Alpha Romeo Metaphor II

9 clear cut chances!! :O Your players are in for some serious sprinting
 
Been a silent reader for a long time now, through both parts of the story in fact. Decided it was finally time to share my gratitude for what has become essential reading through "breaks" at work lol. So to you sir I thank you for all your efforts and look forward to seeing what else is in store.
 
BlindSide said:
Been a silent reader for a long time now, through both parts of the story in fact. Decided it was finally time to share my gratitude for what has become essential reading through "breaks" at work lol. So to you sir I thank you for all your efforts and look forward to seeing what else is in store.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much!
 
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View attachment 273301Monday, 7 December 2015 8:30AM

Enzo lumbered out of the security booth looking very serious.

"Have mercy on them, Enrico," he said as he bent down to chat through my open car window.

"I want my pound of flesh, Enzo," I said. I hadn't slept well and was feeling grim and vindictive still.

"What? That old English hack writer?" Enzo said. "Don't you remember who wanted the pound of flesh? Don't you recall that it didn't end well for the merchant?"

"So what are you saying, Enzo?"

"I'm saying that the boys have been working really hard, playing really well and, if Mary Mother of God and Saint Catherine are willing, they'll play better against Milan and Juve," he said. "So don't take out your rage on them."

"Did I look that angry yesterday?"

"I know you well, my Little Devil, and I know that dark cloud of anger that I saw upon your face yesterday at the press conference. I know you wanted to take it out on somebody. I could see that. I can still see it."

"Well, they fully expect to run off the loss today," I replied. "It's not like it will be a surprise. Most of them are Catholics anyway or at least were raised Catholic, and the running is their penance. And probably like me, they didn't sleep well last night."

"All I'm saying is that an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind," Enzo said.

"Yeah, I know, Enzo, you make valid points. What you didn't get to see was that they were pretty fired up afterwards. I said a few choice words. They're angry. Their pride is hurt and they know they stunk it up. But they know this is the first match this season in which they sucked. I think the squad is about to have a learning experience."

"Plus, I want them to know that if they embarrass themselves, they will suffer for it. Also, I have to live up to my reputation as a hard ***, you know."

"I know, my Little Devil, I know. I will continue to light the candles and say the prayers. I have faith that God and all the Saints will come through for us."

"Well, thank them for me," I replied. "It seems to be working so far. Anyway, see you later. I gotta get prepared."

"Goodbye, Enrico."
 
Saturday, 12 December 2015

Golasso fest in Genoa today. Poor Perugia can't buy any luck even if they had the money. A late own goal doomed them. But what a great advertisement for calcio. And then there was the Cagliari-Napoli match. I hoped nobody watched that flaccid fart of a match. So dreary, so ... so ... yawn.

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Enrico Pucci said:
Thank you so much. Now I'm blushing.

Back in the hey day of FIFA Mgr in the early aughts, there was a story told by a guy who managed Sevilla then Cancun. His original story was about managing Liverpool, I think. You talking about that guy?

Or else there was a guy who had this incredibly complex story going with some small club in the north of Engerland.

It's too bad EA went mental. They had a good community site going.
Click to expand...

It was another FM story quite similar to yours in terms of how they created an entirely captivating backstory to go along with their games. I think he was attempting the unemployment challenge and he ended up in the australian league before jumping to England. His story and yours are both incredible, keep up the good work man
 
Serie A: AC Milan v. Bologna

View attachment 269693Sunday, 13 December 2015

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Enough fans showed up to watch the match that the Renato Dall'Ara would have been a sell-out. But on this filthy, wet and cold day in Milan the San Siro looked pretty sad.

I had the full bundle going on. Running tights under my heaviest wool suit, full Himalayan Bologna-Wear parka, scarf, mittens and a hat on under my hood. Finally, I wore the battery-powered heated socks that Gwen had given me. I was not fkn around today. It felt like one of those cold damp days England when the damp cuts right through everything you are wearing.

View attachment 269691I'd wound my players up in the pre-match talk with lots of words concerning pride, professionalism and mumbo jumbo about how we needed to show we deserved to be in Serie A after last weeks performance.

We played a more aggressive 4231 because I wanted to man-mark in midfield and turn the center of the park into a wet and cold quagmire in which nobody could manage anything creative. After last week's thrashing, my prime objective was to not embarrass ourselves.

We started well enough. Gaël Kakuta whipped in a cross that Antonio Vacca steered toward the near post that Diego Lopez did well to save. Then after a tame effort by Fernando Torres, we broke up the pitch and Parker smashed a volley of a Gaël cross right at Lopez.

