Career The Three Vieri's - A DT Adventure [Completed]

[Kanegan]

Massive season mate. 189 is a fucking boatload of goals. Take a bow mate. 

[Scratch]

11 minutes ago, Kanegan said:

Massive season mate. 189 is a fucking boatload of goals. Take a bow mate. 

Thanks mate - though when you consider about 40 of them were ITN goals and I'm losing that, then it's back to 150. Still pretty good, especially compared to my old more normal tactic, but not likely to get that high again. That said, the players are getting a bit older and a bit more consistent, so still good times ahead either way...

[Scratch]

Update - Season 6

No ITN to distract me anymore, so I can get through the seasons a little faster. We'll miss the extra goals, but these guys are entering their golden years and our team is truly world class, so it should be a good season regardless.

 

Transfers

Here are the transfers for this season:

Spoiler

We had to clear out some more great players to make way for the blossoming youngsters:

• We chose to go all out with our young defenders in the single CD position, getting rid of Skriniar (truly world class) and Onguene (good but not quite world class). It might mean more goals shipped this year, but these youngsters are equal in attributes (I've included one below) and need playing time to go even further.

• We sold Theo Hernandez who'd been awesome for us. Bailey backed up by two very promising youngsters seemed more realistic than trying to juggle those three, plus Hernandez.

• Amiri followed Goretzka's path out of the club: playing poorly, getting injured, losing a lot of attribute points and leaving as a result.

• Barella and Olmo were top class players I'd have been happy to keep, but there was a log jam in the midfield and someone had to make way.

Coming in on a Bosman was a promising young left sided Welsh player who gets injured a lot.

 

Results

Once again we won almost everything, but fell down in the Champions League:

• We won the Italian Super Cup, beating Lazio 1-0.

• We won the Italian Cup, beating Juve 2-0 in the final.

• We won the league, scoring 156 goals while letting in 24 goals, our best effort yet.

• We lost the Champions League final, losing 3-2 to Man City. They sacked their manager (Mancini) 11 days later, so they must have recognized that we outplayed them for most of the match.

• We won the Club World Championship, beating Napoli 9-1 in the final. Yes: Nine - One, with hattricks for both Pellegri and Esposito.

Spoiler

A better season than last year, but we really need to start wining the Champions League.

 

Injuries and Availability

After a couple of torrid seasons, it was much smoother this time around. For our main players:

• Pellegri had one injury (2 weeks)

• Esposito had one injury (1 month)

• Cutrone had no injuries

Spoiler

 

Development

Here's what they look like at the end of the season:

Spoiler

Pellegri got to 20 Aerial, which surprised me, but he is now maxed out. Esposito is still creeping forward, but his last update resulted in no attribute increase at all! Cutrone is still creeping forward, but he's 27 now, so better hurry up or he'll never reach his full potential.

 

Goals - Club

Here's what they scored at club level this season:

• Pellegri scored 81 goals from 52 games

• Esposito scored 54 goals from 48 games

• Cutrone scored 36 goals from 59 games

Spoiler

Pellegri was in fantastic form this year and was far more likely to dominate a match than Esposito, which is evident in their respective scores. It's been interesting to watch how this has switched back and forward between the two over the years, but Pellegri has been firmly on top for two seasons now.

 

Totals

For Season 4 & 5, numbers are given as Club + ITN = Total.

Season	Pellegri	Esposito	Cutrone	DT Total	TT Total
01	20	14	20	34	54
02	40	48	33	88	121
03	61	61	31	122	153
04	45 + 6 = 51	64 + 6 = 70	23 + 2 = 25	121	146
05	71 + 17 = 88	54 + 19 = 73	26 + 2 = 28	161	189
06	81	54	36	135	171
Total	341	320	173	661/1200	834/1500

Past the halfway mark for both!

 

Looking Forward

A great season. But we're at the point where it's just more of the same and pretty much nothing ever happens. So ... see you next season with what will probably be a very similar update...

 

[Kanegan]

Monster, just monster.

[Aaron Thornton]

Another cracking season mate, Pellegri's numbers are insane. Harry Kane making you regret signing him again, I know the feeling, when I decide not to sign a player they always seem to score against me 😂, I think SI enjoy it. 

[Scratch]

12 hours ago, Kanegan said:

Monster, just monster.

Thanks mate. Next season is shaping up as even better. The tactic is really working, the squad is fantastic and the lads are entering their peak years.. Had a hickup with the goalkeepers, but have solved it now...

[Scratch]

12 hours ago, Aaron Thornton said:

Another cracking season mate, Pellegri's numbers are insane. Harry Kane making you regret signing him again, I know the feeling, when I decide not to sign a player they always seem to score against me 😂, I think SI enjoy it. 

