better at defend physical, vision and tech, and Mariano is better at mental and aerial and they are tied at speed and attacking. Not someone that is that much better than Babacar. Babacar is probably the same quality of player.

The next best one is 27 year old English/Irish Nathan Redmond. I scout him out.

Alright, what about players that are wonderkids that I could bring in and develop that cost 5 mill or fewer. None that are listed obviously but any that we might want to bring over?

I found a great potential 17 year old Belgian St named Tristan Hamon inn Belgium but the starting offer is 74 mill.

Holland’s Robert Visser? Too pricey

Amadou Mamadou from Germany and Mali? Too expensive

Italy’s Axel Lascala? Nope Paolo Stefani? Nope

Hmmm…that’s not working. Bring in Mariano and see if he catches fire? Or do I look for a loaner? The best EU Loanee is nowhere near where I need to be.

[Abe Sargent]

There are no EU loaners that are good enough to play at this level. Mariano is probably just a 3 player.

How about if I open myself to non-EU players? Anyone that makes sense then? I haven’t brought in one yet, and if you’ll recall they need to be capped.

Nigerian/English 24 year old ST Tammy Abraham is for loan and is transfer listed for 4.7 mill and he is capped by England. I scout him. He’s a backup for Chelsea. He looks like he’d be three stars as well.

What about Norweigan and Morocccan 27 year old Mohammed Elyounoussi? He’s a transfer listed backup over at Man City. I scout him. He speaks a ton of languages not Italian though. His deal also ends at the end of the year.

https://i.ibb.co/8cMZK3J/Balmaz-166.png

Here he is compared to Babacar. As you can see, the 27 year old is better at mental, tech, vision but Babacar is better at aeriel, attacking physical and speed. Again, pretty close, likely another 3 star player.

Oh, looks like Crivelli has dropped to 2.5 stars

What about massively capped Cameroonian Vincent Aboubakar but he’s 29 so he’s be a patch

https://i.ibb.co/SRm4PH2/Balmaz-167.png

He is better attacking, menta, and Babacar is better aeriel, and then they are the same elsewhere, and they are pretty close in terms of value, likely another 3 star player, and he’s transfer listed for 6 mill so I need to bring them down.

Italy’s Andrea Petagna?

https://i.ibb.co/JFs2Kyg/Balmaz-168.png

He’s transfer listed but I think he’d be more than 5.3 mill, but he’s better than Babacar in loads of areas – mental by one, aeriel by 4, tech by one, vision by one and physical by 1. Good stuff. But Babacar is faster and attackingier. Petagna is a great target man my current Babacar is a poacher and adv. Forward. But he does have a finishing of 13 compared to Babacar’s 15, and he has 11 long shots to Babacar’s 15. Babacar last year was good, that’s all I need Babacar from last year.

What about Italy/Arg - Rodrigo De Paul? I scout him I don’t know enough to start.

What I could do is sign a ST coming free in 6 months and then stick with Babacar for the year.

[Abe Sargent]

30 year old Cédric Bakambu is coming free and he’s very similar to Babacar…

https://i.ibb.co/Vj23ggt/Balmaz-169.png

They are better at key things like attacking, tech mental, and Cedric is better at speed, and Babacar better at phys, aeriel, and vision and Cedric can play ad. Forward and poacher. He’s probably three stars. Actually, let’s look for wonderkids that aren’t EU. Can I find one?

I scout Argentina’s 19 year old Sebastián Ponce. I scout Brazil’s Ivan Barbosa Viana. England’s Michael Johnson?

What about 19 year old wonderkid Pepe Méndez who is playing for Middlebrough and worth just 775k. Could we bring him in?

We agree to 4.5 mill for Pepe Méndez. Is this my guy? Let’s find out!


 

[Abe Sargent]

https://i.ibb.co/sqRjgtp/Balmaz-170.png

We also had to agree to 20% of next sale, let’s take a look see at my newest Iberian Penin Wonderkid (Pires is from Portugal, Rubio from Spain). We had to agree to first team to bring him in. We are paying the 19 year old 13.25k/week. As you can see, this guy doesn’t have the bigger potential of some of the others, which might be why we were able to afford him. He’s got a nice finishing of 16, long shots of 13, his work rate of 15 is nice, and the 19 year old has been nicely developed.

https://i.ibb.co/7KqD2Dp/Balmaz-171.png

Our target man is better at everything from def to aerial to tech t vision, and Babacar is only faster a bit and attackier bit. I don’t need to register Mendez since he’s U21. We’ll start Mendez with his attacking TM role.

I move Babacar to rotation, Crivelli to backup

[Abe Sargent]

I also want to bring in another ST as rotation for next year after Babacar leaves, so I look over the ones ending in 6 months like Edison and I could bring in Edison or Cedric but they all want first team signings. Actually, Mariano from OL would do rotation.

I reject an offer for Farfan.

I finalize a deal for Mariano at rotation and he’ll be joining us from OL next year.

Our training facilities are being upgraded


Serie A Game #20 – Away at Cagliari – this is my 200th senior game – we begin countering, I am starting Mendez. I hand Mendez #11 jersey.

Notes

10th Minute – They gift us an OG. Berardi the assist
HALF – Don’t get complacent we have 58% of possession and 7 shots to their 6.
55th Minute – They get a double booking and we are up a man
56th Minute – Politano drives the corner and crosses to an attacking Berardi for goal
Babacar for Mendez
We injure one of their players and they head off
Acerbi for Farfan, Bessa for Pires
5 minutes – can we hold a shut-down?
Matudi a card
Clyne a card
We hold and win 2-0, MOM is Berardi

Good start for the next half of the season to kick off.

[Abe Sargent]

Cagliari just fired their manager.

278 minutes since Karius gave up a goal

Matudi is suspended and I’ll start Arena

I reject more offers for Farfan. I also reject an offer from Man City for my GK, no pushback from either

Acerbi has dropped to 2.5 star rating

Matuidi bags another coaching license

Serie A Game #21 – Home vs Empoli – I begin controlling. Bad weather today.

Notes

9th Minute – They foul us in the box and Berardi…sinks it!
12th Minute – On an IFK,Ozil feeds Rubio for goal
HALF – Don’t get complacent
Sensi for a banged up Pires
71st Minute – Berardi feeds Politano on a counter attack after their corner kick is turned aside.
Bongonda for a carded Politano; Acerbi for Farfan
We hold and win 3-0 – Rubio MOM

Return Matuidi

[Abe Sargent]

Another shut out!

I reject an offer for my backup GK, and I talk him down.

I go to the board for additional stuff:

https://i.ibb.co/yV8NGTj/Balmaz-172.png

https://i.ibb.co/sVL73hS/Balmaz-173.png


I reject another offer for my backup GK this time from Genoa.

Serie A Game #22 – Away vs Salernitana – I begin countering. This is Berardi’s 300th app for the team! Nasty rain. Hello Baranowski!

Notes

HALF – That was a quiet half, 7 total shots between us, 3 them 4 us, few fouls, no cards, etc Just play your game and we can win this!
47th Minute – They get a red card – that means they have us right where they want us because we do not play up when a man advantage
Arena for Matuidi; Acerbi for a carded Farfan
74th Minute – Politano feeds Mendoz for his first goal for us
They send in Baranowski
Hermoso for Clyne
83rd Minute - Baranowski assists them for goal – I move to attacking
See we play down when up a man
5 minutes – Can we break the tie?
Game, tie, 1-1, we drop points.

[Abe Sargent]

Transfer Window…

I get a loan offer from Torino for Crivelli. I would take this next year, but we don’t know how Mendez will play around with stuff yet, so I reject it.

Matuidi embraces another coaching class!

I decline an offer for Lirola

I get a 5 mill off for Hermoso from Valencia – he’s 3 star, backup DC/DR and he would be my main backup after Acerbi leaves us. Is there someone I could bring in who is coming free? Nope all of the ones that would join me in 6 months after Acerbi leaves with a 3 star rating would require at least a first team, so I decline.

No push back, oddly, figured he would.

I loan two players

Now I have a 10 mill offer for Hermoso from Valencia…I could take it and sign a DC that’s’ transfer listed. Anyone free? Hmm…I still say no, there aren’t any free 10 mill DCs that are good enough to have at least a 3 star rating.

It passes

February 2022 (Fun Month, right?)

2nd – Away at Udinese
6th – Home vs Inter
13th- Away at Roma
17th – Away at Sporting, EURO
21st – Home vs Ascoli
24th – Home vs Sporting, EURO
27th- Away at Sampdoria

Good training – Pires, Arena, Rubio

That's a BUSY month...

Lirola and Rubio in Team of the Month

[Abe Sargent]

Roma defeated Juve in the Semis 2-1

Italian Cup Semifinal – Away vs Udinese – I begin countering. Hello Leandrinho

Notes

They get two cards in the first 4 minutes
Hermoso for a booked Clyne
23rd Minute – Ozil feeds Berardi for goal
HALF – They have 8 shots to our 6, 51% possession, don’t get complacent!
Bongonda for a 6.3 Politano
Acerbi for Farfan
4 Minutes – Can we hold and win by a goal?

https://i.ibb.co/9T7VjLb/Balmaz-174.png

We win! They have MOM.

[Abe Sargent]

Arena loved his matchup with Matuidi who is down to 3 stars and Arena is up to three stars.

Here is the comparison for them:

https://i.ibb.co/TvgjMdR/Balmaz-175.png

Arena is blue, Matuidi is green. As you can see, Matuidi is better at def by 3, mental by 2, and attacking by 3, and Arena is better at aeriel by 3, tech by 2, speed by four and phys by 2. I thought about extending Matuidi another year, but I don’t think that’s needed. We’ll start Arena next year.

Here’s Arena after a year of development

https://i.ibb.co/sq3r3JW/Balmaz-176.png

He’s been mentored by Sensi and Matuidi nicely.

[Abe Sargent]

Serie A Game #23 – Home vs Inter – We lost to them last year, and away, but we beat them for the first team at half 1-0 in the Cup. Can we follow that up today? I begin standard. This is the first match of the new Inter manager, so my hope is that we send him home losing.

Notes

0:22 Lirola Feed Politano for goal!

https://i.ibb.co/X4sBGLJ/Balmaz-177.png

That might be our fasted ever scored goal, we’ll found out after the match.

They are starting two injured players.
Bongonda for a carded Berardi
HALF – Don’t get complacent! They make two subs
Acerbi for a carded Farfan; Sensi for Pires
Here they come hard, I ease back to counter
85th Minute – Driussi scores to tie it
3 Minutes – game, we tie 1-1. MOM is Lirola

[Abe Sargent]

Serie A Game #24 – Away at Roma – I begin countering – they are 4th in the Serie A, so this could be a bigger loss.

Notes

10th Minute – Berardi feeds Ozil for goal on a nicely built up attack
Lirola a card in the 46th
HALF – Don’t get complacent. I send in Hermoso
48th Minute – They tie it
Bongonda for an injured Berardi
Dickmann for Clyne
89th Minute – Farfan gets a yellow card giving up a penalty and…they sink it.
5 Minutes, can we tie it? Nope we lose 2-1.

[Abe Sargent]

EURO Leg #1, Away at Sporting – I begin countering, for the fans!

Notes

14th Minute – They score offsides
22nd Minute – Politano to Rubio, goal off corner!

https://i.ibb.co/W6nB4S6/Balmaz-178.png


Rubio has scored more than any of our Strikers.

27th Minute – Mendez’s header feeds Berardi for score!

https://i.ibb.co/VTZ1PWr/Balmaz-179.png

Nice it’s twice!

We injure their ST
Berardi a yellow card
HALF – Don’t get complacent
49th Minute – Berardi sinks a DFK. Now I pull him since going down 10-11 is our likely only way for them to get back. That’s his 100th goal for us
Sensi for Pires
69th Minute – They score a long shot for goal
71st Minute – Clyne scores an OG..
Hermoso for Clyne
78th Minute – They tie it
6 Minutes – we hold and tie them 3-3.

[Abe Sargent]

Serie A Game #25 – Home vs Ascoli – I begin controlling

Notes

8th Minute – Berardi’s DFK is on line, blocked, and rebounded and scored on by Mendez
31st Minute -Politano crosses to Mendez’s head for goal
HALF – Don’t get complacent
47th Minute – They gift us an OG, Ozil assist
I pull a carded Matuidi for Arena
52nd Minute – Politano again crosses to Mendez for goal. Hattrick!
Acerbi for Rubio with a card; Sensi for a tired Pires

We hold and win 4-0, MOM is Mendez

[Abe Sargent]

We have scored 7 goals in 4 days

EURO LEG #2 – Home vs Sporting – I begin standardly. Any 0-0, 1-1, or 2-2 tie and a win puts us through.

Notes

Hermoso in for a carded Farfan
20th Minute – Mendez feeds Politano for goal

https://i.ibb.co/Zccx5Xj/Balmaz-180.png

Nice!

40th Minute – Mendez feeds the other side, Berardi, with a goal

https://i.ibb.co/R689Bv8/Balmaz-181.png

Nicex2!

46th Minute – Once again Politano crosses to Mendez for goal

https://i.ibb.co/PZspbbw/Balmaz-182.png

We’ve scored 10 goals in the last week

HALF – I;m not saying anything that might screw this up…
49th Minute – Matuidi feeds Mendez for goal – I won’t keep showing you these goals
Arena for a carded Matuidi; Sensi for Pires
We hold and win 4-0! We shut out Sporting! MOM is Mendez

[Abe Sargent]

Serie A after 25 Games:

https://i.ibb.co/jktYNDy/Balmaz-183.png


As you can see, we are very close to AC Milan by 2 points but Roma down in 4th is a full 9 points back. Juve is really probably going to win this thang.

We draw Basel in the next EURO knockout leg

Serie Game #26 – Away at Sampdoria – I begin countering

Notes

6th Minute – On a counter Politano feeds Mendez’s head for goal! He has really warmed up the last few games.
14th Minute – A Mendez goal is ruled offsides
40th Minute – We have a IFK and the target is Mendez who passes the ball to Berardi for goal
45th Minute – Farfan to Ozil for goal on a corner kick
HALF – What do you say when up by three with two set piece goals?
Sensi for a carded Pires; Arena for a carded Matuidi; Bongonda for a carded Berardi
77th Minute – Rubio feeds Bongonda on an IFK
Can we hold for another 4-0 victory?
79th Minute – They foul Mendez in the box and up steps Politano but they block it.
We crush them on the road 4-0, our third straight 4-0 result, and MOM is Ozil

https://i.ibb.co/TBz1378/Balmaz-184.png

Big win!

[Abe Sargent]

March

2nd – Home vs Udinese – Semi’s 2nd Round – I guess that was just the first round we played earlier
6th – Home vs Torino
10th – Home vs Basel, EURO
13th – Away at Atalanta
17th – Away at Basel, EURO
21st – Home vs Palermo

Good training – Birardi, Pires, Arena

Lirola, Rubio, and Mendez in Team of the Month.


Clyne is suspended so I am starting Hermoso

Semi-Final 2nd Leg – Home vs Udinese – I begin controlling – we won 1-0 there so any tie or win sends through – hello Leandrinho!

Notes

Arena for a carded Matuidi
Sensi for a carded Pires
45th Minute – Leandrinho scores
HALF – Nope
Dickmann for a carded Hermoso
Sensi a card
73rd – Rubio is injured and we are down a man
Berardi a card
5 Minutes –
94th Minute – They score. We lose 1-2.



Roma won 1-0 so they’re through to the Final 3-1

Return Clyne

[Abe Sargent]

Poliano has dropped to 3.5 stars

Serie A Game #27 – Home vs Torino – I begin standarding.

Notes

7th Minute – Mendez feeds Politano for goal
Dickmann for a carded Lirola
34th Minute – Berardi feeds Mendez for goal
37th Minute – They score a nasty long shot to come one back
HALF - Don’t get complacent
Acerbi for Rubio;
Dickmann a card
65th Minute – They score on an DFK
71st Minute – Matuidi feeds Mendez for goal
Hermoso for Clyne
75th Minute- They get a red card so they’ll get a result
Four minutes – We hold and win 3-2, MOM is Mendez

[Abe Sargent]

https://i.ibb.co/0tKYMHj/Balmaz-185.png

Our new intakes of players arrives! I check out La Rosa.

https://i.ibb.co/zNZdX1B/Balmaz-186.png

Here, 17 work rate, 4-5 star future rating, 1.5 stars right now is a bit rough, but I get it.

I sign them after their youth game..

[Abe Sargent]

EURO Cup, Knockout Round, 1st Leg – Home vs Basel. I stick with standarding, I don’t want to overextend. I won’t give you score by score pics this time…

Notes

17th Minute – Matuidi feeds Politano for goal!
Sensi for a carded Pires
39th Minute – Berardi crosses to Mendez for goal
HALF – Don’t get complacent
Acerbi for Rubio; Bongonda for a tired Ozil
Sensi a late card
We hold and win 2-0. MOM is Matuidi

[Abe Sargent]

Pires is banned for the next match

AC Milan tied so if we win we’ll put more distance between us.

Serie A Game #28 – Away at Atalanta – I begin countering

Notes

24th Minute – Politano feeds Mendez for goal!
HALF – Don’t get complacent
Acerbi for Farfan, Arena for Matuidi, Bongonda for a tired Berardi.
5 minutes. Can we hole? Wo do and shut them out 1-.0. MOM is Mendez

[Abe Sargent]

Sensi is starting for Pires

9 players are called up

EURO CUP, Knockout Leg Round #2 – Away at Basel, I begin countering, we need any win, any tie, any 1 goal loss or any 2 goal loss where we score at least 1 goal. Let’s be pros.

Notes

16th Minute – Mendez scores on an IFK, but it’s called offsides
Sensi a card in the 43rd, I’ll pull him at the half for Arena
HALF – Don’t get complacent
Acerbi for a carded Rubio; Bongonda for a tired Ozil
3 Minutes of Stoppage Times –

https://i.ibb.co/1972jZL/Balmaz-187.png


We hold and win this leg 1-0 and 3-0 overall. MOM is Berardi. We are through to the QF.

Replace Pires

[Abe Sargent]

Pires was called up to the Portugal Senior squad.