And we'd survived the first fifteen minutes. I hadn't felt the need to get up out of the dry and comfy San Siro visiting bench and yell at anyone.

Then Francesco Migliore thought it would be a good idea to try and tackle Jeremy Menez from behind in the box.

TWEEEEEEET!!!!

Yup. You got that right. Menez splashed down with aplomb as the ball squelched over the end line and Antonio Damato had little choice but to point at the spot.

1-0

Alex has taken six penalties this season so far and has scored all six times.

Milan then decided to put the boot on our neck and lean on us. We barely broke out of our half. Only Vacca managed a long-range shot. And that guy will shoot from nearly anywhere. We defended solidly and I can see why Torres is so maligned. The poor ****, he has absolutely zero luck. On 42 minutes, he had a mazy run with the ball starting about 35 meters out including a quick give-n-go with Menez and was denied by a brilliant diving save by my keeper, Dejan Stojanovic. Then two minutes later grazed the outside of the post on a free kick with Dejan frozen to the mud.

We were lucky to be down merely by one. But at least we were playing with some ***** and this time were not intimidated by the San Siro. It also helped that it was pretty empty.

I did some yelling and jumping around during halftime. I had two goals for this talk. First, get some blood circulation going in my body so that I wouldn't freeze during the second half. Secondly, try to pump my guys up for a better performance in the second half. I don't know about them, but at least my blood was circulating better when I shut my yap.

Sadly, the match continued in the same vain. Torres beat everyone in the 52 minute only to shoot right into Dejan's gut. In the 57th, Garics utterly and completely forgot about Stephan El Shaarawy. He easily converted a Menez cross and we would have been two in the hole but for the generosity and benevolence of the linesman who flagged him for offside. When guys are as open as Il Faraone was, linesman usually just raise their flag just because. I wasn't entirely sure the linesman got it right, but I wasn't about to complain. Frank Rijkaard was incensed and screaming at the fourth official and ref for a while after that call.

A minute later and I've got Loris Damonte limbering up as quickly as he can because Shawn Parker got run over by Alex and flopped down in a puddle clutching his side. Gianni Nanni indicated it was his ribs. Loris would play right wing and Andrea Russotto would move up top.

****, I hope this isn't serious.

Well, it certainly dented our hopes of trying to get into the Milan half and do anything. From the hour mark to the eighty minute mark, it was trench warfare in the middle of the mudpit that the center of the San Siro was becoming.

I replaced Federico Casarini with Leonardo Guerra in the 77th minute and Casa looked exhausted. Plus, maybe the kid could generate some magic. Casa sure hadn't done much in the second half anyways.

And the match bumped and splashed along past the 80th minute mark. In the 85th, Vacca had his planting foot lumberjacked by Torres. The Milan players were all remonstrating with the Damato that it wasn't a foul probably in an attempt to make sure that Torres would only get a yellow and not get sent off. Bizarrely, Damato didn't even end up carding Torres.

I sent Michele Pazienza on to replace Vacca who as stretchered off.

****, I hope this isn't serious.

The match limped along toward full-time. The fourth official signaled there would be four minutes of injury time. Suddenly, my players awoke up out of their stupor and began pressing forward. I might have helped by standing on the sideline and screaming at them after I got done haranguing the fourth official over Torres foul.

In the 91st, we get the ball to Kakuta's feet. He races into the box. He splashes a weak, skipping shot well wide of Diego Lopez's goal.

View attachment 269697In the 92nd, Boyata brilliantly intercepts a pass up toward El Shaarawy. He thumps the ball over the Milan defense and for Gaël to race Mattia De Sciglio. Gaël wins the race and passes back to Migliore who sprinted up in support. Migs kicked the ball directly into Andrea Poli. He had three other viable options.

My face met my mitten.

Our defense immediately wins the ball back. We zip a few quick passes around and Damonte and Garics have a two-on-one against left back Vasco Regini. Damonte just lets Regini have the ball. I just stood there this time with my mouth agape. WTF, Loris?

And that was it, folks. One stupid tackle away from a morale-building nil-nil draw at the San Siro against the Rijkaard-inspired Rossoneri.

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The talk this week was all about the Derby di Torino. The pundits can talk all they want but I'd been watching the weather forecasts. I knew it was going to be a cold, wet fart of a match. When Alessandro Gazzi got carded in the 19th minute and then tried to stop Paul Pogba with forearm shiver three minutes later, I knew it was going to be a dull match.

Torino parked the bus and it was obvious Juve were eventually going to get a goal. Juve took 37 shots and got 14 on target. It wasn't pretty: Llorente scored on a header from a corner kick.

