FM: Roma, circa 2012

[Katon]

On the final few versions of SI Games-made Championship Manager, I kept regular dynasties on this forum. With this version, though, my one attempt at a dynasty fell apart when I first hit a busy patch in my life and then lost the save. The game I started up to replace that one has been going very well, though, and since I just got a very interesting-looking new job at Roma I thought I'd have another go at a dynasty.

I'm running England down to the Conference and the top divisions of most of the other interesting European leagues, with a medium database. It is currently early March 2012 and I have just taken control of my fourth club, Roma.

I started out with Rushden & Diamonds, who I took from League Two to the Championship in consecutive seasons and then kept in the Championship for one year. After that year, I moved to Wigan, and in my first year got them into the Premiership via the playoffs. We were comfortably midtable and had effectively clinched survival by Christmas of the following year, which is when the PSV Eindhoven job came up and I jumped at it. PSV had finished second each of the previous five years; I was unable to break that streak, since Ajax were twenty points clear at the time I took the job, but I made sure of second. The next year, we won the league by 18 points; the year after that, we won it by 20 points with the Cup thrown in for good measure. It was at this point that I got thoroughly bored with the lack of challenge in Dutch football and resolved to accept the first good-looking job offer that came along, aided by my now World Class reputation. Two thirds of the way into the most one-sided Dutch title race yet Roma sacked Luigi del Neri and so here we are.

[Katon]

March 3, 2012

Roma are actually still in the hunt for a few trophies; they – we, now – are second in the league, four points behind Juventus, and playing PAOK in the second knockout round of the EURO cup. I don’t hold out much hope of winning either of them, though, since the squad I inherited, which I can’t change at all until the summer, has some glaring holes. My biggest priority is simply to get the club back into the Champions’ League, where it has been most of the time but wasn’t this year. But rather than get ahead of myself, I’d best go through the squad more systematically:

Goalkeepers
Ivan Pelizzoli has been getting most of the starts in goal; he’s good, rather than exceptional, but I don’t have any problem with him as a starter. Juan Acosta, a 20-year-old Argentinian, looks better than Pelizzoli in training, but he hasn’t been playing this season and my assistant manager hates him. I’ll go with Pelizzoli for the time being, but I definitely need to get Acosta some time to see whether he’s for real. There are no fewer than five keepers in the reserve team, which is somewhat puzzling, especially since none of them are very good.

Left-Back
Now we come to the glaring holes I was mentioning earlier. When everyone’s fit, Pietro Moretti will probably be the starter. Apart from being the shortest footballer I’ve ever met, there’s not much he’s really bad at; it’s just that there’s not much he’s particularly good at either. Of course, he’s out for two months with a broken ankle, so he’s probably not going to start many games for me before I begin overhauling the defence. The other specialist left-back who might see some time is 19-year-old Christian Parisi. Parisi will be a good player someday, but right now he’s all promise. The fact that I don’t have any better alternatives is somewhat worrying.

Centre-Back
Of course, I do have one better alternative than either Parisi or Moretti; it’s just that I want him playing in the middle. Christian Chivu is magnificent both as a centre-back and as a left-back, exempt from all my complaints about the quality of my defenders. Also exempt from those complaints is Brazilian international Adriano, who is probably the single best central defender I’ve ever been privileged to manage. Past them, you’ve got Matteo Ferrari, who’s fine as long as you don’t expect him to kick the ball to anyone on your team, and Jose, who in spite of his name is actually Italian. Jose is just 20, and looks like a decent prospect but is a bit too slow to be a top-notch player.

Right-Back
Brazil is currently swimming in good 21-year-old right-backs, and Vagner is one of the better ones. He’s big, he’s fast, and he’s got a cannon shot from distance; the rest of his game is mostly average at the moment, but he’s got time. Not as positionally adept as I’d like, or as good at crossing, but he’ll do. After him, the next best thing is probably 18-year-old Stefano Fiore, who will be a force to be reckoned with in a year or two. Unfortunately, Fiore’s positional sense is still too raw to make him anything other than a stopgap measure.

Left Wing
Andy Reid crosses well, and is fairly good at set pieces, but apart from that is thoroughly forgettable. I’m not a big fan. Richard Blonk is lethal from free kicks, and a very good passer, but he’s pretty slow to be a conventional wide man. I might prefer to have him in central midfield, especially considering his hard tackling.

Central Midfield
This is where the job really starts to look attractive. Daniele De Rossi is an Italian international holding midfielder, and every bit as good as you’d expect from that. He can run, he can jump, he can tackle, he can pass, and I’m delighted to have him. De Rossi isn’t our only regular in the national squad; Alberto Aquilani has nailed down the playmaker role for us and for Italy, and it’s easy to see why: he’s the most technically gifted player I’ve ever seen. Fernando is not quite as polished as either of the other two; then again, at 20, that’s only to be expected. He’s already played twelve times for Spain U-21s, and is a very good player even at his current age.

Right Wing
Mancini is the only right-sided midfielder in the squad, but he’s plenty. He runs very fast, he dribbles well, he crosses brilliantly. What more can you ask for in a winger?

Strikers
Javier Saviola isn’t much use in the air, but then he doesn’t need to be given how good he is with the ball at his feet. The prototype of the short, fast striker. Mido, on the other hand, is lethal in the air, and very good on the ground too; I’d prefer it if he were a bit quicker, but I’m delighted to have him just as he is. Ewerthon, our third striker, was used mostly as a winger by my predecessor; he’s not good enough at crossing for me to play him there, but he’ll do just fine up front. Alessio Cerci is currently the fourth man, and is more or less sufficient to that role. I’d hesitate to play him regularly, though.


My immediate reflex, looking at that squad, is to play a 4-4-2 diamond formation; it’s one I’ve used before, and would seem to suit our central midfielders very well. Failing that, I’d probably go for a 4-3-3, since I’m really not sold on any of our options on the left wing and we’ve got three very good players both up front and in central midfield. The one are which really needs reinforcement is the defence; Chivu and Adriano are both fine, but Vagner is the only other player who’s even average, and he’s nothing special at the Champions’ League level. Changes will be made there; what other signings I’ll make depends on which formation we wind up playing.

[Katon]

With both Adriano and Chivu unavailable through injury, I wasn’t very optimistic about my first match in charge away to Bologna. Certainly our defence looked suboptimal, with some painfully bad marking at a corner allowing Jermain Defoe to open the scoring. Then again, I can’t complain too much; at another corner, a few minutes later, Bologna somehow managed to let Javier Saviola, the shortest man on the pitch, equalize. After that, our defence settled into a rhythm, ushering opposing strikers through on goal at every opportunity. Somehow, Ivan Pelizzoli managed to keep us within one goal until, with twenty minutes to go, I admitted that 4-4-2 wasn’t working and switched to 4-3-3. We immediately started looking much better, and equalized in stoppage time when substitute Fernando curled one in from the edge of the area. Bologna 2-2 Roma

Our defence clearly needs some help, and fortunately I have a good idea of where to go in order to get some. Back in my PSV days, the club had two very good centre-backs – Alex and Kevin Hofland – and three hot prospects backing them up. I had a very clear idea of how I ranked those three prospects, both for current skill and future potential; my assistant manager disagreed completely and rated them in the opposite order. Given that that same assistant manager is now running the team, I think there might be a chance that my favourite – a 19-year-old Dutch sweeper named Jos Rozema – could be for sale. I put in a £2 million bid.

Half our starters are still tired from the league match when Thursday and the EURO Cup tie with PAOK rolls around. Still, I sent everyone who feels up for it out in a 4-3-3, and what I saw confirmed my feeling that this is the way to go for us. Fernando, in particular, thrives as one of the wider central midfielders: he can shoot from outside the area, which he loves to do and shows some skill at, or he can drift out wide and hit a variety of nasty crosses. It is the latter approach which ultimately bore fruit against PAOK, when he curled one onto the head of Matteo Ferrari for our second injury-time goal in as many games. Roma 1-0 PAOK

It turns out that Ewerthon tore his knee ligaments during the match and will be out for two months. In the short term, this means that reserve striker Nicola Rosati gets to sit on the bench some; in the long term, it’s my cue to start shopping for forwards. While I look at the available options up front, we get back word from PSV on my offer for Rozema: no dice. I ask them what fee they would prefer. Also around this time, Atalanta manager Pasquale Marino says that he thinks we’re a few signings short of being able to challenge for the title. Since I happen agree with him, I’m not too annoyed about the attempted put-down, and respond politely.

We may or may not be able to win the title, but we can certainly manage to beat the second-from-bottom team at home, especially with Adriano and all the tired players returning. One of the returning players, Javier Saviola, put us ahead just seven minutes in, and Atalanta never showed any sign of being able to get back into it. The best they could manage was to keep it down to one for as long as possible, but eventually they ran out of energy and we knocked in three in the last ten minutes, Mido getting one and Saviola hitting two and completing his hattrick. Roma 4-0 Atalanta

And once again, half our squad need resting. We have no cover right now. In my continued attempts to fix that, I renew my interest in an old target from my PSG days, a 28-year-old Brazilian international striker by the unlikely name of Fred. He’s fast and a lethal finisher, and good enough to have been capped eight times in the face of some stiff competition. The Jos Rozema chase continues; PSV want £6.5 million. I can afford that, with my £89 million transfer budget (no, not a typo), but I’d rather hedge my bets. I offer £4.5 million plus £2.5 million after ten international caps.

[Katon]

Once again, I dropped everyone who was feeling tired to the bench for our EURO Cup trip to Greece.In the first leg of the tie, PAOK offered no real threat on offence. In the second leg, against a weakened side, they offered no real threat on offence . . . apart from the time Simone Parisi gave away a penalty. Oops. With both Nicola Rosati and Alessio Cerci in the team, we had difficulty creating chances, and so the match went to penalties. What followed, from both teams, was an abysmal display of penalty-taking. Saviola, Rosati, and Blonk missed for us; they had one shot off the post, one over the bar, two saved by Juan Acosta, and we won when Aquilani, Mancini, and Mido scored. PAOK 1-0 Roma (2-3 on penalties)

We’re up against Atletico Madrid in the quarterfinals. If we get past them, we can expect to face Newcastle or Nantes. Back to the league now, and Aldo Luigi Ammazzalorso, manager of defending champions Chievo, says that he would love to put a dent in our title hopes by winning our upcoming match. He may possibly still hold a grudge over getting beaten twice in the CL this year by my PSV team. Since I don’t want to talk up our title chances while we’re behind a clearly better squad (Juventus), I decline to comment.

Probably a good thing I wasn’t feeling talkative, too, since they managed to beat us by means of our own favourite tactic: the injury-time winner. We took the lead inside the second minute, when they let Fernando get the ball about 30 yards out with nobody marking him and he responded by popping it into the top corner. But with several players being rested after the midweek match went to extra time, we were unable to keep control of the match. Marek Jankulovski equalized with a wonderful free kick, then Jose got sent off before they finally hit the winner. Chievo 2-1 Roma

First bit of good news: I’ve finally agreed on a price for Jos Rozema. After seeing my previous attempt at negotiations met with a suggested deal that would have been worth £8.7 million as soon as he made his international debut, I just gave up and offered their initial asking price of £6.5 million. They accepted, and he only wants £10,000/week, which shouldn’t break the bank. We also, much to my astonishment, get some results from our strategy of randomly offering for top-level strikers (none of whom I thought were plausible enough targets to merit being mentioned here). Barcelona are willing to accept £25.5 million for Alberto Gilardino. I accept, and then agree to offer the £70,000/week that he wants.

With Mido tired from previous exertions, I find myself being forced to play Saviola, Rosati, and Cerci up front against Fiorentina. Saviola is good enough, but the only contribution either of the others can manage comes when Rosati gives away a penalty with fifteen minutes to go. Fortunately for his life expectancy, the Fiorentina player misses. We have twenty shots, ten of them on target; none of them wind up in the net. While some of that is due to Fiorentina goalie Simon Jentzsch, most of it is due to poor forward play. Roma 0-0 Fiorentina

With Ewerthon injured and Saviola and Mido rarely fit to play on the same day, we just don’t have enough forwards to play the 4-3-3. In the next few games, then, I’ll be experimenting with other formations to see what else works for my first-teamers; I’ll also try to find some cover I can draft in for next season. I don’t need anything more than cover, though; both Rozema and Gilardino have agreed contracts, meaning that after July 1, my starting strike force will consist of Saviola, Gilardino and Mido. This is a very comforting thought. I meditate on it, whenever I am tempted to strangle Rosati or Cerci. Still on my shopping list: a left-back and a central midfielder (our midfield depth is marginally better than our depth up front, but I still want at least one more player capable of starting regularly in Serie A).

[Katon]

Found a promising-looking striker in the reserves named Maurizio Liccardi. Decided to give the 4-3-3 one more chance. Got completely hammered by Inter. Can’t blame this one on Cerci and Rosati; the culprits were Saviola, who was absolutely appalling and has been formally warned, and Pelizzoli. Inter 3-0 Roma

Saviola thinks he has been treated unfairly. I don’t. In other news, Fernando’s equalizer against Bologna has won third in the Goal of the Month contest and PSV have clinched the Dutch title.

With Saviola and Mancini away in South America with their national teams, I finally gave up on the 4-3-3 and switched to a 4-1-3-2 for the match with Atletico Madrid. It worked wonders. For the first time in a while, our midfield actually looked functional; in fact, both goals came from the midfield, Daniele De Rossi bending one in from about 25 yards and Richard Blonk capitalizing on a mistake by Atletico backup keeper Dani. Roma 2-0 Atletico Madrid

Newcastle won 3-0 against Nantes, so a semifinal against them is looking very likely indeed. Transfer-wise, I’ve decided to take a lesson from the Gilardino signing and go after the very best fullback I can find. Large sums of money are therefore waved in front of Valencia noses in their capacity as Philipp Lahm’s current owners. They are pure of heart and prove able to resist; fortunately, Lahm is more susceptible and complains about the bid’s rejection. I offer £10 million plus Vagner.

The return leg against Atletico is something of an oddity in that both Saviola and Mido are in the country and rested at the same time. Neither of them scored, as it happens, although I suspect that they might have had Atletico played Dani in goal again. Their regular was back in goal, though, and he won Man of the Match in a very even game. A draw would have been a fair result; Atletico never looked likely to get the two-goal win they needed, and although they did grab a late winner I was pleased with the performance. Atletico Madrid 1-0 Roma

It is indeed Newcastle in the semifinal, and should we win we would face either Udinese or Inter in the final. I’m rooting for Udinese, personally. Valencia rejected my new offer for Philipp Lahm, and so I now ask them what price they would suggest.

Just when I was beginning to feel optimistic about the team’s performance again, they came up with a thorough stinker of a performance away to Lazio. I can’t remember a single useful bit of possession by anyone in a red jersey. It’s only down to a miracle – well, a miracle and Juan Acosta – that we didn’t concede. Lazio 0-0 Roma

Fortunately, our next opposition – Palermo – are not nearly as good as Lazio. In fact, they play against us much the same way that we did against Lazio, with the added difficulty that their keeper can’t quite stop us scoring. Fernando nets the first with a neat half volley, and then with the game almost over Alessio Cerci comes on as a sub and shows some legitimate skill to set up Manicini for the second. Roma 2-0 Palermo

After failing to get Lahm, I’ve now settled on Fabinho of our recent opponents Atletico Madrid as our next left-back. A prototypical attacking Brazilian fullback, he is practically unique among Spain-based footballers in having a sane buyout fee. Not that the buyout fee is where I’m starting negotiations, but I’m willing to go that high if necessary.

Nicola Rosati is upset at not being played enough, it turns out. He says that if he isn’t played more often, he may be forced to leave the club. As things currently stand, he’ll be seventh choice next year; given that, this sounds like a wonderful opportunity to find out if anyone is interested in buying him off me. Onto the transfer list he goes.

Shay Given has been Newcastle United’s starting goalkeeper for fifteen years now, and in all those fifteen years I doubt that he has ever done anything quite so embarrassing as what he did just seven minutes into our EURO Cup semifinal. Receiving a backpass from his left-back, he stepped up, took careful aim, and bounced his clearance off Javier Saviola and back over his head into the net. Newcastle never really recovered. To be fair to Given, there was nothing he could have done about either our second or our third; the second came when Saviola was put clean through by Alberto Aquilani, and the third was the inevitable result of giving Daniele De Rossi time to shoot from the edge of the box. A delightful performance from our point of view, and it gives us one foot in the final. Roma 3-0 Newcastle

Ewerthon was finally fit to return to the bench for our trip to Brescia, but it was Maurizio Liccardi who stole the show. He opened the scoring after Fernando put him through, and then put the result beyond doubt from Richard Bonk’s late free kick. In between was a thrilling match with plenty of chances at both ends. We went two up via a heavily deflected Bonk shot; they responded when one of my former PSV players, Michele Ciriaco, hit a beautiful shot from 30 yards out; then Liccardi sealed it. Brescia 1-3 Roma

[daedalus]

Woohoo! Looking forward to further adventures of Roma. :D

Out of curiosity, I've seen the term "holding midfielder" mentioned before but never quite understood what it really meant. Can you elaborate on that term, please?

Oh, whatever happened to Totti?

[Desnudo]

A holding midfielder is a guy who can maintain possession of the ball and distribute it, so others can get forward. He helps the team dictate the pace of the game.

Claudio Reyna is a decent (or at least used to be) example of it.

[Katon]

Totti was sold to Chelsea early in the 2004/05 season for £24 million. He stayed with them for six years, then moved to Udinese on a free transfer during summer 2010. He played for them just one year before retiring, and is currently coaching at AC Milan.

[Katon]

Our trip to Newcastle for the second leg of the EURO Cup semifinal was always likely to be more of a formality than anything else. They did get a little bit of hope twelve minutes in when Fernando deflected a hopeful shot past Acosta, but then Mido got in behind their defence five minutes later and left them needing four more. The rest of the match was very entertaining – an Aquilani shot off the bar here, a disallowed Newcastle goal there – but completely devoid of drama. Newcastle 1-1 Roma

Inter could only get a draw at home in the other semifinal, so we’ll face Udinese in the final, which is scheduled for May 16th in Belgrade.

A lot of players are still feeling tired after the midweek match, so I dropped De Rossi, Aquilani, Mido, and Saviola for the match against Siena, replacing them with reserve midfielder Simone Perotta, Mancini, Maurizio Liccardi, and Ewerthon respectively. While this does weaken the side somewhat, there isn’t too much of a problem since Siena are by far the worst team in the league. We clean them out, dominating possession and strolling to one of the easiest five-goal victories I can remember. Scorers: Perotta(p), Liccardi 2, Ewerthon, Ferrari. Roma 5-0 Siena

With two matches left for most teams, the league table stands as follows:

| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1st | | Parma | | 36 | 20 | 8 | 8 | 49 | 28 | +21 | 68 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 2nd | | Juventus | | 36 | 17 | 14 | 5 | 56 | 32 | +24 | 65 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 3rd | | Lazio | | 36 | 18 | 9 | 9 | 56 | 31 | +25 | 63 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 4th | | Roma | | 35 | 17 | 10 | 8 | 51 | 28 | +23 | 61 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 5th | | Sampdoria | | 35 | 17 | 9 | 9 | 41 | 28 | +13 | 60 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 6th | | Inter | | 36 | 16 | 11 | 9 | 47 | 33 | +14 | 59 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 7th | | Chievo | | 36 | 17 | 6 | 13 | 47 | 44 | +3 | 57 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 8th | | Milan | | 36 | 15 | 11 | 10 | 42 | 29 | +13 | 56 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 9th | | Fiorentina | | 36 | 16 | 7 | 13 | 37 | 37 | 0 | 55 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 10th | | Lecce | | 36 | 14 | 10 | 12 | 44 | 41 | +3 | 52 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 11th | | Bologna | | 36 | 12 | 13 | 11 | 36 | 38 | -2 | 49 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 12th | | Perugia | | 36 | 10 | 17 | 9 | 35 | 40 | -5 | 47 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 13th | | Udinese | | 36 | 11 | 10 | 15 | 42 | 40 | +2 | 43 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 14th | | Palermo | | 36 | 10 | 11 | 15 | 34 | 49 | -15 | 41 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 15th | | Brescia | | 36 | 8 | 15 | 13 | 34 | 40 | -6 | 39 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 16th | | Bari | | 36 | 7 | 15 | 14 | 33 | 45 | -12 | 36 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 17th | | Genoa | | 36 | 8 | 11 | 17 | 29 | 48 | -19 | 35 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 18th | | Atalanta | | 36 | 8 | 10 | 18 | 45 | 61 | -16 | 34 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 19th | | Empoli | | 36 | 8 | 7 | 21 | 24 | 50 | -26 | 31 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 20th | R | Siena | | 36 | 5 | 6 | 25 | 20 | 60 | -40 | 21 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|


Our game in hand is at home to Sampdoria; then it’s away to Udinese (three days before we play them in Belgrade) and at home to Juventus. Beating Sampdoria is obviously key to finishing in the top four; a draw would leave too much hanging on the Juve match.

More squad cover is brought in for next year as I take advantage of Albacete’s financial difficulties to pinch their young Brazilian defensive midfielder Ailton. This is something of a blind signing, since my scouts haven’t been able to tell me everything about him, but everything I do know about him is very good indeed and at £2.8 million I can afford to take a gamble.

[Katon]

Back to the first team for Sampdoria, with the added bonus that Pietro Moretti is finally fit to play at left-back again. Moretti wasn’t really stretched on his return to first-team football, though, as we outplayed Sampdoria comfortably. Mido put us ahead early with a superb shot from a tight angle, and we were in complete control well before an own-goal sealed the victory. Saviola added a third late on. Roma 3-0 Sampdoria

The result leaves us in third, four points clear of fifth place. The usual set of starters – Aquilani, Mido, Saviola, De Rossi – are now feeling tired again. Hopefully next year they’ll be able to play two games running at some point. More bad news in that Adriano has picked up a calf strain and will miss the next two weeks. In other words, he’s out for the season.

Even with five regular starters missing, we still got off to a good start in our league match with Udinese. Maurizio Liccardi put us ahead early with a fierce shot, then they had a man sent off just after the interval for shoving Ewerthon in the chest and complaining about the ensuing booking. Fernando doubled our lead with twenty minutes remaining before a Udinese substitute pulled one back from distance to set up an enthralling finale. Or an enthralling four minutes, anyway; that’s how long it took Fernando to curl one into the top corner from twenty yards out and restore our two-goal cushion. Udinese 1-3 Roma

An unexpected bonus: Juventus have drawn 0-0 at home to Genoa, and Parma have also drawn 0-0 away to Siena. With everyone having just one match left, this leaves the top of the table as:

Parma, 69 points, +21 gd
Roma, 67 points, +28 gd
Lazio, 66 points, +28 gd
Juventus, 66 points, +24 gd
Sampdoria, 63 points, +14 gd

So basically, if we win and Parma don’t then we’re champions. Unlikely, considering that we’re up against Juventus and they’re at home to Udinese, but possible.