I link up De Rosa at DC with Hermoso.

We draw Arsenal for the QF. Well, that was fun! The others in the QF are OM, Bournemouth, Wolfsburg, Barca, Liverpool and Hertha. I mean we could have drawn Barcelona…

AC Milan tied Atalanta 0-0 so we have a chance to make a bigger move on them

Serie A Game #29- Home vs Palermo - We lost to them earlier. I begin standard, and we are going to seek vengeance!

Notes

Acerbi for a carded Farfan
23rd Minute – They gift us an OG by the Sweeper.
30th Minute – They give a nasty foul to Matuidi and they are red carded. Down a goal? They’ll get a result now :).
37th Minute – Politano feeds Ozil for goal
HALF – Don’t get complacent, we’ve each scored a goal…:)
Sensi for a carded Pires
62nd Minute – They score off an IFK. See? We play down
Babacar for a 6.3 Mendez
We hold and win 2-1. See? Without the OG that was a 1-0 game before the card and a 1-1 tie after. We play down. MOM is Politano.

[Abe Sargent]

Vincente is capped by Spain – I congrat him!

Pires is capped by Portugal and I congrat him as well

April

3rd – Away at Bologna
7th – Away at Arsenal, EURO QF,Leg 1
11th – Home vs Napoli
14th - Home vs Arsenal, EURO QF, 2nd leg
17th – Home vs AC Milan
20th – Away at Lazio
24th – Home vs Udinese

Good training – Pires, Arena Rubio

Mendez named in Team of the Month


AC Milan lost to Palermo 2-1.

Pires is suspended and Sensi will start for him

Serie A Game #30 – Away at Bologna – I begin countering

Notes

7th Minute – Politano’s long IFK is intercepted by them, and then Farfan scrambles on the loose ball and scores
37th Minute – They tie
HALF – Show me something else! We only have one shot
Arena for a carded Sensi
68th Minute – They get a red card so they’ll win
Acerbi for Rubio; Bogonda for Politano
Arena a card
Lirola a card too
93rd Minute – Mendez feeds Bogonda for goal! Are we going to actually win a one man up that was tied? Wow that’ crazy.

We win 2-1, they have MOM. We have 4 shots to their 13


We grew up 3 points on Milan We’re at 30 wanna see?

https://i.ibb.co/r2cB7nh/Balmaz-188.png

Roma and Lazio each have a game in hand. As you can see, we have a big 9 points on AC Milan at 3rd, and yet a ton of points behind the big bad, so with 8 games left I see us finishing in 2nd pretty likely.

[Abe Sargent]

EURO QF 1st Leg Away vs Arsenal – I begin countering. Can I show up? We didn’t away at Man Utd where we let them score 4 goals to our 2. We tied Sporting away 3-3, lost to AS Monaco 1-0 and to Ajax 3-2, so our biggest away games haven’t had a positive result. Woodshed time? This is Ozil’s former club.

Notes

25th – They score
41st – They score again
HALF – They only have 4 shots on target…
Dickmann for a 6.4 Lirola; Bongonda for a 6.4 Politano; Babacar for Mendez
If we can hold and lose 0-2 then that does give us a 3 goal win at home which Ive had happen once
4 minutes – we….keep them from scoring.

[Abe Sargent]

Serie A Game #31 – Home vs Napoli. Uh oh. I begin standardly, deep rain

Notes

6th Minute – Berardi crosses to Mendez for goal
29th Minute – They hit us back
Hermoso for a carded Farfan
HALF – The stats have been close
48th Minute – Corner kick, Politano feeds Hermoso for goal – that breaks the tie
We injure one of their players
Arena for Matuidi; Dickmann for Lirola
Four Minutes – Can we hold?
92nd Minute – They tie, we tie them 2-2.

[Abe Sargent]

We have qualified for the EURO next year.

EURO QF, 2nd Leg Home vs Arsenal – I begin standardly, vengeance! Can we get a miracle and win at least 3? We did beat Man Utd 2-0 at home and Sporting 4-0. But I doubt it – this is the end of my EURO campaign.

Notes

They are really coming…
43rd Minute – Off a counter, Berardi feeds Mendez for goal!

https://i.ibb.co/TB04h9H/Balmaz-189.png

Well they won’t shut us out!
HALF- Don’t get complacent
Arena for Matuidi; Dickmann for Lirola
I move to control at the 74th minute, we only have 3 shots…
Bigas for a 6.4 Clyne
84th Minute – On an IFK, Arena feeds Bigas for goal!

https://i.ibb.co/tDmzDqp/Balmaz-190.png

We have tied it! I ease back to Standard

Four Minutes – Can we steal a win? Can we hold to extra time?
Extra Time! Dig down!!! We only have 7 shots to their 19, but we have a chance now!
99th Minute- On an IFK, Farfan feeds Mendez for goal

https://i.ibb.co/b6djD3G/Balmaz-191.png

We are now up by one, and if they score, then they’ll win, since they have more away goals, so I got to counter.

105th Minute – They score, I move back to control
Half time in ET
No one scores. We tie them 3-3 aggregate, MOM is Mendez

[Abe Sargent]

Farfan is suspended and I start Acerbi. I move my DC wonderkid De Rosa to the main squad

Juve tied Sampdoria 3-3 so if we win against a big bad we’ll gain space on them

Serie A Game #32 – Home vs AC Milan – I stay standarding. I’d be fine with a 2-0 like Arsenal in normal time. Hello Vincente!

Notes
10th Minute – Politano feeds Mendez and Berardi on an attacking run and Mendez slides the ball to Berardi for goal.
12th Minute – On a Corner, Politano feeds Rubio for goal
Well it’s looking good to gain 2 points on Juve. But this is Milan
HALF – They have 11 shots to our 7, but just 3 on target to our 5. Don’t get complacent!
58th Minute – Ozil intercepts the ball, drives, sends it to Mendez for goal
Arena for Matuidi; Dickmann for a carded Lirola; Sensi for a tired Pires
Here they come. Can we hold a shut out?
Arena a card

We hold and shut out Milan!


https://i.ibb.co/TRjPCnw/Balmaz-192.png

Nice! MOM is Politano, and we had just 10 shots for those 3 goals.



Return Farfan

[Abe Sargent]

If Berardi scores another goal, he will tie the team record of 20, he’s at 19.

Lirola is banned and I start Dickmann

Ozil is now able to speak Italian

I move La Rosa to that open space on my roster

Serie Game #33 – Away at Lazio – I begin countering. I hand Da Rosa #35,

Notes

16th Minute – Ozil feeds Berardi for goal! That’s our team’s 20th!
We injure their AMC and he heads out
38th Minute – They tie on a 30 year long shot
42nd Minute – Berardi crosses to Mendez for goal to break the tie
I send in Bigas for Dickmann who is injured
HALF – Don’t get complacent…
They change to a 4-2-4
62nd Minute – They tie us again
Clyne a card, in heads Hermoso
La Rosa for a tired Rubio
Matuidi a late card
Four minutes – We hold and tie them 2-2, Berardi MOM

Dickmann is out for 3-5 weeks.

We qual for the Champion’s Cup!

La Rosa is the youngest ever player for us, my hope is to develop him to be my sub at DC.

[Abe Sargent]

Our budget is set for next year:

https://i.ibb.co/DQnzrQk/Balmaz-193.png

Juve lost 0-2 to Atalanta and if we win this we will gain 3 pints on them with 4 games to go after this one.


Serie A Game #34 – Home vs Udinese – We lost this game in the Cup since we were down a man. I begin controlling. Vengeance!

Notes

They have two cards in the first 3 minutes
Sensi for a carded Pires
HALF – We have dominated the first half statistically
50th Minute – They get a red card…uh oh
Babacar for a 6.5 Mendez
Poilitano a card
La Rosa for Rubio
La Rosa with a card…:)
I move to attacking
Sensi with a card
85th Minute – Politano to Babacar for goal. I ease back to control
Five Minutes – Can we hold a win and shut out? We do! MOM is Politano



Show the table after 34

https://i.ibb.co/t8J8JHz/Balmaz-194.png

Four games left! We are a lot over AC Milan and cannot be caught, and 6 behind Juventus. That’s not likely, but our final 4 games are against Bari our kryptonite, Genoa, away at Juventus, and Novara. If Juve drops another game to us and we beat them, this is doable. But if we tie in score they will win with a massive GD, so we’ll need more than two games.

[Abe Sargent]

Politano is banned, Bongonda will start.

May

1st – Away at Bari
8th – Home at Genoa
15th – Away at Juventus
22nd – Home vs Novara

Good training - Lirola, Karius, Pierini

Vincente won Goal of the Month!

Mendez is now a four star player

Serie A Game #35 – Away at Bari – I begin countering. Vengeance!

Notes

Sensi for a carded Pires
27th Minute – They foul us in the box and up steps Berardi and….blocked!
HALF – We have dominated the match statistically, they don’t even a have a shot off
Babacar for Berardi
La Rosa for Rubio.
Lirola a card
83rd Minute – Lirola drives, feeds Bongonda for goal
We hold and win 1-0, MOM is Bongonda. That’s our first win against Bari in 5 tries.

I return Politano to my lineup. Three games left

[Abe Sargent]

Juve beats Palermo 2-0


Serie A Game #36 – Home vs Genoa – I begin controlling

Notes



Juve tied Bologna – that’s an opening… they need two losses and us two wins in the final 2 games

5th Minute – Ozil feeds Pires for goal
30th Minute – Politano crosses to inside forward Berardi who scores and sets the record!
Hermoso for a flagged Lirola
Arena for an injured Matuidi
HALF – Don’t get complacent!
Arena a card
La Rosa for Farfan
We hold and win 2-0 MOM is Pires.

[Abe Sargent]

Matuidi is out for 3-4 months. I move Arena to his spot

298 minutes of shut outs

Two games left!

Udinese beat Roma 2-0 to win the Italian Cup! They beat teams like us, Napoli and Roma to win, and yet they are in 16th tied with the same number of points in 17th in the relegation zone and they could be relegated. Nice win!

Dickmann’s injury is finished

Serie A Game #37 – Away at Juventus – If they tie or win they win the Serie and take it back from Palermo last year. If we win, then we have a shot. I begin countering. This is Lirola’s 175th appearance for us.

Notes

Hermoso for a carded Lirola
HALF – Hmmmm
We injure one of their players
Berardi a card, Bongonda heads in
Babacar for Mendez
4 Minutes – Can we score a single goal?
0-0 tie, we shut them out on the road, but they are through

[Abe Sargent]

One game left!

We are locked in 2nd so I move Acerbi, Babacar, and Bigas that are leaving in a few months to start.

Liverpool defeated Bournemouth to win the EURO.

We won a big award

https://i.ibb.co/hR46kxh/Balmaz-195.png

Good job Arena!

Serie A Game #38 – Home vs Novara – I begin controlling. Mendez is missing he was called up.

Notes

19th Minute – On a corner kick, Politano feeds Bigas for goal
Sensi for a carded Pires
HALF – Don’t get complacent out there!
We injure their ST
La Rosa for Acerbi
Berardi a card Bongonda heads in
Arena a card
83rd Minute – They get a red card, on that IFK, Babacar scores but called offsides
6 Minutes – Are we going to finish with another shut out and win?
GAME! We win 1-0 MOM is Politano



Final Table

https://i.ibb.co/DCXbBjg/Balmaz-196.png

Here you go! As you see we finished with the same number of wins as Juventus, but two fewer ties. They only had 3 losses on the season, nice. We finished close and long away from AC Milan a ton of points behind. We were much more consistent this year than previously, rarely dropping points to lower powered teams.



We pay 4.5 mill to our squad

[Abe Sargent]

Ozil won 3rd place in Best Midfielder of the Year

Two of my players are called up to the World Cup – Farfan and Claud Adjapong.


Stats

We had 62 goals, 4th best in the league after Napoli 1st with 76, Lazio 2nd with 70, and Juve 3rd with 67.

Juve led the league in fewest goals scored with 18, we were 2nd with 29

Juve led the league in shutouts with 26 out of 38 games. We were 2nd with 20 shut outs in 38 games.



Individual

MOM – Politano was tied for 6th with 6, Berardi and Ozil had 5 each

Dist. Cover – Ozil 2nd; Politano 3rd;

Dist. Cover/90 mint – Politano 5th

Avg Rating – Politano 5th; Ozil 9th; Berardi 14th;

Headers Won – Rubio 1st;

Goals – Berardi with 15 8th

Shots – Berardi 6th

Shots on Target – Berardi 5th –

Shots on Target % - Mendez 4th;

Assists – Politano 1st; Berardi 6th

Key Passes – Ozil 1st; Politano 4th;

Chances Created – Ozil 3rd – Berardi 6th

Pass % - Pires 1st, Matuidi 10th

Cross Complete % - Ozil 1st;

Drib.Game – Politano, 3rd;

Tack/Game – Lirola, 7th;

Interceptions- Rubio 1st;

Shut Outs – Karius, 2nd

Saves Held – Karius 6th

Saves Parried – Karius 8th


Good stuff!

[Abe Sargent]

Team Eval

I am going to rate that player based on how likely I am to want to replace them with a 1-3.

GK Karius - 2.5 - Loads of shut outs, 5 Euro shut outs in 12 games, 6.87 rating. Strong guy. 28 years signed for 2 more years, my first major signing for my team at 6milll from Liverpool where he was the backup. German. 3.5 stars. Eventually I’ll want to upgrade him, but I doubt that happens this year.

DC Farfan – 2 – Growing Wonderkid, Colombian international, 5 caps, 20 years old, hasn’t grown that much and is at 3 stars and growing, his rating is 6.93. He doesn’t play as well as I’d hope. 2.9 mill from Nacional in Colombia. Here for three more years, first team rating. Non EU

DC Rubio – 3.5 – Growing wonderkid from Spain, 18 years old, 4 stars and growing much better stats in year, 2 more years, 8 mill grab from Real Madrid, 7.06 rating. He has my best stats of any starting DC, from Acerbi Ferrari, Farfan, and Bigas, and highest rated defender.

DR Lirola – 3 – 24 year old, here for another year, 3.5 stars, homegrown at the club so not for sale, 7.03 rating. Italian – inherited him.

DL Clyne – 1.5 – Non-EU, 31 years old, here for one more year, 3.5 stars, 6.99 rating, added for free last year. English

DM Matuidi – 1/3 – 35 years old, 3 stars, here for a few more weeks, replacement is Arena, 6.88 rating, signed for free last year. France, 2 assist

MC Pires – 3 – 20 year old wonderkid, Portugal, just capped, 4 stars and growing, 1 mill from Braga last year, 6.95 rating – big drop as he was 7.20 last year and my 2nd best rated player. 1 goal, 1 assist,



AMC Ozil – 2 – 33 years old, German, here for another year 3.5 stars, 7.24 rating, 5 goals, 5 assist, will need replaced after next year. Got for free.

AMR Berardi 3 – 27 year old Italian, homegrown at my club so not for sale, 3.5 stars, here for 3 years, 15 goals, 11 assist, 7.19 rating – inherited him

AML Politano – 2 – 28 year old, here at 2 more years, 3.5 stars, 7.34 rating, 6 goal, 18 assist, getting older and dropping in ability. Inherited him

ST Mendez – 2.5 – 20 year old Spanish Wonderkid, signed in winter break for 4.5 mill from Middlesbrough, he really came on after a few games, but just has a half season of starts, so I don’t want to stay on his wagon. 18 starts in Serie A, 11 goals, 4 assist, 7.27 rating, in the EURO he has 6 goals, 3 assist, and 7.70 rating. Good stuff!

There you go!

Except for Matuidi who has already been replaced, I’ll be looking probably for just a new DL, since Clyne is just here for a year, but he is still good so I might grab a wonderkid and then raise them up for a year. Other than that, I will just play defense, not offense.

[Abe Sargent]

My backup GK Pries wants to leave, and I agree to sell him and I transfer list him.

Actually, he backs down, nevermind.

In the Champion’s Cup A. Madrid defeated Man Utd 2-1 to win it all.

Season Award:


https://i.ibb.co/Q6rhxm3/Balmaz-197.png

As you can see, the fans loved Politano, Berardi and Ozil this year they loved Pires’s goal against Genoa, the loved the Rubio signing and Mendez is their young player.

Youth and training upgrades begin

I hold my team meeting, we are going to qualify for Champions play again the following year!

The 23 assists by Poliano in various places broke the record of 15.

Berardi’s 8 MOM won the record for most in a year.

Karius’s 27 clean sheets broke the previous record he set last year of 17 by 10. Good stuff!

Juve’s manager won Manager of the Year.

I offer deals to a bunch of staff to come back.

Goodbye May

[Abe Sargent]

These are the key players leaving this year:

Dickmann
Bigas
Babacar
Acerbi
Matsuidi

I make an offer to extend Lirola.

He signs for a three year deal getting paid 40k/week

Serie A remains in 3rd position; we moved up to 59th position in the ranking,

Serbia, Albania and Montenegro have joined the EU


Any young EU Wonderkids that are lovers of DL I can bring in?

What about Holland’s Louis Burgzorg? Germany’s Leif Eidelloth?
Romania’s Frank Naicu? Spain/Moroccos Azzedine Tagnaouti?

11 mill for Louis Burgzorg from ADO Den Haag.

He’ll be coming here!

The next is to bring in some Dutch youth to join him.

200k for Kay van Binsbergen an 18 year old AMC youth prospect

[Abe Sargent]

I also like 17 year old Ibrahim de Vries with a DC for 150k.

We got a profit of 25 mill last year.

Enrico Cardona is called up for the U19 EURO Championships.

In addition to the big five that are leaving, we also have 29 year old 2 star backup Bessa, 6 Hot Prospects that are too old, and 3 youngsters.

I am getting rumors about being linked to the Roma job.

I just got a huge offer for Pires from Chelsea – 32.5 mill up front, 8.5 mill over one year in installments, 12.25 mill after 50 apps, 12.25 after 10 caps. That could easily be enough to replace Pires. Remember I have Vincente coming back and just one MC after moving one to AMC for Ozil for two years to see what happens and push myself into more goals, but then the first year was very slow with my ST, and then the second half with Mendez looked a lot better. But Ozil, while a nice rating, was just 5 goals and assists. Pires this year had a Serie A rating of 6.95 in the deep lying playmaker role which he is better at. I’m also pretty sure that with a transfer kitty of 32 mill I could start Vincente in the middle and bring in a future replacement to groom into the role. I accept. I add in a 30% of next sale into it.

