I've now (just about) gotten over the disappointment of the fact there will be no FM26 and decided to once again delve back into a new save on this year's version of our most loved game. I haven't been around on the website for a couple of months now and that's primarily because I was having a decent break away from Football Manager and awaiting the new one which obviously now isn't coming. I'd got to that stage where every save had become stale very quickly and then Football Manager 2025 was supposed to be around the corner so I didn't see the point in starting anything new from about September anyway. But now I'm back and my club of choice....
Calcio Foggia 1920 are a side playing their football in the 3rd tier of Italian football...Serie C/C, where they mix it with the likes of other ex Serie A sides like ACR Messina, Benevento, Catania and Crotone. So to say it's a very competitive division might be just a small understatement. Foggia are nicknamed as both Rossoneri (The Red & Blacks) and Satanelli (The Little Satans), the latter being reflected on their club badge.
Formed in 1920, the club arguably had it's glory years in the early 90s when they had a 4 season stint in Serie A, finishing as high as 9th on two of those occasions. They were appreciated for their attractive style of football under Czech manager, Zdenek Zeman, and it was coined as Zemanlandia, with star players like Giuseppe Signori, Francesco Baiano and Roberto Rambaudi. However, as those players started to leave the club, their depleted squad struggled to compete and they were relegated in 1995 and haven't returned to the top tier since.
In terms of my targets from the board as I take over my new role, they are looking for at least a playoff spot this season, so my work is cut out.
The initial foundations are in place to build a successful legacy here, with a decent sized stadium. Pino Zaccheria has a capacity of over 25,000, although it is old (built in 1925) and it would great to see the club into a new home during my time here.
At first glance, the finances at the club looked pretty secure with a bank balance of nearly £4 million. There's not much debt to worry about either (£1.4 million).
The squad I inherit is a pretty good one and according to my assistant manager's ratings, there is no less than 10 players with a 3.5 star rating (or higher). There is a nice base of Italian players to work with and I do love a club with a decent amount of home grown talent in their ranks.
That's enough for my opening post, but we'll take a look at the squad in a little bit more depth next time round.
Chapter 1 The Squad & The Tactic
So you've seen the basic overview of the squad already, but now I'll delve into the personnel a little deeper and have a look at what tactic I can employ that will work best for the players I have at my disposal. Starting with the keeper, it's Victor De Lucia that is likely to be my number 1 between the sticks this year. He looks pretty solid for this level!
In defence, my main man in the middle is Giulio Parodi who is a new arrival at the club. He is one of three really good centre backs in the side but Parodi stands out as the man I'll be looking to rely on at the heart of my defence.
The full back positions could possibly be my weakest areas of the pitch with both sides requiring some improvement. Both Silvestro and and Vezzoni could do a job for this season maybe, but I can't see them being here long term.
In central midfield, I have one of my most technically gifted players. On loan Moroccan central midfielder Sofian Kiyine is a player I'll be looking to pick up the ball, drive through the middle with his dribbling ability and then pick out the passes to our forwards to make things happen.
Our most talented wide man is Michele Emmausso, another new player to have signed this season. His work rate is a slight concern, but he does have some technical ability to cause problems for opposition defences down at this level and I'll be hoping he shines for us this season.
The most disappointing thing about my whole squad is that my best striker is, for some reason, on loan at Crotone. I'm not quite sure why but it is gutting as the 34 year old looks like a **** hot striker for this league.
So this is the starting tactic I have come up with. This is set up to suit my first choice 11, which is also shown here.
Mentality: Positive
In Possession: Player Wider, Pass Into Space, Shorter Passing, Slightly Higher Tempo, Focus Play Down Right, Focus Play Down Left, Play Out Of Defence, Low Crosses
Transition: Counter Press, Counter, Distibute To Centre Backs & Full Backs, Roll It Out
Out Of Possession: Standard Line, High Press, More Often, Get Stuck In
Individual Instructions:
GK - Take fewer risks, Tackle harder - Thoelen is not the geatest passer of the ball, so it's better he looks to retain possession by playing safe.
Right Full Back - Cross less often, Cut inside with ball, Shoot less often, Tackle harder - Silvestro lacks ability in crossing the ball, but is an accomplished passer, so the aim is to get him cutting inside from his wide position when we have possession and retaining ball possession to build moves from the back. Central Defender - Take fewer risks, Tackle harder - I don't want them attempting to play high risk passes up the pitch and giving possession away. Instead, keep it simple and play to the nearest man who can then move the ball forward more effectively. Ball Playing Defender - Tackle harder, Dribble less - This is the centre back I want to try to start our moves from the back, but I don't want him dribbling it out and getting caught with the ball by opposing pressing attackers who could turn over the play and counter us quickly. Left Full Back - Stay wider, Tackle harder, Get further forward - Vezzoni is given a bit more creative freedom and license to get into midfield and a bit further up the pitch. He'll also offer a wide outlet.
