FM12 Arsenal Thread - Life after Cesc

[DandyDon]

Kyle had a very decent first season on loan at Rangers on my save, finishing the season with a 7.39 avg rating and 5 MoM awards for them, so I gave him a chance during the second season, mostly in the domestic cup competitions. He again impressed and actually finished the season with a higher avg rating from his 22 games than Thomas Vermaelen (7.34 to TV's 7.17, but TV did play 20 more matches).

So far this season his rating isn't quite as high, but then the whole defence have played poorly at points and none of them have really matched their performance levels from the previous 2 seasons yet. Bartley is still playing pretty well though and seems to be responding well in training, certainly hasn't let medown anytime I've picked him.

I wasn't able Chamberlain much during the 1st season due to injury problems, but he's been making more regular appearances last season and this. He doesn't seem to be developing much at all in terms of his attributes so far, but he's been putting in some very good performances when he plays. He made 23 appearances last season and grabbed 9 goals and 7 assists, and an average rating of 7.30. So far this season he's made 14 appearances and grabbed 5 goals and 7 assists so far, with an average rating of 7.21. He's also won his first cap for the senior England squad, playing in a friendly against Holland.

[lucatonix]

Considering the amount of injuries Gibbs and Santos both picked up on my save, I doubt he'll have to worry all that much about juggling them.

Really, I've never found either to be very difficult to manage with injuries. Infact I never remember either ever picking up a serious injury for me when I've managed Arsenal.

[DandyDon]

Really, I've never found either to be very difficult to manage with injuries. Infact I never remember either ever picking up a serious injury for me when I've managed Arsenal.

Total opposite for me I'm afraid. Gibbs had three spells out through injury in the 1st season, 2 of them lasting more than 2 months. He had a bit more luck in 2nd season with only a couple of niggling injuries, but unfortunately he's currently out again with a dislocated shoulder. Santos also had three injuries in the first season and missed a lot of games. However I chose to cash in on him during the summer anyway.

Unfortunately the player I've had the worst luck with has been Van Persie, he had 6 seperate injuries during the first season including 2 twisted ankles, a sprained ankle, a stubbed toe, fractured ribs and then a torn hamstring. Things didn't get any better for him really in the second season when he started it with a hernia.

[Ron_Burgundy]

How do all,

I am just coming into February in third season and top by 3 points with the Gooners.

I just wanted to update you all on the progress of my latest big money saving...

He was not cheap at £31mil but has been superb, especially considering he is still young and in his first season...

If anyone needs an AML (or, apparently AMC) he fits in brilliantly...

[Ron_Burgundy]

ARSENAL F.C. SEASON PREVIEW 2012/2013

It's 18th August 2012 and we're preparing to host Aston Villa in an early kick off to kick start the new season. I thought I'd write a season preview update before I got any further into the season. The summer has been a very busy one, twenty five players left the club. It was my aim to continue making my mark on the side, having the overpaid dross leave the club was number one on the list. Instead of writing who went where, below is the list.

PAID DEALS

Johan Djourou - Wolves - £3,000,000 (£29k p/w)

Nicklas Bendtner - Sunderland - £5,000,000 (42k p/w)

Per Mertresacker - PSG - £8,000,000 (80k p/w)

André Santos - Marseille - £6,000,000 (£55k p/w)

Timo Hildebrand - Bayern München - Bosman

Tomas Rosicky - Dortmund - £1,000,000 (£25k p/w)

Abou Diaby - PSG - £6,000,000 (£42K p/w)

Park Chu-Young - Napoli - £4,000,000 (55k p/w)

Sebastien Squillaci - Lille - p/ex (£50k p/w)

Theo Walcott - Juventus - £16,000,000 (£45k p/w)

BOSMAN DEALS

Sanchez Watt (Unattached)

Daniel Boeteng (Unattached)

Sean McDermott (Unattached)

Sead Hajrovic (Unattached)

Pedro Botelho (Unattached)

Ignasi Miquel (Unattached)

Manu Frimpong (Unattached)

Conor Henderson (Unattached)

Jenade Meade (Unattached)

George Brislen-Hall (Unattached)

LOAN DEALS

Wellington Silva - Salamanca

Ryo Miyaichi - Lorient

Carl Jenkinson - Hull City

Nico Yennaris - Lorient

You'll notice that I've raised plenty of capital and lifted plenty of money off of our wage budget. This allowed me to sort out my players contract. I had Robin van Persie, Vermaelen, Alex Song and Theo Walcott all on deals that run out at the end of this season. The wages that I managed to get off the clubs helped towards securing the deals for three of the above four. Vermaelen signed a new deal worth £40k p/w, Song signed a deal worth £48k p/w and RVP signed a new contract worth £85k p/w. I did think about getting shot of van Persie due to his wages, his age and the fact his attributes will decrease shortly but I couldn't hack it. You'll notice on the transfer out list that Theo has left, he wanted £135k p/w which I laughed off. Juventus came in and he was off.

Coming into the club I signed four players, a right back to be backup to Sagna, a defensive midfielder to rotate with Arteta, a goalkeeper to challenge Chesney in-between the sticks and finally a world class talent to replace Theo.

