FM11: The Official Arsenal Thread- All Style and No Substance

[Dead Kennedy Bakircioglu]

transfer is one of the most exciting feature of the game; some player preferring to play for you instead of chelsea, manu, man city etc... is always cool. Why disabling it? And IRL, when a new manager comes in, he fires all he dislikes and hire the ones he likes.

Anyway, 1stgame with Arsenal and succeeded to catch with the winning league transfer budget, 21m€: hulk, mexes, lugano, scott parker, kameni and loaned in patrick funk(cool name!), no transfer out.

playing arsenal makes this game even more awesome when you can recruit players like those.

[truegaffer]

2nd update

Starting to get a few injuries - Zarate is out for 3 weeks with pulled hamstring, Diaby also out for 3 weeks with broken ribs. Nasri also out with hamstring, gibbs out with twisted ankle

Very annoying as both zarate and diaby were in fine form.

Stoke next at home so i played walcott in place of zarate but kept him as an inside forward. Wilshire came in for diaby and I kept him as a box to box player.

Stoke played 4-4-2 with two deep centre midfielders and they had Jones and Sidibe up top so i decided to push the defence up which worked a treat as everytime the ball went over the top, koscienly and vermaelen had the pace to sweep up.

However our attack wasnt clicking so at halftime i changed walcott to winger and told the lads i was dissapointed.

2nd half we smashed them rvp with 2 classy goal - 1 being a mazy run and the 2nd a header from a cross by walcott. a deflected free kick made it 3 nil then in the last minute koscienly scored his 1st goal a header at the back post from a corner to make it 4-0

next we had spartak moscow at home - didnt really know much about them so i put defensive line at medium. changed walcott to a winger and we won 2-0 we dominated the game and the 1st goal came from an o.g from a walcott cross. we missed plenty of chances with the keeper making good saves and us not hitting the target. Was gettng worried that spartak would go up the other end and score with their only shot but ochoa and the defence has been solid and didnt give them 1 chance. Cesc wrapped up the win in last minute with a counter attack.

next spurs away in league cup away.

it was a tough match, as our next match is man city away. didnt know how to play it but decided to rest cesc, arshavin, sagna, rvp and wilshire. rosicky came in for cesc as the playmaker, denilson came in for wilshire as box to box, eboue replaced sagna, vela took arshavin position and chamakh went in place of rvp.

spurs played a 4-4-1-1 with defoe up top and van der vaart in the hole. decided to play deep due to defoe pace. after 10 mins we were done by a screamer from van der vaart. it was a freekick that he hit the wall but the ball fell kindly back to him and he smashed it - no chance for ochoa.

we responded well and dominated the game and a chamakh goal was dissallowed which i thought was harsh as he had turned the defender to shoot!! then gomes was in one of those moods to stop everything

so solid starts in league and champs league but knocked out of league cup by our rivals!!! however spurs blew it in the champs league qualifiers and have missed out on champs league footy!!!

man city away next

[JEinchy]

So I finally got around to starting an Arsenal save. I've only played two games so far, both in the Premier League, thanks to rescheduling and internationals but I did win them both: a home 4-2 win over Tottenham and a 1-0 away at Everton. Next up is Manchester United away. Its looks a pretty difficult start but I'd be more than happy with a point at Old Trafford in these early stages.

Anyway, these are the transfers I made:

INS:

Alex Smithies - £600,000 from Huddersfield.

Ryan Shawcross - £5,000,000 + £6,000,000 over 48 months from Stoke.

Marc Albrighton - £3,500,000 + £5,000,000 over 48 months from Aston Villa

Connor Wickham - £2,000,000 + £1,500,000 over 48 months from Ipswich

TOTAL: £24,5000,000.

One of my long term goals in this save is develop as much English talent as I can. Fortunately, there were some good talents in the areas I needed to strengthen so I opted to buy them regardless of age.

Smithies, whilst not as good as last year potential wise, can still develop into a good keeper with a lot of work. I'm also big on having keepers who can dominate their penalty areas which Smithies can do. Shawcross cost me a pretty penny to get but I really did need a central defender that is aerially dominant and that what Shawcross bring. Furthermore, he is the complete package as far as being a defender is concerned which is a welcome bonus. Albrighton, I admit, I overpoain for but I wanted a winger who could cross the ball and he's pretty good at that. A very good work ethic as well, which is great to have on the wings. Wickham was just a bonus signing as I'm quite a big admirer of him in real life and he has a great PA on my save.

OUTS:

Luckasz Fabiasnki - Loan: inital fee £1,500,000 with the option to buy for £900,000 to Barcelona.

Wojceich Szcesny - Loan to Celta Vigo.

Ignasi Miquel - £230,000 to Real Betis.

Mark Randall - Loan to Derby County.

Tomas Rosicky - £3,500,000 to Leverkusen.

TOTAL: £5,250,000.

