The Italian Dream

So I took a weeks holiday at the end of the season to process what I was wanting to do with my time at Genoa. Do I stay and try and continue with my project where I will have no money to spend or do I start looking for something else?

3 days into my Holiday my agent called me and told me that Napoli had sacked Maurizio Sarri after he couldn’t get them into the top 4 and only managed to get them into the Europa League. He said he’s had a call from somebody at the club to see if I would be interested in talking to them as they had heard about the falling out at Genoa. Little did I think I would have had a chance at a team like Napoli, but I told him to set up the interview as there was no harm in talking to them and seeing what happened.

So the interview came and we had a great chat and the chairman made a massive point of saying that I would have plenty of money to spend if I was lucky enough to get the job.

Another week went by and I finally got the call to say that I was successful and to start putting together the list of staff members I wanted to take with me. I took some of the scouts, physios and coaches I’d brought into Genoa with me and then last but not least I took Wolfgang Rolff with me as my assistant as we’d formed a real working bond during our season together.

We all signed on the dotted line all eager to start work at our new club since we were joining nice and early we would have plenty of time to assess the club and see where needed to strengthen. First things first though I was going straight back to Genoa and taking advantage of their financial problems. We had a £11 million offer accepted for Mattia Perin and a £20 million offer accepted for Pietro Pellegri. I had to take the two of them with me as they will go straight into the first team.

We also started to shift players out as well with the most notable player being Dries Mertens but we just couldn’t sat no to Jose wanting to pay £50 million in one payment to take him to Manchester Utd since I was getting 100% of the transfer funds to re-invest.
 
Well deserved mate, Genoa could really struggle next season. Looking forward to seeing what you can achieve with Napoli given it looks like they only missed out on CL football due to head to head with Inter (same points, better GD)
 
neavie pops23 said:
Well deserved mate, Genoa could really struggle next season. Looking forward to seeing what you can achieve with Napoli given it looks like they only missed out on CL football due to head to head with Inter (same points, better GD)
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Cheers mate really hoping I can put a title challenge together with them within a couple of seasons
 
I have decided to again to only buy Italian players and to sign some young players for the first team who will be able to come in if needed or start in the easier games in the Europa. First up we signed Moise Kean from Juventus for £16 million, Next was Manuel Locatelli from A.C Milan for £23 million. We then snapped up Felice D'Amico from Palermo for £1.6 Million. We decided to go back to Genoa again as well to snap up promising midfielder Eddy Salcedo for £2.5 million.

We also brought in a few recognisable players that were on the transfer list which could come in for good cover or fight their way into the first team. So first up was Domenico Berardi from Sassuolo for £25 million who will walk right into the first team. Mario Balotelli was transfer listed for £9 million so we snapped him up to help provide cover up front. Matteo Darmian was also transfer listed by Manchester Utd for £15.75 million so again this was too good not to go for as he should be able to come in and make the RB position his own. Finally we brought in Andrea Petagna from Atalanta for £15.5 million(Sadly he broke his leg in the first day of training and will now be out for the next 6 months.)

The most exciting player we signed is a regen called Cristiano Crea who cost us £6.75 million from Atalanta. I feel he should have a really bright future at the club and at 16 the world is at his feet.

We had a number of player leave the club as well. This was either because the offer was too good, they were getting old (I’m not a massive fan of players over 31). Before I joined Duván Zapata had already agreed to join Sampdoria for £15.25 million. Leonardo Pavoletti joined Cagliari for £4.4 million, Pepe Reina went to Feyenoord for £1 million. Genoa came in with their new wealth after I bought 3 players for Alberto Grassi for £8 million, Robert Inglese for £3.7 million and Emanuele Giaccherini fo £5 million. Jacopo Dezi went to Carpi for £2.2 million. Piotr Zielinski went to Dortmund for £40 million, Jose Callejon to Arsenal for £30 million and Luigi Liguori to Sampdoria for £275k.

There has been a massive overhaul of the squad but I feel its needed and its also let me build a solid core of Italian players for the future.
 
So with doing a lot of our transfer business early on in the window it meant I could test a lot out in the friendlies and get to work on getting all the new players to gel with the rest of the Squad. It was also great to find out my best formation and tactics and then settle on my starting XI.

The friendlies all went well and we won every one and even took the friendly cup that had been organised. Winning that was a great start and got the lads confidence up right from the start.

So for my tactics we have settled on a 4-4-2 to accommodate the best players in the squad and have a strong attacking line up.

At the moment only 4 of the new signings walked into the first team. Perin and Pellegri get in due to how well they played at Gerona for me and I hope their form continues for Napoli. Darmian also comes straight into the team at RB as his credentials speak for themselves. Finally Berardi comes in at AMR due to us selling Callejón and Mertens but with him being a lot younger he will make that position his own over the next few years

With the end of August comes the draw for the Europa League draw as well and I’ve got to say it has been very kind to us and if we don’t finish top of the group then there are some serious problems. I really fancy our chances of going a long way in this competition as I reckon it is our best chance of a trophy.


With the first league game of the season coming up I am confident of getting off to a strong start so lets see what September brings
 
After a great pre-season we take the plunge into Serie A and hope to put a title push together but at least finish in the top 4 which is the most important thing. We also start our progress in the Europe League and my target here is to reach the final as I feel we should be one of the strongest teams in the competition and my personal opinion is we have a good enough squad for rotation to compete on all fronts.
First league game of the season we came up against Bologna and Pellegri got off to a great start on his debut and scored the only goal in the 1-0 victory at home so it was a great way to celebrate my first competitive game in charge in front of our own fans.

