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It was a lovely day by Melbourne standards. We had only gone through two snap thunderstorms between the hours of blazing sunshine. If only things were as calm on the training track.
Coach Ruckus, having grown tired of the players’ refusal to follow his commands (particularly new recruit JonoJB, who sat drooling on the touchline), was chasing several of them around with a baseball bat (why he had such an object at soccer training, I did not dare to question). They were soon forced to flee a different foe, as Alias Hunter v.4.0 – our android striker – had apparently escaped Kris Dorey’s control. Again. I had thought having a striker with super-human strength and the ability to breathe fire on opponents would be useful, but I doubted the groundskeeper would be too pleased when the saw the damage AH had done to his precious pitch.
Things were not much better in the stands. Scores of our loyal fans – “The GQers”, as they called themselves – brawled with each other and, occasionally, with themselves (think of Jim Carey in Liar, Liar). I took a few steps closer to discover what the problem was this time, but just as I made out the words “bugs”, “dud patch” “SI are gods” and “Freddie Adu”, I felt a hand grasp my shoulder. It was my lumbering assistant coach Raptor, who looked quite upset.
“Silver_blue just bit me!” he exclaimed, rubbing his neck.
Once again my coach had confused his fantasy life with reality. I noticed him standing some distance away and called out to him, but with a swish of his cloak and a barely audible hiss, he turned away.
I moved to follow him, but was interrupted by a stream of players running towards me. Fearing they would lead AH in my direction, I prepared to run with them, but stopped as I heard a deafening “GRUNT!” The players, having also heard this, stopped running and turned to watch another epic battle, in the style of various crazy Japanese movies, between AH and KEANEZILLA, who was already growling something along the lines of “ROBBIE PANSY SAVAGE GRUNT!”
I sighed. The saddest thing was that this was the best training session we’d had.
Hello and welcome to my third story in CMS – and first without CM 00/01 and Rushden. I’m not quite sure how to explain the opening. I came up with an idea for an effort that was somewhat more creative than my previous ones, but as you can see I probably went a bit too far. Not only did it take me a fair while to write, it’s also filled with assorted OTF references that many here simply may not get. As such, the rest of this story will be written in my usual style. Admittedly, this renders the opening rather pointless, but I just wanted an excuse to keep that title.
Since my previous two stories covered a 21-season reign at Rushden, ended only by a corrupted save game, I’ve decided to go for something totally different here. I have decided to manage Ancona, an apparently semi-professional side that has snuck into Serie A. I’ve never heard of the players or club and don’t know any of the Italian league rules, so this should be a learning experience if nothing else. Considering IRL they haven’t won a league game to date and are only averaging a goal every second game, this hopefully won’t be as easy as a couple of practice CM 03/04 games I ran through…
I’m writing this as I play, and since I’m new to the game and team, this may be a bit of a mess for the first couple of days. I’ll try to stick to roughly the same format as my previous stories, without being too restrictive.
I’m running CM 03/04 with the 4.1.4 patch and “Debug Mode”, using the CMD database update with many of my own corrections to try and get it accurate up to February 1. My nationality is Australian and my favourite club is Rushden.
The following leagues are active, with a Medium database:
England (D3+)
France (First League only)
Germany (First Division only)
Italy (C1/A+)
Spain (2D+)
The game will use the English start of 13/7/03 to give me time to get familiar with my side.
The Club
Ancona is at National level, but is apparently only regarded as semi-professional. Our stadium, Del Conero, has a capacity of 23,983. We have £2M in the bank, with £1.6M available for transfers. I have been advised to battle bravely against relegation.
Wage Budget: £100,000 Total Weekly Wages at 13/7/03: £151,882
Frighteningly enough, Ancona has 97 players in the squad. Considering this is my first serious CM4 series game, this is pretty overwhelming, especially when I don’t know any of them. Being £50K over the wage budget is not an ideal situation either.
Here are profiles on those who seem to be part of my first team plans at this point (early June 2003). Naturally there may be additions or subtractions to this list over the pre-season, but I thought it best to give you an overview of what I have started with, so you understand my transfer strategy in the pre-season.
Goalkeepers
Magnus Hedman [30, GK, SWE – 53/0] *On loan from Celtic until 29/6/04
Unfortunately, our #1 keeper is only on loan. Hedmanis a very, very good keeper – solid, agile and reliable. Unfortunately, he is on £18K per week, which is a fair chunk of our budget. If I do decide to hang on to him, he will have an important role helping us to avoid relegation. However, it is important we don’t become too dependant on him, as he will be gone at the end of the year.
