Return of the Rossoneri

[GR14B]

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A.C Milan

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A.C Milan are one of biggest and most iconic clubs in world football, boasting no fewer than 7 European Cups and 18 league titles but recent years have been turbulent for the club as their golden generation have faded out. The main goal of this save is simply to bring back the glory days for the Rossoneri.

I have disabled the first transfer window for realism and to get a feeling for my squad but one of the main initial goals will be removing the deadwood from the squad - which there is a lot of. (i.e Albertazzi, Bonera, Robinho). My initial thoughts about the squad is the lack of an orchestrating midfield player in the squad, especially with Montolivo out injured.

I've identified three key men to build the team around:

Stephen El Sharawaay
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Il Faraone. The key man to the side in my opinion, still only 21, being able to play anywhere across the front is obviously a huge benefit in the long term but for the time being I am intending on using him on the left. The main man going forward.

Nigel De Jong
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The destroyer. A ball winner is absolutely vital for any team in my opinion and there are few better than Nigel De Jong, my first order of business will be to try get him tied into a new contract as it is expiring at the end of the season.

Mattia De Sciglio
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The Milan way. Hopefully an example along with EL92 of the youth prospects coming through. Has the potential to be a world leading full back.


The main goals for the first 5 seasons are:

• Re-establish A.C Milan as the main team in Milan
• Become Champions League regulars again
• Win the league at least twice
• Become the main team in Italy
• Win the Champions League

Sub-goals I have set are:

• Have a predominantly Italian team
• Blood Milan youth players into the first team
• Turn Hachim Mastour into a superstar
• Not buy obvious players (Alvarez Balanta, Romero, Tielemans)
• Go a full season winning the possession stat in every single match

For season one the plan is simply a Champions League place come **** or high water, to get rid of the deadwood
and start constructing "my" team. The main tactic will be a 4-3-3 with De Jong holding in midfield and Cerci playing as a false nine with the impetus being on defensive solidarity to start with seeing as I believe we are stronger in defence than going forward (on Football Manager anyway!)

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I'll give monthly/bi-monthly updates with reports on big games and what my current thoughts are with the squad.

 

[GR14B]

So I may have advanced as far as January 2015 with this save and then decided to make this my first story so the pictures will be off but will talk you through my thoughts.

Potential Transfers Out

After a deeper look through the squad I have an approximate idea of who I want out after or during season one players definitely leaving will (hopefully) be:
Mexes
Essien
Pazzini
Robinho
Zapata
Albertazzi
Zaccardo
Bonera

the top four's wages are all far too much for their squad status and the other four are simply surplus to requirements.

Players that could be going are:
Honda
Torres
Matri
Muntari

Again, similar reasons but I believe these players are at a better level than the other eight.

Potential Transfers In
The board gave me £11 million midpoint in the season for a budget and I immediately signed Marquinhos as he was transfer listed at PSG for £3.6 million (!!). Although defenders are the last thing I needed, it was too good to pass up.
As stated in the first thread, I'm looking for an orchestrator, the ideal player being Marco Verratti
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but as you can see Chelsea signed him, for £10.25 million. I made the same offer but de to not being into Europe he had no interest in joining as gutting as it was. I also tried to get both Florenzi and Joao Moutinho for the role (as ambitious as it seemed, they both moved for < £15 million) but they went to Chelsea and United respectively.

Going forward, I've now identified a few new targets -Cristante and Andre Gomes- to fit the deep-lying playmaker role for me. Cristante being a former Milan protigee and Gomes being very similar to Rui Costa, I want to keep the Milan ideology of the past in the club's blood.

An obvious gap in the team is the lack of a pure 9 as the options are Destro (who is currently injured for 4 months and only here for one season) and Pazzini who isn't of the level I require, I will all but certainly be purchasing a striker in the summer. My main target is Andrej Kramaric from Leicester or failing him, Dani Osvaldo.

 

[GR14B]

tried posting my month review for August and September a few times but it failed, so will try this comment to merely inform you of scores and hopefully give more detail in coming comments.

Napoli 0-1 Milan (Strinic OG)
Milan 1-1 Sassuolo (Honda)
Atalanta 1-1 Milan (Cerci)
Milan 2-0 Verona (Destro x2)
Genoa 2-2 Milan (Menez, Destro)

Very up and down month, fantastic result against Napoli but a few disappointing draws.

 

[GR14B]

so my last reply worked! now to give mini match reviews as I go now.