I hadn't planned to sell Fabiasnki just yet but Barcelona came up with a pretty decent deal so off he went. A quick check on FMRTE tells me that Szczesny has the exact same PA as Smithies, so I decided to try and give him as much first team football as I could to aid his development. A season long loan to Celta was perfect for him. Miquel isn't a part of my first team plans so I thought I'd cash in before I lose him on a free. Randall I wanted to sell but nobody wanted to buy. A loan to Derby was the best I could hope for. Rosicky was surplus to requirements.

I'm using a 4-4-2 this time. My first team looks something like this:

Smithies

Sagna --- Shawcross --- Vermaelen --- Clichy

Nasri ----- Song ----- Fabregas ----- Arshavin

van Persie --- Walcott

I'm experimenting with Fabregas playing as a deep-lying playmaker. The responsibility of creating goals isn't the centre midfielder's alone in my tactic; that is shared by the two wingers and the trequartista. Its a bit of a work in progress, but its working out pretty well at the moment.

[$up@m@n]

Everyone looking for a goalkkeepr look no further then Villareal's Diego Lopez! I really like the look of him IRL and thought that on the demo i'd take a gamble. Got him for 10m over 48 months and he's been outstanding, was by far the best player in the first half of the season. Got the game aswell and he's a must I think been a revaltion and adds much needed confidnece when defending late on.

[dagoonerfan]

Everyone looking for a goalkkeepr look no further then Villareal's Diego Lopez! I really like the look of him IRL and thought that on the demo i'd take a gamble. Got him for 10m over 48 months and he's been outstanding, was by far the best player in the first half of the season. Got the game aswell and he's a must I think been a revaltion and adds much needed confidnece when defending late on.

Sebastian Frey is also good

[Big_Ant]

Just wondering how people are getting the best out of fabrigas? At the moment im playing 4-5-1 and he is set as a advance playmaker with support but he has achieved over 7.0 yet, it is only 3 games into the season but it is a worry!! Any ideas?

[hufton]

I just persevered with Fabregas in midfield on support role with him set as the playmaker, seems to be going well enough. In the last couple of months of each season he struggles to complete 90 minutes, though. Every game his condition seems to get down to the low 60s, I've tried resting him against smaller teams and from training, but it doesn't help.

The middle of my second season was excellent. Won the Club World Championship (admittedly not a great achievement), beat City away, lost to Villa, but then won 6-1 on Boxing Day against Forest, 7-1 on the 28th against Cardiff, 2-0 against West Ham on the 31st, signed Simon Kjaer, sold Koscielny to Inter, second-string won in the FA Cup 3rd Round, beat Sunderland 5-0 and beat Liverpool 4-2. Seven points clear at the top at the end of January.

[djvandyke]

Ryan Shawcross - £5,000,000 + £6,000,000 over 48 months from Stoke.

You singed that bloody scumbag for Arsenal?

Its a disgrace!

[Yakutz]

I've just finished my first season with Arsenal, and it's been a heartbreaking one, ending in no silverware, just dashed hope. Feels like real life.

Transfers in:

Igor Akinfeev - 15m

Romelu Lukaku - 6.5m

Diego Buonanotte - 1.8m

Mahamadou Diarra - 2m

Mario Yepes - 2m

Akinfeev was a great buy, relatively cheap for someone of his calibre, and obviously was to sort out the goalkeeper problem; Lukaku was a buy for the future, and didn't really play much at all, as I didn't get as many injuries as I expected. I took Buonanotte as I couldn't believe he was available at that price - and he turned out to be a brilliant buy, able to play in any of the attacking midfield roles as well as in the poacher role up front. The other two were backups in case of injury to Song/my Centre Backs. Neither played much.

The season got off to a pretty poor start, although I was unbeaten until February, I struggled to find any goals, with RVP and Chamakh seriously underperforming, and Walcott/Bendtner both out injured until around January. Ultimately, I ended up having a heartbreaking league title loss to United by just 2 points - an own goal in the last minute against West Brom in my penultimate match of the season cost me. The Champions League ended similarly - a semi-final defeat to Man United, despite winning my first leg 3-0 at Old Trafford. I'm still at a loss to explain that one. They also knocked me out of the League Cup quarter-finals. At least the FA Cup was a change - sadly, the change was a semi-final penalty defeat to bloody Spurs. It's been a difficult night.

I changed formation quite a bit, but my main one that brought me most success was a 4--4-2 with advanced wingers [inside forwards]:

Akinfeev

Sagna --- Djourou --- Vermaelen --- Clichy

Song ----- Fabregas

Nasri --------------------------------- Arshavin

Chamakh --- Walcott

I was as disappointed as I've ever been with RVP. He did manage to be my top goalscorer, but 7 of his 20 goals in all comps came from penalties, and he was just awful in every role I tried him. Chamakh as a Target Man [support] and Theo as a Poacher worked best, and Theo's introduction to the first team in January time just brought my team on leaps and bounds. I started scoring freely, although it did sadly all come to nothing. Fabregas got over 30 assists, and was named 3rd in World Player of the Year, Prem. Player of the Year, Young Player of the Year, got in the Prem. Team of the Year, Champs League Team of the Year, etc. Alex Dimitri Song Billong was a star, as well, popping up with more than the occasional goal. Finally, a special mention to Djourou, who displaced Koscielny from the first team when the latter got a broken nose, and ended up doing better than Vermaelen.

