The team that shook the world!

Welcome back to the blog, it's time to start the challenge of managing Bologna F.C., a sleeping giant of Italian football who won seven serie A titles in their proud history, the last one in 1963-64, you could find more details about the targets I set for my career in this introductory post.

Setting up the scene for this save game, I have to tell you about my decision to play it using Football Manager Touch 2017 (for PC & Mac) instead of the fat version of the game, I had a different plan some weeks ago but things changed quickly recently, I tried the FM Touch 17 beta and was immediately hooked on it (read here why), apparently everything I love regarding the game is there, starting this save with it.

At this point I need to point out a fact, this version of the game has some optional micro-transactions, basically paying something you could unlock hidden features to make the game easier, the likes of "no work permits" or "no sacking" etc... obviously I won't use any of them; to build my game world I loaded up 18 nations, 20 leagues and almost 50.000 players, exceeding the recommended limit of 50.000, let's see what happens.

As I told you previously the first tactic I'm going to use is a W-W (2-3-2-3 if you prefer) inspired by the historical tactics used by Vittorio Pozzo, Hugo Meisl and of course Arpad Weisz, the true inspirator of this series.

The name derives from its shape, it looks like a disconnected tactic, where offensive and defensive players are split in two separate banks, but with the right players and instructions it could work in modern football and, hopefully, in Football manager as well.

The W-W concept...

The team shape is the first step but then, to define the kind of football we want to play, there's more: the roles employed, the passing system, the pressure we want to put on our opponents and other things.

My first idea is to leave behind the more direct passing system employed by Pozzo in favour of a more intricate network of short passes, like Weisz (and Meisl) was used to teach, always trying to control the pace of the game.

The tactic I'm developing is a fluid 2-3-2-3, I'm a still unsure about some roles and/or duties, but after some unimpressive pre-season friendlies, I should start the oncoming season playing this way.

The key player in this formation is the deep lying playmaker, he must be able to cover and help the centre backs during the defensive phase and then keep the defensive block connected with the other half of the team when we gain the ball back, I'm already training Donsah to dictate tempo, as expected.

....and the W-W (2-3-2-3) in Football Manager terms

More or less the players I have at Bologna should suit well this tactical framework, obviously I'm talking about roles here, we have well known weaknesses: we are lightweight, we lack leadership and our passing skills are quite poor.

Anyway I signed five new players, mainly to strengthen my defensive line and to make a young side even younger.

I couldn't afford quality developed players, so I looked for reckless boys with potential, to raise more cash I sold veteran keeper Antonio Mirante, he's 33 and OM came with a 2 M offer I couldn't turn down.

Another experienced player who left was central defender and former captain Daniele Gastaldello, sold to Al-Gharrafa for 500 k.

A lot of youngsters, as explained, three defenders, one striker and a 16 yrs keeper (Diouf).

I have high hopes for Mattia Destro up top, he's a skilled 26 years old complete forward, I'm only worried by the fact he's too injury prone, that's the reason behind the signing of Jordan Larsson, Henrik's son.

The other striker in the team is Nigerian Umar Sadiq, a top prospect on loan from Roma, I've got a 4 M option to buy him but, unluckily, there's a bug (fix this SI game, fix this!) in the game that prevents me from signing him for less than 8 M.

We'll consider that at the end of the season, I haven't such a sum now.

If you're curious to know how this career could unfold don't forget to follow my twitter account where I'm going to post my matches updates.

More in depth analysis and overviews of the seasons played will appear here on the blog, so stay tuned and spread the word!