October 2014
Milan 3-2 Lazio

Brilliant win against the current league leaders, Cerci opened the scoring early on and we looked very comfortable until the 57th minute when Djordjevic equalised against the run of play. Menez then put us in front 2 minutes later before a late equaliser again from Djordjevic looked to allow Lazio to leave with a point until Poli scored a great goal from 20 yards in the 83rd minute to win us the game.

Milan 2-0 Cesena

If we didn't win this game I would of been asking questions. Alex with a header and a penalty to win us the game although I wasn't all happy as possession was tied at 50-50. Improvement in that department needed.

Torino 0-1 Milan

3 wins on the bounce! El Sha with his first of hopefully many for me just after half time won us the game in a very difficult away trip and possibly our best performance as we dominated possession 57-43 and shots 19-6

Milan 1-1 Udinese

Frustrating performance after a good run of games for us, Destro opened the scoring as Scuffet got MOTM for an excellent performance. Still unbeaten however...


End of month review
Best game: vs Torino

 

[GR14B]

November 2014

Cagliari 1-1 Milan

De Jong gave us the lead before Longo equalised, very meh game, not much to comment on tactically.

Milan 1-1 Fiorentina

Poor management. Switched to a diamond to get more form my strikers and after Cerci scored early on, I subbed him off after 85 minutes for Mastour when really I should have reverted to the 4-1-4-1. Babacar punished me in the last minute of the game after a mistake from Mastour funnily enough.

Palermo 0-1 Milan

Rami gave us the win in a game against struggling Palermo (first hand watch of Dybala for me, a player I wouldn't hesitate on bidding on should Palermo's struggles continue), again disappointing finishing from my front men.

Milan 2-0 Chievo

Honda -whom has been to my surprise very good- with two moments of magic to win us the game against the team rock bottom of Serie A.

December 2014

Sampdoria 0-0 Milan

Had to double check that this was really the first game we hadn't scored in, felt like the 5th! Outplayed them but couldn't break down the defence, worrying pattern developing...

Milan 1-1 Roma
First big game and as seems to be my speciality at the moment - a draw. Bocchetti gave our team the lead before Iturbe equalised with a header (!!!) in the 85th minute. Plenty of food for thought as Roma are one of the team's I am targeting to be challenging for top 3 with along with Napoli, Fiorentina and Inter (though they started poorly and assuming Juve run away with the league). Not the worst result and our unbeaten run is now at an incredible FIFTEEN games (with no fewer than 8 draws in that time).

End of month review

Best game: vs Roma

 

[GR14B]

January 2015

January transfer window I celebrate! Marquinhos joins from PSG injured for a few weeks which is not too big a worry as Bocchetti and Rami are doing outstandingly well. Zapata (£1.6 million) and Albertazzi (£500K) leave to Everton and Cagliarli respectively after making no fewer than 0 appearances for me. I had a brief look at a striker to fill the void for the remainder of the season but decided I trusted Destro, El Sha, Cerci and Pazzini enough to get by.

Inter 3-3 Milan

What a game! How we came out with a point I do not know. Bonaventura opened the scoring for us before Icardi, Shaqiri and Kovacic made it 3-1 to Inter and I accepted our unbelievably unbeaten run was approaching an end. In the 75th minute I threw caution to the wind and went to Overload. Van Ginkel pulled what I thought was a consolation goal back in the 80th minute before Cerci scored an unbelievable unorthodox finish over Handanovic minutes later! De Jong then got sent off in injury time but I was delighted at our mentality to fight back from the verge of defeat. Awful news though as Mattia Destro is out for 4 months.

Milan 2-0 Juventus

This is the game that established us as title contenders. We were 3 points behind Juve before the game as they had a poor start to the season (by their domestic standards). Menez and Honda scored the decisive goals as we counter attacked them excellently.

Coppa Italia : Milan 2-1 Cagliarl

Goals from Suso and Alex put us through against Cagliari, Albertazzi giving away a penalty on his debut for them
funnily enough.

Parma 0-1 Milan

El Sha with just his second of the season gives us the win, again nothing to note but not 18 games undefeated which is quite incredible. Defence excellent again.

Milan 1-0 Empoli

Bonaventura with the goal but a very disappointing game, I would want to be putting 4 or 5 past a team as weak as Empoli to be honest.

Milan 0-0 Napoli

Nothing happened, barely a chance for either team. Delighted with the defence again but Pazzini in for Destro has been a catastrophe thus far.

End of month review

Best game: vs Juventus

 

[DarrylFMgenius]

Will be following as I'm doing a Milan save too.. Be better with screenshots though buddy

 

[xJamieWilliams]

Definitely need some screenshots!