LORENZO DE SILVESTRI

Lorenzo signed from Fiorentina after I spotted him on the transfer list. He's a perfect fir for my side, costing only £450k and £18k p/w he's be a great back up to Sagna who should be ever present this year.

FERNANDO

Fernando Réges joins for £4,500,000 from Porto. A six foot beast with all the right attributes to be a star in my side, he's big strong and quick to play right next to our playmaker Martinez. Fernando is only on £25k p/w too.

RON-ROBERT ZIELER

Ex Manchester United goalkeeper Zieler joins us from Hannover for £5,000,000, again his wages are a low £26k p/w and I'm sure he'll be a hit here. I'm not sure whether he'll go straight into the starting position or Chesney will keep his place but it'll be interesting to see who wins that battle.

EDEN HAZARD

Once Theo had left I couldn't resist making this one big signing. Eden moved for £21,000,000 as Squillaci moved the other way. Somehow I got them to take him after I'd be offering him out for just £1 every week during the break. With Squillaci's £50k p/w wage off our books I offered Eden £60k p/w and he accepted. He becomes our third highest paid player behind RVP and Arteta.

There are still a few deals I'd like to wrap up before the end of August, I'd like one more striker to play backup to RVP so I don't have to move Chamberlain into the team too quickly. I have a loan bid accepted from Shakhtar for Eduardo, paying £325k and only 50% of his £50k p/w wage. A bargain for someone of his quality. I also need a left back to back up Gibbs, at the moment I have Vermaelen that can play there but I'd like to learn from Wenger's mistakes and have a proper left back back up.

OFF THE PITCH

Off the pitch we've had a good summer, you can tell how much we've saved through selling the players that Wenger was paying too much. We are currently £1,360,000 p/w under our wage budget and have a transfer budget of £8,730,000. The bank balance is looking great also, £117,586,208 in the bank, I'd quite like to keep that consistently above £100m. We still have two loans outstanding also, one that's £1.3m per month until 2030 and the other that's £347k per month until 2032.

Regarding our wage structure we only have four players on £50k p/w or more, RVP (£85k) Arteta (£65k), Hazard (£60k) and Gervinho (£50k). Below that we have eight players between £30k and £50k, Wilshere, Song, Martinez, Ramsey, Sagna, Vermaelen, Willian and Koscielny. The stage contains our bright starts that are paid £26k p/w or less. Zieler (£26k), Shaqiri (£25k), Alderweireld (£25k), Fernando (£25k) Gylfi (£24k) Szczesny (£23k) Gibbs (£14.5k) Coquelin (£10k) and Bartley (£1.5k).

The future looks promising, here's to a good season.

*Screenshots av. on request of course.

I would call that a good summer of work there Tommo!

You are much harsher than me on wages but I did also get the wage bill well below the wage budget which means we are in a better position financially...

I am mainly jealous of the fact you managed to sell Mertesacker, I could only shift him for about £3.5mil in the end, no one would touch him!!

[llama3]

am looking forward to the new patch - I will update opening post once this is out too. have been a few changes i have wanted to make for a while

[lucatonix]

Really, for me I managed to sell Mertesacker for about £20m at the end of the first season since his value rocketed after good performances in the season and the Euros.

[DandyDon]

2013/14 - Season Update - January to March

We ended 2013 a few points clear of Man City at the top of the table, but the gap quickly closed when they won a narrow victory in the New Years Day game.

And then opened back up just as quickly as after the FA cup games we won our next three league matches while City lost to Chelsea and drew with Everton. Any smugness I felt about that quickly disappeared when we were held to very disappointing home draws by Everton as well and even more annoyingly, Blackburn, these two clubs have been definite thorns in our side this year.

In Europe we managed a 2-1 win over Bayern in the 1st leg and with a nice display of counter-attacking football we completed the job at the Allianz Arena. We did suffer a major setback when the in form Sturridge suffered a knee ligament injury that would rule him out for about a month. After dispatching Bayern, we'll face Benfica in the Quarter Finals. We kept progressing in the FA Cup as well, although just barely against Leicester and we'll need a much improved performance in the replay.

In March we finally won a 'Goal of the Month', which I'm fairly sure if the first we've had in my time, despite numerous screamers and long range free kicks from Sigurdsson. Toward the end of March an excellent match from Moussa Sow, saw us run out convincing 3-0 winners over Man Utd and extend the gap at the top back to 4 points.....

....unfortunately a defeat three days later to *cough* spurs *cough* meant the gap is back to a solitary point going into the last few games.

In the run in we face homes games against West Brom, Liverpool, Wolves and Swansea with away games at Sunderland, Birmingham and Fulham. While Man City have Fulham, Sunderland, Birmingham and West Ham at home and away trips to Liverpool, Wolves and Swansea. So both clubs face almost identical opposition in the last 7 games, and I don't expect Man City to slip up much there. Could be a very close run thing this year.

[MeesterCat]

Hey folks.

I've popped in here because I was offered the Arsenal job in my main save (Apparently a 9th place finish with Pompey is just the sort of talent the Arsenal board is looking for?!).