Thanks mate. Yeah, Harry Kane is going to keep scoring against me now! I should have just signed him and put him in the Reserves! 😄

[Scratch]

Italy really does throw up some very easy games...

[Scratch]

Update - Season 7

Okay. This season was good. I mean better than good. It was easily the best season I've ever had. But...

I actually think Serie A is broken, as I posted about in another thread. There are 3 teams that are mostly greyed out players and even mid level teams have some very average players. It's one thing to beat Spezia 12-0, but entirely another to beat Lazio 9-0. Our team is world class, but this is broken.

Anyway...

 

Transfers

Spoiler

The big drama this season was with goalkeepers. We moved from a 'two keepers alternating' model to a 'main keeper plus hot prospect' model and Donnarumma left to make this possible.

However, as soon as the transfer window shut, Audero said he wanted a new challenge and then got really upset. He went to reflect on his actions in the reserves and we played two youngsters until January, at which point we bought Meret. I had a lot of trouble selling Audero, eventually buying a promising youngster I didn't really need, just so I could get rid of him in exchange...

Apart from that, we sold some fringe players and brought in some youngsters.

 

Results

Spoiler

This year, we finally got back to winning everything:

• We won the Italian Super Cup, beating Juve 2-0, although it went to extra time.

• We won the Italian Cup, beating Napoli 2-1 in the final.

• We won the league, scoring 184 goals while letting in 24 goals (yes a goal difference of 160), my best ever effort - see what I mean about Serie A being broken?

• We won the Champions League final, beating Atletic Madrid 4-2 in the final, although it went to extra time.

A dominant season. Even though two of the finals went to extra time, in each case we had a LOT more chances than the opposition and it was almost inevitable that we get the result in the end.

 

Injuries and Availability

Spoiler

\

A decent season, with Esposito and Cutrone injury free, while Pellegri had two injuries (10 days and 3 weeks):

 

 

Development

Here's what they look like at the end of the season:

Spoiler

Nothing else to say at this point, they'll be like this for the next 3 or 4 years, until Cutrone starts declining.

 

Goals - Club

Spoiler

A record season. Here's what they scored:

• Pellegri scored 73 goals from 46 games

• Esposito scored 92 goals from 53 games

• Cutrone scored 30 goals from 58 games

They swapped this year and it was Esposito's turn to dominate. Mind you, they were about equal until Pellegri got his 3 week injury.

 

Totals

For Season 4 & 5, numbers are given as Club + ITN = Total.

Season	Pellegri	Esposito	Cutrone	DT Total	TT Total
01	20	14	20	34	54
02	40	48	33	88	121
03	61	61	31	122	153
04	45 + 6 = 51	64 + 6 = 70	23 + 2 = 25	121	146
05	71 + 17 = 88	54 + 19 = 73	26 + 2 = 28	161	189
06	81	54	36	135	171
07	73	92	30	165	195
Total	414	412	203	826/1200	1029/1500

Best ever season... Who needs ITN goals? And Pellegri and Esposito are neck and neck.

 

Looking Forward

It's hard to see me ever topping this season.

Two of the three grey player clubs have gone down again, so maybe we'll have some stronger clubs come up? That said, Serie A is still very weak and my guys are world class, so it's likely going to be goal town again next season...

 

[Aaron Thornton]

What a season, Serie A is sick of the sight of you 😂, Esposito and Pellegri are beasts, keep it up.

[Rich]

Wow incredible season mate, really good going, love when the goals flow in and they certainly have for you!

[smoggy90]

Absolutely smashing this mate! Lots of fun to be had in Italy, I’ll check out your other thread about the league and have a read. I’ll also check out my lazio save and see about the greyed players. 

[Scratch]

15 hours ago, Aaron Thornton said:

What a season, Serie A is sick of the sight of you 😂, Esposito and Pellegri are beasts, keep it up.

Thanks mate, yeah, it was some season alright. But both those guys are quality and have had the best training in the world and are in a weak league, so it's not that surprising in hindsight. Certainly going much better than I expected though.

added 0 minutes later

15 hours ago, RichDave32 said:

Wow incredible season mate, really good going, love when the goals flow in and they certainly have for you!

Thanks mate, yeah, it was amazing, never had anything like that before!

[Scratch]

10 hours ago, smoggy90 said:

Absolutely smashing this mate! Lots of fun to be had in Italy, I’ll check out your other thread about the league and have a read. I’ll also check out my lazio save and see about the greyed players. 

Thanks mate. It looks like it might be because I only loaded Serie A and not Serie B. Though I still think the overall quality is far lower than it should be.

[Scratch]

Update - Season 8

Firstly, following a discussion in the Triple Threat thread, I'm dropping the TT part of this save.

