It’s the end of Season 3 for Rob Tait’s Roma, so just how many trophies will he end up with? Can anybody stop Totti’s Team? Previous update is available here

At the end of part 2 we were still on for a six trophy season. The Super Coppa Italia, World Club Cup and European Super Cup are all sitting on my mantelpiece in my City Centre apartment. We are 11 points clear in the league with nine games to play and we have made the final of the Coppa Italia.

That leaves us with the Champions league and our quarter final tie against European super power Real Madrid. This could be where we become unstuck and the away leg is the first game up. I haven’t messed around with formation changes at all this season we live by the sword and die by the sword attacking all the way. I think this takes Madrid by surprise as we silence 100,000 Spaniards, I’m assuming the rest are our fans, with a stunning victory.

After the game Totti pops by the office, he is still on his youth contract and thinks it is time for a pay rise. Of course I say, how much?

I can’t really tell him to jog on, maybe he knows this. I wish I hadn’t installed that wage patch!

The league is all but won as we notch another win.

However we can only draw with Sampdoria.

Next up it’s Madrid again, they have to attack as we have two away goals which plays right into our hands.

Totti is clearly happy with his £97,000 a week and we are into the semis but who will it be?

We are going to have to win this the hard way. I think I like playing the away leg first, it seems to suit our attacking approach.

Derby day, Lazio’s turn to take the home dressing room and they will want revenge for earlier in the season. They don’t get it, in fact they don’t even make a game of it.

Totti not only scores goals he makes them too. He reaches a club landmark.

Milan next and they too are brushed aside after a very brief scare.

We head to Old Trafford on a strong run, but it is Old Trafford and Schmeichel still seems to be going strong. We play pretty poorly and go a goal down on the stroke of half time to the Baby Faced Assassin. I make a triple sub in the 53rd minute to try and rescue something.

Landreau is immense and Ortega gets us a vital away goal, they are so tough to beat, especially when you only have four shots on target.

It’s another straightforward league victory, 2:0 against Cagliari before the first leg of our Coppa Italia final. We are at home first, which I don’t like.

For good reason, Landreau again keeps us in the match and we have played two very poor knock out football matches in a row. 0:0 is flattering for us.

He was a bargain at £5 million.

We host Bologna with a chance to win the league if all goes well. There are five first half goals, four of which are ours.

We have done it. Two left, can we do it. Normally you would be happy with four trophies but we are getting so close to a clean sweep I really want it now, and the two cup ties are on a knife edge.

It’s the second leg of the Champions League, we have the away goal to force Utds hand but the truth is they don’t even turn up and it is all a little bit of an anti climax. Totti and Telli do the business for us.

The final is against

A rematch from last season where we were crowned surprise champions. This year we have, bar one strange Voodoo curse been amazing. So it stands to reason we will somehow lose this one, but I really hope not. Capello has reached the Cup Winners Cup final again too so if we win he can try and take back the European Super Cup trophy.

The league is over now but we win again to increase our points total before travelling to Turin for the second leg of the final. The game seems really close as I read the text but we take a lead through Telli in the 36th minute. That calms us down and we finish off with a 77th minute goal from old hot sauce himself Pirri.

5/6, it’s down to the Champions League can we do it? We breeze past Fiorentina in the league 4-0 but they clearly have other priorities.

Even though they could get relegated. Our final league game is away to Udinese, we round off the campaign in style, with 10 days rest before the big one.

Fiorentina are relegated, despite UEFA Cup success I don’t think their manger swap five games into the season has worked out like they were hoping for. AC Milan win the Cup Winners Cup.

Can we make it a double clean sweep in a weeks time, 6/6 for us and 3/3 for Italian teams in Europe? Our opponents win the Amstel Cup on the Sunday before the game, something they couldn’t manage last year. Is it a bad omen?

We are playing the final in Holland at De Kuip Feyenoord. The ref is clearly Dutch and dismisses Iuliano in the 23rd minute. It was an omen, I knew it, ahh well 5/6 aint bad. The sending off blows the game apart and 13 minutes later it has gone from 0:0 to 2:1.

It’s amazing and I can’t quite believe it. This season has been amazing and I wasn’t expecting to get near this for a while longer. The team have been so consistent, everyone has played really well but I don’t feel like anyone had a truly stand out season. What am I going to do next? I have the summer to decide.

Five days later and some sad news.

It can only mean only mean one thing, the fairy tale team are back down to Serie C. My attention turns to Euro 2000 and I’m torn. I really want the chance to manage Italy so I want Pappa Maldini to be sacked but for Totti and a lot of my team I want a victory.

I pick up Italy’s story at the Quarters, where they beat France on penalties, not a great show from the Roma boys, but Pirri is a serious lad.

In their semi against Slovenia?! It’s close but Telli gets the only goal.

It’s Germany in final, a tough tie, what a game, I wish more international finals were like this.

Looks like I’m not getting that job any time soon. Before I go and think about how to approach Season 4 I will leave you with some stats from the season.

Three special young players.

An award for me

But nothing for any individuals as I said it was all about the squad this season.

Oh and finally, the best news since I started this save.

Not sure why he didn’t stick it out for one more year till his contract expired.

Hopefully I’ll see you all for season 4, I might change it up a bit, I’ve always wanted to play with a sweeper.

Thanks to Rob for his stellar work over the past few months. Rob will be representing Ireland in the CM9798 World Cup so join us on Sunday for a preview of groups A-D. In the meantime you can follow Rob on Twitter @Taitanator

Rob’s back with the middle edition of series 3. Roma are Serie A and European Champions but can they add the one everybody wants…you know, the World Club Cup? Let’s find out (Part 7 available here)

We finished part 1 with an unbeaten league record and some strong cup performances, the only negatives were some unhappy players and a couple of annoying draws. November begins with highly prized Jody Morris switching Tyneside for Old Trafford, I can’t help but think Newcastle have done some good business here, making up for that Lee Clark debacle in Season 1.

We are still on song however, and, at a for once well attended Champions League game. It still annoys me that less turned up to watch that magical semi final second leg against Juve last season. We see off Porto with a solid 2:0 the ever faithful Totti and Pirri with the goals.

If you were wondering how the fairy tale story of Chievo Verona was going after their surprise Coppa Italia victory last season then a) you have a good memory and b) not so well, Celtic have just knocked them out of the Cup Winners Cup in the 2nd round, 2:0 after two legs. They did manage a 0:0 draw at home though so they haven’t done too bad really. Chievo can now focus on staying up.

We continue with a champions 1:0 victory, the classic play badly and win game. Juve and Lippi decide that despite having one of the best keepers in the game in Peruzzi they are going to sign another, it’s an incite into the future, of sorts. Maybe they are working on a two keeper formation.

Thor is out again, he’s been injured so frequently I can only assume he keeps going to play round Bull’s house rather than focusing on his proper job as a striker come holding midfield player. Priorities!