The team finished 6th in the 2012/2013 season and Wenger retired. Now a lot of the current core squad are still there, so there hasn't been too much spending on players, but the clubs balance has plummeted from £120 million to £20 million in two years. Are the loans for the stadium really that crippling?

[SJ234]

Thoughts on teaching Ramsey to play upfront as a Trequartista?

[llama3]

Hey folks.

I've popped in here because I was offered the Arsenal job in my main save (Apparently a 9th place finish with Pompey is just the sort of talent the Arsenal board is looking for?!).

The team finished 6th in the 2012/2013 season and Wenger retired. Now a lot of the current core squad are still there, so there hasn't been too much spending on players, but the clubs balance has plummeted from £120 million to £20 million in two years. Are the loans for the stadium really that crippling?

no in fact its the opposite, intruiging that they have struggled for money - could be large shareholder dividends maybe

[llama3]

Thoughts on teaching Ramsey to play upfront as a Trequartista?

can't see it working out terribly well, just hasnt got the goalscoring touch he would need for that role

[DandyDon]

2013/14 - Season Update - April and May

After a comfortable away win over Benfica, we almost blew our chances in Europe with a shambolic home performance, only stumbling through by benefit of the away goals. However we made it through to the Semi-Final stage for the third season in a row and there we'd face Lyon (who'd actually knocked out Barcelona in the 1st Knockout round.)

The first leg was something of a rollercoaster as we took a 3-1 lead before Asamoah got sent off on 74 minutes, we then spent the last 16 minutes desperately defending and somehow managed to cling on to a draw. With those three away goals in the bank we got off to a great start in the second leg with 2 goals from Pesro inside 25 minutes. Lyon grabbed a lifeline just before half time to make things a little tense, but we kept them out in the second half to progress to the final at the third attempt.

Unfortunately in a very scrappy match we gave away two soft goals from set pieces with Zlatan bullying his marker to get 2 headers on target, despite a Robin Van Persie 25 yard volleyed screamer we couldn't pull the rabbit out of the hat this time, and so European glory will have to wait for another season.

In the league an immensely dull 0-0 draw with Liverpool allowed Man City to leapfrog us at the top of the table by one point. Six days later though they did us a huge favour by beating Man City 3-2 at Anfield, while we were scraping an extra time win over Man Utd in the FA Cup. Meaning that although we remained a point behind we now had a game in hand over City.

Down to 10 men against Birmingham after another sending off for Asamoah I thought we'd missed the chance to take advantage of the game in hand until Pedro popped up on 84 minutes to grab the winner with a low shot from out on the right of the area. We met Birmingham again a few days later in the FA Cup final, but this time recorded a more routine victory, securing the trophy with a 4-1 scoreline.

To my surprise City then bottled it massively, losing 2-0 to Swansea in their second last game. That meant a win against Fulham would secure the title for us. (A draw would have done as well due to our superior goal difference). That looked like plain sailing when we went up 2-0 by halftime, but midway through the second half Fulham had turned that round into a 3-2 lead for them. Luckily they conceded a freekick in Gylfi range which allowed us to draw level, then another late, late goal in the 3rd minute of injury time, this time from Asamoah, secured us the win and the title.

Season Summary

The standout performer was obviously Moussa Sow who top the scoring charts for the season, but also finished with the highest average rating in the league. Szczesny managed to secure his third straight Golden Gloves award. Daniel Sturridge also impressed in his first season, notching up 23 goals in all competitions. Van Persie finally had several weeks free of injury and contributed with a fine late run of form, making a lot of key assists during the last few matches in all competitions. Kyle Bartley's form in the second half of the season meant he made England's World cup squad and he actually finished the campaign as our highest rated defender, apart from Salvatore Bocchetti.

Planning Ahead

Might seem a little strange considering it's a successful side, but I'm planning a fairly hefty overhaul of the squad in the summer. I made one major addition during the January window, bringing in Mats Hummels from Dortmund for a fee of £40 million overall (£10 mill upfront, the rest over 48 months), but I'm mostly looking at departures in the summer.

I want to first of all offload some of the fringe players and dead wood that are still hanging around the club. Then free up some more of our wage budget by offloading a few high earners. I'm also going to move on one or two major names who may be regulars, but that I feel I'm not getting the best out of, mostly as they don't quite fit my formation, or the role I use them in. The main aim is to lower the wage budget and free up some space in the 1st team squad to start blooding some of my youngsters in the season ahead.

One player already on his way out is Koscielny, I had wanted to hang on to him, but he refused to discuss a new contract and in January he was offered a deal by several clubs, agreeing to sign for Besiktas in the end.

In terms of fringe players on their way out I've so far secured deals for Park Chu-Young to go to Roma for £4 million, Arteta to sign for Atletico Madrid for £2.5 million and Uchida to sign for Stuttgart for £3.8 million.

I'm sure some posters here will be surprised/disappointed but I have decided to sell Theo Walcott this summer. He's never managed to impress upfront for me, and was seriously upstaged at times this season by free signing Daniel Sturridge. I have better wide players available and rather than have him complaining about lack of games I've decided to accept an £18.5 million bid from Liverpool for him. Everton originally tried with a 15.57 mill bid, and while I was negotiating with them, I offered him to clubs for £20 million. Everton eventually dropped out, but Liverpool offered their £18.5million in a one off payment.

