Alpha Romeo Metaphor II

Mate I've been reading this story, and the original from last year, over the last few weeks and they're insanely good! The attention to detail is unbelievable, you should be an author! This could get published! I would have commented before but I only just made the account

I have just one question. All the fouls during games, and refused penalty kicks and the like, that in-game Enrico gets so worked up about, do they actually happen in your game? Or do you make some of them up to add drama? If that's the case then you're certainly succeeding! If it happens in game then maybe you should check if SI have an agenda against Bologna :P
 
Yeti01 said:
Great start to the season!
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No kidding! We are having a surprising start.

PatrickLFC said:
Mate I've been reading this story, and the original from last year, over the last few weeks and they're insanely good! The attention to detail is unbelievable, you should be an author! This could get published! I would have commented before but I only just made the account

I have just one question. All the fouls during games, and refused penalty kicks and the like, that in-game Enrico gets so worked up about, do they actually happen in your game? Or do you make some of them up to add drama? If that's the case then you're certainly succeeding! If it happens in game then maybe you should check if SI have an agenda against Bologna :P
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First off, thanks for reading! I'm having a blast playing FM15 and writing this story.

Bologna players are getting chopped down and bowled over in the box all the time this season and haven't won a PK yet. Yet the Rossoblu have incidents like in the Genoa match where Monteleone jumps alone for a header and easily clears it yet somehow commits a foul. I'm honestly quite baffled. It sure is making for a more dramatic start to the season from a storytelling perspective.
 
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Enrico Pucci said:
First off, thanks for reading! I'm having a blast playing FM15 and writing this story.

Bologna players are getting chopped down and bowled over in the box all the time this season and haven't won a PK yet. Yet the Rossoblu have incidents like in the Genoa match where Monteleone jumps alone for a header and easily clears it yet somehow commits a foul. I'm honestly quite baffled. It sure is making for a more dramatic start to the season from a storytelling perspective.
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That's definitely weird! I've got to say though, it does add to the story, got to love how worked up Enrico gets on the sideline and the debates about the rulebook with the fourth official :D
 
View attachment 286255Apparently, the rollercoaster ride earlier in the day was more exhausting than I thought. When Gwen met me in the tunnels underneath the Renato Dall'Ara, she took one look at me and mutterd "vindaloo" as she draped an arm around my shoulder. Now normally, and especially after a victory, we go out for dinner after home matches.

Not tonight.

She drove home and I nearly dozed off on the ride. She went into the kitchen to make magic with all her boxes and bags from England while I plopped down on the couch to watch the Roma-Fiorentina match. She made me Palak Paneer, one of my favorites.

Afterward we ate and cleaned up, she snuggled up to me on the couch.

I awoke to her sound asleep on my shoulder, the TV off and no idea what time it was. I carefully reached over and grabbed my phone. It was near midnight. I checked to see the score.

Apparently, I didn't miss anything.

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View attachment 285844Four Rossoblus made the Serie A Team of the Week: Bernardo, Federico Casarini, Francesco Migliore and Davide Monteleone! Plus, Casa made the Serie A September Team! September was a pretty good month for the Rossoblu.

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Our next match is formidable. Inter had a hiccup this weekend against Torino, but they've been flawless otherwise. To give you an idea of how good they've been, here's the Nerazzurri amongst the September Team-of-the-Month:

  1. Samir Hamdanovic
  2. Alberto Pereira
  3. Andrea Ranocchia
  4. Nemanja Vidic
  5. Ricky Alvarez
  6. Simone Zaza

The next month looks like this:

[TABLE="width: 500"]
[TR]
[TD]Sunday[/TD]
[TD]10/3/15[/TD]
[TD]Inter (home)[/TD]
[TD]Serie A[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Wednesday[/TD]
[TD]10/7/15[/TD]
[TD]Poggibonsi (away)[/TD]
[TD]friendly[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Saturday[/TD]
[TD]10/10/15[/TD]
[TD]AC Milan (home)[/TD]
[TD]October Cup (friendly)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Sunday[/TD]
[TD]10/11/15[/TD]
[TD]Inter or Senica (SLO)[/TD]
[TD]October Cup[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Sunday[/TD]
[TD]10/18/15[/TD]
[TD]Torino (home)[/TD]
[TD]Serie A[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Sunday[/TD]
[TD]10/25/15[/TD]
[TD]Palermo (home)[/TD]
[TD]Serie A[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Wednesday[/TD]
[TD]10/29/15[/TD]
[TD]Empoli (away)[/TD]
[TD]Serie A[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

I might add a friendly between Torino and Palermo if we either stink it up against Torino or I think my second stringers needs match.

