July
Nothing particular to report with this first set of friendlies. The team is playing well and I am very happy that Valeev has slotted in really well, which I was hoping for given his reputation. I am also pleased by Oliveira’s progress. He is establishing himself as world class. You might notice that I played against both my former teams. Sadly, Evian and Gladbach haven’t been able to sustain the success I brought. They are not bad teams but they aren’t great either. Gladbach could be comparable to Everton — they are always in the top half but don’t quite have the edge to go all the way (sorry Toffee fans). This is despite all the money the team has; they are consistent spenders. Evian, however, aren’t in nearly as comfortable of a position. The players I brought in during my tenure were of caliber, but poor coaches after me caused several poor seasons and the top players left. Now Evian are solidly mid-table, consistently finishing around 14th.
August
This was the month of Xaropinho. 8 goals in 6 games. I hope he can keep up this form in the regular season. Oliveira and Valeev have continued to impress and Castro has started working really well with Sanchez. His height and strength are helping him muscle people out in the box, so he is contributing to the tally. My formation is working pretty well so far but we haven’t faced top tier teams like Milan and Inter yet so we will see. A quick word on how I will be reporting from now on: it is taking too long to talk about each and every game, so I will post all the monthly results and comment on the important games/events. Tell me what you guys think.
September
This was not a kind month as we had to face 3 top teams: Atalanta, Genoa, and Inter (yeah, in 2020 the Serie A hierarchy is quite a bit different).
AT Atalanta: We both started off very explosively with all 4 goals scored in the first half. The own goal was a deflection from a set piece. Castro headed it goal-ward and it bounced off one of their players. Second half was quite boring and quiet as both of us reigned ourselves in to not be so open. Glad we neutralized Nangis, though.
AT Genoa: First loss of the season against a top team. The main problem I saw in this match as well as during the draw to Fiorentina is that my midfield is a little disorganized. The rest of the team is meshing quite well but the 3 midfielders are having trouble with where they are supposed to be. Oliveira is actually fine and he likes running around the final third and scoring goals, but Ferrari and especially Quinton are having a tough time. I guess the problem is gelling more and understanding the formation because the two of them seem to not know where to position themselves. I am hoping they start learning quickly and get out of each others way otherwise we are getting butchered in the midfield!
VS Inter: A great win, helped by the fact that Inter had a player sent off shortly after the half.
Overall, not a terrible first month.
October
Look at those results! The team is finally understanding what I want. Xaropinho is finally getting the service he needs and Oliveira is racking in the assists, which is frankly helping the team a lot more than his goals! Valeev and Nascimento are absolute terrors on the wings — it’s like having two Gareth Bales! Ferrari is understanding his role more and is finally becoming a solid anchor-man and directing the flow of the game beautifully. Quinton is still having a little trouble with where he needs to be but he is learning. He either strays too far up or too far to Ferrari but I think I will figure out the sweet-spot. I mean, look at these results (even if they were against lower teams)!
November
The team is continuing its domination. It’s good to see us getting the results we need against the weaker teams.
VS Roma: Facing the runner-up from last season wasn’t going to be easy but we handled them with ease. We dominated possession and my midfield created some great plays. Off-course, Roma are still a tough team so their defense was working overtime and shutting down Xaropinho, Valeev, and Nascimento. Luckily, Oliveira knows how to shoot from distance. I am also really liking how my wing-backs are factoring into my formation. Since my wingers are pretty far up most of the game, the wing-backs are quickly on the scene whenever pressure needs to be relieved in the center of the pitch. They are also distributing the long ball quite well, when needed.
December
Another wonderful month for my man, Xaropinho. The team has pretty much mastered my formation. I also love how the set-piece that Darren created is still working so well. Also, knock on wood, we are pretty injury free. The only thing that happened was Ivan being laid up for 2 weeks.
AT Milan: This was a very even game but we had the better chances and we took them. Props to my back-line for being so watertight. Sodje hasn’t been an incredible keeper, like I was hoping, but he doesn’t make errors and keeps all the poorer shots out. Also, shout-out to Ferrari for helping out in the hole and disrupting opposition play.
VS Juventus: Having back-to-back games against top teams is always unpleasant. My boys were tired so the game ended up being even. I think it’s plain to see that Juventus aren’t quite what they used to be. They are obviously still a threat, but if we were fresher I don’t think the result would have been in question.
So after half the season, let’s see how we fared:
I think the 13 match unbeaten streak might have helped :P And look at how we just outscored everyone! We dominated in goal. I think we might actually have a shot of winning the title!