Another victory in Serie A, another brace by Double K. All our main rivals Inter, AC Milan and Juve slip up with ‘Shock Defeats,’ meanwhile we are skipping along nicely. We don’t need that silly injury prone God of Thunder anyway. We have our 5th CL group game next and a victory against Steaua would see us qualify.

Panucci gets two from right wing back and that means we are through with a game to spare, Juve are not looking great in 2nd and their final game is against us so we could effectively knock them out.

Our next match gives us the opportunity to pick up the second trophy of the season, it’s World Club Cup time. We face a side I have never heard of, Basanez. A bit of research tells me they have only been in the top flight of Uruguayan football for two seasons since they were formed in 1920. The 1994/5 and 1995/6 seasons before being relegated in 1996/7. Quite how they ended up in the World Club Cup I don’t know.

In truth it’s another easy victory but disappointing that Double K gets injured at the end. Pistone get himself suspended in the Champions League by getting a yellow card in the final, which is a blessing as we are already through so he misses a nothing game. All these victories mean I’m manager of the month again, I’m just waiting for the wheels to come off.

Next up and it is another cup game, Coppa Italia quarter final time against a previous bogey side Sampdoria in my bogey tournament. Just before the game begins I notice that it is a two leg affaire, I wonder why I didn’t realise this earlier until I remember I have never got this far yet! I haven’t played £15 million man Ortega so he gets a rare start and scores, I hope this continues as Morty B needs some competition to keep him sharpe. We win 3:2 but the score line makes the game seem closer than it was.

Before our final Champions league game against Juve we travel to Fiorentina who sacked their manager after five games but really aren’t doing any better because of it. It’s a super boring draw where hardly a word of game commentary is spoken. Last year we would have lost a game like that to a last minute goal so I’ll take a boring draw. The game against Juve is equally as dull however we do lose that 1:0 to a Raul goal. I can only assume the boys were too relaxed as I played a strong team in the hope of knocking them out. The final table in the group looks like this.

I do a quick check of the other groups and their second place teams. Real Madrid have 15 points (through) and Ajax also have 13 points. Another check and Ajax’s goal difference is +7, Juve are out. I can’t quite believe it because last year we made it through in 2nd place with 10 points. We must have been really lucky. Here is the draw, Man Utd vs Barca is a big one, good to remove a strong side early and Real will be tough for us.

It’s another cup game next and the home leg of our Coppa Italia quarter final. We are leading 3:2 with three away goals so I feel confident of progressing. Inzaghi gets us off to a flyer and then it is all quite till just before halftime. A 5:3 AG lead at the half and I’d say we have done enough, and we had. Our defense seems a bit leaky at the moment and I hope this isn’t a trend developing.

The balls are drawn for the semi finals and it’s not a bad tie for us. Winning all six trophies could actually happen still.

We have a couple of league games left before the Christmas break.

Three minutes of excitement and 87 minutes of dross, I’ll take it though. This however is disappointing.

This on the other hand is brilliant, Panucci is becoming a free scoring right wing back, I think he is my favourite right back on the game and he really plays well in the wing back position which is a bonus.

We have the local bragging rights again. That result takes us to the midway point in the season (almost) and we are sitting pretty. The stats suggest that the defensive revamp has worked a treat with 3/4 Italians now as regular starters. We are not as free scoring as usual but I think lots of teams are now playing Ultra defensive when they visit the Stadio.

Tough break, glad I got rid, If only he was a little stronger this never would have happened anyway it’s Capello’s problem now.

After the Christmas and New Year festivities we are back in action against Capello’s Milan in the European Super Cup. We are away for the first leg and if we don’t want Milan to play one of their strikers as a sweeper in the home tie we need to get a goal here.

Another 3:2 win in a cup tie, yes. I don’t know what to say, we keep pulling results out of the bag and I’m not quite sure how but I’m loving it. Our league form is just immense at the moment as you can see by the next three matches.

I was about this time that I started to think we were going to manage to go unbeaten in the league. The whole season unbeaten, I’m not sure I have ever done that before I thought to myself. Then Youri Djorkaeff gives me a quick kick in the baby makers and it is all over in a slow drawn out flashing of text. He scored in the 2nd minute.

I know it happens but I feel really hard done by. It seems the board want to give me a little kick while I’m down.

Are Inter really that bad?

No they are not, they are in second frickin place, the board are bunch of ………..

We host AC Milan in our next game, it’s the second leg of the European Super Cup, can we secure trophy number three of the season.

Yeah we can, Double K is back on form. Transfer deadline day passes at the end of the month and after buying Ortega I stick with who I have for the rest of the season. In hindsight I should have bought Alberto Savino. Who’s that you say, you know, hattrick hero Alberto Savino. The Venezia right back who scored a 15 minute hattrick to rescue his side from the jaws of defeat when they were 4:1 down, away, at defending Champions Roma.

Savino’s hat trick is the beginning of a pretty bad run for us, I can only assume that other teams saw him score his hat trick and started to believe that they too could take us on. Alberto Savino has broken our MoJo!

The curse of Savino means we can no longer shoot and we are lucky with a 0:0 draw in our Coppa Italia first leg match.

In the league against Parma we are mighty but Savino has said blessings for the Parma team. Seriously, if I wasn’t bald I’d be tearing my hair out right now.

It takes two weeks to finally shake the Curse.

And it is just in time for the second leg of the Coppa Italia.

Abelardo has been amazing since he sighed at the start of season 2 for a cheap £1.7 million. He always looks good stat wise but he is really delivering on it. Nesta can’t get a look in at the moment. The game was so close but we have just edged it, we are in the Final.

Juve in the final, the Milan teams are good but Juve have been our main rivals the whole time and if we want to get all six trophies it is only right we should face them at some point. With the Savino curse well and truly broken the last two games in February and the end of this update are business as usual.

Looking at that maybe Juve have played Venezia recently and Savino has cursed them. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a bad performance from such a good team. The league table after 2/3s of the season and I don’t think we are getting caught now. As a final present I get the February manager of the month too.

Next week we have the final 1/3 of the league, the Coppa Italia final and our Champions League adventure. We are halfway to the six trophy mark that I said was my aim at the start of the season. If I’m honest I didn’t think we would still be in with a chance with at this point.

Rob will be back next week with the final part of season 3 before he heads off to manage Ireland in the CM9798 World Cup. Follow him on Twitter @Taitanator

Who’s ready for season 3? Rob guided Roma to a Serie A and Champions League double in season 2, so how can you top that? Get the chequebook out…(Catch up with Part 6 here)

The aim this season is to win everything and keep my fingers crossed that Papa Maldini gets sacked and I get the Italy job. That said winning everything isn’t that easy. I quickly check the manager ratings to find I am Superb, though still not quite as good as Gazza?!

I use my ever increasing reputation to try and entice Del Piero and Figo to join us. They persistently decline my frequent advances which is a little annoying. So I go looking elsewhere and strengthen my squad with the following.

