FM12 Arsenal Thread - Life after Cesc

[llama3]

How well has Chamberlain developed for you? On my game, he's just been sitting in the reserves not developing at all. It doesn't help that his determination is just a mesely 7, either.

Decent improvement in all physical attributes of 1-2 points per attribute. Same for tactical attributes, Attacking has improved by a similar amount, and ball control, mainly technique have improved too

[WinterAce]

Regarding youth, I usually just cherry pick the best of the bunch and try to develop them as best I can. If I can't use them in the first team, I try to send them out on loan. The likes of Szczesny, Gibbs, Coquelin, Ramsey, Wilshere and Miyaichi are all part of my first team set-up, with the likes of Frimpong, Ozyakup and Chamberlain coming in for cup games and the odd game here and there and Dawson, Johannson and Campbell all on loan at Lorient.

I probably have too many youth players, actually (I just added three more this transfer window). My recommendation is to focus on a smaller group of players. I also want to build a homegrown squad, but there's a lack of easily accessible talent in the first couple of windows so I'm focusing more on foreign youth for the moment.

As for coches, I don't touch the physios as I think their fine. I give Steve Bould and Tony Colbert new contracts so that they become coaches for the first team, not youth, and then assign every coach to a specialist area. For example, Pat Rice will do tactics, Bould will do defending, Primorac will do shooting/ball control, etc. Then I sign coaches for the areas I don't have a specialist in. In my case, I needed an attacking coach and a ball control coach, so I hired Anselmo Sbraglia (a fantastic young coach from Palmeires) and Franco Baldini. This way, I now how 4-5 stars in all areas.

Thank you. But I send out my good youth players, I get concerned over the Reserve and Under 18 teams' losses. Morale goes down to Abysmal. So I tend to keep some players in the Reserves just to keep 'em going.

[JRSlater]

Anyone else had Abou Diaby play a blinder?! He's in an attacking midfield role for me and after he returned from injury I was sure he would be sold at the end of the season. Gave him a couple of games against weaker sides to rotate the squad and he put in some great performances. He's now a regular and scored 13 goals in 16 league games with an average rating of 8.08.

[Baptista_8]

Well, Aguero has been awful for me so far, missing chances left right and centre - penalties, the lot.

He's scored 1 in 10 so far as a Trequartista, best start stepping up!

[lewis999]

Well, Aguero has been awful for me so far, missing chances left right and centre - penalties, the lot.

He's scored 1 in 10 so far as a Trequartista, best start stepping up!

He's too good a player to keep playing like that mate, once he scores a few, no-one will be able to stop him.

[sulky]

Just finished my first season – won the FA Cup, came 4th in the league after a really strong first half of the season (sound familiar?) and went out of europe in the first knock out round.

Signings were Fellaini, Muniain, Vrsaljko.

Fellaini was great, the occasional violent lunge aside. Muniain won me over with a brilliant solo effort against Man United to win me the game – he was hit and miss for the rest of the season.

Vrsaljko was great on the pitch, but a pain off it, and I suspect will continue to pester me for a new contract.

The most disappointing element was probably RvP who I don't think ever really hit form as the '1' in my 4-5-1, nor as the deeper lying of the '2' in the 4-1-3-2 I experimented with towards the end of the season.

I'm now struggling to get shot of Diaby, Squillaci, Vela, Park, Santos and Miyaichi (whose negative attitude and poor performances make him seem the opposite of the impression I have of him in real life).

With my £63 million budget I want to buy Gotze (the only player who my scouts think will reach 4.5 stars that I can actually buy) but at £45 million Dortmund still aren't interested so I'm now thinking about Reus after reading about him in the Guardian this week and seeing how good he's been for JEinchy.

I also think a striker makes sense, ideally a no frills finisher I think, but we'll see, and a young English DL as back up to Gibbs (who had a good, injury free year).

Barkley and Butland are already in, along with a very young German keeper, and I'll be looking to buy more youth.

Any advice appreciated.

[aLlamaWithARifle]

Looking for some young players capable of filling Van Persie's shoes when he retires, I'm in my first season so I'm looking for someone young but also someone who can play a game or two if need be. Looking for a similar type of player to RVP so good flair, creativity, dribbling, finishing and good first touch.

[John Joe O'toole]

I opted to sell Arshavin because £14million was too good to reject, and i replaced him with Willian for £8.5mil so feel i have a better, younger player and was left with money over.

Anyway i decided to splash the cash on Hamsik, Cavani, Craig Dawson, Vrsaljko and Willian. Hopefully i can have a good season with these additions plus my current team still a bit miffed over what formation is best im alternating between a 4-2-3-1 and a 4-2-2-2 would like to use a 4-5-1 with wingers pushed up but dont think ill score enough goals....

[JEinchy]

The most disappointing element was probably RvP who I don't think ever really hit form as the '1' in my 4-5-1, nor as the deeper lying of the '2' in the 4-1-3-2 I experimented with towards the end of the season.

I'm now struggling to get shot of Diaby, Squillaci, Vela, Park, Santos and Miyaichi (whose negative attitude and poor performances make him seem the opposite of the impression I have of him in real life).

With my £63 million budget I want to buy Gotze (the only player who my scouts think will reach 4.5 stars that I can actually buy) but at £45 million Dortmund still aren't interested so I'm now thinking about Reus after reading about him in the Guardian this week and seeing how good he's been for JEinchy.

I also think a striker makes sense, ideally a no frills finisher I think, but we'll see, and a young English DL as back up to Gibbs (who had a good, injury free year).

Barkley and Butland are already in, along with a very young German keeper, and I'll be looking to buy more youth.

Any advice appreciated.

I've found van Persie to be very good playing as a Trequartista, either on his own or with a partner. For some reason, I could never get him going in any other role. It also may help if you get him to stop shooting with power, as I find he misses a lot of chances with that PPM.

If you're looking for a similar talent to Götze, you could try Eden Hazard. Not as good, but he just went for as liitle as £17mil on my save with Lille saying they couldn't refuse it, so it might be worth a bid. The thing with Reus is that he's a completely different player to Götze and his potential isn't that high, unfortunately. Still a very good player (in game and in real life; scored twice today for Gladbach), mind. Another you could look at is the old favourite, Marko Marin, though I've always found his mental stats to be extremely off-putting.

There's also the Brazillian kids; Paulo Henrique (Ganso), Neymar and Lucas Moura. Even someone like Alan Patrick, who plays for Santos, might be good. Also Willian and Douglas Costa, who both play for Shakhtar.

As for strikers, I've unfortunately not found many affordable strikers. An old favourite was Nolan Roux, but he's been downgraded unfortunately. Perhaps you could try and get Kevin Gamerio from PSG, or Roberto Saldado from Valencia if you're not fussed with money.

A young English left back... you've already got the best one. Only other decent one I can think of is Ryan Bertrand, but he may be difficult to pry away from Chelsea.

Is that young German keeper Marc Andre ter Stagen, by any chance?

Hope any of this helps.

Looking for some young players capable of filling Van Persie's shoes when he retires, I'm in my first season so I'm looking for someone young but also someone who can play a game or two if need be. Looking for a similar type of player to RVP so good flair, creativity, dribbling, finishing and good first touch.

