Greetings readers. I've decided to start a story on Juventus because I wanted to try out the Serie A. Picked Juventus because they are like one of the fallen giants in football if you like though their fortunes have improved IRL this season. Not sure how long will I play this save but I will definitely finish AT LEAST the first season off. So, I hope you'll enjoy the story.
Season's Expectations
Forgot to get a screen shot of the club's expectation when I started the save but from what I remembered, they are expecting the club finish in one of the European spots with a transfer budget of around 5 million pound. Don't think it would be a problem to finish amongst the EUropean places but I do think we can finish in the Top 4.
Tactical Approach
For much of this game, I've been playing 4-5-1/4-3-3(whichever you want to call it) with Chelsea but recently decided to try something different. Played a fluid 4-2-2-2/4-2-4 with Villarreal before trying out the 4-2-3-1/4-4-2 DM with Manchester City recently and it worked pretty well. So, I decided to use the same one again with Juventus while using the other two formation mentioned as backups.
Transfers IN and OUT
The Juventus squad at the beginning is not exactly small but not big either. To make matters worse, there were already 3-4 players out injured and will be out for months into the game. However, there were quite a number of loanees from other clubs but they were pretty useless. So, I tossed them back to their parent clubs.
After going through the squad, decided to strengthen the midfield and getting another striker in. Managed to get the club's board to increase the transfer and wage budget which allowed me to make the following transfers:
1. Yohan Cabaye
Never managed him before in the game but judging from his stats, I would think he is a pretty decent player in the game. So, why not just try it out?
2. Falcao
Juventus had 4 strikers in the squad but Amauri and Iaquinta are out injured for months to begin with already. So, that left me with an ageing Del Piero and Quagliarella. Had to get another striker. So, why not Falcao? It was slightly costly getting though but needed too and generated some funds back from the sale of Melo.
3. Miralem Pjanic(loan)
Only had one player who can play in the AMC role in the 4-2-3-1 which is Aquilani. So, I went to get Pjanic on loan from Lyon who has been great in all of the saves that I've played.
Squad List
After the all of those transfer dealings, my squad now looks like this:
Barring any long term injuries, the squad should be able to last me through the season given I've got only 3 competitions to concentrate on rather than the 4 like in England.
----------
Pre-Season
Only played out 3 friendly games because had to go through 2 Europa League qualifying rounds. The friendlies didn't go exactly too well. Only 1 win from 3 and scoring just 2 goals!
On the Europa League qualifying rounds, pretty much just breezed through it BUT that silly 1-0 loss at HJK was annoying! Thanks to Manninger who chickened out in collecting a through ball and then let HJK scored from their only 2 shots in the entire game!
Serie A: Matchday 1
Good to see Falcao finally scoring his first goals for the club. Failed to score one in the pre-season games including those Europa League qualifying matches. Otherwise, a pretty good start to the season. Didn't really expect a 3-0 win away at Fiorentina in the first game.
Completely dominated them in the first half but the second half was crap. The players switched off and allowed Fiorentina back into the game. Could have probably scored a couple of goals if they had taken their chances.
Europa League Group Stage Draw
Got a pretty decent group. Could have been worse but I am getting Auxerre again having played them in the same competition with Villarreal and this is also the first time I got a Scottish team in a European competition in the game. Never faced Rangers or Celtic or any other Scottish team in the Champions League with Chelsea.
Serie A: Matchday 2
A pretty rubbish game. Gone 1-0 up early on and then it was pretty much Lecce for the entire game. IF it weren't for Storari, Lecce would have got a point here!
Europa League: Matchday 1
Again, another rubbish game at home! Rested 3-4 players but the game was going exactly no where as both teams were attacking each other while not exactly creating too much. I then decided to switch to 4-2-2-2 by bringing on Falcao and Krasic around the 70th minute mark.
Still, hardly anything happened until their goalkeeper cracked up and made a mess of a header that was heading back towards him following a goal kick. Falcao then robbed the ball of the goalkeeper before rounding him and slotting it for 1-0. The second goal came from a counter in stoppage time after they failed to make anything out of a free kick they got.
The win was crucial as Dynamo Kiev beat Auxerre 3-1 in the other group game. Gonna face Kiev away next while Dundee will host Auxerre IIRC.
Serie A: Matchday 3
Average at home but pretty good away from home judging by how things are going at the moment. A comfortable 3-0 win at mid-table Bologna with Aquilani scoring yet again. That is 3 goals in 3 Serie A games. I think he did score one or two goals in the Europa League qualifying rounds but can't exactly remember it.