I’m going back to how we started season 1 with 10 central defenders in the squad. There isn’t much attacking talent available and we are quite strong up top so I’m going to hold out for real quality only. To buy all these defenders I have to let some of the originals go.

Since Capello and I are friends now I tried to warn him off Petro but he was having none of it and in truth I’m glad to see him go. Capello does make a really good signing though.

I was tempted by Vieri by didn’t want to pay the high price because I’m a little bit tight. A few other things of note happen in the off season. Param have had enough of Ancelotti so he is history. He’s only out of work for nine days though, he is on is way to Holland to manage FC Twente.

Man Utd and Liverpool do some indirect player swapping.

I can’t believe nobody else went in for Fowler, I can’t believe I missed getting him for free. I was clearly too preoccupied with Figo and that silly bid I made for Rivaldo.

Ok so that briefly sums up the summer break, I organise a few friendlies just to get the condition of the players back up to scratch when the Supercoppa tie comes through. I had completely forgot about Chievo and the chance for a rematch.

Before Nesta can kick a competitive ball.

Maybe those friendlies aren’t such a good idea after all or maybe there was a Lazio fan playing for the opposition. I’m excited for the Coppa Italia draw and despite wanting to win all six trophies I would just like to get past the third round. This competition has not been good to me over the past two years and I can only assume that is why I’m not quite as good at managing as Gazza is.

Right our first competitive match of the season rolls around and it is our Coppa Italia round two rematch from last season. Chievo have a new manager and I’ve bought a new back four, although one is injured.

What a game, what a crowd, what a performance. One down, five to go. I think it might get a bit more difficult than this and I can’t help thinking that maybe it was better the devil you don’t know for Chievo as the new guy isn’t cutting the mustard.

We don’t need to qualify for the group stages this year as league winners and reigning champions of Europe. However when the draw comes out I can’t help but feel they could have done a little bit of a better job.

Three groups with two teams from the same country, don’t they have rules and procedures to stop that happening? Our group isn’t so bad, we have inside knowledge of Juve, the other two are military medium and I’m acting very confident so I expected disaster.

Coppa Italia round two, job done. Telli has low moral, I’m not sure why after last year’s success, so Inzi is leading the line and doing a good job at the moment.

We’re hosting Bobbie Baggio’s Bologna side in round three which doesn’t happen till October.

It’s a late start to the league in Italy and only a 34 game season, which I love. Our first league game is away to Genoa. Two thirds of the team is largely unchanged from last season but the defense has been revamped. Panucci is in for Cafu, Iuliano takes the place of Santos and Pistone plays at left back for Lauchlan. Abelardo keeps his place for now but Smoje and Nesta are excellent options, I hope. I feel a little bad as Santos and Abs were excellent last year but they are both 29 and I have a funny thing about playing over 30’s.

A great start to the season and a clean sheet. Iuliano really knows how to make a good first impression but he makes it up to me in our second game. After talking about not playing over 30’s Oceano is still going strong at 38.

No Thor, Iuli, what the hell is going on in training.

Our third game of the season is against Inter and it is a reunion with Di Biagio. He was a great player for us in Season one but limited opportunities and the emerging Tommasi, Pirlo and Black Star meant there was no longer a place for him. I’m determined to give Kanoute a bit more action as he seems to score in every France U21 game.

It’s another good result and we seem to have picked up where we left off last season. The defensive reshuffle doesn’t seem to have unsettled us and we might have found another gem in Kanoute. As a little bonus Nesta returns from injury the next day.

Tommasi has been the subject of approaches since I started, there is no way I’m selling him to Capello.

Champions league action starts for us mid September with a trip to sunny Porto. There are no selection issues as all my signings were made way before round one. As I said before, Juve will be tough but I’m hoping for 12 points from the four other games.

It’s all going to plan, King Kanute (Double K) on the score sheet again and three points in the bag. We have a lazy day on the beach Thursday since we don’t play our league games till Sunday. The beach was a great idea, some 5-aside beach football helped our first touch and we dispatch Venezia 2:1 away on Sunday, Double K scoring again. In fact it is all going so well that I decide to buy

It is an absolutely unnecessary purchase for a stupid price for a player who plays in a position that I don’t need, so much for being tight. I really can’t explain this purchase, just a £15 million whim.

It’s only five games into the season when…

It does seem a bit early but then they are bottom of the league with two points and 10 goals against. At the other end of the table we are on fire.

Steaua really try to make a game of it in the Champions League.

and Verona are no match for us…

Double K just can’t stop scoring at the moment. So we head to our main rivals Juve in high spirits ready to put them to the sword. Lippi has other ideas and in a close game we manage a draw, unable to hang on for a victory.

But then another disappointing draw follows. Sometimes this game drives me mad, I guess it does add an element of realism, f*#k realism.

Our next game is against Juve again but this time it’s CL group stage action. Telli is a bit upset that Double K is getting more games, in an effort to keep him sweet I give him a start and he repays me. We have such strength in depth now.

We win in the league again, away to Sampdoria before hosting Bologna in the Coppa Italia 3rd round, interestingly the winner will travel to Sampdoria in the quarters. I’m a little worried about this tie as we have not played well in this competition over the last two years.

There was no need to worry. Our last game of this update is against my old fr-enemy Capello. He’s gone for a regular formation again which is worrying. Pirlo then gets himself sent off in the 23rd minute. A rejig of the team to bring on Tommasi is needed and in the 66th minute he hits a stunner past Rossi for an amazing 1:0 victory. I’ll take home draws against Atalanta for victories like that.

That’s the end for Part 1, we haven’t lost a league game and are flying on all fronts. I’m worried that we won’t be able to keep this going but for now I’m all smiles. Can we become the Italian invincibles? For good measure I am also the October manager of the month.

Rob will be back next week but in the meantime you can find him on Twitter @Taitanator

Fresh from the in-depth tactics blog of yesterday, Rob is back with the end of season 2 of what I am calling the Roma rollercoaster. I can’t take the credit for that it was the title when Rob emailed me this over. Anyway, part 5 is here if you want to get caught up but then head back here to see if Rob can bring glory to Rome.

We are back with the run into the end of the season. At the end part 2 I left you with Roma in control of the league, 6 points clear of Juve after 24 games and still in the Champions League, preparing to face Man Utd in the quarters. Without any further delay we head to Old Trafford for a tough tie against the always strong Utd side.

What a result, it was close but I think Utd shaded it on the night so to leave level and with an away goal is amazing. I would have taken a 1:0 loss but young Kanoute didn’t let the occasion overwhelm him and came off the bench to grab the equaliser. Here are the other results from leg one.

Along with our excellent cup result we get a piece of good news about our favourite goal poacher.

The news of his return from injury inspires Kanoute, that and Buffon bringing him down in the box in the 33rd minute. Parma were a bit of a force last season but they are floundering now and we take full advantage.

While he was injured Inzaghi wrote a letter a day to Daddy Maldini and his persistence paid off, he’s got an international call up. How is Petruzzi still getting one? I don’t understand.