I get a 22.5 mill offer for Politano from a Chinese Super League. Politano has tons of assists and great ratings for me, but he is 28 years old and we’ll need to eventually bring in a replacement. But not now, I reject the fine offer.

Pires is granted a work permit, and…good luck!

Alright, now I have 32.5 mill added to my transfer kitty.

I add Pires to my short list

That is a record transfer fee for the club, the previous best was 15 mill

[Abe Sargent]

June 30

We get 40.3 mill for TV rights

I start scouting wonderkids generally. Let’s start with Italy. Italian stud AM Luca Tos won’t want to leave Juve for us, What about Napoli’s GK Simone Di Cesare? They don’t want to sell to a team in the division. I scout Cremonese’s Italian 16 year old Enea Valbonesi who can play DR.


I like the idea of a young GK to bring in, Spain’s Juan Racero is with Real Hispalis, which might want to come here. He’s on the Spain U19 team. We do 4.5 mill and 30% of next sale. Now will he sign?

We agree to 9 mill for Enea. Maybe I can grow him up.

Anyone else from Italy, like DL Stefano Stridi for Juve or ST Nicolò De Rosa for Napoli? Probably not.

I do like the idea of a future replacement for Politano/Berardi that could play both AM Spots. I scout around. Actually I found AMC/MC Spanish/Basque 18 year old Eneko Sánchez? I scout him out. Could he be my future Pires? He plays for Real San Sebastian. I make them an offer.

Juan Racero wants to sign! Enea as well!

Good bye June!

[Abe Sargent]

July 1

I make friendly offers to 7 teams. Everyone but Slavia Prague agreed, so I offer another one. This year I have one home game with Juventus to test myself, the Big Three from Portugal, Braga and Vit. Guimarães from Portugal and Viktoria Plzen from the Czech Republic.

Here’s my first signee –

https://i.ibb.co/K59RhmG/Balmaz-198.png

11 mill later! This guy is on hot prospect deal, 8.75k/week, and 2.5 now and big future. I love his 17 work rate. On international duty right now.

Here’s 9 mill student Enea

https://i.ibb.co/0qDbLMb/Balmaz-199.png

As you can see he is a DR, and has a rating of 2.5 now and a nice future. He’s also on international duty right now. He’s not as developed as Burgzorg and only an okay work rate.

[Abe Sargent]

28 year old Mariano arrives on a rotation deal for 45k/week for two years.

I reject an offer for Berardi

Here’s my question – who is free who might want to come here? The best one is 31 year old Cédric Bakambu who we looked at earlier when we were looking at winter replacements and then brought in Mariano. What about non-EU players? The best player is Gareth Bale, 32, can play any AM spot, and that would be a nice temporary replacement for Politano if I got another offer for him. What about 32 year old Ukrainian DC/DMC Taras Stepanenko? He’s studly, but I don’t need DC or DM. Well, Forfan hasn’t played well, I could bring him in for first team and then loan out Forfan for development. He does have 85 caps so the guy should be startable. I scout him and he’s more of a natural DMC who can play the role, so no thanks. Brazil’s Rodrigo Dourado Cunha can play DMC and DC but is also more of a DMC.

No one seems to fit my roster and need, there are no Ozils here that would push my roster. Although Bale is pretty good compared to Politano, but he’s also 32 and would be a temp dork as well for my club and Politano is my most in form player each of the last two years.

Any youth I might want to bring in? None in the EU.

I reject an offer for Mendez.

The 11 mill for my Dutch beats our previous record of 9 mill for Babacar, and get ready because the stud prospect AMC/MC I have just asked to see if 20 mill after they whiffed on 15 mill will work.

We sign Racero!

https://i.ibb.co/PNfnZqf/Balmaz-200.png


Here he is! As you can see, this 16 year old Spanish GK is already at 2.5 stars and a big potential. He’ll serve as a backup GK for now and could grow into my new one. He is also on international duty.

[Abe Sargent]

The 25 mill beats our previous high of 20.5

Real San Sebastien agree to our transfer fee offer of 20 mill, and now the question is if Eneko Sánchez wants to join us. He doesn’t want to sign. That sucks, because I really liked him.

Our expectations are to qualify for the EURO.

Vicente wants a new deal and I agree.

My squad is back and I welcome them! Let’s qualify for the Champions League again! They like it! Especially my new players.

I transfer list Prieto, and I move Racero to my starting sub squad, and make him eligible for U20 play.

I accept an offer for Prieto from Pescara

I decline a job interview offer from Roma.

Pol Garcia wants to talk about leaving, and I agree to sell him if an offer comes at the value of 1 mill, which is a few hundred k below his value. I go ahead and transfer list him.

I reject an offer for Berardi.

Vincente signs his new deal for 40k, first team, and 5 years – he’s at 4 stars right now.

Do I accept a loan offer for Crivelli? Nope, I need a 3rd backup st.

[Abe Sargent]

I am massaging my tactics and the issue is that both Vicente and Arena are best at deep lying playmaker. Who do I give what to? Matuidi was a ball winning DM. Arena isn’t that good at anything else. I give Vicente a basic central mid role, but he’s not that good at it, I’ll train it.

I still have that cash and the need for a future AML. How about French Romuald Guitton or AMLC fellow countryman Maurice Gautier? I scout him. What about Croatian Gordan Prahic who is playing for Hajuk? He is already transferred to Man City.

We negotiate a 10 mill offer with FC Laurent for Maurice Gautier. Will he want to arrive here? Yes he does.

https://i.ibb.co/V2JF7Tc/Balmaz-201.png


16 years old, looks 1.5 current and big potential in the future, good work rate, and I love his potential. That will be my last major signing of the window.



I reject an offer for Clyne.

I accept an offer for Garcia

I agree to sell backup Franchini.

Friendly #1 – Home vs Porto – They win 3-1

[Abe Sargent]

My backup GK is sold

Bologna sign Babacar

Matuidi signs with Valencia

The Italy Football Association have offered me the job of Manager…

What do I do?

[Abe Sargent]

I reject it. With all of the extra games for EUROs and Champions and Cups and 38 Serie A games, it’s really hard for me to invest that time.

I loan Baranowski

Friendly 2 – Home vs Viktoria Plzen – We win 3-1, MOM is Rubio

We sell Garcia to Villareal for 1 mill

One of my youth just had an injury that knocks him out for 6-8 months. Ouch.

Taras Stepanenko still has not been made an offer… man, if I needed a DMC…

Friendly #3 – Home vs Benfica – We win 1-0, MOM is Sensi

I reject an offer to loan my Dutch fullback since I’ll be using him as a key sub.

I move 5 players from my U20 squad

I added an away friendly for serious cash…

Friendly #4 – Home vs Sporting – Can I grab a 4-0 again? Nope but we win 2-1. I’ll take it.

Good bye July!

[Abe Sargent]

August

3rd – Away at Hertha, FR
7th – Home vs Juve, Fr
14th – Home vs Braga, fr
21st – Home vs Vit G, fr
28th – Home vs Genoa

Good training – Mendez

Friendly #5 - Away at Hertha – We draw 1-1, MOM is Crivelli

Friendly #6 – Home vs Juventus – This is a great time to check to see how we are doing… we tied them 0-0 they have MOM. I was hoping for a win, even a friendly one, but ah well

I register my team and I have two open spots for future folks

I accept a first team loan offer for Enea from Roma since I have a 3 star sub there this year to develop them.

I submit a ton of squad numbers

We have 7-1 odds of winning Serie A, not bad

Juve is 5-2 and Milan 4-1 and we have the 3rd best odds.

Friendly #7 – Home vs Braga – We thump them 5-1. Berardi is MOM

I keep Berardi as my captain and my vice was Matuidi so now I name Politano.

We are selling 9k in season tickets, a big increase from last year’s 7k

Friendly #8 – Home vs V. G. – We win 2-0, MOM is Lirola

That’s just one loss in 8 games against clubs. Although, remember, my AssMan runs my friendlies.

Acerbi signs with Olympiakos.

We make 12.5 mill for making the Group Stage of the Champions League

Group Draw – We are still seeded 4th, sucks

Group F

1st Seed – Real Madrid
2nd Seed – AS Monaco
3rd Seed – Galatasaray
4th Seed – Us

Well, we couldn’t do anything against Monaco last year, maybe we will this year? :0


That’s the end of the preseason!

[Abe Sargent]

Serie A Game #1 – Home vs Genoa – I begin controlling – Arena is suspended from last year and Sensi will start for him.

Notes

Clyne a card, I send in my replacement Burgzorg.
Bongonda for a carded Politano
35th Minute – They foul Ozil in the box, Berardi steps up and…sinks it
HALF – Don’t get complacent
Criestig for a carded Sensi
4 Minutes they move to a 4-2-4 can we hold? We hold 1-0. Narrow win, but I’ll take it.

[Abe Sargent]

I replace Arena.

6 games in a row without allowing a goal scored is a new record!

International duty begins we have 12 called up

Transfer Window…

I reject an offer for Hermoso from Inter and no pushback. This guy has never pushed back…

I loan a few players inc homegrown at my club ST Cappa.

Window ended, a few moves here and there.

The biggest move was Federico Bernardeschi heading to PSG from Juve for 73 mill

Good bye August

[Abe Sargent]

September

10th – Away at Chievo
14th – Away at Real Madrid, Well let’s start that one off with the worst possible game and place
18th – Home vs Bologna
21st – Away at Juventus – Uh oh, away at the big bad, we tied them there 0-0 just a few games ago
24th – Home vs Ascoli
27th – Home vs Monaco

Good training – de Vries, Burgzorg, La Rosa

Rubio got his first cap for Spain and I send him congrats!

I register my squad for the Champion’s League

Mariano already learned Italian!


Serie A Game #2 – Away at Chievo – I begin countering against the recently promoted team.

Notes

38th Minute – Politano feeds Mendez for goal
HALF – Don’t get complacent
Sensi for a carded Vicente, Hermoso for a tired Rubio; Bongonda for Berardi
5 Minutes – Can we hold and shut them out?
91st Minute – Ozil scores! We win 2- 0 and Ozil is MOM

[Abe Sargent]

Juve lost to Roma 1-0. In my first year here, if you’ll recall, Juve stumbled early and then finished strong at 2nd behind Palermo. Could that happen this year or is this a blip?

All of our good karma is about to be punched in the face…

Champions Group F – Game #1 – Away at Real Madrid – I begin countering. Woodshed time! This is Rubio’s old club, he wanted to start.

Notes

4th Minute – On a counter, Berardi feeds Ozil for goal!

https://i.ibb.co/M5v5h31/Balmaz-202.png

That score won’t last!

12th Minute – Arena feeds Mendez on an attack run for goal

https://i.ibb.co/GxbQ3LN/Balmaz-203.png

We are not winning this game. Remember in the blow out against Man Utd we still scored twice. Remember that Sporting hung three on us after we went up 3-0.

24th Minute- Renaldo scores on us
HALF – Don’t get complacent. But hey, we showed up!
55th Minute – Dybala scores ties it.
Hermoso for a 6.4 Rubio
Sensi for Vicente
Politano a card
FIVE minutes is way too many minutes to give them a chance to score…can we hold and tie them 2-2?
We injure Dybala. We hold and tie 2-2! Good result!

[Abe Sargent]

Serie A Game #3 – Home vs Bologna – I begin standarding. Hello Babacar!

Notes

15th Minute – Babacar scores…normally a good thing to type
22nd Minute – Mendez finds Berardi on an attack run to tie it.
37th Minute – Babacar scores again, Karius came out to grab the ball and gave up goal.
HALF – Nope
48th Minute – Arena feeds Vicente for goal to tie it back again
Hermoso for Farfan;Mariano for a banged up Mendez; Gautier for Ozil
Gautier our first card
Berardi a late card
5 Minutes – can we win? We tie them 2-2. Sad.

[Abe Sargent]

We make 650k from our deal from Genoa for a player who just made his 50th start

Serie A Game #4 – Away at Juventus – I begin countering. I’ve never scored against Juve, not even in the friendly.

Notes

HALF – Busy for them with 10 shots to our 1.
52nd Minute – Vicente is sent off, I send in Sensi for Ozil and add him to DMC.
Well, we’re not scoring this time either…
Bogonda for Politano
Card for Lirola, I send in Hermoso
82nd Minute – They score
We lose 1-0

[Abe Sargent]

I issue Vicente a warning which he accepts

Arena got a salary hike to 7750 after his 25h appearance for us

Serie A Game #5 – Home vs Ascoli – I begin controlling.

Notes

12thMinute – Sensi feeds Berardi for goal on a corner kick
14th Minute- Goal kick starts an attack, Politano feeds Mendez
HALF – Don’t get complacent
Gauthier for Ozil; Burgzorg for Clyne; La Rosa for Farfan
Lirola a card
Four Minutes – Can we hold our shut out?
We win 2-0, MOM is Politano

I return Vicente


Here’s the Table after 5

https://i.ibb.co/JmzbQTP/Balmaz-204.png

We’re currently 4th after dropping a game to Juve and a tie. Bologna are in front.

[Abe Sargent]

Champions League Group 6 Game #2 – Home vs AS Monaco – I begin standardly. Will we show up today? Vengeance!

Notes

HALF – We have 10 shots to their 5, 54% possession and are outplaying them.
61st Minute – On a counter attack, Berardi feeds Vicente for goal:

https://i.ibb.co/CBMyYZh/Balmaz-205.png

They blanked us last year, so that’s my first goal against them!

Bongonda for Politano; Hermoso for Farfan; Sensi for a carded Arena
Four Minutes – Can we hold? We do and defeat AS Monaco!!! MOM is Lirola.

We win 1.5 mill.

[Abe Sargent]

Our gate receipt of 403k is a new record and beats last year’s Man Utd gate receipt of 387k

Galatasaray tied Real Madrid

I have 11 call ups

October

2nd – Away at Roma
15th - Home vs Cittadella
18th – Away at Galatasaray
23rd – Away at Napoli
26th – Away at AC Milan
29th – Home vs Samdoria

Three away games vs toughs in Roma, Napoli and Milan is rough.

Good training – Arena, Burgzorg, Racero

Serie A Game #6 – Away at Roma – I begin countering! Vengeance! Hello Enea!

Notes

Lirola a card in the 3rd. Adjapong heads in
Sensi for a booked Vincente
HALF – Hmmm, we each have 7 shots. We have 49% possession. We are pretty tied, so this is winnable
53rd Minute – Enea scores
Sensi a card
Mariano for Mendez
84th Minute – They score again
They shut us out 0-2. Nasty

[Abe Sargent]

I talk down Bongonda who wants to leave to get more play

One of my youth prospects that came through our academy with a 4 star potential was offered their first full time deal.

Serie A Game #7 – Home vs Cittadella – I begin controlling. Can we get back to our winning ways?

Notes

20th Minute – On an IFK, Rubio feeds Mendez for goal
Adjapong for a carded Lirola
37th Minute -Politano feeds Mendez for goal
HALF – Don’t get complacent
54th Minute – Politano feeds Ozil for goal, he scored on his birthday!
Sensi for a carded Arena
Bongonda for Berardi
We win 3-0, MOM is Politano

[Abe Sargent]

Champions Group F Game #3 – Away at Galatasaray – We surprisingly won against AS Monaco and tied away at Real Madrid, so if we can win here today, that would be 7 points in three games, a commanding first half of the group stage given who we are playing against. I begin countering.

Notes

35th Minute – We give up a dubious PK and…Karius blocks it!
We injure their MR and they head out
HALF – We have 9 shots to their 8
Bongonda for a 6.4 Politano;
Sensi for a 6.4 Vincente
Hermoso for a carded Farfan
83rd Minute – On a corner kick, Arena feeds Berardi for goal!

https://i.ibb.co/MDwCP0x/Balmaz-206.png

Will this win the game?

Four minutes to come back…

We hold and win 1-0! MOM is Arena

We win another 1.5 mill

[Abe Sargent]

AS Monaco defeated Real Madrid and have 6 points.

Juve lost 1-2 to Empoli

Serie Game #8 – Away vs Napoli – I begin countering

Notes

15th Minute - They score
19th Minute – Mendez hits Berardi coming in on an attack run for goal to tie it
HALF- Okay.
Mariano for a carded Mendez
Bongonda for a 6.3 Politano
Hermoso for Farfan
89th Minute- They break the tie.
Five Minutes –Can we tie it back?
92nd Minute On a counter, Berardi feeds Mariano for his first goal for us! We tied it back up!
2-2 tie. MOM is on their team

[Abe Sargent]

Serie A Game #9 – Away vs AC Milan – I also begin countering. This is Berard’s 325th App for the club

Notes

11th Minute - Politano, on a counter, juked TWO players to come free, and fed Berardi on an attack run.
Adjapong for a carded Lirola
19th Minute – Berardi crosses to Mendez for goal
Bongonda for a carded Berardi
HALF – Don’t get complacent!
52nd Minute – They sink a PK off a Rubio foul in the box. We had to give them a way back in.
Hermoso for Rubio
Three minutes – can we hold?
Hermoso a card
We win 2-1! MOM is Berardi

[Abe Sargent]

We got four points from the three rough games!

Lirola is banned and I start Adjapong

Serie A Game #10 – Home vs Sampdoria – I begin controlling

Notes

They are starting with an injured ST.
31st Minute – Berardi and Mendez on an attack run, Ozil feeds Berardi who slides to Mendez for goal
37th Minute – They tie it
Half – Nope!
Sensi for a tired Vincente
71st Minute – Berardi is given a counter attack run by Clyne and he hits Mendez for another goal. That puts us up!
Hermoso for Farfan
81st Minute – Berardi scores on an attack run fed by Sensi.
We hold and win 3-1, MOM is Mendez.


I return Lirola

Here’s the table after 10:

https://i.ibb.co/2sTHhbd/Balmaz-207.png

A few teams have a few games in them but we are tied with Juve in 4th. Our 6-2-2 record ties where we were last year. Roma has dominated and is tops with more than a game, but Bologna is just a point over us and Juve.

