100 Years of the Neroverdi - A Sassuolo Calcio story

[WeArePalace]

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THE NEW CENTURY OF SASSUOLO - MAKING IT IN SERIE A
Hello and welcome to my latest Football Manager 2019 story where we'll be taking over at Sassuolo. The team was founded in 1922, and to take them into a new century, I have taken over at the club in the hope of leading them into the next generation of the club. This is my first save in Serie A on FM 2019 so please like, comment and follow as I try to make Sassuolo the best team in Italy. I'm quite looking forward to playing with this team and the transfer budget stands at 11.5m. The team has had an incredible journey from Italy's 4th tier to recently featuring in the Europa League.
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The club plays their football at the Mapei Stadium. The stadium looks not too bad but it could do with an expansion in a few years but does fit 23,717 people in it. Their major rivals are Modena, but they are in Italy's lower league at the current time. The side has no major honours, but has won all of Italy's lower league trophies. Hope you enjoyed this quick overview of my new series and please enjoy my first ever FM 2019 Serie A save!

 

[WeArePalace]

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BUSY TRANSFER WINDOW CONCLUDES SUCCESSFUL PRE-SEASON FOR NEROVERDI
Sassuolo have had a solid pre-season as they didn't drop a match and only conceded one goal. A respectable 1-1 draw with Bayer 04 highlighted the teams new found ability to match it with the bigger sides under their new Spanish manager Jonathan Diaz, who has major plans to revitalise the club. Diaz is a 45 year old Spanish tactician who was a surprise appointment to follow in from former manager Roberto De Zerbi. Diaz is said to implement a tiki-taka style and thinks that the Spanish game will also fit in Italy.
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As shown above, Sassuolo cruised through pre-season and their star performer was energetic midfielder Alfred Duncan, who is said to have a major role in Diaz's tactics. The side begun to find a flow and they found their feet immediately under Diaz, highlighted by a 5-0 thumping and numerous other big wins.
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Diaz has made some spectacular transfers in the window. He added Sampdoria defender Joakim Andersen, Barcelona LB Juan Miranda, Udinese GK Manuel Gasparini, Gijon CAM Pelayo Morilla and Porto ST Fabio Silva. I was really pleased with the deals myself, especially with being able to nab Miranda for so little. Andersen is the only player who makes it straight into the Starting XI at the CB position, as I focused mainly on youth development given our limited funds. I will profile the new players in the next update.

The Neroverdi will certainly need to carry their good form into the new season as they face up against AC Milan, Lazio and Juventus in their first 5 matches of the Serie A season. This is one of my more difficult beginnings so 6 points is a realistic target from the matches as we also face SPAL and Bologna who we could beat. I'm hoping that Babacar can do the business up top as I haven't been able to get the best out of my strikers as much recently.

 

[Klippybo]

Good luck - I did a Sassuolo save a few years back. You will be hoping that Inter dont take up the option to sign Politano!!

 

[WeArePalace]

Good luck - I did a Sassuolo save a few years back. You will be hoping that Inter dont take up the option to sign Politano!!

I am already praying for them not to pay but unfortunately his value is already higher than his optional future fee. Thanks for the nice words mate, hopefully I do well!

 

[WeArePalace]

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SERIE A BEGINS SUCCESSFULLY FOR SASSUOLO
We face SPAL and AC Milan in our first two games of the season. Realistically I was hoping for 3 points from the matches as we should be able to beat SPAL. AC Milan and Sassuolo played a historic match against each other a few years ago, where the Neroverdi won 4-3. AC Milan went up 2-0 before Domenico Berardi scored 4 goals to give Sassuolo the victory. Berardi became the youngest player since 1994-95 to score 4 goals in a match and also the first to do so against AC Milan. Repeating this would be amazing - but I would be satisfied with a point!
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Well what a start to the season! While it is one of the lower ranked sides in the league, we tore them apart and fully deserved the win we got! Good to see Babacar scoring as we need to get goals from our striker. Loanee Rogerio was also outstanding and I really want to make his loan move permanent from Juventus.
MOTM: Rogerio -Energetic, defensively capable and got a goal. This guy was scintillating and hopefully it continues.

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And we do get another win against Milan!! Alfred Duncan's thunderous effort was enough as we held out for an outstanding victory! What a win! Duncan was excellent as was Locatelli yet again and I'm really impressed with the solid defence and new signing Joakim Andersen is really settling in nicely so far.
MOTM: Alfred Duncan - An outstanding performance from our Ghanaian midfielder, who is being targeted by Shanghai SIPG, His pace and energy was vital in a big win so early on.

SUMMARY
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So the team played excellently with a win in the Italian Cup as well which wasn't shown! The win against Milan was obviously the highlight but the 3-0 over SPAL was really solid too. Proud so far!

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
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While he didn't take any MOTM accolades, Manuel Locatelli is proving himself to be Mr. Consistent in midfield. He has been reminiscent of a young Andrea Pirlo and his move being made permanent had already happened before I arrived is great news because I'm sure he wouldn't come cheap now from Milan, especially after his performance against them! His POTM nomination really put the icing on the cake for the young Italian.

LEAGUE TABLE
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So we're sitting nicely near the top after 2 wins from 2 to begin the season. Wonderful stuff and I couldn't be happier with the side, no goals conceded as well!