Ramsey and Wilshere played a lot of games, each with over 30 appearances, but mostly filling in/as substitutes. Both seem fantastic, and I can't wait to develop them further.

Looking forward to next season, I'm bringing in Vincent Kompany and Nuri Sahin, and aim to ditch Almunia, Rosicky, Denilson, Diaby, Squillaci, and Yepes, and see who I can bring in with the funds. A new striker may be on the cards, although Chamakh, Theo, and RVP all started hitting form towards the end of the season. I'm just praying I can bring in some silverware, not come ridiculously close and then lose it as I did this year.

[malikoi]

You singed that bloody scumbag for Arsenal?

Its a disgrace!

Get over yourself. It was an accident and Ramsey accepted Shawcross's apology. And before you ask I am an Arsenal fan, but I aint an idiot.

[theincrediblehulk]

Howdy everyone. It's been a while since I've been on here. Busy work-life etal! Wonder if someone still remembers me?! :confused:

Just got my FM2011 copy and am starting an Arsenal save. The opening post is quality no doubts but I'm wondering if anyone has any other tips for me beyond that? Its been a while since I've played the game (couldn't get into FM2010 sadly, so FM09 was the last serious game!!). I think for the first season, I'm gonna take someone else's tactic and see where that gets me. Hopefully I'll be able to get into the game long enough to develop my own.

It might have been a while but some things never change sadly. The weak departments according to me remain the same. New goalkeeper is a must for me. The rest, I'll see as I go along.

I don't know how regular I will be on here but I hope to be around.

Any tips would be gratefully received. On signings, staff and especially the game-play which I'm not familiar with.

theincrediblehulk

[JEinchy]

You singed that bloody scumbag for Arsenal?

Its a disgrace!

I've pretty much gotten over that tackle. It was purely accidental. I'm not going to hate and curse the guy for as long as I live for it.

Its not like he's going to turn around and break Ransey's other leg in training.

Fact is, he's a darn good defender in-game and someone I needed in the team.

The season got off to a pretty poor start, although I was unbeaten until February, I struggled to find any goals, with RVP and Chamakh seriously underperforming, and Walcott/Bendtner both out injured until around January. Ultimately, I ended up having a heartbreaking league title loss to United by just 2 points - an own goal in the last minute against West Brom in my penultimate match of the season cost me. The Champions League ended similarly - a semi-final defeat to Man United, despite winning my first leg 3-0 at Old Trafford. I'm still at a loss to explain that one. They also knocked me out of the League Cup quarter-finals. At least the FA Cup was a change - sadly, the change was a semi-final penalty defeat to bloody Spurs. It's been a difficult night.

Ouch.

I would be distraught if I lost that in major competitions to a fierce rival every time. I hope you give United and Spurs and good beating next season.

I was as disappointed as I've ever been with RVP. He did manage to be my top goalscorer, but 7 of his 20 goals in all comps came from penalties, and he was just awful in every role I tried him.

He seems to be doing okay for me as a trequartista at the moment. Are you playing with two inside forwards? Is one of your centre mids making a lot of forward runs? Maybe van Persie's space is being limited by the amount of players you might have in the centre of the pitch.

Howdy everyone. It's been a while since I've been on here. Busy work-life etal! Wonder if someone still remembers me?!

Just got my FM2011 copy and am starting an Arsenal save. The opening post is quality no doubts but I'm wondering if anyone has any other tips for me beyond that? Its been a while since I've played the game (couldn't get into FM2010 sadly, so FM09 was the last serious game!!). I think for the first season, I'm gonna take someone else's tactic and see where that gets me. Hopefully I'll be able to get into the game long enough to develop my own.

It might have been a while but some things never change sadly. The weak departments according to me remain the same. New goalkeeper is a must for me. The rest, I'll see as I go along.

I don't know how regular I will be on here but I hope to be around.

Any tips would be gratefully received. On signings, staff and especially the game-play which I'm not familiar with.

theincrediblehulk

Great to have you on board again.

As you've already said, a good goalkeeper is a must. The usual suspects are still there; Akinfeev, Adler, Lloris, Frey, Ochoa et al. I personally believe Demriel at Fenerbache to be a good and relatively cheaper alternative and Diego Lopez of Villareal also looks more than capable. You can also ask your board to buy you a top quality player this year. As you might have seen, people have used this feature to get keepers like Hugo Lloris in for a price ranging between £24,000,000 and £32,000,000. So if you aren't stingy on prices like I am, this might be the option you'd want to take.

Other signings: Phillipe Mexes can be grabbed for £8,000,000 right at the start before he signs a new contract if you don't mind his high wage demmands. Shawcross I think will turn out to be a great defender in game though you'd need to splash the cash on him. I personally recommend Vuckojevic for defensive midfield cover. You can get him for about £6,000,000 to £8,000,000 from Dynamo Kyiv.

