FM2009 - Official Arsenal F.C. Thread - The Home of Pure Football

Arsenal Football Club are an English professional football club based in Holloway, North London. They play in the Premier League and are one of the most successful clubs in English football, having won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups. Arsenal F.C. is renowned for their attacking and attractive game-play which has won them many admirers and accolades world-wide.

CREST

Arsenal’s first crest was unveiled in 1888 and featured 3 cannons pointing north-wards. After constant revisions over the years, in 2002 a new crest with a simplified style was introduced. There is a single cannon facing east and the club's name is written above it.

COLOURS

The traditional Arsenal colours have been red and white. However, the first kit of the Arsenal was a redcurrant shirt worn with white shorts and blue socks. It was in the 1930’s that Arsenal’s kit was changed to a brighter red with white sleeves. The team has the worn the combination ever since.

FANS

Arsenal fans often refer to themselves as "Gooners", the name being derived from the team's nickname, "The Gunners". Arsenal has a large and loyal fan base, with virtually all home matches selling out. A 2005 report estimated Arsenal's global fan base at 27 million, the third largest in the world.

Full Name: Arsenal Football Club

Nickname: The Gunners

Founded: 1886 as Dial Square

Manager: Arsene Wenger

Major Rivals: Tottenham, Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool, West Ham

Affiliates: BEC, Colrado, Gia Lai, Barnet, Salamanca, Boreham Wood

Club Legends: Arsene Wenger, Thierry Henry, Tony Adams, Herbert Chapman

Clubs Icons: Dennis Bergkamp, David Rocastle, Ian Wright, Jens Lehmann, David Dein

Favoured Personnel:Kolo Toure, Cesc Fabregas, Patrick Vieira, Paul Merson

Media Prediction: 3rd

Club Captain: William Gallas

Club Vice-Captain: Kolo Toure

Estimated Value: £377M (Loan Debt: £247M)

Balance: £99.4M

Transfer Budget: £38M

Wage Budget: £984K/week

Ground: Emirates Stadium

Capacity: 60,432

Training Ground: Under-Hill

Training Facilities: Top Training Facilities

Youth Facilities: Top Youth Facilities + Youth Academy

GK: Manuel Almunia, Lukasz Fabianski

LB: Gael Clichy, Mikael Silvestre, Armand Traore [out on loan till 09]

RB: Bakary Sagna, Emmanuel Eboue

CB: Kolo Toure, Johan Djourou

CB: William Gallas, Alexandre Song, Mikael Silvestre, Philippe Senderos [out on loan till 09]

DM: Alexandre Song, Denilson, Johan Djourou

CM: Francesc Fabregas, Denilson, Abou Diaby

AML: Tomas Rosicky, Samir Nasri, Armand Traore, Carlos Vela

AMR: Theo Walcott, Samir Nasri, Tomas Rosicky

ST: Emmanuel Adebayor, Niklas Bendtner

ST: Robin Van Persie, Eduardo da Silva, Carlos Vela

This will be done with no particular formation in mind. I’m going to cover all positions on the pitch and leave it to you to decide how you would like to play. However, I will suggest my best line-up and formation for Arsenal after the analysis.

Goalkeepers: As in 08, Almunia is solid without being world class. Age is not on Almunia’s side however so it might be a good idea to sell him and bring someone younger in. Its not imperative though. Fabianski doesnt look as good as last year and the assistant manager recommends getting rid of him. But I suggest waiting it out for a year to see how he goes. The youngsters at the club are all poor so you would do well to bring in a youngster with good potential.

Left Backs: Clichy has been improved and looks ever better as should be the case. He’s young as well so you wont have an immediate problem here. As backups, Silvestre and Gallas can both play here and are good. Song can be utilized here too if needed. You should be fine here to start with. Armand Traore doesn’t look that good defensively and doubt if he’ll reach a high standard as on 08. Should become a class winger though. Kieran Gibbs might be one to watch. Look for a young LB for the future anyway.

