Alpha Romeo Metaphor II

I've silently followed both this and your first story and can only say how brilliant they both have been. You serve as an inspiration to a story of my own I should hopefully soon be posting. Keep it up, Pucci!
 
Daniel Verstappen said:
I've silently followed both this and your first story and can only say how brilliant they both have been. You serve as an inspiration to a story of my own I should hopefully soon be posting. Keep it up, Pucci!
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Thank you very much.
 
View attachment 265357Saturday, 9 January 2016

Gwen is back. She calmed down once she had time to think it through on the plane. She returned to her senses and scheduled a meeting with her gynecologist for Tuesday. My Head Physio, Gianni Nanni, recommended the doctor that delivered his two kids. So we start from there.

Inter won to increase the pressure on AC Milan and Juve.

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Sunday, 10 January 2016

Milan lost! We play the late game so we all followed the early matches as we gathered at Casteldelbole before the bus ride to Renato Dall'Ara.

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Serie A: Bologna v. Fiorentina

View attachment 265348Sunday, 10 January 2016 20:45

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It's raining, quite windy and freaking freezy. It feels like the rain could change to snow at any moment. I'm bundled up in full-arctic Bologna Wear. Despite the horrid conditions, Renato Dall'Ara is packed. The Derby dell'Apennino is back on, let the hostilities begin.

And they did.

The Viola's central midfield combo of Steven N'Zonzi and Amidu Salifu were both booked inside ten minutes. I hoped that this would make the match more open if these two couldn't throw themselves about like they usually do.

In the 16th minute, we finally took advantage of N'Zonzi and Salifu's predicament. We exchanged some quick passes in the middle of the field then Federico Casarini zipped a pass up to Shawn Parker. Shawn flicked the ball into Andrea Russotto's path but they blocked his shot. Russotto got to the loose ball first and fed Parker and they managed to charge down his shot, too. Then Andrea stubbed a weak shot wide of the net to end the threat.

Fiorentina weren't taking any chances and we usually outnumbered their attackers two-to-one. Juan Cuadrado, Mario Gomez and Borja Valero looked harmless and toothless.

In the 25th, Casarini played a through ball for Parker. Unfortunately, the chance evaporated as Shawn couldn't get his feet sorted out and eventually had his shot blocked. The ball deflected out left and Gaël Kakuta slammed his shot into the side netting from a difficult angle.

In the 42nd minute, the Viola had a throw down our left flank. Cuadrado received the throw and spun Francesco Migliore. With Migs, Simone Pasa and Bernardo all converging, he chips a low pass towards the penalty spot for Gomez. Dedryk Boyata, Casarini and Gyorgy Garics are slow to react as Gomez slams a volley past Dejan Stojanovic.

0-1

The Viola corner of the ground erupts in celebration whilst the rest of the stadium falls silent. That was their second shot and their first on target.

From the kick-off, Gomez lunges in on Antonio Vacca with a two-footed tackle from behind. I'm up off the bench because he'd been carded at about the 15 minute mark. Thank you thank you thank you and thank you, Mario, for loosing your mind. Daniele Orsato whips out the red card with a dramatic flourish as he runs up and we're up a man.

Then the unthinkable happened. The inconceivable occurred. Cuadrado's puddle-skipping shot somehow got under Dejan.

0-2

We restart and Orsato ends the half. They take three shots in the first half and two go in? WTF? Dejan is beside himself with shame and rage.

I get in everyone's face at half time and demand that everyone step up their game. I remind everyone of how many points Dejan has stolen for us and demand that everyone pick him up.

We start off the second half on fire. We're attacking the Viola goal with style and determination.

In the 49th, Shawn Parker meets a Migliore cross with an absolute laser strike volley. The ball is past Neto before he even knows what happened.

1-2

We are on our way back. I yell at them as they regroup for the kick-off to concentrate.