Sergio Marcon [32, GK, ITA]
Our backup keeper is also reasonably solid, but not as talented as Hedman. Most of his experience comes from clubs below Serie A, so his ability to handle the goalkeeping position in a fight to avoid relegation is questionable.
Defenders
Dario Baccin [26, D/DM RLC, ITA]
A versatile player, but not a particularly talented one. He will likely be used only to fill holes at the back when necessary.
Bilica [24, Sw/D C, BRA]
A tall and powerful centre back, the briefly named Bilica has spent his professional career in Italy, so at least there won’t be any problems with him settling in. Unfortunately, he is regarded as rather unsporting [thanks, Debug Mode] and is quite aggressive, so run-ins with the referees may be frequent. He does at least like striker Milan Rapaic.
Drazin Bolic [31, D RC, CRO – 7/0]
The Croatian international defender is tall and strong, but it’s hard to see him finding a regular spot in the side. Right and centre back are already well covered, and he is not a particularly able player.
Marco Esposito [23, D LC, ITA]
A quite pacy player, left back seems the most likely spot for Esposito. He has no experience in Serie A, so it is unclear how well he will cope in the big time.
Mauro Milanese [31, D LC, ITA]
One of our better players, Milanese has plenty of experience and is tough, strong and still reasonably quick. He is the most obvious choice for a centre back position alongside Bilica or Sartor, and will likely be the side’s captain in the absence of any stand-out contenders.
Luigi Sartor [28, D RC, ITA – 2/0]
Sartor is an important player in this side. He has been a semi-regular at the likes of Inter, Parma and Roma for the last few years, and has two Italian caps to his name, clearly making him an important part of our defence. Much of our fate will depend on his performance.
Sean Luca Sogliano [32, D RC, ITA]
A hard-working dendeer, Sogliano is an admirer of striker Milan Rapaic (like many others in the side) and is one of the few players in the senior side to be signed up on a reasonably long contract (until 2006). A rotation role at the back is likely.
Luciano Zavagno [25, D L, ARG]
Holds an Italian passport, so there are no work permit issues (if, indeed, there are any in Italy anyway – I really wouldn’t know). He is not especially talented, and will probably be behind Esposito in the contest for left back. Zavgano also thinks determined defender Mauro Milanese takes himself too seriously, which is a bit of a worry. We need all our players, especially the defenders, to try their very hardest this season.
Midfielders
Daniele Berretta [31, DM RC, ITA]
An experienced and reasonably well-rounded midfielder, Berretta will probably struggle to hold down a place at Ancona due to the number of very similar players already at the club.
Davide Carrus [24, DM RC, ITA]
Another well-rounded midfielder, Carrus is much younger than Berretta but will likely also struggle to hold down a spot. He is certainly behind the two on-loan midfielders, at least.
Daniel Jerry Andersson [25, DM C, SWE – 30/0] *On loan from Palermo until 1/7/04
A reasonable midfielder, Swedish international Andersson is a hard-working professional who should be a reliable part of our midfield this season. He will be the first choice to take penalties.
Dino Baggio [31, DM C, ITA – 60/7] *On loan from Lazio until 1/7/04
Baggio is unfortunately a very difficult player to deal with. While with experience at the likes of Inter, Parma, Juventus and Lazio and plenty of international caps to his name he should be a very useful player to have in our fight to avoid relegation, we are also stuck paying £28.5K per week for his wages. Considering we are £50K over the budget with not much money in the bank, this is a huge concern. I have yet to decide what to do with him, but will look at other options both within the club (seeing how other midfielders go in the friendlies) and without (seeing if I can loan a decent midfielder for less).
Daniele Daino [23, D/DM RL, ITA]
A reasonably good young player, Daino disturbingly wants a better contract (he is only on £725K per week) already. We seem to be quite strong on both sides of defence, so a wing role may be more appropriate for him.
Roberto Goretti [27, DM RC, ITA]
Yet another defensive midfielder at the club, Goretti is probably the pick of those not on loan. He doesn’t have much pace and isn’t overly skilled, but he has enough stamina and creativity to be a useful part of our midfield.