I don't know about anyone else, but I got a lot of joy playing predominantly down the flanks. When I was playing as Atletico Madrid earlier (before I overwrite that save...) I scored a lot of goals with Reyes and Simao crossing in and a player tapping the ball in at the back post. Sad to say, the defenders seem to react slower than the forwards. Arsenal unfortunately don't have the best crossers of the ball, but nothing is stopping you from going out and getting one. Someone like Coentrao is an excellent option to have on the left. The right hand side is a bit different but you could get Simao if you don't mind his age plus high wages. Reyes is also a good option for the wings.

So yeah, those are my suggestions.

[KyleGraham]

Get over yourself. It was an accident and Ramsey accepted Shawcross's apology. And before you ask I am an Arsenal fan, but I aint an idiot.

No he didn't mean to break his leg but he sure as hell meant to go in hard and give him a knock, its what Stoke do. The guys a scumbag

[KyleGraham]

Also, just sold the ineffective Chamahk (which is realistic) for £14 million and Bendtner (which I didn't want to do) for £6.5 million. Simply as I was bringing it Luis Suarez and Park Chu Young and already have Dzeko and van Persie. Signed Stankovic and got rid of Denilson also. Trying to get Daniel Agger but they want over 30 million

[truegaffer]

3rd update

going very strong now

we drew 1-1 at man city - a de jong screamer for city earned them a point. ochoa had no chance

champs league going very well an away 4-0 win against copenhagen and a 2-0 home win against werder bremen leaves me with 100% record without concending a goal at the halfway mark of the group stages.

then we had chelsea away - i set my team to concentrate training on defensive duties and it worked we scored after 9 minutes from theo wondergoal getting the GGGGGGOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLL goal goal goal writing!!!!!!

we contained chelsea - there only chances came from corners and long distances and we won 1-0

there was then home wins against west brom, stoke and bolton 4-0, 4-0 and 3-0 and a solid 2-0 win against everton.

my defence is working brilliantly - im am stil adjusting my defensive line depending who we r up against. sagna, koscienly, vermaelen and clichy have been outstanding - even eboue when sagna is rested has been superb. gibbs has done well when clichy has been rested. squillaci has also done well when brought on. yet to use djourou but is getting match fitness in reserves.

i am now starting to have problems who to pick in midfield as all of them are doing brilliantly cesc and song are 1st choice and im mixing it up with diaby, wilshire and nasri for the 3rd spot. denilson also had a superb game when song was rested.

rosicky had a quick rich vein of form with 3 goals in 2 matches playing left wing but then got a groin strain. arshavin is having spells where he does nothing then scores a screamer. zarate has just come back from injury but has scored 3 in the last two games when coming off the bench.

theo looks so dangerous on the right wing with his pace and can be a menace when played on as a forward when coming off the bench.

rvp is joint top goalscorer in the league, if he aint scoring he is supplying.

chamack is doing vey well when coming off the bench but yet to score - has started 1 champs league match and worked his socks off for the team.

im am still keeping an eye on lukaku and depending on how much rosicky gets injured i will allow vela to go on loan.

bendtner is slowly starting to get fitness back and he will compete with chamakh - if i get lukaku one of those will be sold at the end of the season - bendtner has an advantage as he is a home grown player

ramsey is also getting fitter but i may loan him out as there is so much competition in midfield

i have also got tranmere as a feeder club i had the options like ipswich and norwich but went for the league 1 side as i wanted my youngsters to get more chance of starting - i have asked szcenzcy, murphy and frimpong to go there. i have also sent jay emmanuel thomas on loan to reading for 3 months - i will be keeping an eye on him to see 1 how he gets on and 2 what position he plays - i ideally think he could be a prolific striker with his power - will wait and see

ive also got lansbury on loan to swasea and randall to doncaster who are both doing well

i am top of the league by 1 point infront of liverpool and united but both have a game in hand - but both have recently dropped points where as i have been getting stronger

i have the usual managers that hate me - harry redknapp, carlo ancelotti, alex ferguson and whenever i seem to get slagged off by them, i am ignoring them my team seem to play far better if i dont respond.

however Terry Skiverton the yeovil manager doesnt like me either - not too sure why???

[robchamp]

Finally started my long term save with Arsenal after a week of scouting/playing with tactics.

Tried to make all the big changes to the team in the 1st transfer window -

Out -

Rosicky - £7.75m

Eboue - £10.5m

Almunia - £4.1

Fabianski - £250k Loan

Vela - £500k Loan

Mannone - £100k Loan

In -

Aguero £5m up front then £40m after 48 months

Dzeko - £22m after 48 months

Mexes - £8.75m

Van der Wiel - £8.75m

Sissoko - £14.75m

Adler £16.75m

Team -

Gk - Adler/Chezza

Dr - Sagna/Van der Wiel

DL - Clichy/Gibbs

Dc - Verm5/Kosc.....

