[FM12] Now You Do Not Punish Someone, English Or Otherwise, For Being Rubbish At FM...

[HotChocolate]

IT Crowd > Quality.

[SnakeXe]

Well I suppose "constantly fiddling because his expensively assembled team won't play as a unit" doesn't have quite the same ring to it.

[SnakeXe]

Season 12: Halfway House Update

Having won and won well in all pre-season friendlies, I was feeling good going into the season. Then the season started.

In the Community Shield we faced Chelsea, and things started well as we dominated possession, and Chelsea had a man sent off. We then took the lead, only to gift them the win through two soft goals and our own inability to finish. Still, it's only the Mickey mouse shield, who cares, right?

The league campaign then started with three losses (Man Utd (H), Newcastle (A), Liverpool (H)) in the first four games. Irksome.

A good result in the Champions League set us going, and we racked up a few wins, and things were going nicely. In fact we only dropped 9 more points (three draws and a loss) from then until the end of the calendar year in the league. Unfortunately the loss was against Chelsea, who are starting to run away with the league - certainly away from us anyway, a whopping 9 points ahead at this stage. Spurs are the other side ahead of us at the moment, but by a more manageable point plus game in hand.

In the League Cup the reserves have done us proud. Stoke, Man Utd and Liverpool were all dispatched despite them playing some strong selections, and we'll face Championship side Southampton in the semi-final.

In the Champions League we were top seeds, and we drew Valencia, Frankfurt, and FC Zurich. The afforementioned "good result in the Champions League" was a 2-1 win in the Mestalla to kick things off, and we nicked a win at home to Frankfurt to put us in control - especially as FC Zurich had lost their first two games at a combined score of 0-17. If you've been paying attention, you'll know what happened next. Suffice to say we didn't get the desired result. A more sensible approach in the home leg gave us a 3-1 win, and wins in the return matches at home against Valencia (2-1) and away to Frankfurt (5-0) saw us through as group winners.

Unfortunately it's Barca next.

The Good

• Results seem to be coming good
  
• We're still in everything important
  
• I've got a couple of signings lined up in January that should make a positive difference
  

The Bad

• Barely any performances have been cohesive - we're where we are on individual ability alone
  
• That start
  
• Chelsea's form
  

Results - League Table - Squad

[deltablue]

Hope you can catch Chelsea.

[ShyBaldBuddhist]

Good to see you've picked up after a slow start. Won't be easy chasing down Chelsea so good to see you have an easy tie in CL

[Pangaea]

Excellent results really, apart from the chubby start. Hopefully Chelsea run into a brick wall at the end.

[City2000]

Nice recovery after that start, looks like chelsea are just having having one of those great seasons you can't do much about.

[SnakeXe]

Hope you can catch Chelsea.

Good to see you've picked up after a slow start. Won't be easy chasing down Chelsea so good to see you have an easy tie in CL

Excellent results really, apart from the chubby start. Hopefully Chelsea run into a brick wall at the end.

Nice recovery after that start, looks like chelsea are just having having one of those great seasons you can't do much about.

Thanks guys! Yeah Chelsea will really have to throw it away even at this stage.

[abulezz]

I hate starting slow in a season - they run of bad form seems to stretch for ages!

[SnakeXe]

You know when you feel like you've been smashing your face off a brick wall trying to get your players to play in a certain way, then all of a sudden one match just comes along and everything you've been trying to drill into their stupid Gucci-encrusted heads finally crystallises?

[SnakeXe]

Of course when you then lose 2-0 away to Blackburn in the next game who even knows anymore.

[psychonaut]

Good luck with the rest of the season at Arsenal. If you don't win any trophies, we're allowed to call you Wenger

Fab career read so far.

[Pangaea]

Out of interest, is this "play great against great teams and crap against crap teams" somewhat of a trend?

[deltablue]

Are you sure you're not Liverpool?

[AK22]

Are you sure you're not Liverpool?