Right Backs: Sagna looks amazing too like on the last version. Emmanuel Eboue and Kolo Toure both provide backup for this spot and are both good. You’re fine in this area too. Yet again, no real quality here in the youth ranks so might be a good idea to invest.

Centre Backs: Both Kolo Toure and William Gallas look amazing. Johan Djourou, Mikael Silvestre and Alex Song provide backup here. Djourou looks good yet again and should definitely be held on to. Silvestre looks decent enough as well but is getting on. Song might be worth holding on to as I think he could develop into a decent CB/DM. Senderos comes back from loan after a season (if Milan dont take the option of signing him). He actually looks terrific on this version. If you do get him back, I think you're well set for CB's because imo, he's good enough for Arsenal. But it is still worth investing in a younger CB considering Silvestre's and Gallas's age.

Defensive Midfielders: The position where every Arsenal fan in real life moans about. A position where we’re desperately short. However, in the game, the situation is not as bad. Song is pretty decent here. And I’m fairly certain Eboue could be retrained and will do a good job as well. Djourou is probably the best option if you want some defensive stability. Denilson could do a decent job but he’s been completely stripped of strength and will be easy to bully around. Finally, Diaby could be used here if needed although I wouldn’t trust him with his poor concentration. This is a spot where I would look to invest first for now and for the future.

Central & Attacking Midfielders: One of the strengths of the team. Fabregas is obviously one of the best around on the game. And he’s so young that you’re sorted for a good 10 years. With Denilson and Diaby around, you have 2 players capable of providing excellent cover. Nasri, Vela and Rosicky can play in the hole if for you if your tactic requires it. No need to invest in youth here as you have the likes of Wilshere, Lansbury, Ramsey, Merida coming through the ranks.

Wingers: To start with, Walcott and Nasri would suffice. Both look excellent and are very young. Rosicky will be back from injury soon and he maintains his FM08 standards. Van Persie, Vela, Eduardo and Eboue can all cover the wings as well. And you’ll have Traore back from loan next year who should become a monster on the left wing. It might be worth investing in a right winger though as there’s only Eboue to back up Walcott.

Strikers: Upfront is Arsenal’s main strength with a lot of quality options. Adebayor and Bendtner provide the aerial presence required even if both have been toned down. Adebayor has been brutalized unfortunately. Besides his physical stats, he looks distinctly average. How he performs will depend on the game engine I guess. Van Persie maintains the lofty standards of the last game and will probably be the main striker. Eduardo looks good as before although we’ll have to wait for the full version to really try him out. Walcott has been improved quite a bit and it might be worth playing him upfront to see how the game handles his pace. And then there’s the Mexican prodigy Carlos Vela who’s waiting for his chance as well. I'm sure he'll turn out class.

This is based on the original players that start at the club. That is, no additional signings have been taken into account.

               Almunia
Sagna     Toure      Gallas     Clichy
          Fabregas   Diaby
Walcott-->                   <--Nasri
       Van Persie   Adebayor

I'll update this area after a while with some recommended signings, a bit more info about all the better youth at the club and also possibly a tactic when I've played the game a little.

Looking great Hulk Im looking forward to seeing your thoughts on the players etc and how you go with tactics, im trying to implement pretty much the same one as on 08 but it will be interesting to see if it works out.

2 months into the game, I've found some signings that might be useful.

I started the transfer window by searching for a DM and I signed Miguel Veloso immediately, for 13.5m. Brilliant technical stats, great asset to both attack and defence on the pitch. His long shot is decent enough to score screamer from time to time. The only drawback is language problem which may cause communication problem in the team, according to Pat Rice's feedback, so he might well need some months to gel with the rest of the team.

There are alternatives which are worth checking out. Javi Garcia at Real Madrid is available for loan. Toulalan, Yaya Toure and Bodmer probably cost 13-17M. If you are looking for youngsters, Sunny, Charles Kabore, Rafael Carioca and Francesco Bolzoni are available and they are all reported as a good signing ( to be as good as Miguel Veloso, in my case).

For a towering DC, Mirel Radoi is a bargain with world class stats. Of course Fazio is right there but I'm not sure if Sevilla is willing to sell him or not. Sidnei is pretty good for a 19-year old and . Mamadou Sakho is also available for about 7M.

