2013 Little MM96 Conquers Italy

[MerlionMaple96]

 

The 1000 Goal Challenge is arguably the most popular challenge here on Vibe. It is a challenge of great difficulty and only a chosen few have ever conquered it. That being said, the challenge has been completed in six of the seven major leagues in Europe. Spain, England, Portugal, Germany, France, and Holland have all met their match in the challenge, some even on multiple occasions. Yet, there still remains one league untouched by this challenge. One league that refuses to give in to any striker. This league is the Serie A. That's right folks, no one has yet to complete this challenge in Italy, and I aim to be the first. The biggest reason why this has yet to be done is simply because Italy is the toughest league to score goals in. The Italians have always historically been associated with watertight defense and the Serie A reflects this. Scoring goals is simply more difficult in Italy than anywhere else as demonstrated by the fact that no one has yet to 100 goals in a season there. Having laid down the gauntlet, let's crack on with my team and player choices.

 

The Team

 

I was not too fussed about the team to be honest. Milan, Inter and Juve were all plausible choices for me and I just ended up picking the team I liked most out of the three. I had always admired the Old Lady although I'm not a 100% sure why. :unsure: It might have just been because I quite like their kit :lol: Anywho, I chose Juventus!

 

 

The Player

 

As the members who know me well here on Vibe will be able to tell you, I am not a fan of making things easy for myself. Hey, no pain, no gain, right? Putting poor cliches aside for the moment though, I can tell you that I made it tough for myself with this player selection by picking a relatively old player. While I already hold the "record" for the oldest player to complete the 1K with Danny Welbeck, I thought I should break it by picking an even older player. Yes, I do realise that Ashez is currently trying to complete the challenge with Ronaldo. However, since that challenge is currently in a state of limbo regarding whether or not it will be completed, the record is still mine to be "broken" Anyways, back to the matter at hand, I decided to choose one of my favourite players not just on FMH but in real as well. Sure, he may be a little fella but he sure does pack a punch in front of the net and he knows how to score goals just about as well as anyone else. I chose Javier Hernandez, or Chicharito...or if you really want it, The Little Pea. 

 

 

Yes it is me, the Little Pea...

 

More to follow lads, but for now, I would love to see some support And share your thoughts on whether I can complete the challenge!

[Ashez]

The race is on

Good luck

[anfieldsquirrel]

Bad luck

Kidding man, good luck

[Lee-Roy]

Score over 100 in your first season and you're all ready to go. Would love to see you do it

[Lewiitom]

Good luck MM

[J-savage]

Good luck mate

[MerlionMaple96]

The race is on

Good luck

 

Haha...yes it is...yes it is... :lol:

 

Bad luck

Kidding man, good luck

 

I prefer not to depend on mere luck :lol:

 

Score over 100 in your first season and you're all ready to go. Would love to see you do it

 

Haha...yeah...about that, I don't think I could score 100 in Italy at any time, let alone the first season :lol: It took me 5 or 6 seasons to crack the 100 in England on my first 1K and Italy will only be more difficult so... :unsure: I promise to try my best though

 

Good luck MM

 

Good luck mate

 

Cheers lads

[MerlionMaple96]

My Plan

 

Alright lads, here's my plan to reach the 1k. He is 24 at the start of the game so I have realistically about 12 seasons to get the job done. This is how I would like it to break down:

 

Ages 24-29 (6 seasons) - 85 goals/season - 510 Goals in total

Ages 30-32 (3 seasons) - 75 goals/season - 225 Goals in total

Ages 33-35 (3 seasons) - 65 goals/season - 195 Goals in total

 

International - 70 Goals

 

And that would take me to 1000. Do you guys think this is reasonable? I think it is but I'm not so sure about the International goals :unsure:...

 

 

[Ashez]

I think that's within reason

[Devil]

International goals might be a bit much but I'm no expert.....

[Ashez]

If MM followed my ITN advice a few days back i think he's in which a chance, i've had players score a load under AI ITN management, especially if you can ensure he's there main striker. However the problem would be if Mexico don't play many games due to the South American ITN comps not being on Europe loaded.

[aykyle]

International goals might be a bit much but I'm no expert.....

You're right. You are no expert. So shut your face hole.

lmao jk.

he does have a point though. It's really hard to have the AI get the goals for you. As they use terrible tactics and sometimes more than 1 striker. And usually never pick the best players.

But I wish you the best of luck

[MerlionMaple96]

@Ashez - The Mexico manager is playing a 4-4-2 which is why I haven't done what you told me to do as I don't think it would help

 

@Kyle: Hernandez is Mexican I'm sure you know that but either I'm interpreting your comment wrong or you momentarily forgot that :lol:

[aykyle]

Yea that was a momentary lapse of thought I apologize. The whole Italy colours threw me off

But I have no idea what you are talking about  :rolleyes:

[MerlionMaple96]

Of course not  

[Devil]

International goals might be a bit much but I'm no expert.....

You're right. You are no expert. So shut your face hole.

lmao jk.

he does have a point though. It's really hard to have the AI get the goals for you. As they use terrible tactics and sometimes more than 1 striker. And usually never pick the best players.

But I wish you the best of luck

I am now sad. I hope you're happy.