Giampiero Maini [31, AM LC, ITA – 1/0]
Though past his prime, Maini is still a tough, dependable midfielder who could be useful on a rotational basis.
Goran Pandev [20, F RLC, MAC]
Though better suited to a forward position, our excess of players there combined with Pandev’s versatility may result in a role in the midfield. Unfortunately he isn’t much of a passer, but is determined and has a bit of pace.
Marko Perovic [31, DM C, SER – 3/0]
The Serbian midfielder is rather sluggish, but can always be counted on to put in a good effort. You need a bit more than that to succeed in Serie A, but it is at least a start.
Vincenzo Sommese [27, AM RC, ITA]
Another player who could wind up on the fringe of the side, Sommese has pace and works hard, but doesn’t really have the class I want to see in my midfield.
Forwards
Christian Bucchi [26, S C, ITA]
One of the better players at Ancona, Bucchi is a very useful target striker who could put through plenty from set pieces. He’s gone through a number of clubs in only a few years, but hopefully will stay here long enough to make an impact.
Daniele Degano [20, F LC, ITA] *Co-owned by Parma until 17/6/05
Uh oh, the co-ownership thing I know nothing about has reared its ugly head. It looks like I’m able to use Degano, but he’s not really first team material yet. He’ll start the season in the Under-20 side.
Mauritzo Ganz [34, F LC, ITA]
Ganz was on the transfer list when I arrived, but I’ve taken him off and moved him into the senior squad. Though he hasn’t really been a good scorer for the better part of a decade, he still seems to possess enough ability to contribute on occasion to the side. With our limited forwards, that’s actually a pretty strong endorsement. One of the more likely choices for captain in a pretty weak field.
Corrado Grabbi [27, S C, ITA]
A veteran of a number of clubs, Grabbi is another reasonably talented forward who will have a lot of work to do for Ancona this season. It’s hard to see him putting through too many goals in Serie A, but for £13.5K per week, he’d better do something.
Jardel [29, S C, BRA – 6/1] *On loan from Bolton until 29/6/04
Like Hedman and Baggio, Jardel leaves me in a very difficult position. On the one hand he is a very talented striker with an incredible scoring record. On the other, he costs £30K per week – almost 1/3 of my entire wage budget. I’m still not sure which way to go on any of them.
Paolo Poggi [32, F RLC, ITA]
A veteran with a fairly low scoring record, Poggi is not likely to be among our frontline strikers. He does still have a bit of pace, but that’s about it.
Milan Rapaic [29, F LC, CRO – 31/4]
A favourite of many players in my side, Rapaic has an important role as a key forward for Ancona. Unfortunately, he is known to be unsporting and is not a good finisher. He is, however, very good when it comes to set pieces, and is on a mere £180K per week.
It is, unsurprisingly, a pretty weak squad I’ve been left with to try and survive in one of the strongest leagues in the world. I’m quite happy with the two goalkeepers I have, but the fact that one is only on loan (and may need to be returned) is a problem. Defence is probably our strongest aspect, and it will certainly need to be with the likes of Nakata, Inzaghi, Vieri, Recoba and Del Piero running around. Our midfield is okay, but with two of our key players there on loan, we will be in a lot of trouble should they be recalled (or, in the case of Baggio, sent back due to excessive wages). Up forward is the worry, While our back half may be good enough to hold opponents to only a few goals, I really doubt we can score enough to win many games. We have a lot of forwards who are decent players, but nobody outside of Jardel who is really good enough to take control of a game. Sporadic scoring from them is likely the best we can get.
The Likely Side:
(Playing with a straight 4-4-2, and assuming Baggio and Jardel are returned)
GK – Magnus Hedman
LB – Marco Esposito
CB – Mauro Milanese
CB – Bilica
RB – Luigi Sartor
LM – Giampero Maini
CM – Vincenzo Sommese
CM – Daniel Jerry Andersson
RM – Daniele Daino
CF – Milan Rapaic
CF – Christian Bucci
Sub – Sergio Marcon
Sub – Dario Baccin
Sub – Maurizio Ganz
Sub – Davide Carrus
Sub – Roberto Goretti
Sub – Corrado Grabbi
Sub – Luciano Zavagano
The Staff
Antonio Vallongo (Assistant Manager)
Andrea Mazzantini (Coach)
Stefano Protti (Coach)
Massimo Persico (Coach)
Paolo Casale (Coach)
Carlo Tebi (Coach)
Aureilo Pinazza (Coach)
Marco Bozzi (Coach)
Antonio Rota (Coach)
Mauro Minnozzi (Coach)
Paolo Minciotti (Physio)
Salvatore Gnisci (Physio)
Massimo D’Ambrosio (Physio)
Oscar Alberto Bernardini (Scout)
Pozzo (!) (Scout)
Erling Andre Basile (Scout)
All I am concerned with in the 03/04 season is survival. If we are still in Serie A in 04/05, then I have done my job. Whether we can do it or not is unclear. I will not be overly defensive in the first few weeks, since my forwards need opportunities to score, but if we are getting hammered early, then I may switch to defensive tactics, possibly pushing a central midfielder back to defensive midfield.