We just like giving points to newly promoted sides. We're nice like that

Seriously, seems like you need to try and eradicate some of the complacency that your team has. If you can do that, you'll be flying

[HotChocolate]

The only 2 teams that the fans would want you to finish above, are above you. Poor show. Need to over take Tottenham and Chelsea to cheer people up

[SnakeXe]

Good luck with the rest of the season at Arsenal. If you don't win any trophies, we're allowed to call you Wenger

Fab career read so far.

Better than "Hutchings" I suppose! Thanks

Out of interest, is this "play great against great teams and crap against crap teams" somewhat of a trend?

Unfortunately there's absolutely no identifiable trend. We've lost to Chelsea x2, Liverpool, Newcastle, Man Utd, FC Zurich, Boro, Fulham, Villa and Blackburn at the time of writing - pretty much the full spectrum of awesome through mediocre to window-lickers.

Are you sure you're not Liverpool?

We just like giving points to newly promoted sides. We're nice like that

Seriously, seems like you need to try and eradicate some of the complacency that your team has. If you can do that, you'll be flying

Well I'm in serious problems if we're being compared to the hubcap hustle

I'm not sure what it is to be honest. We just played Wigan and created 8 CCCs but only put away 2 and conceded a goal on the break to give a nervy last 15 minutes. Sometimes we just won't create any passable chances. If I keep my job over the summer I might just have to take a completely ruthless approach and mould the squad exactly as I want it.

The only 2 teams that the fans would want you to finish above, are above you. Poor show. Need to over take Tottenham and Chelsea to cheer people up

With 10 games remaining the Spuds have fallen by the wayside, but Chelsea are still a good way out in front.

[SnakeXe]

I think the Champions League just brings the best out of us. The previous game was a 2-1 home loss against Everton, using exactly the same tactics.

[SnakeXe]

SnakeXe's Career - Season 12 - 2023/24

Story of the Season:

Premier League - 2nd

We may have finished just 3 points from champions Chelsea but we only sporadically looked like ever overhauling their lead, at which point we'd then lose to Blackburn or something. The Chavs finally secured the title with a win in their penultimate fixture.

FA Cup - 3rd Round (lost v Middlesbrough)

Just awful.

League Cup - Final (lost v Aston Villa a.e.t)

Southampton predictably couldn't do much against us in the semi-final, and we conspired to beat ourselves in the final through a crack combination of terrible finishing and comedy defending.

Champions League - Semi-final (lost v Fiorentina)

A great result in the Nou Camp, winning 2-0, spurred us on to a decent run in the competition. We completed the job against Barca with a 1-0 home win, before a great 4-1 aggregate win saw off domestic rivals Chelsea.

Fiorentina were a decent draw in the semi-final, and I tried to emulate the approach that brought me such success in Florence with Bremen. However, I forgot one thing. My Bremen side could defend, whilst this team cannot. We were 3-0 down almost before I'd picked my jaw off the floor at our ineptitude. An Abreu consolation gave us hope for the away leg, which was of course dashed by our shambolic finishing once again as we had just the one late goal to show for 90 minutes of constant pressure.

Results 1 - Results 2 - Squad

Transfers - £95.5M spent

Too much money, too little sense. Berget wasn't my signing, arranged by the previous guy. Don't know why they wasted all that money on him, he's just a bean pole with no footballing ability to speak of.

Finances

Not that they matter when you've got a tycoon in charge.

5 Most Important Players:

Another edition that should be named "5 least awful players".

5. Mahmoud Nagy - AMR/ST - His numbers are okay for a bit part player, but that belied the overall disappointing quality of his play.

4. Hassen Meriah - MRC/AMR - Scored the odd crucial goal, but had runs of games where he was completely anonymous.

3. Kenneth Utaka - GK - Showed enough to suggest he'll be plenty good enough with better protection in front of him.

2. David Margreiter - M/AMC/ST - Good, but wish I'd taken the money when Barca offered me £38m for him. He's not £38m good.