[Abe Sargent]

November

2nd – Home vs Galatasaray
6th – Away at Cremonsese
19th – Home vs Empoli
22nd – Home vs Real Madrid
27th – Away at Udinese
30th – Home vs Torino

Good training – Gautier, Arena, Mendez

Mendez named in Team of Month

I offer a new contract to Arena after his agent asks for one

Our updates are finished for youth and training

https://i.ibb.co/C09ThCh/Balmaz-208.png

I get them to invest some more.

13 are called up

Champions Group F, Game #4 – Home vs Galatasaray – I begin standard, if I can win this we’ll be in a strong spot. They have fired their manager.

Notes

Bongonda for a carded Ozil
Adjapong for a carded Lirola
33rd Minute – On a corner kick Farfan’s head connect with Mendez for goal…

https://i.ibb.co/sWQCwJT/Balmaz-209.png

Nice!

36th Minute they score back.
Farfan a card I tell him to lay off tackles rather than make my last sub
38th Minute – They get a red card. That’s our kryptonite.
44th Minute – Politano scores
HALF – Don’t get complacent!
49th Minute – Berardi scores
55th Minute – Berardi another goal
We hold and win 4-1 and MOM is Politano


We make another 1.5 mill

Real Madrid won 3-0 over AS Monaco

[Abe Sargent]

Arena signs his new deal for 5 years, key player, and 27k per week

Serie A Game #11 – Away at Cremonese – I begin countering

Notes

Gautier for a carded Politano
Adjapong for Lirola after his card
Arena a card but I’ll hold off
Vicente is injured and I send in Sensi
HALF – Boring.
58th Minute - They are given a red card, which means they’ll win or tie unless it’s a champion’s game…
Adjapong a card
Three Minutes –
92nd Minute – They foul us in the box and up steps Berardi and...he sinks it!
We win 1-0. MOM is Gautier.

[Abe Sargent]

Vincente is out for a week. He’ll miss the international break but will be back for Empoli

I decline a job interview for Milan sitting back in 19th

I talk down Hermoso into wanting to leave

Serie A Game #12 – Home vs Empoli – I begin controlling

Notes

Clyne a card Burgzorg heads in
HALF – They have 10 shots to our 6, 54% possession, and that’s not how this is supposed to work
62nd Minute – Ozil feeds Vicente in the box for goal
Bongonda for a 6.4 Berardi
Mariano for Mendez
83rd Minute – They foul Mariano in the box, and Berardi my 18 PK guy is out so Politano steps up and sinks it.
We hold and win 2-0, MOM is Politano

[Abe Sargent]

That win and Juve’s tie moves us into 2nd

Champion’s Group F Game #5 – Home vs Real Madrid – We are four points in front of AS Monaco heading into this match. If we can get any result here from a tie to a shocking win we’ll make it with a game to go. I begin standardly.

Notes

Lirola a card I send in Adjapong
HALF – Okay! I had 7 shots to their 4.
Clyne a card, Hermoso heads in; Sensi for a carded Vincente.

We tie them 0-0! We are through to the Knockout Round!

[Abe Sargent]

Serie A Game #13 – Away at Udinese – I begin countering – this is Politano’s 250th app for the club!

Notes

Mendez a card, Mariano heads in
45th Minute – Clyne scores!
HALF – Don’t get complacent…
Sensi for a carded Arena
69th Minute – Clyne scores again! Dude is on fire.
Bongonda for a tired Politano
We hold and shut them out 2-0. Nice


Juve lost to Palermo 1-2

[Abe Sargent]

Serie A Game #14 – Home vs Torino – I begin standardly

Notes

Can my GK keep up his streak?
35th Minute – Politano drives the corner, crosses to Mendez, goal
43rd Minute – Politano is open after a pass by Ozil and feeds the attacking Berardi for goal
Arena a card, Sensi heads in
HALF – Don’t get complacent
Bongonda for a banged up Berardi
67th Minute – Bongonda misses and interception and they score
Hermoso for Farfan
We hold and win 2-1,MOM is Politano

[Abe Sargent]

December

3rd – Away at Atalanta
7th – Away at Monaco
11th – Home vs Lazio
18th – Away at Palermo
21st – Away at Salernitana

Good training- Rubio, Arena, Vicente

Clyne in Team of the Month

Serie A Game #15 – Away at Atalanta – I begin countering,

Notes

Burgzorg for a carded Clyne
Karius is injured and I send in Marrichi my emergency starter I pull back to defensive
Farfan a card but I won’t pull him
42nd Minute – They score…
HALF –
Burgzorg is booked
Bongonda for Berardi
They win 1-0, that was not on my d who held them to one goal with a backup GK, but on my Offensive who couldn’t score.

Roma lost to Palermo

Here is the table after 15:

https://i.ibb.co/Jcm4HYV/Balmaz-210.png

Sorta 15, loads of teams still have games to play, but just one in the top 7, Roma.

[Abe Sargent]

Champion Group F – Game #6 Away at AS Monaco – We lost this game last year 1-0, and I’ll take a minor loss like that this time as well. I begin countering. Karius is light wounded but I’m starting him.

Notes

13th Minute – They score…uh oh. That’s not a good start.
Burgzorg for a carded Clyne
Adjapong for a carded Lirola
Burgzorg injured, in heads Hermoso, we are out of subs
38th Minute – They score off a corner
I don’t think we are going to win this meaningless match…
HALF
86th Minute – Berardi feeds Politano for goal to prevent the shut out.
Three Minutes of Added Time – We couldn’t possibly score again, right?
91st Minute - They score off a corner.

No we cannot! We finish the game 1-3.

With 9 points, Real Madrid is out of the Champion’s League

[Abe Sargent]

Gauthier and Serio finished their Italian classes

Serie A Game #16 – Home vs Lazio – I begin controlling

Notes

14th Minute – Ozil feeds Mendez for goal
HALF - We have been all over Lazio, 13 shots, NINE on target, but just one threw for goal, Don’t get complacent
Hermoso for a carded Farfan; Bongoda for a 6.3 Berardi; Adjapong for a carded Lirola
We hold and win 1-0 that should have been 3-0, MOM is Ozil


Juventus tied Genoa 0-0.

[Abe Sargent]

Roma lost

Well that was a fun Champion’s Campaign! We draw Man City…

Juve got out and have OL.

Serie A Game #17 0 Away at Palermo – I begin countering

Note

2nd Minute – Politano feeds Mendez for goal.
They have 10 shots by the 27th
36th Minute – On a deep IFK, Ozil feeds Rubio for goal! Nasty!
HALF – They have 15 shots to our 6, but 4 of ours on goal. Don’t get complacent! One of my five losses last year was away at Palermo, they play us nicely, and I would expect that this half.
48th Minute – Ozil drives the left flank, dribbles past a defender, and crosses to Berardi for goal. I don’t know how I am winning this game.
All four of my attackers have goals or assists
55th Minute – Vicente feeds Mendez on a counter. Wow.
Adjapong for a carded Lirola; Burgzorg for Clyne for experience; La Rosa for Farfan
Three minutes to try and stop a shut out
We hold and win 4-0, MOM is Mendez, this felt a lot like my away 6-1 match against Napoli where we were outplayed statistically but we just kept scoring.

https://i.ibb.co/JyfYS8W/Balmaz-211.png

They had 25 shots to our 10, but were less efficient, but we sunk 4 of 6 on target, they had possession, loads of stuff. Good win!

[Abe Sargent]

That win moves us to 1st

Arena is banned and I start Sensi.

Serie A Game #18 – Home vs Salernitana – I begin controlling

Notes

29th Minute – Ozil scores!
Hermoso for a carded Farfan
HALF – Don’t get complacent.
Clyne a card, Burgzorg in. Bongonda for a tired Berardi.
Sensi a card
87th Minute – Lirola is red carded
Here they come. I pull back to contain.
5 Minutes – And….we hold and win!MOM is Ozil


I return Arena.

I issue a warning to Lirola and he accepts it

[Abe Sargent]

Juve and Bologna have a game and Bologna won 1-0. That’s big for them on the road. They move into 2nd

Roma wins and moves into 2nd

December 31st is here

Goodbye 2022!

[Abe Sargent]

January

3rd – Transfer Window Opens
4th – Away at Inter – Uh oh
8th – Away at Genoa
18th – Home vs Verona, Cup 1st Round
22nd – Home vs Chievo
29th - Away at Bologna
31st – End of Transfer window

Good Training – Gautier, Burgzorg, Binsbergen

I will not be targeting any major additions offensively, just defensively.

Rubio named in Team of the Month

I get a loan offer for Crivelli for 1st team play and this time I accept

I do not change my expectations

The window rises

Juve heads away to Napoli and… they tie 0-0

Serie A Game #19 -Away at Inter – I begin countering…
Lirola and Clyne are suspended and I have Burgzorg and Adapong starting

Notes

I injure their ST and they head out
22nd Minute = On a counter, Politano feeds Mendez for goal
24th Minute – they score on a corner and tie us right back
HALF – I’ll take a tie but I’d prefer a win. We only have 1 shot on target in 4 attempts.
Crescenzi for a carded Ajapong; Bongonda for Berardi; Ferraresi for a 6.1 Burgzorg
Rubio a card
5 minutes – we hold and tie 1-1. MOM is on their team.

Roma lost 0-2 to Chievo


Table after 19

https://i.ibb.co/NsSQWxt/Balmaz-212.png

We are halfway through! As you can see, our tie has kept us in 1st by 4 points of Bologna and Roma. Juve just keep dropping points and are down to 4th. With a game in their hand, Milan are down in the relegation zone, but I doubt that lasts.

[Abe Sargent]

I return Lirola and Clyne

Serie A Game #20 -VS Genoa

Notes

27th Minute – They block a Berardi PK
HALF Nope!
55th Minute- Mendez feeds Berardi. Offsides
Bongonda for Berardi; Mariano for Mendez; Sensei for Vincente
83rd Minute – Mariano feeds Ozil on an attack run.
Six minutes – Can we hold? We do! MOM is Rubio

[Abe Sargent]

I loan Crivelli

Italian Cup First Round – Home vs Verona – I begin controlling

Notes

Adjapong for a banged up Lirola
HALF –
48th Minute – Politano to Ozil on an attack run
Bogonda for an injured Ozil
Mariano for Mendez
Five Minutes – Can we hold? We do and win a game that should have been more dominant.

[Abe Sargent]

We get Chievo next.

I offer a new deal to Lirola

Serie A Game #21 – Home vs Chievo – I begin controlling. I am starting Ozil even though he is lightly injured.

Notes

19th Minute - Mendez feeds Berardi for goal
HALF – Don’t get complacent
48th Minute – Mendez to Berardi again
Gautier for Politano
Berardi a card, I’ll leave him in on two goals
Sensi for Arena
75th Minute – They score on a corner kick
Hermoso for Farfan
92nd Minute – Gautier for Berardi – Hat trick baby!
We win 3-1 – MOM is Berardi

[Abe Sargent]

Lirola signs! First team, 4 years, 45k

Serie A Game #22 – Away at Bologna – I begin countering… Hello Babacar! They beat us 2-1 in our home earlier, so this could be rough…

Notes

1:08 – Babacar scores…
HALF – We are not in this game 1 shot to their 8, they have 60% possession.
Subs – Sensi for 6.4 Vicente; Adjapong for 6.2 Lirola; Mariano for Mendez
Adjapong injured we are down by one
88th Minute – They score
Arena a card. We lose 0-2

[Abe Sargent]

Transfer Window Begins…

I loan some players like the Dutch youth I brought in with Burgzorg

Transfer passes

February

1st – Home vs Chievo, Cup QF
5th – Home vs Juve
11th – Away at Ascoli
15th – Home vs Man City
19th - Home vs Roma
26th – Away at Cittadella
28th – Italian Cup SF, Game 1

Good training – Vicente, Rubio, Arena

Italian Cup QF – Home vs Chievo – Controlling - Can we win again?

Notes

Big rain
25th Minute – On a corner kick Politano feeds Ozil for goal.
35th Minute – Politano feeds Vincente for goal
38th Minute – They answer with a counter for goal
HALF – Don’t get complacent!
Mariano for a 6.3 Mendez.
Hermoso for Rubio
75th Minute – Vicente feeds Berardi for goal
Cristieg for Arena
We win 3-1, the same score as the individual game, Ozil is MOM.

We get Palermo up next.

[Abe Sargent]

AC Milan won! Against Roma

Serie A Game #23 – Home vs Juve – I begin standard. I have never beaten Juventus, can I today? Vengeance! They beat us earlier

Notes

Sensi for a carded Arena
HALF – Very quiet, each team has 4 shots
Bongonda for a 6.3 Berardi; Adjapong for a carded Lirola
89th Minute – Politano feeds Farfan for goal on a corner kick!
Can we hold and get my first win against the big bad?


https://i.ibb.co/ScqRhq1/Balmaz-213.png


We knocked them down, our first win!

[Abe Sargent]

Lirola is banned, I’ll start adjapong

Serie A Game #24 – Away at Ascoli – I begin countering – this is Karius 100th app for the club!

Notes

2nd Minute – They foul Berardi in the box and he steps up and…we score! That’s his 17th goal of the season
Rubio pulled in the 17th for a card for Hermoso
43rd Minute – On a counter Politano drovies the corner and crosses to Mendez for goal
We injure their MCR and he heads out
HALF – Don’t get complacent – we have 8 shot to their 3 and they have 5 cards
Burgzorg for Clyne
Gautier for a carded Berardi
80th Minute – Politano is fed by Burgzorg for goal
88th Minute – Mendez feeds Vincente for goal
Adjapong a late card
We hold and win 4-0. MOM is Politano. Wanna see?

https://i.ibb.co/LPXT1TG/Balmaz-214.png


Nasty!

Lirola is also banned for the Man City match next so Adjapong will stay there.

[Abe Sargent]

Juve beat AC Milan. Roma and Bologna won.

Champions Knockout Round 1st Leg – Home vs Man City – I begin standardly. Can we defeat them at home like we did AS Monaco? Juve? Man Utd?

Notes

3rd Minute – Berardi scores! Offsides!
I send in Sensi for an injured Vicente
40th Minute – They score
HALF – They have been lethal, 8 shots, 7 on target. 60% possession.
57th Minute – They score off the crossbar
I send in Bongonda for an injured Berardi
Hermoso for Farfan
Adjaponga card
85th Minute – On a counter, Politano’s cross finds Mendez’s head for goal.

https://i.ibb.co/B2h1RcF/Balmaz-215.png

We aren’t getting shut out! Can we steal a tie?
They have an injury and no sub so we are up a man…
SIX MINUTES – That’s a lot of added time…
They hold and win, Politano is MOM




Juve beat OL 1-0

I replace Lirola

[Abe Sargent]

Berardi is banned for the next match and Bongonda is starting

Bologna won.

Serie A Game #25 – Home vs Roma – I begin standarding

Notes

Sensi for a carded Arena
Mariano for a carded Mendez
Bongonda a card but I’ll leave him in for now
HALF – They have more shots, more on target, fewer fouls, and more possession
49th Minute – Mariano feeds Politano for goal!
Lirola a card
Sensi a card
Sensi a double booking, uh oh
I drop Ozil to MC, and Vicente to DMC.
Here they come
Gautier for bongonda
Three Minutes -Can we hold our lead?
Yes we can! We shut out Roma 1-0 and MOM is Politano

[Abe Sargent]

Bologna won their game in hand vs Sampdoria.

Serie A Game #26 – Away at Cittadella – I begin countering.

Notes

2nd Minute – Mendez feeds Arena for goal
HALF – We have 12 shots to their 2, but only 3 on target. Don’t get complacent!
Hermoso for a carded Farfan,
Bongonda for a 6.4 Berardi
Gautier for Ozil
Four Minutes – can we hold and win 1-0? We do.
We finished with 19 shots to their 5, 4 on target. MOM is Arena


I return Sensi

[Abe Sargent]

Bologna wins 2-0 vs Empoli, Juve beat Cremonense, Roma beat Milan

Italian Cup 1st Leg - Away at Palermo – I begin countering. We never play well against Palermo…

Notes

Mendez an early card I leave him in
9th Minute – They get a yellow card in the box, and Berardi steps up and is…blocked but he scores the rebound
19th Minute – They score and tie things back up – told you
We injure their AML
Farfan is injured and I send in Hermoso
HALF –
Bongonda for a 6.4 Politano
61st Minute – They score.
Burgzorg for a carded Clyne
79th Minute -Rubio gives up an OG… I don’t think we can come back from a 2 goal deficient at home…
Vicente a card
5 Minutes – Can we grab a goal to bring this thing reachable?
Nope, we lose 1-3.

[Abe Sargent]

March

4th – Home vs Napoli
7th – Away at Man City
12th – Home vs Milan
19th – Away at Sampdoria

Good Training – Mendez, Farfarn, La Rosa

Farfan in Team of the Month

Roma and Atalanta tied in the SF


Serie A Game #27 -Home vs Napoli = I begin controlling – this is Clyne’s 100th game for us

Notes

27th Minute – Berardi feeds Mendez for goal
Adjapong for a carded Lirola
HALF – Don’t get complacent
65th Minute – Ozil feeds Mendez for goal
Gautier for a banged up Ozil;
71st – They score a DFK
Rubio gives up a foul and they score the IFK Hermose replaces him
Five Minutes Can I break the tie?
We tie 2-2, MOM is Mendez


AC Milan and Juve both lost

[Abe Sargent]

The Champion Knockout Round 2nd Leg – Away at Man City- I begin countering. Revenge! Woodshed time!

Notes

10th Minute – They score on suspicions of offsides.
23rd Minute – On a corner, Politano’s leg hits Farfan’s head for goal and we tie it!

https://i.ibb.co/MBQ7LJz/Balmaz-216.png

We also scored in the home match so no shut outs here baby.
Politano a card but I leave him in
HALF – We are in this. We have 7 shots, 5 on target to their 9 and 4, 2 fewer fouls and one fewer card.
Adjapong for an injured Lirola
51st Minute – They score. If I score two then I’ll get through on Away Goals.
Burgzorg for a 6.4 Clyne; Hermoso for a6.5 Rubio
Politano is injured in the 83rd and we are down a man – I swap Ozil over to AML
Five Minutes -they win 2-1 and 4-2 aggregate. I’ll take two narrow one goal losses.