I don't know many who fit that description, but maybe Paco Alcacer could be a good bet.

[sulky]

I've found van Persie to be very good playing as a Trequartista, either on his own or with a partner. For some reason, I could never get him going in any other role. It also may help if you get him to stop shooting with power, as I find he misses a lot of chances with that PPM.

If you're looking for a similar talent to Götze, you could try Eden Hazard. Not as good, but he just went for as liitle as £17mil on my save with Lille saying they couldn't refuse it, so it might be worth a bid. The thing with Reus is that he's a completely different player to Götze and his potential isn't that high, unfortunately. Still a very good player (in game and in real life; scored twice today for Gladbach), mind. Another you could look at is the old favourite, Marko Marin, though I've always found his mental stats to be extremely off-putting.

There's also the Brazillian kids; Paulo Henrique (Ganso), Neymar and Lucas Moura. Even someone like Alan Patrick, who plays for Santos, might be good. Also Willian and Douglas Costa, who both play for Shakhtar.

As for strikers, I've unfortunately not found many affordable strikers. An old favourite was Nolan Roux, but he's been downgraded unfortunately. Perhaps you could try and get Kevin Gamerio from PSG, or Roberto Saldado from Valencia if you're not fussed with money.

A young English left back... you've already got the best one. Only other decent one I can think of is Ryan Bertrand, but he may be difficult to pry away from Chelsea.

Is that young German keeper Marc Andre ter Stagen, by any chance?

Hope any of this helps.

Lots of that helps, thanks. I'll look at Gotze alternatives and maybe stick with my strikers, just work on giving them the right roles.

The German keeper is Dennis Cichon, I don't seem to have Marc Andre ter Stagen on my game.

[JEinchy]

I actually spelt it wrong. :o

It's Marc-André ter Stegen. Very exciting prospect on the game.

[jojko]

can you send me your tactic?

[sulky]

I actually spelt it wrong. :o

It's Marc-André ter Stegen. Very exciting prospect on the game.

Ah yeah, found him now, he's four years older than the keeper I signed, but he has incredible stats.

[Lone Gooner]

Hi Lads

Just started another Arsenal save again, love your updates by the way JEinchy keep them coming! :thuup:

Does anyone think it would be possible to win the league without spending anything? I did consider this but I just feel I would neeed a few quality signings, I was thinking maybe Baines, Chiellini, Tiote (Newcastle) and a fairly cheap striker as a backup for RvP any ideas?

Cheers

Lone Gooner

[Llew_Arshavin23]

I'm also loving JEinchy's monthly updates at the moment; very well written as always

In my opinion, it would be possible but, it wouldn't be easy by any stretch of the imagination. We do need much more strength in depth; quality players have to be acquired.

What positions are you looking for? When you come back to me with the positions in need, I'll post a few options for you to consider

[JEinchy]

February Update

Premier League

Liverpool 4 - 5 Arsenal (Donovan 6', Dante 36', Suarez 44', Tshabalala 51'; Walcott 3', 55', Lucas OG 17', Koscielny 66', van Persie 73')

Just... wow. The defending in this game made me rage, since I'm actually quite a defensive manager. Us taking the lead early on was a real bonus and something I hadn't expected, but things eventually levelled out when Liverpool equalised. Szczesny came for a free-kick and got no where near it, thus gifting Donovan an easy chance which he buried. It was a rather uncharacteristic error from the usually faultless keeper.

A corner flicked on by Vermaelen was turned into his own goal by Lucas, but another error from Szczesny gifted Liverpool a second. Again, he came to retreive a set-piece but got no where near the ball and, again, it's not something he usually does. He's never done it until this game.

It got worse in the second half. Some sloppy defending was capitalised upon by Suarez, and some ever sloppier work - starting when Wilshere was robbed in midfield by Agger and the defence being asleep - lead to Tshbalalala making it 4-2. I won't say anything cliché like "I expected us to come back because we have great mental strength" (to borrow a Wengerism), because quite frankly I didn't.

So when Walcott got one back, I began to hope. Koscielny nodding in a corner to make it 4-4 made me elated. Van Persie belting in a free-kick to put us ahead almost (and I stress, almost) made me dance around the room in joy. No more games like this, please. They're too stressful.

Wigan 0 - 0 Arsenal

Releived to see a clean sheet? You bet I am. Disappointed we couldn't score, though.

Champions League

Trabzonspor 1 - 3 Arsenal (Pawel Brozek 78'; Jack Wilshere 52', 62', Marco Reus 57')

European football is back, and so is our goalscoring form. After a poor first half and a firework up the backside by me, the team came out sharper in the second half. Wilshere put us ahead with a tap-in. Reus doubled our lead with a beautiful curling effort from 25-yards. Wilshere then made it 3-0 with a fantastic finsih with the outside of his left foot. Brozek got one back for the Turkish side, but the tie looks to be wrapped up.

FA Cup

Arsenal 1 - 0 Bristol City (Per Mertesacker 64')

Bristol came to visit with their pesky formation in this FA Cup replay. The game was just as annoying as the initial game, and it took Mertesacker heading home an Eardley corner again to get us a goal.

Arsenal 3 - 0 West Ham (Johan Djourou 34', Jesé 40', Ryo Miyaichi 60')

Now this is more like it. Djourou gave us the lead with a header from a Thorgan Hazard corner. Jesé got his first goal since joining with a tidy finish from the centre of the area. The pick of the goals was definitely the third, though: a cleared corner found it's way to Hazard, who played it to Ramsey. Ramsey passed forward to Jesé. The Spaniard lofted the ball to a galloping Digne on the left, who then played it first time Ryo Miyaichi. The Japanese winger rounded the move off with a confident left footed strike. The average age of that counter attack was just 19.

Carling Cup

Arsenal 3 - 2 West Bromwich Albion (Theo Walcott 9', 32', Robin van Persie 30'; Graham Dorrans 20', 85')

Cuip final time!

We started this game brilliant and deservedly took the lead when van Persie slipped through an exceptional pass for Walcott to finish. West Brom then equalised against the run of the play through a long-range Dorrans strike. Undettered by the surprise goal, Walcott crossed for van Persie to make it 2-1 before scoring his second by rounding off a quick passing move. We were by far the better side in the final, and the only real trouble came when Dorrans managed to score a second late on. The remaining few minutes were nervy, but we held on. That's the first cup in the bag. Hopefully three more are to follow.

Other

After the euphoria of winning the cup, van Persie picked up an injury playing for the Netherlands... and will be out for three months. Typical, isn't it?

[Timurid]

i just started my annual arsenal save. the first thing i do is i make a bid for Super Mario for 50 mil, but Borussia wants 128 mil for him. do you think my game is messed up?

[JEinchy]

i just started my annual arsenal save. the first thing i do is i make a bid for Super Mario for 50 mil, but Borussia wants 128 mil for him. do you think my game is messed up?

No, that's just their way of telling you "hands off". Best thing to do is to wait a while, see how Dortmund do in their league and try again later on. Also might be worth using the media to unsettle him, too.

[Carmi88]

Super mario name is reserved for balotelli, get a new nickname!