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View attachment 269319Monday, 14 December 2015 9:00AM

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"Morning, how is everyone this lovely morning in our tropical paradise?" I asked to begin our weekly staff meeting.

There was some grumbling and moaning about the snow that had fallen overnight. Of course, most of us are ex-footballers and because of the footballer's unspoken code are required to drive sports cars. Luckily, Gwen still has her powder blue Volvo SUV and she wasn't planning on going anywhere today so I got to drive a Swedish-manufactured all-wheel drive vehicle in to Casteldelbole.

"First off, I've walked the training fields already," I said. "The back ones by the trees are driest so we'll need to get them shoveled off."

"Why not have the players do it as their penance?" Assistant Manager Graziano Venti ventured. All the staff nodded their heads in agreement.

"Oh, I see where you're going with this," I said. "So you all will need to see how many shovels we can find then."

"Okay now on to serious or at least more serious matters," I continued. "How is morale?"

Graziano shrugged and looked around at the other coaches.

"Well ...," Defense Coach Stefano Romanin said then cleared his throat. "Aside from Francesco's moment of idiocy, I think my boys feel pretty good about our performance."

"Yeah, Dejan is pretty pumped about how he did," Graziano added. Graziano coached keepers in addition to his role as my right hand.

"Um, Shawn is out for probably a week," Head Physio Gianni Nanni said. There was a brief cursing session as this is the last thing we needed in the run-up to Juventus' visit. "His ribs are bruised. I wouldn't want to risk him in this cold weather."

"Agreed," I said and sighed. "We'll need him the rest of the year."

"Then we've got to shift Russotto up top," Offense Coach Simone Tiribocchi said.

"Yes, Cacia isn't confident and he's not working as hard as I'd like him to," my other Offense Coach Guerrino Gasperello added. "Also, Cappelluzzo is learning but he's nowhere near ready to lead the line against Chiellini and company."

"Okay, so Damonte at right wing?" I asked. There were murmurs of agreement. "And Gianni, Vacca's okay then?"

"Yeah, when I talked to him this morning," he replied. "No swelling. Just a little sore. Nothing major."

"Anything else I should know about?" I asked.

"Just Cacia," Graziano said. "He's pretty unhappy you aren't playing him. He's going to get the nerve up soon and he's going to want to talk."

I nodded. There was nothing else.

"Alright Tomasso," I said. "Time for you to scare the **** out of us with all the gory details about how awesome the four time reigning champions are."

And my Chief Scout did.
 
Serie A: Bologna v. Juventus

View attachment 268579Saturday, 19 December 2015

View attachment 268578

Here we are at the final match before the winter break. We play the early Saturday match which will be televised on RAI1 across all of Italy.

I'll be honest, I'm apprehensive. Which is just a fancy way to say I'm scared. Conditions aren't too bad, 8C (46F) and clear, so that isn't an advantage. At least the Renato Dall'Ara is packed and rocking. It's been a while since it's been full. But it's 5th against 3rd and everyone is out not just to see Juventus but to support their Rossoblu.

View attachment 268573Shawn Parker declared himself fit and will start. Whoopity Doo Dah Day!!! This means we can actually put our best foot forward and play our best XI.

We started poorly. Dedryck Boyata let Carlos Tevez nick the ball off him a mere ten seconds into the match. Thankfully, Dejan Stojanovic tipped his shot around the post.

This was probably the soonest I was off the bench, yelling and pacing the sidelines. Often I'm up off the bench by five to ten minutes in. But ten seconds has to be the record.

We tightened up after Dedryck's braincramp and defending well. Tevez and Llorente weren't linking up well and we were doing a pretty good job of locking up the midfield. We occasionally ventured into the Bianconeri end but only managed a free kick and Parker shot wide on the counter.

We went into the half scoreless.

Yet again I exhorted my players to dig deep for one more half before the break. Lots of words about proving ourselves and all that.

We started the second as we played the first: defending. But in the 54th, we had a throw down the Juve left. Gyorgy Garics threw in to Loris Damonte. Loris spun his defender and zipped a pass towards the penalty spot where Gaël Kakuta had made a run. Gaël hammered his shot right at Gianluigi Buffon. ****.

A minute later, we worked the ball into the box for Francesco Migliore who had charged forward from his left back position and blazed just high with Buffon beaten.

In the 61st, we'd just cleared a corner. Kevin De Bruyne, the Belgian wonderkid, got the ball out on our left flank. He played a pass into Tevez. He split Boyata and Simone Pasa and had only Dejan to beat.

