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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on May 8, 2008 12:09:25 GMT
Wow. That's tighter than Emily's chuff at the top there. Some very solid defensive work at the top too.
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Post by coffers on May 8, 2008 13:29:03 GMT
I predict that it won't be Carrarese.
Excellent work on the tightness of chuffs etc. :thumb:
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Post by Boony on May 9, 2008 10:40:32 GMT
May 2004 As the weather in northern Italy was getting warmer, the title race in C1A was really hotting up. Last time we spoke, Meda were one of four teams vying for top spot with just one point covering all four teams. Before we get into the nitty-gritty of the league denouement, a quick bit of admin for you. The board gave us €675k in the form of a shiny cash injection, but this still left us €50k in the red. We've now received over €1m from the board, and this has been invaluable even with the lack of transfer expenditure. The board won't consider stadium expansion, and it seems that our squad is much too large for the 4,000 capacity stadium in Meda. There are 42 squad members, seven of whom are on the transfer list, with 18 in the first team squad. The other 17 are all in the reserves. There really needs to be a cull of these players in the off-season. The basic issue is that I signed up the initial bunch of youth on contracts that were a tad too long, but having said that, only two of the seven listed players are my signings. Two initial squad members on the list are on our highest wage of €800 a week. I really hope the board will consider a stadium expansion if and when we hit Serie B, because I'm pretty sure wages will be a much bigger issue at that level. Anyway, back to the daily grind of trying to ensure promotion to that promised land. Our penultimate game was a trip to SPAL, based in Ferrara over the east side of Italy, between Bologna and Padova. SPAL were 17th in the league, and supposedly wouldn't pose much of a threat, but you can never tell in these end-of-season clashes. We got off to a good start, as out strikers combined for Chionna to score his 16th of the season following a pass from Giglio. Miglioranzi provided the pass for the second goal, which Diamanti scored from open play. What on earth was Miglio doing up the field, I asked myself, but no worries if he's contributing like that... The half time whistle blew at 2-0, and a quick glance around the league showed me that Alesasndria were 2-1 up, Cremonese 2-0 up and Livorno 1-0 down. Five minutes after half time, Diamanti scored his 14th of the season to wrap up our three points, the assist credited to Sotgiu. The only action left in the game was to bring on some substitutes, Segreto came on for Di Lauro, Vitali on for Chionna, and then Segreto picked up an injury and was replaced by Valentini. At the final whistle, I heard that Livorno had equalised, but now needed to gain three points and 14 goals over Alessandria to finish above them, and had all but fallen out of the race. Cremonese had scored a third, while Alessandria won 2-1. So it was as tight as ever going into the final game. Pistoiese made the 220 mile journey to Meda, one of the longest trips in the league, and their fans were treated to an astonishing attacking display from the home side. Chionna scored on 7 minutes, Giglio on 12 and Diamanti on 17 to put us three up with the game barely started. A cracking effort from the lads, and the good news at half time was that Alessandria were only drawing 0-0. Livorno were also drawing 0-0, but this didn't really concern us anymore. The bad news was that Cremonese were winning 3-2 and were top of the table with their 5 goal advantage in the GD column. We needed to step up the pace to try and score these five goals... On 71, I brought on Marini for a tiring Di Lauro, but the whispers in the crowd told me more bad news - Cremonese had scored another two goals and were 5-2 up! We now needed to win by ten goals, and Diamanti chalked one of those off in the 77th. Time ticked away, news filtered in that Cremonese had scored again, so we needed another seven goals, in about one minute. Not going to happen... As the final whistle blew, we were in second place once again - the top seed in the playoffs... Giannusa injured himself in training, and would be out for a month. We were drawn against Carrarese in the playoff semi final, with the first game in Meda. The first half seemed to be firmly in our favour, despite the visitors finding the back of the net. The goal, however, was disallowed, and we went in 0-0 at the break. Ten minutes after the restart, Giglio popped up to score a crucial goal, and we were really dominating the game. Somewhat inevitably, then, Carrarese managed an equaliser on the hour, and that was that. 1-1 in the home leg in a game we really should have won. Would this come back to bite us? Carrarese are a coastal town on the west side of the boot, somewhere above the knee... We had no thoughts of sandcastles or sunbathing, though - much more important things were on our agenda. An early setback occured in the 12th minute of the game as star defender Miglio had to come off injured, Goisis taking his place. Three minutes later, and the twunt who scored their equaliser in the first leg came good again, giving Carrarese the lead. Chionna levelled things after latching onto a pass from Di Lauro in the 25th minute, but Carrarese found another goal on the stroke of half time. It's not the end of the world, as a draw would see us through, but we don't show anything in the second half. Valentini came on for Di Lauro to provide some fresh legs with eleven minutes to play, but it's all to no avail. Time ticked away, and we were left ruing our missed opportunity in the first leg. Bugger!