We push, prod, poke and methodically try and break down the Fiorentina defense. They are playing a 4311 so we're finding room to work the ball inside from the flanks.

Then it all falls apart in the 64th. The Viola win a throw down our left flank. The right fullback throws it in to Valero. Pasa tries to nip in and steal the ball as it arrives. He catches the Spaniard's ankle. Oops. It's a silly, overoptimistic foul. Valero is writhing on the ground like Pasa amputated his leg at the ankle. I concede that Simone deserves the yellow he's about to ... WTF? RED!?!

"ORSATO! HOW IS THAT A CARD IF N'ZONZI AND SALIFU ARE STILL ON THE PITCH?" I screamed at the referee.

"That was the most ridiculous example of evening up I've ever seen," I said as I run up to the fourth official. "He was trying to get the ball. It's obviously a card, it's from behind but where was the violence or ... I don't know ... anything that would make it a red?"

"You need to calm down, Enrico," the fourth official said.

"What I need is your colleague to consistently apply the FIFA rule book as it is actually written," I countered. "Instead of giving yellows for far more violent fouls from N'Zonzi and Salifu and then arbitrarily whipping out red to even things up."

"I'm warning you, Enrico," the fourth official said.

"And look Valero is up off his deathbed and is preparing to take the free kick," I said. "Sure looks like cheating to me."

I stomp off to intercept Simone before he heads down the tunnel. Graziano is re-organizing the team into a 441 formation.

"That was not a red card," I tell him as he walks past me and I pat him on the shoulder. He doesn't look up.

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View attachment 264934I got a text from Esteban asking if I'm still up. I replied and then my mobile blared out Yellow Submarine.

"Esteban, good to hear your voice."

"I saw the result and the highlights," he said starting right in. "Who paid the ref off? That Pasa red card was a joke."

"I know."

"And you had them on the ropes, too," Esteban lamented. "It was as if someone from the league got onto the ref's headset and said 'Bologna are not supposed to come back and win matches like this, do something straight away' or something. You should demand an inquiry."

"I'd just get fined."

"Or banned."

"And that goal Dejan gave up," It was my turn to lament. "That really hurt. Otherwise, we're only down by one and with an extra man. It's like the Gods of Football looked down and cursed us today."

"Yes, it does seem that way," Esteban agreed. "But your keeper is pretty good, right?"

"Yeah," I replied. "That's why it was so shocking. He's worth ten points so far this season. That's the difference between trying to figure out a way to make it into Europe and trying to make sure we don't get drawn into a relegation battle."

"Hold strong, my friend. Don't you have some of the easier matches coming up? Verona, Sassuolo and Atalanta?"

"We do but we've got Udinese next week. Like Fiorentina, they play the modern Catenacchio. They set up really, really defensively and then hope for a moment of brilliance or a mistake. My players are not doing much that could be mistaken for brilliant lately."

"What? But that Parker golazzo was awesome!"

"Okay, I'll grant you that. It's my Italian grandmother in me coming out and worrying that everything will end in tears. I'm trying to find someone to pair with Casarini. I want more creativity out of my midfield. I've got several kids developing nicely but I should also have a pretty hefty war chest next summer to buy a partner for Casa."

"Enrico, you worry too much. You're luck will change. Just you wait and see."

"Thanks, man. How did El Submarino Amarillo do? I haven't checked, yet."

"Amazing," Esteban replied. "They are now eighteen games unbeaten. We are unstoppable right now and in second a point behind Jaen. Jaen are also having an amazing season. They've only lost once. We've dropped two. As I said before, I take back everything I said in the summer about Antonio Calderon. He has such a stronger squad than you did, the new Director of Football is way better. And every loan signing has been fantastic. And they aren't ****ing Calderon like they screwed you over."
 
View attachment 264294Thursday 14 January 2016 2:30pm

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"First off all, I would like to tell you that you are in excellent health," Dr. Torricelli said. "Secondly, the blood work we did on Tuesday indicates that all of the things we could worry about will not be a factor. You are a young woman in excellent health and will have a healthy baby."