As for the transfer market, I don’t think I will be too busy. We are too far over the wage budget to be thinking about buying anybody, and besides with survival the focus, I would need to get somebody who could make an immediate impact. Considering we’re in Serie A, that somebody wouldn’t come cheap. Loan signings are my best bet, but they would have to be pretty cheap. If I were to get a player on loan, a striker would be my first target, followed by a central midfielder.
Pre-season, 2003/2004
My first order of business was to clear up some of my roster, starting with players on loan. 19-year-old forward Goran Pandev, 26-year-old defender Stefano Lombardi, 19-year-old defender Marco Di Porzio, 18-year-old midfielder Andrea Di Tora, 16-year-old forward Tancredi Strocchi and 16-year-old keeper Massimo Zallocco were returned to Inter, Inter, Roma, Inter, Ravenna and Maceratese respectively. I’m not interested in buying young players with such a large squad already, and these players would not have had a place in the first team side. Their wages were insignificant, but at least they clear up a bit of room.
Wow, three hours in and I finally get to hit the “Continue” button! My first external action was to make a loan approach for young Romanian international midfielder Tiberiu Ghioane of Dinamo Kiev as a replacement for Baggio. Unfortunately, while my offer was accepted, the player rejected the move. Rats. The biggest problem was that there really were no obvious targets after Ghioane. Leicester’s Matthew Jones and Middlesbrough’s Carlos Marinelli were the only notable midfielders up for loan after Ghioane, and they did not really appear good enough to justify bringing them over for the season. The worst bit is that I had two good midfielders in my squad already – Francesco Montervino and Damiano Moscardi, but they were out on loan for the season and couldn’t be recalled. Argh!
Nonetheless, I finally decided that there was no point retaining Dino Baggio and Jardel on loan. While they may well have been very useful, there is just no justification for two players taking up more than half of the wage budget. I sent them back to Lazio and Bolton respectively and continued to look for replacements. Amazingly, we’ve gone from being £50K over the wage budget to £9K under in less than a week. At least now I have some room to move, though my side is weaker without those two players. I have managed to hang on to Hedman, which should certainly help.
My first signing for Ancona was a rather interesting one – a promising youngster by the name of Freddie Adu.
Freddie Adu [14, AM/F C, USA]
Is he just hype or can he be a valuable player for the club? On a youth contract of just £350K per week, I really can’t go too wrong. He agreed terms with us over Betis, Lazio and Real Madrid, at least partly thanks to a promise of first team football. That may have been a bit of a fib on my part, but I think he may get a run. He’s only here on a one-year contract, but hopefully he’ll have a good time here and will be willing to re-sign. The manual said something about getting money for bringing up young players, so hopefully this will be profitable in the long run even if he does move on. If somebody could tell me how this works, it’d be much appreciated. I know it seems a bit cheesy to sign somebody like this, but I did it fairly, and since the odds are totally against me (not aided by the ridiculous wages of some of the on-loan players at the club, not to mention the fact that I can’t recall my own players), I’ll take any advantage I can get.
My next signing was a rather more conventional one – midfielder Alessio Scarchilli on a free transfer.
Alessio Scarchilli [30, AM LC, ITA]
Picked up on a one-year contract for just £550 per week, I’m hopeful Scarchilli will be able to contribute something to the side. My assistant, Antonio Vallongo, was lukewarm on the deal, but you can’t really go wrong with such a low wage. Scarchilli is very, very good when it comes to passing, and should be able to create a few chances for our forwards which other midfielders wouldn’t be able to. In the “likely side”, you can make him a direct swap for Sommese, as I expect him to be a first team midfielder in spite of my assistant’s objections.