We are out.

Lirola is out for a week and will miss the Milan match
Politano is just out for a few days and will play in it

[Abe Sargent]

Juve took out OL and advance

Serie A Game #28 – Home vs AC Milan – I begin controlling

Notes

Burgzorg for a carded Clyne
HALF – They have 8 shots to our 2 – NOPE!
48th Minute – Ozil feeds Berardi for goal
Mayingi for a carded Adjapong; Gautier for Politano
Five Minutes – Can we hold and win 1-0?
Arena booked. Wee win and shut them out, MOM is Rubio



Bologna defeats Torino, Juve ties Udinese, Roma beat Cremonense

Replace Lirola

[Abe Sargent]

I agree to sell Hermoso at the end of the year. I transfer list him.

https://i.ibb.co/WDQT1JN/Balmaz-217.png


Our new youth arrives. I check out Davide. He’s not that potent.

Arena is banned for this match and Sensi starts. La Rosa is away for Italy and not on my sub list.

Serie A Game #29 – Away at Sampdoria – I begin countering

Notes

23rd Minute – On a counter Politano drives the line past a defender, and crosses to Mendez for goal
We injure one of their players
HALF – Don’t get complacent out there!
Bongonda for a 6.1 Berardi
53rd Minute – They call a goal offsides
Crescenzi for Farfan; Gautier for Ozil
Three Minutes can they score and break the tie?
We give up a PK and…they sink it and tie. We tie them 1-1.MOM is Vicente


AC Milan lost to Napoli, Bologna beat Atalanta; and Juve tied Torino

Replace Arena and La Rosa

[Abe Sargent]

Our 13 call ups begin


With around 9 games left in the Serie A, let’s look and see where we were historically.

Year One – I made 5 starter changes (Karius, Clyne, Matuidi, Vicente, Pires). I inherited a team that had finished mid table at 11th. We were as high as 3rd for one week, 4th at the halfway and much of the year and through Jan and mid-Feb until a late season collapse with 6 games in a row without a win and we dropped deep into 5, and were one point from 6th in the final game, and we lost, but they did to. Then Napoli, who finished in Champions in 4th had financial diff. and we got their Champions slot. Palermo won and Juve, with early issues, finished second just a small distance behind.

Year Two - I made 3 starter changes one of which replaced a new player (Ozil, Farfan, Rubio) and then ST at the Winter team after Babacar sucked. (Mendez). We started strong at 3rd in the 10 spot and then moved into 2nd and then never gave it up, we finished just two points behind Juve, and well ahead of 3rd.

Year Three – This year - I have made one (Arena) starter change and brought back a starter that was replaced earlier (Vicente). We started a bit slowly with loads of away games against powers like Juve, Napoli, Milan and Roma early. Bologna was leading the league at the 10 game mark, but we moved in front Juve and Milan have dropped a bunch of points and are very far from where you might expect. Will we finish the last two months strong like last year or weak like two years ago?

Let’s find out!

[Abe Sargent]

April

1st – Home vs Cremonese
4th – Home vs Palermo, Cup
9th – Away at Empoli
16th Home vs Udinese
19th – Away at Torino
23rd – Home vs Atalanta
30th – Away vs Lazio

Good training – Politano, Burgzorg, Racero

Busy month



Serie A Game #30 – Home vs Cremonese – I begin controlling although my Assman wants me to be attacking. Can we get a thumping?

Notes

6th Minute – Politano feeds Mendez for his 20th goal of the season
HALF – They have more cards (4) than we have fouls (3). We have 10 shots, 3 on target, to their 1. Don’t get complacent!
Burgzorg for Clyne; Gautier for Ozil; Sensi for a carded Arena
Five Minute s- They have played well with 7 shots in the second half, can we shut them out and win?
We win! MOM is Politano.

Here’s the League Table After 30:

https://i.ibb.co/RDDyBfC/Balmaz-218.png


Here you can see that we are 7 points in front of Bologna and them and Roma are pretty close, Milan has dropped back to 20th. Nasty.

[Abe Sargent]

Italian Cup SemiFinal, 2nd Leg – Home vs Palermo – We lost to them 1-3 on the road and I doubt we’ll win by that many since we do not show up against Palermo, I begin controlling

Notes

22nd Minute – On a corner kick, Berardi feeds Ozil for goal! If we win 2-0, then we’d win with away goal rule.
HALF – Hmm...we have 7 shots to their 5
Adjapong for a carded Lirola;
64th Minute – They score
Mariano for Mendez; Hermoso for Farfan
We hold and tie 1-1, MOM is Ozil

We are out of the Cup, and I haven’t even made the final yet in three shots. Also taking me out of the Cup in Year one Bari our kryptonite, Udinese in Year Two who finished the season 16th but won the Cup, and now Palermo…

[Abe Sargent]

Roma beat Atalanta to make it to the final

Serie A Game #31 – Away at Empoli – I begin countering

Notes

27th Minute – Berardi feeds Mendez for goal
HALF - They have 9 shots to our 3, and 54% possession – don’t get complacent
We injure their DR and he heads out
Hermoso for Rubio: Sensi for a carded Arena; Burgzorg for Clyne
Farfan a late card
They have 6 minutes…We hold and win 1-0 MOM is Vicente

AC Milan beat Cremonese at 18 2-1
Juve tied #15 Lazio 0-0
Bologna thump Palermo 3-0
Roma beat Torino 1-0 on the road


We qualify for the EURO!

[Abe Sargent]

Rubio is now a 4.5 star player! I check my other starting wonderkids –

Mendez – 4 stars
Farfan – 3.5 stars still
Arena – 3.5 stars still
Vicente – 4 stars

Key Backups:

Gautier – 2.5 stars
Burgzorg – 3 stars

Good stuff!

Farfan is suspended and I start Hermoso

Serie A Game #32 – Home at Udinese – I begin controlling

Notes

4th Minute – On a counter, Ozil feeds Politano for goal
33rd Minute – Ozil feeds Berardi for goal and that’s his 20th.
HALF – Nice!
Bongonda for a carded Berardi
Mariano for a 6.3 Mendez
La Rosa for Hermoso
Arena a late card
Can they break out of the shutout?
We hold and win 2-0, MOM is Ozil’s double assist day


AC Milan went up against Empoli and they lose 1-0
Juve is fighting against Palermo and they…win 1-0
Bologna won 2-1 over Salertino
Roma beat Atalanta 2-1

[Abe Sargent]

I replace Farfan

Berardi gets a big 250k bonus for getting 15 Serie A goals

Juve lose to Man Utd 4-1 on the road and are out of the Champion’s League.
AC Milan lose to AS Monaco 1-3 and are also out

Serie A Game #33 – Away at Torino – I begin countering

Notes

6th Minute – Mendez feeds Vincente for goal!
HALF – We have 10 shots,3 on target to their 3 and 0. Don’t get complacent!
Gautier for a tired Ozil; Hermoso for Farfan; Burgzorg for Clyne
We hold and win 1-0, another shut down ,MOM is Mendez

Five games left!

We have 24 wins, one short of last year’s record 25

[Abe Sargent]

AC Milan host Torino and…they lose 0-1

Serie A Game #34 – Home vs Atalanta – They beat us this year, vengeance! Controlling

Notes

Burgzong for a carded Clyne
Burgzorg a card, Hermoso replaces him
HALF – 10 shots, 7 on target, we’re playing well. Shot me something else…
Lirola a card
Arena too
63rd – Lirola a 2nd card…this is why I pull my yellows
I pull AMC Ozil for Adjapong and move to defensive
Hermoso a card
73rd – Arena a 2nd card…
I drop Vicente to DMC
Can we hold?
89th Minute – They break the tie
Politano is MOM in our 1-0 loss, that’s our first loss in a while

I warn Lirola and Arena that are suspended for the next match

Roma Beat Palermo 1-0
Bologna beat Genoa 3-0, I was rooting for Genoa since they are 5th and could cross Juve.
Juve beat Inter 1-0
Chievo won and move into 5th


Here’s the Table with 4 games left:

https://i.ibb.co/VVYtHzs/Balmaz-219.png

With our loss we are just 6 in front of Bologna, 1 in front of Roma, 4 in front of Juve, and its not like that Juve will fall out of the Champion’s League to 5th. EURO is 5-7, and that’s Chievo, Udinese and Genoa tied with Atalanta. All of those would be surprises just like Bologna at #2 and Roma #3 and Juve waaay back in 4th and Milan in 19th just won. Could they get relegated?

[Abe Sargent]

AC Milan head to Atalanta and…they lose 3-1.
Juve head to Genoa and…they win 2-1.

Serie Game #35 - Away at Lazio – I begin countering

I am starting Sensi and Adjapong for Arena and Lirola

Notes

Sensi a card
14th Minute – Sensi sinks a DFK. I’m still pulling him for Crisetig
32nd Minute - Berardi sinks a shot that was rebound by the GK
Vicente a card, I move Crisetg to MC and Hermoso heads in at DMC
38th Minute – They claw one back
HALF -10 shots by us to 5 by them so 2-1 is fair, but sad. Don’t get complacent.
47th Minute – They get a second yellow which means they’ll tie or win
Critseg a card but I am out of MC/DMC subs
I tell him to lay off tackles
Hermoso a card
Mariano for Mendez
Three minutes, can we hold them 1-2? We do and MOM is Berardi

Replace Arena and Lirola

Bologna lost

[Abe Sargent]

May

7th Home vs Palermo – Uh oh
14th – Away at Salernitana
21st – Home vs Inter

Good training – Farfan, Arena, Burgzorg

Paris SG just thumped Man City 5-0 in the Champions Semi Final. Wow.


Bologna is fighting Napoli and…they tie 1-1 and we win!

AC Milan is facing Lazio and…Lazio wins 2-1. Uh oh…

Serie A Game #36 – Home vs Palermo - I begin standard. This Berardi’s 350th league app!

Notes

I ease back to counter
45th Minute – In our FIRST SHOT IN THE GAME, Clyne crosses to Mendez for goal
HALF- Don’t get complacent
Subs – Adjapong for a carded Lirola; Gautier for Berardi
77th Minute – They get a 2nd yellow
La Rosa for Farfan
Four minutes can we hold and win 1-0?
Adjapong a late card
We win! MOM is Mendez


Juve hosts Chievo and…they win
Roma vs Inter – Roma win 3-1

[Abe Sargent]

Five of my players are called up for the U20 World Cup –

Gautier - France
La Rosa – Italy
Cardona and Bordoni – Italy
Racero – Spain

They will miss the last two games of the year.

Paris SG lost 2-1 on the road to Man City and are through to the Champions Final.

Man Utd hosts Monaco who tied them 0-0 in Monaco, they tie 1-1 and Monaco is through due to the away goal rule, and there is an all France so France is sure of winning the Champions League for the first time.

I accept a transfer offer for Hermoso from Dynamo Kyiv for 6.25 mill

Our record number of goals which we set while I was here is 85 and we are at 83 this year with two games left.

Adjapong is banned for this match

Serie A Game #37- Away at Salernitana, I begin countering, we tied last year’s 25 wins, can we get more?

Notes

26th Minute – On a counter, Vicente feeds Politano for goal!
HALF – We have 5 shots to their 4, 49% possession, so the stats are close. Don’t get complacent!
Hermoso for a carded Rubio: he gets a card
68th Minute – Berardi feeds Mendez for goal – we tied last year’s goal total
Finessi for Ozil
75th Minute -On a goal kick, Karius feeds Mendez for goal – we beat last year’s goal
Erlic for a carded Hermoso
Four minutes – We hold and win 3-0 on the road dominantly. Wanna see?

https://i.ibb.co/sv1yZdg/Balmaz-220.png

You got it! MOM is Mendez, and we had 3 shots sunk on 6 on target. Great day!


Juve head to Bologna and Bologna won at Juve earlier this year…. Juve lose 0-1 again, wow they were swept by a team. Any team…
Chievo faces Ascoli and they win 1-0 staying in 5th.
Roma has Genoa on the road and they win 4-2.

One game left!

[Abe Sargent]

Ozil announces his retirement.

Six of my players were called up for the U21 EURO Championship

Laurent for Belgium
Arena and Valbonesi for Italy
Vicente, Rubio, Mendez for Spain



The Italian Cup Finals

Roma

Vs

Palermo

Roma won 1-0.


Serie A Game #38 – Home vs Inter – I begin standardly. I am starting Hermoso for Farfan since it’s likely his last game for us.

Notes

Adjapong for a carded Lirola
HALF – Nope!
Sensi for Vincente since this is his last game; Mariano for Mendez
83rd – Sensi feeds Mariano for goal -subs!
87th – They get a double booking
We hold and win 1-0 MOM is Mariano

Hermoso is heading to Dynamo Kyiv!


Here’s the Table at the Season of the 2022-2023 Season


https://i.ibb.co/Lt9H6Tj/Balmaz-221.png


As you can see, we won by a few games and we had 28 wins this year to last year’s 25.Bologna had the good form to finish 2nd, Roma 2 points behind in 3rd, Juve one point behind in 4th and those four are Champions league bound. Atalanta, Chievo and Udinese are heading to the EURO and that’s crazy for Chievo who were just promoted last year. No major names, other than Juve, finished. AC Milan is…RELEGATED! Inter finished 10th, Napoli 14th, etc.

[Abe Sargent]

Let’s look at my year in review:

My Goals:

Year One
1. Get to a place where I can threaten for a EURO spot in 5-7. Just getting 6th would increase our table ranking by 5. DONE - I finished 5th.
Year Two
2. Earn qualification for the EURO. DONE YEAR ONE, but then we got to Champion’s instead
3. Do some serious damage in the EURO as a Italian squad – DONE YEAR TWO – after I lost done we went really far in the EURO
4. Get a Champion’s qual spot in 4-1. DONE YEAR TWO – Finished 2nd
5. Do some damage in the Champion’s league – DONE YEAR THREE – Got out of group stage dominantly knocking out Real Madrid, winning against Monaco, getting two wins from Galatasaray.
6. Win a cup – I haven’t made the Finals
7. Win Serie A – DONE YEAR THREE

[Abe Sargent]

Stats

Team Stuff:


Team Goals – Chievo finished with 65 goals in first, then Inter with 64, Udinese with 62 and then us with 58 un 4th

Fewest Goals Allowed – us with just 20, Bologna with 26 tied Juventus, Roma with 34 goals allowed at 4th

Shut Outs – We led with 23, three more than last year; Bologna with 19, Juve with 17, Roma with 16


Player Stuff:

MOM – Politano and Mendez tied for 2nd with 7;

Dist. Cove – Politano 1st; Ozil 3rd; Vicente 4th;

Dist. Cover/90 Minutes – Politano 1st, Vicente 7th

Avg Rating – Politano 7th; Mendez 9th;

Headers Won – Mendez 2nd, Rubio 4th

Goals - Mendez 4th; Berardi 8th

Avg. Minutes/Goal – Mendez 7th

Shots – Mendez 7th

Shots on Target – Mendez 3rd;

Shots on Target % - Mendez 7th

Assists – Politano tied for 1st; Berardi tied for 10th

Key Passes- Politano 4th; Mendez 10th

Chances Created – Politano 1st; Mendez 9th

Pass Completion % - Arena 5th

Cross Completion % - Ozil 1st;

Drib/Game – Politano 5th;

Tack/Game – Lirola 3rd;

Key Headers – Rubio 3rd; Mendez 6th

Interceptions Made -Rubio 6th; Farfan 10th

Headers Won Ratio – Rubio 9th

Shots Allowed – Karius 1st

Shut Outs – Karius 1st

Karius is not top ten is shots held or parried

Nice!

[Abe Sargent]

Starter Overview – Stats are only Serie A stats;

GK Karius – 28 years old, German, 24 shut outs, 19 shots allowed, 6.88 rating, one year left on his deal, 2 – Played very well for me but with just a 3.5 rating I probably want to move on for him to advance in Champions Play, although he shut out Monaco, Man Utd, Sporting; and only allowed one shot away at Monaco. However I would be fine bringing him back for another year as it may not be easy to find a replacement. Signed for 6 mill from Liverpool in year 1.

DC Farfan – 3.5 stars and mostly grown, Non-EU, Columbian with 16 apps, 21 years old, 6.88 rating, 2 – Has not played that well last year either but it wouldn’t be easy to find a replacement and I don’t see that much that keeps him here I could loan him and bring in a replacement. Signed for 2.9 mill in year 1 from Columbia’s Atletico, here for two more years, wonderkid

DC Rubio – 3.5 – 19 years old, 4 stars and growing, he’s probably my best player on my team after two years of starting, 7.05 rating, 8 mill from Real Madrid in year 2, wanted to start. Spanish, here for two more years. Wonderkid

DL Clyne – 1/3 English, 32 years old, contract ends this year, free addition in year 1, non-EU player just a 3 star player these days. I’m letting him go and starting Burgzorg here next year. 7.03 rating, 2 goals, 1 assist.

DR Lirola – 3 – Spanish, 3.5 stars, inherited him, homegrown at the club which I need 4 of on my squad, 6.90 rating but tons of cards probably stopped him from being more consistent, that was a huge change this year. 25 years old, here until 2027.


DMC Arena – 3 – Italian, 19 years old, 3.5 stars and growing, here until 2027, 7.04 rating, 1 goal, 1 assist, I purchased for 6 mill from Pescara in January of year 1, wonderkid

MC Vicente – 3 – Spanish, 22 years old, 4 stars, signed until 2027; purchased for 2.5 mill from my old team in Year 1, 4 goals, 2 assists, 7.05 rating, wonderkid


AMC Ozil – 1 – Retiring at the end, I am currently slating Gautier to start there, 2.5 stars, 7.01 rating, 4 goals, 8 assist, 4 MOM, signed him for free year 2, German, 34 years old

AMR Berardi – 3 -Also a homegrown player like Lirola, 7.04 rating, inherited him, 16 goals, 8 assits, here for two more years, 28 years old, 3.5 star rating, 4 MOM

AML Politano – 2 – One year left in deal and likely to start Gautier here when he leaves, 29 years old, 3.5 stars, 5 goals, 13 assit, 7.26 rating; 7 MOM

ST Mendez – 3.5 – Wonderkid, Spanish, here for two more years, 4 stars and growing, 21 years old, 4.5 mill from Middlesbrough in January of year 2, 7.24 rating, 21 goals, 7 assists, 7 MOM,

There we go!!!