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Post by coffers on May 9, 2008 10:50:16 GMT
A fine end to the season apart from the play-off's. That is a sickener, play-offitis a serious disease suffered by top seeds in play-off contention.
I know it's a pig of a disappointment but it was a damned fine season, it migh even allow you to be betetr prepared when promtion does finally come your way.
KUTGW! :thumb:
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Post by Boony on May 9, 2008 11:17:24 GMT
Season 2003/04 Summary Despite the disappointment of losing in the playoffs, I don't think I can be too disheartened about the way the season went. We showed that we were good enough to compete during our first season at this level, and if it wasn't for such a poor start to the season we probably would have won the league. A few end-of-season notes - another seven players were put on the transfer list, while three were released from their contracts. I offered thirteen players a new contract, either members of the first team squad or those who were under 21 and looked promising. The average attendance was 3,942 and I will try and get a stadium expansion on the back of this. Diamanti made the bench for the C1A team of the year, while Sotgiu was the fans player of the year. First choice team at end of season No Name Apps Gls Con Pens Asts Yel Red MoM Av R -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Romellini, Alessio 39 0 43 0 0 0 0 2 6.97
- Vado, Vincenzo 34 1 0 0 4 5 0 0 7.26 - Brescia, Cristian 10 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 7.40 - Miglioranzi, Fabio 34 3 0 2 (2) 3 9 1 0 6.82 - Baroni, Daniele 34 (1) 0 0 0 0 5 0 1 6.83
- Di Lauro, Walter 37 5 0 0 10 1 0 1 7.16 - Murante, Stefano 36 5 0 0 5 1 0 1 7.19 - Sotgiu, Salvatore 36 10 0 0 6 4 0 7 7.56
- Chionna, Attilio 35 (1) 17 0 0 3 2 0 4 7.53 - Diamanti, Alessandro 32 16 0 0 4 0 1 4 7.63 - Giglio, Raffeale 37 12 0 0 7 1 0 3 7.38
Other players of note:
- Abbate, Fabio 30 0 0 0 1 7 1 0 6.60 - Goisis, Paolo 10 (2) 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 6.33 - Vitali, Giuliano 5 (8) 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 7.00 - Giannusa, Vincenzo 5 (4) 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.89 - Valentini, Stefano 4 (21) 2 0 0 4 2 0 1 6.80 - Nativi, Carlo 4 (5) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.33 - Segreto, Filippo 3 (8) 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 7.00 - Ambrosini, Roberto 2 (1) 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 7.33 - Bruni, Francesco 1 (2) 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 7.00 - Baggio, Domenico 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7.00 - Marini, Marcello 0 (4) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.50
League GraphStatsTeam StatsLeague Stats
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on May 9, 2008 11:55:26 GMT
Unlucky there fella. This would be why I hate the playoffs.
I like the season graph though - looks like the keeper in the background saved your season, pushing you back up from sixth.
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Post by Boony on May 9, 2008 12:00:17 GMT
And the line from game 30 onwards is an extension of the keeper's left arm... I've started a fad on the CM0102 stories forum of adding the league graph screenshot at the end of the season. I feel very proud...
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on May 9, 2008 12:06:16 GMT
I shall be copying your idea forthwith.
And claiming Nark though of it.
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Post by coffers on May 9, 2008 12:13:42 GMT
I've started a fad on the CM0102 stories forum.. And where would this be. SI forums or elsewhere?
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Post by Boony on May 9, 2008 12:33:39 GMT
Elsewhere. There's a link on reply 8 of the first page of this thread...
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Post by Moo on May 9, 2008 16:09:31 GMT
It's a decent site, Coffers. Still quite an active forum, IIRC.
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Post by Moo on May 9, 2008 16:11:19 GMT
Oh and unlucky with the playoffs, dude, but as others have said, you'd have settled for the opportunity at the start of the season and so you should consider it a good one.
You might need to push on now though, try and get some cover for the defense and is that keeper really good enough? Or is it a defensive thing where he's being let down and effectively fire-fighting?
