Patrick Vieira - from Midfielder to Manager

PaperClipFMer said:
I know mate, he did play for Ac as well but only played about 5 games and only last one season haha.

Squad isn't bad but needs improving in some areas :)
Click to expand...

Posted the same minute lol

Have you had a look at any unhappy players or ones running low on contracts?
 
View attachment 206592

We now really need to sign a striker. Bacca is the main man up-front but I'm not confident in any of the other lads, this is area we needed to strengthen the most.

The problem I had were the players available, everyone who was available wasn't good enough and everyone good enough wanted huge wages and a massive transfer fee which would mean I couldn't recruit anyone else.

Then, the deal Id been working on for ages came good ...

View attachment 206594

My old mate from Newcastle, Ayoze Perez becomes the third player to sign for me at Milan.

I like Perez and he showed me at Newcastle just what he could do. He actually only scored 23 league goals for me since I took over at Newcastle which isn't bad but it isn't prolific either.

He started last season in brilliant form and I really though he'd go and score 20+ goals but he dried up in the new year and failed to score in any of the last 10 games of the season. One of the main factors why we didn't clinch that top 4 spot!

View attachment 206593

I still think he'll be a good signing though.

He signs for a fee of £14 million which could rise to over £18 million based on his appearances and form for club and country.

He should be the perfect partner for Bacca and at 24, still has loads of time to improve.

It's a big call bringing him here, it's a big step up for him. If he doesn't hit the ground running then the fans will soon turn on him ... and me.​
 
Average Joe said:
Posted the same minute lol

Have you had a look at any unhappy players or ones running low on contracts?
Click to expand...

Haha, great minds ey? ;)

I haven't really, everyone seems pretty happy. I expected everyone's moral to be really low but it isn't. They must all be happy with an 8th place finish last season haha!
 
View attachment 206565

After signing Ayoze Perez as the much needed striker to come in, my next aim was to bring in another wide player (preferably for the right hand side) and an attacking midfielder who can play behind the front-two.

Searching the transfer list, I stumbled on a transfer listed Mesut Ozil. Surely this was too good to be true.

I immediately made an offer which was accepted pretty quickly.

View attachment 206564

Sadly though, Ozil has no intentions of joining us!

We had an offer of £16.5 million accepted but had to pull out as we couldn't even offer him a contract.

I can only put this down to the fact that we're not in Europe!

Literally a couple of days later and became apparent ...

View attachment 206563

Juventus nip in and get the deal done!

They even got him for £12 million, £4 million less than we were accepted at.

This just shows how strong Juve are and that at time we just can't compete them! Certainly not yet anyway, we need to be in the Champions League before we can really even begin to compete with them.​
 
View attachment 206560


So, with the Mesut Ozil deal dead and buried and him already at Juventus. My attentions turned elsewhere, I was really struggling to find someone to play behind the striker, in the end I decided to go for, Adem Ljajic ...

View attachment 206562

Ljajic signs for a fee of £7.75 million which could rise to £10.75 million if he meets all the clauses.

I think this is a decent signing, he can play on either wing and is also just as good in a central area.

View attachment 206561

This will probably be the last bit of transfer before the league starts in a few days time.

this pretty much uses all of our budget, the tiny amount we do have left I'd quite like to leave until January in case we need to bring anyone else in.
​
 
Oh come on. Not bad enough you leave us in the lurch you take away Ayoze!?!? Can't wait to support Inter in the derbies. ;)
 
SeanFlett said:
Oh come on. Not bad enough you leave us in the lurch you take away Ayoze!?!? Can't wait to support Inter in the derbies. ;)
Click to expand...

Hahahaha! I tried to take sissoko, Wijnaldum and Dele Alli as well but couldn't afford them haha. Ooo, well I guess someone has to ;)
 
View attachment 206559

With the season kicking off in just a few days, I decided to have a look at my old team to see how they're doing.

Well, they took their time but they finally replaced me and appointed ...

View attachment 206558

Gareth Southgate!!

A pretty **** appointment if you ask me.

They left it late, they've already played 2 league games which my old assistant, Ian Cathro, took charge of. He managed them to a 2-0 defeat against Man City and a 1-1 draw against West Brom.

They haven't really made a mark on the transfer market either but they have managed to keep Moussa Sissoko, Dele Alli and Wijnaldum which is vital to them.​
 
View attachment 206554

With the season fas approaching, I thought I'd run through the first few fixtures.

View attachment 206553

We start with an away trip to Atlanta followed by a home game against Livorno in the first month.

Both are very winnable as Atlanta finished in the bottom half last season whilst Livorno are recently promoted from Serie B.

September is also pretty kind to us with the first 3 games being very winnable before we end the month with a tricky game at home to Roma. Roma had a good season last year, claiming the last Champions League spot by finishing 4th.

October is where it starts getting really tough! Napoli, Juventus and Udinese will all be very tough games Spezia and Bologna which are two we should be winning fairly comfortable.​
 
Nice transfers unlucky with Ozil though, need to show him how mistaken he was to reject you
 
View attachment 205771

The season is just days away and we receive some injury news that we could really do without.

