FM 2015 Sassuolo Guide

Why Sassuolo?

Sassuolo were founded in 1922, nearly one hundred years ago yet they only reached Serie A last season when they finished 2 points away from relegation. About seven years ago, they were playing in Serie C1. Their nickname, «Neroverdi» — which means «The Black-Greens» — is reflected by their kits, and there’s an interesting story behind this. Sassuolo’s famous colors of green and black are actually from a kit donated by Lancaster Rovers FC of England — a kind gesture to apologize for failing to fulfill their fixture in a friendly tournament. As such, Lancaster Rovers packed up their belongings and headed back for England leaving their famous kit behind, in Italy.

Club Information – The Initial Setup

• Reputation: National
• Estimated Value: €49.5M (Loan Debt: €4.9M)
• Stadium: Mapei Stadium — Citta del Tricolore, 23717 all-seater
• Affiliated Club(s): Reggiana
• Training Facilities: Adequate
• Youth Facilities: Adequate

The 2000’s arguably represents the start of the golden era for Sassuolo Calcio, after they managed to win Serie C1. This being only their second season in Serie A, it is sure that better days will soon follow. Sassuolo is media predicted 14th, but there is a very good platform to build for the future. Based on all these you can safely assume that Sassuolo is a small and revolutionary club, on the rise.

Finances

• Balance: €16,715,000
• Projected Balance: €36.9M
• Total Player Wage Budget: €2.342,000 per month
• Current Player Wage Budget: €2,334,000 per month
• Transfer Budget: €10M

You’re going to start with a very good financial balance which allows you to even consider a few notable transfers. The club’s loan debt is nearly negligible, so they won’t affect you too much in the future. You have 3 kit sponsorships for a year worth around €12M.

Board Expectations

Picking the lowest expectations can once again help you avoid the extra pressure that comes from the board. A mid-table finish should be an easy job, in fact you’ll most probably end up in the top half or even snatch an European place, but just in case anything bad happens I always pick the lowest option during my first season. There are also no other philosophies included.

Staff Members

There are always a few changes to be made withing the staff area once you take charge of a new club. This time, you’ll have to offload your assistant manager, along with some coaches and physios.

• Assistant Manager (Danilo Pierini) — offer mutual termination and sign Ezio Sella, best value for money.
  
• Fitness Coach (Luca Morellini, Nicandro Vizoco, Marco Riggio) — mutual termination and sign Massimo Neri.
  
• Goalkeeping Coach — sign Franco Tancredi.
  
• Coach -up to you, I would recommend looking for better options though.
  
• Scout — current scouts are decent enough, you can strengthen this area with the likes of Mauro Innocenti, Massimilliano Cappelini and Sabino Martiradonna.
  
• Physio (Claudio Pecci, Paolo Minafra) — offer mutual termination and sign Salvatore Carmando.
  

The Squad – Key Players & Backups

Goalkeepers: Andrea Consigli, your number one keeper and future star in Serie A. Gianluca Pegolo (currently injured for between 7 weeks and 3 months) and Alberto Pomini, both 33 years old should be replaced as soon as possible. I recommend you seriously look for a first team challenger, somewhere near Consigli’s potential — and thankfully, there are already a few options out there.

Defenders: Paolo Cannavaro and Francesco Acerbi are your solid central couple in defense, while Luca Antei (co-owned with AS Roma) will act as a backup. Sime Vrsaljko and Federico Peluso have good quality and can be safely used as complete wing backs, in fact I highly recommend that. You also have a couple of backups on the wings, decent enough to get your team through in your first season.

Midfielders: Saphir Taider (on loan from Inter) and Francesco Magnanelli, Nicola Sansone, Simone Missiroli, Dejan Lazarevic (on loan from Chievo) and Floro Flores: good, versatile midfielders that can cover different roles and positions. We’ll talk more under the ‘Tactics» section below.

Strikers: Domenico Berardi (co-owned with Juventus) and Simone Zaza are your striking force upfront. These are probably the best players in your team, so use them wisely. They do make a huge difference, so pay attention to their training form and happiness. As a backup, Sergio Floccari seems to be the best choice for the first season.

The Youth Generation

• Adequate Junior Coaching
• Average Youth Recruitment

You’ll need to invest in your youth facilities if you want to develop your own players at Sassuolo. Claud Adjapong and Ramsyer Poku, both 16-years old from Ghana are your current best youths at the club so not too many choices to choose from, you’ll also probably be disappointed by the youth intake as there are slight chances to none of a potential star coming through.

FM 2015 Sassuolo Tactics

The 442 is probably the best choice for Sassuolo. You have a couple of good central defenders, high quality wing backs that can offer good support for the attacking phase, good central midfield and versatile wingers that can be played on both wings, high quality strikers. The versatility of your players will help you switch positions and this will be quite confusing for your opposition. For example, you can play Zaza both as a deep lying forward, and as a target man. Same for Berardi so they can switch positions during gameplay.

You can also take advantage of your wing backs quality, and switch your central midfield since one of them is a box to box midfielder. That way, they will conserve energy — you can start Chibsah as a BBM, then Taider will take his position to allow Chibsah regain his stamina. Depending on the opposition and result I will change some of the team instructions, but that’s it. You can have whatever second formation you like, I only used the 442 since it was quite satisfying.  [Download]

Club Transfers

You have a €10M budget (at least) which should be more than enough for your first season. I believe that Sassuolo already has a very good setup so I’d rather retrain some of the players and invest these money elsewhere (like youth and training facilities, for an example). However, your goalkeeper area will surely need improvements, and since your best backup is out on injury for quite a while I think it’s best you deal this immediately. Of course you can safely rely on Consigli, but if he gets injured then you’ll be in much trouble for sure — not a risk worth taking. After you solve this issue, there should still be enough money left for you to sign any future potentials during the season.

Players Out

• Ciro Polito — can be sold for around €25K
• Free Transfers: Paolo Bianco, Lorenzi Caselli, Abass Alhassan, Davide Lodesani, Leonardo Fontanesi, Anas Naji, Matteo Laruccia, Andrea Mandelli.

Players In

• Goalkeeper(s): Etrit Berisha might be one of the best options out there, I have used him in rotation with Andrea Consigli and he had a very good display nearly in all appearances. He can be signed for around €5M and given his rather low wage demands — compared to other possible signings — he is totally worth it.
• Defender(s): none
  
• Midfielder(s): none
  
• Striker(s): none

Team Management

I have always tried to place my best 11 into the field. I started the season with training focus on fitness, then switched to team cohesion. The team management isn’t that much of a deal really, there will be some of the players wanting to leave due to transfer rumors but they soon settle after clubs loose their interest. Other than that, the board will generally respond positive to your requirements (like facilities upgrade). This really has the potential for a fun save, quite enjoyable and I can only recommend it for anyone who likes the idea of a rising outsider.

The Conclusion

Sassuolo is one of those undervalued teams that have good potential for an upset against bigger teams in the league. If mastered well, you will most likely end up your first season as overachievers. Note that Juventus were absolutely incredible throughout the season yet their only defeat was at our hands, after a very lucky 1-0 with the cost of Zaza’s injury who went out for around 4 months, unfortunately. However we still managed to grab an European place. If you remember, Sassuolo were predicted 14th at the start of the season. With a very good platform towards ambitious things, I can only hope that this FM 2015 Sassuolo Guide will be able to help you. Good luck with «Neroverdi» and thanks for following!

• Pros: secure finances, good team setup, low expectations.
• Cons: average youth facilities, competitive league, poor youth intake.
• Difficulty: 4/10