Cagliari Calcio - The Islanders

[FM_TNSSO]

Cagliari Calcio - The Islanders

Hi everyone and welcome to my new FM19 adventure. I wanted to start a long term/one club save, with a team that I can build up, nurture some decent youth players and eventually dominate their country of origin. The team I will be looking to do this with is Cagliari Calcio of Italy.

Cagliari are nicknamed 'The Islanders' due to the fact that they are the main team on the beautiful island of Sardinia! The city of Cagliari is the biggest and is the capital on the island, which sits just south of the French island of Corsica. Although politically a region of Italy, Sardinia does have a certain level of autonomy!

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So why Cagliari...well I wanted a challenge that won't be easy to achieve in a short space of time. With Juventus dominating Italian football over the past few years, they are the team we will need to try to overthrow, but before we get to them we have other giants in the form of AC Milan, Inter Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio and Napoli standing in our way as well! Basically, I've got my work cut out and it should be an interesting journey to see how far I can take this team over the years.

With a 13th placed finish predicted as I take over, realistic targets would be....

Season 1; Mid table
Season 2; Top Half
Season 3; European Qualification
Season 4; Champions League Qualification
Season 5; Challenging for Title
Season 5 Onwards; Establish ourselves as a leading force in Italy and Europe

My new home is temporary. And by that I mean that the club are playing their home games in a temporary stadium, the Sardegna Arena, which has a capacity of 16,412. They are playing their games here whilst the new stadium is being built, which is scheduled to be finished in 2021....it remains to be seen if this is built into the FM game or not!

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Looking at the club's history, they have 1 Serie A title, 1 Serie B title and a handful of Serie C titles to their name. The Serie A success came all the way back in 1970 though and they've never lifted the Italian Cup either. So there is an opportunity here to cement my name in the history books even by winning a single trophy! Over the past 20 years, we can see the club has yo'yo'ed between Serie A and B football, with their highest finish in the top flight being 9th back in the 2008/09 season!

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For this story, I will be taking a slightly different format and mixing up my posts a little bit. Rather than my usual month by month update, there will be a mix of fixture/results updates, player updates, news articles, individual match updates, interviews etc... As always, your comments, likes and advice/criticism of my style is much appreciated! I hope you enjoy this as much as I think I'm going to!

So let's get going...I can't ****** wait!

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[FM_TNSSO]

Squad Overview, Tactics and Budgets

Squad Overview

The first thing to notice about my squad here, is that it's an ageing one. There's no less than 10 players over the age of 30, and looking at the current crop of players it's likely that a handful of them will be first team regulars this season! Our only teenager in the squad is Luca Pellegrini and he's not even one of our own (on loan from Roma). One thing's for sure, I'll need to inject some young blood into this team over the next couple of years and bring a fresh approach of flair and excitement to our approach.

It's not all doom and gloom though. We do have a good base of Italian players and only 3 non EU players so we shouldn't have any problems with player registration or league rules. The other thing to note is that we have an exceptionally tall squad with almost every player being over 6ft tall, so set pieces should be a focus point for us and we shouldn't be conceding too many from opposition corners or free kicks either!

Finally, I notice that I do have 17 players currently listed as first team or key player squad statuses...that means I will have to do plenty of rotation throughout the season in an attempt to give everyone the game time to keep them all happy!


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The Best Three!

Nicolo Barella; The star of the team and at only 21 years old it's a big weight on his young shoulders to carry amongst a host of older, senior players! But this kid can play and I'll definitely be looking to build the team around him in the centre of the park!

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Leonardo Pavoletti; Up front, we have an Italian striker who is 6ft 2" and has 20/20 stats for heading! Now that is something we will look to use to our advantage this season for sure! Play for set pieces....yes please!!

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Alessio Cragno; Our goalkeeper is a good standard for the league and is only 24 years old so still has all his best years ahead of him! There's no reason why this lad can't be a future star in the national side!

