AS Roma - The die has been cast

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ChristopherWH

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As the club takeover is completed, with Thomas R. DiBenedetto taking the position of President, the club has announced that unknown manager Ernesto Guevara will be in charge of the team effective immediately.

"I'm glad to be given a chance with this new project in such a fantastic club, city and country. Last year was a dissapointing one considering the expectations that are on this club, after several years being runners-up this new management is set to work towards taking the club to the next level as soon as possible."


Squad

Here I will list some of the players I consider be the most outstanding as the team looks today.

Attackers

Francesco Totti
The hero and champion of this Roma. Rapidly ageing at 34, he can not have many seasons left in professional football. This can already be seen as his physique barely allows him to play at this level any longer. He makes up for it by a fantastic technique and experience.
A player to look up to and I expect some of the younger ones to follow his example when it comes to fighting and loving this club and its fans.

Bojan Krkic
A terrific talent on loan from Barcelona where he have been playing first team football since he was 17 years old.
He has been struggling a bit over there with his scoring, I hope to be able to make him blossom here in a new surrounding.
Being pretty all-round he suffers a bit from being short, and not really excelling at any one thing. He can dribble and he can shoot but is not the best at any of them, he got decent pace and we will make sure he grows here.
We have an option to buy if the loan is a successful one.


Midfielders

Daniele De Rossi
This is his 12th season here at Roma, at 27 years old he has represented the club 249 times in Serie A.
He is the cog in the midfield, a real fighter who is also calm with the ball and can pick out a pass.
If he can keep fit he will be a certainty in the starting eleven, unless a terrible dip in form is apparent.

Miralem Pjanic
Bosnian player who came from Lyon as I arrived at the club. Has shown promise in France and with his technique he is a good offensive midfielder who can take on a defender while also laying off passes for assists. He is young so I hope he can grow with the team, if he does, he is a future star.

Erik Lamela
Just as with Pjanic, this is his first season at the club. Coming from a succesfull season in Argentinian River Plate.
An offensive midfielder good at dribbling, he is also capable of shooting and will hopefully bring in assists as well as goals for the club when he plays. Will perhaps have to compete with Pjanic for the same position if I can not find another solution. A bit of competition might do them good.


Defenders

Juan
A resolute Brazilian defender making his fifth season here, he will play a key part in the central defence. With great anticipation and positioning I will rely on him to stop the opponents attacks before they even reach their strikers. He has a pretty decent right foot as well, not only precise in his heading but with his passing also he will be the first man in building up our attacks.

José Ángel
A Spanish young player joining us from Sporting Gijón in La Liga, he plays out to the left.
A swift fullback with good crosses coming from him, he is decent in most areas and have the talent to grow even better with time.
Needs to work a bit on his defensive play but I bet that will come with experience.


Goalkeeper

Maarten Stekelenburg
Hollands first keeper, joined us from Ajax to help us secure a Champions League spot this season. A tall and professional goalkeeper with a good amount of experience both from league and international games. Behind him it's a bit weak in my oppinion though so I will look into getting a back up for him either this season or the next, preferably a young upcoming one.


I will most likely be updating my progress monthly and hopefully both you and I will enjoy it.



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Pre-Season



We had a straight forward pre-season against lower level teams. We played with good possession all games although the scores don't show how me outmanouvered them for 90 minutes each.
All players got some game time and I rotated pretty well while still trying to play a first eleven together.

Premiere

The season starts with the UEFA Europa League.
We were pitched against swedish team Elfsborg IF in the 4th qualifying round, which was the first round we were present in.
I booked a training camp over there for a week before the game, so the players could get ready and not have to be on a plane the day before the game.



IF Elfsborg 0 - 1 AS Roma
0-1 Kevin Stuhr Ellegaard O.G. (3)

MotM: Juan (7.5)

Attendance: 15.000

A bad game by us, even though we got the win, it was more due to them being impotent up front than us being good.
The defenders did decent, like Juan who got the man of the match award, but up front we were as impotent as the swedes.
Still it's three points away from home, I reckoned we had a good chance winning at home.


AS Roma 2 - 0 IF Elfsborg
1-0 Bojan Krkic (70)
2-0 Fabio Borini Penalty (82)

MotM: Bojan (8.2)

Attendance: 28.501

We did a lot better this time around, controlling the game from start to finish. It took us some time to get the goals though, but two late comers had us put beyond any doubt. Bojan got the MotM award by scoring a goal and getting us a penalty. Dissapointing show-up though, not even 30.000 people came to support us. I hope that'll get better in the later stages.

In the group draw we got into Group H, we stayed clear of some of the tougher teams such as At. Madrid, Lyon and PSG.
Instead we are put up against Fulham, Austria Wien andHannover.
A group I think we can win.