Well I'm still in search of a DL back-up and a GK. No luck so far and It will be appreciated if someone comes up with an idea.

Yeah its good that Yaya, Toulalan and Bodmer are all avaliable for a decent price. Im also struggling to find a good young backup LB, Eduardo from Botafogo looks alright, but not as good as last year. For a GK I found a good prospect in Sergio Asenjo he will cost you about £7m but he seems to have a lot of potential.

Im in the process of negotiating a contract with Toulalan, but have almost had an offer accepted for Palombo, and man he looks good on this version, probs going to cost about £13-14m I think, and Toulalan is costing me £15m plus 30% sell on. So im gonna have a tough time deciding who to go with.

Any ideas?

EDIT: OK so I can get Toulalan for £15m + 30% of next sale profit and a £55k contract, or Palombo for £12.5m + 50% of next sale and I reckon I could get his contract down to the same amount. Its a tough decision.

I'd prefer Palombo over Toulalan. 20 strength and stamina are immense.

Personally, I always look for physical and defensive stats for a DM while passing higher than 13 will do.

Sergio Asenjo seems to be a good find, my first scouted GK who is rated as a good signing as well.

On the other hand, Gallas just got a red card in my ECC game against Schalke, which ended with a bored 0-0 draw.

I don't really like him in real life and might consider selling him at the end of season.

Yeah im leaning towards Palombo now as well, especially as this is just the demo and I will probably start again for the full game.

Gutted about Gallas, but I think he is looking pretty good in this game, Im not going to sell him early on unless good offers are made.

Just downloading the demo now :-) (btw, how long did yours take?) and can't wait. Will probably start wih Arsenal, if not I'll certainly be checking out their players (:

I tried to download both version. Vanilla,which I'm playing, took less than 10mins.

Strawberry from Gameshadow took me 20mins or so, which I later found out the PC doesn't have enough space to install it.Anyways have fun with your Arsenal game.

Just a few more recommendation, Renan(GK) at botafogo is rated as a good signing.

Outstanding stats from 19-year old Axel Witsel and I wonder how far he can go.

YO the new Arsenal thread.

Just installing the demo right now. Anybody has tried to sell any player ?? And what about the transfers by other teams. Has inflated prices become the norm again ?

Soli

Hey mate, nah inflated prics havent been a problem, most of my buys have been very reasonable, Toulalan for £15m, Ballack for £10m, G. Rossi for £9m etc etc. Can't wait for the full release to get Toulalan for £15m XD

Man City go crazy buying heaps of players, but most of the transfers seem reasonable.

I havent had any luck buying players so far, even loaning them has been hard (Nobody wants Fabinski on a loan :S)

Hey mate, nah inflated prics havent been a problem, most of my buys have been very reasonable, Toulalan for £15m, Ballack for £10m, G. Rossi for £9m etc etc. Can't wait for the full release to get Toulalan for £15m XD

Man City go crazy buying heaps of players, but most of the transfers seem reasonable.

I havent had any luck buying players so far, even loaning them has been hard (Nobody wants Fabinski on a loan :S)

Selling players you mean?

Why is Fabregas out for 2 months in the beginning?

Yeah sorry mate I meant selling. Yeah im not sure why he is out, he did have an injury at the start of the season that he was recovering from, I just wasn't aware it was for that long.

So, it's all downloaded just need to install (Which took me about 10 ins to find the right thing. hope it's the right one). I think my formation shall be very alike the one you see Chelsea play, although not sure how good the strikers are on their bod.

-----------------Almunia----------------------

Sagna-----Toure---------Gallas---------Clichy

----------------Denilson-----------------------

--------Fabregas-----------Diaby-------------

Walcott--------------------------------Nasri

------------------Adebayor-----------------

Will look for a CB, GK, MC.

Possible targets?

GK - Enyeama (Cover)

CB - Fazio? Apparently really good.

MC - Toulalan, along with Carioca possibly?

For a decently priced young DM Ignacio Camacho is supposed to have a lot of potential for 7.5m. Has pretty good stats to start with too.