1. Bruno Abreu - AMRL/ST - The only player who I'd go so far as to say had a good season. Won the FWA Player of the Season.

History:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Season  | Team            | League                | Country      | Position | Notes                                                 |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2012/13 | Weymouth        | Blue Square South     | England      | 2nd      | Playoff Semi-finalists                                |
| 2013/14 | Weymouth        | Blue Square South     | England      | 3rd      | Resigned in October                                   |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2013/14 | Darlington      | Blue Square Premier   | England      | 14th     | 15th on arrival in October                            |
| 2014/15 | Darlington      | Blue Square Premier   | England      | 2nd      | Playoff Winners                                       |
| 2015/16 | Darlington      | League Two            | England      | 16th     | Resigned in January                                   |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2015/16 | Southend United | League One            | England      | 21st     | Relegated, 24th on arrival in March                   |
| 2016/17 | Southend United | League Two            | England      | 1st      | League Two Champions                                  |
| 2017/18 | Southend United | League One            | England      | 2nd      | Promoted                                              |
| 2018/19 | Southend United | Championship          | England      | 17th     | Resigned in October                                   |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2018/19 | Wigan Athletic  | Championship          | England      | 4th      | 13th on arrival in October, Playoff Winners           |
| 2019/20 | Wigan Athletic  | Premier League        | England      | 15th     | Left in December                                      |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2019/20 | Werder Bremen   | 1. Bundesliga         | Germany      | 8th      | 14th on arrival in December, DFB-Pokal Winners        |
| 2020/21 | Werder Bremen   | 1. Bundesliga         | Germany      | 1st      | B'liga Champions, Supercup Winners, EL Semi-Finalists |
| 2021/22 | Werder Bremen   | 1. Bundesliga         | Germany      | 2nd      | Supercup Winners, CL & DFB-Pokal Semi-Finalists       |
| 2022/23 | Werder Bremen   | 1. Bundesliga         | Germany      | 1st      | B'liga Champions, Champions League Winners            |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2023/24 | Arsenal         | Premier League        | England      | 2nd      | Champ's League Semi-Finalists, League Cup Finalists   |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Next Season:

What a nightmare. We never gelled as a team, and it just shows the individual quality I had at my disposal that we even got this far. I can't believe I've spent so much money and yet still have so many massive problems to fix. The defence in particular needs a complete overhaul, I'll probably get rid of almost everyone and rebuild from nothing should I have the funds to. My major concern is that we have to completely control games to have any chance of winning them, and even then I never feel confident.

If I retain my job through the summer, which seems likely for the moment as they'd have sacked me after the final match I imagine, then over the summer we need to find a footballing philosophy that fits most of our key players and stick to it. There was far too much chopping and changing during the year this time, which definitely didn't help, and was mostly my fault.

Just call me Arsene.

[deltablue]

If that's poor, than you should be amazing when having a decent season.

[SnakeXe]

Former Club Watch:

Weymouth F.C.:

Stone bottom and out of the playable leagues. Gutted.

Season    League                  Position  Notes                  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13*  Blue Square South       2nd       Playoff semi-finalists
2013/14*  Blue Square South       9th       I left in October (resigned)
2014/15   Blue Square South       10th      -
2015/16   Blue Square South       19th      -
2016/17   Blue Square South       9th       FA Cup 2nd Round
2017/18   Blue Square South       3rd       Playoff Winners
2018/19   Blue Square Premier     21st      Relegated
2019/20   Blue Square South       14th      -
2020/21   Blue Square South       14th      -
2021/22   Blue Square South       19th      -
2022/23   Blue Square South       18th      -
2023/24   Blue Square South       22nd      Relegated

NB * indicates that I was in charge for at least part of the season.

Darlington F.C.:

One better in the JPT but a poor league campaign.