KUTGW! :thumb:
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Post by Boony on May 10, 2008 0:41:14 GMT
The thing with the keeper is that he seems to have really good days when we have a load of shots to defend, and then really bad days when the defence don't let much through. So almost the typical CM goalkeeper clichés, about 15 times a season. He's very, very frustrating.
Funnily enough, I was saying the same on the other board, but the real issue is that the youth scouts are absolutely horseshit at finding goalkeepers. You'll note that Romellini is an original squad member, and almost all the other squad members have been replaced by youth scoutees, yes? And the only other original squad member in the team is only really there to provide some experience for the kids, yes? Well I think that kind of tells the story right there.
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Post by Boony on May 10, 2008 1:49:58 GMT
It's a decent site, Coffers. Still quite an active forum, IIRC. Yeah man. The main thrust seems to be providing current updates for the game, so they recreate the player database with up-to-date information. They also do a few things with league - I believe they chopped the Welsh league to add in the Conference North, or summat like that. I haven't investigated the updates yet, but may do at some point. It's also a decent site for some banter, and there's a good stories forum which is also fairly active and contains a promising number of people who would have subscribed to the GR philosophy. Not many nicknames floating around, though, and if you venture into darker corners you see the usual player tipping and centralised tactics... Like the old Dugout, some places you go, some places you don't...
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on May 10, 2008 1:57:34 GMT
Do they frown on FM types?
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Post by Boony on May 10, 2008 2:06:30 GMT
Most of them prefer CM0102 to any of the FM series, aye. There's not much frowning going on, but then there's not much FM > CM0102 flaming going on. There is a thread about other C/FM games liked, and a fair proportion go back to CM9798, rather than forward to FM07 or FM08.
In fact, looking back over the thread, it seems that most gave up with 03/04 and went back to 01/02, not even bothering with anything released later on...
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Post by Moo on May 11, 2008 11:13:12 GMT
Slackers.
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Post by Sonic on May 11, 2008 13:16:05 GMT
Almost Boony, almost. I foresee much glory next season, overshadowing that which you had in this season.
KUTGW :thumb:
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Post by Boony on May 13, 2008 14:57:59 GMT
Season 2004/05 After a tough campaign last season, I gave the Meda squad a well-deserved rest over the summer months. A board meeting told me that the directors were complete muppets; their target for the season was for the club to battle bravely against relegation! Anything less than another promotion playoff campaign, and I'd be pretty miffed with the forthcoming season... Some people decided that enough was enough and retired from the club. The most notable of these was striker Roberto Ambrosini, our leading scorer in my first campaign, and our oldest squad member. He was given a great send-off, a well-liked member of the club. Another departure was midfielder Alessandro Amato, who had been on the transfer list. Fraulo left the scouting team, and was replaced by Ersilio Cerone, while goalkeeping coach Villa also retired. His spot on the coaching team was filled by Marco Alessandrini. We played one friendly before the cup games, beating Castelnuovo 2-1. August 2004 Our high finish in the league last year meant that, for the first time, we were entered into the Italian Cup. In a similar format to the Serie C Cup, we were placed in a 4-team group, with one qualification spot for the next round. Qualification would be tough, though, as our first two games were against teams from Serie B - our first taste of opposition at this level. Kicking off the season with a home tie against Salernitana, from Serie B, and we had three defenders suspended. There was more bad news as Di Lauro reported himself too tired to start the match. None of these seemed to matter, though, as we comfortably turned over the visitors 2-0 with another goal disallowed. Diamanti scored the first, after a Giglio shot had rebounded from their keeper, and the skipper himself doubled the lead, assisted by Murante. Our first Italian Cup win, and our first win against Serie B opposition, both at the first attempt! Both Miglioranzi and Di Lauro returned for the second game, a trip to Bari, which is a bloody long way away. David Platt's old club proceeded to destroy us, taking a four goal lead after the 56th minute. They scored a fifth, this time past their own keeper, and we ended up on the wrong side of a 4-1 humping. It didn't help that our goalie Romellini rated 4/10. The only good news was that our share of the gate receipts put us €500k in the black! All teams in our group have 3 points from their two games, with one game left to decide who goes on to the next round.
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on May 13, 2008 15:00:22 GMT
Bit tight there then, although the win over Salernitana suggests you can turn over whoever the Serie C team is.... then if they draw with Bari, you're golden. No pressure.