Empoli come and go, well actually we do and our Icelandic regen Thor, his surname is too long to keep writing out, bags us all three points.

A win sets us up nicely for the tough home tie with Man Utd that is up next. It’s make or break time.

It’s an amazing result but before I even talk about the game I need to ask why the attendance is so low for such a big game when 80,000 will come and watch us play Lecce on a Sunday. It was their loss though, they missed a corker. An early 2:0 lead thanks to Thor and Inzie only to be pegged back just before the half. My head was in my hands when Giggs scored, it was a good run we can try again next year but then up pops the man himself and we hold on for 14 more minutes and a great win. Who will we face in the semis? The other results fall like this:

And we draw…

I’m quite pleased, we have had the better of them all season but I know they will step it up for the cup. If we can make it through I would feel confident against Ajax or Liverpool. Let’s not get ahead or ourselves though.

During the international break Totti scores on his international debut.

We win again in the league, it’s a 1:0 victory. Totti is riding high after his first international cap and goals. I don’t think we had a single 1:0 win last season, it seems like we have had loads this year. With seven games left we are still 6 points up on Juve but a massive 16 points ahead of Lazio in third.

It is CL semi final time with the first leg at the Stadio Delle Alpi. A good result here would go a long way and the game is very attacking but evenly matched as the stats show.

The score however…

What the hell, it was only 2:1 at half time and then it was 5:1 and I had no idea what was happening or how, then 5:2, 6:2 and finally 6:3. I have no words for this, no words. Just look at the player ratings WTF! The whole team must have been overwhelmed by the situation. Landreau concedes 6 but gets a rating of 9. Makes me think this result could have been a whole lot worse and we were lucky to get 3.

That isn’t the word I would use. Bright side we have three away goals, negative, they will come and park the bus. Ultra defensive style.

Our poor form continues against Inter at the San Siro.

We were really bad and I’m a little bit worried that the wheels have come off and I’m a bit low on ideas of how to fix it. To top it all off we are only three points ahead in the league now. Then this nearly pushes me over the edge.

Fortunately time heals all things and a week later Milan and Capello, my new best friend (we have put aside our differences), do us a favour by beating Juve and we take advantage against Genoa.

Our next match is the second leg of the CL semi final and the Dirty Dane has gone and got injured for a few days with a damaged heel. Injuries and suspensions mean I have to reshuffle the team and I am pretty sure this is the end of the line but let’s see, after all that first leg was nuts.

Hope, we are 1:0 up after 22 mins. What’s this 2:0 up after 25 mins. We’re gonna do this Juve have sat back and it hasn’t worked. It’s 2:0 at the half and I’m buzzing we only need a goal. In an effort to help our cause Abelardo gets himself sent off in the 46th minute and the rest is history.

Oh yeah it is, I can’t believe it and neither can the 67,000 who came to watch, the same 67,000 who saw us pip Utd in the quarters. We are the comeback kids! Lippi’s getting sacked in the morning, sacked in the morning.

The final is against…

The Bergkamp signing has clearly helped Ajax. We have made the final, then this news comes in to rain on my parade.

That’s going to make the final a lot tougher. After all the excitement we can only manage a draw in the derby. Abelardo is having a mare.

Then this pops up and I decide Juve have had it worse than Abelardo.

That is a true fairy tale ending to Coppa Italia, I ring up Chievo’s unknown manager to ask for a little bit of advice prior to our Champions League final. He mumbles something in what could possibly have been Russian and then hangs up, strange.

“I should hope so” was my reaction to this news.

Back to the league now and my faith in Abelardo is rewarded. This result will see us through now I think, with three games left we are 6 points clear.

Our next match is against Atalanta and a win would mean that with our goal difference we will be champions even if lose the final two games.

In the end though it doesn’t matter as Juve can only draw and we beat Atalanta 3:0. The trophy is ours and I’ve completed one of my aims ahead of schedule. My thoughts turn to the CL final and the possibility of becoming Champions of Europe. I wasn’t expecting to make the final this year and especially not after that first leg with Juve but now I’m here I really want to win.

Prior to the CL final this happens

Will this knock Ajax’s confidence or did they just rest players? Also are PSV really so bad as to get to the final of what might I say, is the best named cup in the game only to be considered shock winners. Chievo weren’t even shock winners.

Champions league day arrives and I make a bold decision. Forgotten man Antonio Carlos is in at centre back, I don’t trust Petruzzi and Abelardo is suspended. This is Carlos’ first European game and only his 4th game all season, he will at the very least be feeling fresh, if not a tad rusty.

The game is an anti climax after the drama of making it here but I really don’t care. I’m blown away by how well we have played this season and we are the best team in Europe. The real story of the match though is Antonio Carlos. Ajax didn’t even show up.

A MOM performance, maybe there is still a place for him here. Nah, I’ll most likely sell him if I can. I also wonder if Aldair wishes he had stayed for that extra year, I check how Galatasaray did this year, they got knocked out of the cup winners cup in round one, money isn’t everything buddy.

The final league table looks like this:

All is left to do is to share some of this seasons squad stats.

The whole team performed really well but Totti was outstanding, Pirri has turned into a great player too.

Again Totti leads the way with goals and good returns from Telli and Inzaghi as rotating strikers.

Looking at these stats I’m starting to think we are a little bit of a one man team, although others are pulling their weight, Totti is shining.

The Dirty Dane only gets 21 disciplinary points and finally a category Totti is not top in. MB promises to do better next year, I try to point out that it’s not a category you want to be top in but I feel like I was ignored.

Wonder side Chievo are promoted to Serie B so they finally appoint a real manager. Bit harsh on Mr Unknown after his masterminding Coppa Italia success. Bellotto has big shoes to fill.

Red Star 93 have a new manager, will he last longer than Houllier did? I kind of want to manage them at a later point in this save.

The end of year awards come out and Totti’s outstanding season is rewarded. I also get the manager award. Capello calls to congratulate me, then asks if I have thought about playing Totti at sweeper, and we had just started to get along.

The end of season two, it can only be described as a success with three trophies won. I would have been happy with just the league. We will be back next season (if Dave will have me) with six trophies on offer. I hope my success has increased my reputation. I spent season two one place above Souness in 136th, rated as ok and I know I’m definitely better than him.

You can follow Rob on Twitter @Taitanator

Rob’s been moved to Thursday so now you get your Totti update a day earlier than previously. Roma are entering the middle third of season 2 and momentum is building in the capital…(Catch part 4 here if you missed it)

Well part one was busy busy, we have made a positive start to our second season and apart from our slip up in the Coppa Italia to Chievo we are going well in the Serie A and the CL.

Some news fresh out of Amsterdam starts our second part of the season.

Dennis returning to where it all began, he left Ajax in 93 to go to Inter before signing for Arsenal in 95. By 98 he is obviously homesick, I love the fact that in 1998 £7.5 million was a national record, everything was simpler back then.