Great thread hulk, I'll add it to the links thread:)

----------------------------------------

Right, I'm going to write up a guide on what you should do when you start as Arsenal, because it's quicker than writing it out again and again.

Recommended first 11:

GK: Almunia

DR: Sagna

DL: Clichy

DC: Toure

DC: Gallas

MR: Walcott

ML: Nasri

MC: Fabregas

MC: Denilson

ST: Adebayor

ST: van Persie

From that, the most obvious weakness is goalkeeper. Despite being alright, Almunia is aging and you could do much better. A cheap option is Enyeama, but you will have to act fast because he is likely to get snapped up quickly. Despite his price, I don't think he is much of an improvement, so should only be bought as backup. It is the same story with Fran Ochoa. My recommended player is Sergio Asenjo, who has a £7.25mil release clause. If you keep Almunia and rotate them, he will get the experience he needs and will almost certainly become a good player. If you don't mind paying big, Mandanda, Akinfeev, Lloris, Cassilias, Frey or Neuer are good choices. Lastly Fiorillo is a good young keeper, but he could be costly. Fabianski is average and can be sold, about £5mil is a good price.

At centre back, Gallas is aging and should be sold. £12mil would be a good price for him, in my opinion. Djourou is good backup, and can become a good player in the first team. If you sell Gallas you will be left with Toure, Song, Silvestre and Djourou. Silvestre is average, but is good backup. Still, if you get an offer in the region of £1mil I would sell him. Chiellini is a good option to buy here, he should cost £13mil. Sakho or David Luiz are good young players, so buying one of these would be a good move.

Defensive midfield is the last position I would recomment buying for. Denilson is good, but is only young and relying on him too much could cost you. Because of this, it is best to buy someone for here. Personally I feel the most sensible option is to splash out, as this is one of the most important positions on the field. Marcos Senna is a good choice. He could cost £10mil, but would be able to do a good job for you until Denilson is ready. When this happens Senna will be past his best, so you could try and convince him to join your backroom team. Miguel Veloso, Daniele De Rossi, Angelo Palombo, Jeremy Toulalan, Jean II Makoun, Mathieu Bodmer or Lorik Cana would also be good. Costly, but good none the less. Ignacio Camacho would be good, but he is inexperienced so could be a better option later in the game. Despite this, my top choice is Lassana Diarra. He is excellent, he can run for hours, is a good tackler but is still creative. He is exactly the sort of player Arsenal need in real life, and I feel it is the same situation on Football Manager.

Youth wise, the Arsenal squad is nothing compared to previous versions of the game. Jack Wilshere is the only player who in my opinion is almost certain to turn out well. Henri Lansbury, Havard Nordtveit and Fran Merida can be good, but more often they turn out average. Because of this, it is a good idea to spend a chunk of your money on players for the future. Oscar Sielva, Giorginho Wijnaldum, Henri Saivet, John Fleck, Davide Santon and Joe Mattock are my top recommendations, because on my game they have all turned out very well. Other players who are likely to do a good job include Jose Baxter, Jack Rodwell, Daniel Opare, Fausto Rossi, Daniel Sturridge, Martin Galvan and Canales. Then, of course, there are players who even in real life are known for their talents, such as Giovani dos Santos and Bojan.

because he was in real life? we missed him like crazy

neway team looks good well looks like it will be in 2 years few older players need to be brought in a feel i've only just started looking 4ward to a 3d match

theincrediblehulk

can i suggest maybe sumthing to do with woolich arsenal and how the arsenal name came about and the royal arsenal etc?

What is everyone doing for tactics? The one I imported from 08 isn't doing as well as id like, only beat Barnet 3-0 and never really thought we looked that good. It was only a pre season game of course, im more just wondering whether I should be starting a tactic from scratch.

because he was in real life? we missed him like crazy

neway team looks good well looks like it will be in 2 years few older players need to be brought in a feel i've only just started looking 4ward to a 3d match

theincrediblehulk

can i suggest maybe sumthing to do with woolich arsenal and how the arsenal name came about and the royal arsenal etc?