[Lone Gooner]

I'm also loving JEinchy's monthly updates at the moment; very well written as always

In my opinion, it would be possible but, it wouldn't be easy by any stretch of the imagination. We do need much more strength in depth; quality players have to be acquired.

What positions are you looking for? When you come back to me with the positions in need, I'll post a few options for you to consider

Thanks Llew

I am looking for primarily a left back as I dont think I can bank on Santos as first choice as he seems to make a lot of mistakes, usually target Baines. A central defender is needed of quality so I often go for Chiellini here to play with Vermaelen, and a midfielder such as M'Vila?

Anyone had Ansaldi from Rubin?

[Suggy33]

I have him at Rubin, attacking wing back, good at set plays too.

[Gooner Nation]

Started a second Arsenal save tonight. Played the first one up until New Years. Was 4 points behind City, through to knockout stage in the Champions League and won all domestic cup matches until that point. Bought a bunch of youngsters and didn't sell anyone of any importance in the first team so they just sat in the reserves. Decided to start again and go with a youth movement and see how they perform. With the quality youth already on the team and the others I've brought in I needed to make a lot of room for them.

In

M'Baye Niang - £12m

Leandro - £9.25m

Felipe Anderson - £5.5m

Sime Vrsaljko - £4.6m

Emre Can - £2m

Mateo Kovacic - £2.1m (Joins next summer)

Maxwell - £3.1m

Out

Squillaci - £1.1m loan fee. £3.25m or something to buy.

Mannone - £1.4m

Miquel - £475k

Arshavin - £10m

Rosicky - £2.6m

Almunia - £1.7m

Djourou - £10m

Diaby - £11m

Trying to sell Chamakh even though he played very well. Arteta once we start playing and I see if my squad is big enough. Park as well.

[Lone Gooner]

Does anyone think Milito from Inter would be worth signing? I have had a £5m offer accepted by them.

[JRSlater]

My current transfers:

Out

Manuel Almunia

Sebastien Squillaci

Marouane Chamakh

Vito Mannone

In

Sime Vrasljko

Marek Hamsik

Seydou Doumbia

Emre Can

Best performing players (By average rating)

1. Abou Diaby

2. Yossi Benayoun

3. Marek Hamsik

4. Seydou Doumbia

5. Theo Walcott

[arsenalthebest]

i got lots of flexability with my team my starting formation can be changed to 4-4-2, 4-2-4, 4-5-1,4-4-1-1,4-3-2-1,5-4-1(1 sub) 3-1-4-2(1 change),3-1-4-1-1(1 change) and 3-1-3-1-2 and 3-1-3-2-1 both with 2 subs

[exorcisto]

Well my Arsenal team are flying at the moment, unbeaten in 18 games in all competitions, but Manchester United are just unassailable in the league. After 26 games our record is W16, D4, L4, 58 points, which puts me firmly in second place. We're 9 ahead of Sp*rs in 3rd, but 8 behind United.

United's visit to the Emirates was the most remarkable game I've ever seen on any FM. We went 0-2 down in no time at all, but pulled back to 3-2 ahead before half time. Rooney equalised for them in the 54th minute, and it looked all over when he and Hernandez added another one each to make it 3-5. Luckily van Persie struck back immediately, and substitute Chamakh made it 5-5 in the 79th minute. Not good enough to win though and they are still unbeaten in the league, looking like they could equal our Invincible season.

van Persie is on fire with 23 goals in 22 games, and Arteta has earned himself a Spain call-up with his 12 goals and 12 assists in 37 appearances.

We also beat Lille 5-1 away in the first leg of the Champions League first knock-out round, but struggled to a 1-1 draw with Stoke in the FA Cup 5th Round. We'll take them back to the Emirates next week, and sort them out .

[bigman]

wow lads, only gone and done the treble!!! what a season!!!

those pesky spuds challenged me to the very end but i pipped them to the title! i spanked qpr 8-0 at home thanks to 5 doumbia goals, they were relegated in 20th place and morale was low! my team was full of confidence and we destroyed them!

had an easy run to the fa cup final, played birmingham in the semis and managed to defeat chelsea, 3-0 in the final!

in the champions league, i qualified top of my group with zenit, partizan and olympiakos....i then faced porto, beat them 2-0 away then drew 1-1 at home. next was napoli, again i defeated them 2-1 away and drew 3-3 at home! in the semis, shaktar awaited, they spanked me 2-0 away....dominated me! however, at home, we took them to penalties with a 2-2....we missed the first and everyone scored, except for their 5th taker....they then missed the next pen and i won in sudden death! in the other semi, barca were defeated by man city....i managed to take them 1-0 in the final, a close/poor game in which theo scored in injury time....wenger was very civil after though lol

heres some pics

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/208/squad44.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/256/facupj.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/856/champsk.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/266/champsleague.jpg/

[KingLara]

Time for a first attack on Arsenal in FM2012.

I was waiting for the Arsenal edition but seems like it never came so just got the normal game

Was going to be a challage without Fabregas and Nasri but was looking forward to it

TRANSFERS

The plan

Ironically in some ways my plan was still do do excatly what wenger did. So I was looking for a left back, attacking winger, striker and centre back. My four targets were Baines, Gotze, Tevez and Subotic/Sakho. Additionally i wanted an extra defensive midfielder and a right back as Jenkinson was demoted to reserves. I considered getting another keeper and had a bid accepted for Adler but he then tore his ankle and failed the medical. Maybe a blessing in disguise.

The outcome

I ended up with just one of the targets. Man City were still asking for 43m to but Tevez and I was never paying that sum. Sakho and Subotic were both poorly rated by my top scouts putting them fifth in the centre back list at the club. Baines I managed to get for a decent price of 14.5 million. The biggest disappointment was Gotze. Dortmiund rated him at 12m so i bid that which was rejected. This followed bids of 15, 20, 40 and finally 60!!! were all rejected and they finally came back and wanted ONE HUNDRED AND TEN MILLLION POUNDS STERLING!!! Annoyingly like every player it seems my Board doesn't think he is good enough to negotiate for me. The rest of the window i spent searching for a pacey winger but couldn't find what I needed. Neither could I find a suitable striker but covered my other positions. I tried to sell all the dead wood but as they were injured nobody wanted them so the likes of Rosicky and Djourou are in the reserves while Almunia was released and Squillaci went out on loan to Leicester.

IN

Leighton Baines 14.5m

Jan Vertonghen 8.5m

Esteban Granero 6m

Lenny Nangis 3m

Adam Campbell 2.5

Lorenzo Crisetig 1.3

Ricardo Kishna 1.1

Sime Vrsalko 1m

OUT

Vito Mannone 1.5m

Manuel Almunia Free

Sanchez Watt Loan

sead Hajrovic Loan

Benik Afobe Loan

Craig Eastmond Loan

Sebastian Squillaci Loan

Tough decisions on the squad

Szczesny - Fabianski

Baines - Gibbs - Santos

Sagna - Vrsalko

Vermaelen - Vertonghen

Mertesaker - Koscielny - Djourou

Arshaivn - Chamberlain - Granero

Gervinho - Bennayoun

Arteta - Ramsey - Wilshere

Song - Frimpong

Van Persie - Chamackh

Walcott - Park

PRESEASON

I think it's a record as I don't ever remember playing 9 pre season games. It was probably a couple too many but set us up well.