I could feel Gwen exhale and relax next to me. Up until these words, I didn't know that I needed to be worried about anything. Suddenly, I felt utterly and completely out of my league. Like a Sunday amateur player striding down the tunnel with my buddies from the pub league only to realize that AC Milan just exited their locker room and were lining up in the tunnel next to us. Like a complete and utter fraud. What the **** am I getting into? Am I even capable of dealing with this? Managing a huge organization, no problem. Dealing with the media, no problem. Childbirth? Can I get back to you?

"We think your due date will be in early September," Dr. Torricelli continued unaware of the waves of emotions sweeping over the two of us. "And we think it will 10 September. You will want to get yourselves some books probably on this topic but in the meantime here are a few pamphlets for the two of you to read over. Do you have any questions?"

I just sat there staring at her with my jaw hanging slack. Questions? Um, I really ought to have one. Maybe I should even have two. Gwen reached for the pamphlets and handed one to me. I stared at it. Suddenly, I couldn't read Italian. She looked at them and handed the rest to me.

"When *** know we will," Gwen garbled out. Like me her Italian was failing her.

"The *** of the child?" Dr. Torricelli asked. Gwen nodded. "We'll be able to determine this at three months. We'll do an ultrasound then and if you want to know, we'll be able to tell with 90% certainty."

"When travel no more I?" she mangled.

"You should be able to travel up until August," Dr. Torricelli replied. "You will probably start becoming too uncomfortable by July to want to travel."

I was a compete buffoon. No questions. I just opened and closed my mouth like a fish. Then we left.
 
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View attachment 264292Friday, 15 January 2016 9:21AM

There was a knock at my door. Federico Casarini walked in, shut the door and sat down.

I felt a pit, a black hole open in the base of my stomach. This couldn't be good.

"Enrico, I'm coming to you straight away with this," Casa began. "There are rumors floating around that Everton are interested in signing me. The English League is awesome. I watch it every weekend. I would really like to test myself there. And Everton are a big club."

So he and his agent have met with people from Everton, huh. ****, gahdammit and ****. I'm going to lose my star midfielder and the team's talisman just as he gets going? Should I try and convince him to stay? He's been in the Bologna system since before he hit puberty. ****! If he's not loyal at this point, there's nothing I could say or do.

"It would be a great opportunity," he continued. "I would like your permission to discuss terms if they make a bid."

"I understand the allure of England," I said. "I loved it there. You have been at the club for fourteen years and despite the fact that I would do or say anything to make you stay, I know that if you're mind is made up, I'd let you go."

"Now, with that said," I continued. "You are my star player. The team is built around you. You help fill the stadium and you sell anywhere from 25 to 75K in merchandise each month. I will let you go if Everton make an acceptable offer."

"I understand," he replied. "Literally, I've just heard about this. Wednesday actually. You know I love it here. This is home. But England ..."

He sat silent for a moment.

"You may have a real choice to make," I said. "Look at Totti and De Rossi. They've had innumerable offers to leave Roma. And they could have made absolutely sick money compared to the huge salaries they currently make. I only want you here if you want to be here. Let's keep talking, okay?"

"Of course, Enrico," he replied. "Thank you for your understanding."

I opened my laptop as he was walking out the door. If Everton bid for him then I'd have some cash to splash. The question was who did I have thoroughly analyzed that could possibly fill Casa's boots. I had a half hour to read through scouting reports.

I was also going to have to get my scouts to analyze a few players more closely in case a bid from Everton actually did arrive. So much to do and the month was already half over.

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Bologna v. Udinese

View attachment 263128Sunday, 17 January 2016

View attachment 263127

Udinese are on a pretty decent run. They've won four straight including beating Inter at home and only have one loss and two draws in their last nine. Andrea Stramaccioni has them playing solidly defensively and if they get a goal, that's usually enough as they've only conceded four in their last nine. And they truly are difficult to break down. They play three center backs and two defensive midfielders.

