Fiorentina: Can the once powerful city become a powerful football force too?

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threeattheback

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Introduction
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Hi all, firstly, thanks for taking the time to read this, it is my first story, so any feedback is greatly appreciated, and I hope you enjoy it!

Florence is a city enriched in culture, and once one of the most powerful in Europe, and I thought, why can't this be represented in the football world too? So here goes, welcome to my Fiorentina save!

Before we start, I'm going to put everything out in the open: I'm using pr0's latest update pack which gives me transfers made since the January FM update, and has most promotions/relegations from the end of the 2016/17 season, as well as Euro spot places (as a result, my Fiorentina are not in the Europa League). The pack has also updated the abilities and potential abilities of many of the players we've seen excellent over the past season. You can get this pack yourself here:

[FM17] Transfers & Data Update Packs by pr0

I'm also using the sortitoutsi custom start date, so my save started on 31 May 2017 (I don't like working in retrospect, it removes realism). You can get this here:

https://sortitoutsi.net/football-manager-start-date

FINALLY, before we get on to the save, I have the editor enabled so that I can update transfers which happen in the real world (examples of my usage of this are moving Ryan to Brighton or Klaassen to Everton). I have not and will not be using this for personal gain, and this will become evident in my transfers.

Okay, here goes...
 
Staffing, Tactics, and Transfers

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Staffing, Tactics and Transfers

Staff

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Upon starting a new save or joining a new club, the first thing I always do is assess the staff. Just like in the real world, any staff who have been brought in by the manager I replaced get the chop. I like to keep things realistic, and with the case of Fiorentina, Paulo Sousa was sacked, and whilst Pioli was hired, we can treat him and his staff in the same was Sousa's were: all left with him.

Like many of you, I have my go-to staff members: McGuinness to coach defending, Mimms to take over either tactics or ball control, defending what my assistant manager can do. Sardini takes the goalkeepers, and Lambert the fitness side of things. Two coaches also weren't deadwood, so they stayed. I have a pro licence, and am a national level footballer, as would be expected of a coach at a club this big as a minimum, and as such am able to take attacking and shooting, for now.

Assistant manager always puzzles me, I've never found anyone perfect. However, whilst hunting for coaches I stumbled across Yves Colleu. No notable assistant manager experience (except PSG before they were good) makes me skip over him. However my search for an assistant manager came up no more credible alternatives, and when taking into account the raw AM stats; judging ability and potential, and man management, he seemed the most well-rounded, so I took the leap of faith. Below are my coaching staff, Colleu's stats, and all the senior staff, either brought in by myself, or already at the club.


I did a bit of research on Sousa's Fiorentina, and found that whilst they lined up in a 4-2-3-1, on the attack, the back four and midfield trio rotated into a 3-4-2-1, and on occasion against the smaller teams, a 3-2-4-1. This inspired me, and being a fan of playing with three at the back, as my name suggests, I attempted to recreate these attacking formations, whilst keeping things tight in defence. Starting in the 4-2-3-1 and having the players rotate into the formation I think would be near on impossible, so I decided to jump straight into the attacking formation.

My philosophy is fairly simple here: two defenders who can feed passes out to the wings, with one no-nonsense defender between them. Hard working central midfielders who sit deeper, and in attack half way between the halfway line and the box, pinging balls to the attackers, and covering the defenders. On the flanks, wingers capable of getting back and defending as wing back, cutting inside to score goals, and feeding crosses in to the central attackers. Up top I have a main poacher, supported by a shadow striker who can score and assist, and a playmaker hooking these two to the rest of the squad.

A fluid, possession-hungry formation with only instructions being to retain possession, work the ball out of defence, and into the box. To make these formations work, we can't give the ball away easy to fall for breaks, and everyone's got to work hard all over the pitch to contribute.

From this base formation, I created a more attacking version (the 3-2-4-1 I mentioned) and a more defensive but counter-attacking 3-4-2-1 with some player instructions tweaked, which you can see in the images below. There are injured players here, but with a full strength squad they'd line up as such:


Pr0's realistic budget alterations gave me a modest 14 million to spend, which is incidentally the same amount as they had on the original game download.

