Associazione Sportiva Roma

[FM_TNSSO]

Associazione Sportiva Roma

Right, I was really enjoying my Ipswich save before I went away, but I've just returned from Rome with the Mrs where we have spent the last 4 days and I have to admit I've fallen a little bit in love with the Italian capital. I mean, the place is absolutely stunning! Therefore, I wanted to start a new save as AS Roma upon my return...naturally I didn't disclose it to my other half, but I've been thinking about it the entire time we've been out there.

AS Roma were founded by a merger in 1927 and have participated in Serie A (the top tier of Italian football) for their entire existence bar the 1951-52 season. They have only ever won the league title on three occasions though in 1941/42, 1982/83 and 2000/01. They have finished as runners up on 14 occasions though and are very much the 'nearly men' of Italian football. Success in the Coppa Italia has been a bit more prolific with 9 trophies to their name, with the most recent triumphs coming in 2007 and 2008.

Roma play their home games at the Stadio Olimpico. An impressive stadium which houses a capacity crowd of 72,000....only the San Siro in Milan can hold more! The stadium is shared with arch rivals Lazio, with whom they contest the Derby della Capitale.

The club's home colours are carmine red and golden yellow which is where they get their nickname of I Giallorossi which translates to The Yellow and Reds.

Roma's crest features a she-wolf which is an allusion to the founding myth of Rome. Based on that, their other nickname is La Lupa (The She Wolf).

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[FM_TNSSO]

Pre Season 2021/22

The squad is a large one, represented by a whole host of nationalities...14 in total!! There is a good core of 8 Italians in the squad, with at least 4 of them looking like they'll be regular first team starters at first glance. Three of my fellow Englishmen are also present in the side, with Tammy Abraham brought in to lead the Roma front line and shoulder a lot of goalscoring responsibility at the club for the upcoming season. I will likely have to work a formation that focuses on packing out the middle of the park as there is a lack of wingers in the squad and I'm inclined to go with a more defensively structured lineup in line with Italian tradition. With Chris Smalling out for 2 months and Leonardo Spinazzola missing for up to 9 months, it's likely I'll need to add some defenders to the squad before the season begins.

Possibly the best player in our squad and probably the most creative is Lorenzo Pellegrini! I'll be looking to build our attacking play around him for sure!

It's worth having a look at the main man up front as well. Tammy has some great attributes and as long as I utilize him in the right way, he should bang in goals for us and I'm confident he can reach a minimum tally of 20 this season for us.

I mentioned about adding defenders to the squad and I will have £10 million available to spend during this Summer window, with the overall bank balance healthy enough.

One thing we do have at the club is some amazing facilities and a youth development setup that should be good enough to bring through some of the country's most talented youngsters.

There is one stand out 16 year old coming through the club as we speak. Giacomo Faticanti looks like a star of the future and I'm extremely excited to be managing the young man's career and look forward to his progress throughout the save.

The club's vision is an ambitious one, with plans to be challenging for the Serie A title within 2 seasons and winning it within 3, so I will have my work cut out. As far as this season goes, they also want me to make the final of the Coppa Italia and the final of the Europa Conference League! It looks like we will be building a new stadium within the next 5 years and will no longer need to share with our arch rivals! It's an exciting time to be Roma manager.

The bookies don't see us as title challengers this year, but if we can perform well, then a spot in the top 4 and Champions League qualification is definitely not out of the question. Inter are the favourites to retain their title!

Our first couple of friendlies resulted in comfortable wins over lower league Italian opposition.

And this is the tactic I am initially using. The wing backs provide an attakcing threat playing almost as midfielders, with a back 3 that is supported by a creative DM. Two central midfielders both play as mezzalas which encourages them to push wide. The AMC is the main creative force and the striker is the talisman.

Outgoing Loan - Carles Perez (RW)
Season Long Loan to AS Monaco

With me not looking to play wingers this season, it made sense to send Perez out on loan and get his £50k per week salary covered by another team. Monaco will also pay us £75k per month for the duration of the loan and have an optional clause to sign him at the end of the season for £2.8 million.​

 

[FM_TNSSO]

August 2021

Three more friendlies and three more wins as our preparation for life under my management continues to go well.

Incoming Transfer - Alessio Romagnoli (CB)
Signed from AC Milan for £5.25 million

Alessio spent 7 seasons at Roma, coming through the youth system, before being sold on to Milan for over £18 million. After making over 170 league appearances for them, he returns home for a bargain fee! Really pleased to have him here as part of our defensive unit again!

Incoming Transfer - Dani Ceballos (CM)
Signed from Real Madrid for £7.25 million

Another absolute bargain as Ceballos joins from the Spanish giants. He has been out of favour there for the last couple of seasons and after doing OK at Arsenal (without setting the world alight), I thought he was well worth the small fee being asked to secure his services.

Thursday 19th August 2021 - 20:00
Europa Conference League 4th Qualifying Round 1st Leg - 1.FC Slovacko (Away)
Lineup: R.Patricio, R.Ibanez, G.Mancini (M.Kumbulla 60), A.Romagnoli, R.Karsdorp, J.Veretout, M.Vina, H.Mkhitaryan, S.Oliveira (A.Maitland-Niles 45), L.Pellegrini*, T.Abraham (E.Shomurodov 76)

A big win out in the Czech Republic earns me some early kudos with the Roma Ultras in my first competitive game in charge. It should secure our path through to the group stages without issue.

Monday 23rd August 2021 - 21:00
Serie A - Napoli (Home)
Lineup: R.Patricio, R.Karsdorp, G.Mancini, A.Romagnoli, M.Vina*, B.Cristante, S.Oliveira, S.El Shaarawy (H.Mkhitaryan 62), L.Pellegrini (D.Ceballos 71), E.Shomurodov, T.Abraham (N.Zaniolo 78)

We weren't handed the easiest of fixtures to kick off our Serie A campaign, but Napoli made things a lot easier for us as early as the 12th minute when they were reduced to 10 men. We went on to totally dominate the game with an incredible 33 shots...even more incredibly, we only scored a single goal! Still, 3 points to kick things off!