OH LEUVAN 1-4 ARSENAL Cariler 66 - Chamackh 25 Vermaelen 42 Van Persie 68 Heungens o.g 68

CARLISLE 0-3 ARSENAL Murphy 39 Koscielny 43 Chamackh 53

DUNFERMLINE 1-1 ARSENAL Kean 78 - Van Persie 22

LEICESTER 2-3 ARSENAL Nugent 30 Bamba 80 - Murphy 56 Chamberlain 87 Walcott 90

HEARTS 0-5 ARSENAL Van Persie 1 Walcott 7 42 Gervinho 73 80 Hajrovic 28

PSG 4-3 ARSENAL Pastore 18 25 59 Nene 62 Lugano 78 - Arshavin 30 Walcott 48 70

WEDER BREMEN 3-1 ARSENAL Wesley 24 Arnautomic 42 Weigartner 61 - Bennayoun 75

Emirates Cup

Arsenal Juventus Braga and Valencia made up the 2011 Emirates cup. Braga were the surprise package beating Ajax 3-1 on Penalties in the other semi final. Arsenal comfortably overcame both Juventus and Braga. After the two wobbles against PSG and Bremen it was nice to come back home and beat two good sides and lift the cup.

ARSENAL 3-1 JUVENTUS Chamackh 5 43 Arshavin 23 - Iaquinta 74

ARSENAL 4-0 BRAGA Walcott 12 87 Van Persie 33 Koscielny 63

So Pre season was over. Time for the games to begin

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER

Premer League - NORWICH 0-5 ARSENAL - Whitbread s/o 17 - Van Persie 18 Walcott 27 Koscielny 31 Song 66 Chamackh 81

Quite a start! Whitbread hauled down Van Persie when he was clean through who then struck the resulting free kick into the bottom corner to begin the rout

Champions League (play off 1st leg) - ARSENAL 2-0 RUBIN KAZAN - Gervinho 12 Van Persie 81

Easy first leg win. Should really have scored more.

Premier League - Arsenal 3-1 WIGAN ATHLETIC - Park 49 Chamackh 52 85 - Rodallega 87

It was quite fortunate that we had a simple home game in the middle of a crucial champions league tie. I rested the big names for the tuesday and although Wigan made the game more even than it seemed, it was a comfortable result. How's this for a Bench?; Fabianski, Mertesaker, Arteta, Walcott, Arshavin, Van Persie.

Champions League (play off 2nd leg) - RUBIN KAZAN 1-1 ARSENAL - Martins 8 Trufanov missed/pen 19 - Arteta 35(pen)

An extremly attacking game for a champions league tie. Rubin went 1-0 missed a penalty for 2-0 and really should have won but arteta from the spot got the away goal and sent us into the group stages.

Premer League - QUEENS PARK RANGERS 0-3 ARSENAL - Van Persie 42 Walcott 59 Arshavin 72

No Europe hangover as we strolled to an easy win. 69% Possesion too.

Premer League - ARSENAL 3-1 MANCHESTER CITY - Van Persie 15 83 Arshavin 79 - Yaya Toure 53 Lescott s/o 3 Zabaleta s/o 46

In echoes of QPR vs Chelsea this season Man city were reduuced to 9 men just after half time and with Arsenal running out of ideas and missing chance after chance it appeared they may grab a most unexpected draw before Arshavin was unleashed off the bench and provided that bit of spark to just see us over the line.

Champions League - ROSENBORG 1-2 ARSENAL - Isachsen 12 - Arshavin 6 Van Persie 82

The stats say it all Arsenal had 24 shots Rosenborg had 1.

Premer League - WEST BROM 1-2 ARSENAL - Cox 73 - Arshavin 8 45 Vermealen s/o 52

A good battling win after playing with 10 men for nearly all of the second half. Arshaivn kept up his excellent form.

League Cup - ARSENAL 2-1 NEWCASTLE - Granero 66 Vertoghen 89 - Jimenez 44

It was a difficult decisoon as to whether to play first team or fringe and kids. I went for the second option and gave debuts to a number of players but in truth we probably deserved to lose and were very lucky. Fulham away in round four will see a stronger side. Man City beat Man United 3-0. Chelsea face Liverpool in round 4.

Premer League - Arsenal 3-0 BOLTON WANDERERS - Walcott 16 Gervinho 67 Chamberlain 82

After three consecutive 2-1s it was nice to return to a saturday afternoon stroll.

Champions League - Arsenal 3-0 FC KOBENHAUN - Vermaelen 7 - Arteta 36(pen), 63(pen)

Even easier!

So 11 out of 11 for August and September but it wasn't always easy and had a pretty nice fixture list and no serious injuries. Arshaivn has an average rating of 7.6 having been outstanding so far. Mertesaker can't get in the team because of Koscielnys good form while the likes of Ramsey, Park and Gibbs have had little game time either.

The league table makes interesting reading

1. Arsenal played 6 points 18

2. Liverpool played 6 points 13

3. Chelsea played 6 points 13

4. Newcastle played 6 points 13

5. Tottenham played 6 points 12

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

8. Man United played 6 points 9

12. Man City played 6 points 7

I'll happily take a 9 point lead any day.

STATS OF THE MONTH

Manchester United WLLWLW

Manchester City WLDLWL

[ewok01]

I was surprised to read that Arsenal are the 3rd richest clu in the world. Yep that's right 1.1 billion, behind Man U and Real Madrid, so the question beckons, why we spending so little on transfers and or even (past tense) left it so long to buy anyone. 3rd richests, wow I didn't know that. I feel that FM2012 should reflect this better than it does. In real life we are richer than Chelsea and Man City and aparently that's the truth.

Cheers all

[JEinchy]

wow lads, only gone and done the treble!!! what a season!!!

Congratulations on your success.

So 11 out of 11 for August and September but it wasn't always easy and had a pretty nice fixture list and no serious injuries. Arshaivn has an average rating of 7.6 having been outstanding so far. Mertesaker can't get in the team because of Koscielnys good form while the likes of Ramsey, Park and Gibbs have had little game time either.

Seems like you've had a good start, so keep it up. Do tell me how Adam Campbell gets on.

I was surprised to read that Arsenal are the 3rd richest clu in the world. Yep that's right 1.1 billion, behind Man U and Real Madrid, so the question beckons, why we spending so little on transfers and or even (past tense) left it so long to buy anyone. 3rd richests, wow I didn't know that. I feel that FM2012 should reflect this better than it does. In real life we are richer than Chelsea and Man City and aparently that's the truth.

Cheers all

I believe that's the valuation of the franchise, not how rich the club is. Arsenal certainly doesn't have £1.1billion in their coffers, just waiting to be spent. It's much much less than that.

If you actually look at the game's rich list, Arsenal start off in 4th or 5th. One season of real success and they quickly go third, behind Spain's big two. So it actually is fairlly accurately implemented into the game.