I also had a go at Italian forward Arturo Di Napoli, but he wound up agreeing terms with Genoa ahead of us. Similarly, Romanian international defender Iulian Filipesco decided to join Salamanca rather than Ancona. Meanwhile, Reggina was unwilling to let us have Brazilian midfielder Mozart without paying a significant part of his wages, so I gave up on that deal. Finally, Middlesbrough’s striker Massimo Maccarone and Dinamo Kiev’s midfielder Badr El Kadouri made it quite clear they didn’t want to come over on a loan to Ancona. The senior squad list, in order of position at the side:
Did I mention how much I hate the new printing system? It looks ugly and doesn’t provide anywhere near as much info as the old one did. If I could customize what was shown (ie. selecting which specific columns were displayed rather than a general category), then it could be useful, but no. Why should the user actually be given any practical say in what they can produce? The old system may have not allowed much variation in tables, but at least they were comprehensive. Why stuff around with something that worked perfectly well? Sigh… Oh, and just while I’m complaining, the next two months have been written three times. The first time I was going reasonably well, and played for around three hours, writing over 1,000 words. I finally quit the game in mid-September, and clicked on “Yes” out of habit, not realising until it was too late that the screen that had come up when I tried to quit did not contain the usual prompt to save the game, and thus I lost all that work. It saved normally the next few times, so when I got to mid-August the second time and went to quit again I automatically clicked on “yes”. Bang went another two weeks of game time – thankfully I hadn’t been playing too long this time, or it would have been much worse.
Anyway, my first match in charge of Ancona (this time around) was a friendly against Serie B side Venezia. Bilica was lucky not to get a card for an elbow to the face in the opening minute. Good old 4.1.4 – that would have been a patch a few weeks ago. It’d be nice if they came up with another cardable offence though, because I seem to see that one all the time. Midfielder Giampiero Maini was injured just before the end of the scoreless first half. Paolo Poggi scored a tip-in just after the break and Corrado Grabbi gave Maurizio Ganz the sealer in the final minutes. Thankfully, Maini turned out to only have a minor knee injury.
We had a chance to match that decent showing with a game against another Serie B side, Napoli, but it turned out to be a dour 0-0 draw with nothing of note occurring.
A rather easier game, against Serie C1/A side Padova followed. Christian Bucchi scored early and that was the final result. Worryingly, we had plenty of chances but did not convert them often enough. Against a Serie A powerhouse, that will really hurt us. Not a bad trifecta of friendlies, with one more to go, but things will be very different once we face off against the monsters in the league.
At last, it’s time for the real stuff. Well, not quite. We’re actually starting the season with the Italian Cup. Our first match was against Piacenza, a Serie B side. Just 11 minutes in we were in trouble, with temperamental defender Bilica sent off for a second yellow card. Piacenza took advantage and hit the opener in the 30th. For the final twenty minutes I brought on Corrado Grabbi for Giampiero Maini with Grabbi playing as a striker and Rapaic moved to attacking midfield. It almost had an immediate impact, with Rapaic firing in a shot from inside the box, but he was on a tight angle and the ball went just past the outside of the post. It looked like we were headed for a 0-1 loss, but with just two minutes left in the game, Rapaic sent out a long pass to have Grabbi one-on-one with the keeper, who had run out of the area. The keeper tried to run back, but Grabbi flicked it over him for a dramatic equaliser. 1-1 the final score.
We managed to sneak in a friendly against Fiorentina between the cup games, where I gave some of the fringe players a run. Less than twenty minutes into the game they’d scored two wonderful goals. The first came about in the 11th, with Bolic, Berretta and Carrus passing the ball back and forth before a lovely through pass for Ganz to finish the move. The second also involved Berretta, who turned and drilled in a perfect through ball for Ganz, who this time passed off to Daino for the simple finish. Fiorentina looked much better in the second half, putting through two in as many minutes early in the half, though the latter was ruled offside. Freddie Adu came on in the 64th and scored Ancona’s third six minutes later, sealing the result despite a second to Fiorentina. A good 3-2 with some beautiful moves. The only downside was a minor foot injury to Adu, putting him out for a week.
