Football Manager 2018: Crotone (S01E03) - Serie A
Welcome into new text about my career in Crotone. Today we will start Serie A season.
In my Serie A debut we were facing Roma. I knew that, it will hard to get even one point from this game. We started this match very defensivly, coming out 5-4-1 formation. We were defending very well, and unexpectedly we draw on Stadio Olimpico nil-nil.
Generally we had very though first couple matches, because after match against Roma, we were preparing to games against Napoli and Milan.
In both matches plan was the same as versus Roma, defend and wait for counter attacks. First home match this season was against Napoli, they were strong favorites. Match in first half was very boring, they were ineptly trying to pass our deeply placed defence. We were defending quite well until 55th minute, when Dries Metrens scored. Then i decide to go 4-2-4 formation. And then... TROTTA SCORED TWO GOALS!!! Entire stadium went mad. After 10 minutes referee has blown the whistle. It was incredible, we defeat Napoli!!!
After that amazing win, we were before match against another powerful rival. AC Milan had very intensive summer transfer window, and they newly signed players are classy Especially away from home we were doomed to failure. Unexpectedly in first half we were defending quite well, overally in first couple matches, our players showed me that playing 4-5-1 formation isn't a bad idea, this tactic is quite solid and it's hard to beat us. Everything was fine up to 63th minute when Borini turned a through ball from Kalinic into the goal. Than i changed tactic to more attacking, and went 4-2-4. It wasn't quite effective, because we didn't create many chances. Finally in the end Borini scored another goal, form penalty, after Coulibaly pushed Andre Silva in penalty box . It's wasn't a big suprise, so i wasn't worried about result.
After very hard run at start of the season, we had couple matches against weaker teams. We must remember that we are Serie A underdogs, so every match and point is important in relegation battle. Next game which we played, was against Sampdoria at home. Game started for us quite good, beacuse Trotta scored a header in 13th minute. We didn't have wait long for Sampa anwser. 2 minutes later Zapata scored an equaliser. And then in 30th minute Quaglirella scored another goal for Sampa, i didn't want to lose so we changed formation into 4-2-4, and we scored another another equaliser, this time our right winger Ricci used into goal, a good cross from Trotta. When we equlised, i went back to 4-5-1, draw with Sampdoria was for me rewarding result. But Sampdoria was attacking, they wanted to win this match. They were dominant side, but they forgot about defence. In 88th minute one of few our counter attacks, changed into a goal. It was a nice play from our substitutes, Benali passed a fantastic through ball to Stoian, who turned this pass into a goal. We won it, i was very happy about our home performance.
Start of Serie A season went unexpectedly well, after 4 games we are sitting with 7 points in 7th position. We will continue our good form or we will as expected, fall into lower part of the league? We will find out in next Episode.