Xaropinho is leading the team from the front in terms of rating (8.08!) and goals (23). He also has the most MoM awards. Valeev leads the pack in assists (13) and Ivan, my right wing-back, is behind him (10). An incredible 12 players are over 7, and another 2 are right there. The team is in blistering form!
Here are how my players fare with the rest of the Serie A. Quick note, there are a lot of Algerian players at the top of the game. Algeria has started producing fantastic players and are currently in 9th place in my game. Anyway, Xaropinho and Valeev are absolutely dominating everyone. I am extremely pleased. And now let’s take a look at year end awards:
Look at that! We dominated every area!
Check out the next page to see if we ended the season as well as we started!
Tyler
21 марта, 2012 at 04:58
Wow, incredible team, glad to see you got the results with all that talent!
As for the USA qualification. Two teams from North America qualify (the two teams that reach the final). I only know because we’re a week away from starting this in real life!
Bhargav
22 марта, 2012 at 15:02
Thanks Tyler! It is easily the best team I have ever assembled.
Also, thanks for heads-up. Sadly, we faced Mexico in the semis, so they and Guatemala will be going to wherever 2020 happens.
David Wiggins
21 марта, 2012 at 06:40
congrats mate! I am sure you will strengthen even further for next season and get the CL!
Must only be England left once you have finished with Cagliari? You playing on ending there? I don’t see any reason why you can’t move on to Portugal, Russia etc! or even make it into the challenge that Ana is currently doing!
Bhargav
22 марта, 2012 at 15:04
Hey David! Thanks for the encouragement! I have Spain and England on my plate. And that’s a great idea. I could definitely extend it to Russia, Portugal, and the Netherlands. Probably a stop in South America too. Not sure how I feel about Asia and South Africa though . . .
Tegar Triemanudigdo
21 марта, 2012 at 07:20
Wow! Simply awesome! Your team has become a major italian club there thanks to those regen players! And I have to admit, I think you will become dominant force in no time although I think you should buy some quality defenders to avoid more conceding goals. Overall, it was amazing journey!
I’m looking forward to your next chapter. Oh and let’s just hope your stay players don’t go anywhere.
Bhargav
22 марта, 2012 at 15:06
Thank you Tegar! It was by far my most extravagant spending spree of this challenge. It’s already going to be hard because so many of my players are wanted by other clubs but I’ll see what I can do. I am hoping that since we will be in the CL next season, we should be able to hold onto most of them.
Johnny Karp
21 марта, 2012 at 08:22
After reading the first page with those awesome new signings I was quite sure that this was going to be a successful season. And I’m glad I wasn’t wrong, congrats on a fantastic double! Now if you manage to bring in a few more quality players you will surely make a great impact in Europe as well.
Bhargav
22 марта, 2012 at 15:08
Thanks Johnny! I’ll keep tweaking the formation as well. I was not expecting to win the league after we let the lead slip!
Stromson
21 марта, 2012 at 12:41
I’m only on page 3 right now (and have to stop reading for a while because I’m at work), but fantastic job so far. You’ve provided so many details, I can’t even decide which item I wan’t to comment on first. I’ll leave you with a general «thumbs up» for now, and quantify my thoughts for another comment later in the day. :)
Bhargav
22 марта, 2012 at 15:10
Thanks Stromson! I look forward to reading what else you have in store!
John
21 марта, 2012 at 14:08
Fantastic season Bhargav! Always sweet to win the league on the last day against all odds! How long do you think you will stay at Cagliari for?
Bhargav
22 марта, 2012 at 15:13
Hey John! I think I’ll be here for at least another season. I want to win the Italian Super Cup and I think this is the best shot I will have in a while for the Champions League. I will also just enjoy playing with such an incredibly skilled team!
TheZiggy
21 марта, 2012 at 16:06
Some of those players you brought in are quite astonishing, and a good season looked pretty much assured.
In the end I’m a bit surprised that the title fight ended up so close, only winning it on the last match. I think the only real problem with the formation, is that if your team are attacking and start pushing very high up, it does make you more vulnerable to the counter than a formation with full backs. However that’s the trade-off you make between being very attacking or defensive minded. Will be interesting to see how things turn out in the Champions League next season.
Bhargav
22 марта, 2012 at 15:15
Thanks Ziggy. A lot of what we conceded was from counter-attacks. I was thinking of possibly making the wingbacks defensive rather than automatic. Or perhaps support, since they provided me with so many valuable assists, since my wingers are actually inside forwards. What do you think?