Since we can potentially win major trophies in both of our remaining games, I think they deserve a bit more ceremony than I’ve been giving most of our matches. They’ll each get their own separate post.

[Katon]

And now Christian Chivu’s picked up a knock, making him an injury doubt for both Udinese and Juventus. Not good. My starting lineup for the EURO Cup final, therefore, consists of:

Acosta, Moretti, Vagner, Jose, Ferrari, De Rossi, Blonk, Aquilani, Fernando, Saviola, Mido

The Udinese team:

Isaksson, Bogelund, Raul Bravo, Betao, Belloni, Edu, Messina, Bloudek, De Martino, Diego, Fernandez

7 mins: Udinese shot from distance, nowhere near on target

16 mins: Mido gets the ball out wide, cuts it back for De Rossi whose shot hits a defender

24 mins: Vagner hits a long ball over the top, Saviola runs onto it and goes to the byline before pulling it back for Fernando whose shot is saved

33 mins: Moretti hits a long ball for Mido, who continues his run and lobs the keeper from a narrow angle. 1-0 Roma

Halftime score: Roma 1-0 Udinese

53 mins: Saviola and Mido combine down the left to tee up a shot for Blonk, who pulls it wide. We quickly win the ball back from the ensuing goal kick, though, and Aquilani puts Saviola through only for Raul Bravo to make a last-ditch tackle.

61 mins: Roma put Sculli & Giardina on for Fernandez & Edu

69 mins: Fernando gives away a free kick and is booked. Raul Bravo bends the free kick around the near side of the wall only to be denied by a wonderful flying save from Acosta. The corner is played short to Bloudek, who spins inside Jose only to see his shot parried at point-blank range by Acosta and then lumped away by Moretti.

71 mins: another Udinese corner gets headed in by Sculli. 1-1. They put Pinzi on for Bloudek. I put Liccardi on for the tired-looking Saviola to try and keep him fresh for the Juventus match.

78 mins: Fernando picks out Blonk with a beautiful crossfield ball. Blonk volleys the ball first-time into the stands from 25 yards out.

80 mins: Reid on for Blonk, Mancini on for Aquilani, and Fernando moves into the more central position from where he shredded them at the weekend.

End of 90 mins: Roma 1-1 Udinese

95 mins: Diego curls in a shot which Acosta brilliantly turns round the post.

104 mins: Vagner crosses for a Mido header which is parried by Isaksson

Half-time in extra time: Roma 1-1 Udinese

107 mins: Daniele De Rossi hits a long-range effort over the bar.

Full Time: Roma 1-1 Udinese

Penalties!

Betao scores. 1-0 Udinese
Andy Reid scores, though the keeper got a hand to it. 1-1
Bogelund screws his kick way wide. 1-1
Liccardi hits it over the bar. 1-1
Raul Bravo places his kick well but doesn’t hit it hard enough and Acosta saves. 1-1
Mancini drives his kick straight at Isaksson. 1-1
Belloni puts the ball just out of Acosta’s reach. 2-1 Udinese.
Moretti sends the keeper the wrong way. 2-2
Diego hits his down the middle and Acosta saves. 2-2
Daniele De Rossi puts it too near Isaksson. 2-2
Messina hits the worst penalty yet, right at Acosta. 2-2
Fernando drills it into the top right-hand corner. 3-2 Roma

And we’ve won the EURO Cup. Acosta deservedly wins the Man of the Match award. The board and fans, needless to say, are delighted.

[Katon]

If anyone has any stylistic suggestions, for the dynasty in general or especially for the extended-style games, I'd be delighted to hear them. I've never written up an individual game like that before, and was more or less making up the format as I went.

[condors]

well from my personal perspective being that it is year 2012. At the end of the season a review of how each team did and a preview of what to expect next season from them would be great. Go over key players new transfers that sort of thing.

[Katon]

And since I've only been in Serie A for about three months, that would also be helpful for me. Will do, and I'll also do something of the sort for the European Championships.

[Katon]

The Champions’ League was won, also on penalties, by PSV, which means I’ve managed both European trophy-winning teams in the same year. I wonder if anyone’s ever done that before.

Fabinho agrees a contract and the £10.5 million deal is clinched.

But while next year’s squad may be looking good, this year’s team is significantly thinned at the moment. Fernando and Liccardi both were called up to their respective countries’ European U-21 Championship squads. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, both De Rossi and Aquilani have picked up injuries and are done for the season. All four therefore miss our match with Juventus. The only bright spot is that Adriano has regained his fitness unexpectedly soon. Our team:

Acosta, Moretti, Vagner, Adriano, Ferrari, Perotta, Reid, Mancini, Blonk, Saviola, Mido

And Juventus send out:

Buffon, Carvalho, Marcos, Renzi, Sneijder, Robben, Pizarro, Appiah, Zhirkov, Nilmar, Martins

2 mins: Wesley Sneijder curls a long-range free kick over the bar

8 mins: Vagner hits a screamer from thirty yards out that grazes the top of the bar

9 mins: Parma score at home to Udinese. We now need Udinese to score in order to keep our title hopes alive.

13 mins: Buffon spills a Mido shot, but pounces on it at the second attempt

24 mins: Lazio go ahead away to Atalanta. We’re now in third.

33 mins: Andy Reid shoots from thirty yards, but Buffon gathers without too much difficulty.
36 mins: Atalanta equalize. Lazio are back behind us.

39 mins: Buffon has to stretch to turn a Richard Blonk free kick round the post.

45 mins: Lazio retake the lead

Halftime Scores: Roma 0-0 Juventus, Parma 1-0 Udinese, Atalanta 1-2 Lazio

48 mins: Buffon does well to parry a low Perotta shot, but Mido gets to the loose ball first. 1-0 Roma.

54 mins: Lazio go 3-1 up

56 mins: Reid heads narrowly over from a Vagner cross

60 mins: Alberto Fernandez equalizes for Udinese, putting us top of the league

62 mins: Juventus put Zambrotta on for Zhirkov

72 mins: A Sneijder free kick pings around in the box for a while, then breaks to Martins who fires narrowly over.

73 mins: Juve subs, Serhat & Milliet on for Renzi & Martins. I put Ewerthon & Cerci on for Blonk & Saviola.

78 mins: Alessio Cerci finds himself in space in the area after a three-on-three break, but Buffon pulls off a good save.

79 mins: The Juve defence is starting to look panicky. Ewerthon gets a repeat of Cerci’s chance from a moment ago; he does better with it, rounding Buffon and sliding the ball into the net. 2-0 Roma. If Udinese can hold out eleven more minutes, we’ve won the league.

83 mins: Buffon has to scramble to parry a long-range effort from Ewerthon.

90 mins: And there’s been another goal elsewhere! Not for Parma, though. Alan Smith completes a rout for Lazio.

Final scores: Roma 2-0 Juventus, Atalanta 1-4 Lazio, Parma 1-1 Udinese

But it turns out we’re not the champions. It seems that if Serie A’s top two teams finish level on points then rather than having goal difference decide the title there’s a playoff. So there’s another match coming up on Wednesday.

[GoldenEagle]

If anyone has any stylistic suggestions, for the dynasty in general or especially for the extended-style games, I'd be delighted to hear them. I've never written up an individual game like that before, and was more or less making up the format as I went.
Just shut up and post :)

[Katon]

Wednesday 30 May 2012

It turns out there are also two other playoffs going on: Sampdoria versus Juventus for the last Champions’ League spot and Milan versus Inter for seventh place. As far as I can tell both seventh and eighth are EURO Vase spots (incidentally, when did the names change from being the UEFA and Intertoto cups?), so I’m not quite sure why that needs a playoff. For our match, Christian Chivu is fit, so that’s the only change I make. Some of my starters are pretty tired at the moment, but they’ll have all summer to rest up. The Roma team, in full:

Acosta, Moretti, Vagner, Adriano, Ferrari, Perotta, Reid, Mancini, Blonk, Saviola, Mido

And Parma:

Johnsen, Rossi, Navarro, Radoi, Contini, Marchionni, Downing, Simplicio, Bruno, Morsi, Mantovani

2 mins: Bruno shoots from distance. Not on target.

11 mins: Reid booked

13 mins: Richard Blonk gets the chance to shoot from the edge of the area. Unfortunately it is on his weaker foot and so he can’t get enough curl on it.

15 mins: Radoi booked. Mantovani booked for arguing about it.

19 mins: Bruno curls a free kick through the box, but nobody can get on the end of it.

29 mins: Bruno shoots from distance. It goes wide

36 mins: Mancini heads just over from Moretti’s cross

44 mins: Saviola booked for shoving Downing

45 mins: Bruno shoots wide from distance. Again.

Halftime Score: Roma 0-0 Parma

48 mins: Reid shoots wide from distance

58 mins: Mancini has a good header from a Moretti cross, but Johnsen parries

62 mins: Parma substitutions. Portioli and Pozzi on for Morsi and Mantovani

66 mins: Reid sent off for his second bookable offence after a trip on Marchionni. I put on Ewerthon and Cerci for Mido and Saviola, with Ewerthon dropping back into midfield and Cerci going it alone up front.

67 mins: Parma change. Katsouranis on for Simplicio

76 mins: Ewerthon heads narrowly over after a Blonk cross causes chaos in the area

80 mins: Marchionni booked

81 mins: Bruno booked

87 mins: Ewerthon gets to the byline and cuts the ball back for Perotta, who shoots over.

88 mins: Acosta comes out of the area to collect a backpass, then gets caught in possession by Portioli. Fortunately, he can’t get any height on his attempted lob and Acosta collects.

89 mins: Perotta booked

End of Normal Time: Roma 0-0 Parma

94 mins: Ewerthon gets some space twenty yards out, but shoots over

104 mins: Ewerthon gets to the byline again and cuts the ball back for Mancini, whose low shot draws a superb save from Espen Johnsen

118 mins: Radoi holds back Cerci and gets his second yellow card.

Full Time: Roma 0-0 Parma

So, for the second time in fifteen days, our chances of winning a major tournament have come down to penalties. I have distinctly mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, Jose Acosta is a very good penalty-stopper and has saved over half the on-target penalties in our previous two shootouts. On the other hand, he’s needed to save that many because our penalty-takers have struggled to maintain a one in two conversion rate. I’ve ordered extra penalty practice, but it is unlikely to have had much effect in just two weeks. Anyway, on to the shootout.

Bruno hits his penalty softly (but not wide) and Acosta saves. 0-0
Cerci sends Johnsen the wrong way. 1-0 Roma
Navarro tries a chip to Acosta’s left, but doesn’t fool the keeper. 1-0 Roma
Perotta’s kick is straight down the middle and Johnsen saves with his legs. 1-0 Roma
Pozzi drills the ball into the bottom corner. 1-1
Ewerthon’s kick is well placed but too weak and Johnsen gets to it. 1-1
Katsouranis sends Acosta the wrong way. 2-1 Parma
Moretti fakes Johnsen out completely and tucks his kick home. 2-2
Downing converts his kick with no difficulty. 3-2 Parma
Chivu gets good power on his kick but it’s too close to Johnsen. Parma win 3-2.

Yes, more penalty-taking practice is definitely in order.

[SirFozzie]

They changed the names because Champions League, UEFA Cup and Intertoto are all TM'd by UEFA, therefore SI would have to pay lots of dinero to license the names. SI, wanting to make money.. says. "You know what they are.."

[Katon]

Right, got it. Thanks.

[Katon]

Lots of end-of-season stuff. Daniele De Rossi and Adriano both make it into the Serie A Team of the Season; Adriano also gets third in the Defender of the Year award, while De Rossi finishes second for Italian Player of the Year. No other Roma players get any sort of award.

Five Roma players are called up for the European Championships: Aquilani, De Rossi, and Ferrari from Italy, Chivu from Romania, and Blonk from the Netherlands. Alberto Gilardino (Italy) and Jos Rozema (Holland) are also with their respective teams.

Still a bit of transfer business to conduct – our strike force is set for next season, and so is our defence, but I’d like one more good attacking/balanced central midfielder. Of the three players currently starting in that position for us, Richard Blonk is clearly the weakest, so I’m looking for someone left-footed by preference. The logical candidate is Arsenal’s Thomas Hitzelsburger, and so I put in an offer for him.

[Katon]

I've done most of the work on the season previews, but can't finalize them until most of the transfer dealing is done. Instead, I'll get started on the European Championships previews, where hopefully almost all of the current top European players will get a mention.

[Katon]

Group A

Netherlands

Strengths: Van Den Boogart. Heitinga. Van Der Vaart. Robben. Sneijder. Some of the Dutch players are among the best in the world at their positions, and the midfield in particular is filled with creative potential. They’ve also got several players from current European champions PSV to draw on.

Weaknesses: There are concerns about the strikeforce. Ryan Babel and Tim Janssen have scored fifteen each this season in France, but then there were thirteen other players who scored at least fifteen. None of the strikers have any pedigree in the really big European leagues.

Rising Stars: Georginio Boateng of Espanyol is the great Dutch hope up front. He had a good half-season with Espanyol after his move from Real Madrid B, and at 22 already looks up to the challenge of playing in La Liga for a full season. Jos Rozema, of PSV but soon of Roma, is unlikely to play, but that he was invited along at all at age 19 and after a season in which he did not start regularly speaks volumes about his talent.


Portugal

Strengths: In Man U’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Milan’s Luis Oliviera Portugal have a superb pair of wingers. Vila Verde, the Deportivo stopper, will shore up the defence.

Weaknesses: At least the Dutch strikers have mostly scored somewhere. Borges, of Boavista, is the only Portuguese striker to have managed even ten league goals last year. Ronaldo and Oliviera can create chances all they want, the ball will not go in the net.

Rising Stars: Oliviera’s still just 23, and while he can’t break in to the current Milan side he’s still got plenty of room to grow. 22-year-old Porto striker Joao is the player most likely to confound my above prediction, and should be very good in a couple of years.


Romania

Strengths: Christian Chivu and Matei Mirel Radoi are a very solid pairing at the back. Real Madrid left winger Nicolae Mitea will create some chances. Adrian Mutu is still sharp at 33, and should be the best striker in the group if he can get into match fitness.

Weaknesses: Mutu has scarcely played for Chelsea this year, and may not be fit. Apart from the four mentioned above, Romania don’t really have any other top-class players.

Rising Stars: Nobody. The youngest player in their squad is 24, and there’s nothing in the U-21 squad either.


Switzerland

Strengths: Jonathan Vonlathen has scored a goal or two. Marco Padalino is a nice fullback. Davide Chiumiento will do a good job on the wing as long as he doesn’t have to run too fast.

Weaknesses: They’re outclassed in most areas of the pitch by their opposition.

Rising Stars: Nobody under 25 in their squad. Nothing in the U-21 squad. This is as good as it gets.


My Prediction:

1. Netherlands
2. Portugal
3. Romania
4. Switzerland

[RPI-Fan]

Great previews for the Euro Champs -- where's it being played?

Thanks!
~rpi-fan

[Katon]

Group B

Croatia

Strengths: Left winger Marko Klasnic will create quite a few chances, and both Ivan Klasnic and Ivica Olic are more than able to put them away.

Weaknesses: This is an old team. Every single one of the key players is 30+. They’re also shy of international-quality defenders. Blackburn’s Josep Simunic (34 )is their only really competent centre-back – and he’s suspended for the Sweden match.

Rising Stars: Kresimir Marincic of Cordoba doesn’t have much going for him, but he’s incredibly fast. If the rest of his game catches up, he might make a decent player some day.


England

Strengths: The forwards. Wayne Rooney is brilliant, and both Jermain Defoe and Jonathan Stead are extremely able players. Michael Owen and Alan Smith are still fairly good as well. Stewart Downing is more than able to supply them. England top-scored in qualifying, and there’s a reason for that.

Weaknesses: By dint of some truly astonishing planning on the part of manager Micky Adams, David Prutton is the only player in the squad whose preferred position is central midfield. This is as opposed to the six out-and-out strikers in the squad (Dexter Blackstock is also with the team, for no readily apparent reason).

Rising Stars: Nobody with the main squad, but the U-21 team has some nice players. Striker Paul Watts, with ten goals in nine U-21 games, is the most obvious future star, but then I may be slightly biased having managed him both at Wigan and at PSV. Chelsea central defender Ben Cooper also looks promising.


Sweden

Strengths: Kim Kallstrom is one of the world’s finest midfield playmakers, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic is a brilliant striker. Andreas Isaksson is a quality keeper. They’ve also got a nice variety of good-but-not-great wingers and strikers.

Weaknesses: The defence is constructed out of spare parts, and unlikely to bear up to any serious attack.

Rising Stars: Andreas Garphammar of Bolton will be a good centre-back some day, although not soon enough to salvage their defence here.


Wales

Strengths: They’re co-hosting with Scotland, so the crowd will be on their side. Richard Duffy is a good right-back, and Jason Brown could surprise a few people in goal.

Weaknesses: They’re not very good. There’s nobody who’s really going to win matches for them

Rising Stars: Darren James, currently playing in the UAE of all places, has the potential to become a decent defender. Ian Williams of Aston Villa will be a very good winger in a year or two, and if he breaks out at this tournament then Wales could surprise some people.


My Predictions:
1. England
2. Sweden
3. Croatia
4. Wales

[Katon]

Group C

Bulgaria

Strengths: Valeri Bojinov and Dimitar Berbatov form one of the best strike partnerships in the tournament, and Chavdar Yankov will create quite a few chances for them from midfield.

Weaknesses: Just like Sweden: no defence. They can score, but can they keep anything out?

Rising Stars: 20-year-old Stanislav Dobrev is probably their best bet for a good defender. Both backup strikers, Dimitar Iliev and Ilya Korbankolev, are still young and will be good players someday.


Germany

Strengths: Liverpool striker Lukas Podolski, Stuttgart forward Kevin Kuranyi, and HSV’s Benjamin Lauth give the Germans a deadly trio up front. Timo Hildebrand is one of the tournament’s best keepers.

Weaknesses: With Philipp Lahm out with a fractured skull, they’ve got a gaping hole at left-back.

Rising Stars: The brilliantly named Mario Hellmeister is going to be an absolutely superb winger. Also watch out for 22-year-old midfielders Daniel Weber and Tomas Judt.


Norway

Strengths: Deportivo striker Daniel Fredheim Holm is quite possibly the best player in the world. Andre Hanssen and Morten Gamst Pedersen make a strong combination in midfield. Espen Johnsen is capable of saving (or blowing) matches single-handedly.

Weaknesses: Right back is a question mark, but more generally they just don’t have anyone ready to step in if their starters go down.

Rising Stars: My former Rushden and Wigan keeper Lasse Staw is shaping up to be Johnsen’s successor.


Spain

Strengths: The defending champions and the favourites. Incredibly good squad. Fernando Torres and Miguel up front, Raul and Joaquin in midfield . . . half the squad is made up of superstars.

Weaknesses: They’ve only got one specialist left winger, and he really isn’t all that great. Also, this is Spain. If anyone can underachieve with this much talent, they can.

Rising Stars: Deportivo striker Miguel and Milan midfielder Raul are both just 22, but they’re already among the most talented players at the tournament. In the U-21 team, there’s a pair of central midfielders, Fernando of Roma and Vicente of Newcastle. Spain are loaded.

My Pick:
1. Spain
2. Germany
3. Norway
4. Bulgaria

[Katon]

Group D

France

Strengths: A really talented and deep midfield, with Ahmed Yahiouai and winger Hatem Ben Arfa standing out.

Weaknesses: Don’t have the killer strikers that some of their rivals do.

Rising Stars: Strasbourg striker Pascal Ferreira, who probably will be that killer striker they need once his ground game catches up to his aerial presence.


Italy

Strengths: The Roma central midfield pairing of Alberto Aquilani and Daniele De Rossi. Also a varied strike force led by Alberto Gilardino and Michelangelo Colletti.

Weaknesses: Still haven’t quite found Buffon’s replacement, and lacking the normal Italian supply of world-class defenders.

Rising Stars: I say Italy still haven’t found Buffon’s replacement, but in fact 20-year-old Lecce keeper Damiano Boni has been anointed the heir apparent. I don’t think he’s quite ready now, though, and manager Vicenzo Chiarenza might be better served to go with Leverkusen keeper Stefano Terenzo.


Scotland

Strengths: As co-hosts, they get home field advantage. Darren Fletcher will pull the strings well in midfield, and they’ve got quite a collection of promising young players on the wings and up front.

Weaknesses: The youngsters are still probably a tournament or two away from really being able to contribute, and right now Scotland have a lot of good but not top-class players, which will get them killed in this group.

Rising Stars: Neil Scott and Gary Cameron show promise on the wings while Gary Brown and John Ferguson will be dangerous strikers one day, but the future star is 23-year-old Leverkusen striker John McBride. McBride is a real threat now, and if Scotland somehow do get past France or Italy he will probably be one of the main reasons.


Turkey

Strengths: Real Madrid attacking midfielder Sanli Tuncay, Birmingham striker Ahmet Kuru, and Real Sociedad striker Nihat spearhead a potent attack.

Weaknesses: Marseilles’ Cetin Servat is their only top-level defender, while their keeper Babacan Volkan has spent the last year on Inter Milan’s bench.

Rising Stars: Volkan will be a good player if he gets regular games. Cakir Volkan – who may or may not be Babacan’s younger brother – and Ayin Ismael are promising young strikers.

My Predictions:
1. France
2. Italy
3. Scotland
4. Turkey

[Katon]

Great previews for the Euro Champs -- where's it being played?

Thanks!
~rpi-fan

Should have mentioned this earlier. Scotland and Wales are co-hosting, which could present a problem since they're both almost certain to go out in the first round. Although if they swapped groups Scotland might have a decent chance of getting through.

[Katon]

Actual Roma business in among the European Championships.

Thomas Hitzelsperger has signed from Arsenal for £15M. He'll play on the left side of midfield and drive my spell-checker insane. Midfield is now set, but we're still looking for a right-back. David Rives of Spain and Juventus, who is not in Juve's first-team plans at the moment and so is available for cheap, is the favorite; if not him, then my old PSV starter Cesar is agitating for a move out of the Dutch league and would probably be a good choice.

[Katon]

First round of matches:

Group A: Marseilles forward Tim Janssen scored both for the Netherlands in a 2-1 win over Switzerland. The underdogs played well, and managed to draw level temporarily early in the second half via Xerez-bound striker Ludovic Din, but the result was never in doubt. Portugal laid an egg in the other match, looking completely outmatched by Romania even after going ahead early through Joao. Adrien Cristea and Adrian Mutu caused the Portuguese defence nightmares and grabbed a goal each while Christian Chivu took all the pressure off a shaky-looking Romanian keeper with a masterly performance.