I've also decided to take advantage of Marseille's interest in Gervinho and accepted a £13.5 million bid. I'm also debating selling Asamoah, who despite being an excellent player hasn't quite hit the heights for me, and I may replace him with Jack Rodwell to add another English player to the 1st team. (Also have Song and Jali available to play instead of him, plus 2 very talented youngsters who might be ready for some 1st team games).

[SJ234]

can't see it working out terribly well, just hasnt got the goalscoring touch he would need for that role

I am still considering giving it a go as he has played up front for me before, not on this save and did very well. However I am looking for a long term replacement for RVP in that role any suggestions?

[knap]

If Only!

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[knap]

Too many injuries but MU could not keep up.

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[llama3]

I am still considering giving it a go as he has played up front for me before, not on this save and did very well. However I am looking for a long term replacement for RVP in that role any suggestions?

depends on what role you are playing him - whats the system?

[Carmi88]

Alex Oxlade Chamberlain just scored against me whilst playing for Rangers In 2026 Back post header, nothing fancy from the old boy still a half decent player at his age too

[KingLara]

Season 13/14

PRE SEASON

I returned from my two week summer holiday to the breaking news that star of last season Laurent Koscielny would be ruled out for the first 3 months.

Also Barcelona sacked their manager and I was placed as favourite for the job. I came out and denied interest. Mancini took over and suddenly City were on my case. Again I refused. Lois Van Gaal eventually took over. After some deliberation I sacked Di Salvio and brought in Tassotti as my new assistant. Venturi was the other strong candidate but I went for Tassotti due to his superior defensive and tactical knowledge.

TRANSFERS

INS

Last summer I was crying out for a left winger and this summer it tuned to the opposite flank. I tried and tried to find someone suitable for a good price but it wouldn’t happen. I was tempted to raid Napoli for Lavezzi at 40 million but turned it down. You could argue the same about strikers. Man City wanted 216 million for Aguero while others also came with hefty price tags. The only player of proven quality that was on the cheaper side was Edison Cavani so I splashed 31 million on him. Having spent the majority of last season in the reserves I was waiting for tevez to become cheap and low and behold he was offered for 4.9 million. I never found my right midfielder but with the signing of Tevez I may shift Cavani out there. The others are all excellent prospects. Gobbi has aready featured ion the league and Tosto probably will as well this season. My big regret was Eden Hazard. Once Man United bid 19 million I matched it but didn’t really offer the wages I should have and he plumped for them. Could be a big regret.

Edison Cavani - 31m

Rosario Tosto (Regen) - 5m

Carlos Tevez – 4.9m

Lorenzo Gobbi (Regen) – 2m

Federico Liberti – (Regen) – 1.9m

OUTS

I reflected back on the season in the summer and decided to have a clearout. I got rid of the players that either were stopping youngsters coming through or hadn’t impressed. I didn’t intend to sell Gervinho but the offer from man City was too good to refuse for a player that had done little. I decided to let Lansbury and Afobe go as I felt both required a new challenge. It was a difficult decision to let go of Chmackh after he performed brilliantly towards the end of the season but I was happy to get 10 million for him. I intended to sell both Mertersacker and Arteta but deals fell through so had to send them out on loan. Overall I raked in 65 million so was pleased with that.

Gervinho – 20.5m

Chamakh – 10.25

Granero – 7.25

Vela – 6m

Bendtner – 4.6

Wellington – 2.7

Denilson – 2.5

Lansbury – 2.2

Afobe – 700k

Mertersaker – Loan 2.8m

Arteta – Loan 1.9m

Santos – Loan 700k

Coquelin – Loan 500k

Murphy – Loan 140k

Eastmond – Loan 100k

Jenkinson – All Loan

Aneke

Fierro

Freeman – All free transfers

Brunskill

Jese

FIRST TEAM SQUAD

My first team squad for the season.

Adler – Szczesny

Baines – Gibbs

Sagna - Vrsaljko

Vermaelen – Vertonghen

Koscielny - Bartley

Schurrle

Walcott - Chamberlain

Wilshere - Ramsey

Song - Crisetig

Van Persie – Tevez - Ghidini

Cavani – Park

We started season 13/14 with a very scrappy opener. Having to rely on Van Persie off the bench to save our blushes. A slightly better display in second but poor finishing meant a draw. Theo Walcott would be out for 6 weeks with an ankle injury a mere 3 minutes after coming on. Palace was a lot more comfortable although still needed late goals. I perhaps wrongly rested most of the first team for the PSV game meaning Van Persie and others were left at home. We played ok but lost 2-1. Not a great momentum to take into the Emirates Cup.