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The Tactic

With the players I have available, I have opted for a 4-3-3 Wide style utilizing wing backs and inside forwards. Srna will sit deeper at right back as we have more attack minded midfidlers on that side of the pitch that he will need to cover. Lykogiannis will be encouraged to get a bit further forward to support attacks and overlap a bit more. In the centre of the park, Padoin will sit deeper with the main aim of winning the ball back and laying it off to more creative attacking players to spearhead counter attacks. Pavoletti is the main man up front and will look to hold up the ball for the inside forwards as well as get on the end of crosses with his fantastic heading ability! Obviously the tactic is subject to change throughout the season, but this is the base I'll be working from with my preferred lineup!

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Finances

As far as improving the squad goes, I have £4 million to spend in the window and a spare £14k in the wage budget as well. Not enough to make any big marquee signings, but something to play with nonetheless. There's £10 million in the bank so we are in a healthy, stable position as a club!

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Pre Season

There's a whole host of friendlies to play and test my tactic, with some big opponents like Celtic and Atletico Madrid as well!

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[Linecoigne1998]

Excited for this, I always enjoyed starting stories in Italy myself so this should be interesting! Could I ask which skin you're using btw and if you know if it would work on lower resolutions (mine is only 1440x900 but I could zoom out to 85% to make it look alright)?

 

[leckuno]

Should be good and will be a tough challenge as I don't think there is much prize money for the league so will be a good challenge

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Excited for this, I always enjoyed starting stories in Italy myself so this should be interesting! Could I ask which skin you're using btw and if you know if it would work on lower resolutions (mine is only 1440x900 but I could zoom out to 85% to make it look alright)?

It's the Andromeda skin downloaded from FMScout mate....don't know about low resolutions though

 

[Linecoigne1998]

It's the Andromeda skin downloaded from FMScout mate....don't know about low resolutions though

Ah, figured I'd seen it somewhere! I don't think it works for lower resolutions apparently such a shame since I've had to just use the base skins the whole year due to the lack of good skins (in my opinion at least) for lower resolutions... Thanks anyway and good luck!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Ball Makes First Signing

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Ball Makes First Signing

New Cagliari boss, Chris Ball, has made his first permanent signing since taking over at the club. 19 year old Argentine prospect, Exequiel Palacios, joins The Islanders for a fee of £4.8 million, in a deal that sees Cagliari pay £1.4 million up front followed by another £3.4 million over 3 year instalments.

Palacios is one of the brightest young stars in Argentina and is widely seen to have a bright future ahead of him. He has a fantastic attitude for such a young man, with good work rate, teamwork and leadership! Combine that with the ability to pick a pass, with decent technique and you have a quality player in the making.

Cagliari boss, Ball, said "We're delighted to have Exequiel here and I firmly believe he can go on to achieve great things at this club! We have a fantastic young player here who I'm sure will be an Argentine international in the future!"

No doubt the Cagliari fans will be excited to see their new man in action, with him expected to feature throughout pre season as Ball experiments with tactics and lineups.

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[WeArePalace]

Excited to see how this story goes. Personally I’m Italian so will be interesting to see.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Pre Season Update

Pre Season Update


Pre season was slightly less busy than expected with a couple of games being cancelled due to opponents being involved in European qualifying fixtures. However, we still got 5 games under our belts, resulting in 3 wins and 2 draws, one of which was against the mighty Atletico Madrid.

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During our pre season campaign, we did have a major injury setback though as we lost Valter Birsa for up to 3 months! We are a bit thin on the ground for inside forwards as it is, so this could cause us some problems and meant I needed a quick dip into the transfer market to see who was available.

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So go to the transfer market I did and that's where I found 21 year old Algerian wide man, Adam Ounas. He joins on loan from Napoli for the season and will add some much needed cover for the inside forward roles down both sides of the pitch, and he even has the potential to become a first team regular if he proves himself worthy!

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The title odds were released by the bookies and although they have Juventus as favourites to win the title, I think 2-1 is a massive price for them! We shouldn't be get involved in the relegation battle this year with the likes of Frosinone, Empoli, Chievo, SPAL and Parma all expected to really struggle. Instead, we are predicted a mid table finish and I'll be aiming for us to land a final spot anywhere between 8th and 12th to be considered as a good season!

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Veteran full back, Darijo Srna, gets the captain's armband for the upcoming season! He was a natural choice with his level of experience and the fact he is one of the most influential players in the squad! Striker, Leonardo Pavoletti will be his vice captain!

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We've been handed a home tie against Brescia in the Italian Cup 3rd Qualifying Round. It will be my first taste of competitive action since taking over at the club as we play them a week before the Serie A kicks off.

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Talking of Serie A action, we will kick off the season with some very winnable games and have a good chance to get some early points on the board. And we might need to, with the end of September looking horrific with a run of AC Milan, Inter and Juventus all one after the other.

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[FM_TNSSO]

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First Game Joy For New Cagliari Boss

New Cagliaria manager, Chris Ball, made a perfect start to his career with The Islanders as they recorded a comfortable 2-0 win over Brescia in the 3rd Qualifying Round of the Italian Cup.

Cagliari came into the game as favourites and were dominant throughout the game, with it seeming like an endless onslaught on the Brescia goal! Kiril Despodov gave the home side the lead towards the end of the first half with a left footed volled from inside the box, which smashed into the bottom corner of the net.

Despodov then turned provider as he slotted through a perfectly weighted through ball for Lucas Castro to run onto. Castro picked up the ball just inside the 18 yard box and slotted home with a first time effort past the onrushing Brescia keeper.

Cagliari were relentless in their continued attack through the 2nd half, although there were no more goals for the home fans to celebrate!

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In his post match interview, Ball said that he was happy with how quickly the team have rallied around and got behind his attacking style of play and with such a good performance in his first game, it bodes well for the future!

Cagliari will now welcome Perugia to the Sardegna Arena for the 4th Qualifying Round. The tie will be played on Thursday 6th December.

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[FM_TNSSO]

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Cagliari Board Outline Expectations For Ball


It is reported that Cagliari chairman Tommaso Giulini was at the training ground this morning to outline the board's expectations for the upcoming season to new manager, Chris Ball.

A mid table finish will be seen as a suitable achievement in Serie A, with many pundits and supporters alike feeling like this is a very achievable target!

As far as the Italian Cup goes, the board have outlined that they would rather Ball focuses on the league this year and only expect him to get Cagliari through to the 1st round of the competition.

Following the meeting, Ball was asked to comment and said "I'm very happy that the board have given me some realistic targets and are not expecting too much of me in my first season in charge. I'm confident of meeting their expectations and having a good season".

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[Klippybo]

I was thinking of going Cagliari - apart from Barella they have 2 top notch youngsters in their system.

Like the font - which is it?

 

[FM_TNSSO]

I was thinking of going Cagliari - apart from Barella they have 2 top notch youngsters in their system.

Like the font - which is it?

For my updates, it's Microsoft Sans Serif, size 3. For news stories, just Arial, size 2!

Unfortunately, my Cagliari story is likely to be coming to a very premature end mate, as I've not won any of my opening 12 games in the league and job is now very insecure as I sit bottom of Serie A.....so if you want to start a save/story with them then fill ya boots fella!

 

[Klippybo]

For my updates, it's Microsoft Sans Serif, size 3. For news stories, just Arial, size 2!

Unfortunately, my Cagliari story is likely to be coming to a very premature end mate, as I've not won any of my opening 12 games in the league and job is now very insecure as I sit bottom of Serie A.....so if you want to start a save/story with them then fill ya boots fella!

I was Steaua but found it hard to get excited about it. Got 3 teams in my head and a challenge - might do a poll. Spending the night researching while pretending to watch a film with my girlfriend lol.

Not one for starting save after save so getting very frustrated. Got a weeks holiday coming up soon so need a save before then.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

I was Steaua but found it hard to get excited about it. Got 3 teams in my head and a challenge - might do a poll. Spending the night researching while pretending to watch a film with my girlfriend lol.

Not one for starting save after save so getting very frustrated. Got a weeks holiday coming up soon so need a save before then.

Yep I genuinely thought this one was gonna be for the long term, but the FM Gods had other ideas.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

I'm so sorry guys, but clearly this type of save hasn't been for me....or Cagliari haven't anyway! I've been sacked after just 17 games in charge, managing only 2 league wins during my short tenure! As this was meant to be a one club/long term save (what a joke that turned out to be), it means the story ends here! I really appreciate the likes and comments along the short journey so far and I'm sorry to have let you all down with my abysmal performance!


Please look out for a new story/save coming soon. I'll post up a poll to see what you guys wanna see....will be looking to start the save tomorrow morning!

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