Season's Expectations
Forgot to get a screen shot of the club's expectation when I started the save but from what I remembered, they are expecting the club finish in one of the European spots with a transfer budget of around 5 million pound. Don't think it would be a problem to finish amongst the EUropean places but I do think we can finish in the Top 4.
Tactical Approach
For much of this game, I've been playing 4-5-1/4-3-3(whichever you want to call it) with Chelsea but recently decided to try something different. Played a fluid 4-2-2-2/4-2-4 with Villarreal before trying out the 4-2-3-1/4-4-2 DM with Manchester City recently and it worked pretty well. So, I decided to use the same one again with Juventus while using the other two formation mentioned as backups.
Transfers IN and OUT
The Juventus squad at the beginning is not exactly small but not big either. To make matters worse, there were already 3-4 players out injured and will be out for months into the game. However, there were quite a number of loanees from other clubs but they were pretty useless. So, I tossed them back to their parent clubs.
After going through the squad, decided to strengthen the midfield and getting another striker in. Managed to get the club's board to increase the transfer and wage budget which allowed me to make the following transfers:
1. Yohan Cabaye
Never managed him before in the game but judging from his stats, I would think he is a pretty decent player in the game. So, why not just try it out?
2. Falcao
Juventus had 4 strikers in the squad but Amauri and Iaquinta are out injured for months to begin with already. So, that left me with an ageing Del Piero and Quagliarella. Had to get another striker. So, why not Falcao? It was slightly costly getting though but needed too and generated some funds back from the sale of Melo.
3. Miralem Pjanic(loan)
Only had one player who can play in the AMC role in the 4-2-3-1 which is Aquilani. So, I went to get Pjanic on loan from Lyon who has been great in all of the saves that I've played.
Squad List
After the all of those transfer dealings, my squad now looks like this:
Barring any long term injuries, the squad should be able to last me through the season given I've got only 3 competitions to concentrate on rather than the 4 like in England.
----------
Pre-Season
Only played out 3 friendly games because had to go through 2 Europa League qualifying rounds. The friendlies didn't go exactly too well. Only 1 win from 3 and scoring just 2 goals!
On the Europa League qualifying rounds, pretty much just breezed through it BUT that silly 1-0 loss at HJK was annoying! Thanks to Manninger who chickened out in collecting a through ball and then let HJK scored from their only 2 shots in the entire game!
Serie A: Matchday 1
Good to see Falcao finally scoring his first goals for the club. Failed to score one in the pre-season games including those Europa League qualifying matches. Otherwise, a pretty good start to the season. Didn't really expect a 3-0 win away at Fiorentina in the first game.
Completely dominated them in the first half but the second half was crap. The players switched off and allowed Fiorentina back into the game. Could have probably scored a couple of goals if they had taken their chances.
Europa League Group Stage Draw
Got a pretty decent group. Could have been worse but I am getting Auxerre again having played them in the same competition with Villarreal and this is also the first time I got a Scottish team in a European competition in the game. Never faced Rangers or Celtic or any other Scottish team in the Champions League with Chelsea.
Serie A: Matchday 2
A pretty rubbish game. Gone 1-0 up early on and then it was pretty much Lecce for the entire game. IF it weren't for Storari, Lecce would have got a point here!
Europa League: Matchday 1
Again, another rubbish game at home! Rested 3-4 players but the game was going exactly no where as both teams were attacking each other while not exactly creating too much. I then decided to switch to 4-2-2-2 by bringing on Falcao and Krasic around the 70th minute mark.
Still, hardly anything happened until their goalkeeper cracked up and made a mess of a header that was heading back towards him following a goal kick. Falcao then robbed the ball of the goalkeeper before rounding him and slotting it for 1-0. The second goal came from a counter in stoppage time after they failed to make anything out of a free kick they got.
The win was crucial as Dynamo Kiev beat Auxerre 3-1 in the other group game. Gonna face Kiev away next while Dundee will host Auxerre IIRC.
Serie A: Matchday 3
Average at home but pretty good away from home judging by how things are going at the moment. A comfortable 3-0 win at mid-table Bologna with Aquilani scoring yet again. That is 3 goals in 3 Serie A games. I think he did score one or two goals in the Europa League qualifying rounds but can't exactly remember it.