TBh I think it's fine - theres a couple of threads that ae very long, but this one tells you what you need to know without being boring.

yann sommer can solve the back up gk problem for around 500k bargin

i'm going to use a tweaked 4-4-2 to start off with mite have a go at making my own tatic for the first time on 09 i think with the 3d matches it will be easier

dont forget theres alot of players missing at the start

just got emerson on loan to cover dmc

Class thread Hulk! Will definitely be playing as Arsenal at some point, but I've decided to go Newcastle to start off with, fancied a challenge!

Appiah is crap!

Just went to sign him, and he is awful!

I've got him on trial, see what he can do....

EDIT: No I didn't, he accpeted offer but WP was turned down. He's an international FFS!

Anyone scouted the young french players? Apparently their quite good. However, my playing is getting beyond a joke; won't load <grr>

I can't wait for a new skin, it's hard to see the stats with this:(

u think? i dont find it 2 bad, i'm loving the 3d match

I started again, I'm going for a 4-4-2 this time.

Yeah, but it takes longer - I used to have it full speed but I couldn't on 09 as it looked stupid...

I need a GK, LB, DM, RM and maybe a CB if I sell Gallas.

Another 2 months into the game and These are the results so far.

Match results:

League Table (Poor Tottenham, conceding almost 3 goals a match):

Well I started the league with a miserable defeat against Sunderland, and the performance against Tottenham wasn't that positive either. Thought I'd have a tough run but the team bounced straight to the top form by going on an unbeaten run. It's a shame I'm still the runner up of the table, how the hell does Man Utd keep its form up?

The away game against ManC was a nightmare. Even with Toure and Gallas, I could barely handle handle their pace. Fortunately, Almunia was on top form to save the 3 points. In contrast, it was rather easy to play against Liverpool, with Adebayor sealing his first hat trick of the season. Torres was absent for some reason though (injury?).

ECC and LC are nothing special, winning most of the match comfortably.

Player Performance:

Tactics and Squad:

Forwards:

Partnership of RVP and Adebayor is great. RVP is capable of making chance upfront and gives out 4 key passes per match. It's the main supply for Adebayor too. Vela hasn't got many chances to start but his performance as a sub is more than just acceptable.

Dudu is back in light training but I doubt he'd be on form before the end of demo. Bendtner may get his chance in the near future as Adebayor is out for a month.

Midfield:

Strongest part of Arsenal, as always. However they haven't reached their top IMO.

Cesc is struggling due to major injuries in the start and he usually starts with condition lower than 85% every match.

Nasri could be the tricky one. I've played him both on ML and MC, and he performs far better as ML than MC. This could be my tactics though, so I'd like to hear more ideas on his setting before concluding.

Santi Cazorla, who costed 19.75M, does prove himself as a good buy with a 7.09 Avg. He could be a bit inconsistent though, getting a 5.5 in the last match against Newcastle for example.

Veloso has been a reliable DM so far ,as described in previous post.

And the rest of the midfield is decent back-up. Diaby and ramsey for Cesc, Walcott (might play him as a ST some day) for Cazorla and Song for Veloso. Rosicky isn't ready for competitive match yet and I'll keep him on the bench for a while.

Defence:

I didn't expect that they'd perform so well! It even leads me to thinking if our defence is over-rated.

Clichy and Sagna without a doubt are the top 5 DR/L in the game, in terms of both performance and stats.

Gallas and Toure do make a few mistakes but there is no sign that their mistakes are costing me matches/points.

Silvestre should be given a chance to rotate with them. Perform as both DL and DC.

Djourou hasn't played much but I think he has the potential to compete for a 1st team place.

Lastly, I can't ask more from Almunia as he has saved the team in some of the matches, especially the ManC one.

A Long long post of my impression so far. Hopefully my boring English didn't bother you.

Well played the game for two hours just now. I just love the 3D match engine and the Ass Mng comments. Like Mark said I am also having a lot of trouble with the tactics. I started with a standard 4-4-2 formation as already given in the game and watched the complete match. Did a lot of tweaking to but was able to win only by a 3-0 margin. Nasri played like crap and was declared the weakest player of the match. Pleased with Gallas, Van Persie and Walcott.