Champions league group action at the beginning of November, with Barca in our group we need to win all our other games to make sure we are one of the two best second placed teams. My words of wisdom fall on deaf ears.

Want away TSL scores a much needed equaliser but really not the result we want, especially since they scored with their only bloody shot on target! I don’t feel confident about getting anything off Barca so getting out of the group just got a whole lot harder.

We win our next game away to Perugia 2:0 and head into the international break on a high.

That’s not the result they were looking for but in some ways I don’t want Italy to qualify. I would really like the national job so I need Daddy Maldini to get sacked. It’s also double bad news for Roma fans.

This however, I care about even less than when Antonio Carlos had a cold. (see season 2 part 1).

I’ve tried to trick Balbo into signing a higher paid contract that expires this season but he saw right through it. As it is he will be hanging around on £34,000 till June 2001 at this rate. Please somebody buy him, he is still getting called up by Argentina after all.

Back to the league after the international break and we batter Fiorentina but only manage a draw.

We are 2:1 up at half time but they equalise in the 61st minute and we can’t get back ahead.

Tommy is finally off.

A tidy profit on a player who I bought for about 200 K and only played sporadically. A day after TSL leaves and four days after Di Biagio goes down this happens.

If only TSL had stayed he would have had the chance to prove himself. As it is I now have a mini crisis in centre midfield. I’m lacking depth and experience at the position. The only positive is a while back when I first found Pirlo was on the game I changed his position in the editor from Forward Left to Centre Mid. I think Pirlo is also a -1 potential player so I know if I play him a bit he should keep improving.

Thanks Diego, that could have been a whole lot more tricky.

We are still ticking along nicely in the league and for good measure Pirlo gets on the score sheet. We host Bromby mid week in the CL. It is a must win game, I really hope they understand that this time.

They do, I don’t know why I was worried. We are second with 10 points, maybe we can beat Barca at the Stadio Olimpico, we are playing really well at the moment. Our good form continues as we beat Genoa 3:0 away in our final game in November. The manager of the month awards are handed out and Lippi gets it for the second time. I mutter darkly under my breath.

The 6th December is derby day, we are in the home team dressing room and on a good run of form, what could go wrong?

Nothing! That is unusual for this game. It’s a great result, Telli and Totti are turning into a deadly duo the board will be ecstatic.

Come on… bragging rights in the local derby and all we get is ‘a good result’ where is their passion? Next up is our final CL group game against Barca, in second place with 10 points I feel like we really need something from the game to get through and i have almost accepted that this is probably the end of our European adventure for the year.

Oh well, that’s disappointing especially when you look at the stats.

It was very close and you could argue that we outplayed them so how did we lose 0:3? We will need to see how the other results went.

Woo hoo, we have snuck in, Lady Luck was on our side, it’s knock out football now and anything can happen.

Very pleased, we are getting there, they might even smile soon, soulless robots.

Ahh, not the easiest draw, off to face Fergie in his prime.

Here is the whole draw:

Post CL qualification we are off to Turin for a big game 2nd vs 1st at the Stadio Delle Alpi.

What a result, a come from behind victory. I really can’t believe how good our league form is. I think Micky Landreau is making himself irreplaceable and he is only 19. I could get 15 more years out of him which isn’t bad for £5 million. I do question the logic of Lippi buying Raul when he has Del Piero, they play in exactly the same position, he’ll probably go after Henry next. I check the stats out for the game and decide that i might actually have robbed Juve blind in this one.

I decide to strengthen the midfield with this guy, his stats are beastly I only hope he can live up to them but for £220k it is a gamble worth taking.

A future Black Stars captain I hope. Our final game before the christmas break sees us waltz past Atalanta 3:0. I think we have earned our Turkey dinner looking at our results so far this season. Napoli send us an early christmas gift.

The league at Christmas and we can finally defend like Italians, even though we don’t have a single Italian defender in the usual starting eleven.

Bet Lazio wish they hadn’t called that impromptu Christmas break kick about.

At last, justice. I almost buckled and started playing Telli as a sweeper during December but I’m glad I’ve won it the right way and not the Capello way.

We pick up where we left off before the break, although a 6 week injury to Bisgaard is not helpful, however it will give young Matteo Pelatti a chance to show us why he is rated as an U21 star.

Our 17th game of the season sees us beat Piacenza in the Stadio Olimpico 2:0. At the halfway stage we 11 points clear of Juve and Fiorentina who are 2nd and 3rd respectively on 36 pts. Game 18 and another clean sheet and another win 1:0 at home to Lecce.

One of the longest injuries I have seen. Poor Albert, but anything that weakens Juve is good for me.

No way, my three way rotating strike force was working really well. I was never the biggest fan of Inzaghi as a player in real life but as a name in a flashing box on this match engine I imagine him to be a digital lightning bolt exploding onto the scene to score a……..cheeky rebound probably. He will be missed.

Because Inzaghi is injured I strengthen my squad with…

A defender, Pistone was highly rated when Newcastle signed him and the infamous ‘Euro Scout’ recommended I bring him back to Italy. He will add versatility as a Defender L/R, he can take over from Cafu as he gets older and he was once touted as the next Maldini. Since Maldini refused to sign for me in the summer I buy what I hope (in this game) will become the next best thing.

Next up is Capello’s Milan, I bring my Manager of the Month trophy to gloat and wonder who will be playing sweeper today but he surprises me with a classic attacking 4-4-2 this could mean trouble. No it is fine we take a 2:0 lead a minute after half time.

What happened? A very disappointing result we only manage a draw, Landreau scores an own goal and Dario Smoje equalises. Smoje is a Croatian who in my opinion turns into a top notch player on this game. I’m might try and sign him in the close season as his contract is expiring. I can’t help but feel Karma has come back to bite me in the ass, I’ve been a bit mean to Capello in this blog for no good reason really.

Anyway onwards and upwards we host Sampdoria in the next game so I hope to return to winning ways however Fabio Rustico (sounds like a biscuit) has other ideas and after Santos gets sent off in the 17th minute I am happy with the 0:0 draw.

Just before the transfer window closed I tried to pull off three big money moves just because they were all available and I have £30 million burning a hole in my pocket.

It didn’t work, not even one of them wanted to join, miserable (insert expletives)

As we move into February and towards the end of this chapter I notice something funny. Serie C side Chievo Verona, the team that knock me out in the third round of the Coppa Italia have made it to the semi finals, not only that but they managed to do what I couldn’t fours days earlier and they beat Sampdoria 2:1 away in the first leg.

And they did it with 10 men. Go on Chievo

Up next for us is an away trip to Florence which doesn’t work out well for us. We are clearly the better team but despite 10 of our 16 shots being on target we only score one and they, quite unjustly I might say score two.

As the stats show it was a little bit of daylight robbery and we leave frustrated and upset. Our unbeaten league run is over, you can’t win them all.

Last year Valentine’s day didn’t work out too well for us and today we travel to Naples for a potentially tough match where I have had to make a few changes due to injuries and suspensions. Petruzzi is back at centre back and Pistone gets a first start.