Next up was a difficult game away to Fiorentina. Pellegri was showing straight away why I had brought him to the club and wanting to show to the fans what he could do as he scored another 2 goals. Berardi also got his first goal for the club and Insigne showed the old boys still had it as well.

Next up was our first game in Europe which was at home to FC København. With a full roation in the squad from the previous 2 games we took 1-0 win at home with Albiol getting the goal. We should of done a lot better but with rotating everybody apart from Perin we will take the win happily.

We then welcomed Verona at home where Pellegri got yet another goal, Berardi got the second and finally another new boy in Moise Kean rounded off the win with the 3rd​ goal of the night to take it 3-1.

Final game of the month was away to Sassuolo. Guess what Pellegri was at it again and scored another two goals either side of another Moise Kean goal. All the new signings have gelled extremely well and already repaying the faith I have put in them to make this a great club and to show how dangerous we could be.
 
With a strong start to the league and Europe we looked to continue this into October and we duly delivered. Up First we welcomed Crotone whoe we beat 2-1 with Kean grabbing another goal and Balotelli getting his first goal for the club. Next up we travelled away to Bate Barysaw in our second game in the Europa League where we ran out 2-0 winners with Kean scoring yet again and Milik getting his first goal of the season as well.

With only 3 days between European football and our league game against Spezia we rotated the squad enough to ensure we still got the win. Berardi put us ahead from the penalty spot and then Tonelli secured the win with a well timed header from a corner.

We then welcomed A.C Milan. We were expecting a tough match with the amount of money Milan have invested in their squad over the last couple of years. We ran out 2-0 winners again with Milik getting both goals. Perin has been showing that he is a top quality keeper that can play at the highest level. With a fe more good performance he might be able to add to his single Italy cap.
Up next was a trip to turkey to face Konyaspor where we ran out 4-1 winners. Pellegri, Kean, Diawara and Luperto all getting on the score sheet. A great win for us to have 3 out of 3 wins and we are now in pole position to take top spot in the group.

Again we have a 3 day gap and then straight into an away game against Torino. We went 1-0 down in 20 minutes but Berardi equalled the score from the penalty spot in the 41st​ minute and then Insigne scored the winner in the 91st​ minute to ensure we got the 3 points.

Our final game of the month was at home to Lazio. This game proved tricker that it should have been with Matter Darmain being sent off in the 69th​ minute with the score at 0-0 but with a bit of jiggling the team about Milik scored a penalty in the 84th​ minute to get us the 3 points.

One of the main talking points of the month was though at the age of 17 Pellegri got a call up to the Italy squad though and was given an opportunity in a friendly so now he has to start building on that first cap so how far can he go?
 
November starts with a trip back to our old club, we travel to Genoa. I hope the fans will give me a bit of a break and more importantly we get the 3 points. Will the old boys of Perin and Pellegri come back to haunt Genoa? We have a successful game and run out 3-0 winners with Milik scoring a brilliant hattrick. I took a fair bit of stick off the fans after the match but I’m glad we got the result. Genoa are not coping at all this season and currently in 15th​ place.

Next up is the return match with Konyaspor. The match goes well with Kean, Pellegri and Milik all getting on the score sheet to take it 3-1. We then have a nice 2 week break with the internationals on again. Sadly Pellegri isn’t able to build on his lone Italy cap though and drops back down to the Under 21’s.

Next up in the league is Chievo where Balotelli gets the match winner in a boring 1-0 win. But as long as we keep churning out the results it’s the 3 points that matter.

The final game of the month we come up against København in our 5th​ game of the Europa League where we win 3-1 again with Kean, Pellegri and Milik all scoring again. With 1 game remaining we have secured top spot which should hopefully provide a relatively easy draw in the next round.

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So coming into the festive period again which has to be one of my favourite times of year. Loads of football and plenty of good food and drink. Its also time to evaluate the team and see if there is any dead wood in the team to get rid of and see where in the squad needs to be strengthened.

Got to say at the end of the month we really need to be careful as our 3 final games of the month are against Inter, Juventus and finally Roma and those 3 games are all within 7 days.

First up for the month are newly promoted Capri who we throw to the side in a 5-1 victory with Balotelli getting a hattrick and Insigne getting the final 2. Only downside to the game was Albiol got a straight red in the 45th​ minute. Next up was SPAL who we dispatched 2-0 with Balotelli getting on the scoresheet again followed up with a goal from Hamsik.

The next game came our final Europa league game against Bate. We put out a much changed team to provide a rest for some key players. We rant out 4-0 winners with Diawara opening the scoring, followed up with a goal from Ounas and a further 2 goals from Pellegri.

With the draw for the next round we were given a very favourable draw against Ukrainian team Zorya.

Next up in the league was a 3-0 win against Atalanta. Berardi got 2 befor Ghoulam was given his marching orders for a second yellow card. Balotelli got the final goal of the game.

First up in the trio of games that could define our season was against Inter. Pellegri put us 1-0 ahead in the 45+2 minute of the first half. Inter got a reply in the 56th​ minute from Icardi but Pellegri managed to score a stunner in the 62nd​ minute to secure the win.

Next we welcomed Juventus where a single Berardi goal in the 8th​ minute managed to provide a memorable victory.

Finally we came up against Roma who went ahead in the 30th​ minute before Berardi equalized in the 45th​ minute. Albiol was then at it again with receving a second yellow and getting sent off in the 84th​ minute. But Berardi then popped up in the box to score the winner in the 87th​ minute to give the away fans something to cheer about on the trip home.

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I have to say, this is going a tad better than my Fiorentina save has started. Really good work mate.
 
Sorry been really busy with the run up to Christmas. Hope to get back to this soon
 
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