Glory Ad Infinitum

Hi everyone,

Inspired by stories on this site, I've decided to start my own journey. My main goal is to propel myself to the top of the managerial Hall of Fame, surpassing present and past managers.
Our journey begins in Italy with Inter Milan. I had thought of taking Chelsea, as they were struggling, but I guess in all fairness, so is Inter. I hope everyone enjoys the story. Feedback would be greatly appreciated!

the story thus far...

http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w447/Quaesiveris/inter.jpg

2011-12

- in Progress

Pre-season & Transfers

http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w447/Quaesiveris/TransfersMedium.png

http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w447/Quaesiveris/PreSeasonMedium.png

In terms of transfers there wasn’t much to be done with the first-team squad, besides finding a backup to Maicon and Sneijder, we undoubtedly had a squad capable of contending any major silverware. However, there was the ‘old-age issue’ which was evident in the squad. We had a problem similar to Chelsea’s—our backbone are full of aging players, and some would do well to survive another two years of top-flight football (except for Zanetti, he’s just insane.)

After failed attempts to lure Eden Hazard, I opted for Shaktar’s Willian to serve as backup and rotation to Sneijder and Dinamo’s Sime Vrsaljko to cover for Maicon. Now with the present problems fixed, only the near-future and future remain to contend with. Two more signings that aren’t visible in the screenshot (because the players are due to arrive end of the season) are: Viktoria’s right-back Romario (3M) and Gremio striker Leandro (9M).

Pre-season wasn’t perfect, but it’ll do. The lack of goals scored by my strikers were really worrying, we can’t rely on our centre-backs to win us games all the time.

Highlight of the pre-season: Italian Supercup vs AC Milan which took place in China.

Inter vs AC Milan – Supercup

56’ Ibrahimovic latches on to a brilliant lobbed ball, which leaves our defense hopeless, and finishes it with consummate ease.

77’ Similar to Milan’s goal, Thiago Motta latches on to a sublime lobbed ball by Sneijder, and nods it past Abbiati to draw level.

Full Time – 1-1

You could practically feel the fatigue of the players as they showcase an anticlimatic extra time...

UNTIL....!

120’ Diego Milito receives YET ANOTHER sublime pass from SNEIJDER, this time the pass slides low and fast, slicing our rival’s defence apart, and Milito makes no mistake as he unsympathetically burries it in the right hand corner of Abbiati’s goal, leaving the Milan fans shell-shocked, and the Inter fans in raptures!

http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w447/Quaesiveris/MilanvsInterMedium.png

Type [img] at the start of the link to your picture (no gaps)
And type [/imgy] (minus the y) at the end of your link...

Removing the y and the / at the end of your picture url does this...[/img]

Thanks for the reply Mike! I got the same result unfortunately, the images won't pop out. Could this be a problem from the url or the image itself? Or is the formatting still wrong somewhere.

Have you tried photobucket?

Ah yes, how silly of me.

Tried it and it works perfectly. Thanks for the help Mike!

September meant a good unbeaten run, winning 5 out of 7 matches.

http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w447/Quaesiveris/SeptemberMedium.png

We opened the league by thrashing Roma 4-0 in front of our crowd, with Lucio’s header, followed by a clinical brace from Pazzini and a lovely chip from late subsitute Diego Forlan to wrap up our win. Then we proceeded to draw away against Napoli. However, returning to winning ways in our first Champions League match away vs Malmo FF, winning 2-0. Only to draw again, away against Udinese, with Yuto Nagatomo giving us the lead at the 14th minute with a thundering shot, only for Thiago Motta to be dismissed for a vicious foul, and then handed two further bans by the FIGC. Unfortunately for us, 10-men couldn’t survive the whole ordeal as Udinese salvaged a point with Golassa’s header in the 81th minute.

From that point onwards, we didn’t recognize draw nor defeat, steamrolling Fiorentina 3-0 home, and Siena 4-0 away in the league. We managed two early goals against Valencina at home, and that proved to be sufficient as they couldn’t recover despite Ever Banega’s late curler at the 87th minute.

This leaves us in a favorable position, not a perfect month, but a great one nonetheless. I won’t fret with the two draws to Napoli and Udinese, since they were away matches against tough teams, though if Motta didn’t lose his head things could have turned out different.