Time for the league start, seems like they thought we should get one of the toughest team in the league from the start, Internazionale Milano. I knew it was going to be tough so I decided to go with a more defensive approach than against Elfsborg, and try to counter attack. Seems there were some flaws with that tactic, but I'm still learning. I started with Totti on top and he just couldn't keep up, next time I'll put someone with a bit more speed up there and perhaps have Totti play behind him in a trequartista role.

Inter Milano 2 - 0 AS Roma
1-0 Diego Milito (81)
2-0 Diego Milito (89)

MotM: Maarten Stekelenburg (8.9)

Attendance: 66.527

Our goalie got the MotM award even after conceding twice while we lost the game, you probably understand that we were under some heavy pressure for something like that to happen. But you know, I take responsibility, a bad move it turned out.
Annoying as **** to lose it that late as well, our defence did a pretty good job right up until the end, with less than 10 minutes left we concede a corner and Milito somehow gets his head on the ball, completely unmarked. Terrible defence at this exact time.
I moved the team forward after that, that's the reason for them getting another goal, but hey you gotta try right?
We'll come again and do better.





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Transfers

I realized that I forgot to show the transfers of the club in the last transfer window.

Out
Rodrigo Taddei - SLB Loan €875K
I just didn't think he had anything more to offer the club, and while no one wanted to buy him, he went off on a loan.

Cicinho - At. Madrid €2.5M
Pretty much the same thing here, not getting younger and I think we can do better with some fresh blood.

Fábio Simplício - Parma Loan €500K
Only spent one season here in Rome, I wasn't too impresed and decided to let him go. He returned to Parma on a loan, the club that once took him to Italy in the first place.

In
Sime Vrsaljko - Dinamo €3.7M
A young Croatian fullback. Prefers to play out on the right, a good talent who has the capacity to grow into something special. Considering out options on his position, I reckon he'll be playing a whole lot, hopefully rapidly getting better.
A good physique while he can still need some more practice on his defensive skills and crossing.

Dodô - Corinthians €1.7M
Playing on the opposite side from Vrsaljk and doing it well. A fullback whose good on the offence but lacks in defence, he's rather terrible at that actually, no marking skills what so ever. He'll be back-up though so he'll have time to practice.

Marco Verratti - Pescara €3.2M
A promising central midfielder who has already represented Italy on the younger levels.
Decent all around and will get a decent amount of first team football, I'll ease him in though.

Alexander Milosevic - AIK €2.1M
Bought as a backup central defender. He has the talent to get really good, hopefully he'll make it happen here in Rome, he might be missing out on some first team play though since we have some more experienced players around at the moment. One for the future.

Junior Hoillet - Blackburn €12.5M
The only big signing we made this window. A really swift winger from Canada capable of passing his man on either the left or the right wing. Young as well, so hopefully he's yet another player that will grow with this club and get us a new start for the future.

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loving the layout, Fantastic and unique, Follower in me, Good Luck
 
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September

September gave us a little bit of each, I'm not really satisfied with the way we performed in most of the games, and although we didn't do terrible, I have higher expactations on myself, the team and the players.
We have a young team though as well as a new training staff including me. I understand that it might take some time getting everything together, we're giving it 110% so I expect the same from the players and fans.



AS Roma 2 - 0 Siena
1-0 Francesco Totti (31)
2-0 Bojan Krkic (89)

MotM: Junior Hoilett (8.0)

Attendance: 37.619

Il Capitano showed the way and scored our first league goal for the season, a good way to start things off.
All in all the performance left much to wish for though, it was way too close, in my oppinion, against a weak Siena.
Turns out they weren't as bad as I thought though as you will see when I present this month's table standings.
Hoilett got the MotM award for some good runs and an assists, did good but not fantastic.



AS Roma 0 - 2 Fulham
0-1 Simone Perrotta O.G. (85)
0-2 Bryan Ruíz (90+1)

MotM: Bryan Ruíz (7.8)

Attendance: 30.715

Another close game, this time we didn't come out on the winning end though. After two hellish late goals from Fulham we failed to get a point in the first group stage game. This mostly due to our inability to score and the defensive mistakes from youngling Milosevic, I realize this might've been the wrong place to get his premiere. I underestimated Fulham I have to admit. Payed the price and getting the guys ready to bring them pain when we travel to Craven Cottage later this year.

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Cagliari 2 - 2 AS Roma
0-1 Bojan Krkic (3)
0-2 Francesco Totti (24)
1-2 Andrea Cossu (53)
2-2 Nenê

MotM: Francesco Totti (7.7)

Attendance: 14.280

Annoying as **** losing a two goal lead in the second half. We had them right where we wanted them when the game came to half time, after that we just bent over and took it ever which way they gave it to us, we got outplayed and the players looked like they thought it was already over. Borini is still not playing good, been our worst offensive player all games he's been in soo far, might put him on the bench for a while instead.


