Football Italia: Season 3 – Ready for promotion

Season 3: Ready for promotion

As I said, it has been a busy week and I was absolutely shattered yesterday and, as we all know, there’s no better cure for that than a day in front of FM. I played far, far too much and, at times, did go into autopilot, clicking through rather than fully focussing on writing and reflecting about my journey. With that in mind, this will – again – be slightly less concise than I want it to be, but, rest assured, my commitment to Messina and this project is absolutely through the roof!

What a spell of football!

No league defeats between November and February, progress to the Coppa Italia Legia Pro final, where we’ll face Padova and a famous Coppa Italia run, where we’d already knocked out two sides above us before taking about then-table topping Serie B side Monza and almost pulling off the biggest shock of our entire history against Lazio, going 1-0 and 2-1 up but fading a little towards the end. The league has been an absolutely fantastic spectacle as we have, time and time again, dismantled teams around us, playing a distinct but very effective brand of football. The biggest win, for me, has been how I’ve been able to overcome our shortcoming last season:

Owusu’s 26 goals last season put him top by twenty and, honestly, we looked absolutely reliant on him doing things in order for us to push on this year. Granted, some of the development must be attributed to recruitment but – regardless of that – my job has been to make this team better, both tactically and who we put out onto the pitch. There are just two players, this year, who have more goal involvements per game that Owusu as he shows that last season was not a flash in the pan and why I’m absolutely spot on to hold out for €1m for him. This biggest difference though is that Clemenza, the lad I brought up from Serie D, has shown that he can absolutely do it on this stage and has been joined by Bellino, Ibrahimovic and Lucenti at registering more than a goal or an assist every two games.

Special recognition must also go out to Merola, who has registered fifteen goals but not a single assist, as well as contributions from wingbacks Tripaldelli (11A, 4G), Veratti (5A, 0G) and Ceresoli (5A, 0G) as we’ve become a team that can create for anyone.

– – –

With sights set on Serie B, my recruitment drive was somewhat different – not wanting to commit contracts and transfer fees to players who aren’t good enough for the long term but also not having a larger pool to work with – both due to current finances and also a lack of interest. Therefore, I allowed the recruitment team to do their business and the only signing they made was the loan deal for Jacobo from third tier Cordoba. I actually think he’s an absolute steal and will not only provide some cover for Owusu but will also be a real asset in the second striker role, given his pace and ball carrying ability. I’m unsure whether I’ll be able to hold on to him into next year but, honestly, I’m not sure what next year will look like anyway!

Forza biancoscudati!