Leaving this year of key note are:

Ozil – retirement, end of contract
Clyne – end of contract
Sensi – 3 stars MC/DMC – inherited him, end of contract
DC, DR, DMC Hermoso – 3 stars, sold to Dynamo Kyiv

[Abe Sargent]

Rubio, Clyne, and Mendez were named in Team of the Year,

Karius won 2nd Place GK of the Year

Rubio won Defender of the Year

Mendez won Striker of the Year

The Champion’s Final is being held and…they tie 1-1 and Monaco wins on pks and is the first French winner. And we beat them in our place 1-0.

We get 39.32 in Champion’s Cup revenue

Arena won the award for U19 best midfielder again!

I won Manager of the Year!

Good bye May

Good training – Vicente, Arena, Rubio

[Abe Sargent]

Now...what do I want to do? I just won Serie A, I got out of the Group Stage, I haven't won a Cup and I'd love to do some more damage in the Champion's League. Is that worth coming back for?

Here are my options:

1. Play another year - let's see what damage I can do!

2. Move to another team/league and take on another challenge, just like I did twice with this dynasty.

3. Retire...maybe start another dynasty elsewhere in Eastern Europe.

4. Actually here's another thought - take on AC Milan that was just relegated and get them back to the top spot...

[Abe Sargent]

Here's something that’s pretty pointed – we would have won last year and have more points this year than Juve had last, nice! But we weren’t…dominant. Despite our league leading defense, and us scoring a lot of points overall, we had few blow outs. If we were the elephant powerhouse in the room, we would have had more dominating performances, but how many 1-0 wins did we have? We had few 3-0 or 4-0 wins like a dominant force of nature would have…

But I don’t know who I’d replace.

Here are my 1-0s – FIFTEEN! That’s pretty close. How many 2-1s? just three, showing how rare my offense did.

How many solid but not dominant 2-0s? Just five. How many 3-1s with a two goal difference just two.

How many three goal wins at 3-0 and 4-1 – two.

We just never dominated the league, even in a multi-game win.

[Abe Sargent]

18 call ups happen

Juve fired their coach and my name is being floated around in the media

I reject a 10 mill offer for Lirola

Mendez wants a new deal and I agree to offer it to him

I make him a new offer for our Target Man

We moved up 20 spots to #39.

https://i.ibb.co/XZZBmkv/Balmaz-222.png


Uh oh.

Man City sign for 57 mill Roma’s Pellegrini

https://i.ibb.co/ZdSkGJR/Balmaz-223.png

Our youth are awesome!

Here are our awards:

https://i.ibb.co/LQCQms8/Balmaz-224.png

As you can see, Politano, Mendez and Berardi are our top players from fans Ozil won goal of the season and Gautier is the signing of the year and Mendez is, again, the young player of the year.

Best Training of the Year:

Vincente, La Rosa, Arena, Burgzorg and Gautier

I hold my end of season meeting – let’s win this thing again!

[Abe Sargent]

Mendez signs a new deal through 2028, 47500/week a big increase in his 14k/week, key player,

With Sensi leaving (who I inherited) and Hermoso being sold since he wanted first team play, I need new 3 star subs at Mc/DMC and DC.

I begin to scout up some folks. Also Gautier only sits at 2.5 stars now, so I might want to bring in an AMC for a year or two to develop him. Burgzorg is ready to start with 3 stars and growing, and if my new DC could cover DL that would be great.

Who is coming free that might want to swing by us?

Whoa…I search for players and have I found my new GK? He’s backup over at AC Milan – 24 year old 99. Gianluigi Donnarumma. He looks much better than GK Karius. But….he’s worth 12 mill, and my transfer kitty is 30 mill for next year, but Milan might be looking to unload the books in order to free up cash and a backup GK could be it. He is showing up on “my interested in coming here” list. He looks amazing…

Here take a look see:

https://i.ibb.co/SX39CQ1/Balmaz-225.png

As you can see, he’s better than Karius, by two, at aeriel, by one at ball distribution, by 3 physically, by 3 mentally, by 4 in communication and they are tied at shot stopping. Karius is better at speed and that’s it. That feels like a big upgrade, but will he want to come here for the pay cut required. He’s showing up in my search though and he cost a lot of salary for Milan to trim plus the amount they’d get. I make an offer of 12.5 mill for him and they accept. They are clearly in a fire sale mode.

He's interested after I promise him key player

Time for negotiation – can we agree to a term?

We agree, now let’s see what happens.

Mendez’s 24 goals last year are the best in our team’s history.

Politano set the record for 10 MOM.

Karius’s 28 shut outs set that record

Racero won the U20 World Cup Golden Glove award

Now let’s look for DC/DL and MC/DM backups.

[Abe Sargent]

DC - 19. Niklas Süle wants 150 mill and starting;
31 year old 32. Joël Matip won’t take rotation
33 year old AC Milan’s 22. Mateo Musacchio? He;s already on rotation, but I feel like I want a younger player, as he is likely to drop.
34 year old Sevilla’s Steven N’Zoni would likely be just 2.5 stars
Ditto 33 year old Dutch Daley Blind

Hmmm, transfer listed?

Jonny is rotation over at PSG, but has a value of 30 mill
Robin Koch is 21 mill,

I’m already growing up La Rosa, so a wonderkid wouldn’t make sense here.

Mateo is probably the best. I make him a 45k rotation offer for two years but he doesn’t play DL.

I need a DL, I make an offer to 32 year old Faouzi Ghoulam who is French and plays for the Algerian national team with more than 100 caps. He’s on a backup deal with Chelsea so going to rotation with us should work. He wants first team, and I don’t want to get him here and then drop him to rotation and he gets pissed off.

Next? Wow that’s a big drop off in talent, like down to 2 stars at best…hmmm…. I do like Faouzi Ghoulam as a temporary starter in case of injury.

Anyone on DL that would make sense on transfer list that’s feasible in cost? Nope the cheapest is24 year old German 23. Gian-Luca Itter over at Dortmund for 8.5mill. Again, we don’t want a young guy here to develop since that is Burgzorg.

I have 1.85 mill in salary since we are supposed to win again to win next year, and we have that sweet Champions Cash and we made record gate receipts and finished flushed with cash last year, and I have Ozil’s 175k/week salary leaving, so I can do the 77k that Faouzi wants no problem.

Actually, on the final offer, he agrees to rotation, so he’ll be coming in for years.

That’s DC and DL. Now DM/DMC – how about 32 year old Thiago? He wants 90 mill, rotation, can play MC, AMC, DMC a bit, but he’s not great at it, I make him a two year offer.

That’s our stuff for now!

[Abe Sargent]

No AMC is coming free that I want to sign, who wants to come here, so we’ll wait as things could heat up, like they did with Ozil.

Ghoulam will join us

Thiago joins us, the Spanish international with 50+ caps

Mateo Musacchio agrees and will join us

I reject a job interview for Spanish club Real San Sebastien.

https://i.ibb.co/QFZkqV7/Balmaz-226.png


The big one. Hopefully he’ll really show up in Champion’s League play,

I reject a job offer from Valencia.

Mathis Laurent now counts as homegrown in our nation as does Farfan.

Arena is now homegrown in my club! That gives me 4 players in my normal squad that are homegrown here – Adajpong, Arena, Lirola and Berardi


June 30:

Ozil retires!

Three youngsters leave

We receive 40 mill in TV cash

We play Roma in the Super Cup on August 20th

Leaving are:

Clyne
Ozil
Sensi
Crisiteg


Many backups and hot prospects like 2 star Finessi

Good bye June!

[Abe Sargent]

July 1st

I set up friendlies with Milan and 4 Dutch teams

I register my new arrivals and backups and I have 2 spot open on my team.

Our four new additions are here:


Let’s start with the big one:

https://i.ibb.co/ySYp3nK/Balmaz-227.png

This is my new GK and he is a 4.5 star player, 1 full star better than 3.5 star Karius. He’s better at everything save for speed, and his acceleration is 10 and pace 12, but that’s fine This guy is a house and I am paying him Ozil money. He came through the AC Milan youth program, and he’s homegrown at Italy, and he’s just 24 and my coaches think he has 5 star potential. Welcome to the club!

I transfer list Karius and move him to GK

https://i.ibb.co/PDCcVMS/Balmaz-228.png

Here’s Musachhio, and I thought he was 3 but just 2.5, but his stats are pretty good. He is making 45 k for two years. He is Italian and Argentinian, and plays for Argentina, but he is not homegrown

https://i.ibb.co/2y4mY3N/Balmaz-229.png

Here is the 32 year old Thiago, 90k, two years rotation deal 3 stars, Spanish International with 59 caps. He’ll be my main sub for Vicente and AMC and if DMC Arena needs a sub I can swap Vicente although Thiago is accomplished at DMC would be fine in an emergency. He’s pretty fancy.

https://i.ibb.co/tDKbWRS/Balmaz-230.png

Algerian international Ghoulam is currently away, but I thought for sure he’d be a 3 star with those stats like cross and passing. Like Dickmann he can play other L side in an emergency so if we needed an AML for Politano not named Bongonda then we could move him in. He’s in a two year 77k/week deal. I move him to DL and want to give him some early starts.

[Abe Sargent]

Now…who is free that might want to come here?

The best is 33 year old German Toni Kroos who plays MC and DM. Arena last year with defensive playmaker role had an okay 7.04 rating. I could pull AMC and move Kroos into Vincente’s old role and start him next to him, just like I did when I moved MC to AMC for Ozil. He isn’t interested in coming here, just like Ozil, but he came a few days later. I’ll hold out.

That’s the only massive one free, the next best is Spanish AMC Dani Ceballos…let’s compare him to Gautier…well I don’t know him that well since he plays in Mexico right now. He’s willing to come here with a key player role. Gautier is only 2.5 right now, and my guess is that Dani would be 3.5. I make an offer to Dani.

What about non-EU players?

No changes.

I accept a loan offer for Crivelli again, and with them paying his wages


https://i.ibb.co/xD8rjp2/Balmaz-231.png

These are coming through. I make offers for Adjapong, and some youth. Politano has dropped to 3 stars and Mariano 2.5, but I do like him, so I might extend him, and Bogonda has never played that hot, but he’s never embarrassed me.

[Abe Sargent]

The 12.5 mill for my new GK is a new record beating last years 11 mill for Burgzorg

I accept an offer for a Testimonial with Paris SG for Alphonse Areola

Rubio was named in the U21 World Cup Dream Team

I confirm my season expectations

I accept offers for Karius

I get an offer of 60 mill for Vicente from Real Madrid… that’s serious money. He has a min release fee of 80 mill, so that’s pretty close. Vincente has been with me ever since my first year in Balmaz, and I’d like to keep him. But 60 mill is a lot of cash….

What do I do?

He was just 7.05 last year at MC, do I think I can get a better rating than that?

Dang…60 mill. I say no, he has a min release fee, but that’s pretty tasty. He’s my guy though!

No push back, he’s my guy!

I reject an offer for Lirola, but if he is as yellow card friendly this year as he was last I’ll move on from him

ST Cappa my 3rd ST with Crivelli on loan at backup is homegrown here and he resigned.

Now a 66 mill offer for Vicente. Again, I tell them it’s not enough cash.

This time Vincente wants a new deal. Okay buddy!

AMC Ceballos signs with us!

https://i.ibb.co/T0pxQG5/Balmaz-232.png


Here he is for two years, and we can move into rotation next year if Gautier is ready. He’s a 3.5 star rating, which is fine for now. I add him to my AMC now. I give him the Advanced Playmaker role.

[Abe Sargent]

Everyone arrives back from the off season

I welcome them back, let’s win Serie A again!

Rubio want a new deal and I agree and I make him an offer.

Adjapong signs

Friendly #1 – Home vs AZ – We…win 1-0

We sell Karius to the Wolves for 5 mill. Mendez is sad to see his buddy leave.

Vicente signs his new deal! 70k/ which increases his salary by 30k, until 2028. No minrelease clause

Rubio signs! His new deal is 75k/week, until 2028 – no release clause either – he was still on the 50k he started with when he signed,.

Friendly #2 – Home vs Feyenoord – we win 2-0 and MOM is Politano

Friendly #3 – Home vs Ajax – Will we win 4-0 like earlier? Almost! How about 4-1, MOM is Mendez?

Friendly #4 – Home vs PSV – We win 1-0, MOM is Rubio



Good bye July

[Abe Sargent]

August

1st – Testimonial at PSG
6th – Home vs Utrecht, FR
13th – Home vs Milan, FR
20th – Neutral vs Roma – Italian Super Cup
27th - Away at Torino

Good Training – Gautier and La Rosa

Testimonial – We lose 2-1 to a big bad. Vincente scored!

I accept an offer for our U20 team to play in the U23 Premier Division International

I loan Baranowski

Milan cancels the FR it has a Cup match

Friendly #5 – Home vs Utrecht – We win 2-0, MOM is Gautier

I submit the numbers for their kits

Toni Kroos still hasn’t signed. But now he is willing to negotiate, but I’m set for now

We sell 11,818 season tickets, a big number!

Rubio is 3-1 odd to win the best of award. Others from my team in the top ten are Mendez

West Ham make an offer for 600k for a Dutch youth I signed named 42. Kay van Binsbergen to help Burgzorg adapt to the move to Italy. AMC, 19 years old. I don’t need to keep Kay a year later, but Kay is 2 star with 3.5 star potential, so I keep them around.

I sell a couple of hot prospects and a backup for small amounts.

[Abe Sargent]

Italian Super Cup – Neutral Site


Your Italian Cup Winner

Roma

Vs

Your Serie A Champion

US Sassuolo



Notes

I begin standard. This is my first Cup Final in Italy, hopefully it’ll be my first win! For the Fans!

9th Minute – Berardi feeds Mendez for goal!

https://i.ibb.co/427nZg6/Balmaz-233.png


19th Minute – Ghoulam feed Vincente for goal!

https://i.ibb.co/yfQjxBg/Balmaz-234.png

27th Minute – Berardi hits Vicente on a counter!

https://i.ibb.co/ryszLnx/Balmaz-235.png


Sweet! I’ll stop giving you goal updates…

45th Minute – Mendez scores off a rebound
HALF – I am not screwing this up by talking
They make 2 subs at the half
Bongonda for an injured Berardi
Adjapong for a carded Lirola
Gautier for Cebellos
Three Minutes – We shut out Roma 4-0, good debut for Donnarumma. Ghoulam an 8.2 rating, Cebellos a 7.2, nice debuts, and MOM is Vincente,

[Abe Sargent]

I talk to my board and...

https://i.ibb.co/S7wqLy6/Balmaz-236.png

That attendance at the Super Cup broke the record!

I keep Berardi and Politano as my Capt and Vice

I sell a hot prospect named Licka

Serie A Game #1 – Away at Torino – we have ties or wins against them 5x in a row, can we continue our good form today? I open countering.

Notes

HALF – Wow that was quiet. Don’t get complacent!
La Rosa for a carded Farfan, Thiago for a carded Arena, Bongonda for Berardi
4 Minutes
91st Minute – On a counter, Mendez scores! Can we hold! We do, MOM is Mendez

[Abe Sargent]

12 call ups

We make 12.7 mill for making it to the Champions Group Stage

August 31st

The Group Draw Arrives – We are seeded first

Group A

Us
Chelsea
Leverkusen
Celtic

That’s not good, Germany, Italy and EPL are there. We may not get past that.

We loan two

Deadline passes

September

4th – Home vs Genoa
16th – Away at Chievo
20th – Away at Celtic
24th – Home vs Empoli
27th – Away at Cagiliari
30th – Home vs Inter

Good training – Rubio, La Rosa, Gautier

I register for the Champions Cup

Serie A Game #2 – Home vs Genoa – I begin countering.

Notes

14th Minute – They foul Mendez in the box and Berardi…sinks the PK
Bongonda for a carded Berardi
HALF – Don’t get complacent!
Mariano for a 6.3 Mendez
Burgzorg for a6.4 Ghoulam
We hold and win 1-0, MOM is Politano. Not my first 1-0 win with a PK. We finished with 13 shots to their 8, and 7 on target for their 5. That sets our most wins in a row with 7, and that’s 3 shutouts for Donnarumma.

[Abe Sargent]

Burgzorg was capped by the Netherlands and I congrats him

Mendez is capped! I send him congrats. He also scored on his debut

Serie A Game #3 – Away at Chievo -I begin countering

Notes

Gautier for a carded Cebellos
Adjapong for a carded Lirola – uh oh
29th Minute – they score, first goal allowed by Donnarumma.
HALF – Show me something else
51st Minute – Ghoulam drives the corner, crosses and hits Mendez for goal to tie it
56th Minute – Gautier to Mendez for goal to break the tie
Bongonda for a 6.3 Berardi
Four Minutes – Will we hold and win 2-1?
We do, MOM is Mendez

[Abe Sargent]

Champions Group A Game #1 – Away at Celtic – I begin countering. We need to get 6 from Celtic to get out just like the 6 we scored from Galatasaray that got us out last year.

Notes

8th Minute – They score, offsides
Arena and Rubio early cards…Rubio sucks. I send in Thiago and Mateo
32nd Minute – Berardi feeds Politano for goal on a counter

https://i.ibb.co/44Yycp9/Balmaz-237.png

Nice because they are all over the stats.

HALF – They have 7 shots to our 4 and we have 55% possession. Don’t get complacent!
Burgzorg for a tired Ghoulam
Three Minutes – Can we hold and win? We do, MOM is Politano.

Leverkusen beat Chelsea 3-2.

We win 1.5 mill


Another shut out by Donnarumma, this time on the road. As you saw, he is the starting GK on the Italian team, so he is the best GK in Italy, so my hope is that get further with my team.

[Abe Sargent]

Juve beat Wolfburg, Bologna lost.

Serie A Game #4 – Home vs Empoli – I begin controlling.