Goalkeeper: My first thought was that I need a goalkeeper. Tatarusanu clearly isn't good enough to start for an aspiring team in a league where European spots are competitive, and Drogowski isn't ready for this yet. Sportiello finished a loan from Atalanta at the end of the 2016/17 season, and I had the option to purchase him for 12m. I declined, knowing that including agent fees this would be my whole budget gone. Being an AC Milan fan, and given the Donnarumma saga that has happened, I scouted Perin (who has been tipped as his replacement), and Meret, who IRL Napoli are rumoured to be after. Perin was first team ready, and I negotiated a deal with Genoa: 3m upfront, 3m spread over the coming months, and 3.5m in add ons.

Central Defender: Fiorentina are not understaffed here, but given Rodriguez left at the end of the 2016/17 season, I could do with another quality player. I am conscious that my formation may leave me vulnerable in defence, and need quality and experience here. I consider Sagna to play on the right of the back three, but his wage demands would shaft me. Instead I bring in Badstuber on a free transfer.

Left Wing: I'm playing a formation which requires a good left midfielder, and my squad doesn't have that. After various scouting missions I make PSG's Jese my priority on a loan deal: no luck. PSG weren't willing to let him go, no matter how much I offer in monthly payments within my limits. Priority number two is Jairo, and a 7.5m deal is agreed with Mainz. No luck again though, as both his wage demands and loyalty demands were above my board allowances.

My final choice was transfer listed Cheryshev. I'm not a fan, and a three star rating with no predicted growth did nothing to improve this. I went in for a loan deal, with an option to buy, at his transfer listed cost minus the loan payments I would have made over a year, which was flat out rejected. I swallowed my pride, and closed a 7.5m deal, most up front, and a bit added on in monthly payments: I had no other options for the left wing.

For the Future: One of my scouts alerted me to a youngster from Braga called Xadas. He's a central midfielder, rated two stars, and has a high potential rating. He fee looked nominal and he looked a steal, so I brought him in for 190k. I've attached his stats below.



And I'm done! Or so I think, other than bringing in a young loanee with a bit of potential, although nothing to get excited about, on a permanent basis for pittance. Here's a total of my incomings and outgoings for the whole transfer window. (The loan signing of Emre Mor will be explained in the next post, whilst Gaspar is a player Fiorentina have signed in real life, but a waste of time for me as he's no good and doesn't fit in my tactics, so will be leaving the club at the earliest opportunity, and in the meantime, playing with the kids or bench warming.)
 
Preseason Games

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Preseason Games

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​I arranged my friendlies, a warm up game on the first day back against the U20s, followed by what I anticipated would be moderately easy home games against SC Bastia and then a slight step up to Marseille, before finally hosting Liverpool to really test my tactics and my squad. I should add, I don't manage friendlies, and whilst my AM uses my line ups and tactics, I do not fill the players in them, so he picks the starting eleven from both my senior and U20 squads, and controls substitutions.

V Fiorentina U20s: Straightforward 3-0 win here, nothing that wasn't expected, and not much to dwell on.

V SC Bastia: A 2-0 win, but an alarming game. Both of my goals were penalties, scored by Ilicic and Rossi, and in the game I had 4 shots, 3 on target: Bastia had 17 shots. For a possession hungry tactic too, it was distressing that I had only 48% of possession, in my own stadium. I take comfort from the fact that 75% of my shots were on target: only 4 of Bastia's were. Their shots were long-range, so we'd effectively shut them out.


V Marseille: Another concerning game, and I start to doubt if my tactics can hack it. 13 shots each, 6 on target each, but they edged it 0-1. However, 55% possession is better, as is 13 shots rather than 4. On we move.