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

March Update

Premier League

Arsenal 4 - 2 Newcastle United (Marco Reus 12', Theo Walcott 26', Gervinho 83', Mikel Arteta 90+4'; Peter Lovenkrands 44', Jonas Gutierrez 52')

The first game after the League Cup final, and it seemed some of the team were still in party mode. When we took a 2-0 lead, it looked like another easy win but Newcastle managed to come back. How, I don't really know. Fortunately, the team showed enough character to eventually win the game; Gervinho actually scoring a goal (a shocker on its own) and Arteta scoring his first for the club (surprisingly).

Arsenal 1 - 0 West Bromwich Albion (Marco Reus 69')

A re-match of sorts from the cup final. It was a dull game, with neither side doing much to win it. It was eventually decided when Walcott slipped through a fantastic pass to Reus on the right, who then blasted it home for his second in as many league games.

Stoke City 1 - 3 Arsenal (Peter Crouch 18'; Laurent Koscielny 2', 42', Theo Walcott 23')

We all love a good trip to Stoke, don't we? This win was pleasing because two of our goals came from set-pieces, and I'm a lover of irony, so... Actually, set-pieces is something I will address later on. I have some gripes about them.

Arsenal 1 - 0 Swansea City (Alex Song 46')

Another drab home game. This is most likely indicative of the fact that the title is in the bag and the team is struggling to find the motivation to play to the best of their capabillities. Still, a win is a win.

Manchester City 2 - 3 Arsenal (Mario Balotelli 31', Gael Clichy 58'; Laurent Koscielny 15', Marco Reus 25', Marouane Chamakh 62')

Now this is more like it! We hadn't had that many exciting games this month and while I hate it when we concede poor goals, I do love it when the side shows some character. We were on the back foot for the majority of this game - seriously, it's so hard to have the ball against City's 4-2-3-1 with three AMC's - but still managed to take a 2-0 lead. City eventually came back thanks so some rather abject defending from us, but then we went up the other end and took the lead again. We were already 20-something points ahead of City before this game, so not winning would not have been catostrophic by any means. A win is a great result.

Champions League

Champions League Last 16 2nd Leg

Arsenal 2 - 0 Trabzonspor (Marouane Chamakh 36', Marco Reus 75')

The tie was pretty much over in the first leg, so this was more or less a formality. 5-1 the aggregate score.

Champions League Quarter-Finals 1st Leg

AC Milan 1 - 1 Arsenal (Mathieu Flamini 28'; Park Chu-Young 86')

Along come the big teams... needless to say, this was a very difficult game. Flamini gave Milan a deserved lead with a 30-yarder, of all things, and they really could have beat us by two or three goals. Park grabbing a goal right at the end was surprising but hell if it's not welcome. That goal could be the one that ultimately decides the tie.

FA Cup

FA Cup Round 6

Nottingham Forest 1 - 4 Arsenal (Paul Anderson 47'; Brendan Moloney OG 18', Alex Chamberlain 43', Park Chu-Young 70', Per Mertesacker 75')

Another outing for some of the younger players and a pretty routine win. Manchester United are our semi-final opponents.

Friendly

Kalmar FF 0 - 6 Arsenal (Patrik Pettersson OG 4', Park Chu-Young 12', Alex Chamberlain 37', 41', Johan Djourou 57', Per Mertesacker 87')

Just a friendly game we had to play as part of the Johansson deal. The timing wasn't ideal, but as the result shows it was hardly a strain on the players.

Other

1) In consecutive games, Clichy and Flamini have scored against us. Our next game is against Spurs... who wants to bet Adebayor scores, just to keep this pattern going?

2) I said January was a ridiculous month in terms of games; March is taking the mickey. It's about to get worse in April, too.

3) Just three or four more wins until the title is wrapped up. At risk of sounding pompous, I can't wait until it's official, since we've had this thing wrapped up since January.

[Sourav]

PRESEASON UPDATE

The fixtures were as follows:

AS Monaco FC - Arsenal (1-7) (Neutral)

Colorado - Arsenal (1-4) (Away)

Crewe-Arsenal (0-8) (Away)

Arsenal-Barcelona (1-0) (Home)

Arsenal-Fiorentina (3-1) (Home)

TRANSFERS:

OUTs:

Manuel Almunia to Inter Milan (£2M)

Vito Mannone to Malaga (£1.8M)

INs:

Jack Rodwell from Everton (£15M)

Leighton Baines from Everton (£14.75M)

START OF SEASON

I was drawn against Standard in the CL qualifying round. The fixtures that took place in August were as follows-

Newcastle - Arsenal (1-1) (Ramsey)

Arsenal - Standard (2-0) (Arteta, Van Damme og)

Arsenal - Man Utd (2-1) (Van Persie, De Gea og)

Standard - Arsenal (0-2) (Dibi og, Walcott)

Bolton-Arsenal (0-1) (Song)

Steady start to the season but need to score a lot more. The CL groups were announced as well. We play against -

CSKA

Rangers

Udinese

[JEinchy]

April Update

Premier League

Arsenal 0 - 0 Tottenham Hotspur

Thankfully, no Adebayor goal. Unfortunately, we didn't score.

Queens Park Rangers 1 - 1 Arsenal (Shaun Wright-Phillips 20'; Thorgan Hazard 41'

We got battered. I played a weakend side, but we really should've done better against the leagues bottom side.

Arsenal 2 - 0 Everton (Marco Reus 21', Mikel Arteta 56')

Horray, a win! Easy stuff. Everton didn't turn up.

Arsenal 1 - 0 Bolton (Marouane Chamakh 26')

A meh win in a meh game.

Sunderland 2 - 2 Arsenal (Matthew Kilgallon 9', Ryan Noble 63'; Park Chu-Young 5', Johan Djourou 84')

Title wrapped up. Players are on holiday already, it seems.

Champions League

Champions League Quarter-Finals 2nd Leg

Arsenal 3 - 1 AC Milan (Marco Reus 66', Mikel Arteta 69', Theo Walcott 87'; Alexandre Pato 79')

A great win with some great goals.

Champions League Semi-Finals 1st Leg

Manchester City 1 - 0 Arsenal (Salvatore Bochetti 34')

I hate playing City away.

Champions League Semi-Finals 2nd Leg

Arsenal 0 - 1 Manchester City (James Milner 40')

I hate conceding 30 yard screamers from average players.

FA Cup

FA Cup Semi-Final

Arsenal 1 - 3 Manchester United (Theo Walcott 9'; Darren Fletcher 15', Javier Hernandez 62', Mame Briam Diouf 65')

Yeah, this was just poor all round.

Other

April sucked. That is all.