Finances are good, too. Profit of EU380K ain't bad. The factor is that I don't have an expensive wage bill. My transfer kitty next season should be pretty hefty since I have EU20M in the bank now and am projecting topping EU40M by the end of the season.

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View attachment 285825Wednesday, 30 September 2015 7pm or so

Gwen and I had driven in to the city center for a wee bit of shopping and strolling followed by dinner. The weather was perfect for an evening out. I was carrying the bag from her purchases and had begun contemplating where we should go for dinner.

"I've got a delicate yet very important question," she said hooking her arm through mine. "Or maybe it's a topic."

"Okay," I said.

While I don't know much about women, I know when to STFU and listen. Also, I hadn't been talking and I'd been pondering dining options.

"I've been thinking about this a lot," she continued. "After this last shoot, especially. It was just so crazed and stupid and all the usual uber-drama. Hysterics, too. This thought kept popping into my head. Constantly."

"Uh huh," I intoned.

"Alright, I'll just spit it out," she said. "What do you think about having a baby?"

That was the last thing on my mind. I mean ... no ... I mean ... let's face it, I'm a guy. It's all 'job, job, eat, job, ***, job, sleep' all the time and with little variation. I'm not exactly the contemplative type. Well, if I am at all the contemplative type I certainly hadn't contemplated this particular question which I now faced.

"You want to have one?" I deflected. Yes, good. Get her talking. Avoidance is good.

"There were millions of pregos at the last shoot," she admitted. "Bellies out to here. Waddling this way and that around the set and around Paris. That's what got me thinking. For whatever reason, I couldn't not see them. They were ****ing everywhere."

"Huh," I intoned.

"So I've been thinking that I ought to do this while I can easily recover, you know where I'm going with this?" she said. "Yes, you don't. I'm young and I want my figure back after baby or babies."

"Babies?" I said.

"That all depends of course on you my sweet Italian-American *** machine," she said.

"Wow ... um ... yeah," I fumbled. I glanced over at a shop window. They were closed and I saw our reflection lit by the overhead light. I saw this bald man with a funny, mangled Italian beak for a nose arm in arm with this spectacularly beautiful woman. What was I supposed to say other than yes?

I pulled her arm so she turned.

"Look at us," I said. "Can you imagine us with kids in tow? Pushing a jogging stroller? Changing diapers? Well, I guess I can and think it would be great. But I have a question for you."

"Okay," she said.

"I'm an American, of course, Italian-American and we've got this hang-up about marriage," I said. "Or we're supposed to. You know, marriage first then baby. I don't know. Maybe I've gone native or something. I'm not really sure it's important. So many people I know have the baby or babies first and get married later."

"I couldn't give the least **** about that," Gwen grunted. "So you're in then? We try and manufacture offspring?"

"Well, when you put it like that," I said. "I know where we must eat! It's the perfect place. And it's not far."

If we were going to try and make babies, I was going to need more seafood in my diet.
 
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Serie A: Internazionale Milano v. Bologna

View attachment 285444Saturday, 3 October 2015

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It's a little more than a two hour drive to Stadio Guiseppe Meazza, aka San Siro. The bus drives into the stadium to let us off. After getting dressed the team filed out onto the pitch to warm up. I got to play here two times per year back in the day and even now walking out onto the pitch gives me goosebumps. It's one of the Cathedrals of European Football.

View attachment 285438 San Siro is about one-quarter full by the time we're done with warm-ups. Their not projecting this match as a sell-out -- few teams outside of Juve, Roma and Fiorentina do that anymore. It's sad really.

My players apparently haven't gotten over the goosebumps, either. We're a step and a thought too slow.

Young prodigy Mateo Kovacic receives a throw in deep in our half, bursts between Francesco Migliore and Federico Casarini in into the box. His angle isn't the greatest and he bounces a shot off Dejan Stojanovic. Bernardo clears.

They are right back at us. Dedryck Boyata nicks the ball off of Mauro Icardi but the ball trickles out left to Simone Zaza. Zaza sends it further leftwards to Gregory Van Der Wiel. Van Der Viel makes a run to the end line, beating Matthias Lepiller. Instead of a hard cross toward Icardi who is crashing the net, he cuts it back to Zaza who has drifted over.