Thursday 26th August 2021 - 20:00
Europa Conference League 4th Qualifying Round 2nd Leg - 1.FC Slovacko (Home)
Lineup: R.Patricio, A.Maitland-Niles, R.Ibanez, A.Romagnoli, M.Vina (D.Santon 62), B.Cristante, S.Oliveira (J.Veretout 62), H.Mkhitaryan, L.Pellegrini, S.El Shaarawy (N.Zaniolo 83), T.Abraham* (E.Shomurodov 62)

Another easy win against our Czech opponents and we are through to the group stages of a competition our board expects us to reach the final of!

Our group shouldn't pose us too many problems either.

Sunday 29th August 2021 - 20:30
Serie A - Fiorentina (Away)
Lineup: R.Patricio, R.Karsdorp, G.Mancini, M.Kumbulla, M.Vina (D.Santon 63), J.Veretout S.Oliveira, N.Zaniolo, D.Ceballos (H.Mkhitaryan 63), E.Shomurodov, T.Abraham (L.Pellegrini 72)

A game we should have won, but a point away here isn't the end of the world!

Outgoing Transfer - Amadou Diawara (DM/MC)
Sold to Fiorentina for £5.25 million

On transfer deadline day, Diawara leaves the club. He wasn't in my first team plans, was taking up a non EU slot and was creaming nearly £80k per week in wages. I was desperate to move him on!

The league table doesn't really mean anything after 2 games, but we are still unbeaten at least.

Player of the Month
Lorenzo Pellegrini

Three goals and two assists in our first four competitive games from our best player!​

 

[FM_TNSSO]

September 2021

Sunday 12th September 2021 - 20:30
Serie A - Sassuolo (Home)
Lineup: R.Patricio, R.Karsdorp, G.Mancini, M.Kumbulla (A. Romagnoli 75), A.Maitland-Niles, B.Cristante, S.Oliveira, H.Mkhitaryan, N.Zaniolo (L.Pellegrini 61), S.El Shaarawy, T.Abraham (E.Shomurodov 61)

We struggled to find our rhythym here, but we still didn't deserve to lose, so it is a gutting result. We must do better if we are going to achieve our goals in the domestic league this season!

Thursday 16th September 2021 - 17:45
Europa Conference League Group Stage - St.Johnstone (Away)
Lineup: R.Patricio, R.Karsdorp, G.Mancini, A. Romagnoli, M.Vina (A.Maitland-Niles 74), B.Cristante, S.Oliveira (D.Ceballos 74), H.Mkhitaryan, L.Pellegrini, S.El Shaarawy*, T.Abraham (E.Shomurodov 61)

Despite total domination in Scotland, we still only walk away with a win by a single goal! Still, it was important to bounce back immediately from the Sassuolo defeat and we did that so I can't be too disheartened.

Sunday 19th September 2021 - 15:00
Serie A - Genoa (Away)
Lineup: R.Patricio, R.Karsdorp, G.Mancini, R.Ibanez, M.Vina, B.Cristante, S.Oliveira (J.Veretout 25 (A.Maitland-Niles 45)), N.Zaniolo, D.Ceballos, S.El Shaarawy, E.Shomurodov*, T.Abraham

A much, much better performance against Genoa and we never looked like losing this one!

Wednesday 22nd September 2021 - 21:00
Serie A - AC Milan (Away)
Lineup: R.Patricio, A.Maitland-Niles, G.Mancini, R.Ibanez (A.Romagnoli 82), D.Santon, B.Cristante, J.Veretout*, H.Mkhitaryan (N.Zaniolo 57), L.Pellegrini, S.El Shaarawy, T.Abraham (E.Shomurodov 69)

Wow...what a performance! Things were pretty tight right up until that red card and then we just assumed complete control and punished them in emphatic style.

Sunday 26th September 2021 - 20:30
Serie A - Lazio (Home)
Lineup: R.Patricio, R.Karsdorp (A.Maitland-Niles 67), R.Ibanez, M.Kumbulla, M.Vina, B.Cristante, J.Veretout, N.Zaniolo, L.Pellegrini*, H.Mkhitaryan (S.El Shaarawy 67), E.Shomurodov

Our first Capitale Derby under my management ends in a draw, which was a bit disappointing as I think we deserved to win the game on the balance of play.

It leaves us sitting 8th in the table after the opening 6 fixtures. Torino have had a flying start, winning all 6 of their games without conceding a single goal, and we will play them next month in our next league game.

Thursday 30th September 2021 - 20:00
Europa Conference League Group Stage - Anorthosis Famagusta (Home)
Lineup: R.Patricio, A.Maitland-Niles, C.Smalling, M.Kumbulla, D.Santon, B.Cristante (G.Faticante 63), D.Ceballos, N.Zaniolo*, A.Riccardi, H.Mkhitaryan, E.Shomurodov (J.Voelkerling 63)

Solid! We recorded as easy a win as I'd have expected here against our Cypriot opponents, even with a weakened squad as I took the opportunity to rest some players.

That's two wins from two and we already look good to qualify for the knockout stages.

Player of the Month
Bryan Cristante

Bryan is one of the only players to play in all 6 of our games this month and although others have more goals and assists to their names, he has been one of the most consistent players in the squad with a solid showing in every match.

Next month kicks off with a tough game against the league leaders! Our points target has to be a minimum of 9 from the 5 league games and a win over Rapid Wien in Europe will all but see us through the group stages even at just the half way point.

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