It turns out that a TT requires a tactic that has 3 players upfront, making it incompatible with the DT (and with this career). I'd been told it was okay to combine them, but it's not, so I'll concentrate on the DT. I'll be back to do a proper TT another time!

On with the DT...

 

The ITN Job

We all know that Italians love reappointing past managers and I'm happy to report that FMM has got this spot on. First, Lorenzo D'Anna was sacked after the World Cup:

I applied, hoping my past failure wouldn't count against me and sure enough they offered it to me:

However, at this point, I got cold feet. I didn't really want the hassle of the ITN job, so even though the extra goals would be handy, I turned them down.

So who did they give the job to? Lorenzo D'Anna, less than a month after he'd been sacked:

Peak Italian managerial appointment!

 

Transfers

Spoiler

Not much happening this year. Sold some fringe players (including Pinamonti who was only scoring 3 goals a year as a backup). Bought a couple of youngsters. And that's it.

 

Results

Spoiler

We managed to win everything again:

• We won the Euro Super Cup, beating Porto 4-1.

• We won the Italian Super Cup, beating Napoli 5-1.

• We won the Italian Cup, beating Bologna 4-1 in the final (all 4 to Pellegri).

• We won the league, but only scored 159 goals (compared to 184 goals last year).

• We won the Champions League, beating Tottenham 4-1 in the final. The only time we were pushed was a 5-5 win on away goals against Man United, with all 5 of their goals scored by Lautaro Martinez, our former backup striker.

So, an excellent season, but the outrageous number of goals from last season looks to have just been a blip.

 

Injuries and Availability

Spoiler

A strange season, with Cutrone having 2 injuries (both two weeks), but Pellegri and Esposito both escaping with only in-game injuries (two for Pellegri, one for Esposito).

 

Development

Here's what they look like at the end of the season:

Spoiler

The only movement was Pellegri recovering from injury. Cutrone will turn 30 next season, so we'll soon be looking at this the other way around...

 

Goals

Here's what they scored this season:

• Pellegri scored 71 goals from 50 games

• Esposito scored 89 goals from 53 games

• Cutrone scored 17 goals from 51 games

Spoiler

Although team goals were down this season, Pellegri and Esposito only just fell short of last seasons individual totals. Cutrone was down as a result of the other two lads staying on the pitch a little more.

 

Totals

I've removed the Cutrone and TT columns, given I'm no longer going for the TT. I'll probably submit a score for the new Goaltopia challenge including Cutrone, but I'll add that up later.

For Season 4 & 5, numbers are given as Club + ITN = Total.

Season	Pellegri	Esposito	DT Total
01	20	14	34
02	40	48	88
03	61	61	122
04	45 + 6 = 51	64 + 6 = 70	121
05	71 + 17 = 88	54 + 19 = 73	161
06	81	54	135
07	73	92	165
08	71	89	160
Total	485	501	986/1200

 

Looking Forward

We should only need to two seasons to complete the DT, which is way quicker than I thought it would take.

At this point, I'm not sure if I'll keep going and try to get a big score, or stop and try something different. On the one hand, I quite like Italy and Inter, really like Pellegri and Esposito, and I'm enjoying this tactic. On the other hand, we're at the point where it's all a bit monotonous and there are multiple other challenges I'm thinking about...

 

[Aaron Thornton]

Another cracking season mate, well done, I'm in the same boat as you, dont know whether to go as far as I can or try a new challenge, I'd say go for the highest score you can get, I'm going until one of my three players retire as per the rules of the Goaltopia challenge. Anyway great season again and the boys are looking brilliant

[Scratch]

4 minutes ago, Aaron Thornton said:

Another cracking season mate, well done, I'm in the same boat as you, dont know whether to go as far as I can or try a new challenge, I'd say go for the highest score you can get, I'm going until one of my three players retire as per the rules of the Goaltopia challenge. Anyway great season again and the boys are looking brilliant

Thanks mate. It's going way better than I ever expected. I honestly don't whether I'll push on or not! In the past I probably would have, but in the past I really only did 1KCs, now there are lots of different things I want to try.

I think if I'd already completed the DT I'd probably keep going because I'm not quite ready to say goodbye to this team. But in a couple of seasons I might be over it (I normally am by this time in a save, just a bit too repetitive).

[Kanegan]

Another cracking season as well.

[Ian]

A brilliant season again. I feel the same about International and the reward has to be really worth it before I consider it.

[Scratch]

On 01/09/2020 at 01:03, Kanegan said:

Another cracking season as well.

Thanks mate! The next one is even better, almost ready to post it...

added 0 minutes later

On 01/09/2020 at 06:51, Ian said:

A brilliant season again. I feel the same about International and the reward has to be really worth it before I consider it.

