Alpha Romeo Metaphor II

PatrickLFC said:
What an ending! You couldn't write it!
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Casarini is one of those players with all kinds of awesome hidden characteristics. Casarini's stats aren't all that great, but when he's on his game he is a cold-blooded, villainous murderer with a penchant for late game heroics. That's why I really, really, really, really don't want to lose him.

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Monday, 1 February 2016 - TRANSFER DEADLINE DAY

I received nine calls and fifteen texts on my mobile today. Each time it jangled or blurped, I nearly **** my pants expecting it to be the call or message that Everton had lodged their bid for Federico Casarini. But that call or message never arrived. Most were journalists checking in to see if we were doing any business. Several Serie C managers wanted to loan Casarini's understudy, Leonardo Guerra. He's not going anywhere because he's progressing nicely right here at home.

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Greetings readers. The straw poll is up for the Best Writing. Please stop over and vote me.

Straw Poll

Your support is greatly appreciated.
 
Well done on holding onto Casarini and good luck in the writing category - we seem to be neck and neck thus far.. somehow!
 
brooksey84 said:
<3 this still
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Although I do get upset when I log on to FM Base and there are no updates :-( Enrico should give up any real life job he has and focus on Full Time FM story telling. Would make my day at work go much faster ;-)
 
brooksey84 said:
<3 this still
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LOL. Took me a moment to recognize the ASCII heart. Thank you very much!

willmolly3 said:
Although I do get upset when I log on to FM Base and there are no updates :-( Enrico should give up any real life job he has and focus on Full Time FM story telling. Would make my day at work go much faster ;-)
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superLOL! Yes, I would love to spend my days keeping my loyal readers entertained, but, alas, my children need food and a home and I would prefer to stay married to my lovely wife.
 
Enrico Pucci said:
superLOL! Yes, I would love to spend my days keeping my loyal readers entertained, but, alas, my children need food and a home and I would prefer to stay married to my lovely wife.
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Would you really though? ;) Sure we could start donations to let you live a life and constantly update!
 
Tuesday, 2 February 2016

President Guaraldi can't be too ****** off at me despite my hystrionics in the office the other day. Expenses, minus the two transfer fees of course, was positive to the tune of just under EU 1 million.

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View attachment 253554"Sorry I'm late. Let's get right to it," I said as I sat down.

"This 2-1 loss to Genoa makes it eleven matches in which you've only picked up eight points, is this a crisis?" asked Gino from RAI TV.

"No." And took a drink of water from the glass next to the mikes.

"But you'd thought the squad had turned it around after your draws against Verona and Sassuolo and victory over Atalanta," Gino continued. "And the Atalanta victory can now be seen as lucky in that Casarini intervened with a spectular goal with the last kick of the game or that was a draw, too. How is this not a bad run of form?"

"The margin for error in Serie A is thin and cruel," I replied. "We had chances against Udinese but couldn't convert them. We had plenty of chances to win the matches against Verona and Sassuolo. Casa stepped up against Atalanta and delivered. I need other players to step up and deliver strong performances."

"It has been six straight matches in which you have conceded two goals," Mario from La Repubblica said. "Six of those twelve goals have come just before halftime. Please talk about the mindset of your defenders and how you plan on addressing your squads defensive deficiencies."

"I am baffled," I said. "We have talked about this. It's all mental. It's concentration, it's determination, it's about defending as a unit. We are working hard every week on our defending. The club needs it's defenders to step up and stop gifting the opponents chances just before halftime. I'm sure they don't like me yelling at them at halftime and there is one way to get me to stop."

"On a positive note, it is nice to get a goal from Michele Pazienza," Alessandro from Correira della Sport said. "Please comment."

"Yes, that was special," I replied. "I always love it when the hard workers get one."

"But what about Russotto?" Alessandro followed up.

"Yes, what about him," I replied. "Andrea works incredibly hard. He's getting himself in the right positions at the right times. That free header just after half time with the whole goal at his mercy was ... was ... let me put it this way. He'd score ten out of ten times in training. He's just choking right now. He is a dedicated professional and I know that with attacking players, the goals will come if they work hard for the team."

"Aren't you concerned about his poor form in front of goal?" Alessandro asked.

"Of course I am," I said. "But he also has ten assists and is our leader in that category by a long ways."

"Please discuss replacing Casarini when you needed a goal," Riccardo from La Gazzetta asked. "How can you justify this?""

"He was exhausted," I said. "We closely monitor our players and weren't sure he could last the full ninety. I can't afford him to get hurt and there are many points to play for, yet. Plus, I thought Leonardo Guerra played well. His distribution was excellent and we certainly created plenty of chances in the last twenty minutes with him running the show. We just couldn't convert."

"What about the offside call that denied the Modibo Tounkara goal?" Angelina from BeIN Sport asked.

"Yeah, what can I say," I replied. "I didn't agree with the call. Kakuta's cross was early and Tounkara was coming from deep. He out-sprinted their fullback to the back post. I'm not sure how he could have been offside when he was coming from so deep, but I haven't seen the replay."

"Please talk about they played after Jasmin Kurtic's red card," Mario said.

"Thirteen minutes of regular time then 4 minutes of extra time should have been enough," I said. "I've told my players I wasn't happy with their performance. We weren't desperate enough. We weren't clinical enough when presented with chances."

"Supporters are disappointed that you played like the away team conceding possession and letting Genoa dictate the game," Gino said. "They had 57% possession while your players parked the bus for long stretches of the match."

"Genoa play a kamikaze formation with three strikers, a man in the hole behind them, two wide midfielders and only three at the back," I replied. "We destroyed them last time in their park sitting back and hitting them on the counter. Today, we got the ball wide to our wingers but simply didn't make the right passes or ... well ... it's a combination of things. Sometimes guys got caught with the ball when they should have passed. Sometimes players should have run at the defense with the ball at their feet. Sometimes the pass was played at the right time but was a poor pass. Sometimes everything went right and we missed a golden chance. And then when we get it all right, it gets called back for offside."

"So how is this not a crisis?" Gino asked.

"Geno, what position in the table are we?" I asked as I got up. "I'm done here. Ciao."
 
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View attachment 253288Monday, February 8, 2016 8:25AM

"Enrico, you must not worry about it," Enzo said as I rolled up to the Casteldelbole gate. "You mustn't. You must remain focused and strong. Rossoblus everywhere need you."

"Thanks, Enzo, you're the best," I replied.

"And you didn't sleep, did you."

"More or less no."

"You've stopped reading the newspapers, websites and blogs, yes?"

"Yes."

"I have been saying my prayers and begging the saints, this will all turn around," Enzo said. "Don't lose faith, my friend."

"Thanks, Enzo. I won't."

The problem is that I was.
 
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Since the Roma shellacking, we haven't been able to defend. Since Roma, we haven't been able to score nearly as much. We now have two bone-crushing fixtures coming up. Next Sunday we play Lazio in Stadio Olympico. Then the Saturday after, Inter visit the Renato Dall'Ara. Both teams have so many players that can individually win games for them. At this point, we have Casarini. Nobody else seems capable of stepping up.

Since we're in relative safety, I decided to gamble for the future. I decided to give these young men Danilo Bernabini, Antonio Calabrese, Leonardo Guerra, Davide Monteleone, Alejandro Pintos and Modibo Tounkara more minutes.

I think the club will finish mid-table. Somewhere between 8th and 12th depending upon when we pull out of this slide. In other words, we have nothing to play for and my job is to make sure we don't get relegated. So why not let the boys gain some valuable experience to set us up for next season.
 
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