Zaza blasts a shot past Dejan into the far side netting.

1-0

I look up at the clock; 2:47 gone and we're already down a goal.

We rather quickly lose possession and the Nerazzurri bring the ball back down into our end. Van Der Viel makes a run for the end line, but Lepiller doesn't get beat this time. Van Der Viel spins and plays a pass back to Zaza. Zaza drives straight at Loris Damonte. Loris backs up hoping that help will arrive. It does, but that just opens up space for Zaza to cut a pass back for Kovacic. The young Croatian Sensation blasts a shot that Dejan dives and knocks out wide right.

Icardi gets there first and and Boyata has to be careful as the ball is in the box. Icardi spins and crosses. Alvarez smashes a near post header past Dejan who comically dived the wrong way expecting a glancing header.

2-0

I look up at the clock; 5:42. **** me.

As the players are moping back up the field looking embarrassed and feeling the shame, I just stand there arms at my side, palms forward pantomiming the 'What The **** Is This?' question I often ask during training session when I see something really deplorable. In other words, they know what I'm asking them.

They pull their collective head's out of our ***** and stop embarrassing ourselves. Shawn Parker takes our first shot in the 28th minute but nearly immediately afterwards Inter are down in our end and Dejan makes a spectular double save on Zaza to keep it from getting embarrassing.

We managed to not give up any more dangerous scoring chances in the remainder of the half.

As I trudged off the pitch, I wondered what the **** I was going to say. Bernardo, Boyata, Damonte, Lepiller, Russotto and Parker had never played here before. They all looked a bit intimidated by the circumstances.

"Listen up," I said to begin my halftime talk. "We obviously weren't ready to play. This place is pretty intimidating. I get that. But now you're used to it. I expect to see a much better showing in the second half. And Lepiller, Russotto and Parker ... I know you haven't hardly seen the ball at all. Your teammates will work on that. I have faith that you guys can do something with the ball once you get it in their half. Let's get out and play like we know we can."

The nearly gave another goal away three minute into the second half. Thankfully, Dejan made another awesome save on Zaza.

But then we got our act together and even made some decent forays into their end. In the 55th minute, Garics threw the ball in to Parker. Shawn headed it right back to Garics. Gyorgy saw that Russotto was positioned for a near post cross and Lepiller was at the back post. So he curled one in for Russotto.

The young Croatian Sensation tried to clear it but whiffed and the ball bounced off of him and past Hamdanovic.

2-1

Just the whiff of luck we need!

We nicked the ball off them fairly quickly and brought the ball into their end. Another Garics throw in the 59th minute to Parker. Shawn spun past Alvaro Pereira and charged at Nemanja Vidic. Before he ran into that brick wall, he slipped a pass out towards the top of the box for Casarini.

Casa unloaded a howitzer of a shot but Samir Hamdanovic managed to dive and tip it over the bar.

View attachment 285443I had two subs ready. I was really, really tired of Lepiller giving the ball away so easily. He very nearly runs up to a defender and gives him the ball. That and his passing is utter **** lately. I replaced him with Modibo Tounkara. The kid couldn't do much worse. Damonte was looking exhausted so on Antonio Vacca.

They cleared the corner and we worked it back deep into their end. In the 62nd, Migs threw the ball into Parker. Shawn spun past Van Der Viel and fed Casa again. Same hard shot that Hamdanovic managed to block. Parker got to the loose ball first and was sizing up his options. His angle was bad and everyone was covered. At this point Van Der Viel stripped the ball from him and cleared it.

Inter then got their act together and we had a much harder time creating any chances. I took Parker off in the 73rd and threw on Daniele Cacia just to see if he would do anything useful. He only managed one shot, hopelessly wide.

What are you going to do? This was a painful learning experience for my squad. Hopefully, we'd grow from it.

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View attachment 285256Sunday, 4 October 2015

As per usual after a loss, training started at 9AM. We weren't pathetic at the San Siro yesterday so it's not like we're running killers, but there are a number of things to work on. At 10:30AM, all the players went into the gym to work on the weightlifting regimens the fitness trainers and physios have devised. Gianni Nanni texted me that Captain Morleo had strained muscles in his back weightlifting. Francesco Migliore will get an extended run in the team now.