TheZiggy
22 марта, 2012 at 16:01
I think it’s worth experimenting with how what difference putting the wing backs on support or defensive makes. Even when I set my full backs to defence, they do tend to move forward against the weaker teams. If they have the pace and stamina for it, support is probably the way to go, and defence for those who are slower or tend to get tired quickly.
My tendency though is to go with the defensive option against the stronger teams, and support against those you don’t think should cause too many problems. I will sometimes change it during a match, depending on what is happening.
Bhargav
22 марта, 2012 at 22:58
Good insight! Thank you. I will definitely try switching things up for this new season.
Laxeyman
21 марта, 2012 at 16:42
Great season Bhargav! The players you signed were incredible, you’ve built a fantastic squad and with such good players you were always going to win the league :) The formation is very interesting, I’m looking forward to seeing how it fares in the CL next season.
Bhargav
22 марта, 2012 at 15:19
Thank you Laxeyman. It definitely needs a little more tweaking but it allowed us to blow everyone out of the water in terms of the number of goals we were scoring.
Glenn Skinny Horman
21 марта, 2012 at 17:55
that was awesome lad
Bhargav
22 марта, 2012 at 15:19
Thanks Glenn! Hopefully next season is even better!
saltwater
21 марта, 2012 at 17:58
Firstly can I say well done on not playing FM during test time, it’s probably harder than child birth if you ask me!
Also I have never quite seen such an amazing squad before … ever! Oliveria, the winger with the long name, and Xarophino (who’s stats have growned incredibly since the last post) have all done brilliantly, and thank God Atlanta capitulated on the final day of the season (when you need a team to fail to win on the final day of the season it almost always seems to happen). But you guys deserved to win it. The dismantlements of the big teams and the formation and tactic you managed to make is nothing short of astonishing so well done on the incredible achievement.
Finally, hypothermia anyone?
Good luck.
Bhargav
22 марта, 2012 at 15:41
Hahaha thanks so much, Saltwater! That’s why I look forward to staying with Cagliari for at least another season. I have never had the fortune to create such a powerful squad! And don’t forget my right winger, Valeev!
I honestly thought the season was lost. I was so lucky Torino decided to push Atalanta.
And the formation definitely needs some tweaking. Plenty of goals being created but I need to let in a few less ;)
Ivo
21 марта, 2012 at 18:34
Bhargav once and again you proved you’re one of the best on this site. I really enjoy your story with so much details and it always inspires me :) one question if you can post a pic of xaropinhos attribute picture because it must be enormous and i would like to see it … Anyway good luck for the next season and i’ll look forward for your next post to see your european adventure and your next club so im very happy you have free time now
Cheers
Bhargav
22 марта, 2012 at 15:43
Hi Ivo! Thank you so much for your kind words! It means a lot to me that someone considers me at a similar level as Darren and Johnny! And I’ll make sure to put up a picture of my Brazilian maestro in the next post (which should be out probably tomorrow).
Ivo
22 марта, 2012 at 17:27
I can’t wait ! Do you skip games sometimes ?
Bhargav
22 марта, 2012 at 22:59
Very rarely — pretty much never. Since I am on vacation, I pretty much spend the whole day playing FM 12 (unless I’m walking my dogs).
Darren Smith
21 марта, 2012 at 19:45
Fantastic team mate and the double was well deserved too…I honestly thought you’d blown it looking at those last few results but great to see you hang in…well done.
Bhargav
22 марта, 2012 at 15:45
Thanks a lot Darren! I felt so annoyed with myself as we went into the last game. We had a 9 point lead at times! And we held that top spot for pretty much every single week of the season after game 3. But I’m glad Atalanta collapsed (take that Nangis!) and now I can sort of put all my focus into the Champions League.
David Faithfull
21 марта, 2012 at 19:48
What an amazing season Bhargav!! Your players are beasts!! Well done on winning the league its just the super cup and champions league to go now ;)
Bhargav
22 марта, 2012 at 15:46
Thank you, David! Far and away the best team I have ever assembled. This season, now that they all know each other, I am expecting some incredible things.
Kevin
21 марта, 2012 at 23:05
Hi Bhargav
All the superlatives have send to be used up already :) Anyway when i saw all you new players my jaw dropped — those were brilliant signings and Xaropinho was just simply awesome. Terrific job in guiding the team to a sensational double. Well done and great entertainment by the way so thanks for putting this update together for us all to enjoy!