Group B: England outplayed Wales without ever really outclassing them, and won 1-0 through a Jonathan Stead goal. Their central midfield combination was David Prutton and Owen Hargreaves; I still think that’s going to end in tears. Sweden fell behind to Croatia after just two minutes and never really looked like getting back into it. 2-0 was the final score, with Niko Kranjcar and Ivica Olic the scorers.


Group C: Spain got off to a poor start with a spotty performance in a 1-1 draw with Germany. Miguel gave them the lead on his full debut, but they never really settled in their unnecessarily defensive 5-3-2 formation, and Germany got a deserved equalizer just after half-time when new Roma midfielder Thomas Hitzelsperger slammed in a piledriver from twenty-five yards out. Bulgaria came from behind twice to draw 2-2 with Norway, although they had to wait until two minutes from the end for Valeri Bojinov to restore parity after Iliar Dimitrov had cancelled out Trond Fredrik Ludvigsen’s opener. Norway will be sweating on the fitness of Daniel Fredheim Holm for the Spain match, as the Deportivo striker limped off midway through the second half shortly after restoring their lead.


Group D: Scotland put up a much better showing than Wales, hanging in against Italy after falling behind to an early Niccolo Morsi goal in spite of being outclassed in midfield. Substitute David Clarkson equalized with twenty minutes left, and they held out for a 1-1 draw. Turkey almost did Scotland one better, going ahead midway through the first half via Nihat, but Hatem Ben Arfa capped a virtuoso performance by equalizing with ten minutes left and then winning the match for France in stoppage time. There will be questions asked about their defence, though, as Turkey created just as many chances despite having significantly less possession.

[Katon]

Group A: Portugal pulled themselves back together with a 2-0 win against Switzerland courtesy of goals from Joao and Helder Calviño. They also had no fewer than three players simply named Nuno on the field for the last twenty minutes, which fact was by that point considerably more interesting than the actual match. Romania lost some of the momentum they’d built up against Portugal, falling 2-1 to the Netherlands. Arjen Robben and Ingemar Maayen put the Dutch two up before Adrian Mutu pulled one back from the penalty spot. The Netherlands have won the group unless they lose to Portugal; otherwise, Portugal need to get a better result than Romania (even just on goal difference) to go through.


Group B: Sweden are falling apart. They were thoroughly outclassed by Wales, for whom Craig Bellamy hit two and backup left winger David Fowler also scored in a 3-0 win. England also had some trouble against Croatia, although in their case it was just a matter of putting the ball in the net. Croatia got just one shot on target, Ivan Klasnic’s nineteenth-minute penalty, and then shut up shop. It was only poor finishing on England’s part – Jonathan Stead the main culprit – that kept them to two goals, ultimately scored by Ledley King and Owen Hargreaves. England are through; Croatia will join them if they can beat Wales, otherwise Wales go through.


Group C: Spain’s hopes of defending their title very nearly disappeared in a flurry of missed chances against Norway. They dominated possession, but with Espen Johnsen in inspired form they were unable to equalize Azar Karadas’ opener. Trond Erik Bertelsen made it 2-0 late on against the run of play. Germany scored three times in the first half-hour on their way to a 3-0 win against Bulgaria. Lukas Podolski and Benjamin Lauth had them two up inside the first ten minutes before Robert Huth curled one in from outside the area. Spain and Bulgaria now both need to win their head-to-head match by a sizeable margin and hope Germany-Norway sees a winner in order to progress.


Group D: I said that John McBride would be key to Scotland’s chances of getting through, and it looks like I was right. He scored twice in the first twenty minutes to set Scotland on their way to victory against France, who struggled to make any headway against a firm Scottish rearguard. Anthony Le Tallec made it 2-1 with ten minutes to go, but there it stayed. Italy drew 1-1 for the second straight match. Nihat put the Turks ahead inside the second minute, then Italy spent the rest of the match trying to recover before Antonio Cassano made amends for a missed penalty by levelling with seven minutes to go. Italy and Turkey go through with wins, while Scotland and France only need draws; the only exception is if France draw with Italy and Turkey beat Scotland by one goal, in which case the top three spots will be separated only by goals scored.

[Katon]

Final round of group matches:

Group A: In spite of a very promising start when Hugo Caetano put them ahead within a couple minutes of the kickoff, Portugal were soundly beaten by the Netherlands. Georginio Boateng netted twice, Ugur Yildrimm made it 3-1 in stoppage time, and Tiago added insult to injury by getting sent off with eight minutes to go for his second bookable offence. Portugal still go through on goals scored, though, after Switzerland beat Romania 2-0. Ludovic Din opened the scoring, then Sola Michael doubled their lead just before half-time. Had Jonathan Vonlathen not missed a second-half penalty, the Swiss would have made it to the quarter-finals.


Group B: Wales harboured hopes of going through to the quarterfinals for just over half an hour; then Croatia scored twice in five minutes through Ivan Klasnic and Darijo Srna, and the dream was dead. Ivica Olic made it 3-0 in the second half. England coasted through their 1-1 draw with Sweden, going ahead through a David Prutton penalty after Ola Kullberg got sent off for a professional foul only to be pegged back when Zlatan Ibrahimovic equalized.


Group C: Spain finally looked like one of the best teams in Europe against Bulgaria, and not a moment too soon. Raul, Oskitz, Miguel, and finally Xabi Alonso in stoppage time all scored in a 4-0 demolition of Bulgaria. Alonso’s goal was particularly important since up until that point Spain had the exact same record as Germany, who were busy losing 2-0 to Norway. Azar Karadas and Andre Hanssen scored for the Norwegians, who win the group in spite of missing Daniel Freidheim Holm for their last two matches.


Group D: Liverpool keeper Gregory Lemaire is the toast of France after single-handedly knocking Italy out of the tournament. Lemaire pulled off save after save as the Italians dominated but could only score once, through Alberto Gilardino in first-half injury time. Anthony Le Tallec equalized immediately after the restart and France managed to cling on for the rest of the match. Scotland were held to a 2-2 draw by Turkey due to a late Nihat goal, but the co-hosts won’t mind too much as they won the group anyways. All the goals were scored in the second half, with Barry Ferguson and Patrick Scullion netting for Scotland after Sanli Tuncay opened the scoring for Turkey.


The quarter-finals, with my predictions italicised:

Croatia vs. Holland
Portugal vs. England
France vs. Norway
Spain vs. Scotland

[Katon]

And David Rives is moving to Roma, after a £11.5M deal was agreed with Juventus. I'll talk about him more when I do our season preview after the European Championships.

[Katon]

Croatia 0-2 Holland
Rafael van der Vaart and Tim Janssens scored to cap a comfortable win for Holland. They’re the only team to win all their matches up to this point and they have to be regarded as favourites.

Portugal 0-2 England
Another one-sided match. Owen Hargreaves and Wayne Rooney did the damage.

France 1-0 Norway
Gregory Lemaire was impressive again, but France were never really troubled by a disappointing Norway. Said Khiter scored the goal as the string of boring quarterfinals continued.

Spain 3-0 Scotland
David Villa scored twice in the first ten minutes to completely kill any chance at a serious contest. Scotland folded after that, and the only shot on target any Scottish player managed all day came when Cristophe Berra put through his own net just before half-time.

What a disappointing round. Not a single interesting match and no goals scored by any of the losing sides. Here’s to some better semifinals:

Holland vs. Spain
England vs. France

And my prediction for the final:

Holland vs. England

[Katon]

Holland 4-1 Spain
A classic counterattacking display saw Holland score with every single one of their shots on target. Spain managed to respond after the first one, Miguel scoring to cancel out Arjen Robben’s effort, but they struggled to break down an excellent Dutch defence. Georginio Boateng netted twice and Rafael van der Vaart added the fourth as Spanish hopes disintegrated.

England 3-0 France
41% of the possession and one off-target shot. That’s what France had to show for a day on which they were thoroughly outclassed by England. Alan Smith, James Milner, and Jermain Defoe shot England into the final in one of the most impressive team performances of the tournament.

And then the final . . .

Holland 1-0 England
Holland had all the possession, England had all the chances, and Roma’s very own Richard Blonk scored the only goal with a brilliant thirty-yard free kick. Jos Rozema, having just officially joined the club, also got into the starting lineup for his international debut.

There’s a lot of turnover among the coaches of the competing teams after the tournament, as per usual. Wales, Sweden, Croatia, England, Portugal, Holland, and Spain are all in the market for new coaches. I’m particularly interested in England, Holland and Spain. England because I am English, after all, and they’ve got quite a good team at the moment; Holland because after my three years with PSV I actually know more about the Dutch players currently coming through than I do about the English, and because they’re the European champions; Spain because, as I’ve said a time or two before, they have an absolutely obscene amount of talent right now. I apply for all three. I’m going to bed now, so if anyone has suggestions as to which job I should go for most heavily I’d be interested to hear them. I don’t promise to pay any attention, but I would be interested to hear them.

[daedalus]

I would dig seeing you take the helm of either the England or the Holland job. For whatever reason, I've always rooted for England. Probably as much as, if not more than the US team. I'd also dig following your account of the Holland job since a number of players I like are Dutch.

[Katon]

Well, England have offered me the job while Spain and Holland were still thinking about it, so it's not really all that difficult a choice. England it is, then.

[daedalus]

Yay! I dig! :)

[Katon]

I've formally taken up my duties as England manager now. The FA expects me to qualify for the World Cup; with a group of Bulgaria, Austria, Russia, Estonia, and Lithuania, there ought not to be any major difficulties. I'll give a full report on the current English squad just before my first international in charge.

[Katon]

Probably the best way to start off the new season is to formally introduce the many new players coming into the club. There are a lot of them, six major transfers costing a total of £72M.

Fabinho is a 28-year-old Brazilian left wing-back. He can also play left-back, and that’s where he’ll play for us, but he’s at his best going forward. I normally prefer my fullbacks to be defenders first, but Fabinho is a good enough player that I’ll let that pass.

Fabinho might not start all that regularly, though, as I’m tempted to move Christian Chivu out wide to make way for Jos Rozema. When I took over at PSV, I thought that the then-16-year-old Rozema was the most exciting defensive prospect I’d ever seen. He’s 19 now, and I still haven’t changed my mind. I’m not the only one impressed, either; he made his debut for the senior Dutch national team a few weeks ago in the final of the European Championships, and my assistant manager is suggesting that I drop Adriano – one of the best defenders in the league – in order to fit him into the starting lineup. He’s fast, he’s strong, he’s dominant in the air, he’s a very good tackler . . . The list is endless. I’m very much looking forward to seeing him develop over the next few years. He’ll miss the start of the season, though, off in Canada for the Olympics.

David Rives, our third defensive signing, has had one of the oddest careers in recent memory. He started his career with Atletico Madrid B, but soon moved to Manchester United as part exchange for Gabriel Heinze. After two years in which he never played a single first-team match, he was let go to Real Zaragoza for £350,000. He started for them for two years, then moved back to Man U for about eight times what Zaragoza had paid. After one year as one of the Premiership’s best fullbacks, Juventus paid £34.5M for him. He was superb for them in his first year in Italy. Then in his second year – last season – they switched to playing three at the back with the result that he made just eleven appearances, all as a substitute, and was available at a considerably reduced price. He’s not all that impressive physically, but is a very intelligent and determined player with superb technical ability. He’ll take over from Vagner at right-back.

Ailton is the bargain of the bunch, a 21-year-old Brazilian defensive midfielder who cost just £2.8M courtesy of Albacete’s financial difficulties. He’s probably a bit too slow of foot to ever make it as an elite player, but that’s his only weakness; he’s a disciplined, effective player whose gifts are superbly suited to the holding midfield role where he will back up Daniele De Rossi.

Thomas Hitzelsperger, the new occupant of our leftmost midfield role, has been one of the most reliable and consistent midfielders in the Premiership over the past decade. For the last three years, he’s been a mainstay of the Arsenal midfield, creating at least twelve goals in each of those seasons; before that, he was doing the same thing for Aston Villa. He can do just about everything you could possibly want from a central midfielder, but is particularly famous for his left-footed thunderbolts from distance, typified by his first international goal against Spain in the European Championships.

With 32 goals in 59 international appearances, Alberto Gilardino is Italy’s most dangerous striker. He’s not exactly been shirking at club level, either, scoring goals for Parma, Ajax, Inter, and Barcelona and even getting nominated for the 2010 World Player of the Year award (he finished third). Fast, intelligent, and a deadly finisher both in the air and on the ground, I’m expecting him and Javier Saviola to be one of the most dangerous strike partnerships in Serie A.

[Katon]

And now from the new boys to the full squad. We play in a tweaked version of the basic 4-1-3-2 attacking formation, and here’s the squad with which we start the season:

Goalkeeper: Juan Acosta is the single biggest source of disagreement between me and my assistant manager. My assistant hates him; I think that he’s a good keeper now, and at age 20 he’s only going to get better. He won the UEFA Cup for us more or less single-handedly last season, and has earned a full season in the starting lineup. Still, he’s one of the biggest question marks in our first eleven. Ivan Pelizzoli is a competent backup, although he’d be just average as a starter.

Defence: Christian Chivu, Adriano, and David Rives are all among the best defenders in the league; Jos Rozema isn’t quite their yet, but will be in a year or two. Fabinhois also impressive. Many of last year’s starters or rotation players will be cover this year. Vagner and Matteo Ferrari will spend most of the season on the bench, while Jose – who is actually a decent prospect, in the Italian Olympic squad, but is outclassed by Rozema – and Pietro Moretti start the year in the reserves.

Midfield: Daniele De Rossi in the holding role; Thomas Hitzelsperger, Alberto Aquilani, and Fernando in the middle of the park. Fernando will take some time to get used to playing this far out wide, but this is a terrifically talented group. Richard Blonk, the scorer of the European Championships-winning goal, will start on the bench along with Ailton and Mancini. Andy Reid has been transfer-listed, being both one of our least talented midfielders and poorly-suited to our current formation.

Strikers: Javier Saviola and Alberto Gilardino will be the main strikers, but Mido isn’t exactly the soft option off the bench. Ewerthon is slightly less lethal than the other three, but can do a competent job either here or in midfield. Maurizio Liccardi, currently up in Canada with Jose and Rozema, is developing into a very promising-looking forward and I’ll hope to get him some starts around the edges.

[Katon]

Now for my Serie A 2012/13 Season Preview, which should hopefully help point out who's who in Italy these days. I'll be running down the teams in reverse order of last year's finish, but first there's the three newly promoted clubs:


Cesena

Goalkeepers: Cesena have three first-team keepers, but none of them is particularly good. Fabio, at eighteen, might be a player some day; neither of their other keepers will ever be any better than they are now.

Defence: Lots of bits and pieces here, but few players who’ve played at the top level before. Gill Swerts, a free signing from Chievo, is the exception, and will probably have to be at or near his best in order for Cesena’s defence to amount to much.

Midfield: A potential strength. Left winger Angelo Borelli is the club’s most intriguing prospect, and Spanish veteran Mikel Aranburu looks a classy presence in the middle. Young German right winger Thomas Schmidt will score a few from distance, and Maurizio Ciamitaro is one of the better holdovers from Cesena’s Serie B days.

Strikers: All four of Cesena’s first-team strikers are Italians age 22 or under. It’s clear which two they ought to be relying on; Riccardo Bove, the club’s record signing, is a very promising player apart from his lack of pace while Giorgio Marini has the pace and finishing ability to score a few goals. Teenager Dario Fontana will be a decent player in a few years, albeit not now, but Angelo Boscolo is a lost cause.

Outlook: Relegation strugglers. This is their first season in the top flight in recent memory, and while they’ve brought twelve players in during the summer they’re still to short of quality at the back to have a very good shot at safety.


Messina

Goalkeepers: Daniel Offredi and Alessandro Gatti will fight it out for the starting position. The simple fact is that they’re both the same age (24), they’re both mediocrities, and it makes very little difference to anyone outside their immediate families who wins the job.

Defence: Guglielmo Stendardo, the former Perugia centre-back, is the only player here with significant Serie A experience. Messina did import four Spanish defenders from Albacete, though, and how well those four play – especially David Catala, Stendardo’s prospective partner – will determine how Messina’s defence do.

Midfield: A lot of young Italians here, but very few of them with any real hope of making it at this level. Left winger Federico Franceschini, a free transfer from Atalanta, and former Bologna man Angelo Dossena are the two men most likely to have a positive effect this season; 19-year-old Salvatore Antonini also might do something, especially from dead balls.

Strikers: Some quality here, but no real pace. Japanese veteran Shunsuke Nakamura will be useful, especially at set pieces; his target will be Luciano Leguizamon, who is a good target man, but painfully slow. Ivica Illiev, also in his thirties, is one of the few members of the squad remaining from Messina’s last spell in the top flight. Simone Calderoni, the baby of the group at 20, has yet to develop any really dangerous skills and is too slow to seriously hurt his opponents.

Outlook: Albacete were right on the edge of the relegation zone in La Liga last year; Messina have imported about a quarter of their squad. They’d be delighted to match Albacete’s 17th-place finish. Relegation strugglers, definitely.


Ternana

Goalkeepers: Tommaso Berni makes poor decisions, doesn’t always deal with crosses, and is nevertheless the best keeper on any of the promoted clubs because of his superb shot-stopping skills. Carlo Zotti, his backup, is more well-rounded and is only a little behind Berni for the starting role. A potential strength.

Defence: Quite a few players with Serie A experience here. Not all of them did particularly well in their previous spells in the top flight, but there’s a decent amount of talent. Matteo Abbate, formerly of Piacenza, will be the key, but there are a lot of people with the ability to help out.

Midfield: Ternana play a 4-3-3, possibly because they don’t have very many good midfielders. I like the signing of former Bologna midfielder Massimo Loviso, but he’s not a real star and he doesn’t have nearly enough help.

Strikers: Ternana’s strikers are less than awe-inspiring. Fabio Caracciolo has some skills but isn’t in very good shape, while the two strikers whose goals won them promotion – Luigi Elia and Carlo Emmanuele Ferrario – show no signs of being up to it at this level.

Outlook: They’ll concede fewer than either of the other promoted teams, but they’ll probably score fewer too. Can’t see any significant difference in the results, though. Relegation strugglers.

[Katon]

Genoa

Past Performance: Genoa have been pretty much perennial strugglers. Since rejoining Serie A for the 07/08 season, they’ve finished 15th, 15th, 8th, 16th, and now 17th. They’ve traditionally had one of the weaker defences in the league, but the last two years their offence has fallen off a cliff. Not good.

Goalkeeper: Goalkeeping really hasn’t been among Genoa’s problems recently. Gianluca Pegolo, the incumbent, is a perfectly good player; not elite, but quite good. Stuart Taylor is acceptable as cover, and 20-year-old former Italian U-19 international Giovanni Albano looks very promising indeed. Albano may take over the job at some point during the season, but whatever happens Genoa are in safe hands.

Defence: Here’s the reason Genoa have been shipping goals regularly. None of Genoa’s defenders had a good season last year. None of them have ever had a good season at this level, in fact. They’re just not very good. 21-year-old Brazilian Wanderley and new left-back Giovanni Pasquale are the best of a bad lot. Signing Gianluca Zambrotta from Juventus was a good thought, but several years too late.

Midfield: Better. Still not a lot of people who had good years last year, but most of the flotsam here have at least shown themselves capable of being average or near-average Serie A players. There are a few who are capable of more than that; Giovanni Barletta and Luca Mele are promising prospects, but the only player with real talent - Luciano Maiolini – got sold to Palermo during the offseason.

Striker: Probably Genoa’s deepest position apart from keeper. Ciprica Marian and Stephen Ayodele Makinwa both managed to make it into double figures last season in spite of some fairly poor service, and are the only players apart from Maiolini and Pegolo who can be reasonably proud of their performance. They tried playing 4-3-3 to take advantage of their strength here; that also may have something to do with their defensive struggles.

Outlook: Another relegation battle. They don’t have the talent for anything more.


Bari

Past Performance: The only newly-promoted side to stay up, Bari played passable defence, finishing 13th in the league in goals conceded; their offence was no great shakes, although they did score more than everyone below them except for Atalanta.

Goalkeeper: At age 20, Ivan Morelli has already been capped four times by Italy U-21. I’d have capped him more in their place; to me he looks comfortably better than most of his agemates. In any case, he’s a good player now, he’s only going to get better, and he did a fine job last season. Which is a good thing because the alternatives are all distinctly underwhelming.

Defence: There’s no particular talent here and nobody who really seemed to be playing well. A strong central midfield might have helped a bit, but I’d expect Bari to be back down with Genoa defensively next season.

Midfield: Bari’s biggest strength. Fabrizio Melara and Fabian are both at least average wingers; Massimiliano Patti and Lorenzo Abate can do a job in the middle of the park. As with Morelli, the backups are poor, but as long as everyone stays fit the midfield is going to be a plus.

Striker: They can run fast. They can head the ball, on those rare occasions they jump high enough. They can shoot. As long as you don’t ask Bari’s current strikers to do anything outside of those three basic skills, they’ll be fine. The club’s poor offensive record last year says everything you need to know about how well they do outside their core competencies.

Outlook: Relegation struggle. They stood pat during the summer in spite of some real problems. Their defence consists of Ivan Morelli, smoke, and mirrors; he has to play most of the year for them to have any chance at survival.

[Katon]

Brescia

Past Performance: Scored a few more than Bari, conceded a few less, finished on the same number of points. This was a very disappointing season for them, their lowest finish in over a decade and their first time out of the top half since 2007.

Goalkeeper: Sebastien Frey is now heading into his seventh year as the Brescia keeper. It’s strange to talk about someone with 29 French caps as a disappointment, but Frey has never really lived up to his potential. Lots of talent, but he never really seems to play all that well. Still, he’s a competent player.

Defence: Much better than any of the teams below them. My old PSV right-back Cesar, a 21-year-old Brazilian who recently has emerged as the heir apparent to Cafu, is probably the best player (as you would hope for from their big summer signing), but they also have 21-year-old Argentinian international Hector Silva and Italy’s first choice left-back Erminio Rullo. Add in several other perfectly competent players and you have a very promising defence..

Midfield: I’m slightly biased here because in January 2012 Brescia spend £9.75 million on my best PSV midfielder, Michele Ciriaco. Ciriaco has never done quite as well in Italy as he did in the Netherlands – one stunning goal against Roma after I took over aside –but he’s still one of my favourite players, and I rate him very highly. He’s joined in central midfield by Maurizio di Giovanni, a member of the current Italian U-21 team, who looks a decent prospect although I don’t think he’ll ever be a star. Rodrigo Ferrante Taddei, a veteran with seven caps for Brazil, is their best winger.

Striker: Emanuele Caleio is a major threat in the air, Hungarian international Imre Szabacs has an eye for a good pass, and just about everyone can finish well; still, there’s nobody here who can really hurt the opposition with the ball on the floor. The £4.6M signing of Lecce forward Artem Milevsky doesn’t really change that. Not Brescia’s strong suit.

Outlook: Mid-table. It’s where they’ve been finishing most seasons, and they’ve got a clear talent edge on the relegation strugglers.