Simone Pasa is suspended for the red card against Fiorentina so Antonio Vacca replaces him. I'm going to have Bernardo on Di Natale's side as they are both slow while Dedryck Boyata is better able to cope with Cyril Thereau.

We dominate possession from the off which is no surprise.

After a few minutes of poking and prodding, Francesco Migliore plays a ball up the line for Gaël Kakuta. Gaël whips in a cross which Shawn Parker meets with a glancing header. It looks destined for the far said netting except Udinese's Greek international keeper Orestis Karnezis leaps and snares it.

After that, Udinese buckled down and we didn't get a sniff of anything.

It looked like we would be going into the locker room tied nil-nil until the 43rd minute. Udinese took a free kick near the center circle short to Edenilson. The Brazilian turned and before Vacca could close him down zipped a pass up to Thereau. Boyata is nowhere near him so the Frenchman turns with the ball at his feet.

At this point I knew we were probably in trouble.

Bernardo had the play in front of him. In front of him and to his right is Di Natale. Thereau is also in his direct line of vision. So far so good or so you'd think. As Boyata closes down Thereau, Bernardo takes a step closer to Di Natale. Except he doesn't anticipate the run. Not that he needed to anticipate it as he still had Di Natale in front of him. But Bernardo simply raised his arm as Di Natale made a run right under his nose.

View attachment 263126Thereau slid the pass into the path of Di Natale when the veteran was still a step or two onside. So now Di Natale has only the keeper to beat and you know what happened.

Also, this was their first shot of the game.

I'm seething with rage. Udinese brought the ball straight up the middle and we were absolutely porous defensively. What the **** do I have to do to get my players to mark opponents tightly. A team's season is defined by a series of moments like these. However, I can't just scream at them every time they stink it up. And we only stunk it up once and paid the ultimate price. Then again, I can't have three players all making mistakes all on the same play every fkn game like we've been having lately.

"Alright, listen up," I say once everyone is sitting down in the changing room. "We need to be mentally strong out there. Udinese are playing well and punished us the one time our defense broke down. They didn't deserve to beat us back in August and aside from all the screw ups that led to that goal, we played well in the first half. So I want you all to go out there and get your revenge on them for the loss last August and for the sitting back and parking the bus during that first half."

"Be strong out there," I said tapping my temple with my index finger. "Work hard and find their breaking points. Find the weaknesses. They have them, we talked about how to exploit them, now go out and punish them like they just punished us."

And we did. We continued working the ball around and the Bianconeri didn't really see any of the ball in the first ten minutes of the second half.

In the 51st, Vacca passed upfield to Federico Casarini who was about 30 yards out. Casa fed Parker. Shawn nicely spun off his defender and hammered a shot which hit the crossbar and ricocheted straight downward then up into the sky. Udinese managed to scramble the ball away to safety.

Then Udinese buckled down defensively again and we couldn't get much of a sniff at all.

Parker was starting to look tired and frustrated so I replaced him with Alejandro Pintos in the 69th.

In the 78th minute, the Bianconeri sealed the victory. Thereau met a Di Natale corner with a thundering header that went in despite Dejan Stojanovic getting a hand to it.

Seriously, this is a depressing loss. We had 62% possession yet only managed four shots on target. Udinese only took three shots but scored twice. Shee-it. What's a manager to do? We drop to seventh in the table.


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View attachment 260534"Enrico?" Gwen asked. "You're just playing with your food. You should eat something."

It was true. We'd gone to my favorite restaurant and here I was pushing bits of Ragu Bolognese around my plate after nibbling at my salad.

"Yeah," I agreed. "There were times I craved this dish so badly it hurt. And here I am ..."