Remember I said we couldn’t rely on our centre backs to win games for us? I was somewhat wrong. As Lucio and Rannochia both getting themselves on the scoresheet against Fiorentina, which Rannochia did so as well against Malmo. Lucio won’t stop scoring as he etched his name on the scoresheet against Siena and Valencia.

Now I’m posed with a conondrum, who am I going to get to replace Lucio? This guy is a monster at defense and scores from corner kicks like there’s no tomorrow. I’m thinking ideally John Terry, but that’s unlikely now is it, so right now Mats Hummels is my target. Would appreciate any suggestions!

October meant a stern test with a big match away to Man City and a home game to Juventus. If we are going to be serious contenders for Serie A and the CL, this is the time to show Europe what we're capable of. After defeating Cagliari at home 2-0, with Lucio and Zarate grabbing the goals, we proceeded to thrash Genoa 5-0 away, with a brace from Sneijder and Milito, Sneijder opening it with a beautiful curling free kick, and a single strike from Pazzini. The hard work starts now.

http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w447/Quaesiveris/InterMilanVsManchesterCity.jpg

I was quite nervous heading into this game, seeing how Manchester City has been performing well in the CL so far, beating Valencia 1-2 away and thrashing Malmo FF 5-0 at home, I knew we needed a perfect game, for our defense in particular. I pondered for a more defensive approach, which would be considered unorthodox for our attacking mentality this season. However, I decided against the alternative as I really wanted to discover to what extent our primary strategy could perform against a European contender. Furthermore, even a loss would not be devastating, seeing Valencia’s unfortunate start, it would be plausible to consider our group a two horse race.

We started the game well, trying to carve open chances and enforce our game upon the opposition. And who would have guessed that we would score at the 9th minute? Even more so who would have guessed it would be Maicon to have the first say in the game, as he unleashes an unstoppable shot that finds the corner of the net, silencing City and its fans, in awe and disbelief.

An early goal gave us confidence, but we knew there was still 81 minutes on the clock. Manchester City weren’t to lose hope, they responded—rather magnificently I would say so myself--with Aguero and Dzeko tearing our defense open, each chance with only Julio Cesar to beat, fortunately for us Cesar came into the game with plenty confidence, elucidated as he denied both Dzeko and Aguero to level scores. Nothing worth mentioning until the second half except headers flying over the crossbars from both teams.

Second half starts, and we really should have a two goal cushion, as Maicon ghosts past Clichy and whips in a cut-back which Diego Milito gets his toe onto, only to see it rickochet off Joe Hart’s post. Man City upped their game at the second half as they looked much more threatening with Aguero and Dzeko leading the lines again. More miracle saves from Cesar and our organized back four kept City at bay, but I was worried. They were piling the pressure, and fast. Ten minutes to go: I decided to take off Milito for Stankovic and Sneijder for Cordorba, to install a five man defence sheltered by three central midfielders and an anchor, with Pazzini up front to exploit any potential chances. My prediction was that for City to level in the remaining ten, they would need to rely on long miraculous shots or dumb luck, and with 5 defenders plus the indomitable Cesar, City’s chances were next-to-none.

And none it was, as we came out victorious 0-1 in City’s turf. A great showing of mentality playing in City’s home, really proud of the team. These three points are priceless, they’ll have a huge impact as to wether we finish top of the group or not, and I really want to finish top of the pack in order to avoid a big team in the first round of the knockouts so we can progress far in the CL.

http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w447/Quaesiveris/CityvsInterMedium.png

After our heroic victory in Manchester, apparently most of the players minds were still full of hubris as we only managed a 1-0 win at home against Lecce, Maicon, the hero at Manchester rising up to the occasion again!

http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w447/Quaesiveris/October.png

October meant a test; a test we would ace. A brilliant month which will undoubtedly warn the whole Europe that we mean business, displaying our away mentality, and don’t even get me started at our home mentality. Juventus came into the match looking good, but it wouldn’t last long. After a short 45 minutes, our rivals were dumbstruck, what on earth happened? How the hell did Inter score 5 goals? Multilation complete. An early Maicon cross finds Milito in front of the net, can’t miss from there. 1-0 for us, 16 minutes later, and Pazzini finds the net. Which would be followed by another clinical finish from Milito as he rounds the keeper with ease, and Sneijder showcasing his free kicks with another curler beating Buffon. 4-0 up, and Lucio decides to get himself on the scoresheet too with a strong header past Buffon, 34 minutes played, 5 goals scored. Sayonara Juventus.