I don’t know why I was worried, Pistone scores on his debut but the Petruzzi injury, it’s because he is so weak, means I now only have 2 fit centre backs. Maybe this why we started season one with 10 players who could play there. To top it all off Totti is suspended for two matches for reaching 21 disciplinary points.

More importantly though the second leg of the Coppa Italia semi finals at the end of the week see Chievo win 1:0 against Sampdoria to book there place in the final with Juve. This is quite the side story. They don’t even have a manager because they are in Serie C so the game just says manager unknown, whoever he is he is amazing.

We beat Verona 1:0 at the Stadio Olimpico but another suspension looms Pirri Pirri’s fiery nature lands him in hot water as he hits 22 disciplinary points and a two game ban. We seem to be a lot more ill disciplined this year and I can only assume the Dirty Dane MB has been doing some after hours training with the team.

Our final game in February and the end of this part of the blog see us travel to Sant’Elia the home of Cagliari.

Good to see Kanoute get a goal his stats are amazing so I hope he can live up to them, he hasn’t really had much of a run in the team yet but he is young and his time will come.

I leave you with a third of the season left to play. We are sitting pretty in the league although Juve made up some ground after our loss to Fiorentina. We would have to capitulate heavily (is that tautology) to lose it now. I imagine it is something Harry Redknapp would say or has said so I’m going to stick with it. We are straight back into Champions League games when I return with the first leg of our Quarter Final tie against Man Utd. Here is the league table to finish.

The CM9798 World Cup is a week closer! Rob will be managing Republic of Ireland but you can follow his Twitter in the meantime @Taitanator

On we go into season 2 of Rob Tait’s Roma save. With Champions League football on the horizon, how can Rob improve Roma’s squad to make a challenge for Serie A and even European glory? What’s Italian for ‘Wheeler Dealer’? Catch up with Part 3 here

The team are back in Rome after a relaxing summer break. I didn’t take a holiday as I was drawing up a Benitez style shopping list of talent to help improve our squad going into season two. Fortunately for me I have the backing of the board after our 2nd place finish last season and secondly they can’t really stop me buying who I want anyway! I chased Maldini all summer as he was out of contract however it seems he is the only loyal player in the game which is funny because in all my other saves he usually sods of to Juve after the first season. Anyway aside from him I am really happy and excited about the players I have signed.

That’s 10 players for less than 20 million, you literally can’t do business like that anymore says Jamie Redknapp when asked. You know Jamie I think for once you might be right. If you are wondering who Marino Admiraal and Arnar Danielsson are, think Ruud Gullit reborn and everyone’s favorite Icelandic regen. I’ve never signed Montella before but I have seen him do good things in other saves, plus I enjoyed the opportunity to mirror reality and we need a proper striker. The experience of Abelardo will hopefully help tighten the defense. I had to let a lot of the original squad go to make way.

I’m only sad to see Aldair go but at 32 he is past his best and he didn’t fancy a year long deal. I felt like the four years he was asking for was a tad excessive so he’s off to pastures new. Will he regret not sticking around for one more season?

Unfortunately moments after he signs this happens:

Then this

After a couple of preseason friendlies the Champions league qualifying comes through.

Not too bad a draw, the squad is all assembled, Admiraal and Inzaghi are cup tied and will have to wait for the quarter finals, if we get there, otherwise we are all good to go. The team is chosen and we are still running the same tactic. Petruzzi is captain, I’m not convinced by him, probably because his strength is only 9, but I think Totti is a little young at the moment.

I’ll take that, shame about Tommasi, he was really good last season and I have big plans for him but we have some strength in depth now so we will be ok.

The Supercoppa Italiana is our next fixture, a quick check tells me that Juve won the league and Coppa Italia last season so we are drafted in as second place finishers.

What a result, the game was very even and we dig deep when down to ten men to hold on for the victory. We leave Turin with my first trophy as Roma manager and Marcello Lippi wishing that winning the league and cup double meant he could have played a 1s vs 2s game.

Just before we play the second leg of our CL tie a little bit of news regarding our ex centre back.

Not sure that is where I would have chosen. I’ll check if Galatasaray are in the CL, maybe we will have a little reunion. No we won’t, they are in the Cup Winners Cup.

We win the second leg of the champions league qualifier and are into the Champions League proper. Totti and Montella seem to be gelling nicely and then Telli, that’s what the lads are calling him, goes and gets himself injured for a few weeks! Good job I bought Inzaghi as well.

Not too bad a group apart from Barca, I think they are the hardest team to beat early on in the game and Vitor Baia always seems impossible to score past. With a bit of luck we could make it to the quarters.

We have four internationals in the squad, I’m hoping to increase this by the end of the season. Totti finally getting a call up after being blanked for the World Cup, I mean why would you take the second top scorer in Serie A to the World Cup.

Coppa Italia time again and I am hoping to improve on my one and done from last season. We face Empoli who really go for the victory. Inzaghi scores in his first start as a little extra bonus.

Juve strengthen their defense with everyones favourite Nigerian centre back, I’m really not sure they need him but who am I to question.

Dodged a bullet there.

We play Milan in our first league game and Capello is at it again, last time Kluivert was sweeping and now it is Weah, the guy’s a nutter.

We take the victory and a brace for Inzaghi against his ‘alternate reality’ future club. He joined Milan in 2001 in real life, maybe he will again.

Telli is back and in for our first CL game against Dinamo Tblisi. He gets a goal and Bisgaard with a brace, we’ve won every game so far and I’m flying high.

Sampdoria bring us back down to earth with a bump as our former Brazilian Forward L/R Paulo Sergio (bloody ridiculous positions, where are you actually meant to play them?) equalises in the 55th minute and we draw 1:1.

Capello signs another striker to play as a sweeper.

Petruzzi is starting to wind me up, he’s an international, our captain and highly rated by the scouts if you do a quick search of your own team but he is playing gash and I blame him and him alone for our draw with Sampdoria and the fact we played so poorly in our 1:0 victory over Napoli, he just isn’t the inspiring leader we need. He is out, Abelardo is in to partner Santos and Totti is the new captain. At 22 I’m worried he is a bit young, but there was no need. Abelardo with a great 8 on debut.

Two MOM performances and five goals, I nod smugly to myself. Obviously Bisgaard gets sent off for two bookables. All he cares about is beating his 35 disciplinary points from last season.

If you followed the first season you might remember that I signed TSL (I’m not sure people call him that) but I wasn’t sure that he was needed. Well it turns out he wasn’t and the lack of first team action means he asks to leave. Sorry Tommy, I’ll sign you in another game I promise.

We will try not to let TSL’s news unsettle us and we are flying in the league, having won the previous two league matches scoring 7 and conceding 3 we travel to Catalunya with high hopes.

Barca bring us back down to earth, we are not quite there yet. We did well for 69 minutes but Barca are class so I’m not too upset. We are second in the group with 6 points at the halfway stage. The Coppa Italia draw comes out and we are at home to Atalanta in the quarters, all we have to do is get past Serie C side Chievo Verona, that surely won’t be a problem.