AS Roma 0 - 1 Juventus
0-1 Arturo Vidal (32)

MotM: Giorgio Chiellini (8.0)

Attendance: 46.392

We got outplayed at home. I am not happy about this, I want us to be competing in the top, and soo far we have lost out to two of the favorites, Inter and Juventus. Both times there were a clear winner and we're too weak. If this is how it's going to be I understand that we might have problems with reaching the third place needed for the Champions League qualification.
We'll go out best though but with the amount of young players we might have problems with the consistensy of our play.


Fiorentina 1 - 1 AS Roma
0-1 Bojan Krkic (25)
1-1 Stevan Jovetic (56)

MotM: Sime Vrsaljko (7.8)

A fair result to be honest, we played evenly throughout the game with us having a bit of an advantage in the first half, while they did in the second. We were a bit unlucky with their goal that came on a counter attack where we weren't fast enough to get our players back, it was too easy for them and I can't blame Stekelenburg for that one.
Some good defending from Vrsaljko though who got the MotM reward over players who scored and assisted goals, some fine key tackles won and a bunch of passes came from his flank.



Austria Wien 0 - 1 AS Roma
0-1 Francesco Totti (50)

MotM: Gabriel Heinze (7.5)

Attendance: 11.000

A low quality game where we stood for all the chances but still didn't manage to win with more than one goal. But in the end it's the three points that counts. We're still one point behind both Fulham and Hannover though, who drew in their game.
Was boring to look at and I just want to move on, towards beating Hannover and take control over this group.


I made the mistake of playing the first game in October so I'll just put it in here to make the league table and statistics correct.



AS Roma 2 - 0 Atalanta
1-0 Pablo Osvaldo Penalty (10)
2-0 Pablo Osvaldo (51)

MotM: Pablo Osvaldo (8.6)

Attendance: 36.111

A game we had control over the whole time. With 1-0 in half time I was a bit afraid that we might lose it in the second half like we've done before, but after Osvaldo's second goal I felt more confident. To think he got to play due to Totti picking up an injury, hopefully he can keep playing at this level and get us some much needed goal production. Bojan and Pjanic both played well and got an assist each.




As can be seen here and in the game updates, we haven't done very well soo far. Nor have we done very terrible either, a mid table position is not that terrible considering our both losses have been against Inter and Juventus, two heavyweights.
Drwaing against Cagliari I dislike though Fiorentina is also a strong team, an away draw there is not the worst thing I can imagine happen. Our scoring has been a bit on the short side soo far though and we'll have to get Osvaldo going soon, along with Bojan and the others.



Seems like the old timers are doing best soo far, with Miccoli and Rocchi leading the scoring board, Di Natale being second in assists and Maicon being the best performer. Our only players here are Osvaldo who did good getting a MotM award, and Pjanic who's gotten three assists already. A bit terrifying to see that some players have scored 5 goals already while we as a team has only scored 7 soo far in the league.



Still the most outstanding thing is our goal "production", or rather a lack thereof.
Seems to become a competition between us, Hannover and Fulham seeing that Wien has lost their first two games. Sure they can turn it around but it doesn't look promising.
Hopefully though, they can get a win against some of the other two teams so that we have an easier time catching up.




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Thank you.

Yes I'm noticing, team looks pretty good on paper, but I feel I lack some star players, they're nothing more than decent and De Rossi is not performing as I'm expecting. No one scores either.
 
When I managed Roma, the CPU bought a star striker (Vagner Love) before I took over in the 2nd season, so I recommend you sign Vagner Love, Seydou Doumbia or Christian Benitez in the January Window. IMO Bojan isn't good enough and neither is Borini yet, Totti should be more of a supporting striker.
 
Yes, I play Totti in that way.
I spent all my money in the first transfer window though, so unless I get some more to spend or if I'm able to sell someone, I'll have to manage. I have to put my hopes on Osvaldo then.
 


September

So now let me show you all what September brought us and what we did with it.




Genoa 0 - 0 AS Roma
Daniele De Rossi Red Card (55)

MotM: Juan (7.3)

Attendance: 26.493

Once again our impotense has shown itself. We stood for most things that happened during this game and Genoa were never threatening. Bojan, Osvaldo and Lamela all sucked this time around, they got the chances and opportunities but didn't manage to make anything out of it.
The defence did decently though, keeping Genoa from getting a single shot on goal.





AS Roma 0 - 1 Hannover
0-1 Jan Schlaudraff

MotM: Ron-Robert Zieler (7.7)

Attendance: 31.456

A close game, but we lost so who cares really? Not at this stage, we're now in a really bad position and in great risk of going out. We have to up our game for real for the second games against Hannover, Wien and Fulham to turn this all around.