 

[WeArePalace]

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SCINTILLATING SASSUOLO REMAIN UNBEATEN DESPITE DIFFICULT FIXTURES
Going into a month facing Juventus and Lazio was obviously not going to be easy but judging by our solid start I didn't think we would lose by too much. I was more concerned about the other matches against Bologna and Udinese because in the first season these are the sides we should be getting wins against if we are to truly push for a Europa League spot. Sassuolo have conceded a few goals lately in real life, conceding a 96th minute winner against Bologna and then a 95th minute equaliser against Lazio. Hopefully I don't do the same although I would take a point against Lazio.

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Off to the perfect start as we dominate Bologna! Duncan scored another thumping effort and returning CB Mauricio Lemos scored a free-kick. Yet another clean sheet and another win as the side continues to move up the table. We are a bit unlucky though as Alfred Duncan, Juan Miranda, Joakim Andersen and Merih Demiral are all injured for a few weeks which means they'll be missing which is unfortunate. Especially as Duncan's form is class but he picked up an injury late on in this match.
MOTM: Alfred Duncan - The midfielder had to be taken off injured in the 88th minute but prior his workrate really gave us this win and another belter from range his goals are proving crucial. He will be a big miss but Djuricic does look a capable replacement.
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Aside from conceding our first goal, there are no negatives to take from this. Another solid result against a big side and I was really happy that we played quite well. Djuricic had an immediate impact coming into the team which I was delighted with!
MOTM: Rogerio - This guy is unbelievable as an LWB. He's quick, energetic, physically able and can score goals too! I highly recommend him...I will be throwing all my eggs into one basket if required to nab him.
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OH MY WORD WHAT A WIN HERE!!!! We were doing so well and it just got heaps better with a stunning win over Juventus! I am ecstatic with our performance and to keep a clean sheet against the likes of Ronaldo and Dybala is also amazing. Berardi's penalty proved to be the only goal and major chance of the match. They were reduced to 10 men for the last few moments but it didn't affect the outcome. Delighted!
MOTM: Rogerio - This guy was once again amazing. To top off all the news, Allegri didn't ask for much and I jumped at the chance to sign this guy for 7.5m. He will join permanently as soon as his loan spell ends!
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A decent result to end the month in a goalless draw. The defence is super solid and I can only hope this continues. Babacar is the only disappointment so far with 1 goal in 6 games. I'm playing him as we don't have a great back-up striker and he is doing well in terms of providing for teammates.
MOTM: Rogerio - This guy will not stop impressing me. His consistency is amazing at just 20 years old and he is amazing for me at wing back!

SUMMARY
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Well what a month!!! To be unbeaten and to beat Juventus - you couldn't do much better!!! This squad is so fun to play with - I almost hope though we don't do too well as I'd like to not be just cruising through - but we aren't top yet and Europa League remains our aim.View attachment 12935View attachment 12934
Who else? This guy has been amazing and I'm so glad he's deal has now been made permanent. He's irreplaceable at the moment.

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Mauricio Lemos free-kick at the start of the month finished runner up for Goal of the Month!

LEAGUE TABLE
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[WeArePalace]

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SASSUOLO PROVE THEMSELVES AS REAL CONTENDERS
This month will be interesting as we haven't got major teams, but still do face some tough opposition. Torino is our biggest challenge, with Chievo, Frosinone and Empoli. Ultimately, with the way things are going, I'm going to go for 10 points with the only dropped points being against Torino. Staying unbeaten is my main priority for this month.

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We start the month with a slightly underwhelming result against Chievo. Nothing major happened in the game and I suppose I'm satisfied enough as we did manage to keep another clean sheet.
MOTM: Marlon - The former Barcelona CB was solid throughout and the interceptions he made prevented them from doing anything of note.

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Well unlike the other match this was a real thriller! We went 2-0 down and staring at a dip in form, before Babacar finally came good and him and Rogerio single handedly dragged us back into the game. Rogerio assisted twice for Babacar, before scoring a wonderful winner as he smashed it home after a splendid dribbling run late on! Certainly the most entertaining match for a while.
MOTM: Khouma Babacar - While Rogerio got a higher match rating, Babacar is someone who has disappointed me and I was really happy that he finally performed.

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An easy win here as Babacar scores again and Locatelli also does so. Djuricic played well in the absence of Duncan again, but Rogerio had another quality match. Another clean sheet to add and a really solid win. In other news, we needed a back-up striker so Andrea Pinamonti has come in for a decent fee but nothing too expensive. I think he'll be perfect off the bench and able to develop into a starting striker.
MOTM: Manuel Locatelli - Locatelli won POTW for his performance here today and he's the perfect engine room behind the other two midfielders.

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We finish off with a narrow win where Domenico Berardi was the center of attention as he missed a penalty but scored the winner in a match without any further excitement. Empoli accepted defeat and we really should've had 3 or 4 rather than the sole goal. At least we have the win.
MOTM: Rogerio - Solid again from the full-back. He's been wonderful so far and has been my best player.

SUMMARY
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Another month where we make good progress towards top spot. Perhaps we weren't as convincing as we might've been in some of the games but overall very happy with the performances.

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Rogerio was the solid player that he has been yet again. He deserves his second consecutive POTM award. Well done son!

 

[WeArePalace]

Hey everyone, I’m very sorry but this is one of those stories where a team does too well. After this we won our next 11, including a 6-1 vs Inter and I decided to stop it as I just wasn’t feeling it after so many wins. I think I’ll try one more story, but if it heads down the same pathway, I may take a small break. Please don’t hate me for changing stories again, Thanks.