As a result of that game, Drazen Bolic and Daniele Berretta both got a chance to start in the side that played against Avellino in the second match of the Italian Cup. Vincenzo Sommese went off injured in the otherwise uneventful first half, and was replaced by Davide Carrus. Ganz came on mid-way through the second half and had a shot saved, but that was the closest either side came to scoring. A disappointing 0-0 draw, leaving us with a lot of work to do just to progress.
The bookmakers did not appear too impressed by this start. Odds of 2000-1 to win the title do not indicate much confidence in Ancona this season. However, my focus is on survival, not winning the title, so this is not a major concern. I made a loan offer for Manchester United striker David Bellion just before the end of the transfer period, but while my offer was accepted, he turned down the move. I’ll have to do a lot of work improving the image of the side in order to lure decent players to the club. Something tells me I won’t be able to get the likes of Jardel, Baggio and Hedman to the club as easily as the club does in real life, if I can’t even get somebody like Bellion.
Our first game in Serie A was not an easy one – at home to AC Milan. We held on for the first half and Rapaic even managed a shot on goal early in the second. It was parried back to Grabbi who had a large portion of the goal open, but for some reason he hit it straight at the keeper and the chance was wasted. Freddie Adu made his debut in the 70th minute with the scores still 0-0, but with Milan launching shots from long-range, our players were too busy defending to give him much of the ball. We held on for a draw, which was a good result against such a strong side. Unfortunately, Ganz suffered a broken rib late in the match, putting him out for the rest of the month.
Fortunately, our next game was seemingly a bit easier, as we played the third game of the Italian Cup against Venezia. Daniel Andersson, Goran Pandev, Marcus Hedmanand Milan Rapaic missed through international duty, so some of the lesser lights in the side got a run. Bilica sent in an audacious long-range effort from just inside our half that barely went over, while a header from Bucchi was just tipped away. Venezia took control in the second half, and only a clearance off the line from Sartor and fine save from Marcon kept them from scoring. It was another poor result in the cup which saw us knocked out thanks to a 3rd place finish, despite our lower division opponents.
Returning to the league, our second game was another challenging one, away against Lecce. However, we started off with a magnificent move, with Daniele Daino finding Christian Bucchi perfectly with a huge pass that went half the length of the pitch. He passed it on to striking partner Milan Rapaic, but his shot was saved. Rapaic and Bucchi forced five saves between them in the first 20 minutes, but just couldn’t break through. In the 24th minute, it seemed like a move from earlier was being replayed. Daino hit the ball ahead for Bucchi, who ran forward a bit before passing off to Rapaic. This time Rapaic made no mistake, slamming it home from the edge of the area for Ancona’s first goal in Serie A. Our joy didn’t last very long. Lecce scored an equaliser just four minutes later, leaving the scores level at half time. In the 59th minute, Rapaic repaid a favour from earlier, hitting the ball ahead for Bucchi to run onto. This time it was the younger man firing it in, and he drilled it home for Ancona to retake the lead. Lecce went for another quick equaliser three minutes later, but Bilica did well to clear, getting the ball ahead to Rapaic. Again he and Bucchi went forward, and again the Croatian international found his Italian partner with a great pass. Bucchi tried to get around the keeper, and while he got his hands to the ball, all he could do was deflect it in. 3-1, and it looked like being a fine win for Ancona. Hedman held off some late challenges, and that was the final score, with Bucchi Man of the Match.
Still pumped up from that unexpected win, we faced Modena at home. Rapaic headed through a goal in the 13th after a great pass from Bucchi, but it was disallowed. We dominated the opening half, but several chances went over. In the 36th, however, Rapaic charged down the left and flicked the ball into the area. There on the goal line was Bucchi, who tapped it in for his third in two games. We held the lead at the break, but lost winger Giampero Maini to injury after a tough Modena challenge. Scarchilli, his replacement at half time, took just five minutes to be involved in our second goal. His corner was headed straight back to him, and his resulting cross was met by the head of none other than Christian Bucchi, making it four goals in two games. Scarchilli kept the Modena keeper busy with some powerful strikes, leaving us free to walk out with a simple 2-0 win. It came at a bit of a cost, with Maini out for three weeks with broken ribs, but with the form we’re in, he will hardly be missed.