Palermo

Past Performance: Scored the fifteenth-most goals in the league and conceded more goals than any other team outside the relegation zone. Somehow, this added up to fourteenth place and their highest points total in the last five years. They’ve been in Serie A for eight years, and after a few good years started becoming regular denizens of the bottom half, mostly because they’ve been conceding 50+ goals a year regularly.

Goalkeeper: Palermo have four first-team keepers, none of whom are very good. The starter for the past few years has been Marco Storari, whose solid shotstopping skills are generally seen to outweigh his inability to deal with crosses. Not a strength.

Defence: Current Italian international Cesare Bovo is a good centre-back, and Christian Zaccardo (also capped by Italy) is a very nice right-back. Apart from them, probably the best defender Palermo had last year was the 36-year-old shell of Dario Simic. And he’s just retired. A disaster area, in spite of the two Italians.

Midfield: Lots of interesting players here. 22-year-old former English U-21 international Terry Knight looks to be turning into a good right winger; in fact, given the current lack of good English right-sided midfielders, a strong season might see him be considered for a call-up to the national team. Summer free transfers Luciano Mauri and Marco Marchionni add further experience to the veteran presence of attacking midfielders Daniel Jensen and Salvatore Gambino, both of whom were among the club’s best players last year.

Striker: David Andre is tiny, is good but unexceptional at every facet of the game involving actually kicking a football, and has scored 25 goals in 94 games for Palermo. But hey, he can run really, really fast, and so he’s been capped four times for France at age 22. His strike partner is Ernesto Antonio Farias, an Argentine veteran who is inferior to Andre in every respect for three: he’s a very sharp finisher, he can win the occasional header, and he actually plays well on a reliable basis. Farias doesn’t look all that impressive, but he’s been one of Palermo’s best players for quite a while now.

Outlook: Their defence will probably keep them involved in the relegation dogfight longer than they’d like, but I think they’ll stay up in the end.

[Katon]

Udinese

Past Performance: After finishing fifth and seventh in the previous two seasons, Udinese had a disappointing league campaign and dropped as low as thirteenth. They built on last year’s UEFA Cup semifinal appearance and reached the final this year, but that ended in disappointment too, as you may remember.

Goalkeeper: Andreas Isaksson is only thirty, and he’s already played 80 times for Sweden. There’s a reason for the astronomical cap total; he’s a very good player, agile, good in the air, and one of the sanest goalies I’ve ever met.

Defence: Thoroughly average. There are a lot of competent players here – Betao and Emilson Sanchez Cribari in central defence, Raul Bravo and Kaspar Bogelund at fullback – but nobody special.

Midfield: Giampiero Pinzi isn’t all that old at 31, but he’s been one of the most reliable midfielders in Italy for over a decade. He’s never been a star, but he’s always been a good player, and has played nearly four hundred times for Udinese in that timespan. They’re trying to turn Raffaele De Martino into Pinzi’s replacement, but in spite of his arguably superior talent De Martino has never looked in the same class. With the wings occupied by people who are either too young (Francesco Messina) or just not very good, most of the creative onus has fallen on Slovenian Sandro Bloudek.

Striker: At 27, Diego (not the Diego who you’ve probably heard of in 2005; he’s at Liverpool) has still not been capped by Brazil. I doubt that’s going to last, though. He’s a stunning player, and has hit over twenty goals in all competitions both of the last two years. Gianpaolo Sculli isn’t as talented as his strike partner, but he’s still an aerial force, as Roma found out in the UEFA Cup final. 21-year-old Argentinian Alberto Fernandez is a good prospect, although he hasn’t done much with his cameos in the first team as of yet.

Outlook: Their defence has stayed more or less constant over the last few years, right around the middle of the league, but their offence was well below its normal level last year. Don’t expect Diego to let that continue; they should be up around the Intertoto slots.


Perugia

Past Performance: Built on a 15th two years ago on their return to the top flight and finished 12th. They conceded less than every team below them; they scored less than every team above them.

Goalkeeper: They let last year’s starter, Fabio, go on a free transfer and seem to be preparing to hand the job over to 21-year-old Antonio Nicolini. Nicolini is a decent player should be able to do as good a job as Fabio did last year. Mario Villani is one of the league’s better backups, so they do have options if Nicolini fouls up.

Defence: Australian international Patrick Kisnorbo is a good, versatile player, capable of doing a job anywhere along the back or in midfield. The rest of the Perugia defence is more or less competent, but eminently forgettable.

Midfield: Perugia played a 4-3-3 last season, probably because their midfield really isn’t very good. Massimo Donati is a decent player, but past him everyone else is more or less the same: not horrible, but not good either.

Striker: Carlos Delgado isn’t quite as good a finisher as Perugia might like, but his superb crossing makes him perfect as one of the wide forwards in a 4-3-3. In the middle is Perugia’s crown jewel, 23-year-old Nigerian John Ibrahim. Ibrahim is a good player now; in a year or two, when his skills catch up with his build and mentality, he’ll be a very good player. Definitely the best reason to watch Perugia

Outlook: Not enough holes for them to get into serious relegation difficulty, not enough good players to get into the top half. Probably headed for another dull season.

[Katon]

Bologna

Past Performance: Mediocre. 11th last year, they’ve spent most of the last decade hovering around midtable.

Goalkeeper: Mirko Conti deals with crosses about as well as anyone in the league, which has helped Bologna quite a bit recently. It’s even gotten him into the Italian team a few times, in spite of the fact that he’s not very good at actually stopping shots. Normally does well, but not someone I’d have in my team.

Defence: With star defender Alessandro Iannicello sold to Juventus, they’ll have to adapt quickly. Right-back Chong Song-Goog is useful; the rest of the defence isn’t quite as good, but is at least not horrible.

Midfield: Bologna’s best midfielder of recent years, Simone Barone, left on a free transfer over the summer. Fortunately for them, their big-money replacement – Edgar Barreto, who they signed for £30M a year and a half ago – showed every sign last year of having settled in for a long stay. Barreto, a Paraguay international, is one of the most talented players I’ve ever seen; about the only thing he isn’t good at is throw-ins. If he’s on form, he’ll be key to Bologna’s chances of reaching the European places. His central midfield partner will be £7.5M man Jan van Wijk, a 22-year-old Dutch international with impressive talent. New signings Javier Araujo and Leonardo Salvi bring much-needed quality on the wings.

Striker: The best reason to watch Bologna is 20-year-old Niccolo Tassi, also known as the future of Italian goalscoring. Tassi is nothing special physically; what makes him such a highly-touted prospect is his professional attitude, his intelligence, and his technical brilliance. He’s heading into his second season as a full-time starter, and it will be interesting to see what he does with it. His strike partner will be Jermain Defoe, one of the best pure goalscorers in Serie A. Defoe has hit 15 league goals in each of the last four seasons; that’s his lowest total since coming to Bologna in August 2005. 17-year-old Spaniard Sergio also looks a very promising player.

Outlook: If Barreto and Defoe can stay fit and in form for the full season and Tassi breaks out, then Bologna could very well wind up in Europe. The defence could be a worry, though.

Lecce

Past Performance: Having spent three years in the lower reaches of the table after coming up from Serie B, Lecce catapulted up to tenth last year.

Goalkeeper: Damiano Boni is only 20, but he’s already played twice for the full Italy team. I don’t think he’s that good yet, but he’s been playing well in Serie A for three years now and anyone who can do that at such a young age has something going for them.

Defence: Lecce boss Antonio Cabrini is a firm believer in the virtues of rotating your defenders, so it’s hard to pick out the starters here. It’s easy to tell who should be starting, though: Mali international Soulymane Diamoutene has been Lecce’s best defender for a couple years now, while Marco Antonio is the most well-rounded 21-year-old defender I’ve ever seen. He’ll be a star in a couple of years, I suspect. Everyone else is mediocre.

Midfield: Another old PSV acquaintance here. Alberto Medina did a very good job whenever I called on him, but his PSV career was ultimately doomed by the fact that he was a winger and we never used wingers. He’s moved around a lot, but he’s always been a good player wherever he went. More centrally, Lecce have the classic defensive-offensive pairing in central midfield. Venezuela veteran Miguel Angel Mea Vitali handles the defensive duties; 20-year-old Italian Pietro Ferrante does the creative stuff. If Ferrante could contribute in defence more, he’d be a potential international; as is, he’ll probably get a few caps but never get a regular run.

Striker: A major strength last year. Mirko Vucinic was Serie A’s leading scorer last year, and is by far Lecce’s best player. Artem Milevskiy wasn’t nearly as good as his strike partner, but still managed to scavenge 13 goals. Nobody got more goals from their top two strikers than Lecce. But Milevskiy is gone to Brescia, and with backup Cedric Konan also leaving on a free transfer Vucinic will have to do it on his own.

Outlook: They’ll go as far as Vucinic can carry them. Probably in for a drop of a position or two, but it’s hard to see them doing significantly worse.

[Katon]

Chievo

Past Performance: One of these years is not like the other: 13th, 13th, 15th, 14th, 6th, 11th, 1st, 9th. With 27 players having left during the summer and nine more coming in, Chievo never looked like defending their title and got dumped out of the Champions’ League at the first knockout stage; still, they won the Cup, so at least they got something out of the season.

Goalkeeper: When Chievo won the title, Christian Lucchetti turned in one of the least impressive performances by a title-winning keeper in living memory, so Chievo decided to sign a replacement – Eduardo – on a free transfer during the offseason. Last year, Eduardo was poor and Lucchetti was brilliant once he got back into the team for the last third of the season. It’ll be interesting to see what happens here next year.

Defence: Chievo’s best defender this year was Marek Jankulovski; at 36, he’s not likely to be able to play 40 games again. Marco Padalino and Andrea Corradi, both holdovers from the championship team, will have to pick up the slack, since most of the other players here are distinctly mediocre. They also might get some help from former Roma centre-back Guiseppe Scurto, returning to the game after a year out with a damaged spine.

Midfield: Brazilian right winger Alessandro Avezedo was one of the stars of the title season, and he kept the same level of performance last year. Defensive midfielder Matteo Brighi suffered a bit more of a decline, but was still reasonably good. With the emergence of young central midfielder Federico Linguanti and the midseason signing of Brazilian Alexandre Favaro, midfield was one of the bright spots of Chievo’s season. Balci Serkan is a very talented-looking free signing, so more of the same is definitely possible.

Striker: Amauri was never a superstar, and at 32 he is definitely on the decline. But over the past decade, he’s been one of the most consistent players in Italy: he’s scored at least 14 goals for Chievo in each of the last eight seasons. It was unrealistic to expect him to keep playing as well as he did during the title season, but he had another fine year. His strike partner, Andre Cristea, was less impressive, scoring just twelve times in forty-eight matches. Behind those two there’s only Johan Kramer, my former PSV supersub. Kramer’s still got time at just 22, but the fact that he’s yet to start more than seven matches in a season is not a good sign. He’s similar skills-wise to David Andre, and is a large part of the reason I’m sceptical about Andre’s chances (though admittedly Andre is somewhat more talented than Kramer).

Outlook: Lucchetti, Eduardo, Jankulovski, Avezedo, Brighi, and Amauri are all 30 or over. This is an old team, and it’s not likely to get significantly better. They’re doing a good job working youth into the midfield, but they need to do the same in the other positions too. Midtable again.


Inter

Past Performance: Inter had an interesting spell a while ago where they lost in final of the Champions’ League three times in four years. That’s over now, and their best European performance of recent years came this year when they lost to Udinese in the UEFA Cup semifinals. Their league performances are also in a recession, as they finished ninth last year breaking a decade-long run of top five finishes. This year’s eighth-place finish won’t be seen as an improvement, although it did have some positive elements. Last year their defence fell apart; this year their defence was fine and their offence, while slightly worse, was nearly as good as before.

Goalkeeper: Morgan De Sanctis was the starting keeper for six-and-a-half years, including two of those Champions’ League finals; then half a year ago Inter management realized that he was now 35 years old and that they needed to bring in a replacement. Their solution was to spend £17.75M on Mexican keeper Francisco Guillermo Ochoa from Marseilles. I don’t quite see why Ochoa’s worth an eight-digit fee, but he’s certainly a good player.

Defence: Inter play a 3-5-2 sweeper formation. The sweeper is 23-year-old Brazilian Fernando, who is a very good player in spite of his average pace and unimposing size. Ahead of him are veteran Argentinian Nicolas Burdisso and Italian wonderkid Manuel Francese. Francese is just 19, but he’s already a brilliant reader of the game as well as being very versatile. Past those three, Inter rely on Igor Tudor and Ivan Cordoba, both of whom are getting on in years.

Midfield: Xabi Alonso is one of the best and most consistent midfielders in Europe; Bezologlu Emre isn’t quite on the same level, but is still a good player. Inter’s third starting central midfielder, Rosinei, would really be better off if he were played in the hole behind the strikers, but he can still do a decent job in a flat midfield. Horacio Peralta and Andreas Ivanschlitz are both pacy, talented wingers. If everyone stays healthy, this is a very good midfield. If someone gets hurt, they have basically no cover – a twenty-year-old kid in central midfield and a bunch of fullbacks on the wings.

Striker: No depth issues here. Adriano is Adriano, of course, and his strike partner Jose Giresse Kiefa is also very good, almost certainly the best footballer ever to come out of Angola. Behind them there’s Rocque Santa Cruz, who hit eighteen league goals last time he got a full years’ worth of playing time, and Jhon Jairo Mosquera, a Colombian who is yet to find his feet in Italy but absolutely shredded both France and Argentina’s top league. 19-year-old Brazilian Paolo, their only summer signing, is also dangerous. Adriano and Santa Cruz are both 30; Kiefa and Mosquera are both 24.

Outlook: Major depth problems, and they certainly didn’t need to wind up in the Intertoto Cup with its pile of extra games. Won’t finish any lower, and could well wind up a fair bit higher.

[Katon]

Milan

Past Performance: After a brilliant run from 2004 to 2010 where they won seven titles in eight years, Milan have been sliding down the table recently. Two years ago, their defence fell from superlative to average and they finished fourth. Last year, their defence was back among the league’s best but their offence had problems and they wound up in seventh, out of the Champions’ League spots for the first time since 2001. They did match their best result of the past eight years by reaching the CL semifinals, though.

Goalkeeper: Milan sold their old starting keeper to Atletico Madrid during the January transfer window; the new starter was 23-year-old German Carsten Ludwig, who had a very good half-year. I don’t see Ludwig as a superstar in the making, but he’s a good solid player. Portuguese youngster Manuel is a quality backup.

Defence: First off, Vincent Kompany is probably the best defender in the world at the moment. Second, Mark van den Boogart, who Milan bought from Sampdoria for £27M in January, is one of the world’s best right-backs and brilliant in the middle too. Cristoph Metzelder, the third central defender in Milan’s 5-3-2, is just good rather than great, but still: Milan have a scary defence.

Midfield: French defensive midfielder Ahmed Yahiaoui is one of the most talented players in the world, but is yet to put all that talent together into a really dominant season. Milan aren’t forced to rely on him, though; Kim Kallstrom would be the perfect player if he had any pace, and January signing Christian Obodo looks able to cover the defensive midfield role that Andrea Pirlo is losing to age.

Striker: Carlos Tevez is, like Kompany, among the best in the world at his position. Fernando Torres used to be in that discussion, but he’s yet to show his best in the two years since his £59M move from Atletico. Of course, that just means that instead of being otherworldly he has merely been very good. Dagoberto isn’t a good enough finisher to be in the same class as the other two, but he’d start for nearly any other team in the league.

Outlook: Title contenders. I see only one potential flaw: Ludwig in goal has yet to play a full season, and could slip up. They sold Spanish midfielder Raul to Barcelona for £38M and haven’t spent any of that money yet, so they’ll probably reinforce in January.


Fiorentina

Past Performance: Mostly sixth with occasional off-seasons. They’ve been sixth each of the last two seasons, although last year’s goal difference of +2 suggests a certain degree of luck.

Goalkeeper: Simon Jenzscht is a good player. He’s also 36, and due for a decline. Backup Diego Benaglio is competent, but hasn’t played regularly in several years.

Defence: Guiseppe Scaturro is the leader of a defence built on having a lot of good players rather than one superstar. There are a couple of interesting youngsters, though: Salva played 35 times at the age of nineteen and put in some very impressive performances, while Marco La Rocca is one of the most hyped Italian youngsters around although there are questions as to his defensive abilities at left-back.

Midfield: Both Fiorentina’s starting central midfielders, Marco Donadel and Andrea De Falco, declined markedly last season. Donadel has established himself as a better player than he’s looked recently; De Falco’s 2012 was typical of his career apart from an impressive 2010/11. Fiorentina made an impressive-looking signing in January when they bought 23-year-old Belgian left winger Wouter Vandermeiren, who went on to have a very good half-season. The right wing alternated between Swede Christian Wilhelmsson, who at 32 is on the downward slope of his career, and Andy van der Meyde, who has never really had an upward slope to his career and will start the next season elsewhere.

Striker: Two years ago, after several years of bouncing around the French league without really impressing, Marcelinho suddenly put it together and started playing well. Fiorentina bought him last summer and he had another good year for them, hitting seventeen goals in all competitions. At 25, there’s no reason not to think this upward shift is for real. His strike partner is Michelangelo Colletori, who has been one of Fiorentina’s best and most reliable players over the past eight years but had his worst season ever last year. Still only 26, he ought to bounce back and could well outplay Marcelinho.

Outlook: The Intertoto Cup spots. Their sixth-place finish was a product of some very fortunate goal clustering, and I can’t see them beating out the Milan clubs again, especially after their failure to bring in any help over the summer.

[Katon]

Sampdoria

Past Performance: After finishing fourth in 2008, Sampdoria spent three years in midtable before suddenly resurging behind a superb defence and finishing fifth. They almost managed fourth, but lost to Juventus in extra time in a playoff for the last CL spot.

Goalkeeper: Always a good keeper, Sebastian Saja took a huge leap forward last year and was the best goalkeeper in Serie A by some distance. At 33 it is questionable whether he will be able to maintain this level of play, but if he can then it will be a huge boost to Sampdoria.

Defence: Ivan Ayala is one of the shortest players in professional football, and he’s slow, but apart from that he’s the ultimate left-back. Even with those handicaps, he’s still a very good player. The other real star in Sampdoria’s defence last year – apart from Mark van den Boogart before his move to Milan - was the unheralded Moris Carozzieri, who at 31 had the best year of his career. Portuguese right-back Nuno is a good addition, but most of the rest of their defence is unexceptional.

Midfield: Sampdoria sold one of their best players, winger Javier Araujo, during the offseason. New Dutch midfielder Maarten van der Waal could help fill the void, but at 21 he’s yet to match consistency to his undoubted talent. He could stand to take lessons from 19-year-old Italian winger/attacking midfielder Maurissio Zanon, who last year scored three league goals and set up eight while becoming the hottest Italian midfield prospect around. Next year watch for Michele Martino, who could well come close to matching Zanon’s breakout.

Striker: Antonio Cassano scored 53 goals in 109 games for Torino; then, last January, they sold him to Sampdoria for £3.9M. Cassano’s talented, and has always played well for whoever owns him, but he’s a complete headcase. This is a marked contrast to his strike partner, Daniele Corvia, who has won nine caps for Italy by playing nicely (and very well) with his team-mates.

Outlook: Their offence should have no trouble sustaining its performance, but it was defence which got them into CL contention, and their defence was driven by 30+ players having career years (Saja, Carozzieri) and by people who got sold in January (Van Den Boogart). They’ll drop back down to around the UEFA or Intertoto spots.


Juventus

Past Performance: After finishing runners-up in both the preceding seasons, Juventus started slowly, surged to the top, and then crumbled in the last month and wound up having to wait until extra time in a playoff to clinch CL football next year. To add insult to injury, this year’s CL campaign ended in the group stages, earlier than they’d gone out in any of the previous seven years

Goalkeeper: Gianluigi Buffon is now 34 and retired from international football, but he’s still a brilliant keeper. I’m not sold on their backup, but as long as Buffon’s fit they’ll be fine.

Defence: Juventus currently play a 3-5-2, which is why I was able to get David Rives on the cheap. Anyway, their star defender is Jonathan Woodgate, who has been superb whenever he’s played for the last few years. Of course, being Jonathan Woodgate, he’s also lost at least ten matches a season to injury with remarkable consistency. A declining Ricardo Carvalho and 21-year-old Brazilian Marcos round out last year’s starters. Alessandro Iannicello, a £6.25M signing from Bologna and Chievo (co-ownership of players gets confusing), should take a spot away from one of them. Iannicello doesn’t look like much, but he’s a very good player and at 24 already has a pile of awards from the various Italian media bodies.

Midfield: Of course, there is a reason Juventus want to play five in midfield. 23-year-old Italian Andrea Eusipi has somehow managed to become one of the best playmakers in the league without being able either to run fast or to tackle; Juve also have a 33-year-old Eusipi in David Pizarro, although Pizarro actually has a decent turn of speed. Stephen Appiah completes the central group. Out wide, Juventus have more or less cornered the market in brilliant Dutch wingers, owning both Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder. Yury Zhirkov provides cover on the wings, although he’s not in the same league as Robben or Sneijder.

Striker: Brazilian international Nilmar is the main man up front, having been Juve’s leading scorer in each of the last four seasons. Italy striker Gianpaolo Pazzini, a new signing from Atalanta, provides him with a very good strike partner. Displaced by Pazzini is Obafemi Martins, who has hit more than fourteen goals in a season just once in his career but who really ought to turn into a frightening striker any year now. Dropping down to fourth choice is 23-year-old Englishman Richard Hughes, a very talented player who is one good year of regular football away from an international call-up.

Outlook: Juve have a scary midfield, but I question their depth, especially in defence. They’ll be around the title hunt, but will have to settle for another CL spot.

[Katon]

Lazio

Past Performance: Crashed out of both European competitions and the Cup in short order, but recovered to finish third for the second year running with the league’s best offence.

Goalkeeper: Jan Lastuvka played half a season for me at PSV before negotiating himself a £10M move to Lazio. He’s a good player, although the occasional moment of stupidity stops him from being a great one

Defence: There are a lot of Brazilian centre-backs in Serie A, but only Roma’s Adriano can match up to Luisao. Now 31, he’s rarely been less than superb at the back for Lazio, and was their only everyday player at the back last year. Apart from Luisao it was generally a case of four players for three slots, as right-backs Gilberto Martinez and Maicon fought it out for the starting role – with the loser frequently playing in the middle – while Fabio Martinelli and Matias Lequi duked it out on the left. Everyone except for Martinelli played splendidly; Martinelli, in his first full season in the first team, wasn’t actually all that impressive.

