Alpha Romeo Metaphor II

Lippo255 said:
Gather that is you in your new logo Enrico?

Actually spent a couple of minutes flicking back & forth between the pic in the first page of your 14 story & this 1 & am still not positive. Lol

If so that is rather cool! Never seen that before.
Click to expand...

Yes, it's new. Thanks to TotallyNotTrixy for suggesting it.
 
View attachment 316070Thursday, 30 October 2014 8:34PM

My phone jangled in my pocket, it was Esteban.

“Esteban, how are you?” I answered in Spanish.

“Good, good, very good,” he said. “How are you and Gwen?”

“She’s just back from the Milan fashion week, her career has really taken off,” I replied. “She’s rather happy to have escaped the island of her birth and is really enjoying life in Italy so far.”

“I must congratulate you on yet another job well done with Bologna,” he exclaimed. “You simply win wherever you go. Now I must form the Ultra Rossoblu Cadiz branch.”

“Of course you must,” I said. “I’ll ship you out some jerseys and scarves. But your new manager has The Yellow Submarine undefeated as well.”

“Apparently, the second time around is the charm for Antonio Calderon," Esteban replied. "Or he was really desperate for work. He's nearly worked every club in Spain and while I exaggerate, it's not by much."

"Would I recognize anyone on the squad?"

"Barely. Juan Villar is now a right midfielder. Oddly, it's working out pretty well. For reasons I simply cannot understand Josete still gets far too generous minutes; he's played twice. Tomas and the Kikis, Marquez and Lopez are still on the roster but no longer feature."

"Too funny," I replied. "The defense must be pretty good then, eh?"

"Calderon has higher quality defenders than you had," Esteban said. "But he's gotten them working well together, yes."

"You know I get a winter holiday, right?" I said.

"Yes, the Italians are not insane like the English, aren't they. So can I expect you and the lovely Gwen in December?"

"Probably New Year's."

"Oh, that will be lovely. We throw quite a New Year's here in Cadiz."

"I remember."

"Arriderci, mon Ami."

"Hah. Yes. I'll see you in two months. Goodbye."

Click.
 
Serie B: Bari v. Bologna

View attachment 315916Saturday, 1 November 2014

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Despite the preseason predictions and the fact that a club named Bari have spent quite a bit of time in Serie A, this isn't really the same club. The club AS Bari went bankrupt, was acquired by new owners and was renamed as FC Bari 1908 and has a fairly young, inexpensive squad. They quality of even a few years ago has been sold off.

So we hopped on a chartered jet to fly down the Adriatic coast into Puglia. We get lucky again with the weather and have a nice, calm plane ride. A bit of a bumpy landing, but I'm guessing our pilot was having an off day.

Today, I finally got my relaxed day at the office. And a mostly empty office at that. Stadio San Nicola seats 58,270 and was about 10% full with Bologna supporters making up a thousand of the 5K inside this vast bowl. The guys took care of the business, no messing around. Bari had no clear cut chances and of Dejan Stojanovic's six saves, only one was a diving save and he always had that one covered.

The one blight upon this day of calm and zen was Franco Zuculini pulling up clutching his hamstring in the 15th minute. I replaced him with Marti Riverola.

We got the scoring going in the 22nd minute. Federico Casarini took a pass from the right from Gyorgy Garics and spun. Casa drifted left and slid a pass into the path of Riverola. As Riverola was about to shoot, he had his legs taken out. I glanced at the ref. He had his whistle in his mouth but didn't blow because Gennaro Troianiello was racing the Bari right back for the ball. Troi brushed the kid aside and smashed the ball into the net.

0-1View attachment 315924

We dominated the first half but only led 1-0 at halftime. I was really pleased with how we were playing and told them so. I did switch to a more defensive 451 formation with Michele Pazienza the shield in front of the back four.

At the hour mark, I decided to pull off Sergio and replace him with Matthias Lepiller. Lepiller gives the team so much more of an attacking edge that Sergio doesn't.

On 64 minutes, Casa doubled our fun with a blast from the right side of the box after a cute little exchange with Lepiller.