 

[GR14B]

Will be following as I'm doing a Milan save too.. Be better with screenshots though buddy

not gonna lie man, I tried and failed with screenshots, I'm not technically blessed! If anyone could give me advice on the easiest way to link them on here that would be great

 

[Znik]

When you screenshot ingame, the screenshots should turn up in your steam application under view>screenshots>Football Manager 2015
If you right-click the screenshots you can copy them, and paste them in Paint for instance, then you can save them to your disc and upload them here. Or you can upload them from steam to somewhere and link directly.

 

[GR14B]

so big shout out to Znik for showing me how to upload screenshots (as stupid as it was) will definitely include them now. Probably just gonna post the screenshot of the months results and comment on any information of note and this way I can include more of my thoughts on other things such as tactics/transfers/finances.

February 2015

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Just in case you thought I was lying through my teeth about my results there they are, the immediate one that jumps out is that our unbeaten run has come to an end. At home to ****** Atalanta. Honestly, I am kinda relieved as I think I was perhaps staying true to draws rather than going for the win just to keep a pointless record going so blessing in a disguise as shown by our later results in the month, a brilliant win at Lazio and solid wins against Sassuolo, Genoa and Verona in the league. Delighted with how the defence is going at the moment, the real foundations on what I am looking to build on.

I would show you screenshots of the players stats at the moment but honestly, I have completed this season (wasn't my intention, was having problems posting comments for a few days but has been resolved since) so the stats are redundant. I don't really know what I can screenshot too much at the moment seeing as I am a season on and I don't want to give spoilers away but I am planning on just splurging these out until I am up-to-date then really taking you through my philosophies.

But anyway, at this stage I believe I was sitting in 2nd neck and neck with Juventus and Lazio for the title, a position I would have begged for at the start of the season.

 

[GR14B]

March & April 2015

View attachment 290396Italian Cup finalists!! sensational Mourinho-esque defensive performance away to Napoli, we defended well ans truly stunningly well. My game plan was to play deep and hit El Sha and Menez on the counter with Pazzini holding the play up since he can do absolutely nothing else. It worked a treat as De Jong played almost as a third centre back, again winning his duel vs Hamsik and the two in front playing as the energy who's goals were to feed the wingers and basically to apply pressure in all areas.
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The other results showed our lack of a goal threat. El Sha was out injured and with a Bonaventura - Pazzini - Menez, I never felt confident of that improving. My defenders were the ones chipping in for most of the goals in the month. At this point, Juventus have pulled away and all but secured the league title barring an incredible turn of events.

At this stage, I accepted my desire for beautiful, free flowing football at this stage was not a reasonable expectation and thus went full Van Gaal and decided we must win in an which way possible, after all, my job was on the line...

 

[GR14B]

May 2015

View attachment 290392View attachment 290390View attachment 290389MILAN ARE BACK WHERE THEY BELONG!

The Champions League awaits for AC Milan as we finish 2nd! I am absolutely delighted and relieved as it looked like we very well might of bottled it in the last few games. In the last game all three teams were separated by two points and I knew that a draw was good enough for us, so thankfully my defence done themselves justice and got the team where it needed and deserves to be. No players in the TOTS despite finishing 2nd shows how lacklustre our performances were at time, although I would argue that Diego Lopez and De Jong should have been there.

Now that we are back in Europe, my planning starts for next season and I am planning a big overhaul of the team. The left back, both central midfield positions and the striker all need reinvested as a necessity with the striker being the absolute must. I amn't planning on making any of the loan players (Bocchetti, Antonelli, Destro, Cerci, Van Ginkel) permanent and nor am I planning on keeping any of the returning first team loan players (Robinho, Matri, Birsa, Saponara). Although it could come back to bite me, I feel like our attack definitely needs a big shake up and to compete with for the league next season my only option is to buy, but most importantly, buy well.

Now on to the Italian Cup Final to hopefully bag my first silverware!

 

[GR14B]

June 2015

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Heartbreak in the Italian Cup final. First half we absolutely outplayed them and should have been 3-0 up but just before half time. Abate gave away a stupid penalty and Candreva (who was easily the best player in the league) converted and we went in level. Second half we went for it but it was a much more even game until Nigel De Jong got sent off for no less than the fifth time in his 26 appearances (along with 16 yellow cards). At this point, I still didn't want to accept penalties as I believed we were the better team, but then Antonelli let us down further and reduced us to 9 men, and even at this stage I still believed we could hold on for penalties. Lazio then crafted through our defence and Candreva again scored for Lazio. I decided to go for the game and then would you believe it, a THIRD sending off, this time for Muntari. Lazio then scored a third just to add insult to injury and I was devestated. A trophy that Milan haven't won for 10 years would have been a sensational way to finish off my first season, but it wasn't to be. I fined NDJ 2 weeks wages in rage as his ill-discipline kept holding us back and he took to it awfully, deciding he wanted off. I realised the error of my ways as he is the key man to my whole team, there was no way I could lose him.