I twisted several tagliatelle around my fork with what bits of ragu sticking to it. I hefted it and looked at it. We'd conceded the most goals of any club in the top ten and we'd only scored three in the last six as the media had been so gleefully pointing out. We were as cold as I was letting my pasta get.

"It's a crime, really," I continued. "I simply don't have an appetite."

At this moment the owner popped around the corner into the nook where my favorite table is and immediately looked alarmed.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked.

"With the food?" I replied. "God no. No, Vigo, this is perfection. I am the problem. Or should I say Bologna FC 1909 is the problem. This poor run of form has ruined my appetite. Would you please call the police, I'd like to have them all arrested on the charges of ruining a perfectly created plate of Tagliatelle Bolognese."

Vigo looked mollified that there wasn't anything wrong with his food or his restaurant.

"Now you know I hate Guaraldi, Enrico," Vigo said. "But they asked him about you tonight. You know what he said, don't you? No? He said 'what place are we in?' Just like that, nothing more. So I ask you, my dear friend, can you get us over the finish line? Can you keep the club in Serie A?"

I grunted and set my fork down.

"You've got a point, Vigo."

"I leave you now to regain your appetite. If it becomes cold, we'll make you another. We want our maestro well fed and happy."

"My dear Italian-American hunk of burning love and pouty lower lip," Gwen said once we were alone again. "Did I ever mention how sexy you are when you pout? But I digress. I think I've figured out what exactly the problem is. You, my dear, have never had a losing streak."

Well, Day-Ahm! That was true. I lost the odd game or two with Cadiz, waltzed through the opposition with AFC Wimbledon and had destroyed Serie B last season except for the December blip of three losses in four when our seventeen match unbeaten run ended. We'd had an astounded beginning to our Serie A return, but the reality of playing the top teams was too much for us.

She was right. I'd never lost like this. We needed to get back to our roots. I needed the players to get back to playing aggressively. Make them forget the supposed status of the club and just harass the **** out of the opposition. Our confidence comes from being focused on the task of making the match as unpleasant as possible for the opposition. While I'm all for the dark arts and getting nasty, it's more like being in your face and really, really annoying than actually violent.

I always think of the urban legend of of Dennis Rodman. He was the Chicago Bulls rebound machine that the dirty work that allowed Michael Jordan and Scotty Pippen to be artists. The legend goes that he would tell the guys that he was playing against that he wasn't wearing any underwear. I'm sure with all the close contact there is in basketball that his opponents were really uncomfortable.

We need to re-establish that magical quality of irritating our opponents into distraction. We needed to simplify our game and get back to pressing our opponents and attacking them after robbing them off possession.

And a wee bit more of the special sauce was in order. And by that I mean the dark arts.

I popped my fork into my mouth and began eating.

"I could eat this **** cold," I said. "God, I love this stuff."

"You seemed to have reached some kind of conclusion," Gwen said.

"Yuh hum."
 
Can I just take a moment to comment on the sheer beauty of how you write! I always feel like I'm being spoiled reading your updates; it's pretty much a free football novel. Genuine applause and admiration to you. One of this forums most hard working and dedicated story-writers. You have my deepest, sincerest respect!
 
Brendn said:
Can I just take a moment to comment on the sheer beauty of how you write! I always feel like I'm being spoiled reading your updates; it's pretty much a free football novel. Genuine applause and admiration to you. One of this forums most hard working and dedicated story-writers. You have my deepest, sincerest respect!
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Gosh, thanks. That's high praise as I've really enjoyed your writing, too. Now I'm blushing ...
 
For a story to be as popular as this and cover 2 seasons of football shows how amazing the writing is, long time reader, always check for updates on this, honestly the best story I've read on these forums

Kudos to you sir
 
The Otter said:
For a story to be as popular as this and cover 2 seasons of football shows how amazing the writing is, long time reader, always check for updates on this, honestly the best story I've read on these forums

Kudos to you sir
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Thank you very much, much appreciated!
 
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