At 80 minutes, I replaced Paz with Aros Radakovic.

On 81 minutes, Federico Barba cleared a ball up the left flank. Troi very deftly controlled it in stride and set off down the left flank. He whipped in a back post cross that was so precise that Lepiller didn't even have to break stride, all he had to do was cushion his header into the gaping net.

I kept an eye on the other games and shocker was unfolding the Ligurian coast. Spezia were thrashing second place Varese 5-0. What a marvelous day for us.

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View attachment 315548Sunday, 2 November 2014 not long after 2pm

We were wrapping up our training session and I was checking my emails as I sauntered off the pitch at Castedelbole when I heard footsteps approaching. It was Robert Aquafresca.

"Hey, Enrico, may I have a moment?" he asked.

"Of course," I said as I pocketed my mobile.

"I just, um, I, um, I realized what you were trying to do with me the other day," he stumbled.

I stopped. He stopped. I gave him that smile of mine that I'm told usually scares people.

"You're the legitimate Machiavelli, boss, legitimate Machiavelli," he said.

"Thanks," I said. "I just hope to keep you and Daniel in the right mindset and form. That's my sole goal."

"And, Enrico..." he said. "I was just really angry that day and I'm not looking to transfer or anything."

"Good to hear, Robert, good to hear," I replied.

"I'll see you tomorrow then, Ciao," he said and jogged off toward the locker room.

I pulled my mobile back out and went through a couple more of the emails from Savioa. After I changed, I was off to my monthly review meeting with him and President Guaraldi.
 
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Serie B: Bologna v. Varese

View attachment 315504Saturday, 8 November 2014

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"Fkn godamnedsonofabitch," I cursed under my breathe as the second goal settled into the back of our net. I put my hands into my pockets to verify if I had any pants on. If I had no pants, it was just a dream and I'd wake up. Nope. Pants are on. Living fkn nightmare.

Varese had walzed through our defense in the 11th minute to take the lead and now we hadn't bothered to defend a free kick in the 18th. Where was our resolve to play solid defense and build from that?

****!!!

I stood there glaring at my charges, seething. Should I scream at them? They'd hear me. Stadio Renato Dall'Arra had gone silent except for the thousand or so Leopardi Ultras shoved into a heavily policed corner of Curva Nord. I decided to change tactics. I had to do something to wake them up.

"CASA! CASA!" I shouted. He looked over. "Move up into the hole! Move to attacking mid!" He nodded.

"PAZ! MATUZALEM! PAZ! MATUZALEM!" I shouted. They looked over. "Man for man! Man for man in the middle!" They both nodded.

Everybody knew what this meant. We were switching from having a shield in front of the back four and two central mids to our more attacking 4231. And since we were now down by two, they would probably all figure out that I wanted them to attack.

Which we did. Not particularly well, but they tried. Daniele Cacia hadn't brought his shooting boots. Guess who was going on at halftime? For everyone else, Varese goalkeeper Filippo Perucchini was playing out of his mind. He made three brilliant saves to prevent goals.

"Calm down, Enrico," Graziano, my Assistant Manager said as he walked quickly and I stomped toward the dressing room. "A vein on your neck might pop and you've turned bright red."

"I know," I replied as we reached the locker room door. "Watch this. When I'm done, tell Cacia that Aqua will be replacing him."

I'd made sure I was the last one in. I stepped in, picked up the rubber trash can that sits next to the door and heaved it across the room. I threw it high so it wouldn't hit anyone. Trash flew out as it smashed into the wall above some rather shocked looking player's heads. Then the can rebounded into the middle and bounced around for a bit. I watched it until it stop bouncing.

"WHAT THE **** WAS THAT!" I screamed. "WHERE THE **** WAS OUR DEFENDING HIGH UP THE PITCH!?! WE JUST ****ING LET THEM ****ING WALK RIGHT THROUGH OUR ****ING MIDFIELD! WHERE THE **** WAS OUR COMPACT, AGGRESSIVE DEFENDING FROM LAST WEEK!?! WE WERE SO ****ING POLITE WE SHOULD HAVE BEEN SERVING MIXED DRINKS AND ****ING APPETIZERS WHILE WE WERE AT IT! IF I'D HAVE WANTED ****ING STEWARDESSES SERVING DRINKS OUT THERE I WOULD HAVE ****ING SIGNED SOME OF THOSE LADIES LAST SUMMER! WHAT THE **** IS GOING ON!?! SORT THIS **** OUT!"