Dc - Mexes/Squillaci

DMc - Song/Sissoko/Denilson

MC - Fab/Nasri/Rambo

Mc - Sissoko/Diaby/Wilshere

STrc - RVP/Walcott

STC - Dzeko/Chamakh

STlc - Aguero/Walcott

Delighted with 1st 11. Looking to ship out Bendtner & Denilson.

Have arranged a few youngsters for Summer 2011.

CL - P4 W4

PL - P13 W10 D2 L1 5 Points clear, lost to Manu Utd away 2-1, with 9 men, Rooney with 94th min winner, beat Chelski away, Spurs & Liverpool at Home.

LC - Out on Pens - Villa Away

So far so good and team is gellling well.

RVP has been brilliant & not injured yet. 11 in 12 so far.

Dzeko & Aguero have had decent starts.

Adler is by far one of the best GKs I have ever seen on a CM/FM since the beginning. Worth every penny.

I basically now have at least 2 good players in each position.

Just in December now. New update shortly.

[truegaffer]

Finally started my long term save with Arsenal after a week of scouting/playing with tactics.

Tried to make all the big changes to the team in the 1st transfer window -

Out -

Rosicky - £7.75m

Eboue - £10.5m

Almunia - £4.1

Fabianski - £250k Loan

Vela - £500k Loan

Mannone - £100k Loan

In -

Aguero £5m up front then £40m after 48 months

Dzeko - £22m after 48 months

Mexes - £8.75m

Van der Wiel - £8.75m

Sissoko - £14.75m

Adler £16.75m

Team -

Gk - Adler/Chezza

Dr - Sagna/Van der Wiel

DL - Clichy/Gibbs

Dc - Verm5/Kosc.....

Dc - Mexes/Squillaci

DMc - Song/Sissoko/Denilson

MC - Fab/Nasri/Rambo

Mc - Sissoko/Diaby/Wilshere

STrc - RVP/Walcott

STC - Dzeko/Chamakh

STlc - Aguero/Walcott

Delighted with 1st 11. Looking to ship out Bendtner & Denilson.

Have arranged a few youngsters for Summer 2011.

CL - P4 W4

PL - P13 W10 D2 L1 5 Points clear, lost to Manu Utd away 2-1, with 9 men, Rooney with 94th min winner, beat Chelski away, Spurs & Liverpool at Home.

LC - Out on Pens - Villa Away

So far so good and team is gellling well.

RVP has been brilliant & not injured yet. 11 in 12 so far.

Dzeko & Aguero have had decent starts.

Adler is by far one of the best GKs I have ever seen on a CM/FM since the beginning. Worth every penny.

I basically now have at least 2 good players in each position.

Just in December now. New update shortly.

looks good team mate - how the hell did u sell almunia for 4.1 million i offered clubs 2.5 million and no one was interestd? also what did u do with arshavin??? who brought eboue for 10 mil??????

[robchamp]

Cheers,

Offered Almunia for £5m & Stuttgart offered £4.1m.

Offered Eboue for £15m & Bayern offered £10.5m.

Still got Arshavin, forgot to put him on list. He plays in Fabs position or Up front. Has done ok but will look to sell & replace with Hazard in the summer.

Will try to keep team together now & build/replace slowly!

[scribs]

my approach was to pretty much strengthen the team in every way so these were the signings i made

i even spent 60 mil in the january window after figuiring out more weaknesses

got rid of that peice of **** chamakh who was being out scored by vela.

[scribs]

had to part 2 it to add more pictures

this is the formation i was using for most of the season with the january additions playing a bit part

fabregas and my other attacking players are all playing some serious quality football... the season and champions league finishes in 10 games time and will upload a final table pic

4 points ahead of utd with 6 games to go after such a shaky start to the season that my job was on the line lol

also this made me laugh considering its arsenal in real life

[kingpin]

I see quite a few people a few people have opted for dzeko, who has been absolute cack for me and will be sold this summer unless something drastic changes in his form, can you let me know how he is getting on and how you are using him....funny also that people haven't had that much success with chamakh as he has been a real surprise for me despite the look of his stats...

[Craig_R.U.F.C]

I'll do a little update for you all now, quite comfortably won the league in the first season. It was a very good season indeed started off well, faded with a few draws around december but picked back up with the signings of Hazard and Hamsik who both signed after i asked the board to help me with funds to bring them in, quite happy about that because Hamsik averaged 8.10 after 12 games(Wasnt able to play in CL) and got player of the month twice. Can't wait for the new season to begin though.

Here is the team for the first season;

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Players who you can't see on there that i signed are;

Zacharie Boucher

Jack Robinson

Tobias Figueiredo

Alexandre Coeff

Toni Silva

Raphael Holzhauser

Luc Castaignos

Marko Maletic

Piotr Parzyszek

I also got Wellington Silva, Lucas Piazon, Romario & Sotiris Ninis as future transfers.

FA Cup: Semi Final - Lost to Chelsea.

