Dave — FM2011 Ultimate European Challenge, Fiorentina so far

Hello and welcome to my Ultimate European Challenge game!  I would like to thank Darren for giving me this opportunity on what is one of my favourite websites!  Those of you who are active in the forums will know my Fiorentina story.   This post will be a round-up of my 3 seasons I have played so far.

Season 10/11

I started off the season unemployed as per the rules and had to wait a while for a job to become available.  Well I say available, what I really mean is I harrassed Sinisa Mihajlovic out of the job!  I saw that his position was precarious so I declared my interest, went to a couple of home games then declared interest again before the board made the correct decision and got rid of him then appointed me!  Don’t think I will be on Sinisa’s Christmas card list but then I never liked him as a player anyway…….

On the 21st January 2011 David Wiggins was appointed Manager of the big club from Florence in Tuscany with them lying in 15th position.  Their media prediction was to finish 8th and it was my aim to finish around that mark.

My first task was to shift my staff about and set up all the training.

I was pretty pleased to acquire Pierpaolo Bisoli as my assistant manager and to the current day I still consider him to be one of my best signings.

He was originally an»unrealistic target» but was still willing to talk to me.  He also wanted £40,000 to begin with so to get him down to £9,000 makes me very happy!

My next move was to access the squad and see what needed strengthening

I have highlighted in red my transfer dealings in the time that was available to me before the window shut.  Gokhan Inler is a player I have admired on previous FM games so I was happy with his capture.  But will he be enough to help me reach my goals for a team that has been highly inconsistent this season?

The quick answer is no!  I was a little bit disappointed to have only climbed 2 places since I took over but I was still getting used to Italy and still trying to find a formation to please the team.  First impressions of the team were that Juan Manuel Vargas is vital for us and I was pleasantly surprised with my defensive pairing of Felipe and Alessandro Gamberini.  On the flip side of that, I was extremely frustrated with Adrian Mutu, Riccardo Montolivio and Alberto Gilardino and considered selling them at that point.

Aim for next season is for a vast improvement and to really stamp my mark on the team.

Season 11/12

In recent FM’s, I have not been very good at setting up tactics so sadly, I have resorted to downloading them from various site’s.  It is a part of the game that I would love to improve on at some point.  The tactic I found which has had high praise throughout the community is Franky’s Blitz which I found here http://thedugout.net/community/showthread.php?t=72079

This tactic requires all the team to be fast except the 3 cm’s who need very high work rate.

Now that I had a particular tactic to focus on, I went about finding the right sort of players to play it!

Dede would prove to be an excellent buy as you will find out later on!  Neca was a regen Brazillian striker who I found and have high hopes for.  Heading out of the squad was Felipe who I received a very good offer for which I couldn’t refuse despite my praise of him last season.  Also heading out was Riccardo Montolivio.  I was prepared to give him another chance but he slapped in a transfer request so off he went!  Oh and I got rid of Artur Boruc because I am a Rangers supporter so he is scum to me :)

I was hoping for a vast improvement from last season but media wasn’t so favourable with a prediction of 13th.  Kind of harsh but I guess they are going on last seasons performance.  However, I was hoping to qualify for Europe and told the board confidently that I could do it.

Better than I expected in the end!  This was one of the craziest seasons I have ever known!  With 2 games to go, at least 8 teams were still in with a chance of the title and on the last day of the season, 5 teams were still in with a shout!  We lost and drew a couple of silly games earlier in the season which left me thinking what if?

Stars of the season were Sami Khedira who suits my tactic down to the ground.  Unfortunately he broke his leg a third of the way through the campaign so was missing for half of it.  Khouma Babacar is starting to grow up a bit and with 11 goals in 25 games, I felt it was a fairly decent return.  What I didn’t know when I downloaded my tactic is that it comes with a rather nice corner routine and Dede who I bought in the summer benefitted massively from it! 12 goals in 33 games was something to have me smiling and he kept it tight round the back too.

Frustating players this year were Stevan Jovetic and Adrian Mutu (again).  The latter did come up with some pretty big goals near the end of the season but not convinced it will be enough for him and his huge wages.  I really couldn’t get Jovetic to perform which is annoying because I like him as a player.

Aim for next season is to go one better than this season and actually win something!

Season 12/13 (current)

Almost caught up now!  I felt my 1st team held up quite well last season but beyond that, we didn’t quite have the strength in depth.  There was a couple of youngsters who had a few run-outs and looked promising such as right back Andrea Bagnai, and 2 forwards Ryder Matos and Federico Carraro.  My challenge for this season is to buy players to compliment the squad and fill in the weak areas but not overdo it and stifle the potential coming through the ranks.

A lot of players going out and ……..

……..even more players going out!  Majority of them were youngsters who I just felt weren’t going to make the grade.  Mutu, Jovetic and Ljajic are the main players heading out the door.  Fans are very unhappy with Mutu going and Jovetic said rude things about me when he left too but I don’t speak Serbian so just as well I didn’t completely understand!  It’s a shame I had to lose Ljajic as he is a really good player but doesn’t fit into my system.  If AZ don’t make his move permanent at the end of the loan deal then I might try and squeeze him into my team somewhere possibly as central striker if he is adaptable enough.

Coming in was a certain Mr Edinson Cavani!  I will be honest here.  I saw he was available but didn’t think I needed him that much.  I put a bid in anyway despite Chelsea and Man Utd showing plenty of interest.  I was surprised when it was accepted but still didn’t think I had a chance of getting him.  I offered a contract anyway, still not believing I could get him.  I was gobsmacked when that was accepted too and he wanted to wear the purple shirt!  Even at this point, I wasn’t sure if I needed him in my team and almost pulled out of the deal.  Would I regret bringing him in?

Judging by my league position and my goal difference you would have to say no!  He has 22 goals in 36 starts (19 in the league).  A very good return especially as I was hoping for a striker to hit 20 goals + which I was lacking last year.  BUT he is not my leading goalscorer.  This man is…..

…..my centre back Dede!  Unrealistic?  Maybe but frankly I don’t care at the moment!  However, he could not have done all this without a superb set piece taker and that man is Juan Manuel Vargas.

I have not finished the season yet but it is bubbling up quite nicely.  Remaining fixtures are as below.

Still in the running for the Serie A title (scudetto?), still in the champions league and still in the Coppa Italia!  From my calculations, I believe I need just 2 more wins to clinch the league and sincerely hope I do it before facing Inter and my bogey team, Udinese!

I also posted up there my amazing 4-3 aggregate win against Real Madrid.  They absolutely bombarded us in the 2nd leg trying to claw back the 3 goal disadvantage but I managed to cling on.

I am so nervous about playing the game at the moment as I am scared the team will choke and lose it all!  My fears are starting to manifest themselves if you look at the last 2 games I played!  So this is where I finish for the time being — Will my team hold their nerve?  Can I not only win my first trophy but my first 3 trophies?!  Watch this space…….