Notes

Enea for a carded Lirola
We injure their AML and he heads out
Arena and Berardi back to back cards. I send in Thaigo for Arena and will leave in Berardi
Enea is injured and I send in Adjapong
HALF – Nope! We only have 2 shots
Card for Adjapong
52nd Minute -Thiago feeds Mendez for goal
Thiago a card
68th Minute – Cebellos to Politano, goal
76th Minute – Vicente feeds Mendez for his 2nd goal
85th Minute – they score, no shut out
89th Minute – a double booking Thiago, I slide back to defensive
We hold and win, MOM is Cebellos

Thiago is banned for the next match – I warn him and he accepts it

[Abe Sargent]

I wanted to give the early starts to the veteran Ghoulam and then ease Burgzorg into the starting role, but he has been playing quite well – in one Champions game, 1 Cup and 4 Serie A games he has 2 assists and a 7.15 rating. Not bad. I’ll leave him in for now, but I think we’ll move in Burgzorg later on, unless he continues to have a nice rating and results.

Serie a Game #5 – Away at Liorla – I begin countering. Hello Baranowski!

Notes

Ahmetaj for a carded Arena
45th Minute – Ahmetaj feeds Mendez for goal
HALF – Don’t get complacent, we have 8 shots to their 3
They make two subs at the half
Bongonda for a carded Berardi
59th Minute - Rubio a red card, I swap AMC Cabellos out for DC Mateo, I pull back to defensive can we hold on to our narrow 1-0 result?
Ahmetaj a card
Mendez a card
Farfan a card
Four minutes for them to break free – we hold and shut them out 1-0, MOM is Farfan


Replace Thiago

Rubio is suspended for a match and I warn him and he accepts it

The Table

https://i.ibb.co/SB8gt0p/Balmaz-238.png


Here you go, as you can see we are the only 5-0 team after 5, Bologna are 4-1-1 and Juve and Udinese each lost just one game. Just one team with 5 wins, just 3 teams with 4.

[Abe Sargent]

Serie A Game #6 - Inter just thumped Venezia 9-2. Home vs Inter – I begin standardly

I start Mateo

Notes

9th Minute – Cebellos hits Vicente for goal
Burgzorg for a carded Ghoulam
HALF- We are ahead 5 shots to 4 and 51% of possession. Don’t get complacent!
Gautier for Cebellos
Thiago for Arena
Inter are coming hard
Six minutes of added time, can we hold onto our 1-0 score?
We win 1-0, MOM is Vicente, and just one card this game so that was nice

Return Rubio

[Abe Sargent]

October

4th – Home vs Chelsea
8th – Away at Venezia
21st – Away at Fiorentina
25th – Home vs Leverhusen
29th – Home vs Atalanta

Good Training – Thiago, La Rosa, Enea

We now have 12 wins in a row

Mendez named in Team of the Month

Juve beat Sparta Prague 4-1

Champion’s Group A – Home vs Chelsea – I begin standard – I need to get a win at home like with Man Utd or AS Monaco to get out against a big player like Chelsea. Their GK is Courtois. This is going to be a major game in a rough group.

Notes

46th Minute – On a corner kick, Arena scores!

Wanna see?

https://i.ibb.co/k54MKnC/Balmaz-239.png

HALF – Quiet half, we had 3 shots to their 4. We had 55% possession and we have…8 fouls to their 2 but no cards to their 1. Don’t get complacent. We defeated AS Monaco by a 1-0 score that put us through to the knockout round.
Bongonda for a 6.4 Politano
Adjapong for a 6.4 Berardi
Mateo for a tired Farfan
Here they come
Four Minutes – Can we hold and win?
We hold and win 1-0! MOM is Arena. Nice shut out by Donnarumma.

Roma tied Bayern on the road 1-1

We win 1.5 mill

[Abe Sargent]

Serie A Game #7 – Home vs Venezia – I begin controlling – my AssMan suggested attacking. This is the team that Inter hung 9 on.

Notes

Cebellos is banged up and I send in Thiago
36th Minute – They get a yellow card fouling Politano, up steps Berardi and…he misses the PK.
44th Minute – Berardi feeds Mendez’s head for goal
47th Minute – Politano crosses to Mendez for goal
HALF – Don’t get complacent – we have 15 shots to their 5
Ahmetaj for Arena
Enea for Lirola
Still no cards for my team
We injure their ST and they head off
Ghoulam a card
4 Minutes
93rd Minute – Berardi feeds Mendez for a hattrick
We win 3-0, MOM is Mendez

[Abe Sargent]

Serie A Game #8 – Away at Florentina – I begin countering

Notes

Mateo for a carded Rubio
37th Minute – Berardi feeds Mendez for goal on a counter
HALF – They have 8 shots to our 5, and we split possession 50/50. Don’t get complacent!
47th Minute – on a set piece, Arena scores a long shot
Thiago for Vicente
67th Minute – They score off a nasty cross, and claw one back, we won’t shut them out.
Arena a card, I send in Ahmetaj
Lirola a card
Four Minutes- can we hold? We do, we win 2-1, MOM is Arena

[Abe Sargent]

Bologna lost to Dortmund, Juve host Barcelona and win 1-0.

Champions Group A – Game #3 – Home vs Leverkusen – We both have two wins and assuming Chelsea beats Celtic they will get their first win. If we can manage a win here and move up to first clear with 3 points over Chelsea and Leverkusen at the halfway mark, then that would be pretty good. We need another major win. We finished in 1st last year with 7 points. I begin standard.

Notes

35th Minute – Off an IFK, we left the ball to Cebellas that breaks free and feeds Mendez for goal.


https://i.ibb.co/rQG5g3V/Balmaz-240.png

Nice!

40th Minute - They score off an IFK and tie it
HALF – Nope!
56th Minute – On a counter Berardi feeds Politano for a goal to go to 2-1.

https://i.ibb.co/THm38Nm/Balmaz-241.png

61st Minute – Ghoulam misses an interception on a corner kick and they tie it back at 2-2, I send in Burgzorg for him
Mateo for a6.5 Rubio
I move to Control
Adjapong for a 6.2 Lirola
Five Minutes – can either break the 2-2 tie? Nope. Leverkusen will be a lot happier with a tie in our place that we will.


Celtic host Chelsea and…they tie 0-0. That means Leverkusen and us have 7 points and Chelsea and Celtic have 1.

[Abe Sargent]

Serie A Game #9 – Home vs Atalanta – I begin controlling

Notes

18th Minute – Cebellas to Politano for goal
HALF- Don’t get complacent we dominated in stats.
Bongonda for a 6.5 Berardi
Mateo for Farfan
Enea for a carded Lirola
Five Minutes – Can we win?
Mateo a card
We win 1-0, shut out, MOM is Cebellas

[Abe Sargent]

November

1st – Away at Lazio
4th – Home vs Juventus
7th – Away at Leverkusen
12th -Away at Sampdoria
25th – Home vs Palermo
29th – Home vs Celtic

Good training – Farfan Arena, Gautier,



Serie A Game #10 – Away at Lazio - move to countering. Lirola is suspended and I start Adjapong

Notes

8th Minute – Corner kick, Rubio from Farfan
HALF – We only have 3 shots and a set piece goal so don’t get complacent,
Enea for a carded Adjapong
Thiago for a carded Arena
Gautier for a tired Politano
We hold and win 1-0 MOM is Farfan

Table after 10

https://i.ibb.co/23JPP3s/Balmaz-242.png

We haven’t dropped a game…although we have Juve next…

Replace Lirola

[Abe Sargent]

Serie A Game #11 – Home vs the Big Bad – I begin standardly

Notes

Adjapong for a carded Lirola –
29th Minute – They score on a counter
HALF – Nope!
49th Minute – They score on a corner
Bogonda for a carded Berardi
58th Minute – Bongonda for Politano
Thiago for a carded Arena
Five Minutes – can we score and tie it?
We lose 1-2 we had 4 shots to their 17

[Abe Sargent]

Champion’s Cup Group A Game #4 – Away at Leverkusen? I begin countering, Can we steals points away like we have with Man Utd or Real Madrid?

Noes

21st Minute – Vicente feeds Berardi for goal

https://i.ibb.co/8zS30ps/Balmaz-243.png

Nice!
HALF – Don’t get complacent!
Mateo for Farfan; Thiago for Arena;
86th Minute – They equalize.
Bogonda for Ceballos
We tie 1-1, MOM is Vicente

[Abe Sargent]

Celtic lost on the road to Chelsea

Roma beat Benfica

Juve on the road with Barcelona and they lose 0-2

13 call ups

I move Burgzorg to start

Arena is banned and Thiago will start

Serie A Game #12 – Away at Sampdoria – I begin countering.

Notes

HALF – Nope!
Adjapong for a carded Lirola
61st Minute - On a corner, Farfan scores
Gautier for Cebellos
77th Minute – They score
Mateo for Rubio
87th Minute – Politano scores on a counter.
4 Minutes and…we hold and win 2-1, MOM is Politano

I replace Arena

[Abe Sargent]

Serie A Game #13 – Home vs Palermo – Uh oh. I begin standarding.

Notes

20th Minute – Cebellos to Politano, goal
Ghoulem for a carded Burgzorg
HALF – Don’t get complacent
Mateo for Farfan; Bongonda for Berardi
Can we hold and win 1-0?
87th Minute – They foul us, Politano step up and the shot hits the GK
92nd Minute – Arena sinks a DFK
We hold and win 2-0 MOM is Cebellos

[Abe Sargent]

Juve host Wolfsburg and…they win 3-2 they are out with 12 points in 5 games
Bologna beat Dynamo Kiev
Roma lost to Salzburg on the road 2-1


Champions Group A Game #5 – Home vs Celtic – I have two wins and two ties and 8 points. If we have a result here we are through. I begin standard.

Notes

10th Minute – Berardi feeds Politano for goal

https://i.ibb.co/KjDwGYH/Balmaz-244.png

Note the time stamp
40th Minute – Cebellos feeds Vicente for goal!

https://i.ibb.co/XV9j0f1/Balmaz-245.png

Nice times twice!
We injure their MCL
HALF – Don’t get complacent
Thiago for Arena;
70th Minute – Berardi grabs a rebound and sinks it
Mateo for Farfan; Mariano for Mendez
Can we hold the shut out? We do! MOM is Berardi

We make 1.5 mill in cash

Just like last year when we dropped Real Madrid, this time Chelsea won’t get out.

[Abe Sargent]

December

2nd – Away at Salernitana
5th – Away at Chelsea
10th – Home vs Bologna
17th - Away at Cremonese
23rd – Home vs Napoli
30th – Away at Udinese

Good training – Donnarumma, Arena, Gautier

Serie A Game #14 – Away – I begin countering

Notes

Big Rain
HALF – Nope
Mateo for a carded Farfan; Thiago for Vicente; Enea for Lirola
Four minutes – Can we break the tie?
We tie 0-0.

[Abe Sargent]

Champions Group A Game #6 – Away at Chelsea - I keep countering. We have 5 results in 5 games, can we tie or win today’s match? This is Ghoulam’s old club we signed him from as a reminder. Hello Pires!

Notes

17th Minute – Corner kick, Lirola to Farfan for goal past Courtois

https://i.ibb.co/GHkR13g/Balmaz-246.png

I doubt that result lasts.
HALF – They have 12 shots to our 4, don’t get complacent
Bongoda for a 6.3 Berardi
I send in Ghoulam to play against his old club for Burgzorg
Thiago for Vicente
Four Minutes - Can we hold and win 1-0? We win and we swept Chelsea! MOM is Farfan

We make another 1.5 mill

[Abe Sargent]

We draw Palermo in the Italian Cup – they knocked us out last year…

Serie A Game #15 – Home vs Bologna – I begin standard against the #4 team in the league. Mendez hasn’t scored in a while and I’m getting questions now about it.

Notes

26th Minute – Ceballos feed Berardi for goal
30th Minute – Mendez feeds Politano for goal and all four of my attacker have assists or goals
HALF – We have 8 shots to their 0, and have dominated them. Don’t get complacent
Thiago for Arena; Ghoulam for Burgzorg; Ahmetaj for Vicente
Four Minute – can we hold the shut out?
We do, MOM is Mendez


Here’s the table after 15

https://i.ibb.co/CPTTP35/Balmaz-247.png


Juve and us are tied at the top with 13 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss each, and we are behind in GD. Udinese is 8 behind us and we are already pulling away.

[Abe Sargent]

Serie A Game #16 – Away at -Cremonese – I begin countering

Notes

Bongonda for a banged up Berardi
Mariano for a carded Mendez
HALF – We have outplayed them but no scores. Show me something else!
53rd Minute – They get a red card fouling Cebellos. I push forward.
67th Minute – Politano to Mariano for goal
71st Minute – Lirola to Polianto for goal
Thiago for Arena
We hold and win 2-0, MOM is Politano

[Abe Sargent]

Italian Cup 1st Round – Home vs Palermo – I begin standard… this is my 300th game

Notes

13th Minute – Berardi feeds Mendez for goal
HALF- We have 9 shots to their 7. They’ve shown up, don’t get complacent
Ghoulam for Burgzorg; Thiago for Arena; Ahmetaj for a banged up Vicente
Five Minutes – Can we hold and win?
We knocked out Palermo!

[Abe Sargent]

We draw Bologna in the next round!

Champions Knockout Rounds

Roma made it out and they draw At. Madrid

We draw Liverpool

Juve draws Man Utd

Serie A Game #17 – Home vs Napoli – I stay standard, this is Lirola’s 225 game for the club

Notes

44th Minute -They gift me an OG off a corner
HALF – The game is close, don’t get complacent
Mateo for Farfan;
63rd Minute – Mendez to Politano for goal
Thiago for Vicente; Gautier for Ceballos
Four Minutes Can we hold?
We shut them out 2-0, MOM is Politano

[Abe Sargent]

That’s 8 shut outs in a row, a new record!


Serie A Game #18 – Away at Udinese – I begin countering

Notes

Heavy rain
HALF – Boring
Mariano for Mendez; Gautier for Ceballos; Thiago for Arena
Three Minutes – 0-0 tie, another shut out,

Juve won

[Abe Sargent]

https://i.ibb.co/r4mn7Df/Balmaz-248.png

About to expire…

I’ll let Crivelli and Baranowski head out, let’s check out two rotations and one starter

Mariano – 2.5 stars, 30 years old
Bongonda – 2.5 stars, 28 years old

Keep them? I’d prefer 3 star backups, but they haven’t fallen in ability the rest of the squad has improved. None of my rotation key backups are 3 stars, and they play fine. After I moved my team to stay on feed we’ve had fewer yellow card subs

Alright, Politano has 6 months. I originally signed Gautier to be his starter in two years. He’s 30, right now in Serie A:

18 starts, 8 goals, 4 assists, 7.28 rating – he went from an assist machine to a goal one.

Here’s Gautier and Politano compared

https://i.ibb.co/k1fJjPR/Balmaz-249.png

As you can see, Politano is better in mental by 2, defending by one, aeriel by 2, attacking by 3, and vision by 1, and Gautier better in one, speed. Gautier is currently a 2.5 player. What do I do?

Meanwhile Berardi is a problem:

6.74 rating,29 years old, 2 goals, 3 assists, 3 stars. Uh oh…

Ceballos has been a nice revelation:

6 assists, 7.19 rating

What do I do with my subs and Politano and Berardi?

[Abe Sargent]

Anyone coming free I might want to bring in next year for ST and AMRL?

I reach out to 30 year old Hakim Ziyech and 29 year old Gustavo Scarpa but they don’t want to sign now. 33 year old Italian Ciro Immobile wants 90k, yeah everyone I like wants to keep their options open or they are older or very expensive.

How about AMRL? Marcel Sabitzer from Austria nope. The other ones aren’t any better than Bongonda. I make an offer to keep him. I offer a two year extension for Bongonda to rise his contract from 20k to 26k.

Do I want to bring in competition for Berardi?

Homegrown for my club:

Arena
Lirola
Adjapong
Berardi
La Rosa


2 star hot prospect 22 year old Pierini, AML
Ahmetaj
2.5 hot prospect Marcello Castagnetti on loan, AMC,
ST Derbali, 2 star, on loan,
ST Cappa – 2 star, here

So I could move on from Berardi in theory and be fine.

Do I? Did he just take a temporary or permanent step back?

I have 25 mill available to bring in to replace him.

Who is available at ML?

I start with a transfer list

None that are transfer listed for free. Any Wonderkids I could bring in?

I send out my scouts. My favorite is Juve’s Luca Tos but I doubt they’ll sell to me, they start with 143 mill and I remove my enquiry. I make an offer for Eneko Sánchez a Spanish wonderkid.

Goodbye 2023!

[Abe Sargent]

Hello 2024!

January

3rd – Transfer Window Lifts
4th – Away at Bologna, Cup, QF
8th – Home vs Roma
14th – Home vs Torino
28th – Away at Genoa
31st – End of Transfer Window

Good training – Arena, Burgzorg, Gautier

Rubio in Team of the Month

My offer for Sanchez at 15 was declined, and 20 was rejected and I am offering my max 25, they reject that as well and I withdraw my offer.

What about 18 year old Irish and English Anthony Diallo who plays for Crystal Palace in the 2nd level of English football? I scout him. What about Frenchman Paul Frugier? Or Germany‘s Philipp Degner? Frugier appears to be the worse one currently of the four I found. Frugier is only 18, and worth just 900k over at Nantes on a hot prospect deal, so ideally I could bring him in now, and then give Berardi six months and then develop Frugier to be my starter whereas Sanchez was ready to go. Frugier and Degner are for loan so I could bring one in and see if that works. I really like Tos and Sanchez and hoped that we could have made a deal for them.

How about non-EU? Bryan Bond-Pears is over at Man Utd, personally not. What about Argentinian Nicolás Carballo? He plays for Velez in South America. That worked for Farfan. I scout him.

Is Gautier going to be ready to send in for Politano in a few months?

https://i.ibb.co/b6hfsCX/Balmaz-250.png

Here, as you can see, Politano is, right now, better at Gautier in every ranking save speed. I don’t want to take a drop off from his quality just because I didn’t want to push forward. I make an offer to extend Politano by a year. He agrees with an increase of pay by 10k.