Carling Cup - 3rd Round - Lost to WBA

Champions League - Final - 1-0 loss to Man Utd Very gutted because i had to beat Barcelona to get there too.

[scribs]

for me dzeko is by far one of the best stikers in the game

hes good in the air, fairly fast and has a brilliant finish

[truegaffer]

4th update

i got a lovely msg from the board - weve decided to increase your transfer budget to £65million

it was nice to know the board were given me backing but i dont need to sign anyone!!

as ive had my eye on lukaku for a while i decided to make a bid - he had scored 8/8 in the beligian league and 2/7 in europe so i made a my 1st bid at £5million as suggested by my scout - this go rejected straight away and i then made a £6million bid with a friendly arranged - rejected they wanted £9.5million plus 30% sell on fee - i offered £8million but he was to join at the end of the beligian season - i did this as it would keep him playing 1st team footy - this was accepted and the contract went smoothly - i got my man

i also had a champs league match to worry about werder bremen away - van persie was injured after 3 mins so chamakh came on and caused trouble creating plenty of chances for his team mates aswell

it was tight match and with 60 mins gone i decided to take arshavin on bring and bring on zarate and told him he can make the difference and he did!!!

on the 80 minute zarate got down the byline pulled it back to nasri to blast it in, then on the 88th minute a long ball by vermaelen towards theo who chased the ball, whipped in a cross and zarate nicked the ball of fritz and nodded the ball in!! then zarate run at fritz and got wiped out by fritz who earnt his 2nd yellow!! 2-0 away win and qualifications to the next round with 2 games spare. Job Done!!!

[bboy123]

As you've already said, a good goalkeeper is a must. The usual suspects are still there; Akinfeev, Adler, Lloris, Frey, Ochoa et al. I personally believe Demriel at Fenerbache to be a good and relatively cheaper alternative and Diego Lopez of Villareal also looks more than capable. You can also ask your board to buy you a top quality player this year. As you might have seen, people have used this feature to get keepers like Hugo Lloris in for a price ranging between £24,000,000 and £32,000,000. So if you aren't stingy on prices like I am, this might be the option you'd want to take.

how do you ask your board to buy a player?

[JEinchy]

how do you ask your board to buy a player?

When you try and buy a really good and high reputation player, say Lloris for example, click make an offer. In the top right hand corner, there should be a message that says:

"As this would be an important transfer for the club, it might be appropriate to ask the board to negotiate the transfer for you."

Below that there's a button that says "Interact with Board". Click that, then convince the board to buy you that player.

[zuber123]

Just started my long-term Arsenal save.

After attempting a couple of saves to experiment with transfers, this was what I settled on:

Players In

Rafael Toloi - £5m

Federico Fazio - £500k

Dodo - £1.3m

Leonel Galeano - £5.5m

Pablo Sarabia - £1.4m

Kevin (Zaragoza) - £1.9m

Guillermo Ochoa - £3.5m

Tom Cairney - £2.5m

Thorgan Hazard - £3.2m

Sergio Araujo - £1.8m

Alan Patrick - £3.9m

Robert Pires - Free

Daniel Kofi Agyei - £4.7m

Players Out

Ignasi Miquel - £230k

Oguzhan Ozyakup - £75k

Vito Mannone - £950k

Sebastien Squillaci - loan fee £250k, possible future fee £4.8m

Tomas Rosicky - £3.9m

Lukasz Fabianski - loan fee £130k

Manuel Almunia - £4m

Lansbury, Emmanuel-Thomas, Frimpong and Eastmond all out on loan for the season

Also have following players joining later:

Romario - £240k - 1.1.2012

Emiliano Martinez - £500k - 2.9.2010

Lucas Piazon - £240k - 20.1.2012

Mateo Kovacic - £700k - 9.6.2012

Juan Iturbe - £750k - 1.7.2011

Team is now:

GK - Ochoa/Scezney

WBR - Sagna/Eboue

WBL - Clichy/Gibbs/Dodo

DCR - Koscielny/Djourou/Galeano

DCL - Vermaelen/Toloi

MCR (Ball Winning) - Song/Fazio/Agyei

MCL (Box-to-box) - Diaby/Ramsey/Denilson/Kevin/Cairney

AMC - Fabregas/Arshavin/Hazard/Alan Patrick

AML - Nasri/Vela

AMR - Wilshere/Pires/Walcott

CF - RVP/Chamakh/Bendtner/Araujo

Obviously many of these are interchangeable

Plan was to attempt to get a good 1st 11, decent 2nd 11 and a youth 3rd 11.

Possible future transfers out are Arshavin, Denilson and Djourou

Want to get a good prospect for GK (thinking Areola), and Paulo Henrique.

Only played a couple of friendlies so far with easy wins (and clean sheets!)

Will also try to loan out many of the youngsters I bought, although its proving rather difficult. No one seems to want to take Vela on loan, even with 0% contribution! Anyone else having difficulty loaning players out?