View attachment 205770

Thiago Maia is ruled our for up to 7 weeks with a lower back stress fracture.

This is a real blow for us as I really expected him to play a big part in this season. He'll probably be injured until the start of November now.​
 
View attachment 205726

Gameweek 1

View attachment 205723

View attachment 205724

It's a 4-4-2 of sorts that we play today. We set up with 2 center halfs today along with 2 full backs with Zappacosta and Antonelli playing further forward than usual.

The midfield operate as a diamond with Ogenyi Onazi being picked as the defensive midfielder to try and shield the defence as my concern was the gaps we'll leave wide. Nigel De Jong and Mauri were the two central players with De Jong's main concern marking the midfield runners.

Adem Ljajic then played behind the front two of Carlos Bacca and Ayoze Perez.

Alejandro Gomez is probably the biggest threat coming from the Atlanta side as they line up with a narrow 4-5-1 with 3 attacking midfielders. I'm please they aren't playing any wingers with the narrow midfield we're playing.
​

View attachment 205721

Wow. What a ridiculous game of football. This just shows me what an awful lot of work is required to get this side playing.

We got off to a brilliant start when full make met full back when Antonelli met Zappacosta's cross to make it 1-0 within 28 second.

View attachment 205719

We held onto the lead until half time but Atlanta then levelled just after the break. De Luca was completely unmarked in the box and convertered the cross by Gomez. It was initially Nigel De Jong who gave the ball away far too easily in a dangerous area.

We re-took the lead when Ayoze Perez scored his first of the night following a set piece taken by Ljajic and headed on by Mangala.

Alejandro Gomez then made it 2-2, 5 minutes later when he convertered a cross from the right, losing Managala to meet the ball.

Just 3 minutes later and we were back in the lead. Carlos Bacca headed the ball home with a free header 6 yards from goal. Another good cross from Zapacosta in an impressive display from the Italian.

View attachment 205718

Luigi Giorgi then made it 3-3 when a cross came in and Onazi scuffed his clearance which fell to Giorgi who finished from 12 yards out.

3-3 in the most ridiculous game.

The game got even more ridiculous when Ayoze Perez scores his second of the game. It was a counter attack led by Bacca who fed through Zappacosta who fed a brilliant ball through to Perez who was 1 on 1 with the 'keeper and finished low past him.

To make the game even more nervy, Ogenyi Onazi was shown a second yellow card for a foul late on which meant we were all backs to wall for the final 5 minutes.
​

MAN OF THE MATCH - Davide Zappacosta

View attachment 205720

Goals - 0
Assists - 3
Average rating - 9.0

A brilliant display from the full back, playing as an attacking wing back today. 3 assists and a constant threat on the right made this decision pretty easy. Notable mention for Ayoze Perez though who scored 2 goals and grabbed the winner for us.​
 
Some great transfers there ! I would advice you check out masuaku from Olympiakos for a back up in the left flank
 
View attachment 205257

View attachment 205256

The second game of the month saw us up against Livorno who were only promoted to Serie A last season but did manage an impressive draw against Roma in their opening game.

View attachment 205252

We line up with the same team that beat Atlanta last week with the only change being Srdjan Mijailovic coming in for the suspended Onazi. Although we've gone with the same team, I've put more emphasis on our defensive work as last week was a complete joke.

In terms of the Livorno side, they line up with a 3-5-2 formation and look to sit very deep. It actually looks a team that lacks any real quality, having only been promoted from Serie B last season I think they'll be one of the strugglers this term.
​

View attachment 204959


The first half was pretty poor, we created a few half chances but just couldn't get the right final ball to either of the front men.

As the half was drawing to an end and looking to into half time at 0-0. Nigel De Jong was shown a straight red card for a serious foul from behind in the middle of the parl. The tackle really annoyed me as the lad wasn't going anywhere and the foul was totally unnecessary.

This totally changed our game plan as Ljajic had to drop deeper so we didn't get outrun in midfield and the full backs also dropped deeper.

We did go onto score the only goal of the game though as once again it was full back setting up full back.

Antonelli played a ball across the edge of the box to Zappacosta who smashed in a half volley from the edge of the box right into the top corner. The ball flew past the 'keeper before he even flinched.

View attachment 205251

We then defended well and saw the game out. I brought on Francesco Acerbi late on to replace Mangala as he was on a booking and looked in serious danger of being sent off. Acerbi played brilliantly and was an absolute rock. He's really put his stake to start next week.
​

MAN OF THE MATCH - Davide Zappacosta

View attachment 205249

Goals - 1
Assists - 0
Average rating - 9.0

Another really goo performance from the full back today, he deserved to win man of the match for his match winning strike alone but it was his all round performance that was impressive.​
 
Last edited:
Good start with Milan and a great start to the season for Zappacosta with 2 MOM's!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

FMBase

Beta

Resources

Back
Top