Ball Winning Midfielder - No additional instructions - Anchor the midfield and win the ball back before getting it forward to a more creative player. Simples. Box to Box Midfieler - Stay wider, Tackle harder, Shoot less often, Dribble less - With my right full back cutting inside, it makes sense to ask Mazzocco to stay a bit wider so that the two players don't clash in the same positions on the pitch. I'm hoping that as the opposition players look to come inside to mark my full back, this will open space for the box to box as he moves forward to support the front men. Mezzala - Tackle harder, More direct passes, Shoot less often - My primary creator in the team and given more license to drift forward and make things happen in the final third.
Right Inside Forward - Tackle harder - Just do your thing and get into that box to create and score goals. Left Inside Forward - Tackle harder - Same as above.
Pressing Forward - No additional instructions - Press that back line, put pressure on the defence and get on the end of those through balls from the midfield.
Friday 29th September 2023 Chapter 2 My First League Campaign Begins
New Signing: My first signing for the club is right back Alberto Almici. I desperately needed to strengthen in the full back positions and 31 year old Almici brings in valuable experience having played at higher levels with the likes of SPAL and Palermo in recent years. He will likely become first choice in the right back role and prove to be a clever bit of business as we signed him on a free.
It's fair to say that pre-season mostly went to plan as we had an unneaten campaign and scored plenty of goals in the process. We played some teams from the lower leagues of Italian football and three sides from our level of Serie C. Hopefully, the solid enough results are a sign of things to come and we can carry some momentum into the season.
Our best players of the pre season were our two first choice wingers. Both Orlando and Emmausso scored and assisted 12 goals between them during the 6 friendlies!!
Both wingers picked up where they left off in pre season, scoring three goals between them as we opened our Serie C campaign with a home win over Cavese.
Our first away game of the season also resulted in victory as we overcame Casertana by a convincing scoreline in the end. We were the better side throughout, but failed to take our chances in the first half, going into the break at 0-0. I gave the lads reassurance that if we kept doing the same thing, we would eventually win this game and I was glad to be proved right, with one player in particular to thank...Francesco Orlando was like a man possessed in the second period and his hat trick and 10.0 match rating ensures he goes home with the match ball.
Next up for us was Avellino who had made a poor start to their season, with two defeats and no goals scored, despite their predicted 4th place finish. They'd be looking to kick start their season against us.
In an eventful match, it was us who maintain our winning start to the season though. We raced into a 2-0 lead inside 15 minutes and seemed to be cruising, but Avellino were back level by the 74th minute and all the momentum was with the away side. Undoubtedly, that's when the biggest moment of the game came when Avellino were awarded a penalty in the 78th, but Giuseppe Panico put his spot kick wide and we went on to punish them when substitute Emanuele Santaniello put us 3-2 up with a shot that was nestled right in the top corner. It was a case of shut up shop and move to a defensive formation for the final few minutes and we held on to take all three points.
Our first defeat did come at the hands of Cerignola in matchday 4 of the campaign though. A tightly contested game, but two 25 yard strikes for the home side ensured victory.
We did get back to winning ways immediately against Benevento, but I'll be the first to admit we were handed a massive helping hand from our opponents with the 34th minute sending off of Filippo Nardi.
So five games into the season and we sit top of the division, on level points with Trapani. Long way to get yet though!
Sunday 29th October 2023 Chapter 3 First Taste Of Cup Action
Our 6th league game of the season saw us away at Sorrento and we absolutely hammered their goal from the opening whistle, creating multiple good chances but not taking them. I was starting to fear the worst that it wasn't going to be our day until centre back Agostino Camigliano rose highest from a corner to head home the opening goal. A second headed effort was converted later on by Michele Emmausso to seal the points...a good away win.
Next up was a break away from the league, but not necessarily a break away from Serie C. That's becuase our next fixture was in the Serie C Cup, which is a competition made up of just the sides in the three Serie C leagues. We had drawn a team from our own division for the first round...Giugliano who sit 7th and I certainly wasn't expecting it to be easy.
Well it proved easier than I expected and we advance to the second round of what is possibly one of the most open competitions in the world.
We resumed winning ways back in the league with a 2-0 victory over Turris, a game which saw striker Marco Zunno score his 1st goal of the season.
It was an early top of the table clash as 2nd faced off against 1st next...and it's a massively missed opportunity for us and a disappointing draw in the end. Trapani were reduced to 10 men as early as the 7th minute and we were 2-0 up inside 13! However, we threw it away and had to settle for what is a really poor point in the end (even if it would have been a good one before the game kicked off).
It was our turn to go down to ten men in the 7th minute against Taranto, but my lads showed determination and grit to still grind out an important victory over the side struggling down in 16th place. Francesco Orlando has lost his starting place in the team of late, but came off the bench to grab our second and seal the victory to give me something to think about.
I stuck Orland back in the starting 11 for the game against Juventus U23s and it only took him 19 minutes to repay the faith and put us in front. And he wasn't done there as he went on to add a second within half an hour and that set us up nicely for yet another win! It's fair to say things are going pretty well at the moment.
I certainly didn't expect to have a 6 point lead at the top of the table after ten games, that's for sure!
And things got even better as we come from behind to win away at 3rd placed Monopoli in our next match!
Thursday 30th November 2023 Chapter 4 Taking Charge Of The Division
I've only made one signing since being at the club, but it's proven to be a d4mn good one, as Alberto Almici is one of the best performing defensive players in the league.
With only one transfer into the club since my arrival, it's tough for the board to judge me in that area. However, they're pretty pleased with my performance all round!
And why wouldn't they be when we are smashing teams like Messina 4-0! A great performance as we bag our biggest win of the season so far.
The second round of the Serie C cup pitted us against FeralpiSalo who were sitting 3rd in Serie C/A where they have only been beaten twice so far this year.
They're a good side to be fair and they gave us a good game, with us needing a penalty shootout to get over the line and into the hat for the next round. The players held their nerve in the shootout and we march on in the competition.
Back in league action and we were to take on the side we had beaten 3-0 in the first round of the cup. However, this time we had a 120 minute hangover to recover from just 3 days earlier and it showed as we laboured to a 1-1 draw and drop points for the first time in 5 games.
Amadou Makhtarlayi Sarr is a 20 year old Senegalese striker on loan with us from Inter Milan. He's played well up top, turning in some decent match ratings in his 6 league appearances, although only 2 goals to show for it so far.
But the youngster was in fine goalscoring form as he hammered in 5 of our 6 goals against Latina. Massive statement league win for us and will this be the catalyst for Sarr to go on a goalscoring streak.
The reason the win was so massive was because Latina are no mugs and sit 3rd in the division!
Surprisingly, we were incredibly poor in our next match though, against 13th placed Potenza who really should have beaten us. We scrape a draw and take a totally undeserved point in the end.
I knew we needed to be much better if we were to progress in the Serie C Cup and we were! Dominating from start to finish, it was one of the most comfortable 2-0 wins you'll see, although both goals had some good fortune about them. Sarr's opener saw the goalkeeper kick it against him and it ricocheted into the back of the net, before Novara's centre back Omar Khailoti put the ball in his own net for our second.
Into the quarter final we go and it's away trip to Sorrento for us.
Monday 15th January 2024 Chapter 5 A Welcome Christmas Break
It took for substitutes Sofian Kiyine and Marco Zunno to combine to score the only goal of the game and get us all three points against 6th placed Crotone in our next Serie C game.
And that makes it 12 league games unbeaten for us which is a new league record!
But just like that, the unbeaten run came to a very abrupt end as we were beaten by Catania...the scoreline would suggest a close game, but we were soundly outclassed for large periods of this one.
After the poor performance against Catania, I made no less than 5 changes to my starting lineup for the Serie C cup game against Sorrento. It did bring about a very good defensive display, although our attacking play wasn't all that, but we do progress with a 1-0 win into the semi final.
Back to league action now and although we sit pretty at the top, there are a whole host of teams sitting just behind us waiting for us to faulter. And one of them is 6th placed Picerno...our next opponents.
With the league table looking as it does above, these kind of wins are so, so massive!
But they are totally marred when you follow them up with defeats against sides in the bottom half of the table! The Christmas and New Year break will be very welcome after this result!
15 days without a game seemed to do my lads the world of good as we returned in the New Year with a comfortable victory and a great performance against Casertana. Sarr and Emmausso both at the double with the goals.
It was the same two players that scored the goals to get us over the line in another win against Cavese in our next match. It was real tight, right up to the point of their sending off and then we made our numerical advantage count.
Michele Emmausso has been one of the most dangerous attacking players in the division so far this season and has contributed to 14 goals in his 18 league appearances for us. There is no doubt he's one of the first names on my team sheet every week.