I forgot this guy was even in the squad, he is the lost Brazilian. I’ve seen him get called up for Brazil before but he hasn’t impressed me so far. I think I like him less than Petruzzi.

Next up we face our bogey side from last season. We pipped Parma to 2nd on the last game of the season even though they managed the double over us last season. This year however.

They can’t live with us and Totti is flying, being captain is bringing out the best in him. In this sort of form I feel so confident that I rest a few players for the cup tie allowing a few second stringers to have a game.

Well that was a little unexpected and I’m in a state of shock at this one, there isn’t really any logical explanation “that’s football” I guess. I made it one round further than last year so if we keeping improving like this it’s only three more years before we make the final. The two substitutions I made in the 74th minute clearly did not have the desired effect.

Err, what do I need to do to get an award round here? Probably not lose to Chievo I hear you say. I guess Capello’s new sweeper is really working out for him. We host Empoli for the last game of this chapter, it’s only our 8th league game but it seems like loads has happened.

Another win, another Totti goal, although he probably should have had two. My keeper Landreau gets MOM, I haven’t needed to mention him much but he is really proving his worth. Funnily enough he is another player I had never bought before but I’ve seen how good he can be when playing against him and I’m pleased to say he hadn’t disappointed.

After 8 games it’s 7 wins and a draw. I’ve won the last 6 on the bounce. I’m scoring goals and conceding less. Sorry Petruzzi but the proof is in the pudding. The Coppa Italia is my bogey competition so I have two trophies left to play for. Join me for part 2 to see if we can make the CL quarters and if we can keep this strong league form going.

Robuplic of Ireland? Rob will be taking Ireland to the CM9798 World Cup, but you can follow him on Twitter @taitanator in the meantime.

Rob Tait is back with the latest episode of Totti’s team. It’s the end of season one and Roma have a mighty scrap on their hands to pinch a Champions League spot, can they finish the season strongly?

Back for the final chapter of this season. Since we were knocked out of the cup right at the beginning of the season we only have league fixtures. In part two we used our fresh legs to our advantage by going on a strong run. We finished part two lying in 2nd, a single point behind Juve in 1st with 11 games to go. Hopefully Champions league football wii distract them and they will take their eye off the league

Valentine’s day disaster, it was all luck our 4-0 victory against Fiorentina at the end of part 2 was the crest of a wave. The team spent the evening of the 14th schmoozing their ladies (or maybe gents we are a liberal bunch here) into the night and a lack of sleep costs us dear with a 0-2 loss to Atalanta. We then host Empoli and smash them 5-1. We follow that up with with a back and forth affair with Lazio, a classic derby match that on the face of it is quite even except we can’t hit the target and they can resulting a 1-4 loss.

I sit everyone down. I lay it all on the line. We are back down to 6th. We have eight games left and we need European football or the dream is over. Totti and Pirri are back from injury this is the final run, we need some consistency and we need it now. Three of the eight games are toughies, Milan, Parma and Sampdoria. In my head I think we will probably walk them and then lose to Lecce because that’s just the way we play.

So first up we host Milan, it couldn’t go any better, we are 3:0 up before half time and then Milan switch to this formation in an attempt to get back into the game.

Kluivert as a sweeper is the sort of forward thinking football that will help Capello guide England to international success in the future …….. wait a minute.
Anyway we run out 4:1 winners so Capello can feed them the classic line of drawing the second half and all that.

Totti and Pirri Pirri are back from injury and I’m unstoppable again.

Well I was unstoppable for a game at least. Bisgaard is suspended again, he loves a yellow card, the squad are calling him the Dirty Dane.

Six games left and we are 5th.

The top four all seem to be playing each other at some point and the highest placed team I face is Sampdoria in 8th. I’m an odd combination of optimistic and pessimistic about this situation, which I think means I’m ambivalent but I’m not really sure.

Next up Piacenza followed by Lecce, and two wins 1-0 and 5-1 means that with four games left I am now into…

Still 5th!! Oh come on that can’t be right, I would scream but my 9 month old child is asleep on my left arm (you only need one hand to work a mouse) so I quietly mutter about how unfair life can be. I know this isn’t real life but sometimes it can feel like it. I have a friend who came to school once and swore blind Chelsea had signed Michael Owen because he had fallen asleep the night before while playing the game. He only got one A’ level but blagged his way into Uni, so it was probably all worth it for him in the end.

Ok back to Roma. A 3-0 victory in our next game against Sampdoria, YES COME ON! I mutter quietly, she is still asleep on my arm.

It’s very tight at the top, I can’t help thinking that 75% of my back four being Brazilian might have its drawbacks. My final three games are Bari away, Udinese at home and Vicenza away. I promise the boys Pizza and Gelato if we win our last three games.

Two victories in a row sees us move up to third, but Juve have already claimed the title. Parma however are faltering and I smell blood. They are 2nd on 71 points and we are 3rd with 70, if we can better their result 2nd is ours and Champions league ritches will follow (hopefully).

Yes, I’m fist pumping left right and centre, I can’t believe it. I really feel like we have over performed and I am probably happier than I would be if we had won the league. The season has been a roller coaster. I’ve been lucky with injuries and some players have performed way above what I expected.

A quick flick through the stats shows

The Dirty Dane, he must have a Dirtiness of 20 hidden behind his middle of the road aggression stat.

Here is the squad performance.

It’s a World Cup year so I’ll give a brief review of that in a moment, however this pops up.

He was only appointed in November, he probably spent too much time drinking Red Star and not enough time managing.
Real Madrid win the Champions League, standard.
Inter sack Simoni after a 7th place finish and replace him with Arrigo Sacchi and then this little bit of news tickles me.

If business brains take Virgin trains who knows what Dalglish is riding on.

The World Cup starts with Brazil beating Argentina 7-0 and ends with them beating Germany in the final. France lose in the quarters to England who lost to Brazil in the semis. Italy don’t call up Totti cos they are dicks, he was 2nd top scored in the league! But they do play my spicy left winger in every game. Good find League Scout 1. Italy lose in the other semi to Germany but beat England in the 3rd place play off. I spend the World Cup completing a number of business deals ready for season two. I’ll share the results later. All that is left is to show the Italian Awards and an odd retirement.

A bit of research tells me that in 98 Helguera should only be 23!

I’m off to summer in Iceland, I’ve heard rumours of a young DM/FC making a name for himself. Join me next week for season 2, can we improve on second place and will we qualify for the Champions League proper.

Rob will be representing Republic of Ireland in this summer’s CM9798 World Cup! Make sure you are caught up on that here. In the meantime, you can follow Rob on Twitter @Taitanator

Rob Tait is back with more from Rome. An inconsistent start in part 1 means Totti and friends need to have a strong winter. Should the wolf on the Roma badge look so worried? Let’s find out

If you missed part 1 here is a brief summary. Build a team around the young playmaker Totti in order better his individual career achievements and the club’s. We started poorly getting knocked out of the Coppa Italia in round 2 by non league opposition. Since then we have improved dramatically and rebanded ourselves as the entertainers of Italy. We are currently 6th in Serie A.