V Liverpool: At it boys! 4-3! We score in the 62nd, 66th, and 69th to stun the Kop, who were 0-1 up at the time. 14 shots, 10 on target, more possession than them, and we completed almost 500 passes, 10 of which were key. Conceding three is troubling, but the squad wasn't full strength, and Liverpool are a big club, so I'll take it.


Three away friendlies against Club Brugge, Cesena, and Inter saw two draws and a win. As I said, I don't play the friendlies, so I won't dwell on these too much, except note that the team scored two against Inter, which made me happy, as Inter Merda (as I said, I'm a Rossonero), but they also scored two against me, not so good.

We were invited to play at Iniesta's testimonial game at Camp Nou for some reason, and I accepted. Needless to say when the match report hit my inbox saying we'd been spanked 5-1, I simply thought "At least we scored one", and moved on. I didn't have Colleu use the counter attack tactic for it, as I really wanted to test my main 3-4-2-1, and now I've seen the results. The players are clearly learning it though, as the team went to Camp Nou, got thrashed 5-1, yet had 50% possession where you'd have perhaps expected it to be less than 30%.

Draws against Sampdoria and SK Rapid Wien flank a game away at Napoli that finishes 6-3 to them, and we're ready for the new season! There's been highs and lows in the preseason, and I'm not convinced that using these tactics I won't be sacked by November after losing to Spezia and Novara at home, before Juventus sign my P45 in the last game in October, but hey, that's all part of the fun! On the bright side, according to my ex assistant manager, when I joined squad harmony was at kill each other levels, and now we're all going to each other's houses for BBQs, Milan banter-era style.

A full list of my friendlies is here for you to see:

View attachment 90750​
 
Key Players

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Key Players

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I've not really touched on any key players so far, perhaps cautious that too much text in one hit may put many off, but I feel like it's important, especially for those of you unfamiliar with the Fiorentina squad, or even Serie A.


Bernardeschi

View attachment 90746
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A rising star in Italy, Bernardeschi can play across the front positions, predominantly on the right flank, but is just as comfortable on the left, and competent as a number 10 or a number 9. He'll play as my right winger, and I'm expecting a lot of assists, cut inside goals, and ground to be covered from Italy's next big thing. Nicknamed Brunelleschi, due to his element style of play, Bernardeschi has 9 Italy caps to his name and at 23 I'm hoping in my save he'll continue to grow, and add the defensive capabilities to his game too that I'll need.


Not a Fiorentina payer, but one of my signings, Perin will need to be on top form against teams who'll break against me fast, and when facing some of the most attacking teams in the world in Juventus and Napoli, as well as some incredible strikers. Another young player who has already been capped at international level (which is impressive considering Buffon and Donnarumma are ahead of him), Perin will improve as my save goes on.


A product of the Milan youth academy, it never really worked out for Astori, who has spent most of his career at Cagliari. He was loaned to Fiorentina for the 2015/16 season, and they made the deal a permanent one in the summer of 2016. Now at 30 years of age, Astori is the best he'll become, and for me he'll be playing in the centre of my defensive trio.

A Croat and a Uruguayan, 28 and 26 years old respectively, these two players will rotate in my deep lying playmaker role. I want this to be a not-so-deep Pirlo-esque role, dictating the tempo, and playing killer balls to the attacking players both wide and central. If this doesn't work, my whole system could collapse. It's also a disciplined role: too high, and I'll be slaughtered on the break, too deep and the passes won't unlock anything promising.


Notable Mentions

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Kalinic/Rossi: I've not decided who'll be my starting XI poacher, but they're both very capable and experienced strikers, and I'm expecting a lot of goals from them.

Chiesa: 2017 has been his breakout year IRL: I need the winger to do so for me, providing ample depth for Bernardeschi and Cheryshev. My most promising player, and in a couple of seasons (if I last that long), he'll be the most important player for La Viola.
 
Love the intro and the detail it adds so much to the story. I am also a huge Serie A fan (Roma) and i have wanted to do a Serie A save or Italian save at least on FM but i have found nobody of real interest yet. Everybody does Milan and Inter so it is refreshing to see something else.
 