Thanks mate - yeah I'm totally the same. I like to give it a go every so often, but most of the time it's more hassle than it's worth...

[Scratch]

Smack the pony...

[Scratch]

And I think this is the most goals in a match by an individual player that I've had this year...

One short of the record in the record store...

I'm going through the screenshots I got but can't really use in the season 9 update...

[Scratch]

Update - Season 9

Things are going very smoothly at this point and I can only hope that continues...

 

Transfers

Spoiler

Only two departures of note this year:

• Maier who's in his late twenties being replaced by the youngsters coming through, in an effort to keep the team fresh.

• Arana Lopes (screenshot above) who is a fantastic player, with Positioning & Tackling of 20, Decisions & Aerial of 17, but just too slow (Pace 13) for our current tactic with one at the back. We conceded a lot of goals from long passes into the space behind him.

Coming in were just a couple of youngsters.

 

Results

Spoiler

We managed to win everything again (getting monotonous now):

• We won the Euro Super Cup, but I didn't get a screenshot apparently...

• We won the Italian Super Cup, beating Bologna 2-0.

• We won the Italian Cup, beating Atlanta 5-0 in the final (I think the 8 clear cut chances is my record).

• We won the league, scoring 177 goals (close to my record of 184).

• We won the Champions League, beating Liverpool 2-0 in the final.

 

Injuries

Spoiler

Pellegri had a 2 month injury, while Esposito had a 3 week one.

 

Development

Here's what they look like at the end of the season:

Spoiler

 

Goals

Spoiler

A big season for our main two lads (I may as well keep showing Cutrone, I'll add up the Goaltopia values later):

• Pellegri scored 89 goals from 48 games

• Esposito scored 86 goals from 51 games

• Cutrone scored 23 goals from 57 games

They've gotten scores that big before, but not both at the same time. The reason:

• The two lads are at their absolute peak now, as are the whole team

• They can stay on the park longer than ever (aside from their injuries)

• When one is injured, I tweak the tactic to favour the other player at the expense of the backup striker (main player moves to central TM, backup plays as offset DLF). I wasn't doing that before as I needed Cutrone to score for the TT (less important for Goaltopia).

 

Totals

For Season 4 & 5, numbers are given as Club + ITN = Total.

I've removed the Cutrone and TT columns, given I'm no longer going for the TT. I'll probably submit a score for the new Goaltopia challenge including Cutrone, but I'll add that up later.

Season	Pellegri	Esposito	DT Total
01	20	14	34
02	40	48	88
03	61	61	122
04	45 + 6 = 51	64 + 6 = 70	121
05	71 + 17 = 88	54 + 19 = 73	161
06	81	54	135
07	73	92	165
08	71	89	160
09	89	86	175
Total	574	587	1161/1200

Our biggest season ever! This is insane, even if I do say so myself... It should be harder than this.

 

Looking Forward

We're just 39 goals short of the target, so next season should see the DT wrapped up. I'll then have a difficult decision to make on whether to continue or not. I have some ideas for what's next, which could be a dangerous sign...

 

[Aaron Thornton]

Another great season, they're smashing them in for you, 9 and a bit seasons to hit 1200 goals is some going, KIU

[Rich]

Incredible mate, bet you’re enjoying this one, Massive numbers, probably the most I’ve seen two strikers get in a season!

[Rob]

Good season score. It’ll be good to see this tactic on one of the other challenges to see how much of an effect the weak league has had on it. 

[Scratch]

1 hour ago, Aaron Thornton said:

Another great season, they're smashing them in for you, 9 and a bit seasons to hit 1200 goals is some going, KIU

Thanks mate. Yeah, they are quality and honestly Italy is weak. I've just started the next season and 2 of the promoted teams only have a handful of real players (and they are very poor)... I'm close to saying that Serie A is weaker than the SPL, though I'm not sure that's true... It certainly feels true (but I am using a much more attacking tactic here).

[Scratch]

22 minutes ago, RichDave32 said:

Incredible mate, bet you’re enjoying this one, Massive numbers, probably the most I’ve seen two strikers get in a season!

Yeah, certainly way above my expectations. Mostly down to really good players in a weak league (as I mentioned above, I'm close to saying the SPL is better than Serie A - well at least the bottom half of it).. 

[Scratch]

14 minutes ago, Rob said:

Good season score. It’ll be good to see this tactic on one of the other challenges to see how much of an effect the weak league has had on it. 

Thank mate. I have half a mind to take this tactic to a different league and do a two player combo for the Peak Years challenge. Though I also have been thinking about a TT - I think I can move one of the players forward in this tactic to create a 3 up front tactic. Then I have an off the wall idea for the strikers. Though not sure what I'll do at this point, all just thoughts...

[Ian]

Smashing season again, well done on the impending DT also.