Season    League                  Position  Notes                  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2013/14*  Blue Square Premier     14th      I joined in October
2014/15*  Blue Square Premier     2nd       Playoff Winners
2015/16*  League Two              18th      I left in January (resigned)
2016/17   League Two              17th      JPT North Quarter Final
2017/18   League Two              15th      FA Cup 3rd Round
2018/19   League Two              3rd       Promoted
2019/20   League One              22nd      Relegated, FA Cup 4th Round
2020/21   League Two              20th      -
2021/22   League Two              6th       FA Cup 4th Round, Playoff Semifinalists
2022/23   League Two              9th       JPT North Quarter Final
2023/24   League Two              16th      JPT North Semi Final

Southend United:

Another season of Championship football and an FA Cup semi-final appearance make this a great year to be a Shrimper.

Season    League                  Position  Notes                  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2015/16*  League One              21st      Relegated, I joined in March
2016/17*  League Two              1st       League Two Winners
2017/18*  League One              2nd       Promoted
2018/19*  Championship            15th      I left in October (resigned)
2019/20   Championship            20th      -
2020/21   Championship            12th      FA Cup 5th Round
2021/22   Championship            9th       -
2022/23   Championship            15th      -
2023/24   Championship            16th      FA Cup Semi Final

Wigan Athletic:

Woeful.

Season    League                  Position  Notes                  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19*  Championship            4th       I joined in October, Playoff Winners
2019/20*  Premier League          11th      I left in December (job offer)
2020/21   Premier League          18th      League Cup Winners, Relegated
2021/22   Championship            2nd       Promoted, League Cup Quarter-finalists
2022/23   Premier League          17th      FA Cup 6th Round
2023/24   Premier League          19th      Relegated

Werder Bremen:

Officially the best club team in the world, but couldn't quite overhaul Leverkusen to retain the league.

Season    League                  Position  Notes                  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019/20*  1. Bundesliga           8th       I joined in December, DFB-Pokal Winners
2020/21*  1. Bundesliga           1st       B'liga, S'cup Winners; EL Semi-finalists
2021/22*  1. Bundesliga           2nd       S'cup Winners; EL, DFB-P Semi-finalists
2022/23*  1. Bundesliga           1st       B'liga, Champs League Winners
2023/24   1. Bundesliga           2nd       CWC, DFB-Pokal Winners

[City2000]

On paper it doesn't look too bad but it does sounds like a frustrating season, I guess the expectations are sky high given the amount of money involved.

Seems like a very important summer coming up!

[SnakeXe]

If that's poor, than you should be amazing when having a decent season.

On paper it doesn't look too bad but it does sounds like a frustrating season, I guess the expectations are sky high given the amount of money involved.

Seems like a very important summer coming up!

Yeah the overall results are alright, except for the FA Cup debacle, but the manner of our play just hasn't been convincing, especially given what I've spent. I don't mind missing out on trophies if I feel like we've just not had the luck of the green or were put out by an excellent performance on the night, but that just hasn't been the case. We beat ourselves in all four competitions.

[SnakeXe]

2024 UEFA European Championship

Hosts: Spain

Holders: England

Group Stage:

Group A:

| Pos   | Inf   | Team        |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   | Q     | England     |       | 3     | 3     | 0     | 0     | 8     | 2     | +6    | 9     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   | Q     | Netherlands |       | 3     | 2     | 0     | 1     | 6     | 1     | +5    | 6     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   | Q     | Russia      |       | 3     | 1     | 0     | 2     | 3     | 6     | -3    | 3     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Iceland     |       | 3     | 0     | 0     | 3     | 1     | 9     | -8    | 0     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Group B:

| Pos   | Inf   | Team     |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   | Q     | Italy    |       | 3     | 3     | 0     | 0     | 9     | 3     | +6    | 9     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   | Q     | Serbia   |       | 3     | 2     | 0     | 1     | 5     | 5     | 0     | 6     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Bulgaria |       | 3     | 0     | 1     | 2     | 3     | 6     | -3    | 1     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Norway   |       | 3     | 0     | 1     | 2     | 1     | 4     | -3    | 1     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Group C:

| Pos   | Inf   | Team        |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   | Q     | Switzerland |       | 3     | 2     | 0     | 1     | 6     | 5     | +1    | 6     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   | Q     | Belgium     |       | 3     | 1     | 2     | 0     | 4     | 3     | +1    | 5     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Turkey      |       | 3     | 0     | 2     | 1     | 4     | 5     | -1    | 2     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Scotland    |       | 3     | 0     | 2     | 1     | 3     | 4     | -1    | 2     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Group D:

| Pos   | Inf   | Team     |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   | Q     | Germany  |       | 3     | 2     | 1     | 0     | 5     | 2     | +3    | 7     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   | Q     | Sweden   |       | 3     | 1     | 1     | 1     | 3     | 2     | +1    | 4     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   | Q     | Slovenia |       | 3     | 1     | 1     | 1     | 5     | 6     | -1    | 4     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Albania  |       | 3     | 0     | 1     | 2     | 1     | 4     | -3    | 1     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Group E:

| Pos   | Inf   | Team           |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   | Q     | Portugal       |       | 3     | 2     | 1     | 0     | 4     | 0     | +4    | 7     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   | Q     | Spain          |       | 3     | 2     | 0     | 1     | 7     | 2     | +5    | 6     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   | Q     | Czech Republic |       | 3     | 1     | 0     | 2     | 3     | 7     | -4    | 3     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Croatia        |       | 3     | 0     | 1     | 2     | 1     | 6     | -5    | 1     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Group F:

| Pos   | Inf   | Team    |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   | Q     | France  |       | 3     | 3     | 0     | 0     | 7     | 0     | +7    | 9     | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   | Q     | Denmark |       | 3     | 1     | 1     | 1     | 3     | 3     | 0     | 4     | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   | Q     | Hungary |       | 3     | 1     | 1     | 1     | 4     | 6     | -2    | 4     | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Poland  |       | 3     | 0     | 0     | 3     | 1     | 6     | -5    | 0     | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Knockout Stage:

Second Round:

Serbia p1 v 1 England

Denmark 2 v 1 Portugal

Russia 0 v 2 Italy

Slovenia 0 v 3 France

Spain 0 v 3 Netherlands

Switzerland 0 v 1 Czech Republic

Hungary 1 v 2 Germany

Belgium 1 v 1p Sweden

Quarter Final:

Denmark 0 v 3 Serbia

Italy 3 v 0 France

Czech Republic 0 v 1 Netherlands

Sweden 1 v 2e Germany

Semi Final:

Serbia 0 v 1 Germany

Italy 0 v 1e Netherlands

Final:

Germany 1 v 1p Netherlands

[SnakeXe]

On the one hand, a difficult one to turn down as a proud(ish) Englishman; on the other, it's a bit early for career suicide, and the Arsenal job really requires my full attention.

[SnakeXe]

I was offered it in the end, but turned it down. If I'd won something with Arsenal last season I might have considered quitting for it, but there we go. One day.

[Flamers]

You suck

[SnakeXe]

SnakeXe's Career - Season 13 Preview - Arsenal

Board Expectations:

Premier League - Winners (Predicted 1st out of 20)

FA Cup - Winners

League Cup - Unimportant

Champions League - Final

My Expectations:

Premier League - Win it

FA Cup - Anything better than last year's performance

League Cup - More first team football for the backups

Champions League - We should have made the final last time even with a relatively tough route, so I'd hope to do so this time

Budgets:

Transfer: £60,050,000 (£51,600,000 remaining)

Wages: £3,066,087/week (£2,312,360/week currently)

Balance: £58,032,264 (+£32,128,510 since last season)

Squad:

I've gone for the jugular this season, bringing in two world class centrebacks (Aguero and Silva), a world class defensive midfielder (Holz), and a world class striker (Koster) for a combined £170m.