Midfield: The midfield also saw only one player start more than 35 games: Mathieu Bodmer, a £14M summer signing from Lille who played very well in the centre of midfield all season. Apart from him, the only player to even start thirty games was Argentinean winger Luis Gonzalez, who responded to the playing time by having his best year for Lazio. Right winger Pasquale Farinelli, their only summer signing, looks very talented indeed although he’s worryingly short of pace. I have absolutely no idea who’s going to start here next season, but most of the candidates are decent players.

Striker: Didier Drogba scored the goals, but it was Paraguayan forward Nelson Haedo Valdez who was probably the single best forward in the league. Alan Smith filled in around the edges and £11.75M was spent to bring Matteo Conti back from England, where he had been one of the league’s best strikers in spite of being short and slow.

Outlook: Again I reiterate: I have no idea what’s going on in that midfield. Valdez and Drogba have been great the last couple of years, and they’ll probably score goals, but I think they need to get their defence and midfield sorted out before they can aim for higher than third. They’ll challenge, though.


Roma’s current squad you’re already familiar with, so I’ll just point out that Roma are actually one of the few non-Milan clubs to have won Serie A recently (2008) and skip on to


Parma

Past Performance: Having finished eleventh, fifteenth, and eleventh in previous three seasons, nobody expected Parma to challenge for the title. Much to everyone’s surprise they took advantage of Juventus’ stumble to seize control of the title race, then drew their last two matches against soft opposition and needed a playoff and a penalty shootout to finally clinch the title.

Goalkeeper: Espen Johnsen is a brilliantly talented keeper, and his penalty-stopping skills won Parma the title, but he’s also completely crazy. Think of a more talented Fabian Barthez. They brought in Perugia goalie Fabio as cover; he’ll do a decent job at that, being essentially a poor man’s version of Johnsen.

Defence: Lots of reliable players, but no star. Matei Mirel Radoi and Paolo Cannavaro are both consistent, quality centre-backs, and Fernando Navarro is much the same thing on the left, but none are among the best in the league. Right-back is a weakness.

Midfield: England left winger Stewart Downing is Parma’s best player; the rest of the midfield, however, is unexceptional. Downing is among the best pure left wingers in Europe. Cristoph Preub, newly signed on a free to patrol the opposite flank, should represent a significant upgrade from the departed Marco Marchionni. Bruno and Davide Furlan, the central midfielders, are above average on a good day.

Striker: Some decent-looking players here – 23-year-old Colombian international Luis Gabriel Garcia has potential, and Italian youngster Christian Mantovani looked good after coming over from Man U in January – but it was Niccolo Morsi, scoring a goal every other match as he has done for Parma for eight years now, who fired the team’s title charge.

Outlook: Parma have better players than Chievo had, but it’s not hard to see the parallels. I doubt they’ll fall all the way to ninth, but they’ll be nearer the UEFA Cup than the title next year.

[Katon]

Time for the season proper to begin. The first bit of news is that Sampdoria have spent £12M on Yuri Zirkhov from Juventus, intending him to replace Javier Araujo. This leaves Juventus’ squad even thinner, but it’s hard to criticise them too much for accepting an eight-digit offer in return for a decent but unexceptional backup. Sampdoria also splashed the cash on Inter central defender Nicolas Burdisso. This makes Sampdoria’s squad much stronger, but as far as I can tell Inter currently stands to feature 36-year-old Ivan Cordoba in a starting role. If they don’t sort that out before the end of the transfer window, Inter fans can kiss goodbye to the CL for another year. They’ve already gotten dumped out of the Intertoto, beaten on penalties by Milan in the semi-final.

The Champions’ League group draw sees us paired with Man U (ouch!), Celtic (beatable), and Basel (definitely beatable).

First match of the season was the European Super Cup. PSV had the better of us for most of the first half and went ahead when Adriano completely botched a simple clearance and let one of their strikers in. On the stroke of halftime they had a man sent off and we dominated the second half, but the equalizer never came. PSV 1-0 Roma

Remember what I said about Milan reinforcing themselves? They just signed Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas for £74M. That’s the second-highest fee ever paid for a player, just behind the £76M Chelsea paid a year ago for, well, Cesc Fabregas. This means that inside the past twelve months Fabregas has drawn fees of a total of £150M. Good grief. Good player, too.

Juventus have sold defender Marcos to Fiorentina, leaving Juventus once again with just three top-class defenders. And one of those is Jonathan Woodgate, the walking injury. They’ve been getting rid of their depth recently, and it could well cost them. In fact, it might have cost them their status as title favourites; they’re rated at 2-1 by the bookmakers, level with Parma, just ahead of Milan and Lazio, and behind 7-4 favourites Roma. In other transfer news, Sampdoria fullback Ivan Ayala has moved to Barcelona, earning Sampdoria back some of the money they’ve spent recently. I’m really underwhelmed by his backup, so they may need to buy someone new if they want to challenge.

Our first match of the league season came against Milan, and we were much improved from the PSV match. We were thoroughly the better team but struggled to create clear-cut chances, and had to wait over an hour before Fernando curled the ball into the top right-hand corner from fully twenty-five yards out. Once we’d gotten one, of course, more came along in short order. Alberto Gilardino dribbled half the length of the pitch before doubling our lead on the break, then Javier Saviola slipped around the Milan defence to complete the rout. Roma 3-0 Milan

[condors]

Good read, KUTGW

[daedalus]

Good grief. I dig Cesc and would have a tough time selling him but, for Pete's sake, for 74 or 76 large, I'd be thanking him for his service and hand him his plane ticket I think.

As condors said, good read. :)

[Katon]

And now for the promised discussion of the current state of the English national team. I’m not in charge of the U-21 squad – Alan Curbishley runs that – and the U-19 squad isn’t really all that interesting most of the time, so this report will just cover the main squad.

Goalkeepers: Robert Green, Chris Kirkland, and Paul Robinson. None of them are superstars, but they’re all perfectly competent keepers. I have absolutely no idea how I’m going to choose between them. Green’s going to start against Lithuania in my first match in charge, but that could change easily.

Right Back: England is currently suffering from a shortage of quality right-sided players, and so Glen Johnson is the only specialist right-back in the squad. Johnson is fine, but past him there’s a choice between Bolton’s Nicky Hunt – not really international class – and Owen Hargreaves, who is really a central midfielder but can play just about anywhere in defence or midfield.

Left Back: Much more depth here. There’s Hargreaves, of course, but the starter is Danny Smith, currently of Valencia via Liverpool, Juventus, and Real Zaragosa. At 25 Smith is clearly the long-term solution, but going just on performance there’s no way to separate him from Ashley Cole. Gareth Barry is also a plausible option, although he’s unlikely to spend much time in the squad with Smith and Cole around.

Centre Back: It’s been eight years and England still haven’t found a better centre-back combination than Rio Ferdinand and John Terry. Nor, to be fair, do we need to. Sol Campbell has dropped off the international scene, but Ledley King is a more than able replacement. He’s even followed the same career path: Tottenham, then Arsenal (albeit with one friendly appearance for Celtic in between). Spurs’ Calum Davenport is the fourth choice. The main problem is that they’re all old; Davenport is the youngest at 29, and Arsenal’s Michael Dawson – the other main candidate for a starting position – is just a year younger.

Right Wing: Here’s the main problem. James Milner and Christopher Eagles are both talented players, and they do play well sometimes, but they’ve both managed to reach the age of 26 without being burdened by anything remotely resembling consistency. Aston Villa’s Gareth Hogg is the long-term solution, but at age 20 he’s not yet ready for competitive internationals. I’m going to try out 22-year-old Barcelona striker Ian Morgan here for the time being, since he can in theory do the job and he won’t achieve regular status up front for a year or two yet.

Left Wing: Stewart Downing is the only real superstar currently occupying the England midfield. He’s a brilliant player, and just won the Italian championship with Parma. He doesn’t have any particularly appetising cover, but then if he’s not available my reflex response is to forget playing with wingers and try to fit in more strikers since none of the right wing options are particularly attractive.

Central Midfield: Scott Parker of Real Sociedad is the best player here, but he doesn’t fit into the diamond midfield I’m hoping to employ. Instead it’s David Prutton of Southampton in the defensive midfield role and Wayne Rooney – about whom more will be said in the strikers section – in the hole behind the front two. Steven Gerrard is in the squad to provide cover, although he’s a year or two past his best. This is another area where the available talent is somewhat disappointing. Watch out for Arsenal teenager Matthew Anderson, though; he’s going to be something special.

Striker: Good grief. Ignoring the half-a-dozen or so players who have enough talent to start for most national teams and will probably get a call-up if they can play regularly at a decent level, we have Wayne Rooney, one of the best strikers in the world. We have Jermain Defoe, a regular among Serie A’s top scorers. We have Jonathan Stead, one of the Premiership’s better strikers. We even have Michael Owen and Alan Smith, in case I want to go for experience. One of the main strengths of the team.

[Katon]

Absent anything else to talk about, the press have decided to discuss my decision to drop ‘England Star’ Nicky Hunt. I don’t really care. Michael Owen also picks up an injury and has to be dropped from the squad. It’s still too early in the season to pick his replacement based on performance for club teams, so I go with U-21 performance instead. Paul Watts, a 22-year-old striker who played for me both at Wigan and at PSV, played nine U-21 matches before becoming too old. In those nine matches, he scored ten goals, putting himself squarely in the front of the queue. He joins the squad.

Several interesting deals in the days just before the transfer deadline. In their continued attempts to get rid of every competent defender in their squad, Inter Milan sell sweeper Fernando to Real Madrid for an eight-digit fee, just after spending a similar sum on Fiorentina left winger (or left-back, in theory) Marco La Rocca. They now have no central defenders who I would trust anywhere near my first team. The final major deal comes when Parma bring back Roberto Riccardi from Germany. Riccardi, a 22-year-old Italian, is sort of a rich man’s David Andre: tiny, incredibly fast, and nothing special when it comes to actually kicking a football.

Lithuania were never really likely to provide stiff competition for us, and they didn’t spring any surprises. Jermain Defoe missed a couple of first-half chances, then made up for it by scoring two in as many minutes in the second half. Wayne Rooney missed a penalty late on, hitting it straight at the keeper, but it didn’t matter as Lithuania never managed a single shot on target. Lithuania 0-2 England

Back to the day job, and Brescia weren’t much more difficulty than Lithuania. Javier Saviola needed a massive deflection in order to open the scoring, but his second was all his own work and he also set up the third for Fernando on the break. All that was before half-time; the second half was pretty much a non-event. Brescia pulled one back, and Jos Rozema headed in his first for the club from a corner, but the match was already over. Brescia 1-4 Roma

With Man U and Celtic also in our group, we needed to start our Champions’ League campaign off well against Basel. Fortunately, after a tight first half in which only one goal – scored by Fernando after a brilliant cross from Alberto Gilardino – separated the teams, the second half was the most one-sided 45 minutes I have ever seen on a football pitch. First Mido scrambled the ball home after an exceptionally scrappy attack; then Fernando skipped past what looked like half the Basel team and lobbed the keeper; then Thomas Hitzelsperger just smashed the ball right through the keeper from fully thirty yards; then Maurizio Liccardi rounded things off from a superb Ailton through ball. Roma 5-0 Basel

Considering we’d scored nine goals in our last two matches, Fiorentina can be excused for playing for a draw when they came to the Olimpico. It worked for nearly an hour, as we struggled to create chances. Eventually, though, Javier Saviola got in around their five-man defence. Keeper Simon Jenzscht flapped at his shot and Alberto Gilardino popped in the loose ball. Alberto Aquilani curled in a superb free kick to make it two. Roma 2-0 Fiorentina

In the buildup to the Cesena match the media asks me a new question: “A lot of people regard your match with Cesena as a ‘David vs. Goliath’ encounter. Do you agree that your team should win comfortably?” I say that Cesena will provide tough opposition but I’m confident that we’ll have enough quality to deal with them.

Which, of course, was the cue for our first draw of the season. We went ahead twice, through Alberto Gilardino and Fabinho; they levelled twice, with a superb long-range effort from Thomas Schmidt and a penalty foolishly conceded by Adriano. Their keeper Fabio was in the form of his life and while we hit the woodwork more than once the third goal wouldn’t come. Cesena 2-2 Roma

Ternana also put up a creditable resistance, with keeper Carlo Zotti particularly impressive. Our first goal owed a great deal to luck, as a Ternana defender had a chance to clear Alberto Gilardino’s shot off the line but he could only slam the ball into the back of the net. Gilardino was somewhat generously credited with the goal. There was nothing generous whatsoever in the awarding of his second, a magnificent angled drive from the corner of the penalty area. Roma 2-0 Ternana

Javier Saviola limped off in the Ternana match and will now miss four weeks. The press ask me about the injury, but I decline to comment. I do go out of my way to praise Alberto Gilardino, though, as he’s now hit four in three matches. The fans agree.

[Katon]

To Old Trafford in the CL next, and a reunion with four of my England players. Only Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand started, although Michael Owen came on in the second half. It was Owen who came nearest to equalizing Alberto Aquilani’s thirty-yard opener, bursting through on goal only to have the ball superbly nicked off his foot by Jos Rozema. That was somewhat against the run of play, though, as we outplayed them for much of the match with Thomas Hitzelsperger in particular playing out of his skin. Man U 0-1 Roma

After visiting Old Trafford, a trip to Lecce ought to be easy. Which, of course, is why we fell behind after eleven minutes. Admittedly they spent the next twenty minutes providing a textbook example of How Not To Defend From Corners, allowing both Alberto Gilardino and Jos Rozema to score, but we had real difficulty in killing the match off. Only in the last five minutes did we really begin to open them up on the break, Gilardino adding two more to complete his first hattrick for the club. Lecce 1-4 Roma

Time for my second England squad and we have some real injury problems. Of the starters in my first match against Lithuania, John Terry, Jermain Defoe, David Prutton, Ian Morgan, and Stewart Downing are all unavailable. In Downing’s absence we’ll be using a more compact midfield, with Owen Hargreaves tucked in behind Scott Parker and James Milner while Wayne Rooney stays in the hole. Richard Hughes, finally getting some starts for PSV, steps in up front while Michael Dawson replaces Terry. With Nicky Hunt returning to the squad in a cover role, the press instead focuses on the absence of Gareth Barry, who is left behind mostly because I don’t see much point in carrying three specialist left-backs.

I hate Robert Olejnik. 31 shots, ten of them on target, and 74% of the possession came to nothing as Olejnik saved everything that came near him. The one time we beat him, with a Michael Dawson header, the ball came back off the bar. Just one of those matches. England 0-0 Austria

Just two of those matches. Wayne Rooney limped off three minutes into our game with Russia, and things never really got a whole lot better. A lot of half-chances, none put in the net. I miss Downing and Defoe. Russia 0-0 England

[Katon]

It turns out that Thomas Hitzelsperger picked up a knee injury on international duty with Germany. He’s expected to miss a month. We don’t have any other major injuries, but there are a lot of minor worries ahead of our home match against Palermo. Daniele De Rossi picked up a minor knock in training, which is expected to keep him out for a week or so, and both Adriano and Mido are still on international duty. Adriano probably wouldn’t have started anyway – I’ve been meaning to try out the Chivu-Rozema partnership at centre-back – but Mido’s been getting a lot of play recently with Saviola out.

As if that injury list wasn’t enough, Fernando limped off just after half-time in our home match with Palermo. Fortunately, he’s only expected to be out for a couple of days. It made no difference to the match, which we had wrapped up inside the first ten minutes. Maurizio Liccardi did the damage, bouncing a shot in off a Palermo defender and then winning a penalty which Alberto Aquilani duly converted. We didn’t stop there, though; first Fabinho scored with a neat left-footed effort from just outside the area, then Ailton blasted in a short cornet from similar range. Liccardi rounded off the rout with a neat fifth. Roma 5-0 Palermo

With Fernando missing from our CL match with Celtic, we only had two of our normal front six in the starting lineup. It showed. Celtic came praying for a 0-0 draw, and with Ireland keeper Colin Nicholson in inspired form they managed to come away with one. Depressingly reminiscent of recent England matches, as we had all the possession and all the chances but just weren’t putting the ball on target enough. On the bright side, Man U drew 0-0 away to Basel, so this doesn’t really do much harm to our hopes of winning the group. Roma 0-0 Celtic

Juventus haven’t been having the best of seasons so far, with their offence in particular struggling to get going. Still, the Stadio delli Alpi is one of the most difficult places in the league to get a result, as we found out when we visited. The injury crisis was clearing up somewhat, with Fernando back in the first XI and Saviola starting the match on the bench. He didn’t spend much time there, though, as Maurizio Liccardi fractured his ribs (ouch!) just a quarter of an hour in. Liccardi had earlier given us the lead from a Richard Blonk cross that Ricardo Carvalho probably should have dealt with; the lead didn’t last long, though, with Wesley Sneijder firing Juve level. We restored our advantage around the half-hour mark, when Blonk went on a long run that ended in a shot which Gianluigi Buffon could only parry to Alberto Gilardino. Juve immediately ramped up the pressure, but for all their possession the ball just would not go in. It took an absolutely stunning free kick from Sniejder with just under fifteen minutes to go to get them the draw that, in fairness, they deserved. Juventus 2-2 Roma

De Rossi, Saviola, and Fernando all returned for our trip to Sampdoria, although I substituted each of them after about an hour to ease their transition back to first-team football. In retrospect, that might not have been the best decision, as it created a tight game where none had previously existed. We’d taken a two-goal lead midway through the first half when Alberto Gilardino scored twice in three minutes, and up until the changes had looked completely untroubled. A little after coming on, though, Ailton misplaced a pass to set up a Sampdoria goal, and we had to endure a nervous last few minutes before coming away with a win. Sampdoria 1-2 Roma

Lazio boss Luigi Del Neri told the press just how confident he was of victory in the buildup to the first Rome derby of the season. With Lazio, Inter and ourselves having broken free of the rest of the pack early on in the season, this had the potential be one of the key matches of the season. My players’ instinctive response was that we will be able to win the big matches without too much difficulty. I felt worried about overconfidence, so I responded by complementing Del Neri, hoping to remind the team that this won’t be all that easy. I mention all this because it was considerably more interesting than the match itself, a tactical battle with very few clear-cut chances. Roma 0-0 Lazio

Celtic showed a much more attacking attitude for the return match in Scotland than they had in our first CL meeting. Still, we should have dealt with them comfortably. They had the better of the first half, but didn’t manage anything more than an endless series of corners and even went behind when a perfectly weighted pass from Alberto Aquilani put in Javier Saviola. Saviola doubled our lead just after the restart with a neat angled drive and we were in complete control. Then Juan Acosta and David Rives picked the wrong time to trade passes, Acosta got caught in possession, and Celtic were back in it. Their equalizer, a neat near-post header, came as no surprise. Incredibly frustrating. Celtic 2-2 Roma

[Katon]

After having shipped five in the previous four games, I was hoping for a clean sheet against Genoa. As a result, their 89th-minute goal irritated me out of all proportion to its actual significance. We’d already won the match long since, courtesy of a long-range Daniele De Rossi effort and an Alberto Aquilani tap-in, but we need to get back to keeping clean sheets or we’ll struggle against better teams. Genoa 1-2 Roma

The A team may not be able to shut their opponents out at the moment, but the B team had no difficulty in the Italian Cup Second Round against Salernitana. Our bench players looked comfortable against their lower-league opposition, and Richard Blonk’s and Alessio Cerci’s goals were fair reflections of the run of play. The second leg should be easy. Salernitana 0-2 Roma

International time now. England only have a friendly, so I prepare to send out a team that doesn’t contain a single one of our regular starters, trying to find out what exactly my options are. In more Roma-centric news, Fernando makes his international debut. After the match, he says a lot of very nice things about how I’ve helped develop his talent.

Between the starters and the substitutes, no fewer than five players receive their first caps in our match against Tunisia: Leicester’s Chris Cohen and Chelsea’s Ben Cooper in defence, Deportivo’s Andy Wood and Manchester City’s Justin Cousins in midfield, and Middlesbrough’s Dexter Blackstock up front. All are 25 or under. Most of the players who really impressed, though, were already regular members of the squad. Scott Parker, who got the first with a deflected drive from just outside the area, would have been one of my starters if I’d had more confidence in his ability to play in our diamond formation. He’s been brilliant for Real Sociedad the last couple of seasons, and after his performance in the defensive midfield role I’m inclined to give him another start there in our next qualifier. David Bentley confirmed his status as Stewart Downing’s backup, while Shola Ameobi added our second to move to the front of the queue of strikers behind Stead and Defoe. England 2-0 Tunisia

Back to Roma duty, and Jose Acosta continues to make costly mistakes. This latest one came on a fairly innocuous cross that both Jos Rozema and Adriano were in position to challenge for. Acosta came charging out of his goal and punched the ball straight to Edgar Barreto, who shrugged and put the ball into the empty net. Up until that point, we’d just about been good value for our lead, given to us by Fernando with a lovely curler into the top right-hand corner. Acosta’s mostly been very good when he’s started for me, but I’m running out of patience with his occasional foulup. On the bright side, this makes for a Serie A-record 20 matches unbeaten.Bologna 1-1 Roma

According to my scouts, who are evidently adhering to the old dictum that if you can’t say anything nice you shouldn’t say anything at all, Basel are a ‘determined’ team. They lived up to that description in our CL encounter, although you can’t really say much else for them. I took a calculated risk for our trip to Switzerland, resting Gilardino, Saviola and Aquilani. We didn’t miss them; Basel continually neglected to close down our midfielders outside the area, and both Mancini and Fernando took advantage with superb long-range efforts. Maurizio Liccardi made it three just before Basel’s only real chance, a very soft penalty given against Fabinho and promptly Beckhamed into the upper deck. Mido outjumped the keeper to add a late fourth. We’ve now clinched qualification for the next round, and need just a draw in our last match with Man U to win the group.Basel 0-4 Roma

With Jose Saviola nursing a minor injury, Liccardi retained his place for the Bari match. The TV pundits expected us to have the match wrapped up by half-time, and so it proved with Liccardi opening the scoring and Daniele De Rossi doubling our lead with a rare left-footed effort. We continued to push forward after the interval, but could only manage one more when a Bari defender diverted a De Rossi shot past their keeper for an own-goal. With Bari unable to manage a shot on or off target, the result was never in question. Roma 3-0 Bari

Inter manager Bortolo Mutti says that we don’t have what it takes to win the title this year, but maybe with some good signings we could have a chance next season. Needless to say, I disagree, and I make that clear to the press.