MrStu01 said:
Love the intro and the detail it adds so much to the story. I am also a huge Serie A fan (Roma) and i have wanted to do a Serie A save or Italian save at least on FM but i have found nobody of real interest yet. Everybody does Milan and Inter so it is refreshing to see something else.
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Glad you're enjoying it. Being a Milan fan, I normally do Milan too, but a combination of overkilling Milan saves, and 'Medici: Masters of Florence', set the ball rolling for this one. And I'm a fan of Bernardeschi.

Glad you're enjoying it. I'm up to the end of September now, having played 6 league games, and it's been a rollercoaster. I'll probably post the August/September update later tonight/tomorrow.
 
Milan does get overkill i expect more so next season with some good transfers this window. My considerations for an Italian save were Sampdoria (Make like a Marcelo Salas story of a return) or Lazio (ergh can't believe that crossed my mind but i love Immobile and Keita Balde) or Torino/Udinese i think it is a league with such great teams even in Serie B but that sometimes makes it harder to pick.

I look forward to reading the updates
 
MrStu01 said:
Milan does get overkill i expect more so next season with some good transfers this window. My considerations for an Italian save were Sampdoria (Make like a Marcelo Salas story of a return) or Lazio (ergh can't believe that crossed my mind but i love Immobile and Keita Balde) or Torino/Udinese i think it is a league with such great teams even in Serie B but that sometimes makes it harder to pick.

I look forward to reading the updates
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Yes, we're having an incredible mercato, but it's not been without its troubles (Dollarumma scandal). Either way, you're right there'll be a lot of Milan saves.

Samp would've been a good one to do, and I did consider it, but with Schick leaving for Juventus it's suddenly a lot less appealing. Likewise with Lazio, probably losing Keita to Milan or Juventus, and Biglia to Milan, the fun is taken out. The exciting saves are Roma and Fiorentina, an attempt to do one better in the CL whilst winning the Scudetto with Napoli, or trying to keep one of the newly promoted teams up given the gulf. Now Parma are back in Serie B I'm looking forward to that next year.


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Definitely will follow. I am a Fiorentina fan so am eager to see how you get on with them. I am sure you will do a lot better than them IRL this season. Good luck!
 
Interesting. I'm on a journeyman save myself (FM16 so no thread of my own sadly) and I ended up at Fiorentina in around 2020. Obviously with a few seasons under their belt their squad was drastically different to the above - they'd been dramatically asset-stripped, and not even for good prices. It's strange to see established stars on my save who aren't even mentioned here, presumably because they're too young... keep a VERY close eye on Abdou Diakhite though. He was my star player in my first and second seasons before I managed to squeeze £40m+ out of Dortmund for him. Top quality box-to-box midfielder.

Anyway, I'll be following as I have a soft spot for Fiorentina these days!
 
Sammuthegreat said:
Interesting. I'm on a journeyman save myself (FM16 so no thread of my own sadly) and I ended up at Fiorentina in around 2020. Obviously with a few seasons under their belt their squad was drastically different to the above - they'd been dramatically asset-stripped, and not even for good prices. It's strange to see established stars on my save who aren't even mentioned here, presumably because they're too young... keep a VERY close eye on Abdou Diakhite though. He was my star player in my first and second seasons before I managed to squeeze £40m+ out of Dortmund for him. Top quality box-to-box midfielder.

Anyway, I'll be following as I have a soft spot for Fiorentina these days!
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He's going to spend this season on the bench, then summer 2018 I'll see if he's good to bring in to the starting XI (dependent on how well others do and how much he grows), or I'll loan him to be a starter at a mid table club.
 
October

October​

September 30th​: Cheisa is out for a month through “wear and tear”. Ilicic is also on a twisted ankle, I’m reminded, and will probably miss the Novara game.

Club icon Manuel Pasqual has been questioning my abilities, and the press want to know my opinion on it. I aggressively lash out, saying it’s unhelpful, and if he wanted to help the club he should shut up.