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After lunch we watched the video of yesterday's match. In particular, I wanted to showcase how often we lost the ball. In some cases, like Matthias Lepiller, it was because he dribbled when he should have passed. Lepiller's passing has been driving me nuts lately, but he's not alone ... just the worst case of it. Furthermore, I wanted everyone supporting the man with the ball better. Nerazzurri players always had options and I wanted to highlight how hard they worked off the ball.

I was back home well before 3PM for the afternoon matches. The late match between Atalanta and Napoli was the best of they day by far.

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View attachment 284834Tuesday, 6 October 2015

My mobile jangled as I was drinking my morning espresso. It was Hellas Verona manager Andrea Mandorlini.

"Good morning Andrea," I answered.

"And good morning to you, too, Enrico."

"What's up?"

"I'm calling about Pierluigi Cappelluzzo, do you remember him?" he asked.

"Are you usually so full of jokes this early in the morning? Of course I remember him."

"I'm concerned that you haven't been playing him," Andrea said. "We rate him highly and don't want him languishing on the bench and never getting any playing time. We don't want his development stunted because of you."

"I'm sorry you feel that way," I replied. "I have a question, though. If you rate him so highly, why is his contract up in the summer?"

"We intend to open negotiations but that isn't up to me," Andrea said.

"Because he's been progressing nicely in training and looking better in practice matches and friendlies," I said. "I think he's progressing just fine."

"Well, I don't," Andrea said. "I want him playing more."

"Okay, but I'm his boss and I'm in charge of his development," I replied. "Are you willing to trust me?"

"So you're saying you won't be starting him soon?" he asked.

"Andrea, or what? Recall him?"

Andrea just cleared his throat a little.

"Alright, fine," I said. "I know we negotiated a purchase price. I'll have Savoia contact your Director of Football and we'll buy him outright. I think that he'll eventually be a good Serie A striker for us and I already know that he's willing to sign for us next summer."

There was a spluttering sound on the other end then a sigh.

"Andrea, no hard feelings, right?" I asked. "I'm just very determined to keep Pierluigi."

"Yeah, I know," Andrea said. "It's just business. I wouldn't have let you put that purchase clause in the deal. Talk to you later, Enrico."

"Ciao."

And later that day I met with Pierluigi and offered him a contract. After a bit of back and forth with his agent, he'd be joining us permanently in January for EU 1.6 million.

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Love it, Enrico playing hard ball! Andrea never stood a chance!
 
October International Break

View attachment 284602October 5 - 16, 2015

Not that many of my players were away on international duty. Bernardo, Gyorgy Garics, Dejan Stojanovic and Modibo Tounkara to be specific. So I'd scheduled a friendly against Poggibonsi and a Cup involving AC Milan, Inter and Slovakian side Senica.

I was pretty disappointed with our performance against Poggibonsi. I didn't see the effort and concentration I expected. I let them know I was unsatisfied.

In the October Cup, Inter and Senica played in the early match and the Slovaks surprisingly beat the Nerazzurri on penalties after drawing 1-1 in regulation (no extra time in this cup competition).

We then lost to Milan. Dedryck Boyata had a good match but none of the other starters did. So faced Inter in the 3rd place match. My second stringers faced the Nerazzurri and teenage midfielder Leonardo Guerra had an outstanding game. He's eventually going to be a good Serie A midfielder. He has a long ways to go, but he showed how good he might become against Inter.

Also, this particular cup competition netted us EU180K in TV revenue and a gate of around EU100K.

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View attachment 284347Saturday, 17 October 2015

Four Saturday matches. The Milan-Udinese and Juventus-Fiorentina matches were exciting. Milan were up by two when Nigel De Jong got sent off for cannibalism. Okay, I'm exaggerating ... it was butchery, though. Okay, it was two yellow cards, but they were for two pretty violent fouls.

The Juve match was exciting until Arturo Vidal for two yellow cards inside six minutes of each other in the second half. They were up by two so they just parked the bus and turned the game really, really boring.

Schizophrenic Lazio finally played decently on the road.

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Serie A: Bologna v. Torino

View attachment 283944Sunday, 18 October 2015

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The difficulty we face with Torino is they are the stingiest defense in the league. The challenge we face is they are the lowest scoring team in Serie A that are not in the relegation zone. So as long as we're not suicidally naive, we can attack at will. Fabio Quagliarella isn't fast anymore and if we can keep Marco Benassi and Marcelo Larrondo in check, I think we have a real chance.