Somehow Inter have conceded fewer goals than us this season in spite of selling nearly all of their quality defenders back in August. I don’t expect that to last, although I have to admit that their makeshift starters did a good job under sustained pressure from our (league’s best) offence. We only had one real breakthrough, Jose Saviola running around the side of their defence before drawing the keeper out and feeding the ball into the six-yard box for Alberto Gilardino’s easiest goal of the season. Saviola in particular was in impressive form, and it wasn’t until he went off that Inter showed any signs of life. The last ten minutes or so were nerve-racking stuff, but Inter couldn’t quite manage any clear-cut chances and finished the match without ever having had a shot on target. In fact, I’m not sure Ivan Pelizzoli’s had a save to make since coming in for Jose Acosta after the Bologna match. Roma 1-0 Inter

[Katon]

| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1st | | Roma | | 14 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 33 | 9 | +24 | 34 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 2nd | | Inter | | 13 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 29 | 8 | +21 | 31 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 3rd | | Lazio | | 13 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 22 | 4 | +18 | 30 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 4th | | Milan | | 13 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 17 | 7 | +10 | 26 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 5th | | Brescia | | 14 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 19 | 17 | +2 | 22 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 6th | | Parma | | 13 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 21 | 17 | +4 | 21 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 7th | | Chievo | | 11 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 16 | 10 | +6 | 20 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 8th | | Fiorentina | | 13 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 18 | 14 | +4 | 20 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 9th | | Cesena | | 14 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 16 | 15 | +1 | 19 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 10th | | Palermo | | 13 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 15 | 21 | -6 | 19 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 11th | | Bologna | | 14 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 15 | 14 | +1 | 18 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 12th | | Juventus | | 13 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 14 | 16 | -2 | 18 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 13th | | Sampdoria | | 13 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 20 | 19 | +1 | 17 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 14th | | Bari | | 14 | 5 | 1 | 8 | 12 | 18 | -6 | 16 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 15th | | Udinese | | 14 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 11 | 15 | -4 | 15 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 16th | | Perugia | | 13 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 10 | 17 | -7 | 13 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 17th | | Lecce | | 14 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 13 | 23 | -10 | 12 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 18th | | Genoa | | 13 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 8 | 24 | -16 | 7 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 19th | | Ternana | | 13 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 4 | 24 | -20 | 6 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 20th | | Messina | | 14 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 10 | 31 | -21 | 6 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

[Desnudo]

I'm experiencing the same challenges as you, managing England. In 2012/13 I've got plenty of DCs, DMCs, and FCs. A few fullbacks for each side with Johnson and Cole still very good. But, besides Joe Cole, there's really not many options on either wing. Eagles and Downing both never really developed, although I suppose there's still a few years for Eagles to have a shot. Unfortunately he's been stuck on the bench at Man U for years.

There are some some young wingers coming up, but they all have shortcomings in key areas. It seems like Italy, Spain, Hollland, and Brazil get all the very good players in that position.

I had to abandon my preferred 4-1-2-1-2 and go to a 4-1-4-1. Of course I have the players to play a 5-0-5, but that probably wouldn't work.

[Katon]

I've actually been avoiding wingers for some time now at club level - played a couple of different varieties of 4-3-3 with PSV and now I'm playing a centralized 4-1-3-2. Downing's too good to leave out, though, and both the dull 0-0 draws came when I was trying wingless formations. So the wingers stay, for the time being.

[Tellistto]

Nice read, Katon. I like how you do your game reports, not too much information, and a nice storytelling style to it. As to the winger issue, in my Everton team my wingers consistently dominate games, usually their the only players to get above an 8 in ratings. I play a 4-4-2 variation, inners going to diamond positions, with the left forward in AMC spot with arrow up to striker.


Tell

[Katon]

Nice read, Katon. I like how you do your game reports, not too much information, and a nice storytelling style to it. As to the winger issue, in my Everton team my wingers consistently dominate games, usually their the only players to get above an 8 in ratings. I play a 4-4-2 variation, inners going to diamond positions, with the left forward in AMC spot with arrow up to striker.


Thanks. Glad you're enjoying it. I've been avoiding wingers recently just because of how my players shake out. At Roma I've got four superb central midfielders and just one winger of any real ability (Mancini); at PSV I started out with no wingers and only three central midfielders, which I suspect has something to do with why my predecessor was sacked. You don't play a 4-4-2 with those players. England have enough good wingers to make it worthwhile, especially since James Milner seems to be growing into the right-sided role.

[Katon]

With their summer signing Diego having been comfortably the league’s best keeper up to this point, our trip to Chievo was always likely to be difficult. He was in inspired form, certainly, but the most aggravating aspect of the match was actually something completely different. We took the lead about ten minutes into the second half with a Fernando shot from the edge of the area that owed more to a deflection off Marco Padalino than to Fernando’s usual excellent technique. They equalized with twenty minutes to go, but we restored our lead through substitute Mido. Then, in the 92nd minute, Richard Blonk made a sloppy challenge in the area, ref Diego Preschern blew his whistle, and somehow we’d salvaged a draw from the jaws of victory. We did continue our unbeaten streak to a Roma-record 21 matches, though. Chievo 2-2 Roma

With the group essentially clinched, I decided to rest Gilardino and Saviola for our CL match with Man U. We didn’t miss them. Mido, who’d had a fairly disappointing season up until the last week or so, curled in our opener from fully thirty yards; Maurizio Liccardi added two more, both scavenging off partially saved Mido efforts. With Celtic winning against Basel, Man U joined Chelsea and Real Madrid as the big group-stage casualties. Roma 3-0 Man U

Time for the Asia/Euro Cup, an annual match between the UEFA Cup winners and some Asian team. Probably the Asian club champions. (What’s this called IRL? I can’t remember anything about it). Anyway, Matsumoto Guirare, the Japanese team we were up against, were no match for us. We went ahead with a super free kick from Christian Chivu; we then proceeded to drown their one consolation effort in further goals from Gilardino, Hizelsperger, and Mido. Roma 4-1 Matsumoto Guirare

Our former UEFA Cup Final opponents Udinese have been having a rough season, and with the type of luck they had against us it’s easy to see why. The match was actually fairly even for most of the first half, right up until the point when a penalty-box scramble saw Kaspar Bogelund divert the ball into his own net. Then, in the second half, they had almost gotten back into the match when a Mancini penalty finished them off. After that their defence fell apart, and Maurizio Liccardi came off the bench to net two and give the scoreline a somewhat unfair aspect. Udinese 0-4 Roma

The CL knockout stage draw pits us against Germany’s biggest club, Werder Bremen. They’re just fifth at the moment, but it’s a decade since the last time they finished out of the top two in the Bundesliga. Still, we ought to be able to handle them.

They didn’t score, but Jose Saviola and Alberto Gilardino still managed to annihilate Perugia in one of our more onesided matches. Gilardino started off the better, getting into useful positions on the left side and winning a penalty (converted by Thomas Hitelzsperger) after one particularly impressive move to the byline; then Saviola took over, with a pair of brilliant runs down the right-hand side leading to close-range efforts for Fernando and Mancini. Fernando added another – a fairly heavy deflection – in between. Roma 4-0 Perugia

[Katon]

Already 2-0 up from the first leg, there wasn’t really much doubt about whether our reserves would get through to the next round of the Cup. Two goals from Christian Montagna and a red card for a Salernitana midfielder killed the tie stone dead, and Ailton’s late third was just the icing on the cake. We go through to face Milan in the quarterfinal. Roma 3-0 Salernitana

End-of-year awards time, and we pick up a couple of mentions. Jos Rozema is anointed the European Defender of the Year, which is somewhat surprising considering that he wasn’t a regular starter for club or country up until July; he’s been brilliant when he has played, though, so it’s not all that bad a selection. I myself, meanwhile, finish second in the balloting for World Manager of the Year behind Jaap Stam of PSV.

The transfer window has reopened, which doesn’t mean much to me (we spent most of our cash in the summer and there’s nobody available who’d be an improvement) but does mean that offers start coming in. Mallorca start things off with a £3.3M bid for Vagner. He hasn’t been starting, but he’s good cover and still young. I reject the offer, though I could be persuaded otherwise by a slightly higher fee. In other news, Andy Reid will retire at the end of the season. He’s a bit young to be retiring – currently 30 – but he’s only played in the two Salernitana matches so it’s not as though we’ll miss him much.

Werder Bremen step in with a £3.7M offer for Vagner (along with 20% of next sale). I counter with a request for £5M.

The visit of defending champions Parma was the cue for one of our best performances of the season. We dominated them, firing in shots from all angles as they packed their penalty area and tried to hold on. It wasn’t until the second half that we took the lead, Adriano scoring his first of the season from an early corner. Fernando added a second from distance, capping a superb display, as we strolled to victory. Roma 2-0 Parma

Bremen meet my asking price for Vagner, so I accept their offer.

Milan were always likely to be somewhat more difficult than Salernitana in the cup, and so it proved. Adriano gave them a wonderful start by conceding a penalty; Juan Acosta saved the kick, his only decent save of the match, but Andrea Pirlo tucked away the rebound. Their lead lasted all of one minute before a Fernando shot wasn’t fully dealt with and Alberto Gilardino bundled the ball over the line. They had a man sent off just before the break, Drissa Diarra picking up his second booking, but it didn’t really help much, and they went ahead again when Vincent Kompany slammed in a twenty-yard screamer. That lead lasted a little longer than the previous one, but soon some pinball in the Milan area resulted in Fernando equalizing again. The final word, though, went to Fernando Torres, who beat Acosta from an extraordinarily narrow angle after seemingly having run out of options. The return leg should be interesting.Milan 3-2 Roma

Our trip to Messina saw perhaps the worst refereeing performance of the entire season. He handed out no fewer than seven bookings to Roma players, two of them to Alberto Gilardino. Fortunately, the second booking didn’t come until the hour mark, just after Gilardino’s fifteenth goal of the season had added to Jos Rozema’s second-minute header to put the match beyond doubt. Alberto Aquilani added a late third with a spectacular long-range drive. Messina 0-3 Roma

Vagner agrees terms with Werder Bremen and is off to Germany for £5M. Sampdoria, meanwhile, have made an offer of £3.1M to co-own Jos Rozema. Because, you know, I really wanted to sell the best young defender in the world. Rejected. Milan have also made a £13.2M offer for Maurizio Liccardi. This one needs a bit more thought, but it’s still a fairly easy decision to reject it. Inter try a £12.6M bid for Liccardi; that gets rejected too. Finally, Martin Jol gets sacked by Man U.

Sampdoria saved quite possibly the least ambitious performance of the season for us. Unfortunately, with Alberto Gilardino suspended we had too little cutting edge and they got away with it. 29% of the possession, no shots on or off target, and one point. Very, very, irritating. Roma 0-0 Sampdoria

No sooner has Gilardino returned from suspension than he picks up a twisted ankle. With Javier Saviola pulling a groin muscle, it’s Liccardi and Mido up front against Milan.

Which worked out just fine. The first half was actually very close, with Milan just edging it. Still, we were winning by the odd goal in three, with Liccardi scoring and then crossing for Thomas Hitzelsperger either side of Andrea Pirlo’s tap-in. Then Milan’s defence forgot to come out for the second half and the tie got a lot easier. Mido got the third with a superb low shot from the edge of the area after being set up by Liccardi. Jos Rozema headed the fourth from a corner before Liccardi put substitute Christian Montagna through for number five. Roma 5-1 Milan (7-4 on aggregate)

We’ll face Fiorentina in the semi.

Our game against Brescia was very similar to the one against Sampdoria with one slight difference: we scored. Liccardi got the first, continuing his good run of form with an angled shot from Fabinho’s cross, before Hitzelsperger hit another long-range screamer into the top corner to wrap things up. The only bad news was that Daniele De Rossi twisted his knee, leaving us without his services for the next two weeks.Roma 2-0 Brescia

The last thing we needed from the Cup semifinal against Fiorentina was for even more people to get injured. So, naturally, they did. David Rives dislocated his jaw, which will keep him out for three weeks, while Alberto Aquilani will be out for a fortnight with strained ankle ligaments. Fortunately, we’d already done enough by the time they went down. Fiorentina started out very brightly, and I was soon left hoping for a repeat of the Milan first leg – two away goals and just a one-goal deficit. For most of the first half, it looked very much like a repeat of that match. They took the lead fifteen minutes in; we equalized ten minutes later through Mido. They restored their lead just after the half-hour mark; Maurizio Liccardi restored parity a minute before the break after a superb run and through ball by Fernando. Then, in first-half stoppage time, Christian Chivu headed a third. Fiorentina never really recovered. Fernando added a fourth to make us clear favourites to reach the final. Fiorentina 2-4 Roma

I’m asked about what effect Rives’ injury will have on the squad. I respond, honestly, that it’s a blow but I think we have adequate cover.

[Katon]

We're currently at the end of January, and this seems like a good time to review how the team (and the rest of the league) has done so far.

Goalkeeper

| Pkd | Inf | Name | Apps | Gls | Ast | MoM | Pas | Tck | Drb | Sh T | Av Rat|
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| GK | | Ivan Pelizzoli | 13 | - | - | - | 63% | - | - | - | 7.31 |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| S1 | | Juan Acosta | 19 | - | - | 2 | 64% | - | - | - | 7.21 |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Acosta started off with the job and mostly he's been very good, but he's prone to the occasional disaster (Bologna, Celtic, Milan in the Cup). Pelizzoli isn't quite as spectaculer, but he's steadier, and so he's currently starting. Definitely our weakest position.


Defence



| Pkd | Inf | Name | Apps | Gls | Ast | MoM | Pas | Tck | Drb | Sh T | Av Rat|
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| DC | Wnt | Jos Rozema | 28 | 4 | - | - | 82% | 1.30 | 0.22 | 64% | 7.54 |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| - | Inj | David Rives | 32 | - | 3 | 1 | 81% | 1.98 | 1.13 | - | 7.25 |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| DR | | Matteo Ferrari | 1 (3) | - | - | - | 76% | 2.85 | - | - | 7.25 |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| DC | | Cristian Chivu | 24 | 2 | - | 1 | 77% | 1.67 | 0.21 | 47% | 7.46 |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| - | Int | Adriano | 15 | 1 | 1 | - | 74% | 1.67 | 0.40 | - | 7.47 |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| DL | | Fabinho | 30 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 84% | 2.36 | 4.78 | 50% | 7.90 |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|


The main question at the start of the season was which of our three top-class centrebacks would wind up dropping to the bench. That question's been fairly comprehensively resolved to Adriano's expense. Fabinho has killed any notion of moving Chivu to left-back and Rozema has been superb, so it comes down to Chivu and Adriano, and Adriano - like Juan Acosta - has just made too many costly errors. I think he's given away more penalties this season than the rest of the team combined. David Rives has actually been somewhat disappointing since moving from Juventus.

[Katon]

Midfield
| Pkd | Inf | Name | Apps | Gls | Ast | MoM | Pas | Tck | Drb | Sh T | Av Rat|
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| - | Inj | Daniele De Rossi | 25 | 2 | 6 | - | 87% | 2.90 | 1.28 | 52% | 7.28 |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| DMC | | Aílton | 9 (8) | 2 | 3 | - | 87% | 2.46 | 0.47 | 65% | 7.18 |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| MC | | Thomas Hitzlsperger | 25 | 5 | 12 | 5 | 84% | 2.55 | 3.78 | 57% | 7.96 |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| - | Inj | Mancini | 11 (10) | 3 | 4 | 3 | 83% | 3.98 | 2.91 | 46% | 7.62 |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| MC | | Fernando | 30 (1) | 12 | 9 | 2 | 88% | 1.41 | 2.08 | 68% | 7.61 |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| S5 | | Richard Blonk | 9 (16) | 1 | 6 | - | 80% | 1.80 | 1.64 | 34% | 7.04 |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| - | Inj | Alberto Aquilani | 24 (1) | 5 | 6 | 2 | 81% | 1.74 | 2.46 | 39% | 7.40 |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| MC | | Éwerthon | 1 (24) | - | 4 | - | 84% | 2.64 | 3.72 | 16% | 6.68 |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|


Fernando and Hitzelsperger are definitely the stars here, but apart from Ewerthon - who hasn't had the chance to get going, the way I've been using him almost entirely as a substitute - everyone's been having a good season. Mancini in particular deserves credit for having done very well in spite of the fact that I've been asking him to play more centrally than he really likes.


Strikers
| Pkd | Inf | Name | Apps | Gls | Ast | MoM | Pas | Tck | Drb | Sh T | Av Rat|
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| FC | | Mido | 7 (13) | 7 | 3 | - | 88% | 0.54 | 4.34 | 68% | 7.40 |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| S7 | | Cristian Montagna | 2 (3) | 3 | - | - | 75% | - | 1.30 | 50% | 7.20 |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| FC | Wnt | Maurizio Liccardi | 12 (10) | 13 | 7 | 3 | 86% | 0.69 | 3.46 | 68% | 7.41 |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| - | Inj | Javier Saviola | 19 (1) | 5 | 8 | 2 | 83% | 1.03 | 5.63 | 55% | 7.50 |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| - | Inj | Alberto Gilardino | 26 | 15 | 8 | 2 | 86% | 0.94 | 2.68 | 65% | 7.46 |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|


Maurizio Liccardi's been the surprise of the season. He did a decent job as cover towards the end of last season, enough to suggest that at age 20 he might be a decent prospect, but he's been something else entirely this year. Mido's also done very well with extremely sporadic playing time. Javier Saviola might not have scored many goals, but he's made up for that with the sheer amount of chaos he causes. He drifts out wide and plays almost as a winger, setting up even more chances than his assists total would suggest. Alberto Gilardino is currently Serie A's top scorer, which is exactly what we paid all that money for. I'm very pleased with the way our strike force has been going so far this year.

[Katon]

| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1st | | Roma | | 21 | 15 | 6 | 0 | 50 | 11 | +39 | 51 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 2nd | | Inter | | 21 | 16 | 2 | 3 | 45 | 14 | +31 | 50 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 3rd | | Milan | | 21 | 12 | 7 | 2 | 28 | 10 | +18 | 43 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 4th | | Lazio | | 21 | 12 | 3 | 6 | 29 | 16 | +13 | 39 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 5th | | Chievo | | 22 | 10 | 7 | 5 | 32 | 18 | +14 | 37 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 6th | | Fiorentina | | 21 | 9 | 8 | 4 | 25 | 17 | +8 | 35 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 7th | | Juventus | | 21 | 10 | 5 | 6 | 27 | 23 | +4 | 35 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 8th | | Palermo | | 21 | 10 | 3 | 8 | 26 | 28 | -2 | 33 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 9th | | Parma | | 21 | 9 | 4 | 8 | 29 | 24 | +5 | 31 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 10th | | Bologna | | 21 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 23 | 18 | +5 | 29 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 11th | | Sampdoria | | 21 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 25 | 24 | +1 | 29 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 12th | | Brescia | | 21 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 25 | 27 | -2 | 29 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 13th | | Bari | | 22 | 8 | 2 | 12 | 22 | 26 | -4 | 26 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 14th | | Cesena | | 22 | 5 | 11 | 6 | 20 | 26 | -6 | 26 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 15th | | Udinese | | 21 | 7 | 5 | 9 | 17 | 23 | -6 | 26 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 16th | | Perugia | | 22 | 7 | 3 | 12 | 18 | 31 | -13 | 24 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 17th | | Lecce | | 22 | 4 | 5 | 13 | 17 | 33 | -16 | 17 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 18th | | Genoa | | 21 | 3 | 3 | 15 | 13 | 34 | -21 | 12 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 19th | | Ternana | | 22 | 3 | 1 | 18 | 10 | 46 | -36 | 10 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 20th | | Messina | | 21 | 1 | 5 | 15 | 11 | 43 | -32 | 8 |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

[daedalus]

started off with the job and mostly he's been very good, but he's prone to the occasional disasterA goalkeeper description familiar to any Arsenal fan. :D

[Katon]

A goalkeeper description familiar to any Arsenal fan. :D

Yeah, though Acosta's actually very young (I think 20 - not in the game right now) rather than in his thirties. That's part of the reason I keep going back to him, as I keep hoping he'll grow out of it. Pelizzoli's much more reliable, won't lose as many points through stupid mistakes, but he's also less likely to pull something spectacular.

[Katon]

The season so far, from worst to first:

Messina have shipped goals like crazy and don’t have anybody in their squad with more than two goals this season. They’re doomed.

Ternana have been just as bad as Messina. They’ve got a couple of players having quasi-decent seasons, but they haven’t shown anything to suggest that they’ll be playing in this division next year.

With the third-worst defence and the third-worst offence in the league, it’s no surprise that Genoa are third-bottom. They’ve probably got the best chance at survival out of the three, as in Ciprian Marica they have a forward who’s capable of actually scoring goals, but with no changes during the transfer window it’s difficult to see them improving much in the second half.

The only hope the bottom three have for a reprieve lies in the abysmal form of Lecce. With Mirko Vucinic struggling to match last year’s goal tally and Damiano Boni being let down by his defence, they’ve been the season’s surprise strugglers. Unlike the teams below them, though, they made some moves in January. Underachieving centre-back Marco Antonio went to Spain, while the proceeds from that move were used to bring in Jose Giresse Keifa from Inter. They also sold Boni to Chelsea for a surprisingly low fee of £6.5M. If their defence improves enough to keep them in the league then they'll have money to spend in the offseason, but they're in for a struggle.

Perugia’s defence has really fallen apart this season. Keeper Marco Villani has done a good job, but with the exception of Patrick Kisnorbo his back four have basically hung him out to dry. Their offence hasn’t been great either, but it’s the goals conceded that might kill them. On the other hand, it’s difficult to see them blowing a twelve-point safety margin.

You probably remember Udinese from last year’s UEFA Cup final; this year, with no international competition to compensate for their disappointing league form, has been a complete writeoff. Their defence has been decent, thanks primarily to Andreas Isaksson in goal, but they’ve really struggled for goals. Diego, who I had been expecting to spark their offence this year, had a disastrous half-season before moving to Marseille for £15.75M in the transfer window, and apart from him only Alberto Fernandez has scored more than two goals. They’ve probably got enough of a cushion to stay up this year, but they’ve got to overhaul their attack soon or they can look forward to more of the same for the foreseeable future.

Cesena, the division’s draw specialists, have been comfortably the best of the promoted clubs. Giorgio Marini’s seven league goals have helped, as has a surprisingly impressive year from keeper Massimiliano Villa, but the basic foundation for their success is just good teamwork. They brought in a lot of players in January, but almost all of those players were both cheap and not very good, with Brazilian striker Jo the only possible contributor. Right-back Alessandro Scalzotto, their most consistent defender, was sold to Bari, and they’ll probably drop a spot or two before the end of the season.

Bari have been better than I expected. Their front line has been disappointing, as central midfielder Massimiliano Patti is their leading scorer, but their defence has shown more talent than in previous years and with the addition of Alessandro Scalzotto should be able to sustain them in their current position.

There’s no question who Brescia have to thank for their comfortable position. Emanuele Calaio, who until this year had never hit more than ten Serie A goals in a full season, has now hit twelve in just over half a year to put him second in the league behind Alberto Gilardino. If he regresses to his normal level then they could be in for some disappointment.

After seriously challenging for a CL spot last season, Sampdoria have pretty much fallen apart. They crashed out of the UEFA Cup group stage on goal difference, and with nobody but Daniele Corvia doing anything on offence they’ve also struggled in the league. Their defence has also been more or less left to one man, as keeper Sebastian Saja has received only erratic support from his defence. Apart from those two, their best player has probably been teen midfielder Michele Martino, who has only started sporadically.