The again, with our final league match of the month against Roma, going out with anything less than a full-strength side is dangerous. Bucchi almost scored a wonderful early goal with a great chip from outside the area, but it went over. Hedman saved an incredible curling free kick from Totti and again pulled off a top save in the final minutes of the half when Totti broke free of the defence. Rapaic went on one of his trademark runs down the left in the 60th and ended it with another trademark – a pass in front of striking partner Christian Bucchi. Bucchi charged after it, but it was hit just a little too hard, and a Roma defender was able to put it out for a corner. Sartor did very well to cut off the resulting Roma counter-attack, even starting a move which led to a shot on goal from Rapaic, which was saved. Unfortunately, there was no saving a powerful Totti strike from inside the area in the 64th which put Roma one-nil up. Bucchi blasted a shot over in response, and that was the last of our chances. A 0-1 loss to a club like Roma is no disgrace, and there is no denying that September was a promising month for Ancona.
October started with a reasonably tough match against Udinese. Maini was still out injured, but he was the only first team player unavailable. Daniele Daino snuck forward to tap in a Scarchilli free kick in the fifteenth minute, giving us an early lead. We retained that at the break, and early in the second the team of Milan Rapaic and Christian Bucchi took control again. Rapaic won a contest for a header just outside the box, sending it wide for Bucchi, drawing the keeper down to the right of the pitch. He took it and chipped the ball back into the area for the Croatian to tap it into the open goal. 2-0, and I just love this striking team. Udinese put a simple shot wide in the final minutes, and 2-0 is how it remained, with Daino Man of the Match. For the third time in the last four games, my chairman spoke out in praise of the performance.
Unfortunately, Daniele Daino picked this point to speak out publicly against his contract, stating he could get a better one at another club. I’d known he was upset at his £725 per week contract from the start (indeed, I mentioned it in his profile), but didn’t expect he would speak out publicly. My assistant suggested I should refuse to give him one, but he also said it wouldn’t be worth signing Alessio Scarchilli, and he’s been one of our better players. Then again, he contracted himself in the “offer contract” screen, suggesting I should offer him up to £6.25K! How many patches has this game had already? Sigh… I eventually decided to promise him a better one if he plays well within the next month, which he seemed happy with. Nothing like a little financial incentive to bring out the best in a player…
Giampeiro Maini returned on the bench for our game against Juventus. We had an early escape when Trezeguet missed a sitter in the 6th minute, but two goals to Juventus late in the half left us reeling. Two more goals in the second left us with a 0-4 hammering, and there was not one Ancona player who could be proud of his efforts. Daino, supposedly working for an improved contract, rated just ‘3’, and was at ‘2’ for while. Rapaic and Bucchi also had unusually poor games. Despite some fine showings last month, it’s clear we have a lot of work to do to even be competitive against the big sides.
Next up was an away encounter with Reggina. While it looked to be a reasonably easy match (certainly compared to the last one), they repeatedly attacked the goal in the opening minutes and were unlucky not to score. Against the run of play, Bucchi took the ball in the area in the 16th minute and was promptly upended. There was no doubting the penalty, which was slotted home by Daniel Andersson. A nice cross from Scarchilli found Bucchi in the area ten minutes later, and he performed his role as target striker well as always, heading home our second. Reggina made it 2-1 moments later, but we were unlucky not to pull further ahead when Andersson tackled the ball away from an opponent and fired in long-range shot in the same motion. It went just over, while a close-range shot from Rapaic was disappointingly sent straight at the keeper. Bucchi missed a shot from directly in front of the goal just after the start of the second half, but he wasn’t the only embarrassed player – Reggina’s top striker Emiliano Bonazzoli deflected the ball into his own net soon afterward. Hedman did well to hold Reggina off while Sommese wasted a chance when one-on-one with the keeper, putting it well over the bar. Reggina pulled back a goal in the 83rd and mounted a huge fightback. Magnus Hedman pulled off a couple of fine saves and the defenders, especially Bilica, did well to get the ball clear. That, combined with poor shooting, kept Reggina at bay, though one of their players did hit the back of the net in the final minute. However, it was a second own goal scored by a Reggina player, this time a cross from Sommese headed into the net. 4-2 was the final result, which didn’t really reflect how well they played.
We have now scored 11 goals in 7 games, which is more than Ancona have scored in real life in nearly triple that number of games. It’s one heck of a start, but for how long can we continue this form? Bucchi and Rapaic have played some way above what I’d expected, which is certainly very welcome. I had planned to rotate a number of players through the striking positions, but these two seem to work well as a team and look to be automatic selections there.
Silver_blue just bit me! 
Thanks for the vote of confidence. 
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