[llama3]

Update 2011/12 Season

after my 0-2 defeat at Man City these are my very indifferent results:

H Chelsea 3-2 - Mertesacker (2), Chamberlain

A Steaua 3-1 - Afellay, Park, Djourou (UCL)

H Aston Villa 2-0 - Chamberlain (2)

H Wigan 2-0 - Miyaichi, Diaby (CC)

A WBA 1-0 - Chamakh

H Steaua 2-0 - Chamakh (2) (UCL)

A Blackburn 2-2 - Walcott (2)

H Everton 0-3

H Newcastle 2-0 - Arteta, Walcott

H FC Kobenhavn 5-2 - Ramsey, Afellay (2), Diaby (2) (UCL)

A Cardiff 4-2 - Walcott, Gerrard og, Ramsey, Park

H Watford 3-1 aet - Djourou, Afellay (2)

H Fulham 1-1 - Dempsey og

A Milan 3-6 - Chamberlain, van Persie (2) (UCL)

A Man Utd 0-1

H QPR 0-0

All in all, very disappointing, inconsistent, injuries, poor defending and toothless attacking - really not sure why, for the first time in many years, genuinely out of ideas. Van Persie is finally back after injury, Gervinho came on as a sub against QPR. Chamakh now out for 4 months and Vermaelen for 3 months.

League Cup Semi Final Draw:

Arsenal v Man Utd

FA Cup 3rd Round:

Arsenal v QPR

UEFA Champions League Knockout Round:

Arsenal v Inter

[JEinchy]

May and End of Season Update

Premier League

Aston Villa 0 - 3 Arsenal (Jack Wilshere 15', Aaron Ramsey 38', Marouane Chamakh 54')

Arsenal 2 - 0 Norwich (Mikel Artea pen 44', Gervinho 49')

Fulahm 1 - 3 Arsenal (Andy Johnson 20'; Theo Walcott 30', 45+1', Jack Wilshere 34')

So that's the Premier League all wrapped up. Here is the end of season table:

Unbeaten all the way and over a hundred points. I think that can be called a pretty good season. There are a couple of things to be disappointed about:

1) Before February we had only conceded 5 goals all season, but in the months afterwards we conceded 13. While conceding only 18 goals all year is a good thing, the fact that we conceded 13 in four months is what displeases me. Something to work on for next season.

2) Spurs scored 100 goals. Jesus.

As is the case at the end of every season, there are rewards:

Golden Glove: Wojceich Szczesny (Arsenal, 26), David De Gea (Man Utd, 19), Joe Hart (Man City, 18)

Footballer of the Year: Luka Modric (Tottenham), Wayne Rooney (Man Utd), Gareth Bale (Tottenham)

Players' Player of the Year: Theo Walcott (Arsenal), Sergio Ageuro (Man City), Jack Wilshere (Arsenal)

Players' Young Player of the Year: Marco Reus (Arsenal), Samir Nasri (Man City), Javier Hernandez (Man Utd)

Other Competitions

Champions League: Semi-finalists. Eliminated by Manchester City after two pretty disappointing displays. Barcelona went on to win the competition, and I feel we probably wouldn't have beaten that haxx of a team. Next year this will probably be my main target.

FA Cup: Semi-finalists. Beaten by United with, again, a poor showing. I wasn't too bothered, but still disappointed.

Carling Cup: Winners!

The Players

Top Goalscorers:

Robin van Persie - 25

Marco Reus - 20

Theo Walcott - 20

Jack Wilshere - 15

Marouane Chamakh - 10

Top Providers:

Theo Walcott - 16

Jack Wilshere - 15

Marco Reus - 11

Robin van Persie - 11

Mikel Arteta - 10

What Now?

I've taken the reigns of the Great Britain U23 Olympic Team, which will be a completely new experience for me. In terms of Arsenal, there'll be some players leaving, but I'm not sure at all about who, if anyone, I'll be brigning in.

[bigman]

just signed montoya, shawcross, vertonghen and hulk at the end of my treble winning season....had a bid accepted for hazard but hulk looks better imo for the prem and more of a left wing goal threat

sold djourou to villa for 7 million, vela to liverpool for 12 million and loaned out diaby to galatasary

released rosicky, arshavin, mama diarra and boetelho on free transfers

so hopefully my team next season will be even stronger

strikers - rvp, doumbia, theo, chamakh, bendtner

wingers - hulk, gervinho, theo, chamberlain, ryo

mids/dmids - ramsey, wilshere, arteta, song, vertonghen, coquelin

fullbacks - giggs, santos, sagna, montoya

keepers - chezney, fabianski

wouldn't mind some more english players, was thinking of selling arteta for barkley?

[xxbeowulfxx]

Sold Arshavin and signed Marko Marin for 18.5M been superb so far. Lamine Gassama as Sagna's replacement, not too shabby and can cope w pressure.

[jamiet666]

Second season transfers after minimal movement in the 1st i decided there were some bargains i had to take advantage of, Ozil and Benzema Both under 25m 0.o, not too mention Hummels at that low low price! Tried to balance the books as best i can and so far there is still Arshavin to shift with Park on loan at AC with a 10m buy clause. Should be set up for some time with this squad however, maybe some regens when they pop there heads up for my scouts.

Edit: tiny photo, click to enlarge

[NabilH]

Started my arsenal save again.

Got rid of:

Frimpong 2.5 million, Chamakh (10 million LOL), arshavin (15 million)

bought

Honda - 17 million

cavani - 28 million

christian errikson - 6 million

breno - valencia rb/lb loan (brilliant lb/rb)

still got 13 million to buy with.

brilliant, cant wait to start it properly tommorow on my day off, set tactics & training schedules up. Im just waiting for tottenham away 1st fixture in the prem

[Lone Gooner]

Just an update on my save guys, I know its early in the season but things are looking good

http://imageshack.us/f/528/tablewk.jpg/

I played a young team in the Carling Cup 3rd Round and smashed Fulham 5-2 at home, with Chamberlain getting a hatrick

I have only signed 3 players and that is Lavezzi, Canella and Maxwell and I am really happy with the squad depth I have got, I have Man United away next league game I will be happy with a point although hopefully I can keep my run going. I have focussed on staff to this time and it seems to make a world of difference with having top quality staff, eg Physio's touch wood my injury's have not been to bad.

This has to be my most enjoyable save to date and I am loving it at the moment

[ewok01]

Hi mate, did a search and we are 3rd full stop, here is one of the links http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbes'_list_of_the_most_valuable_football_clubs

Cheers, btw we keep coming up 3rd overall.

[ewok01]

Just to continue, found this on Forbes, good read: http://www.forbes.com/sites/sportsmoney/2011/04/20/the-worlds-most-valuable-soccer-teams/

The game should reflect this better.

Cheers

[JEinchy]

Hi mate, did a search and we are 3rd full stop, here is one of the links http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbes'_list_of_the_most_valuable_football_clubs

Cheers, btw we keep coming up 3rd overall.

Just to continue, found this on Forbes, good read: http://www.forbes.com/sites/sportsmo...-soccer-teams/

The game should reflect this better.

Cheers

These are lists for most valuable football teams, not richest. I chekced the in-game rich list, and Arsenal are third, behind Spain's big two and in and around Manchester United and Bayern Munich.

So I'm not sure what else the game needs to do to accurately represent this. Money isn't even a problem, since my second season budget is £60mil.

[llama3]

Update Season 2012/13

I think this is what we call a turnaround - made some tactical tweaks, and we are finally getting back on form, and van Persie has ended his goal drought.

A Wolves 4-0 - Song, Mertesacker, Walcott, Afellay

H Birmingham 2-0 - Walcott, Arteta

H Bolton 3-0 - Gervinho, Wheater og, Djourou

A QPR 2-1 - Connolly og, Park (FA3)

A Liverpool 1-1 - Walcott

H Man Utd 1-2 - Walcott (CCS1)

H Tottenham 1-1 - Mertesacker

A Norwich 2-0 - Walcott, Afellay

A Man Utd 4-2 aet (win 5-4 on aggregate) - Walcott, Afellay, Diaby, van Persie

League Cup Final

Arsenal v Chelsea

FA Cup

Arsenal v Cardiff

UEFA Champions League Knockout Round

Arsenal v Inter

Premier League

After 23 games, I sit 4th, 2 behind Chelsea, 5 behind Man City, and an insurmountable 15 behind Man Utd. I have a 5 point advantage to Everton who are 5th.

News:

Diaby and Ramsey are both out for 4 months, Vermaelen has begun training again, and Chamakh will be back in 4-6 weeks. So it is all looking up now

[eduardo-is-king]

Wilshere 15 goals. Did you edit his injury as i'm in Febuary and he has only just returned to training?

May and End of Season Update

Premier League

Aston Villa 0 - 3 Arsenal (Jack Wilshere 15', Aaron Ramsey 38', Marouane Chamakh 54')

Arsenal 2 - 0 Norwich (Mikel Artea pen 44', Gervinho 49')

Fulahm 1 - 3 Arsenal (Andy Johnson 20'; Theo Walcott 30', 45+1', Jack Wilshere 34')

So that's the Premier League all wrapped up. Here is the end of season table:

Unbeaten all the way and over a hundred points. I think that can be called a pretty good season. There are a couple of things to be disappointed about:

1) Before February we had only conceded 5 goals all season, but in the months afterwards we conceded 13. While conceding only 18 goals all year is a good thing, the fact that we conceded 13 in four months is what displeases me. Something to work on for next season.

2) Spurs scored 100 goals. Jesus.

As is the case at the end of every season, there are rewards:

Golden Glove: Wojceich Szczesny (Arsenal, 26), David De Gea (Man Utd, 19), Joe Hart (Man City, 18)

Footballer of the Year: Luka Modric (Tottenham), Wayne Rooney (Man Utd), Gareth Bale (Tottenham)

Players' Player of the Year: Theo Walcott (Arsenal), Sergio Ageuro (Man City), Jack Wilshere (Arsenal)

Players' Young Player of the Year: Marco Reus (Arsenal), Samir Nasri (Man City), Javier Hernandez (Man Utd)

Other Competitions

Champions League: Semi-finalists. Eliminated by Manchester City after two pretty disappointing displays. Barcelona went on to win the competition, and I feel we probably wouldn't have beaten that haxx of a team. Next year this will probably be my main target.

FA Cup: Semi-finalists. Beaten by United with, again, a poor showing. I wasn't too bothered, but still disappointed.

Carling Cup: Winners!

The Players

Top Goalscorers:

Robin van Persie - 25

Marco Reus - 20

Theo Walcott - 20

Jack Wilshere - 15

Marouane Chamakh - 10

Top Providers:

Theo Walcott - 16

Jack Wilshere - 15

Marco Reus - 11

Robin van Persie - 11

Mikel Arteta - 10

What Now?

I've taken the reigns of the Great Britain U23 Olympic Team, which will be a completely new experience for me. In terms of Arsenal, there'll be some players leaving, but I'm not sure at all about who, if anyone, I'll be brigning in.

[Nonlondoner]

Can't believe that no-one went for AML Tranquillo Barnetta from Leverkusen. Cost me £5m on deadline day, August 2011 and by mid-way through my first season is my top goal provider and has also scored 4 goals, most of them belters. In the confidence section it says he is "making a mockery of his transfer fee". A superb player.

Van Der Weil was purchased on the same day for £10m and he's now keeping Sagna out of the side. With Barcelona and Real Madrid bidding £20m for the latter it's turned out to be very good business.

For the long-term replacement of Van Persie I've taken a punt on Vincent Mbaye Niang (£2.5m upfront, £7.5m after 20 games) and Andy Polo (£800k up front, £2.5m after 20 games) Though I've got to wait another 12 months for Polo to turn up due to under 18's rules in Peru.

Other long term purchases are (GK) Alphonse Areola, (DC) Nathaniel Chalobah who wasn't cheap and required some buttering-up in the press and a £15m package and Mateo Kovacic (AMC) who at 17 is already looking ready for first team action.

Just got loads of dross to offload in the Summer, I reckon I'll be shifting about 30 players, if anyone will have them.

[JEinchy]

Wilshere 15 goals. Did you edit his injury as i'm in Febuary and he has only just returned to training?

I removed the injury before starting the game, yes. Technically cheating, but I don't really take Arsenal saves that seriously.

Can't believe that no-one went for AML Tranquillo Barnetta from Leverkusen. Cost me £5m on deadline day, August 2011 and by mid-way through my first season is my top goal provider and has also scored 4 goals, most of them belters. In the confidence section it says he is "making a mockery of his transfer fee". A superb player.

I had Tranquillo Barnetta on FM09. He's a very good play who I highly recommend, but I always like to try different players for every save I play. In this instance, it was Marco Reus; three times as expensive, but mighty effective.

[Nonlondoner]

Yes, Jeinchy, I tend to go for different players each time.

I also have to admit to cheating. When I signed Andy Polo I noticed that he wouldn't be released until Jan 2013. "Blow that" I thought, then suddenly he arrived in North London a year ahead of schedule. Possibly thanks to FMRTE. He scored a 90th minute winner away at Aston Villa in a 3rd round FA Cup tie on his debut (assist from that man Barnetta) after coming on late for the disappointing Park. I did feel a bit bad, but Polo is a tremendous young talent.

[llama3]

Season Update 2012/13

An excellent month at Arsenal, and we have welcomed back Song and Gervinho from the African Cup of Nations.

H Cardiff 1-0 - Arteta (FA)

H Nottingham Forest 3-0 - Gervinho (2), van Persie

A Stoke 5-0 - van Persie (2), Lustig og, Gervinho, Walcott

H Man City 0-1

H Inter 4-0 - Walcott, van Persie (3) (UCL)

H Man City 4-0 - Walcott, Gervinho, Vermaelen, Song (FA)

A Chelsea 1-2 - van Persie

N Chelsea 1-0 - Chamberlain (CC)

Van Persie has returned to form excellently, scoring 8 goals in the last 8 games. We won the Carling cup with a good win in a tense final against Chelsea. Was deadlocked until the 81st minute when substitute rosicky fed fellow substitute chamberlain to open the scoring, we held on to retain the carling cup.

League Cup Winners

FA Cup 6th Round

Nottingham Forest v Arsenal

UEFA Champions League Knockout Round Second Leg

Inter (0) v Arsenal (4)

We also pulverised Man City in the FA Cup with thanks to Balotelli's early dismissal, and ripped apart Inter in the Champions League, leaving us in a good position in the 2 remaining knockout competitions.

In the league we are 4th on 53 points, with an 8 point advantage of Spurs in 5th. But 4 behind Chelsea, 9 behind 2nd place Man City, and 22 behind runaway leaders Man Utd who have lost only once in the league, conceding only 8 goals in 28 games!