[Katon]

Bologna have a simple plan: keep the ball out of the net and hope Jermain Defoe scores. Their defence, particularly left-back Timothee Atouba, has surpassed all expectations; their attack, on the other hand, has underachieved, with wonderkid Niccolo Tassi particularly disappointing up front. Their midfield has been defence-first and so their attack has had real difficulty compensating for Tassi’s off year.

As I predicted in my season preview, Parma have regressed significantly from their title-winning performance last year. Stewart Downing has been brilliant, sparkling both in Serie A and in the CL (where they face Benfica in the round of 16). The rest of the team has been somewhat less impressive. Roberto Riccardi, their big summer signing from Aue, has done fairly well and hit seven goals in the league; but then he’s needed to in order to cover for Niccolo Morsi’s horrendous season. Incidentally, what is it with highly-rated strikers this season? Diego, Antonio Cassano, Niccolo Tassi, and Morsi have all been really struggling. Parma spent £6M in January to sign young Blackburn right-back Jerome Andre, who doesn’t look like he’s going to help much.

They’ve conceded more goals than anyone else outside the bottom five, they’ve got a negative goal difference, and still somehow Palermo are in eighth. Their secret – apart from voodoo – has been high-quality wing play from Davide Chiumiento and Julien Charvet. Up front, David Andre continues to be the most overrated forward in the league, with more goals in one Cup match with Lazio (five, somehow) than in twenty league matches (three).

Juventus got off to a horrendous start to the season and they haven’t really improved much since. With new signing Alessandro Iannicello drastically underachieving, their defence has been much looser than usual and only Gianpaolo Pazzini is scoring regularly. They’re still in the CL, where they face Barcelona, and technically still in the Italian Cup (though losing the home leg of the semifinal 3-0 to Inter may preclude further involvement). They’ve made significant changes in the January transfer window, with Richard Hughes going to Chievo for £6M and Obafemi Martins going to Inter for £26M; they then used some of that money to win the race for Valencia fullback Philipp Lahm. It’ll be interesting to see what happens to them in the rest of the season.

Although they’re probably headed out of the Cup at the semifinal stage, Fiorentina are having a good year. They’re still in the UEFA Cup, where they face PSG in the first knockout round, and look to be in a good position to get back into Europe next year. They’ve done this more through having a lot of good players playing well than through any real superstars; Wouter Vandermeiren, the winger who was about as close to being a star as anyone, was sold to Mallorca for £11M as soon as the transfer window reopened. This hasn’t really hurt them much yet, as South African winger Junior Khanye, playing the best football of his career, has picked right up where Vandermieren left off.

After falling back to midtable last season, Chievo are getting closer to the form that made them Serie A champions in 2011. They’ve scored the third-most goals in the league, thanks in large part to superb seasons from Alessandro Avezedo and Amauri; Andre Cristea has also been in decent form, but still it’s not really surprising they decided to sign Richard Hughes in the transfer window to partner Amauri up front. Special mention also has to go to keeper Diego, who has been absolutely spectacular since his £5.75M move from Valencia. They spent a ten-digit sum on Valencia midfielder Carmelo Marini right at the end of the transfer window.

Lazio started out the season in brilliant form, but a horrific run of five defeats in six matches with the only win coming against Messina has put paid to their title chances. Up until then, they were riding two players: Goran Pandev, playing by far the best football of his career, and Paraguayan superstar Nelson Haedo Valdez. With Matteo Conti having a poor year and Didier Drogba having driven over the manager’s dog (or something of the sort – after scoring in double digits last year, he hasn’t made a single start all season), they spent £11.5M on 22-year-old Arsenal striker Manuel Delfino, who will be rather more threatening when he learns to shoot,

Milan have the best defence in the league, but they’ve been having real difficulty scoring. It’s easy to see why, too: apart from leading scorer Dagoberto, all their in-form players have been defenders. In spite of his wondergoal in the cup tie against Roma, Fernando Torres has never really got going, while Cesc Fabregas has scored a few goals but has never displayed the type of creative passing that Milan paid £76M for (27 assists in the previous two seasons combined; one so far this year). They made one of the biggest January sales in the league, sending defensive midfielder Christian Obodo - who hadn’t actually been playing particularly well - to Atletico Madrid for £17M. It’s difficult to see them being hurt too much by the sale, and if Torres starts to fire then I’ll be very glad for our current cushion.

If you ever wanted to see how a hard-tackling midfield can cover for an unimpressive defence, Inter are the perfect example. Their defenders have been fairly poor apart from left-back Manuel Francese, and yet – thanks mainly to determined tackling from all four of their starting midfielders – they’ve conceded very few goals. They’ve made hefty changes in the transfer window, spending £15M on Porto’s classy right-back Christian Fernandez and £26M on underachieving Juventus striker Obafemi Martins. They financed all this by selling Jhon Jairo Mosquera (Atletico Madrid, £25.5M) and Andreas Ivanschitz (Man U, £12.25M) as well as by letting Lecce co-own Jose Giresse Kiefa, who like Mosquera was made redundant by the brilliant form of Adriano and Roque Santa Cruz. Definitely our biggest obstacle in both Serie A and the Cup.

[Katon]

When asked about unbeaten AS Roma’s chances of winning this season’s Italian Serie A title, Fiorentina manager Vicenzo Chiarenza pointed out that there was still a long way to go this season and anything could still happen. Chiarenza also said that as far as Roma’s unbeaten record goes, he plans for Fiorentina to be the team to end it

Since “we just pounded you in the cup, what makes you think you’ll do any better in the league?” isn’t an option, I merely state that I fancy our chances of winning the title and leave it at that.

Fortunately, the team backed all my talk up with its performance. Initially, the match took a similar course to the cup tie: they had the better of the first half, but we came out ahead courtesy of a set piece on the stroke of half-time. In this case, it was an Ailton free kick that Fiorentina keeper Simon Jenzscht completely misplayed that sailed right on into the net. This time, though, Fiorentina didn’t fall apart; rather, they equalized almost straight from the restart. Only when we scored twice in five minutes, with a trademark piledriver from Thomas Hitzelsperger and a brilliant instinctive volley from Maurizio Liccardi, could I begin to feel safe. Even then, they still had time to pull one back before the end of the match. Fiorentina 2-3 Roma

We had Mancini back from injury for our trip to Milan, but with Mido away with the Egyptian national team that just meant that Ewerthon would have to start up front. I wasn’t particularly thrilled by that, but it actually worked out surprisingly well. With Dagoberto out for the next two months with a hip injury, Milan were always going to have trouble coming back from a deficit; Ewerthon ensured that they needed to. First, just eight minutes in, he found acres of space to convert a neat Mancini cross. Then, on the hour mark, just as Milan were threatening to come back into the match, he burst clear on the counterattack to kill the match off once and for all. AC Milan 0-2 Roma

Alessio Cerci requests a private meeting with me, which he uses to demand a first-team place. Yes, that’s right, our seventh-best forward is threatening to leave if he doesn’t get regular starts. To the transfer list he goes. In other news, Christian Chivu has broken his arm in training and will be out for a month. Rozema and Adriano it is, then.

With Inter having somehow managed to lose 1-0 to Messina, our game with Cesena is a chance to open up some breathing space at the top of the table. Perhaps thinking about the Messina-Inter match, the press asks me what I make of our status as favourites against Cesena. I respond that I think we have the quality to beat them, but we have to be careful.

I turned out to be more right than I really wanted to be. We weren’t careful, and we very nearly paid for it. We were going quite well, ahead through Adriano’s early header, when Daniele De Rossi picked up his second booking of the match less than half an hour in and things went downhill. Everything remotely resembling cohesion went out the window, and we spent the rest of the match under far more pressure than I would have liked. We didn’t concede, and in fact went further ahead when Maurizio Liccardi scored a couple of brilliant individual goals in the last few minutes, but Cesena gave us a real scare. Roma 3-0 Cesena

From my nice helpful scout: Bruno Conti reports that Lecce manager Antionio Cabrini prefers an attacking 4-4-2 formation. He believes that they are a capable team. Conti believes Alberto Medina is a potent threat in a pacey attacking line and Alberto Medina is a creative spark in midfield. I managed Medina in my PSV days, and he’s actually quite a good winger, but what’s he going to do? Head in his own crosses?

As it turned out, nobody headed in any crosses. The match was decided by long-range shooting. Fernando hit a pair, both beautiful curlers, while Thomas Hitzelsperger’s goal owed rather more to power. Jose Giresse Keifa pulled one back, in similar style to Hitzelsperger, but the match was already won. With Inter losing to Bari, the win put us seven points clear. Roma 3-1 Lecce

Now for the CL tie against Werder Bremen and their familiar-looking left-back Vagner. Yes, left-back. Why they chose to play him there I’m not quite sure, but after the way Javier Saviola treated him, I doubt they’ll repeat the experiment. Just twenty minutes in, Saviola drifted out wide before cutting inside Vagner and beating Robert Enke at his near post from a very narrow angle. Ten minutes later, he did it again, scoring a nearly identical goal. He then completed his hattrick from a more central position just for variety. That one went in after sixty minutes; we had to wait a bit more for our fourth, a superb Gilardino header from a lovely Mancini cross. The tie is pretty much over at this point. Roma 4-0 Werder Bremen

[daedalus]

In the demo, Cerci was always better on the wing than as a forward for me. Have you tried him there? Out of curiosity, how has he developed? Any good?

[Katon]

Not particularly impressive - most of his ratings are in the ten to fourteen range and he never plays very well. I haven't tried him on the wing, mostly because the formation I'm using with Roma doesn't actually use wingers. I'm afraid he hasn't really panned out.

[Katon]

Of course, that hattrick aside, Saviola’s claim to a regular starting place is fairly weak at the moment. He certainly didn’t do himself any good against Ternana; they’ve been stuck at the bottom of the table since Messina picked up some form, and when they had a man sent off for his second bookable offence half an hour in things ought to have been easy. It didn’t turn out that way, and Saviola was one of the primary culprits. Perhaps remembering his goals in midweek, he kept cutting inside and shooting whenever he got around the side of their defence. With Carlo Zotti less amenable to giving up soft goals that way than Robert Enke was in midweek, this didn’t really work very well. With Saviola shooting on sight, the only person trying to cross the ball was Alberto Gilardino – the one person we’d most want on the end of those crosses. About sixty minutes in I got tired of this and put Maurizio Liccardi on for Saviola. He promptly scored, curling a beauty into the far corner from the edge of the area. Liccardi’s scoring just over a goal per full ninety-minute match; Saviola’s averaging two in five. Which of those two would you start? Gilardino, the one surefire starter up front, finally got on the receiving end of a cross to double our lead with fifteen minutes left. Ternana 0-2 Roma

Speaking of selection decisions up front, Mido is complaining about playing time. He’s been pretty good when he’s played this year, so I’m going to try to get him a bit more time, probably at the expense of Saviola. Again.

Both Saviola and Mido were in the lineup for the second leg of the Cup semifinal against Fiorentina. Fiorentina started out with their normal early blitz, but this one was over even more quickly than usual. They weren’t too severely put out when Daniele De Rossi curled in a superb shot from a narrow angle on our first real attack of the match; when Mido scored from a similarly tight angle with a distinctly stoppable shot, they seemed to give up hope. From that point onwards, it was just a question of how many. Fabinho made it three just after the restart with a rare header, Mido snapped up a wildly deflected shot from De Rossi, and Richard Blonk wrapped things up in injury time. We’re through to face Inter in the cup final. Roma 5-0 Fiorentina, 9-2 on aggregate

Of course after all that talk both Liccardi and Mido picked up minor knocks just before our trip to Palermo. Saviola actually did very well, though, and even remembered to cross the ball occasionally. That was how we scored, with Saviola hitting a superb cross that Mancini duly headed in. The rest of the match was less than remarkable, with our players looking tired and Palermo’s players unable to punish us. Palermo 0-1 Roma

With a lot of players either tired or carrying slight knocks, I basically decided to give up on the second leg of our CL tie with Werder Bremen. We were 4-0 up; what could they do? Not a whole lot, it turned out, thanks primarily to the brilliant Ivan Pelizzoli. An extremely dull match just when we needed one. Werder Bremen 0-0 Roma (0-4 on aggregate)

[daedalus]

Not particularly impressive - most of his ratings are in the ten to fourteen range and he never plays very well. I haven't tried him on the wing, mostly because the formation I'm using with Roma doesn't actually use wingers. I'm afraid he hasn't really panned out.Dumb question. I do remember you discussing not using wingers with either PSV or Roma. Too bad about Cerci not panning out. He had some interesting games on the wing for me in the demo.

[Katon]

After goalless draws in the previous two qualifiers, England really needed to beat Bulgaria in order to keep up our chances of going to Spain. Fortunately, Stewart Downing was back; his absence had been a major part of our inability to score against Russia and Austria, and it was he who opened the scoring with a beautifully curled free kick fifteen minutes in. Downing also played a large role in our second, cutting back onto his weaker right foot in order to set up Scott Parker for his second goal in as many internationals. The third and final goal came from a couple of substitutes, Christopher Eagles’ persistence eventually resulting in a chance which was duly smashed home by Paul Watts. England 3-0 Bulgaria

Watts celebrates his goal by telling the press that he appreciates the confidence I’ve shown in him and he hopes to put in a few more good performances for England in the future. Which is a nice thing to say.

Back in Serie A, Milan – twenty-five points behind us and feeling upset about it – sack their manager Lucas Alverez. No word yet on his replacement.

I feel sorry for Victor Valdes. For most of our CL quarterfinal first leg against Barcelona, he was the most impressive player on the pitch – bailing out a distinctly underachieving offence and keeping the Spanish side level. Then, with less than twenty minutes left, his defence decided to let Fernando shoot from the edge of the area, which turned out about as well as you would expect, and suddenly Barca had to attack. Their defence immediately became much more ragged. Twice in the last eight minutes Valdes found himself alone with substitute Mido; twice in the last eight minutes Mido scored. For the second round in a row, we’ve essentially killed the tie off at home. Roma 3-0 Barcelona

That wasn’t enough to get Mido back into the starting eleven for our game with Bologna, though. I’m sticking with Maurizio Liccardi and Alberto Gilardino up front whenever possible, for reasons which they made very clear as we went thirteen points clear. Liccardi opened the scoring with a perfectly placed shot after a quick counterattack involving Gilardino and Fernando; Gilardino then scored himself, turning his marker superbly to create the chance after collecting a Fabinho cross. Roma 2-0 Bologna

The media is now touting Gilardino as the favourite for the Serie A Italian Player of the Year award. With fifteen goals, he’s currently the league’s leading scorer (Liccardi’s joint fourth with thirteen and Fernando’s tied for seventh on ten), so he’s certainly be a reasonable choice. The favourite for the Serie A Player of the Year award is Inter’s Andreas Ivanschitz, the driving force behind their current position in second place.

With the tie already nearly won, our trip to Barcelona was a chance to give some of our normal backups starts: Mido and Saviola up front and Blonk, Ailton, and Mancini in midfield all made it into the team. We certainly didn’t suffer from the changes, getting off to our quickest start of the season when a heavily deflected Saviola shot fell between Aquilani and Valdes. Our man got there first and we were ahead within forty seconds of the kickoff. Barca now needed five goals, which soon became six when another Saviola shot was parried straight to Mido. At that point we started to relax. Barca pulled one back through Samuel Eto’o, but we still had an extremely comfortable progression through to the semifinals. Barcelona 1-2 Roma (1-5 on aggregate)

The draw for the CL semis is very interesting indeed – we’re up against my old team, the defending champions, PSV. Jaap Stam hasn’t done very well in the league, losing as many matches by April this season as I lost in over three years at the club, but he’s been brilliant in the CL both this year and last year.

And then, exactly one full season after our previous defeat, we finally lost a league match. It wasn’t quite how I’d expected to lose. We actually started out quite well, Christian Chivu putting us ahead with a forty-yard free kick. Then Bari scored twice in as many minutes and we were behind. Then Alberto Gilardino equalized, Ailton fired in another free kick, and we were ahead again. With Bari getting a man sent off for two bookable offences, the match seemed won. But we kept going forward, perhaps attacking more than we should have, and a particularly pacy substitute managed to exploit this and find space at the back twice in the last three minutes. Remember the name, folks: Gilmar. He’ll be a good player someday. Bari 4-3 Roma

[Katon]

A day before the first leg of the Italian Cup final, Christian Chivu picks up a major injury during training. He’s strained his knee ligaments, and will miss a month. Of course playing Adriano and Jos Rozema together at the back isn’t exactly the end of the world, so I decline to comment when the press comes around.

And what a first leg it turned out to be. Not dissimilar to our loss to Bari, actually, except that this time it was Inter who went home frustrated. The first half was thrilling, end-to-end stuff, but it took almost until half-time before either team scored. Alberto Gilardino was the goalscorer, running onto a long ball over the top from (our) Adriano. For about five minutes, I was completely delighted. That was how long it took Inter to equalize, Rosinei heading in a free kick. Two more aerial goals followed early in the second half, from Roque Santa Cruz and (their) Adriano. At this point, and even more so when Thomas Hitzelsperger picked up his second yellow with ten minutes left, our first consecutive defeats of the season seemed certain. Not so. With five minutes left, Gilardino found himself with half a sight of goal, which he duly found; then, with just two minutes remaining, substitute Javier Saviola produced a superb finish from the narrowest of angles. With this many away goals, we’re in good shape heading into the second leg. Inter 3-3 Roma

With the league match – their last hope of reeling us in, realistically speaking – just around the corner, Inter boss Bortolo Mutti tries to put on some pressure by saying that he doesn’t want us to win the title and hopes to dent our title aspirations by beating us. I respond by talking up our chances of winning the title.

And then we went and won it. Not officially, but there’s no way we’ll blow our lead now. It was another late goal that did it, but I’m getting ahead of myself. We started out well enough in spite of my decision to rest a few players before the CL semi, Maurizio Liccardi firing us ahead inside the first ten minutes. We were temporarily pegged back when a horrible backpass by (our) Adriano set up Obafemi Martins to score, but within minutes starter-for-the-day Mido had restored our advantage. That held on, through a penalty given away by Fernando (and blazed well wide by Bezologu Emre), until a sixtieth-minute free kick was knocked down for Xabi Alonso to equalize. I would have settled for a draw before kickoff, but as it turned out I didn’t have to: with three minutes left, a long ball over the top found Javier Saviola breaking the offside trap and he ran on to score from the substitute’s bench for the second match in a row. Inter 2-3 Roma

The top three in Serie A:
Team P Pts
Roma 32 81
Lazio 33 70
Inter 32 68
Yeah, we’ve won it.

[Katon]

Well, honours even in the CL. Eventually. In the first half alone, we fired off twenty shots, eleven of them on target. We had seventy percent of the possession. The half-time score? 1-0 PSV. They had one shot, they scored with it, and they were ahead. The second half was more of the same, with salvation finally coming from supersub Javier Saviola, whose obsession with shooting from insanely tight angles once again bore fruit. Once. Out of far too many attempts. Still, we’re in fairly good shape for the return leg, if only because I can’t see Russia keeper Vladislav Malacheev playing quite as well back in Eindhoven. Roma 1-1 PSV

Arsenal and Parma drew 1-1 in the other semi.

Fernando just went public about his desire for a new contract, publicly suggesting that his agent could get him a better contract at another club. He’s not being paid all that poorly at the moment - £37,000/week – but as he’s one of the best young attacking midfielders in the world and we’re currently £700,000/week under our wage limit (yes, that really is the right number of zeroes) I’m sure we can work something out. Not that I plan to pay him the £90,000/w he’s asking for; something like £48,000/week sounds right.

He didn’t go for it. I try again with £60,000.

More backups for the home match against Chievo, which nonetheless is essentially over inside four minutes. First Matteo Ferrari headed in a Mancini cross, then Alberto Aquilani found space to shoot after some pinball in the Chievo penalty area and we were home free. There was a bit of drama when Adriano picked up his second yellow and Chievo pulled one back, but Fernando put paid to any hopes of a comeback with fifteen minutes to go, curling the ball just inside the near post from the edge of the area. Roma 3-1 Chievo

Fernando celebrates his goal by agreeing to a new deal. Meanwhile, over in England, Chelsea boss David Moyes has received the dreaded vote of confidence. I’ll be keeping an eye on this . . .

For most of the match, the second leg of the CL semifinal followed the same pattern as the first leg: we dominated, PSV tried to hit on the break. We went ahead early, a superb bending shot from Maurizio Liccardi, then kept pressing for the away goals edge that would surely clinch the tie. PSV equalized on the stroke of half-time, though, Bajram Fetai (whose Bosman signing was the last transfer I arranged before moving to Roma) catching our defence flat-footed for his second of the tie. As the second half wore on the home side increasingly came to the fore, but neither side managed to score and so we went to extra time. PSV continued to gain in strength, and were now looking the stronger side for the first time in the tie. With Javier Saviola limping off injured, I was more than willing to settle for penalties . . .

Kick by kick:
Mark Van Bommell blasted his kick past Pelizzoli. 1-0 PSV
Mancini converted emphatically. 1-1
Alex sent Pelizzoli the wrong way. 2-1 PSV
Thomas Hitzelsperger tucked it in the corner. 2-2
Alvaro put his kick too close to Pelizzoli, who saved. 2-2
Jos Rozema blazed well wide. 2-2
Timothy Kok converted. 3-2 PSV
Fabinho’s kick went in via Malafeev’s glove. 3-3
Carlos Diaz hit his nearly straight down the middle, and Pelizzoli kept it out. 3-3
Maurizio Liccardi, nearly falling over from exhaustion, put it over the bar. 3-3

And so to sudden death.

Wilfred Bouma beat Pelizzoli but hit the crossbar. 3-3
Adriano put his kick in the bottom left-hand corner. 4-3 Roma
PSV 1-1 Roma (2-2 on aggregate, 3-4 on penalties)

And so we go through to face Arsenal in the final, which will be played at, well, the Stadio Olimpico. Good year for us to get through to the final, I think; home advantage is always fun.

[Katon]

Rumour has it that a bad result in the next Premiership match would see David Moyes sacked at Chelsea. Come on, David, hang on till the end of the season. Then I can take over – there’s no way I’m leaving before the CL final.