Hercules (a) 2-3 – Vinc 31 Te Slaa 65pen – Schurrle 23 36 Van Persie 85

Chievo (a) 2-2 - Gabri 30 Bentivoglio 88 – Van Persie 26 56

Cyrstal Palace (a) 1-4 – Inniss 68 - Gardner o.g 8 Park 52 78 Ghidini 90

PSV Eindhoven (a) 2-1 Van der Meulen 8 Lens 69 – Park 90

The Emirates Cup

SF - ARSENAL 5-0 REAL MADRID – Van Persie 31 Ramsey 40 Ghidini 43 57 Schurrle 90

Following on from the defeat in Holland we hosted the annual Emirates Cup. It was nice to have a powerhouse like Real Madrid enter the tournament for the first time. Galatasaray and Boca Juniors made up the competition. It was hardly ideal to play Madrid first but was rubbing my eyes as we won 5-0. They had all their talent on the pitch and maybe the scoreline slightly flatters us but still a great victory. Mario Ghidini had caught the eye and hit a brace in a man of the match display. Also Mikel Arteta who had been all set to leave made his first appearance of pre-season. I didn’t intend on keeping him so saw no reason to use him but still being unsold I thought I may as well keep him fit on the off chance he stays. Edison Cavani made his debut off the bench.

FINAL - ARSENAL 2-0 GALATASARAY - Arteta 3 Cavani 35pen

After that I was always confident of winning the final. A pretty straightforward win as Galatasaray failed to test Szczesney once all match. Ironically it was Arteta that opened the scoring. Cavani coverted a penalty to bring a third successive emirates cup win.

Sevilla (a) 0-2 Cavani 13 Van Persie 24pen

After the Emirates Cup we had one more trip to do to wrap up pre-season. The boys gave me a nice birthday present by winning 2-0 in Sevilla. I partnered Van Persie and Cavani for the first time and in the 62 minutes they played provided a goal and an assist each with Cavani being brought down for the penalty that Van Persie converted. Exciting times. The second half after a tactical error saw Rene Adler play at Centre Back for 20 minutes. He did well!

Pre Seaaon done. Now on to the real stuff.

Community Shield– MANCHESTER CITY 3-3 ARSENAL – Silva 41 Y.Toure 60 75 – Cavani 51 Van Persie 54 Schurrle 65

Arsenal win 3-1 on penalties

The dullest of dull first half’s saw just six shots (three each) City taking the lead. A kick up the backside and a slight change in tactics saw us race out of the blocks take the lead and dominate the second half only for Yaya Toure to twice smash shots in from 30 yards. Cavani missed an open goal with the last kick of the game in what was otherwise an impressive debut. The game went to penalties and somehow we sneaked home.

Tevez Van Persie

Silva Cavani

Barry Baines

Dzeko Park

______ Gibbs

Premier League – BLACKBURN ROVERS 1-4 ARSENAL – Rochina 47 – Cavani 2 69 82 Schurrle 32

The season got underway up at Blackburn.Edison Cavani took just 2 minutes to announce himself to the premier league by tucking home a neat finish. He ended up with a sublime hattrick in an outstanding display. Blackburn actually played ok and Adler made up after an earlier mistake with an excellent second half performance. Great start.

Premier League – ARSENAL 2-1 BLACKPOOL – Schurrle 75 Park 85 – Phillips 54 Sylvestre 8

After Ludovic Sylvestre was sent off after just 8 minutes I expected the easiest of wins and a chance to give Ghidini some league action off the bench. It didn’t quite work out like that as a goalless first half saw us have 15 shots but only 1 on target. Blackpool then went and took the lead after we had done everything but score. I brought on Park and thankfully as so often he does managed to score from a tight angle to get us over the line. 28 shots in the end. 3 points is much more important.

Javier Hernandaz already has 5 goals but it is City that lead the table with 3 wins from 3. Too early for a table but we visit Mr Hernandez next.

OTHER NEWS

Carlos Tevez was sent off on his debut in the reserves. He still managed to hit a brace in a 7-2 win at Reading. Walcott and Koscielny both played in that game.

We drew Aston Villa at home in the League cup 3rd Round. Not ideal but a good chance to show how good the youngsters are. Chelsea will host Spurs.

We drew PSG, Shalke and BATE in the the Champions League group stages.

[SJ234]

depends on what role you are playing him - whats the system?

Trequartista at the top of a shallow 4-2-3-1

[llama3]

Trequartista at the top of a shallow 4-2-3-1

stumped for names, never had to replace him

[SJ234]

stumped for names, never had to replace him

I don't need to now but I am starting to look for a viable option who won't cost me a fortune. Found a couple of decent regens but they have to develop correctly. Ramsey is my more sure fired way of replacing him. The perfect replacement is of course Rossi but he will cost a fortune for a player who won't be first choice in his prime.

[llama3]

cavani or lavezzi any good?

[Welshace]

yes... both

[Anxiietyyy]

cavani or lavezzi any good?

Cavani, IMO, is the best striker in the game.

[SJ234]

cavani or lavezzi any good?

Cavani has already moved. Lavezzi is a good idea

[llama3]

Cavani has already moved. Lavezzi is a good idea

no worries mate - the 1 i really like is Di Natale - but due to his age, that is a non-started - pity

[Anxiietyyy]

no worries mate - the 1 i really like is Di Natale - but due to his age, that is a non-started - pity

Age means nothing IMO, if you can get 2 solid seasons out of him, then it would be a good deal.