I wiped the flecks off spittle off my chin and I slammed the door after me on my way to my little office under the stadium. Let's see if that has an effect.

I missed the restart by 15 seconds as my stadium office is rather isolated. As I sat down on the bench, we won a corner. Lepiller whipped in the corner and Federico Barba smashed a volley goalwards. Casa couldn't get out of the way and his **** saved Varese a goal. It was looking like it was going to be one of those days.

Until it got worse in the 49th. We gave the inept and aging striker Neto Pereira enough time to control a pass, look down to make sure he'd controlled it, look up to pick his spot then look down again to shoot.

0-3

A half groan, half sigh went through the stadium. How soon before supporters start walking out? ****, I wanted to.

Two minutes later, Dominico Maietta tries to head a long ball back to our keeper. He mishits it and Luca Forte is onto his mistake in a flash. Dejan Stojanovic thwarts him for the first good defense play all match from my guys.

****!

I yank off Matuzalem in the 62nd because he's becoming slower and more useless. I send on Marti Riverola. He can't do much worse.

Then Varese's Luigi Falcone loses his mind. He'd only recently been booked (46th minute) and he felt the need to chop down Paz from behind. It had to be and, yes, it was. A second yellow and a red. Just what we needed.

Some of the Ultras on Curva Bulgarelli let out a cheer, but it was rather half-hearted. I was up off the bench.

"CONCENTRATE! CONCENTRATE!" I yelled. For added effect I was also pointing with both index fingers at my temples. "CONCENTRATE!"

When enough of my players were looking at me, I started waving them all forward. It was balls to the wall time.

After a moment of two of inept attacking, I decided I had to change something. Lepiller just ****ing stunk out there today. I got Sergio up and stretching. He was doing this right next to where Matthias was running up and down the right flank. Suddenly, he put in two decent crosses. Hmmm, maybe he doesn't want to come out?

Then in the 69th, Aqau volleyed in this third attempt.

1-3

I told Sergio to sit down. Good. Now Matthias is playing better.

Two minutes later and Casa redirects a Matthias cross into the net and the suddenly awake Rossoblue crowd is rocking! Curva Sud goes ballastic.

2-3

In the 72nd minute, the Varese keeper gets a finger tip to a Aqua shot to prevent our equalizer. The equalizer is coming, I can tell.

In the 79th, Captain Morleo whips in a rare cross from the left. Aqua rises and smashes it goalward. Perucchini defelects it and its just sitting there 2 meters from the line! Lepiller races over but it won't count as Matthias was offside.

Maietta and Forte leap for the goal kick and Maietta lands in a heap clutching his right leg. Forte's cleat had gashed him pretty bad on the way down. On goes teenager Luca Callegari to replace him.

In the 84th, Lepiller crosses in to the near post. Paz controls it on his thigh and blasts his shot into the side netting.

Varese brough the ball out from the back from the ensuing goal kick. Luca Callegari stepped up to the half line to intercept a pass and then lumps it into the left corner. Initially, it just looked like an aimless long ball from an inexperienced teenager. But Troianiello controlled it perfectly first time, beat the right fullback with his second touch and ran for the corner.

Aqua ran near post drawing all the defenders and Matthias ran for the far post. He whipped in a back post special and Lepiller just had to cushion the ball into the net for the equalizer!

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Absolute bedlam in Stadio Renata Dall'Arra!

And the game winner was coming. I just knew it.

Casa passed off to Riverola and took off for the box in the 88th, Riverola dished out to Morleo. Morleo delivered a cross toward the penalty spot with which Capt. Amazing, Mr. Last Gasp, my rising superstar Federico Casarini met with a left foot volley that was past the keeper before he had time to blink.