[Ashez]

I am rather lucky with Ronaldo as the AI has been using him as a striker , i guess it makes sense as they have loads of top wingers but limited on strikers. Then because all his partners are average he's been scoring for fun

[MerlionMaple96]

 

Season 1: Ciao Italia

 

Transfers Report

 

Players In

 

Javier Hernandez - 21 Million Euros - Manchester United

Stewart Downing - 7 Million Euros - Liverpool             

Keisuke Honda - 6 Million Euros - CSKA Moscow

Enzo Perez - 5.5 Million Euros - Benfica         

Lasse Schone - 4.6 Million Euros - Ajax                    

 

Players Out

 

Stephan Lichtsteiner - 22.5 Million Euros - PSG                                 

Simone Pepe - 5.75 Million Euros - Nice                   

Luca Marrone - 3.9 Million Euros - Atalanta            

Jorge Martinez - 3.8 Million Euros - Chievo               

Fabio Quagliarella - 3.7 Million Euros - Brugge                    

Vincenzo Iaquinta - 1.5 Million Euros - Nantes                    

 Nicolas Anelka - 0.25 Million Euros - Guingamp            

 

Net Expenditure

 

                               -2.7 Million Euros                                 

 

Starting XI 

 

 

The tactic I decided to use for this 1k Challenge is something completely new. Like I've mentioned, I enjoy making things difficult for myself and as such I have completely strayed away from the tactic which earned me so much success in my first 1k as well as my H2H with Danny Welbeck. This is what the new tactic as well as the starting XI looks like:

 

Team Performance

 

Serie A

 

 

We absolutely demolished the Serie A this season as we ran out easy winners by 22 points. And yes, I was indeed slightly disappointed to miss out on the magical 100 point season

 

UEFA Champions League

 

 

Another successful competition for us as we beat Real Madrid, Chelsea and Porto en route to the Final which saw us defeat Borussia Dortmund.

 

Italian Cup

 

 

This was a pretty big disappointment for us as we crashed out to Lazio in the Semi Finals

 

Italian Super Cup

 

 

This was our first trophy of the season and the easiest to pick up by far. Hernandez also got his first goal for us in this game

 

Player Performance

 

 

Player Attributes

 

 

Performance Statistics

 

 

Games Played

 

53

 

Goals Scored

 

78

 

All in all it was a decent start to this challenge although I did miss out on my target by 2 goals. I am not too fazed by this however, and I should easily make up for it in the coming seasons. 

 

Comments would be Class

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ManagerAddict]

Unlucky! But hey, it's only 2 goals!

[Ashez]

Smashing season

[camiloeb]

Yeah, i'm sure you will get more than 82 next season

[Matthew]

Then stats though

Great season-I guess I'll need to do a 25 year old (29 if Ash succeeds :lol:)

[wallywonka]

nice first season MM

[MerlionMaple96]

Unlucky! But hey, it's only 2 goals!

 

Agreed I'll make up for it next season!

 

Smashing season

 

Cheers Ash

 

Yeah, i'm sure you will get more than 82 next season

 

I sure hope so :unsure:

 

Then stats though

Great season-I guess I'll need to do a 25 year old (29 if Ash succeeds :lol:)

 

Haha :lol:

 

nice first season MM

 

Cheers mate

[Lewiitom]

Great start MM

[J-savage]

Good stuff

[anfieldsquirrel]

Well done Maple Syrup, nice start IMO!

[MerlionMaple96]

 

Season 2: Spending Big

 

Transfers Report

 

Players In

 

Javier Pastore - 34 Million Euros - PSG                   

  Mauricio Isla - 25 Million Euros - Udinese           

Kwadwo Asamoah - 25 Million Euros - Udinese                  

  Alex Sandro - 14 Million Euros - FC Porto         

                  Tim Krul - 12.25 Million Euros - Newcastle                    

Willian - 6 Million Euros - Anji    

Federico Fernandez - 0 Million Euros - Napoli                        

 

Players Out

 

                  Mirko Vucinic - 18.75 Million Euros - AC Milan                                 

Manolo Gabbiadini - 16 Million Euros - Chelsea                    

Manuel Giandonato - 7.75 Million Euros - AC Milan                       

Lasse Schone - 6.25 Million Euros - Cagliari               

  Alessandro Matri - 4.7 Million Euros - Cagliari                    

   Simone Padoin - 4.4 Million Euros - Chievo                  

 Fausto Rossi - 3.4 Million Euros - Cagliari            

       Andrea Pirlo - 1.3 Million Euros - AlbinoLeffe          

Marco Storari - 0.575 Million Euros - Lierse                  

                               

Starting XI 

 

 

The tactic is the same as last season but the team is greatly changed to reflect the large influx of new players during the summer transfer window.

 

Team Performance

 

Serie A

 

 

Not as amazing as last season, but the league was a comfortable affair nonetheless. 

 

UEFA Champions League

 

 

It was a close final and I suppose we did get lucky in the shootout but I must say that we deserved it after we had to beat City, Chelsea and Valencia to get to the final.

 

Italian Cup

 

 

After the early exit last season we bounced back this season in style. To be honest the scoreline flatters Napoli as we could have won by miles had Hernandez been a little more clinical.

 

Italian Super Cup

 

 

Another easy Super Cup victory, Hernandez got his season off to an unbelievable start in this game.

 

Player Performance

 

 

Player Attributes

 

 

Performance Statistics

 

 

Games Played

 

113

 

Goals Scored

 

176

 

An amazing second season sees Hernandez just miss the 100 goal mark. Although he did perform well, I was hoping that he could hit that 100 Anyways, the challenge is going great so far and I hope that he can continue this form next season.

 

Comments would be Class 

 

 

 

[Ashez]

Fantastic stuff mate , however i can't help but think you're wasting his heading ability by not using a winger on the one side. If you had one winger and an APM one side would suit him on the deck and the other in the air, just food for thought

[anfieldsquirrel]

Class season! But Ash is right, maybe you'll get a few more with winger on one side.