I transfer list backup DC Erlic who is home grown by just 1.5 stars. He wants to leave

The transfer window lifts

I reject an offer to loan Cappa as he is my 3rd ST.

Mendez has been working on complete forward in training and now can do it better than Target Man, so I move him over and let’s see what happens.

[Abe Sargent]

Bongonda signs his two-year extension.

Making it to the Semis are Torino, Roma and Atalanta knocked out Juve.

The Italian Cup QF – Away at Bologna - I begin countering – Hello Babacar!

Notes

HALF – Boring…
69th Minute – Babacar scores
Mariano for a 6.3 Mendez and Bongonda for a 6.4 Politano
84th Minute – Bongonda to Mariano for goal!
Thiago for Arena
Four Minutes- Tie 1-1
Extra Time –
Half Time –
Game – PKs


Babacar sinks his PK
Up steps Berardi and…in, tied 1-1

Up they step and…they miss!
Mariano is next and…he sinks it! 2-1

Up they step and…Donnarumma saves!
Thiago is next and…it’s in, 3-1

Here they come and…Donnarumma blocks again! We win 3-1!

https://i.ibb.co/g4kcgbP/Balmaz-251.png

Good job Donnarumma!

We get Atalanta in the Semis

[Abe Sargent]

I sell Erlic for 50k

Politano resigns

Serie A Game #19 – Home vs Roma – I begin standardly. The halfway game!

Notes

HALF – They was busy we dominated but nothing to show for it
Mateo for Farfan; I push forward to control
Ghoulam for Burgzorg; Thiago for a carded Arena
Ghoulam a card
83rd Minute – Vicente feeds Berardi for goal!
I pull back
They sub in Sensi
Four minutes – Can we hold our 1-0 win?
We win! MOM is Lirola. Another shut out for our D


Let’s look at the table after the halfway mark

https://i.ibb.co/GFC8MZy/Balmaz-252.png

As you can see, after that 0-0 tie Juve moved into 1st place by 2 points. We then have Udinese an incredible 11 points behind us, so it’s really just a two team race just like two years ago when Juve won and we came in 2nd by two points.

[Abe Sargent]

None of my EU wonderkids are purchasable. I make an offer for the Argentinian one

We agree to 9.5 and 40% profit of next sale.

He is interested in coming here. I make him a hot prospect offer and offer him and his agent 1 mill in fees.

https://i.ibb.co/0V5J7f8/Balmaz-253.png

He’s coming! He’s 17 so he’ll be coming at the end of the year.

I decline a job interview for Valencia

Our youth facilities are upgraded

I loan two

Serie A Game #20 – Home vs Torino – I begin controlling.

Notes

7th Minute – They get a yellow fouling Mendez in the box, up steps Berardi and…it’s in!
HALF – We are dominating in shots (13 to 4) on target (7 to 1), fouls 3 vs 7, yellows 0 v3, and possession – 54% and yet our only goal is on a set piece. Don’t get complacent!
Mateo for Rubio; Enea for Lirola; Thiago for a carded Vicente
Five Minutes – can we hold our 1-0 result? We do, MOM is Vicente

[Abe Sargent]

That is not my first 1-0 PK win, or my first this season…

I make an offer to extend Mariano for a year

I have finished training Arena to play MC

Mariano resigns and drops to backup from rotation

At 49 apps, Pires is one game away from giving us another 12.5 mill from Chelsea

Serie A Game #21 – Away at Genoa – We begin countering, we have won 5 in a row against them

Notes

Big rain
We injure their MC and they are subbed out
HALF – We have 7 shots, none on target. They have 4 cards Nope!
Thiago for a carded Vicente;
63rd Minute – On a counter, Berardi feeds Mendez for goal, that’s his first goal since moving to Complete Forward.
Mateo for Farfan
66th Minute - We give up a Pk and…Donnarumma saves!
Ahemetaj for a tired Arena
Four Minutes – Can we hold 1-0?
We win!

[Abe Sargent]

The transfer window arrives

Baranowski is offered a deal by a team named Torino – he signs with them

I make some loans

Crivelli is heading to Nantes

Deadline passes

February

4th – Home vs Chievo
7th – Away at Atalanta, Semi Game 1
11th – Away at Empoli
17th – Home vs Cagliari
21st – Home vs Liverpool
25th – Away at Inter

Good training – Vicente, Gautier, Enea

Farfan has reached his peak, and he’s just 3.5 stars, is it time to find a replacement? But his Serie A rating is much better this year so far, and remember the ratings are comparisons.

Mendez also is finished, his lower cap is why he was purchasable for our cap of 5 mill at 4.5 mill, but he’s at 4 stars.

Serie A Game #22 – Home vs Chievo – I begin controlling. I am disappointed with Chievo dropping to the expected place at 16th from EURO last year.

Notes

Big rain
25th Minute – They foul Mendez in the box and…it’s in!
Bongonda for a carded Berardi
HALF – We are dominating every stat not named possession where they are 52%. Don’t get complacent?
Ghoulam in at DL
74th Minute – Cebellos feeds Mendez for goal
Gautier for Politano
Four Minute – can we hold our shut out?
93rd Minute – Gautier feeds Mendez for goal
We win 3-0 MOM is Mendez

417 minutes since Donnarumma allowed a goal

[Abe Sargent]

417 minutes since Donnarumma allowed a goal

Gautier gets a salary hike to 8k after his 20th app

Roma on the road beat Torino 2-0 in the SF

The Italian Cup Semi-Final Game #1 – Away at Atalanta – I begin countering. They knocked out Juve so I respect them.

Notes

Big rain today as well
15th Minute – Corner kick, Lirola feeds Rubio for goal
26th Minute – On a counter, Politano drives the corner and crosses to Cebellos on an attack run for goal
43rd Minute – They claw one back.
HALF – We each have 8 shots, don’t get complacent
Bongonda for a 6.5 Berardi; Ghoulam for Burgzorg; Thiago for Vicente
Five Minutes Can We hold?
We win 2-1, MOM is Rubio


We get 12.5 mill from Pires’s 50th game for Chelsea.

I go to the board and ask for more youth upgrades and they agree:

https://i.ibb.co/V3ttVXB/Balmaz-254.png

[Abe Sargent]

Serie A Game #23 – Away at Empoli – I remain countering. This is Berardi’s 375th app for us

Notes

Big rain today as well
Ghoulam for a carded Burgzorg
30th Minute – They score
Adjapong for a carded Lirola
HALF – Nope
Mateo for Farfan
We…lose 0-1 to Empoli…dropping points…

Juve beat Roma on the road 1-0.

[Abe Sargent]

Burgzorg gets a salary hike to 21k after his 25th app

Serie A Game #24 – Home vs Cagliari – I start controlling. Hello Baranowski!

Notes

14th Minute – Berardi feeds Cebellos for goal
29th Minute – Berardi’s cross hits Mendez’s head for goal
HALF – Our foes have 1/3 the shots (9 to 3) and 3x the fouls (6 to 2). Don’t get complacent
48th Minute – Mendez hits Berardi on an attack run for goal
La Rosa for Rubio; Adjapong for Lirola; Gautier for Politano
Three Minutes – Can we hold the shut out?
We win 3-0, MOM is Cebellos

Good win to give us momentum for the Liverpool match

Juve tied 0-0 with Torino to drop points.

[Abe Sargent]

Champions Knockout Round, 1st Leg

Roma heads to At. Madrid and…they win 1-0! Will they take out At. Madrid?

1st Game, Home vs Liverpool – I begin standard. I swept Chelsea, can I get off to a wining start here today against Liverpool?

Notes

5th Minute – On a counter, Cebellos is fed the ball by a cross from Lirola and then finds Mendez for goal

https://i.ibb.co/HN6JYLP/Balmaz-255.png

Awesome possum!!!!!!!!!!!!
Adjapong for a carded Lirola
Thiago for a carded Arena
HALF – They have 2x as many shots (10 to 5) twice as many on target (4 vs 2) but we have just one foul and no cards. And we are winning. Can we pull it out in the 2nd half?
Ghoulam for a tired Burgzorg
Ghoulam a card
Vicente a card as well
Three minutes and…we hold and win 1-0!

[Abe Sargent]

Serie A Game #25 – Away at Inter – I begin countering

Notes

20th Minute – Berardi is fed by Mendez for goal on a counter
Mariano for an injured Mendez
46th Minute – Driussi ties it
HALF – They have out played us
Thiago for a banged up Vicente
67th Minute – They score
Adjapong for a carded Lirola
Berardi a card
86th Minute – Corner kick, Thaigo feeds Farfan for goal to tie it
Can we hold the tie?
89th Minute – They get a double card but it’s likely too late to matter, right?
Five Minutes- 2-2 tie, I’ll take it given who and where.


Table after 25

https://i.ibb.co/4NHR727/Balmaz-256.png

As you can see, tying Inter on the road dropped points on Juve but I’m happy for the late equalizer from Farfan. We are 5 back from the big bad and loads up on Udinese.

[Abe Sargent]

Champions 1st Leg Knockout Update

OL defeats Real Madrid 2-0 at home
Juve host Man Utd and…they win 2-0 as well. Italy won all three of their first games. Good job!


Mateo bags his coaching license and enters another

Rubio is just a few months from being homegrown at the club


March

3rd – Away at Venezia
6th – Home vs Atalanta, SF Cup
9th – Home vs Fiorentina
12th – Away at Liverpool
17th – Away at Atalanta, Serie A
24th – Home vs Lazio

Good training – Burgzorg, La Rosa, Enea

Mendez named in Team of the Month

Our U20 squad made it to the playoffs:

https://i.ibb.co/pKb357v/Balmaz-257.png

As you can see we are playing quite nicely and winning.

[Abe Sargent]

Berardi is suspended for this match and Bongonda will start

Serie A Game #26 – Away at #20 Venezia – I begin countering.

Notes

Gautier for an injured Cebellos
20th Minute – Gautier scores
26th Minute – Mendez scores
HALF – They haven’t been in this match.
59th Minute – Politano scores
La Rosa for Farfan; Enea for Lirola
88th Minute – Mendez scores again
4 Minutes can we hold the shut out?
92nd Minute – They score off a corner
We hold and win 4-1 MOM is Mendez


Replace Berardi

Cebellos is out for a week and will miss the Atalatna cup match, Gautier will start

[Abe Sargent]

Vicente can now knock balls past opponents

Roma tie Torino and are through to the final of the Cup. We played Roma and thumped them in the Super Cup earlier this year.

Italian Cup Semi Final 2nd Leg Home vs Atalanta – We beat them 2-1 on the road, now we just need to be Pros. They knocked out Juve in the last round, and us Bologna, so I take them seriously and am only moving to standard. Don’t get complacent!

Notes

6th Minute – Gautier pounces on a rebound and scores! He scored my first goal the last two games!
35th Minute – Mendez feeds Gautier for goal!
HALF - Nice times twice! 45 minutes to go and we’ll make my first Cup Final in four attempts
55th Minute – Get this, ready…off a goal kick, Donnarumma feeds Mendez for goal!
Bongonda for Berardi, La Rosa for Farfan; Enea for Lirola
We hold and win 3-0! MOM is Gautier…

Wanna see?

https://i.ibb.co/qJWW83q/Balmaz-258.png

3-0 baby!


Replace Cebellos

[Abe Sargent]

Donnarumma has 26 shut outs, 2 short of Karius’s record set last year….

Serie A Game #27 – Home vs Fiorentina – I begin controlling. Cebellos is back and we have everyone running around.

Notes

44th Minute – Poltiano feeds Berardi for goal
HALF – We have outplayed them but just one goal.
Gautier for a tired Cebellos; Thiago for Vicente; Mateo for Farfan
Four Minutes – Can we hold and win 1-0?
We win,MOM is Lirola

[Abe Sargent]

Champions Knockout Round 2nd Leg – Away at Liverpool – we beat them 1-0 at my place, so any win, any tie, or any 1 goal loss where we score a goal will get us through. We begin countering

Notes

They get a very early card
They are coming HARD.
We injure their DR and he heads out
HALF – We have 7 shots to their 13. I’d be very okay with a 0-0 tie, but I doubt this result holds.
67th Minute – Rubio fouls in the box on a corner and…they score
Mateo for Rubio; Ghoulam for Burgzorg; Bongonda for Berardi
Three Minutes - Can we score?
Lirola a card
Extra Time – Dig down and score!
Half Time –
115th Minute – Cebellos feeds Vicente for goal!


https://i.ibb.co/Dt3DZfb/Balmaz-259.png

Woot! That will be rough for them to come back from.

We hold and tie 1-1 and are through 2-1 aggregate! MOM is Vicente

We have advanced to the QF!

We bring in 6 mill

Roma host At. Madrid and they won on the road 1-0, will they hold serve? They tie 1-1 and At. Madrid is out.

[Abe Sargent]

https://i.ibb.co/3S1C12b/Balmaz-260.png

New intake of youth! Doria won’t compete for my first team

Juve dropped a game to Empoli. That opens up the game.

Serie A Game #28 – Away at #8 Atalanta – I keep countering –

Notes

Main rain falls
They get an early card
HALF – NOPE
Thiago for a carded Arena
Mateo for Farfan
Gautier for Politano
75th Minute – They get a double booking fouling Berardi on an attack run, he steps forward and…saved. I push forward
Four Minutes – we tie 0-0. We gain a single point on Juve

[Abe Sargent]

In Champions fun times, Juve head on the road to face Man Utd where they are up 2-0 from their home win and…they tie 2-2 and they win 4-2 aggregate.

Also advancing are OL, Man City, Barcelona, Dortmund and PSG

We draw…Roma! Ah well, they goes the idea of three Italian clubs in the SF.

Us vs Roma
Juve vs PSG
Man City vs OL
Barcelona vs Dortmund

We have 18 call ups

Serie A Game #29 - Home vs #11 Lazio – I begin controlling. This is Farfan’s 100th game for us!

Notes

HALF – We have dominated with 10 shots, 6 on target, to their 4 and 1. No goals
Thiago for Vicente; Meteo for Farfan;
78th Minute – They give me an OG.
Mariano for Mendez
Card for Burgzorg
Four Minutes – Can we hold 1-0? We had 18 shots and 11 on target, we win 1-0 and that’s Donnarumma’s 29th shut out, MOM is the GK.


Juve lost 2-1 to Inter on the road

[Abe Sargent]

The International Break begins

Arena won his first cap for Italy and I send him congrats!

April

6th – Away at Juventus – Uh oh
10th – Home vs Roma, Champions QF
13th – Home vs Sampdoria
16th - Away at Roma – Champions QF
19th – Champions SF Draw
21st – Away at Palermo
24th – Home vs Salernitana
28th – Away at Bologna
30th – Champions, SF 1st Game

Wow that’s a busy month

Roma are growing into our big rival. We faced them in the Super Cup, we’ll face them in the finals of the Italian Cup and now two games in the quarters of the Champions league.

Lirola and Rubio in Team of the Month

Good Training – Donnarumma, Arena, Gautier

Arena wants a new deal and I agree and offer him one

Serie A Game #30- Away at Juventus, I begin countering. If we win today we’ll move into 1st.

Vengeance!

Notes


Thiago for a carded Vicente
Adjapong for a carded Lirola
29th Minute – They tackle Burgzorg and score a 1:1 opportunity
36th Minute – Mendez feeds Berardi on an attack run to tie it 1-1
HALF – I’ll take a 1-1 tie at the end, or a 5-5 tie for that matter.
55th Minute – They score again
64th Minute – Mendez intercepts a back pass for their GK and sinks a 1:1 opportunity to tie it back to 2-2
Ghoulam for Burgzorg
90th Minute – Thiago feeds Politano for goal and we are up 3-2!
Four Minutes for them to grab the tie back
93rd Minute – Politano feeds Mendez for goal! That’s his 50th goal for us. That seals it
Game! MOM is Mendez. That’s only my 2nd win against Juve in the last 7 games.

Wanna see?

https://i.ibb.co/W5y53vQ/Balmaz-261.png


They had almost 2x as many shots as us and 2x as much shots on target and possession, but we were more clinical in front of goal. That win moves us to first place for the first time this year

We qualify for the EURO

Here is the table after 30:

https://i.ibb.co/6mC0Dy1/Balmaz-262.png

Palermo, who won the Serie A our first year here, are back to 3rd with a point over Udinese. We are first by 2 points over Juve, we each have 24 wins in 30 games. With 8 games left, we’d need 5 to beat last year’s 28 win total.

[Abe Sargent]

Arena signs a new deal, his new one is paying him 60k a week and removes his minimum release fee of 85 mill.

Champions League Update Quarter Final

Juve host PSG; They win 2-1 but that away goal could come back to haunt them
Man City host OL; OL win 2-1 away at a big bad and all they have to do is be professional to get to the Semis


Champions League Quarter Final First Leg – Home vs Roma – I begin standard. Except for the Super Cup, Roma has always played up to us.

Notes

HALF – We have 10 shots, 4 on target to their 4 and 1, we have 57% possession and no cards to their card, so we are ahead everywhere save where it matters…
Bongonda for a carded Politano
53rd Minute – Vicente feeds Berardi on an attack run for goal!

https://i.ibb.co/yq0c1bt/Balmaz-263.png

Great snake!
61st Minute – They get a second booking. I push to control and speed up
Mateo for Rubio; Adjapong for Lirola
Five Minutes – Can we hold 1-0? We do, MOM is Berardi. I was hoping for a 2-0 after they went down a man, but Roma are not an easy side but I’ll take any win


Barcelona host Dortmund and…just win 1-0, which opens the door for Dortmund at home

[Abe Sargent]

Serie A Game #31 – Home vs #10 Sampdoria – I begin controlling. Lirola is suspended and Adjapong starts.

Notes

HALF – They have outplayed us with 6 shots to our 2.
Bongonda for Berardi; Mariano for a 6.5 Mendez, Thiago for Vicente
Burgzorg a late card
Adjapong a late card as well
Four Minutes – Can we break the tie?
We tie 0-0, MOM is Burgzorg. Well, it was another shut out for my D. That opens the door for Juve.

Juve are on the road at Florentina and they win 4-2 and we are tied on points with 77

I replace Lirola