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my Best Eleven for the season told a sorry picture with not a single player reaching double figures. As I stated previously, I know where to build on for next season and how important buying efficiently will be.

2014/2015 Summary
Serie A: 2nd Coppa Italia: Finalists (lost vs Lazio) Europe: N/A
Best game: vs Napoli, Coppa Italia Semi Final 2nd Leg
Top Goalscorer: Stephan El Sharawaay 9 goals
Player of the Season: Nigel De Jong - not the highest average rating but so crucial to the team.
Surprise of the Season: Salvatore Bocchetti - expected him to be my 4th choice centre back but was undroppable most of the season
Flop of the Season: Mattia Destro - 4 goals in 19 games isn't good enough, I would of given it to Pazzini but I never expected anything better

 

[GR14B]

Transfers and Pre Season 2015/2016

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Well I did promise there would be changes! Delighted with my recruitment overall, I filled in all my target positions and got rid of a decent amount of deadwood even thought I didn't get as much as I probably could have for them. I was given a budget of £30 million, which was very good and I did a pretty decent job of clearing out a lot of wages (i.e £100,000 per week for Mexes who made 1 appearance last season) so that certainly helped.

My three key signings:

Stevan Jovetic
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£20 million (plus a possible £5 million in add ons) for an injury prone striker, have I lost my mind? maybe, but I also might just have a potential elite striker on my hands. The truth is, Jovetic was not my first choice striker, or second, or probably even third, initially when scouting him his price was £25-30 million which was too much for me to consider. My initial shortlist was Andrej Kramaric and Pablo Osvaldo as the primary targets and should they fail, Mario Gomez, Roberto Soldado, David Villa and Alvaro Morata. Eventually, after about 6 months of in game time bargaining with a relegated Leicester side, I refused to pay £17 million for him and he moved to Socieded who were willing to. After this failed, I approached Osvaldo and even though he publicly said he wanted to join, they wouldn't accept any bids, one even reaching as high as £17 million (this is how big a panic buy I was in). After I gave up on him, I tried the latter four until I realised Jovetic was available. Losing out on Kramaric was a blessing in disguise as Jovetic is truly my ideal FM striker, he is tall, relatively quick, a great finisher, and most importantly - excellent with the ball at his feet. I will be using him as a deep lying forward and fully expect him to hit 20 goals in his first season knowing he already has played in the league. The main worry for me is if he an stay fit...

Marcelo Meli
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I don't know why, but I have never heard of this guy being signed by anyone on FM in my life?! £5.25 million for my absolute ideal box to box midfielder is daylight robbery. He will be a key man in my slightly varied system next season which will have a bigger emphasis on pressing high up the pitch. His work-rate, stamina and teamwork make him a dream for this role and he can also cover for De Jong when he serves his inevitable suspensions. I also looked at Thiago Motta and Geoffrey Kondogbia for the B2B role but in the end once finding Meli it was a no brainer. A player I plan on keeping for a long time and definitely a vital piece of my Milan puzzle.

Victor Ibarbo
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The beast. After a so-so loan spell with Roma last season, Ibarbo returned to Cagliarli surprisingly unwanted and when I seen he was available for a price as low as £3.8 million, I snapped him up immediately - but not as a pure 9. I like to play with wide strikers (not necessarily inside forwards) and seen him as absolutely ideal. Sure his finishing is pretty lacklustre, but 20 pace, 16 strength and 17 acceleration make him a physical freak. If nothing else, he can be the impact player I so desperately needed last season and that is why I believe he will be key in how the team performs this season.

Other transfers
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Stefano Sturaro for under £1 million is daylight robbery and could turn out to be a shrewd bit of business after Juve deemed him surplus to requirements. I strengthened the left back berth with not one but two new Italians as I eventually decided to sign Luca Antonelli and get a season out of him and then decided to buy Manuel Pasqual after failing to get Kolarov (2 EU player per season rule). Nelson Oliviera and Toby Alderweireld joined on loan to add squad depth which will be needed with European games as well this season.

AC Milan First Team Squad 2015/2016

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Tactics
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[CataDiaz12]

Marcelo Meli is a beast, was one of my best players on my Boca save, then I moved to Arsenal he was my first signing, don't know why nobody notices him