[lomekian]

Inspired by JEinchy, I decided to start a similar process of progress posting, particularly having accidently saved over my previous game in a moment of multi-tasking confusion...

Having made a few database alterations to the reserves and youths to make up for the frankly crappy research in this area, they should hopefully have a more accurate progression rate and strengths and weaknesses. Gave Jenkinson, Miyaichi and the likes of Yennaris PA boosts, and gave slight CA boosts to Aneke, Ozyakup and the likes of meade and boateng reflecting their carling cup squad experiences.

My primary focus is to develop players rather than buying fully grown stars and to focus on getting a largely 'home-grown' squad to give me more flexibility later on. Later ambitions will be to have as many favoured personnel playing together as possible, and as many as possible adopting Arsenal as their favourite club, possibly rewarding loyalty over ability. I also hope to slowly build a back room staff from ex-players, building on the traditions of Rice, Brady and Bould.

My first act, beyond requesting for a WP feeder club, is to hire Paul Winsper as a fitness coach and the controversial Harald Schumacher as g/k coach, letting Craig Gant and Lee Smelt go. This is followed by hiring ex Colombia striker Adolfo Valencia as an attacking coach, Franco Baldini t work on tactics and Omar Feitosa as a third fitness coach to help he physical development of younger players. I then moved Keown to a coaching role to ensure 4/4.5 and 5 * ratings across the board. I then whack match prep on Max, before settling down to focus on defending set pieces once the pre-season came to a close.

Signings:

Having lots of leagues means no getting Thiago on loan or Granero for peanuts, but does throw up other possibilities. Following the lead of press speculation, I was able to pick up young winger Gerard Deulofeu from Barca for £2m, which was much cheaper than is usually possible.

Other Significant signings:

First Team Squad:

Sime Vrsaljko £2.2m for excellent cover at full back until Jenkinson develops, I also like the fact he can fill in elsewhere.

Gonzalo Castro - Mallorca - £16k - £16,000 for an international winger who looks good cover looked an opportunity not to be missed. Think there must be a ****-up on his release clause!

Nacer Barazite £800k FK Austria Wien - Always felt he deserved a chance at Arsenal and is doing well in Austria. Also plays in LOTS of positions. Counts as u21 and home-grown

Craig Dawson £3.5m - covered elsewhere in this thread, but looks good for England u21, and looks like he could be very solid cover

Gylfi Sigurdsson - £4.5m Hoffenheim after they bizzarely stuck him in their reserves. I was planning to buy him anyway, so was most pleased! I always liked him at Reading, and with great Set-piece skills, long range shooting and decision making, as well as positional flexibility and counting as a Home-grown player, it seemed like a risk very much worth taking.

Michael Owen -£975k - Injury prone as past his best, but with another HG space in the squad to fill for an over 21, and a lack of faith in our current bench warmers ability to pinch a goal off the bench, I thought a two year contract would be a risk worth taking. Also should be a good tutor.

Andili Jali - £1m. The South African is u21 and fills a hole in the squad, and at that price will only leave for a profit.

Freebies: Lua-Lua - Home grown, flexible, and low wages. Will probably only last the season, but again where there is space for another over 21 HG in the squad it seemed a punt worth taking. Also picked up Sol Campbell, Materazzi, Dragutinovic, Corradi and mahamadou Diarra for tutoring duties and to be the experience in carling cup encounters.

Promising youngsters to make home-grown:

Jano - £5m Spartak Moscow. My biggest signing, but a young player i like in real life, young enough to become HG and a longer term replacement for Arshavin.

Jonas Svensson from Rosenberg for £1m. Young enough to become home grown, versatile and very well developed for his age.

Jack Butland £2m from Birmingham. A great young keeper in reality and my scouts went mental for him. Hopefully will compete with Chesney in time

Yaya Sanogo £2m from Auxerre - Have never bought him on FM to date, and again young enough to become HG.

Javi Espinosa £1.9m from Barca - Why change the trend of HG-ing Barca kids!

Diego Suarez £1.4m from Dynamo Kiev - another well developed 18 year old who can play in a number of positions. Also buying an 18 year old Bolivian from the Ukraine and him getting a WP was amusing!

Lorenzo Crisetig £425k Inter - was shocked they let him go so cheaply, but hopefully can be the next wave after Coquelin etc coming through to challenge.

Tobias Figueiredo - £400k Sporting. Another great kid that was being let go cheaply.

Emre Can £140k Bayern Munich - a great price for a promising versatile youngster.

Siyanda Xulu £130k Sundowns. Had a trial for Arsenal in real life, so at that price worth a punt of at a feeder club.

Mushaga Bakenga -£55k compensation. an exciting young player whose contract was expired.

One or two others on frees like Ricardo Gray, who will probably never make it, but hell, they are freebies.

Future Transfers:

Matteo Kovacic -£1.6m. Been linked so often in real life, and again a price too good to miss.

Roderick Miranda - £700k Benfica - a very exciting young centre back on loan in Switzerland

Adryan - £925k - Flamengo - One of the top young talents in Brazil and for peanuts again

Wilfried £2.5m - Vitesse - Thought I'd let him mature in holland for a year while i road test Chamakh and Park. At worst will be decent cover.

There were a number of players whose contracts were expiring who I liked the look of who will join in due course.

Pyatov - Shakhtar - genuine competition for first choice keeper

Felipe - Flamengo. A back-up goalie as good as Almunia or Fabianski, but less likely to complain.

Rivaldo - Mogi Mirim...should be a great tutor, and one of my favourite players ever.

Tom - Litex ...gave me the run around in pre-season and in the ECL.

Torstein Andersen Aase - under 20, very promising.

Next post = games to date

[lomekian]

August:

After an unbeaten pre-season, Arsenal were pleased to be drawn in their ECL playoff against relative minnows OB from Denmark, avoiding trips to Russia.

EPL - Fulham 0 - 2 Arsenal: Vermaelen (75), Chamakh (90+4)

With Van Persie, Song and Ramsey missing, I was a little concerned, but new returnee Barazite came off the bench and set up both goals with inch perfect crosses following cleared corners. An even game, but Fulham's shooting boots were off.

ECL: OB 0 - 7 Arsenal: Ramsey (18), Chamakh (22, 28), Gervinho (24), Koscielny (35), Diaby (78), Park (90+2)

An extraordinary game with goals and assists shared around the team. The best goals were Koscielny's, a left footed finish from just inside the area, and Diaby's net-breaker from the edge of the D.

EPL Arsenal 3 - 0 Wigan: Chamakh (29), Lua-Lua (62), Ramsey (66)

A regulation win against poor opposition, with 2 great assists from Theo

ECL Arsenal 1-0 OB: Sigurdsson (66)

A comfortably result in a loy-key game with the tie won. Game time for the reserves, with a debut goal for the Icelandic playmaker, with a calm sidefoot 15 yards out.

EPL: West Brom 1-3 Arsenal: Long (59), Walcott (30), Koscielny (43), Song (50)

A totally one-sided game with the Fresh first team. Van Persie with two assists on his return to fitness