With half the team still exhausted from the midweek marathon, there weren’t too many starters on display for our trip to Perugia. Our second defeat of the season didn’t really come as much of a surprise; we’d had the better of the play, but with Liccardi and Gilardino both sitting this one out we hadn’t been able to score, and their 83rd-minute counterattack wound up winning the match for them. We only need to win one of our remaining four matches to clinch the title, so I don’t particularly care. Perugia 1-0 Roma

I think it may be time to admit that Ivan Pelizzoli is in a slump. He hasn’t kept a clean sheet in ages, in spite of some quite dominant performances from the team. Our latest match, against Genoa, was no exception, as a Genoa team reeling from Javier Saviola’s first-half goal and the sending-off of their striker Ciprica Marian somehow managed to equalize with their second shot of the match seventy minutes in. If it hadn’t been for a really spectacularly suicidal backpass deep into injury time – which Mido duly punished – we would have had to wait another week for the title. As it is, CHAMPIONS! Roma 2-1 Genoa

Our clinching the title is, of course, the primary topic of discussion. Fans and pundits alike are unanimous that the person responsible for the club’s success is me, which is quite nice. Back in England, the Chelsea board has announced that David Moyes’ job is completely safe.

With the title clinched we’re into the silly season now, and there’s not much sillier than the identity of our matchwinner against Udinese: David Rives, heading in an Ailton cross for his first league goal for the club. Once again I sent out a severly weakened side, and for much of the match it looked as though Rives’ effort would be the only goal. It didn’t turn out that way, Mido producing a stunning half-volley from a Rives free kick, but what I was most pleased by was our first clean sheet in ages. Juan Acosta is headed for a cup final start. Udinese 0-2 Roma

Moyes earned himself a bit more time at Chelsea when they won the UEFA Cup. It went down to penalties for the second year in a row, with Feyenoord finally losing when tournament leading scorer Paul Watts – my former PSV and Wigan player, who’s also been getting some time with England since I took over – missed his kick.

[Katon]

Italian Cup Final 2nd Leg time. I'll be doing this as a live commentary again, and probably posting the two halves separately for length reasons.

The good news is that we’ve got a pile of away goals after a 3-3 draw in the first leg. The bad news is that we’ve also got a lot of people suspended after encountering a somewhat card-happy referee. The teams:

Roma – Acosta, Rives, Adriano, Ferrari, Fabinho, Ailton, Blonk, Aquilani, Fernando, Mido, Gilardino

Inter – Ochoa, Fernandez, Basile, Colombo, Costanzo, Alan, La Rocca, Alonso, Emre, Peralta, Oliviere

Kickoff

3 mins: Matteo Ferrari booked.

13 mins: Mido gets to the byline and cuts the ball back for Richard Blonk, whose shot is high.

18 mins: Belozoglu Emre booked for a foul on Fernando.

21 mins: Richard Blonk booked.

27 mins: Davide Olivieri shoots from distance, well wide.

29 mins: Alberto Gilardino turns and shoots from just outside the area, high.

30 mins: David Rives booked. Another card-happy ref

38 mins: Marco La Rocca crosses, Ailton heads it out for a corner. Adriano clears.

39 mins: Xabi Alonso booked. At least the ref’s doing this to both sides.

40 mins: Mido does a Javier Saviola impression, getting to the byline and shooting right at the keeper from an impossible angle. The rebound bounces to him; he cuts it back for Ailton, whose shot doesn’t get through the crowded area.

41 mins: Mido shoots high from the corner of the penalty area.

44 mins: Once again Mido cuts inside, once again he tries to shoot from an impossible angle. The keeper parries, and the ball is cleared for a throw-in.

0-0 at half-time, which I’d certainly have settled for before kickoff. They've got to score, we don't.

[Katon]

Second half:

55 mins: Gilardino releases Mido on the break, but he shoots straight at Ochoa.

58 mins: Davide Olivieri booked.

61 mins: Two Inter substitutions. Paulo comes on for Davide Olivieri and Mirko Salerno on for Massimo Costanzo.

64 mins: Javier Saviola comes on for Mido whose finishing has been horrible all day

72 mins: Another Inter change. Aldo Urso on for Marco La Rocca.

76 mins: Alberto Aquilani slides the ball into Saviola’s path; Saviola sticks the ball in the corner of the net to effectively cling the trophy. 1-0 Roma.

77 mins: Two Roma substitutions: Andy Reid on for Richard Blonk and Maurizio Liccardi on for Alberto Gilardino.

78 mins: Horacio Peralta shoots over the bar from twenty-five yards.

79 mins: Xabi Alonso picks up his second yellow and is sent off. It’s all going wrong for Inter.

81 mins: Adriano launches a free kick from our half towards their box. It’s allowed to reach Javier Saviola’s feet (how do you let a long ball from the back fall to someone’s feet?); he spins and drills the ball through Ochoa’s legs. 2-0 Roma.

82 mins: After a neat interchange with Reid, Saviola finds himself with space off on one side of the area. He shoots – from a fairly sane angle this time – but Ochoa saves.

83 mins: Maurizio Liccardi hits a fairly tame shot from distance which Ochoa gathers easily.

83 mins: Inter are completely unable to hold possession. Liccardi gets the ball again and bursts into the area only to draw a superb save from Ochoa.

84 mins: Fabinho is somewhat harshly booked for a challenge on Horacio Peralta

85 mins: Aquilani seemingly plays Liccardi in for our third, but an (accurate) offside flag cuts the celebrations short.

86 mins: Andy Reid is booked.

88 mins: After getting one-on-one with his defender out wide on a breakaway, Saviola shocks everyone by actually crossing the ball. Liccardi, one-on-one with the keeper once again and onside this time, duly makes it 3-0.

Final Score: Roma 3-0 Inter (6-3 on aggregate)

Well, we’ve won another cup. It’s obvious who’s won it for us: Javier Saviola picked up the man of the match award for less than half an hour of work, and deservedly so. He’s been devastating as a substitute recently, hitting his best form of the season only after getting dropped from the starting lineup just after Christmas.

[Katon]

Half the team is in need of a rest, the long season finally catching up with them, but there’s no time for that as the next match is the CL final . . .

We face Arsenal on our home turf. Mancini, and Christian Chivu are all out injured; apart from them, we have a full team.

Roma – Acosta, Rives, Adriano, Rozema, Fabinho, Ailton, Hitzelsperger, Aquilani, Fernando, Liccardi, Gilardino

Arsenal – Green, Toure, Maxwell, King, Marquez, Fabio, Reyes, Douglas, Kahlenberg, Bojinov, Cavenaghi

Kickoff.

10 mins: Alberto Aquilani shoots wide from distance

11 mins: Fernando Cavenaghi heads just over from the edge of the area.

18 mins: Valeri Bojinov heads a Jose Antonio Reyes cross over the bar.

39 mins: A Reyes free kick deflects off the wall to Fabio, whose cross is collected by Acosta

40 mins: A Kolo Toure cross is flicked over the defence by Thomas Kahlenberg; Cavenaghi runs onto it and beats Acosta. 1-0 Arsenal.

Half-time: 1-0 Arsenal. I make a few tactical tweaks and have Aquilani and Fernando swap positions. Let the kid have a go at running things.

61 mins: Two Arsenal substitutions – Michael Dawson on for Rafael Marquez and Reto Ziegler on for Valeri Bojinov.

64 mins: Jos Rozema sent off for shoving Kahlenberg. Damn. I replace Ailton with Matteo Ferrari, who’ll drop back into central defence, and put Javier Saviola on for Liccardi. We just need one goal . . .

65 mins: Arsenal throw Kevin Burgess on for Fabio, going to five at the back.

79 mins: Cavenaghi sidesteps Ferrari, but shoots high from the edge of the area. I throw Mido on for the tiring Gilardino.

81 mins: Maxwell crosses, but Adriano heads it clear to Mido. Mido promptly hits a beautiful ball into the path of Saviola, who suddenly has a clear route to goal. He runs thirty yards, draws Green out, sidesteps him, and holds off Ledley King to finish. 1-1. Suddenly Arsenal need to attack and we are treated to the amusing sight of central defender Kevin Burgess trying to pretend he’s a right winger.

88 mins: Adriano comes charging out of defence leaving a gap which Jose Reyes duly runs into. Ferrari saves the day with a superb tackle.

89 mins: Another flowing Arsenal move leads to Reyes getting possession at the edge of the area. He shoots, the ball hits the inside of the near post and goes in, and we’re losing again. 2-1 Arsenal. We’ve got four minutes of stoppage time to work with

90 mins: A powerful shot from Thomas Hitzelsperger draws a stunning save from Green.

93 mins: Kahlenberg catches us on the break, but shoots high.

The final whistle blows and we’ve lost. One of the most painful defeats of my career as a manager, as we came from behind in spite of a man deficit only to lose it in the last minute. Arsenal 2-1 Roma

[Katon]

Fernando Orsi tells the media that he thinks our upcoming match against Parma is a must-win game for us if we want to win the title. This might be true except that we’ve already won it. Ah well. I don’t bother to get involved in an argument, instead telling him that I think he’s done a very good job for them.

Of course, it’s easy to be magnanimous when you’re winning. And winning we are, with Javier Saviola striking twice in the first ten minutes to completely kill the match. Both sides pressed, with Stewart Downing in good form for Parma, but that was how it finished. Parma 0-2 Roma

With the CL over, the end-of-competition awards are announced. We’re well-represented, as you would expect; Thomas Hitzelsperger is declared the third-best player in the competition, and is joined in the Team of the Tournament by Fabinho and Ivan Pelizzoli.

We were already champions and Messina were already relegated, so it’s not really surprising that our encounter on the last day of the season was somewhat less than thrilling. We had to wait until the last ten minutes for the breakthrough, but after that the goals began to flow, with Daniele De Rossi’s penalty-spot opener being followed up by goals from Alberto Aquilani and Mido. Roma 3-0 Messina

Obviously, we’re very heavily represented in the Italian end-of-season awards. Fernando is named Young Player of the Year, while I win Manager of the Year. Alberto Gilardino finishes second in the Golden Boot Award, on the same number of goals as the winner Adriano (the Inter striker, not our central defender, Just in case you were wondering). He can console himself with the Italian Player of the Year award. Mancini, Thomas Hitzelsperger, and Fernando make the Serie A Team of the Season; I have no idea how Fabinho didn’t make it, especially after he deservedly won the Defender of the Year award. Finally, Christian Chivu’s forty-yard free kick in our loss to Bari is named the Goal of the Season.

I’ve just been the target of an agent’s video for the first time. Romanian U21 striker Adrian Munteanu is the player in question, hoping for a move from Valencia; the video – a hattrick against Northern Ireland U21 – is impressive, and I’ve sent a scout to take a look, but I doubt that he’ll prove quite good enough.

England time again. My squad this time has two surprises for the media, with Paul Robinson (just forgot to put him back in after his injury; Chris Kirkland is currently the starter in goal, so I’m not sweating it too much) and Alan Smith (why on earth would he be in the squad) left out. For me, though, the most interesting pick is 19-year-old Real Madrid winger Ian Woodward, who for my money has a real chance of turning into the long-term solution on the right.

He certainly didn’t do his case any harm against Estonia, although he didn’t have much to do with the first-half goals that put us on the way to victory. Those came from our normal superstars, Wayne Rooney curling in a stunning effort from twenty-five yards out before Stewart Downing planted a perfect cross on Jermain Defoe’s forehead. It was after the interval that Woodward really got going. First, he hit a superb thirty-yard ball into Defoe’s path only to see the Bologna striker shoot high. Next, a neatly worked short corner with Downing set him up to cross for John Terry to head the third. Finally, in stoppage time, he hit a brilliant cross-field ball to let in David Bentley for our fourth of the night. A spectacular debut. Estonia 0-4 England

Both Bentley and Woodward spoke to the press in the aftermath of the match. Bentley talked about his joy at scoring his first England goal; Woodward talked about how proud he was to make his England debut and thanked me for having faith in his ability to step up to this level. Tell you what, kid: you keep making me look like a genius for picking you, I’ll keep picking you. Not that I’ll have a chance to pick him for our game against Lithuania, as both he and Bentley have picked up minor knocks since their big day.

We didn’t need them, though. Things started going wrong for Lithuania after less than two minutes when a Glen Johnson free kick was headed off a post by Stewart Downing and bundled in by Jermain Defoe, and it only got worse from there. Downing wound up creating four in addition to the one he scored himself; Jonathan Stead (recent winner of the European Golden Boot) got one, James Milner got one, substitute Paul Watts got one, and John Terry of all people got two, one from the penalty spot and one header from a Downing corner. Seven was the final tally on the best day of my career as an international manager. [B}England 7-0 Lithuania[/B]

Yes, I think the goalscoring difficulties have been solved.

[Katon]

Status update:

I've played nine full seasons of this game now (summer 2013). In those nine seasons, I've always achieved my team's main goal for the season: with Rushden I got promoted twice in a row then finished midtable in the Championship, with Wigan I won promotion then stayed in the Premiership with room to spare, with both PSV and Roma I've won the league title in every full season. To put it bluntly, the club-level aspects of the game are getting boring. There just isn't enough of a challenge. I doubt this is because of any great skill on my part; it's probably just a combination of sheer luck and (for the last four and a half years) being at some of the biggest clubs in their respective countries. I'm going to stay in this game for a season or two more because of the England job, but my interest in the club side of things - unless I get the Chelsea job, of course - is waning.

What this means for the dynasty is that I'm going to either drop or drastically reduce (haven't decided yet) my reports on Roma; instead, I'm going to go into much more detail on the England job, with full squad lists, more detail on the matches, and maybe even a word or two about the U-19 squad. I'll be more or less making up the format as I go along, so any comments on areas I should be covering in more detail or things I need to clarify would be appreciated.

[Katon]

August 31, 2013

The England squad for our matches against Austria and Russia:

| Pkd | Inf | Name | Position | Club | Age | Value |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| - | | Robert Green | GK | R. Sociedad | 33 | £5.25M |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| S1 | | Chris Kirkland | GK | Liverpool | 32 | £9.75M |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| GK | | Paul Robinson | GK | Middlesbrough | 33 | £5.25M |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| - | | Ed Brand | D R | Everton | 26 | £3.3M |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| DR | | Glen Johnson | D RC | Chelsea | 29 | £9.25M |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| DL | | Danny Smith | D L | Valencia | 26 | £5.5M |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| - | | Ashley Cole | D/DM L | Arsenal | 32 | £5.25M |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| DC | | Michael Dawson | D C | Arsenal | 29 | £3.4M |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| DC | | John Terry | D C | Chelsea | 32 | £4.2M |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| S2 | | Tommy Welch | D C | Tottenham | 26 | £4.4M |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| S3 | | Owen Hargreaves | D/DM RLC | FC Bayern | 32 | £1.6M |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| - | | Chris Cohen | D/M LC | Leicester | 26 | £2.7M |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| - | | David Prutton | DM RLC | Southampton | 31 | £5.5M |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| DMC | | Scott Parker | M C | R. Sociedad | 32 | £6.25M |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| MR | | Ian Woodward | AM R | R. Madrid | 19 | £6M |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| S5 | | Christopher Eagles | AM RC | Man Utd | 27 | £11.25M |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| ML | | Stewart Downing | AM L | Parma | 29 | £11.5M |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| S4 | | David Bentley | AM LC | Chelsea | 28 | £12.25M |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| - | | Chris Brown | AM LC | Barnsley | 24 | £2.3M |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| S6 | | Ian Morgan | AM/F RC | Liverpool | 23 | £13.75M |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| S7 | Wnt | Paul Watts | F LC | Feyenoord | 23 | £5.75M |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| AMC | | Wayne Rooney | F C | Man Utd | 27 | £32.5M |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| - | | Dexter Blackstock | S C | Middlesbrough | 26 | £8.75M |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| FC | | Jermain Defoe | S C | Bologna | 30 | £10.5M |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| - | | Paul Hamilton | S C | Man Utd | 24 | £8.5M |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| FC | | Jonathan Stead | S C | Blackburn | 30 | £10.25M |
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

[Katon]

The team selected is for our trip to Vienna. Running through the squad in order:

Green, Kirkland, and Robinson are all very similar players: good keepers who never quite achieved greatness and are now on the wrong side of thirty. Green had a disappointing season last year and then left Arsenal on a free, so he’s hanging on by a thread; Kirkland and Robinson have a bit more margin for error, especially given the lack of any decent alternatives.

After a rather undistinguished start to his career, Ed Brand burst into international contention with an absolutely brilliant 2011/12 season. He wasn’t quite as good last year, but he still did more than enough to prove that it wasn’t a fluke and to cement his spot as a regular squad member. He’d be a perfectly acceptable starter, but the fact that he plays the same position as Glen Johnson kills any chance of that. Johnson took the England right-back job over from Gary Neville and hasn’t given it back since.

Danny Smith has been all over the place recently. In addition to his current employers, he’s also played for Real Zaragosa, Juventus, and Liverpool – all in the last four years. He’s been excellent at every stop, a perfect fullback in every way except for his distinctly average pace. Smith has only narrowly won his starting place away from Ashley Cole, though; Cole has kept up a very high level of performance for Arsenal, and my preference for Smith is based more on their respective ages than on any difference in quality.

Centre-back is a loaded position. Michael Dawson has taken over from Sol Campbell as the leader of the Arsenal defence, while John Terry has been the most consistent defender in the Premiership over the past decade. Tommy Welch isn’t nearly as talented physically as the other two, but his near-perfect positioning has made him into one of the best centre-backs in the league over the last year or two. There are also a whole pile of international-quality players behind them who didn’t make the squad; the media is always complaining about one omission or another here. This time it’s Derby’s Tom Huddlestone, described by them as an ‘England star’ in spite of the fact that he hasn’t represented the country since before I took over. Not that I have anything against him, it’s just that he’s clearly behind the three currently in the squad as well as Campbell and Rio Ferdinand, both of whom are still very good players. There are also several other people on much the same level as Huddlestone, further preventing him from breaking into the team.

Owen Hargreaves and Chris Cohen both make the squad for much the same reason: their versatility. Either is capable of doing a competent job at several positions if called upon, although they aren’t really of starter quality. Hargreaves has been getting caps this way for years; Cohen’s entry into the squad was more recent, coming when he was just about the only bright spot in Leicester’s relegation from the Premiership last season. The fact that he’s now in the Championship won’t necessarily stop him making the team, though it might count against him if I need the spot for someone else.

Scott Parker’s career has really taken off since he moved to Spain. For the past three seasons he’s been one of the best midfielders in La Liga, and at international level he made the defensive midfield role his own with a couple of storming performances last year. I hope he stays fit because David Prutton represents a noticeable step down. Prutton’s competent, certainly, but he can’t dominate the way Parker can and (again unlike Parker) isn’t a threat to score except from the penalty spot.

Ian Woodward is one of a whole pile of promising-looking right wingers. He’s probably the best of the bunch, as you might guess from his current club and the fact that he’s been capped before his twentieth birthday, but as yet his technical skills are still developing. I’d rather not be playing him in our most important matches of the qualifying section, but James Milner is out injured and Woodward looked very impressive indeed during our recent trip to Estonia. He’s backed up by Christopher Eagles, one of English football’s biggest disappointments. Eagles is tremendously talented, certainly, but he’s never actually managed to convert that talent into good performances on a football pitch.

Over the past two seasons, Stewart Downing has been one of the three or four best wingers in Europe. He’s quick, he’s strong, and he’s incredibly good technically. His backup is David Bentley, who has traditionally played just well enough at club level to stay in the squad but has gotten off to a red-hot start this season. If Bentley keeps it up, I might have to consider giving him a few matches in the attacking midfield slot. Chris Brown makes the squad only because of James Milner’s injury; while he’s a very good crosser of the ball, the rest of his game isn’t quite up to the same standard and he’s currently playing in the Championship. At the lower level, he’ll really need to dominate (which he did do last season) to keep his place.

Like centre-back, striker is an incredibly deep position for England at the moment. There’s Ian Morgan, whose extraordinary potential has finally been matched by his performances since his mover from Barcelona to Liverpool. There’s Paul Watts, last season’s UEFA Cup top-scorer. There’s Wayne Rooney, one of the best players in the world. There’s Jonathan Stead, the defending European Golden Boot winner. There’s Jermain Defoe, one of Serie A’s most reliable goalscorers over the last few years. Paul Hamilton and Dexter Blackstock don’t quite fit the pattern, but they’re still good players. Hamilton is about where Maurizio Liccardi was a year ago at Roma: getting regular substitute appearances, frequently starting in the cups, and scoring at a good rate the whole time. There’s no guarantee he’ll break through as thoroughly as Liccardi did, but it’s not impossible; apart from a distinct lack of pace, he’s the perfect striker. Blackstock’s always on the edge of the squad, playing well for a mid-table club but not on the same level as some of the other forwards. He got the call this time in large part because of a strong start to the season with three goals in his first four matches.

[Katon]

Ashley Cole is forced out of the squad after picking up an injury in training. I call up Man U’s Rio Ferdinand to replace him. Ferdinand is getting on in years, but he’s still a very reliable player.

The press warns me not to take Austria too lightly. While they may seem a weak team, I am told, they still have the ability to threaten our back line if they’re not treated with respect. Chris Kirkland also chimes in with a similar message. I’m certainly not planning to treat the match as a walkover; on the other hand, I’ve been told this before nearly every qualifier, and we still haven’t conceded a goal. We’re currently on fourteen points after six of our ten qualifiers, three points ahead of second-placed Austria. Our first head-to-head meeting was drawn, so this one will decide the tiebreaker.

Austria vs. England

Our team: Robinson, Smith, Terry, Dawson, Johnson, Parker, Downing, Woodward, Rooney, Defoe, Stead.

Cue an incredibly frustrating first half. We took a while to get going, and Austria had the better of some fairly tame opening exchanges. The first real chance fell to us, though, when Wayne Rooney hit a beautiful ball over the top for Jon Stead to chase. Unfortunately, an Austrian defender got across quickly to make a goal-saving challenge. It was at this point that they scored. A quick counterattack caught our midfield still scrambling to get back, leaving our defence isolated and vulnerable. Roman Wallner did the damage. We pressed for the rest of the half but were unable to create any clearcut chances, with the best opportunity actually falling to Austria as Paul Robinson had to pull off a superb double save on the stroke of half-time.

Hoping to change things, I moved Rooney – disappointing so far – up front, with Jermain Defoe making way for David Bentley to occupy the attacking midfield slot. The swap should have paid off ten minutes into the second half, Rooney bursting free only to fire wide after a neat move involving Stead and Bentley. Not to worry; a few minutes later, the hitherto anonymous Ian Woodward hit a brilliant long pass to Bentley, who held off his marker, ran into the area, and finished coolly. Our second goal was also the result of good work from Woodward: he drew two defenders, then slid the ball to Stead who duly fed the wide-open Bentley to score his second of the match. Things got worse from there for the hosts. An injury and a sending off, both after they’d made all three changes, left them playing a 1-4-3 in an attempt to get back into the match. Chances started to pour in for us, and it was only brilliant goalkeeping from Robert Olejnik that limited us to one more goal scored by substitute Ian Morgan.

Austria 1-3 England

The result leaves us six points clear and certain to win a tiebreaker against our nearest pursuers. A win at home to Russia would clinch qualification for the World Cup.

Ian Morgan gives an interview to celebrate scoring his first ever international goal. In it, he mentions how much he appreciates the faith I’ve shown in him. Which is nice of him.