[kingpin]

for me dzeko is by far one of the best stikers in the game

hes good in the air, fairly fast and has a brilliant finish

Are you playing him with a partner or up front alone? for me i think his lack of pace off the bat (accelleration basically) and his lack of work rate stops him from performing for me, and even when he is given a chance his finishing is pretty erratic for me, even when it is on a plate he has had 3 pens also and has missed all 3!...

[Maestroik]

Any one got Sirigu? Big fan of him IRL. Looks good on this version too.

[Lonmzjia]

Question for all of you: what formations have you been using?

Pat Rice keeps saying a 4-1-2-1-2 or a 4-2-2-2 is the best for my team, saying that a slow and narrow tactic is best for my squad.

Initially, I had a 4-2-3-1 as so:

GK: Ochoa

DR: Sagna

DCs: Vermaelen, Galeano

DL: Clichy

CMs : Fabregas, Song

AMCs: Nasri, Wilshere, Arshavin (all in the AMC position, which FM says is their best position) --> Also experiment with AMR and AML

ST: RVP

Then I switched to a 4-5-1:

Same back 4

DM: Song / Agyei

CM: Fabregas, Diaby

AMR: Arshavin

AML: Nasri

ST: RVP

But then Rice says my team has been struggling with a 4-5-1. Kinda true, since I've almost never scored more than 1 goal away, although I've only conceded 5 goals in about a dozen games. Now I'm on a 4-1-2-1-2 and play fairly narrow and slow (on Rice's rec). But doesn't Arsenal play best on quick and wide tactics? How much should I listen to backroom advice?

[zuber123]

See two posts above for my squad where I detail my players. Its a 4-2-3-1. Looks something like this:

----------------GK----------------

-----------DC-------DC----------

---WBR-----------------WBL---

----------MC--------MC----------

---AMR------AMC------AML----

-----------------CF---------------

one MC is a ball winning midfielder, the other is box-to-box

CF is usually deep forward (RVP) or complete forward (chamakh)

use the AMLRs as inside forwards, with Nasri as AML and Wilshere as AMR

[scribs]

i was partnering him with vela in the first season and ended up winning the league

in the last fm he scored over 400 goals for me and arsenal hoping he does the same in this

[kingpin]

Yeah thats the reason i bought him again he was an absolute monster for me in the last one, but can't seem to work alone up top in this one,

[kingpin]

4 games to go

I'm once point clear at the top of the table followed to close for my liking by none other than spurs....i'll be damned if i let them pip me to the title but the form they are in they look like they could win all of their remaining games, me on the other hand has to to juggle matches with real madrid in the middle of this heated title race

Also made it to the FA cup final against leeds who knocked out my youngsters on pens in the carling cup so i'm looking for revenge. Beat chelsea on pens.

[mkabas]

Definetly my next save!!!! God job on the Arsenal Thread!!!!!!

[dagoonerfan]

I proably wont have an Arsenal save for a while. enjoying the pompey one

[begilsson]

[PervertedbyLanguage]

Hey all, great thread as usual. One name I haven't heard mentioned yet but who has worked great for me is Ivica Olic, an amazing bargain buy. He starts off preseason with a broken leg, but I swooped in in August and picked him up for only £3.7m from Bayern Munich (wait until he's almost fit, otherwise he'll fail the medical). He responded by leading not only Arsenal in scoring (33 goals in all competitions), but led the league in goals (25), assists (15), and highest-rating (7.61), and was voted "Buy of the Season" in the year-end summary.

I used him up-top with RVP (when RVP wasn't injured) as Target Man/Adv. Forward in a 4-4-2. Other buys were Rodwell to shore up the middle, Ochoa to shore up the goal, and Mapou Yanga Mbiwa from Montpellier, an all-rounder in defense who can play both wings and the middle, and came in handy when Clichy went down injured for 3 months (he also adds strength and height to the squad, as does Rodwell). Finally, the board funded Dario Srna as my final buy, who I played as a Def. Winger on the right side of the 4-4-2 (Arshavin on the left), and who whipped in plenty of great crosses for Olic to head home.

One other tip: I set my corner-crosses to Attack Far Post, where Koscieny was set to Attack. He responded with 8 goals from corners, a nice bonus, and always seemed to be free.

Usual line-up was

RVP (or Chamakh) - Olic

Arshavin - Rodwell/Song - Fabregas - Srna

Clichy/Mbiwa - Vermalaen - Koscieny - Sagna

We won the league on the final game of the season, squeezing out Chelsea. Lost to Real Madrid in the Champion League semis. Good season overall.

[SirFuzzyDunlop]

my approach was to pretty much strengthen the team in every way so these were the signings i made

i even spent 60 mil in the january window after figuiring out more weaknesses

got rid of that peice of **** chamakh who was being out scored by vela.

Chamakh is very, very good on the game. He's scored 20 goals and got 5 assists in 23 games for me.

That's got to be some of the worst transfer business I have seen in a long time. Half of the players you bought aren't even as good as the ones you sold

[aditya]

my best result so far! 100% Arsenal squad except for Defour

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[theincrediblehulk]

JEinchy

Thanks for the suggestions mate.