[XCGunners]

Just starting Arsenal save in FM12. Why there is no more player/young player/goals of the month in Premier League?

[SJ234]

Age means nothing IMO, if you can get 2 solid seasons out of him, then it would be a good deal.

Well I was looking for a long term replacement for RVP so he doesn't fit that category.

[Ronaldo123]

Hiya guys decided to start a game as Arsenal manager, had 43m to spend on players so I bought in Tevez, Reina, Glen Johnson, Srna, Benzema and sold Arshavin, Chamakah, Almunia, Diaby, Fabianski, Djouru and Szczesny.

Due to play my first game so Ill keep you guys posted.

[SJ234]

Interesting outlay there....

[Anxiietyyy]

Well I was looking for a long term replacement for RVP so he doesn't fit that category.

Of fair enough. Are you looking for someone in the same mould as RvP? If then, Erick Torres is a good fit.

[Carmi88]

Hope all the new players don't have too much of a negative effect

[Ronaldo123]

Nah so far so good, I won my first game which was at home against Odense in Champions League Qualifying Round first leg 2-1 with Tevez and Benzema scoring on their debuts and Tevez getting man of the match, Ill keep you posted every few games.

[Carmi88]

Try and get Tevez to beat Henry's record, he did It for me!

[Tommo1]

ARSENAL F.C. END OF SEASON REPORT - 2012/2013

Sigh. What started as a season with high hopes it ended it slight disappointment. A anticlimax so to speak. We kicked off the season really well and after winning the Community Shield 2-1 over Manchester United we hit the ground running in the league. Wins over Villa, Stoke, Swansea, Fulham, Wigan and Newcastle saw us top of the pile. We were drawn a tough tie in the Carling Cup away to Chelsea. That match would be our first loss of the season, my youngsters played well but a one nil loss started abit of a dip in form. A loss to Manchester City and Wolves followed, our away form would let us down again. Rampant wins over Rennes (2-0/UCL) and Newcastle (4-0) gave me some belief that we could turn round our form but draw with Fenerbahce (0-0/UCL), WBA (1-1) and Blackpool (0-0) teamed up with losing to Everton (1-2) and Fenbahce (5-1/UCL) we went into December in 8th place knowing that something needed to change. Tweaks to the tactic saw us scrap 1-0 wins over West Ham and Schalke (UCL) but what pleased me most over the festive period is that we didn't conceded over the five games, considering who we played than that was very pleasing. We beat Bolton (5-0), Tottenham (2-0) drew with United (0-0) beat Sunderland (2-0) but the first game of the new year saw Liverpool teach us a lesson. Losing 2-0 at Anfield was tough. I'm amazed we went forward winning 12 in a row, including a 7-0, 5-0, 4-0 and 3-0 wins in the Premiership. It's fair to say the tactical tweaks helped us turn possession in goals.

Going into the backend of the season the fixture was quite kind to us, games (and wins) against Everton, WBA, Blackpool, Wolves, Cardiff, and Bolton saw us go top, level on points with Manchester City but of course those easy games left us with a hard run in. We'd have to play Chelsea, Manchester United, Sunderland, Tottenham and Liverpool. We'd did well to get out what we did get out of those games but ultimately we came second behind Manchester City, by three points. Seven points ahead of Manchester United and a massive fifteen ahead of fourth place Chelsea. Considering we have the eighth highest salary per annum we certainly out performed. Manchester City spend three times as much on their players than we do, Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool all double too. We also made the most amount of profit through transfer spend last year, with United spending £58m, Tottenham £40m we made £18m from player sales. In January I sold Mikel Arteta for £14m to Bilbao, at 30 I made the call to sell him while I could, it was nice to get that huge £70k p/w off the budget too. Fabianski also left after complaining he was third choice. Another £20k p/w off the wage budget too. Before I move onto the other competitions we cleaned up on the award front, which is a first for me I think. Zierler, Song, Sagna, Hazard, Javi, Willian and Robin van Persie were starters in the PFA Team of the Year, Zieler won the Golden Glove and RVP won the Golden Boot. Gylfi was named young player of the year, Willian was player of the year with Javi 2nd in that award and finally Hazard was football of the year. Nice to see that.

In the domestic cups you already know Chelsea dumped my youngsters out in the 3rd round but the FA Cup was a different story. As holders I wanted to retain the trophy and I did. We actually retained the trophy without conceding a goal. The draw was very kind to us though. We beat Millwall (2-0) Norwich (3-0) Derby (2-0) Sunderland (1-0) and West Brom (2-0) to reach Wembley where Swansea would await us. A easy 1-0 win saw us lift the trophy two years running.

The Champions League was a competition I wanted to impress in, semi final was my target. We breezed through a group of Schalke, Rennes and Fenerbahce and had quite a easy tie against Shakhtar where we won 4-1 on aggregate. That opened up the competition and we took on Chelsea next, pleased that we were at home first we got out the blocks quickly. A 3-1 win gave Chelsea some work to do. 1-1 in the second leg meant we were in the semi finals. The draw picked out Barcelona vs Manchester United and Real Madrid vs Arsenal. A 1-1 draw in the Bernabeu meant that the away goal will give us the advantage in the second leg. A solid 2-0 win set us up another trip to Wembley to face United. I'll show you the screenshot instead of telling you how it went.