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Post by Boony on May 13, 2008 15:32:08 GMT
September 2004 The final game in the Italian Cup group was at home against Alto Adige, relegated into C1A last season. Chionna opened the scoring, hammering a loose ball into the net in the 21st minute, and from there we managed to hold onto the slender advantage to win 1-0. The bad news was that Bari beat Salernitana and finished above us on goal difference... Still, cups are for girls, eh? Onto the testosterone-filled league campaign, then. Our first game was at home against Treviso. They struck twice in six minutes midway through the first half, and we couldn't make any impact on the game whatsoever. A 2-0 reverse was not the perfect way to start a season in which we're looking for promotion, not by a long way. Surprising news - I thought we wouldn't be in the Serie C Cup, since we'd played in the Italian Cup, but apparently we had a bye into the second round, where we play Vis Pesaro in a few weeks. A trip over the mountains to Lucchese was our next assignment, and I was feeling a bit nervy during a goalless first half. We woke up after half time, though, with a Diamanti shot parried into Di Lauro's path to open the scoring. Vado banged in a direct free kick two minutes later, and Chionna sealed the deal with three minutes to play, assisted by substitute Segreto, on for Di Lauro. A much better result, one to give us confidence for the weeks ahead. Cesena came to Meda for the third league game of the season, and came across a slightly weakened home side. Murante and Giglio were both out injured, so Segreto and Vitali came in as replacements. The captains armband was handed to Romellini as the oldest player in the starting XI, at the ripe old age of 23... We got off to the perfect start, as a Vado freekick in the second minute found Chionna's head, which in turn directed the ball into the back of the net. Two minutes later, Vitali was fouled in the box and Miglio stepped up to convert the penalty. Cesena pulled one back on 36 minutes, but Vitali responded with a crisp half-volley from a Diamanti pass to make it 3-1 at half time. That was enough, and the second half petered out, leaving the score a healthy 3-1. More bad news, as free kick specialist Vado is injured for three weeks, and centre-back Miglio is out for two weeks. With a somewhat weakened defence, we travelled to Modena for the last game in September. They scored the early goal, in six minutes, but Vitali struck back just after the half hour, converting a corner from Di Lauro. Then things started getting silly - Baroni was sent off on 54, and then Abbate had to come off injured in the 77th minute. We hung on to the point, which was useful, but there seems to be some kind of targetting of my defenders going on here. It doesn't help that it's probably the one area of the pitch where we're struggling for depth at the moment. Damned AI! We finished the month in sixth spot in the league, one place behind the playoff positions. It's early days, though, and who knows which way we'll go next month...
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Post by coffers on May 13, 2008 15:47:25 GMT
As you say, early days but there is definitely signs of targeting going on. AI stuffing ahoy!
KUTGW! :thumb:
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Post by Boony on May 14, 2008 12:20:27 GMT
October 2004 We enter October with four injuries and one suspension in the first team squad, and only Brescia from the first choice back four is available to play in the first game of the month. Padova were the visitors, 12th in the league. Giglio returned to fitness and the starting lineup, replacing Chionna as Vitali was playing well enough to relegate the club's all-time leading goalscorer to the bench for now. Padova took the lead in the 38th minute, and despite us having chance after chance, we couldn't get the ball past their keeper. I took off Sotgiu and Diamanti for Valentini and Chionna, with Vitali moving to the central striker role. With five minutes left on the clock, Chionna passed to Vitali, whose shot was saved for a corner. Di Lauro took the set piece, and reserve defender Goisis finally broke our deadlock with a fine header. The point was enough to take us up to fifth in the league. The next game was a visit to Carrarese, seventh in the league. One defender came back to fitness, as Baroni returned to replace Seminara. The first half of the game was an absolute dream, with Vitali scoring a brace before Goisis headed in another Di Lauro corner. These three goals were enough for the game, a very nice result in a game that should have caused us more problems than it did. We travelled to Vis Pesaro for the first leg of the Serie C Cup second round. Di Lauro wasn't fit enough for the midweek game, stepping down for Valentini. Miglio came back to partner the free-scoring Goisis, with Baroni dropping down to the bench for the time being. After eleven minutes, Brescia ran down the left flank (as per his individual instructions) and whipped in a left-footed cross (as per his individual instructions) for Vitali to score his fifth of the season. Sotgiu had to come off after injury, meaning a second appearance for young midfielder D'Anna. D'Anna is the first guy to be promoted from our youth academy to play in the first team, and averages 7.83 