Bhargav
22 марта, 2012 at 15:48
Always wonderful to be praised by you, Kevin! It wasn’t so much my shrewdness in the transfer market as it was having bags of money to throw around, :D
But I am having so much fun being at the helm of such a strong team.
Martin - F.M.J.S
22 марта, 2012 at 12:33
A great season. I must say those signings were pretty amazing, especially Xaropinho he has been a goal scoring machine. A great double :D good luck with next season and I hope you can win the CL.
Bhargav
22 марта, 2012 at 15:52
Thank you Martin! Xaropinho is possibly my best ever signing! When I leave to my next club, you can bet I will try and take him with me ;)
vaibhavc
22 марта, 2012 at 12:34
Wow incredible! Well done! Your team is now a force to be reckoned with in Europe. Great job, hope you can do amazing in the CL!
Bhargav
22 марта, 2012 at 15:59
Thank you Vaibhav! I am hoping these boys do some damage!
Bence Répási
22 марта, 2012 at 17:15
Hi Bhargav!
Well done, your team is incredible.With such a talents and maybe some signings Cagliari will be the winner of the CL, no question about it.
Bhargav
22 марта, 2012 at 23:00
Thank you, Bence! I hope I can hold onto my top players, though. Quite a few major clubs are trying to poach them!
Ana Garcia
22 марта, 2012 at 19:19
Your formation is not weird or at least to me as its almost the same on as I used when I managed Real Union a few games ago.
Wing backs can be a tricky thing to get right but if you do they can always gets loads of assists, I favoured two strikers and and an attacking midfielder with another central midfielder as you may get over run there.
That said you had a very good season!
Good luck for the next one! :)
Bhargav
22 марта, 2012 at 23:02
Hi Ana! Thanks for the advice. I see what you mean, it took me some time to get my defensive and central midfielders to work together. After I switched Ferrari’s and Quinton’s roles, they gelled far better, and it almost became like having 2 central midfielders. Oliveira loves running forward (it annoyed me in the beginning but ended up being for the best) so I kind of have 2 strikers.
Sears
22 марта, 2012 at 20:24
I’m so glad you’re back! This is probably my favorite story on the site, so it’s brilliant that you have resumed posting again.
That was an awesome season, congrats on winning the double! I must say, I love how you turn decent teams into great teams, keeping on top of the finances, consistently buying young fantastic bargains etc. You must spend an age scouting! You’ve assembled an excellent team, and I’ve no doubt you’ll retain the league title again next year. Really looking forward to you’re next post, best of luck!!
Bhargav
22 марта, 2012 at 23:06
Thanks so much, Sears! I was lucky this season because I got some great transfer fees for my old stars, like Jese, to fund my spending spree.
In terms of scouting, I always have a ton of them and quite a few feeders and my shortlist is absolutely gargantuan! After my earlier seasons and from reading about how Johnny and Darren play, I sign players for positions. I am not good enough to make my formation based on my players — I sign them to play in my formation. I basically have a threshold system — once the players meet my minimum attribute numbers, only then I sign them. That also means that I don’t play with masked attributes ;)
CsAtlantis
23 марта, 2012 at 03:12
Haven’t seen many people utilize an anchorman, would be interesting to see how it works, some very nice signings, and your finances look great without any debts, should be a good season if your tactic works, good luck Bhargav
Bhargav
23 марта, 2012 at 15:55
Thanks mate! I thought it would be necessary to have the anchorman in tandem with the CAM and box-to-box midfielders. They are a 3 man midfield, but they are somewhat staggered so they stay out of each others’ way but support each other when the need arises.
Marcadius
7 апреля, 2012 at 19:59
I’m curious, how can you get all players with so many 20 points of attributes? Are they manually generated? Or incidentally generated by the computer? Even Messi and Ronaldo don’t have 20 points acceleration and pace.. But you have at least one player with those atrributes. And your Xaropinho with 20 points of dribbl and finishing, also 20 points for agility and balance. That guy is a monster. Even Ibrahimovic doesn’t have stats like that. Are there any explanations? Thanx :)
Bhargav
30 мая, 2012 at 23:06
Hey man! It’s mostly Xaropinho. He is abnormally beastly and the stats are all computer generated. That’s an interesting point you bring up, though. While he does have crazy stats, he keeps missing out in awards to likes of C.Ronaldo and Eden Hazard . . .
Sears
2 мая, 2012 at 18:09
Damn I miss this story sooo much :D
Bhargav
30 мая, 2012 at 23:05
I’m sorry Sears! The new update is out right now!