Also has anybody made any training schedules.

Players to buy:

GK: Either blow money on a world-class GK or settle with Enyeama as back-up

DM: I don't think Arsenal needs a player for this position although many will disagree. Denilson is good but maybe develops better. My call would be to play for 1 season and then analyse his and Song's performance there. In the meantime I brought in Bolzoni on loan and i am having a look at Rafael Carioca .

No need for any other position imo although a lot of injuries take place in this game. In my first friendly itself Silvestre got injured. Maybe would like to buy a versatile defender on the lines of say Burdisso but younger. Any suggestions. I did buy Marcelo though for cover on the left side and 4.4mill is a great price for him.

Manchester city are spending like crazy. They have already blown away 35mill on Hamsik and Zhirkov which is abit of a surprise to me as Hughes is not that kind of manager who spens like crazy. It seems the top four will now be changed to top five atleast in the game.

I like to spend a lot in demos so I know who to buy and not buy in the future.

I've almost finished my signings, I signed Cazorla, Veloso, Kolarov and Enyeama (work permit confirmation).

i no hes 32 but senna's stats at Villarreal are amazing

and he could cover the right intresting

do we really think walcott is up to first team on the right wing yet?

Wow you're right, he looks fb!

i thought he would hes been pretty amazing all year depands how much tho him being 32 put in a 7m bid

Transfers In

Sebastian Giovinco £7M -- very chuffed with this looks as good as last year

Steven Defour £10.5M -- If you think thats a lot they wanted £24M for Witsel

Yaya Toure £17.5M

Hulk £6M -- surprised nobody else here has bought him tbh

And won 2-0 against Sparta Prague first game.

Is anyone finding injuries pre-season happen a lot?!

He didn't look all that great to me

I find common injuries not only in pre-season, but also in league game.

Bendtner got injured twice for 1 month while RVP always picks up knocks.

Nasri is also annoyed by minor injuries, which last for few days to 2 weeks.

Luckily no real injury to my key players.

I find common injuries not only in pre-season, but also in league game.

Bendtner got injured twice for 1 month while RVP always picks up knocks.

Nasri is also annoyed by minor injuries, which last for few days to 2 weeks.

Luckily no real injury to my key players.

Ahh Song, Defour, Giovinco, Denilson, Sagna, Diaby, Eduardo, Adebayor, Rosicky and Fabregas (Y)

Not only did i get beat by Sunderland 3-0 Vela and Yaya Toure are both injured as well.

He didn't look all that great to me

who did?

injures are a problem looking around the forum people are saying it makes the game unplayable not sure about that but it will mean have depth in the squad will be important where as before it never was

do i buy marcelo? dont really need him hes soooo cheap tho

and has any1 found a good cheap winger whos better than walcott?

got senna for 8m

I was talking about Hulk

IMO, the number of injury ATM doesn't make sense.

Big and rich club like us may still be able to field a decent XI.

Though, if injury problem strikes team like Everton, I don't think they'd survive in the Premiership. :S

Found the first compensation buy on the game that may become a regular like Sakho and Saivet were last year

Zakarie Boucher

The squad i have lined up against Spurs is

Almunia

Eboue

Clichy

Toure

Gallas

Y. Toure

Giovinco

Denilson

Djourou

Walcott

Hulk

The injuries are ridicilous and its starting to bug me!

I'm getting in a few loans because injuries are hitting the team hard.

Pre-season injuries are happening a lot.

Senna's stats are really amazing. But thats to be expected as the Villareal team did come second last year. so many of the players such as Cazorla, Capdevila, etc. should be better.

Well yes I also like to spend big money while playing the demo. Infact I bid my entire transfer budget on Danielle De Rossi but he it was rejected.

quit this game is ridicilous

3-0 at half time playing a formation that could dismantle opposition last year. SI have screwed this one up in my opinion coming from someone who really enjoyed FM2008!

3-0 isn't bad you know! :confused: