Football Italia: Season 3 – New Beginnings

Season 3: New beginnings

Nine first team signings is an awful lot for me, but, given the situation we were in, losing Mitu, D’Amore, Lia, Pacciardi and Firenze at the end of their contracts as well as the retirement of Pinsoglio, this level of rebuild was absolutely needed. Below are my new recruits:

Esposito is the new number one and, at present, the only keeper I actually have anywhere at the club. As I mentioned in the previous update, he’s a strong lad with plenty of years ahead of him. I’m excited for what he can do for us. Marchetti was also profiled in the last update and, despite sitting on the bench for Cesena, is probably good enough to start for us. This is a real opportunity to test the recruitment strategy – particularly as I’ve always been all-in on a player and never considered other options at that time. Here, Marchetti was third on the list and it’s time to test whether I spent enough time creating it! Florian Mussolini  – yes, the great grandson of the dictator but (I checked), a man with no interest in politics who has actually been somewhat tarred by this surname, comes in on a free from Lazio after not quite making the grade there. He’s a right sided player (ha) but will either be used as a right wing back or a wide centre back. Tripaldelli made twelve appearances for Brescia in Serie B last year and is probably the best of the two left wing backs I now have at the club. He topped the list of candidates although I was not expecting him to want to make the move once his contract had expired there, so feel we’ve got somewhat of a coup here. Clemenza makes the step up from Serie D and I’m excited to see what he can offer me, particularly as he was the first choice in the AMC recruitment drive last year.

Ibrahimovic, Merola, Bellino and Ruggeri all joined the club on Youth Contracts. A risky move as they can be poached by other clubs for just a small compensatory fee, but, for me, a cheap way to bring in potentially high quality players who are eager to play football and cost just €150 per week. They will all form part of a plan that, for now, I’ll dub the Messina project – a focused attempt at developing specific attributes of those players who are within the borders of the first team. It differs from the youth project, as that is an attempt at creating a cohesive set of youth schedules to find the optimal development for players not featuring within the first team.

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Enter the Messina Project. Six players, six different rotating schedules. Each player has two roles and three foci, which rotate throughout the calendar year.

Feels mad that my top player is still part of these development plans but, given his mammoth growth over the course of last season, is still in fact only seventeen years old. Looking at Owusu’s development over the past year, I feel that I need to really focus on his technical attributes so have chosen roles that allow that – Poacher being focused closely on three of them, whilst the False Nine also developing more of his playmaking attributes, too. He’s an advanced forward every day of the week but I’m not against his ability to pass, and pick a pass being improved. His schedule looks like:

• Jan – F9(S), Shooting
• Feb – P(a), Ball Control
• Mar – F9(S), Strength

Lucenti is almost a perfect playmaker, but lacks the vision to really unpick defences, despite being stereotypically Italian on the ball. At 6’3″, he’s also a threat in many other ways but not quite good enough to carry the ball. I want to keep him as a playmaker but develop his press resistance, making him hard to knock off the ball. A SS(A) role will rotate with an RPM(S) role in order to get the full breadth of technical coverage whilst his additional foci will all be physical ones. There’s certainly a player in here! His schedule looks like:

• Jan – SS(a), Quickness
• Feb – RPM(s), Agility and Balance
• Mar – SS(a), Endurance

Bellino stands at 6’5″ and has a base of a line breaking midfielder in my eyes. By combining one attacking role – the Mez(a) – and one more defensive role – the BWM(s) – I hope to get some rounded development from him. Again, his additional foci are very specific – all looking at technical skills as his mental side should develop as he is exposed to more first team football as his physical stature can continue to grow. Improving his ball carrying ability should really help him become quite a dangerous player. His schedule looks like:

• Jan – Mez(a), Shooting
• Feb – BWM(s), Passing
• Mar – Mez(a), Ball Control

The first of my two second strikers. Merola is very unbalanced and, despite having some good attributes for that role – agility, acceleration, dribbling and flair – he lacks some basic attributes like his ability to think off the ball, composure on the ball and the ability to bring others into the game with passes. Two aggressive player roles will be used, the SS(a) and the T(a) and I’ll be rotating through two technical foci and one that focuses on bringing up his mental attributes. Like the majority of these players, not yet exposed to first team football, my job is to look – with a bit of a squint – at what the mental attributes could be, given the growth I hope they’ll go through. His schedule looks like:

• Jan – SS(a), Passing
• Feb – T(a), Attacking Movement
• Mar – SS(a), Ball Control

The other second striker. Ibra Jr is even more raw than Merola before him and needs to really hone in on his composure, teamwork, decisions and anticipation but is much better off the ball. At 19, I’m hoping he’ll put on a little muscle so I’m focusing on both teaching him the AMC position, through both roles, but also trying to blend the attribute development across the running and passing models. Without a single senior appearance, I’m really hoping that I can bring on some quick changes with his attributes, allowing him to fulfil the potential to play above this level, as my scouts predict. His schedule looks like this:

• Jan – SS(a), Passing
• Feb – AP(s), Attacking Movement
• Mar – SS(a), Final Third

 

Last on my list is a real project in Ruggeri. Not only is he older than the rest, by some way, he’s also way out of position. At 5’8″, he’s not going to be a centre back but I do really see a clever player who, as long as he doesn’t have to engage with an opponent, will be in the right place to recover the ball. I’m using the A(d) and BWM(s) schedules to try and turn him into that clever destroyer – a man who can sit in front of the defence, retrieve the ball, destroyer attacking momentum rather than players, and lay the ball off to a teammate. I’m excited about his potential but realise that this one may be a harder job to do! His schedule looks like this:

• Jan – A(d), Strength
• Feb – BWM(s), Ball Control
• Mar – A(d), Endurance

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I’ve now got myself a squad and a bit of a plan for how to develop them. Let’s go!

Forza biancoscudati!