Torino play very cautiously so it wasn't exactly surprising that the match started out dull. The first shot in anger was Quagliarella nicking the crossbar with a free kick with Dejan Stojanovic beaten in the 19th minute.

View attachment 283942In the 25th, we created our first chance. Gyorgy Garics took a throw deep in the Torino end. Federico Casarini received the throw, spun his defender and lasered a pass to Antonio Vacca who spanked a shot that skimmed the bar.

Then Lepiller, who had drifted inside, unleashed a howitzer that howled a hair wide of the far post in the 29th.

By the 31st minute, The Toro had three players booked. Paolo Silvio Mazzoleni kept calling over Matteo Darmian who was the Torino's captain for the day to lecture him about his sides rough play.

In the 33rd minute, Albertazzi launched a 50 meter ball over Bernardo's head and behind Francesco Migliore. It caught both Rossoblu defenders completely off guard. Quagliarella cushioned the over-the-shoulder pass perfectly into his path and shot with his second touch. Dejan got a hand on it but couldn't keep it out.

0-1

Aw, man. Yeah, it was a great pass and, yeah, Quagliarella's control was majestic, but gawdamsunofabitch a little anticipation goes a long way.

We responded well, by bringing the into their and setting up camp. We just couldn't find catch a break and find our equalizer. Shawn Parker had his shot blocked in the 35th and Casarini got to the rebound first but shot right at the keeper. In the 39th, Vacca rattled the crossbar with a 25 meter blast.

In 41st, Japanese midfielder Hojime clattered Casarini. He got lectured by Mazzoleni while Matthias Lepiller lined up the free kick from a full 30 meters. The ref sprayed the spray for the balla and the wall and it was obvious Matthias was going to shoot. He hit a wobbling, no-spin hammerblow that keeper Daniele Padelli had a hard time tracking it as he dived as it was moving so much. After the ball whistled over the wall in nosedived and Padelli tried to smother it as it bounced at the goal line. He was unable to control it and it squirted out of his reach and lay there invitingly.

Parker is nightmarishly quick (especially for defenders) and he was the first to the ball and poked the ball into the before anyone else could react.

1-1

I told the players to keep it up in the second half. I felt we were well placed to take the game to Torino and providing we kept things tight at the back, the only question was whether or not we were going to score.

Once again we started the second in the exact wrong way; Lepiller gave the ball away. Dammit, Matthias, concentrate and take the easy pass. Torino quickly got the ball forward but Quagliarella thankfully screwed his shot well wide. Dejan then hit the following goal kick really poorly. Torino right wingback Peter Ankeren easily controlled the ball as he was all alone by the right sideline and hit a 40 meter pass into the space behind Bernardo. Thankfully, Bernardo recovered to block Quagliarella's shot out for a corner.

"CONCENTRATE! CONCENTRATE!" I screamed.

They took my words to heart and the stupidity ended. We couldn't find a way through, though. Our best chances were Vacca and Casa shooting from long-range. Torino just parked the bus and tried to launch counter attacks.

Right winger Andrea Russotto was tiring so I replaced him in the 69th minute with Modibo Tounkara. And we kept pressing. As 80 minutes approached, I got Pierluigi Cappelluzzo ready as Lepiller was clearly exhausted.

In the 81st, Alessandro Gazzi lost his mind. He launched a two-footed, studs up tackle from behind on Vacca. Vacca sensed it coming and managed to get both feet off the ground as Gazzi sent him flying. Mazzoleni sprinted over brandishing his red card.

Here was our opportunity. Could we take advantage?

I decided to stay with replacing Lepiller. I sent on Capp on as the striker, Parker moved out to the right wing and Tounkara switched over to the left wing.

In the 86th, Migliore threw the ball into Vacca. Antonio drove in toward the penalty box drawing the right back Ankeren. He then pass in and up to Tounkara who managed to stay onside. Darmian tackled the ball away but it rolled to Vacca. Vacca zipped a pass in to Parker who poked the ball goalward.

It wasn't moving very fast but Padelli had a long way to travel to get to it. Padelli dived but missed the slow-roller which hit the inside of the post and rolled past Padelli along the goal line as the keeper slid the other way. Eventually, and it seemed like it took forever, the ball crossed the line!

2-1

We'd done it! That was amazing!

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