AS Roma 0 - 0 Udinese

MotM: Sime Vrsaljko (7.9)

Attendance: 34.558

Now this is what annoys the **** out of me...
22-3 in shots but still no goals, now what is that about?
I will have to drill them harder in practice, to make sure they are actually capable of scoring at all. This is unacceptable and I know I'm the one who gets excecuted if this does not turn around soon enough.



Palermo 3 - 2 AS Roma
0-1 Pablo Osvaldo (20)
1-1 Igor Budan (36)
Francesco Totti Red Card (58)
1-2 Bojan (71)
2-2 Josip Ilicic (78)
3-2 (85)

MotM: Josip Ilicic (8.8)

Attendance: 21.750

Another close one, but after a stupid red card from "Il Capitano" Palermo took over.
Still feels hard conceding twice that late in the game, and that's after some really terrible defending. I listed Juan as one of our most important defenders before the season started, but now I'm considering putting him on the bench instead. Too many simple mistakes from him leading to conceded goals and I actually expect more from such an experienced player.


Josip Ilicic - Killing off Roma in a tight game

AS Roma 1 - 1 Lazio
1-0 Erik Lamela (53)
1-1 Victor Anichebe (81)

MotM: José Ángel (8.4)

Attendance: 37.770

We were lucky to get a point out of this. But no matter how poorly Totti has played in games before this, this is where we really need his spirit, the Roma heart and all that comes with it. This is our main rivals, the derby of derbies, and still not even 38.000 people came to support us, it's a disgrace and I'm gravely disappointed.
Apart from Lamela and Ángel, all players did poorly.
I'm on the verge of letting our younglings have a go at it, 'cause how much worse can we get?


I'll probably not put up the league tables and such every month but perhaps every other or third one, since the changes might be a bit too small inbetween there.



​
 
Indeed, I can't seem to get the offense working as I want them to. Many missed chances and slow attacks, wrong passes and all such things. Really getting annoyed with some of the players.
 


November

Another month for me to try to turn things around.
I have to calm down a bit since I'm getting really angry and annoyed with how things are going, the players are not safe anymore.




Hannover 2 - 2 AS Roma
1-0 Didier Ya Konan (31)
2-0 Mame Biram Diouf (35)
2-1 Pablo Osvaldo (51)
Fernando Gago Missed Penalty (72)
2-2 Junior Hoilett (87)

MotM: Mame Biram Diouf (7.5)

Attendance: 44.891

Another draw, this time around we were the ones on the come back though. I noticed when I saw their starting eleven that we were about to be in trouble. Two really pacey strikers against our **** slow defense. They showed right away that I was correct, and I had to command both of my central midfielders to drop way deeper to help covering the gaps their attacking duo were creating. Heinze didn't keep up at all and I couldn't have him on the pitch anymore, gruesome to watch.
I probably would've switched Gago out when he missed our chance to come back, it's unacceptable to miss penalties for us now, I can't have it, but he was one of the players I had put in a bit earlier and all my changes were done already.
In a last attempt at something different I switched places of Hoilett and Osvaldo to get some more pace up front and it turned out good enough to get us one point.




AC Milan 2 - 1 AS Roma
1-0 Alessandro Nesta Penalty (18)
2-0 Clarence Seedorf (70)
2-1 Pablo Osvaldo (87)

MotM: Thiago Silva (8.0)

Attendance: 55.843

We were outclassed really, never got that close and I can't say that they didn't deserve it.
I don't have much to say really, another bad performance, another bad result.
Considering our form, people never expected us to get anything out of this though, so it didn't come as a surprise.


A piece of good news in a time where such are scarce.



Lamela is making progress in most parts of his game, that's really enjoyable to watch as he is one of my favorite players and people at the time being.




AS Roma 0 - 0 Catania

MotM: Ciro Capuano (7.2)

Attendance: 34.550

I'm thinking about shooting myself. Seriously, 0-0 in this game? We had everything except the goals needed for the points, what the **** is going on?
I've never seen anything like this, the complete inability to score, I am at a loss on what to do.
I'll have to make them practice a different tactic and hope that it'll pay off better or something.
I'm too depressed to even talk and dwell on this game.

Turns out, as suspected, that they sacked me after that last game.
Turns out I'm not a good enough manager to make something out of Roma so I guess I deserved this.
The team is not as bad as I had them play, they lack some really good strikers of course and I didn't do good with the material at hand.
Thanks to you who read and those who commented. I guess I'll have to try something else.


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Please come with suggestions for other teams I could try out. I'd probably like to do another story now that I got sacked.
 
Hmmm... Try a team thats already developed? Inter if you want an Italian team, Leverkusen is pretty old in Germany.
 
keep this story going, it could be like a career revival sort of thing.
 
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