Onwards and upwards.

[Anxiietyyy]

Oooh, unlucky there! The two injuries must have really thrown you off course in the final. There's always next year!

[Ron_Burgundy]

ARSENAL F.C. END OF SEASON REPORT - 2012/2013

Sigh. What started as a season with high hopes it ended it slight disappointment. A anticlimax so to speak. We kicked off the season really well and after winning the Community Shield 2-1 over Manchester United we hit the ground running in the league. Wins over Villa, Stoke, Swansea, Fulham, Wigan and Newcastle saw us top of the pile. We were drawn a tough tie in the Carling Cup away to Chelsea. That match would be our first loss of the season, my youngsters played well but a one nil loss started abit of a dip in form. A loss to Manchester City and Wolves followed, our away form would let us down again. Rampant wins over Rennes (2-0/UCL) and Newcastle (4-0) gave me some belief that we could turn round our form but draw with Fenerbahce (0-0/UCL), WBA (1-1) and Blackpool (0-0) teamed up with losing to Everton (1-2) and Fenbahce (5-1/UCL) we went into December in 8th place knowing that something needed to change. Tweaks to the tactic saw us scrap 1-0 wins over West Ham and Schalke (UCL) but what pleased me most over the festive period is that we didn't conceded over the five games, considering who we played than that was very pleasing. We beat Bolton (5-0), Tottenham (2-0) drew with United (0-0) beat Sunderland (2-0) but the first game of the new year saw Liverpool teach us a lesson. Losing 2-0 at Anfield was tough. I'm amazed we went forward winning 12 in a row, including a 7-0, 5-0, 4-0 and 3-0 wins in the Premiership. It's fair to say the tactical tweaks helped us turn possession in goals.

Going into the backend of the season the fixture was quite kind to us, games (and wins) against Everton, WBA, Blackpool, Wolves, Cardiff, and Bolton saw us go top, level on points with Manchester City but of course those easy games left us with a hard run in. We'd have to play Chelsea, Manchester United, Sunderland, Tottenham and Liverpool. We'd did well to get out what we did get out of those games but ultimately we came second behind Manchester City, by three points. Seven points ahead of Manchester United and a massive fifteen ahead of fourth place Chelsea. Considering we have the eighth highest salary per annum we certainly out performed. Manchester City spend three times as much on their players than we do, Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool all double too. We also made the most amount of profit through transfer spend last year, with United spending £58m, Tottenham £40m we made £18m from player sales. In January I sold Mikel Arteta for £14m to Bilbao, at 30 I made the call to sell him while I could, it was nice to get that huge £70k p/w off the budget too. Fabianski also left after complaining he was third choice. Another £20k p/w off the wage budget too. Before I move onto the other competitions we cleaned up on the award front, which is a first for me I think. Zierler, Song, Sagna, Hazard, Javi, Willian and Robin van Persie were starters in the PFA Team of the Year, Zieler won the Golden Glove and RVP won the Golden Boot. Gylfi was named young player of the year, Willian was player of the year with Javi 2nd in that award and finally Hazard was football of the year. Nice to see that.

In the domestic cups you already know Chelsea dumped my youngsters out in the 3rd round but the FA Cup was a different story. As holders I wanted to retain the trophy and I did. We actually retained the trophy without conceding a goal. The draw was very kind to us though. We beat Millwall (2-0) Norwich (3-0) Derby (2-0) Sunderland (1-0) and West Brom (2-0) to reach Wembley where Swansea would await us. A easy 1-0 win saw us lift the trophy two years running.

The Champions League was a competition I wanted to impress in, semi final was my target. We breezed through a group of Schalke, Rennes and Fenerbahce and had quite a easy tie against Shakhtar where we won 4-1 on aggregate. That opened up the competition and we took on Chelsea next, pleased that we were at home first we got out the blocks quickly. A 3-1 win gave Chelsea some work to do. 1-1 in the second leg meant we were in the semi finals. The draw picked out Barcelona vs Manchester United and Real Madrid vs Arsenal. A 1-1 draw in the Bernabeu meant that the away goal will give us the advantage in the second leg. A solid 2-0 win set us up another trip to Wembley to face United. I'll show you the screenshot instead of telling you how it went.

Onwards and upwards.

very unlucky there mate. Especially in the CL final in particular!

[Ron_Burgundy]

May I ask you all a quick question?

I am trying to look at a few stats for my Arsenal save but I wanted to see two (slightly random) stats.

Does anyone know if there is a way to do the following?

1) See how many hat tricks someone has scored for you? I ask because Cavani is immense and I think he may have 4 or 5...

2) Compare your wage bill from the current week to a week a year previously? I know you can do it by month and season but as I am midway through the season I am just wondering if I can see how the wage bill compares to this stage of the season the previous year?

Cheers all, very random I know but welcome any help if possible!