A positive start to November sees the lads give me two presents, one either side of my birthday with successive 3-0 victories! Clean sheets are better than goals, said nobody ever, but maybe this is our defensive turning point Santos and Aldair marshalling the troops, two Brazilian internationals holding the line.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

As an aside Gerard Houllier is appointed manager of Red Star 93 (that sounds like a beer) at the end of November.

We follow that loss with three victories on the bounce, 4:2, 5:0 and 3:1. This takes us to the halfway stage of the season and a 6th position but only six points from 1st. We really need to carry this momentum forwards.

There is an early Christmas present for Fiorentina, poor Gabby.

The new year is upon us and for once we manage to keep our positive run of form going.

We can’t stop winning in January, two more 2:1 victories followed by a 4:2 drubbing of Napoli and we are flying high.

As the transfer deadline looms Inter and Lazio start making plays for my big names. If they can’t beat me on the pitch maybe they can buy my players and stop me that way.

Persistent buggers Lazio, I’m not sure I would be welcome in Roma if I had allowed this deal to go through. I’m also certain CM Totti would accept and be off, which would be funny but not entirely helpful given the idea behind this save.

January ends with Champions League qualification is in my sights as we lie in second place, we may even sneek the league at this rate. The squad is buzzing and to top it all of I am awarded manager of the month for January.

The first game of February is against Juve, 1st vs 2nd the classic six pointer.

Not a bad result and it shows how far we have come but the main story is Totti’s injury, how long will he be out for? He is the talisman of the team, the driving force and I’m not sure he is really replaceable, especially not with an aging Argentinian striker who couldn’t hit a barn door with a banjo.

A month, ok fingers crossed we can muddle through.

The next game is at home to Fiorentina, Batistuta is injured so that is a positive for us but I’m worried about how we will cope without Totti.

Old man Balbo stepping up to the plate in our time of need, I pat myself on the back as I mumble away to myself about how my excellent man management skills and reverse psychology have worked wonders with Old Balbo. However disaster in the 76th minute as Pirri Pirri goes down injured. Half my first team strike force is out and to say the squad lacks depth is something of an understatement.

That brings us to the end of part 2, we a flying high in 2nd place but it is tight, eight points separate 1st and 7th, it’s wide open with seven games to go and with a couple of key injuries I’m worried about maintaining our good form. We have also conceded nearly twice as many goals as the other teams in the top five, I’m not going to worry though because I love goals and we are scoring plenty of them. A final bonus is Pirri Pirri is only out for 2 weeks so not too bad.

You can follow Rob on Twitter @Taitanator

We’ve got a new series for you today as Rob Tait joins the party. He’s taken over Roma to try and re-live Totti’s glory days. He had many glory days. Without further Freddy, here’s Rob.

The idea: It’s the start of the 97/98 season, Roma have sacked their manager after a 12th place finish last season, they need someone new to revitalise the squad. They have one positive to take from the previous season and that is the emerging talent of a young Francesco Totti. He is Roma through and through and they are looking to build a future around him. For some reason the board decided that the best person for this job is a 35 year old English man with no previous managerial experience. I have two key aims, I want to win the Serie A title by the 2000-01 season, as Roma won the title that year. I would also like to guide Italy to World Cup success and maybe rewrite history with a Euro 2000 victory, however the Euros will probably come round a bit early for me to have secured the national team job. I’ve made one tweak to Totti’s stats and that is to increase his influence stat from 15 to 20. After all he was Roma captain by 22 and the idea is to build a team around him.

In reality Roma had a good season in 97/98 and finish fourth in Serie A so my aim is to match or better this. Totti played 36 matches, scoring 14 goals during the 97/98 campaign, I hoping for a similar performance here as I need European football next season or this could be a very short lived idea as Totti maybe requesting a transfer to move to a bigger club (as has been seen time and again club loyalty doesn’t exist in CM9798) or the board may start to question their left field appointment.

Let us begin, I would rate the squad I inherit as weak medium.

A few good players but a lot of dross. I have ten players who have centre back as one of their positions, WHY?! It’s a squad of 31, not much room for maneuver or whole scale restructuring and there are way to many non-eu players. I shed a few on free transfer and that immediately gets the boards back up so they are less than satisfied and we have not even kicked a ball yet.

I decide on a hybrid of the 2-3-1-2-2 and 4-2-3-1 formations that were reviewed in the tactics section on the https://cm9798.co.uk/ website so I need to buy two (narrow) wide players to slot in behind either my lone striker or front two. I really want to buy Denilson but there are two problems, one he is from Brazil so would add to my tally of foreign players and two he thinks we are crap and doesn’t want to sign for us. I’m in turmoil until League Scout 1 suggests Alessio Pirri, swayed by my love of Nandos and the fact the kid is Italian and cheap I buy a left winger. There is nobody else for sale really so I return to and old faithful in Morten Bisgaard to play on the right hand side. After this I add two other signings Tommy Svindal Larsen (who I’m not sure I need) and Marcio Santos who I do need but would really like it if he wasn’t from Brazil but there is such a lack of centre back talent I have to do it.

I arrange three friendly’s to get my eye in, and experiment with this hybrid formation. It doesn’t go well and I lose 2:6 to Barcelona and 1:4 to Atletico Madrid, however I’m boyed by our 5:1 thrashing of Man Utd and I take this confidence into our Coppa Italia 2nd round match.

Oh…

Not really the start I was hoping for, best focus on the league then.

Umm… it’s not really going to plan. Inter are quality but a draw with Brescia was poor. I ditch the formation tinkering and go back to the old faithful.

The lads really embrace this formation and we turn on the style with three victories on the bounce, best of which came against Juve.

We take our high spirits and world beating attitude to Florence, we can’t be stopped, confidence is flowing through the side.

Petruzzi’s rash challenge brings us crashing back down earth. Maybe we got a little carried away, I think to myself, but the attitude on the training pitch is top notch and the following four games see us win two and draw two, we scored 14 but conceded 9. The neutrals are loving our brand of attacking entertaining football while I’m wonder what our four international defenders are playing at. I then remember three of the four are from Brazil and defending means something different there. I embrace my inner Kevin Keegan and accept that our approach will be if they score three we score four.

Our next match is against Parma, the press are excited, two strong attacking sides going into battle, they are predicting goals and plenty of them.

Well that was a game for the neutrals. After 11 games we are 6th in the league, we have shown flashes of brilliance but are plagued by a lack of consistency and a leaky defense. I’m hoping the team will gel, Old Man Balbo isn’t getting it done up front the coaches tell me his legs have gone. Del Vecchio is in to replace him.

Rob will be back next week but please welcome him to the CM9798 family by giving him a follow on Twitter @Taitanator