4-3

As my players were jogging back from the celebration, I was waving at them to get their attention. Once I had it, I just pointed to my temples. Concentrate! There was no way any of them would be able to hear me yelling. Not even with my megaphone of a voice.

As you can imagine, I had some high praise in the locker room after this fortuitous comeback.

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That was an Istanbul style come back! You did not get the hairdryer out at half time was more like a blow torch! Loving the way this is written! Really enjoying reading this. Keep it up.

 
"Let's go to Rome," I said after we'd ordered our dinner.

"Really?" Gwen asked. "That'd be nice. Oh, that's right. The international break starts tomorrow, doesn't it."

"Right. I've given the players the week off. I need to decompress. Tonight's match aged me."

"That was a match for the ages," she said. "Have you ever come back from three down before?"

"No. The supporters will be enjoying that one for a while, that's for sure."

"Oooohh, Roma," Gwen hummed. "Now I'm starting to get excited. Mum n Dad have several coffee table books of pictures of Rome. I grew up loving those books. Now I get to see for myself. I'm so excited."
 
mark182lfc said:
That was an Istanbul style come back! You did not get the hairdryer out at half time was more like a blow torch! Loving the way this is written! Really enjoying reading this. Keep it up.
Click to expand...

Yes! The blow torch treatment! When the hair dryer simply isn't enough!

Thanks!
 
Serie B: Latina v. Bologna

View attachment 314755Saturday, 22 November 2014

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We took the train southward to Rome, then drove by bus southward into the former swamplands south of Rome. The tiny little stadium, Stadio Dominico Francioni, is only half full. This is how it goes in Serie B, playing in front of half empty, itty-bitty stadiums.

Latina play fairly simply. Get the ball up to the forward and run off him. The scouting report said that their two central midfielders will make late runs. Knowing it and stopping it are different matters. Viviani and Valiani charge forward in the 25th minute and their forward Michele Paolucci lays it off for Viviani. He blasts just high, but I can see where there chances will be coming from.

In the 38th, Michele Pazienza wins a tackle but they get to the loose ball first. In a flash it's up to their striker and Paolucci is playing a ball into space for Viviani to run onto. He hesitates a second and freezes my keeper Dejan Stojanovice then runs two steps further and passes the ball into the open net.

1-0

And that was about it for a pretty dull first half. I'm calm in the locker room, no need for a hair dryer, blow torch or flamethrower. They know what to do.

From the second half kick off, we take the ball down the left. Gennaro Troianiello crosses in and Robert Aquafresca leaps and redirects the high ball. It hits the keeper and bounces toward the far side of the goal. Matthias Lepiller is the first there and hammers a shot. But two defenders throw themselves in the way and the ball ricochets out for a corner.

That's more like it.

We weren't passing like I'd like to so in the 55th, I pulled Uros Radakovic off and replaced him with Marti Riverola. Marti is much more creative. I was sacrificing defensive stability for creativity.

Our breakthrough came in the 57th. Troi got the ball at the halfway line and starting dribbling diagonally across the field. Nothing really developed in front of him so he laid the ball off to right back Gyorgy Garics. His cross was headed right back at him so he tried again. Second time was the charm.

Federico Casarini hammered a volley past their keeper!

View attachment 3147531-1

The 500 or so Rossoblu fans who'd ventured southward cheered wildly behind the opposite goal.

Then we decamped in the Latina half.

In the 73rd, I replaced central defender Dom Maietta with Luca Callegari. It was a case of Luca needs playing time and Dom is just back from an injury he sustained two weeks ago.

Our game winner came in the 81st. Lepiller had the fullback and a midfielder on him but managed to sneak in a cross. Aqua had Natali all over him but stuck out a toe and redirected the cross into the net.

1-2

As they jogged back toward our end for the restart, I got everyone's attention and told them to concentrate.

And they did.

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Really enjoying your story and the style of writing, love that you go beyond the basic idea of playing the game, adding new characters etc. Makes it really interesting, keep it up!
 
OlliLFC said:
Really enjoying your story and the style of writing, love that you go beyond the basic idea of playing the game, adding new characters etc. Makes it really interesting, keep it up!
Click to expand...

Thank you!
 
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