in the reserves despite pretty poor attributes for playing in midfield. Anyway, the game was 1-0 to us at half time, and Diamanti doubled the lead on 76 before Vis Pesaro scored a very late away goal to take some of the gloss off the victory. Sotgiu's injury would keep him out for a month, while Miglio reported late for training and was warned. Seventh placed Pistoiese came to town for the seventh league game of the season. Vado came back into the team for Iaria, while Di Lauro replaced Sotgiu and Baroni usurped an unfit Miglio. Just after the half hour, Goisis pounced on a loose ball from a Brescia free kick to continue his scoring habit. Diamanti doubled the lead on 46, and in the last minute a cross from Brescia found substitute D'Anna who scored his first for the club to seal a fine 3-0 victory. More fringe players were taken out by the injury AI, with Seminara, Bruni and Giannusa all injured in training; Seminara's injury was the worst, and he'll be out for three months with torn ankle ligaments. Interesting news filters through as Alessandria, our old foes, are keen on midfielder Di Lauro... Miglio returns to fitness but finds himself on the bench, while Segreto's form keeps Murante on the bench, as we prepare for the trip to bottom club Spezia. The game was pretty much over in the first half hour, as Di Lauro, Segreto and Vitali all found the back of the net early in the game. They scored a consolation goal in the 69th minute, but the worst news was Goisis tearing his knee ligaments in the last minute. He'll be out for four months... It was time for the second leg of the second round of the Serie C Cup; Miglio scored on 12, Giglio scored on 21, they pulled one back just before half time to make the score 4-2 on aggregate. I made three substitutions, and Chionna scored immediately after being introduced to the game. Vis Pesaro scored another, but Chionna scored one more to show me he really wants to be in the first team. A 6-3 win on aggregae puts us into the draw for the next round, where we face Gualdo from Serie C2. A bit of big-name news, as David Beckham moves to Italy to play for Lazio. Lazio are now €31m poorer... The last game in October was a trip to 12th placed Rimini, promoted from C2 last season. I kept Chionna on the bench, as I couldn't decide who I would drop to bring him back in. I would drop Giglio, but he's the only person I can really give the captains' armband... The skipper repays my faith be earning a penalty in the 13th minute - the resulting spot-kick calmly tucked away by Miglio. Diamanti doubled the lead, and then scored our third for his fifth of the season. Vitali scored our fourth, Diamanti completed his hattrick, and then added a fourth for good measure. 6-0 was the final score, our biggest win, and Diamanti took the club record for most goals in a game. We finished the month in second place in the league, three points off top and three points above sixth spot. Despite all the injuries, our defence has the best defensive record in the league!
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Post by coffers on May 14, 2008 15:24:21 GMT
That was an excellent month, Well done and keep it up. :thumb:
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Post by Boony on May 14, 2008 15:35:34 GMT
November 2004 October was a cracking month, finishing with six wins on the bounce and progression in the Serie C Cup. We were second in the league, and I was a very happy monkey indeed. November continued in a similar vein. We rolled over Gualdo in the cup, 4-2 in the first leg and 1-0 in the second leg. The victory in the first leg gave us the seventh win in a row, a new club record. The record wasn't extended any further, as Alto Adige came to town and took a point in a 1-1 draw, immediately equalising after Valentini's 74th minute opener. The injury situation was becoming very serious, as Miglio was injured for a month and I had transfer listed fullback Iaria playing in the heart of the first team defence. This prompted a panic youth signing as Michele Miceli, a 17 year old centre-back joined the team. He actually looks pretty decent, but had been under my radar previously due to a slightly lower workrate than I usually demand from my players. Needs must, though, kids... We visited top side Varese and humped them 3-0 - Chionna scoring two either side of a Diamanti goal from a Miceli free kick! Lumezzane were then dispatched 3-2 (Diamanti, Valentini and Chionna with his 50th league goal for the club) before we visited 2nd placed Citadella and held them to a 2-2 draw - Diamanti and Vitali put us 2-0 up before they scored twice in the last five minutes... We also played Livorno in the first leg of the cup quarter finals, and beat them 4-0. Miceli scored his first for the club, and then their keeper was sent off in the first five minutes. Giglio scored a second and Diamanti added two of his own to hopefully make the second leg a formality. Venezia offered €50k for Vitali and were told to go away. As November turned into December, we were on top of the league, level on points with Treviso but with a ten goal advantage in the next most important column. We were eight points above the playoff cutoff, but now we were top of the league, I didn't want anything less than automatic promotion come the end of the season...
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