This is how it goes. We totally shut down Tevez for 60 minutes. He was looking frustrated anView attachment 268570d was starting to become petulant and was in danger of getting carded. Then he does something magical. But instead of shooting, he squares it to Paul Pogba who has the entire net before him and rolls the ball in to give the Grand Old Lady the lead.

0-1

How the **** can you defend magic? ****.

My guys did what they could to push the game and create some chances. But Juve don't **** around when they have a lead and we didn't create much. As we pressed for an equalizer, Tevez punished us in the 85th with a goal on the counter in the 85th to seal his Man of the Match performance.

It just wasn't our day, I guess.

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View attachment 268492As I settled onto the couch after dinner to watch the Napoli-Sampdoria match, my phone spewed out We All Live In A Yellow Submarine which could only mean that my friend Esteban was calling from Cadiz.

"Hola, Esteban," I answered.

"My friend, how are you? I saw the result against Juventus," Esteban said. "They're tough. It sounds like your boys played well."

"Yes, we weren't embarrassed," I said. "I'm just exhausted and looking forward to a couple of days off. Well, not really. I'm finalizing some strategies and offers I'm going to be making for some new players. You know, the usual stuff."

"You never take a break, do you?"

"Um, no. Not really. But how are you?"

View attachment 268491"I am great. I am on the ferry back from Melilla. Los Submarino Amarillos have left the continent of Africa with a lucky win against inferior opposition. I can see Gibraltor. We return as all-conquering heros who are now second in the league on mere goal difference."

UD Melilla play in the autonomous city of Melilla across the Alboran Sea from Almeria and Spain. Morocco considers Melilla theirs and calls the city an "occupied territory."

"Wow," I said. "That's a long trip. How many Cadistas are with you?"

"Not many," he replied. "But I've called to cheer you up because your losing streak is over, it's winter break, Cadiz are up to second and I'll be seeing you soon. How is Gwen?"

View attachment 268490"Gwen's great," I replied as she snuggled in next to me on the couch. "I think we could both use some warmth and sun though I will say that she's been to Nice and Tangiers recently for photoshoots while I languish in the frozen wastelands of Bologna. You know it snowed here last Monday?"

"No ..."

"I have a little club business to wrap up tomorrow then we'll see you on Monday afternoon."

"I can hardly wait to see you and the lovely Gwen," Esteban said. "And I'm serious about losing streak. You will thrash Ternana. Yes, I'll admit Fiorentina are a stern test but you will do well and then Udinese and Verona will fall before you."

"I'm glad to have your confidence."

"See you soon, my friend."

And then we watched the Napoli-Sampdoria match.

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Sunday, 20 December 2015

Everybody else plays today. I met with President Guaraldi to discuss improving the youth training facilities. As per usual, he was resistant at first, but winning makes me persuasive apparently. Furthermore, we've got loads of cash in our accounts and I'm largely responsible for that. Keeping the wage budget down and all those profitable friendly cup competitions are paying off.

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And we're down to sixth in the table at the winter break. I don't know about you, but I think the Rossoblus are pretty pleased right about now all things considered.

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View attachment 267317Monday, 21 December 2015

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Happy X-Mas from Cadiz, muthafunkers. I'm done with the cold and the damp and the cold wind and the rain and the occasional snow. Gwen and I are going to enjoy the warmth I'm going to forget about football.

Well, maybe not entirely. Esteban doesn't really want to talk about much else. Honestly, neither do I.

Aw **** it. At least it's warm.

Have a look at this photo, you beaches.

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View attachment 267308Saturday, 26 December 2015


I'm back in town for a Cup competition. We play Juventus today. We need to make money and what the **** let's have another go at The Grand Old Lady. But friendlies are friendlies. They happen. We won on penalties, that's cool.

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What I'm excited about is this Uruguayan kid we've been tracking. Alejandro Pintos. Real raw talent. Fast, determined, good dribbler, uncanny finishing skills when he gets things right. But he's still just a kid. No stamina, weak physically, no anticipation, doesn't concentrate particularly well and often makes horrible decisions. Oh, and he's supposed to be injury prone.

But I saw the videos.

Seriously, I can't teach what he has naturally. The rest, that's just coaching and weight-lifting and growing up.

I kept sending my scouts back to look at him. I kept telling them to shut up and learn everything about him. They eventually did.

His club, Nacional have agreed on a price. I'm flying to Montevideo on Monday. The word from my scouts is he isn't interested but I like to think I'm persuasive.

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Looks like a real talent, next Suarez maybe? His aggression is high enough :p
 
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