I've made a few signings and still thinking of one more which might just be a big name signing. I'm yet to use the boards help so might just take it and see if I can bring in a player who'll add to my team substantially and this will probably be a CB.

Can you recommend someone for me? I'm happy to splash the cash for a quality player but I would prefer someone who can dominate aerially. Mexes has signed a new contract and will cost me £13-15M. His concentration is also a little too low for my liking anyway. The only other player who seems to fit the bill is Vidic and that's not possible.

Will update again once I've completed all my transfers.

theincrediblehulk

[JEinchy]

Can you recommend someone for me? I'm happy to splash the cash for a quality player but I would prefer someone who can dominate aerially. Mexes has signed a new contract and will cost me £13-15M. His concentration is also a little too low for my liking anyway. The only other player who seems to fit the bill is Vidic and that's not possible.

Some real big names I can think of are Gerard Pique and Pepe, but I have no idea if they'll join you at this stage.

Off the top of my head, there's guys like Per Metesacker, Ryan Shawcross and Christoph Samba who are all aerially dominant but aren't well-known enough for the board to make the transfer for you.

[aditya]

Some real big names I can think of are Gerard Pique and Pepe, but I have no idea if they'll join you at this stage.

Off the top of my head, there's guys like Per Metesacker, Ryan Shawcross and Christoph Samba who are all aerially dominant but aren't well-known enough for the board to make the transfer for you.

you could try Howedes or Tasci at the 2nd season

[dz47]

Howdy everyone. It's been a while since I've been on here. Busy work-life etal! Wonder if someone still remembers me?! :confused:

Just got my FM2011 copy and am starting an Arsenal save. The opening post is quality no doubts but I'm wondering if anyone has any other tips for me beyond that? Its been a while since I've played the game (couldn't get into FM2010 sadly, so FM09 was the last serious game!!). I think for the first season, I'm gonna take someone else's tactic and see where that gets me. Hopefully I'll be able to get into the game long enough to develop my own.

It might have been a while but some things never change sadly. The weak departments according to me remain the same. New goalkeeper is a must for me. The rest, I'll see as I go along.

I don't know how regular I will be on here but I hope to be around.

Any tips would be gratefully received. On signings, staff and especially the game-play which I'm not familiar with.

theincrediblehulk

Great to see you back Hulk, you've been missed!

[hufton]

4 points clear of United with 3 games to go, if I beat Sunderland and Bolton I'll have won the title to make it 4 trophies in 2 years, but in between times I'll have crashed out of the Champions League in the semi-final against Barca. I'm 3-0 down after the first-leg.

[Suggy33]

Just approaching the end of my first season, and it's really tight at the top. With 2 games remaining, Spurs are top, and are likely to win the league with 79 points, Man City are second on 73. The next 4 teams (Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal) are in places 3-6 with only 2 points separating 3rd from 6th. A loss to Chelsea just now didn't help my cause.

Ibrahim Afellay and Phillipe Mexes will join on free's before next season, and Mikel Arteta for £6m. I had the opportunity to sign Balotelli, Milner and Sandro for a combined £21m, but didn't need them, so they remain listed.

[error]

Has anyone else given Almunia a go? I looked at the start of the season and couldn't really find anyone I wanted to spend £25-30mil on, I'm a bit tight like Wenger and dont like spending big if I dont need to. Anyway I stuck with Almunia and am glad I did so, am just nearing the end of Jan and have the best defensive record with only 8 or 9 goals conceded and Almunia has been really solid. Have also got him called up to the Spain squad although he didn't play.

Also think Wellington Sillva will be great, he has 3 goals in his first 2 games!

[scribs]

the only transfer out which i didnt really want to do was samir nasri, the rest are all garbage

dzeko > chamakh

mexes > song

balotelli > walcott

lukaku > bendner

shawcross > locensky

[zuber123]

the only transfer out which i didnt really want to do was samir nasri, the rest are all garbage

dzeko > chamakh

mexes > song

balotelli > walcott

lukaku > bendner

shawcross > locensky

Poor transfers IMO

Song is pretty much the only DM or Ball Winning Mid the team has, and you've replaced him with a CB?

Chamakh, Walcott and Bendtner are good on this game, and koscielny is decent backup CB

[begilsson]

Has anyone else given Almunia a go? I looked at the start of the season and couldn't really find anyone I wanted to spend £25-30mil on, I'm a bit tight like Wenger and dont like spending big if I dont need to. Anyway I stuck with Almunia and am glad I did so, am just nearing the end of Jan and have the best defensive record with only 8 or 9 goals conceded and Almunia has been really solid. Have also got him called up to the Spain squad although he didn't play.

Also think Wellington Sillva will be great, he has 3 goals in his first 2 games!

Yes, I played Almunia in the first season and he did quite well getting his international debut for Spain along the way. I would recommend everyone to stick with Almunia during the first season and then maybe pick up a world class keeper (Akinfeev, Adler etc.) on the cheap as at least one of them probably wil get transfer listed after season one.