It seems Fiorentina is going to be a harder job than I thought: lose two games and people start asking questions. I’m only listed as ‘stable’ in the job security tab, 6 games in with three wins and three losses.
Novara H​

This should be an easy game. I go with the attacking 3-2-4-1.

Astori and Saponara are both fit and both start, but Ilicic is still sidelined. We start well, getting the first shot in inside two minutes, testing the goalkeeper early. But in the 32nd​ minute, a plucky Novara break, and get their first goal from their 5th​ shot.

Half time: 0-1.

Diakhate, Hagi, and Kalinic all come in to the game at the 50th​ minute. Drastic measure are needed now to win, with time running out. I go to overload in the 77th​ minute as Scognamiglio gets sent off. Here we go, 13 minutes to go, and a man up. We can get two goals!

Actually, no we can’t. We get one with 10 seconds to spare, Tomovic, from a corner. Kalinic hit the post 3 minutes prior to that, which is frustrating. Oh what could’ve been.

Napoli and Inter drew this week, whilst Roma and Milan both lost, so at least I’m not losing ground.
Sassuolo A​

Given recent results, I’ll counter attack here. During the international break, Hugo and Vecino had asked me for more game time. To shut them up, I lied, saying other players were in the form of their life. Footballers aren’t known for being the most intelligent, and I see why: they accepted that as good reasons.

I head into the game with a fully fit squad, bar Tomovic, the hero against Novara, who’s put himself out for the month after giving himself a back strain in the weights room, probably attempting to show off how much he can (or can’t as the case may be) lift. Hugo gets that start he wanted.

Chris Coleman has been sacked by Wales. I earmark the job as a possibility should I get sacked this month. Managers aren’t given enough time, I’m worrying about things like this, and I’m only 7 games in and 3 points off continental places.

A food poisoned Perin starts in goal, and is forced to make a save 20 seconds in. My start hasn’t been good. Fiorentina have turned me into a cynic, so I’m shocked when Kalinic heads in a Cheryshev cross in the 27th​ minute. 0-1.

57 minutes, Saponara is rolling around on the floor like a girl for the third time this season: potential foot injury. Man up, Perin is out the with food poisoning, and Cheryshev picked up a facial injury inside 10 minutes yet got a superb assist.

Despite this, Bernardeschi sets up Kalinic, who places the ball in the top left corner with ease, making it 0-2.

Sassuolo get one back in the 73rd​ minute, and I go defensive.

I see the game out at 1-2. Happy manager.

Saponara is out for another 3 weeks, and the press are still questioning my position, despite me winning. I no comment the rest of the interview, and leave.
Napoli H​

Counter again. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.

Badelj scores first, a free kick from the halfway line bounces off the wall to his feet, and a long range strike bulges the net.

Valero makes it two, a tap in at the back post after excellent work by Bernardeschi, and at half time I tell them to keep their performance levels up.

They don’t, and the game finishes 2-2.
Udinese A​

I start unchanged from the Napoli game three days earlier (what is it with Serie A scheduling?).

A ball over the top from Ilicic finds Kalinic, who finds the roof of the net, to get his 100th​ league goal of his career. I’m not sure that’s impressive at the age of 29, but the commentator seems to think it worth mentioning, so I will too. A through ball link up between Ilicic and Kalinic means the latter gets his second of the game at 3 minutes later, and in the 36th​ minute, Lasagna (what a name) pulls one back for Udinese.

I rejoice, it was ruled offside!

Udinese have a central midfielder sent off in injury time, and I start the second half happy, and 0-2 up. Please don’t be a repeat of the Napoli game…

I went defensive to ensure it wasn’t, and we saw the game out 0-2. Elsewhere, Milan beat inter 3-1, so I’m happy.
Juventus H​

I’m coming into this match from a 0-2 win. Juventus won their last game 6-0. I’m not expecting anything other than a thrashing here.

In between Udinese and this game, I tried to negotiate a deal to bring Kaka in when his contract at Orlando City ends: he wants a 2m signing on bonus, so I ended talks.

The Juventus match on the 29th​ October is a sell out, so there’ll be tens of thousands to see me get hammered. It’s also my birthday. Fantastic.

Higuain has 10 goals in 10 games this season. Astori needs to turn up.

It takes Juventus 35 minutes to draw the first blood in what was previously a very boring game. A Chiellini throw loops through their from Benatia’s head, and sneaks in under the crossbar. I’m not disappointed as we go into half time, that was their only shot on target. In everything bar the score line, all the match stats are even.

At 80 minutes, I attack, to try and salvage a point. It doesn’t happen for me, but I’m not disappointed. On another day we’d have won.

This nice journalist summed up my feelings:

November Fixtures

And that’s October over. Not too bad, not too good. I’m still here, still “stable”.

Milan A
Sampdoria H
Cagliari A
Roma H

This is October’s challenge. There’s got to be at least seven points in there, surely?

For now though, this is my standings, three months in. It’s close, a win against Lazio would’ve made a lot of difference here, and Chievo or Bologna maintaining this, so I don’t have too much to complain about.

View attachment 90694​
 
threeattheback said:
Yes, we're having an incredible mercato, but it's not been without its troubles (Dollarumma scandal). Either way, you're right there'll be a lot of Milan saves.

Samp would've been a good one to do, and I did consider it, but with Schick leaving for Juventus it's suddenly a lot less appealing. Likewise with Lazio, probably losing Keita to Milan or Juventus, and Biglia to Milan, the fun is taken out. The exciting saves are Roma and Fiorentina, an attempt to do one better in the CL whilst winning the Scudetto with Napoli, or trying to keep one of the newly promoted teams up given the gulf. Now Parma are back in Serie B I'm looking forward to that next year.


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I hope he stays earn his spot but i feel he has burnt his bridge now. Be interesting to see where would further his career. Unless he excels like De Gea i think sadly he has messed his own career up although of course he is blaming Milan.

Yes i will perhaps do one with Roma or Sampdoria. Keita is a ridiculous breakout star. Parma is a good future option.
 
Looking good so far! shame about the posts being denied!

I'm loving the fact that you are playing with three at the back.....when that is your name, gotta love consistency.
 
naterr said:
Looking good so far! shame about the posts being denied!

I'm loving the fact that you are playing with three at the back.....when that is your name, gotta love consistency.
Click to expand...

Thank you, and yes it's a big shame, but at least I've found a way around it. It's not perfect but it'll do. I can only assume that one of my player's names is a swear word in a foreign language?

Well yes I have no choice there, although interestingly, since the game came out last November, I've never found a 3 CB formation that can keep a clean sheet, and been sacked every time I've tried. Whilst I may not be all over this league, taking that into context this save has been a remarkable success!

January is now complete and written up, and there's been some massive ups and downs again. I'll screenshot it all and look to post it up soon!
 
I can't figure out 3 at the back formations either, for what it's worth. I'm hoping FM18 will have some new roles that better reflect how those systems work.

Really enjoying this story though. It's interesting, again, seeing so many of my feeling about Serie A and Fiorentina reflected in your experiences. It's an INCREDIBLY competitive league - behind Juve, there's about 8 teams (Inter, Milan, Roma, Napoli, Fiorentina, Sassuolo, Bologna and Verona on my save) who are all around the same level, pushing for Europe. Lazio got relegated, weirdly.

I also found it was an extremely impatient league, both in terms of manager turnover and also in terms of the ****** players themselves - teams have such massive squads that it feels like every week there's a player or two who's getting pissy about not playing enough.

And the gulf in cash between Serie A and B is frankly shameful. Before I took over at Fiorentina I got Pescara promoted, and they had a wage cap of £4,300 per player per week. How on earth are Pescara, with an average first-team wage of £3k, supposed to compete with Juventus whose average first-team wage is £70k+? I get that it's all an attempt to get teams' books balanced properly, but still...

Anyway. Enjoying this, keep it going!
 
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