October finished, and now we’re talking, we’re practically oozing confidence, let’s see how far our rampage will last.

Serie A table so far
http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w447/Quaesiveris/SerieATable20OctMedium.png

November

http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w447/Quaesiveris/November.png

After the emphatic win over Juventus, we open October hosting City, our confidence sky high, whereas City’s morale was the exact opposite. Good news for us, Sneijder gifted us the lead in just 2 minutes, capitalizing on a deflected Milito shot. Bad news for our opposition: The night is still young.

So I’m infront of my computer with a sandwich in my hand, and Blood Sugar playing on iTunes watching my team ruthlessly beat City 4-1 with a Sneijder brace, Samuel diving header, and a curling Forlan free kick. Silva gave them a consolation in the 80th minute. That’s the third goal conceded by our defense in 15 games, not bad. I didn’t expect to keep an attacking team of Aguero, Dzeko and Silva + Balotelli on the bench and Tevez fuming in Argentina, at bay for long anyway. By the way, the sandwich tasted twice as great.

I almost forgot, the only downside was that we lost Zanetti for 2-3 months with a torn hamstring. This is worrying, his ability to play competently in a lot of positions has tactically helped me loads. Stankovic is doing OK, but he’s not as great as Zanetti nor will he last long. Will see what we can do in January.

After our win against City, we were due in Lazio a visit for a league match. Which we came out of with a 3-0 scoreline in our favor, keeping distance with 2nd place Udinese. It was a good win, however, Lazio have been poor this season and their manager is on the verge of a sack. After some international fixutres, we then hosted AC Milan, barely came out alive, with Diego Forlan’s solitary strike in the 23rd minute proving to be the winner. Cesar was absolutely outstanding, repeating his heroics at Manchester, claiming Man of the Match in the process.

The result may seem poor considering our recent run of form, and how we responded to City and Juventus, however, Thiago Motta and Esteban Cambiasso got injured during international fixtures and that meant they would accompany Zanetti on the sidelines. Motta was out for 10 days while Cambiasso was for 3 weeks. None could make Derby dela Madonnia, we had to utilize a makeshift midfield, with Andrea Poli partnering Sime Vrsaljko in the heart of midfield, and Stankovic playing anchor in lieu of Cambiasso.

Considering we’ve already qualified, I decided to give the home game against Malmo to the developing players. Novara would mark the end of November, I expect a tough away game considering how good they’ve been performing by their standards, occupying 7th place in Serie A.

To summarize, we managed to keep our run alive, but we’re in the midst of a midlife crisis, I mean midfield. Will be diving into the market for a new midfielder and left back, I forgot to mention Yagatomo being injured 3 months.

http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w447/Quaesiveris/December.png

Not much about December, our visit to Spain was just formality as we’ve already guaranteed top spot in the group, and our reserves were no match for Valencia in Mestalla. Couldn't finish our chances against Atlanta, and they managed to score early, we leveled at half time but couldn't break through.

So with that done, I’ll talk about transfers. Now, we got problems, Zanetti, Motta and Cambiasso are looking prone, if they get injured at the same time again we’ll be screwed. Up front, Milito is doing great, Forlan is good but he’s getting injured way too easily, Pazzini has just been disappointing, his inconsistency is terrible and Zarate shows glimpses of magic but never offers anything substantial, he doesn’t look like a 15M man to me.

If we’re going to seriously challenge for the CL crown it’s pivotal that we get a good striker to partner Milito. For midfield I’m thinking Moussa Sissokho or Radja Nainggolan. For up front, I’m thinking Cavani or Tevez. We’ve got 19 million left, and if Pazzini doesn’t pick up his game I wont hesitate to sell him, having already warned him no signs of improved performances the transfer list awaits.

I mentioned getting a left-back incase Chivu gets injured while Nagatomo is still recovering from 3 months with an ankle injury. However, I’ve decided against that, I forgot I had Jonathan in reserves waiting to be sold, plus Zanetti and Codorba can play left back. Will be training Vrsaljko to left back as well, so he can get some game time despite Maicon on the starting XI.