[Tommo1]

Not sure on number 1 but for number 2, go to the league, select team stats and in the drop down there is 'Salary per Annum' that will give you a list of wages.

[soundboyy]

^ That only gives you the current year though?

[soundboyy]

Harry's losing it!

In more ways than one...

[Sean3h]

In my Norwich game Harry seems to play Samba up front quite a lot. I'm guessing he has some kind of rating as a striker.

[ATLJonesIII]

In my Norwich game Harry seems to play Samba up front quite a lot. I'm guessing he has some kind of rating as a striker.

He used to be a Striker before he came to the EPL I think mate.

[Welshace]

He used to be a Striker before he came to the EPL I think mate.

nope.. he started upfront for blackburn for the first time in his career (apart from being a kid of course).. and only then because he is a massive man mountain and mobile enough to be a target to aim for

[bentaylor78]

Hi guys,

I was wondering if someone could help me. I have given my assistant manager the automatic job of handling match preparation. My assisant is Mark Bowen, who has very good overall stats, yet most of my players are unhappy as they believe 'the team is not working enough on match preparation.'

How do i correct this? Or what do i look for in an assistant manager for him to do a better job of handling match preparation? I really want my assistant to handle this, i dont want to do it manually....

Thanks,

Ben

[Kieran87]

check your tactics page - bottom left - change the match preperation to high - see if that helps.

If not you will need to unassign him. He is a good ass man so it may just be you need to handle them for a few weeks

[Guest]

Hi

Ending my first season with 5 pl games to go , I feel away in the race for the title towards the end with a few bad results but Man U have been very good all season in 1st , I should comfortably hold 3rd or 2nd. But I'm in the last 8 of the Champions league against Real Madrid!

My biggest mistake was loaning Chamakh too Liverpool as he has been scoring a lot of goals for them and they are in 2nd.

My team is strong but I feel I need strengthening for fullbacks Sagna has been injured a few times and cover is not great mostly Djourou has filled in here also I dont rate Santos at left back and although Gibbs is ok for first choice he does pick up injury's and he seems to tire very badly in games.

Also a summer clear out is needed as I've got way to many options in midfield after buying beginning of season and not being able to offload in January.

This is my team

szczesny / Fabianski / martinez

Gibbs / Santos

vermaelen / mertesacker / djourou / miguel

Koscielny / mertesacker / djourou / miguel

Sagna / djourou

Song / coquelin

kwado asmoath / ramsey

erikson / arshavin / arteta

gervinho / podolski

walcott / gervinho

van persie / podolski

I have podolski who can cover rvp and gervinho on the wing also Wilshire is back and will compete with erikson next season in the amc role

Arshavin ,Rosicky will both be leaving on free's.

Players like diaby, squid , park chu will try to be sold , and bendtner when back.

Players Im not sure what to do with are Ramsey and Arteta but I think one should be kept???????

Anywhere I should strengthen , apart from fullbacks as I have this covered with targets in mind. I was thinking right wing??????

cheers

[Kieran87]

So back to the game for me after a week or so of no lifeing it on League of Legends I sat and did most of the second season until the early hours this morning. I picked up a few trophies this year and built upon the success we had in the Champs League last year. We

picked up all the early silverwear in the year in the form of the Fifa World Club cup, the UEFA Super Cup and The Charity Shield. We didn't finish so greatly with being Knocked out of the semi's to Everton 1- 0 in a dire game that we didn't deserve anything from. We also in the next game went out to in the Champs league quarter's to the eventual runners up Barca ( trumped 1 - 5 by City =( ). We did however win the league!!!!! Woop Woop. My reserves and under 18's have continued their dominace and keep winning cups and league titles as well.

http://i.imgur.com/HKcGc.png

So with this season over I thought long and hard about all the players I have, the wage bill, their suitability and the way forward. I decided that Park, Donovan, Arteta & Santos, although handy were never my 1st picks so they all moved on and I got a pew £3 for them. Diaby and Denilson also moved on as they never featured for me anyways. I generated a bit of dough and then went out a bit big. In January I signed Ter Stegen and Kara and have been fast tracking them into the side. I have still got Szczesny as my number 1 but now have a better backup than mannone and martinez. I also have my regen Miguel and Butland coming through that both look very impressive 12 months on. I have reduced the overall squad size immensely and it is now looking more like a squad that a true gooner would appreciate.

http://i.imgur.com/nepfF.png

I may of paid slightly more than I wanted with Hazard however with City sniffing I had to plunge sooner rather than later. I did organise most of the fee on goals and 48 months so I didn't have a full outlay to start. A couple of little regens added to my already formidable squad of youths and here is the picks plus the last couple of now godly looking 1st teamers. I have posted Niang's form from last year as Walcott, Park and Van Persie got injured in October so for 2 months he was my only fit striker in the 1st team and he was banging in from all directions.

Onwards and upwards for me I feel. This year I am going to try to rotate enough without cutting off my nose to spite my face and go for all 3 titles for the treble. I feel with the squad I now have, bar maybe a new superstar striker I am fine. ( I have the youths that do one hell of a job but may need somebody to rely on if Van Persie get injured yet again! )