Key Men:

Goalkeeper/Defence

Dario Aguero - DC - Been tracking him for a while, fantastic centre-back coming in for £27.5m from Boca.

Diogo Silva - DC - Ditto Aguero, but £32.5m from Benfica.

Midfield

Moussa Ali Diallo - MLC - Powerful midfielder, a January signing from PSG, should be bedded in nicely by now.

Strikers

Gino Koster - ST - Euro 2024 player of the tournament, top goalscorer, and championship winner with Netherlands, as well as Bundesliga champion with Leverkusen last year. £60m is a steep price but he looks worth it.

[SnakeXe]

You suck

Oh look it's Flamers doing some flaming

Get your career thread updated, lad!

[SRL88]

Done a bit of advertising for you in my career thread ha.

Good work with Arsenal so far mate .

[SnakeXe]

Done a bit of advertising for you in my career thread ha.

Good work with Arsenal so far mate .

Thanks, I'll have to go have a look

[ManUTactician247]

Lol, the 2 defenders you signed are called Aguero and Silva, coincidence or deliberate?

[noikeee]

Just read about your last season with Arsenal, looks so similar to the story of my last season with Roma, talented squad, money to spend, fighting for all competitions, yet no trophies. Difference is that you have a tycoon and did far better in Europe.

With those new 4 world class players I think you'll walk this season, that forward looks insane.

[dburns1993]

Just read the thread from start to finish, quite a journey you've been on so far and been pretty successful!

I'm sure it will be even more intriguing if/when you go abroad and whether you'll stay there or come back to England.

Keep it going!

[SnakeXe]

Lol, the 2 defenders you signed are called Aguero and Silva, coincidence or deliberate?

Haha definitely a coincidence as I only just noticed the link!

Just read about your last season with Arsenal, looks so similar to the story of my last season with Roma, talented squad, money to spend, fighting for all competitions, yet no trophies. Difference is that you have a tycoon and did far better in Europe.

With those new 4 world class players I think you'll walk this season, that forward looks insane.

I definitely do see the similarities! We've started well, so let's hope it continues - Koster has 5 in 4 so far.

Just read the thread from start to finish, quite a journey you've been on so far and been pretty successful!

I'm sure it will be even more intriguing if/when you go abroad and whether you'll stay there or come back to England.

Keep it going!

Glad you're enjoying it! I'm definitely heading abroad again after Arsenal - I want to prove my managerial chops in the Premier League before leaving though, as I don't want gibbering moron pundits saying "Yeah but can he do it on a wet tuesday night in Stoke?".

[Pangaea]

Strikers

Gino Koster - ST - Euro 2024 player of the tournament, top goalscorer, and championship winner with Netherlands, as well as Bundesliga champion with Leverkusen last year. £60m is a steep price but he looks worth it.

Holy Mother of Crap!! That's some striker you've got there. He might even make do on a wet Tuesday evening in Stoke.

[SnakeXe]

He's an absolute machine - 13 goals in 9 so far.

[DazRTaylor]

He's an absolute machine - 13 goals in 9 so far.

He makes Cristian Yacuzzi in my game look like Emile Heskey

[Nobby_McDonald]

If that's you not gelling it will be scary when you do.

[jayahr]

Following this as well. And loving it

Good luck achieving your aims next year, though I guess if you win everything you may be bored quickly.

[deltablue]

Now that's a quality forward!

[SnakeXe]

He makes Cristian Yacuzzi in my game look like Emile Heskey

Now that's a quality forward!

He's like Ronaldo (the real one) was with better knees.

If that's you not gelling it will be scary when you do.

It should be scary, the individual talent in the squad last season was already outrageous and I've added four world-class players to that.

Following this as well. And loving it

Good luck achieving your aims next year, though I guess if you win everything you may be bored quickly.

Thanks

Yeah the stay at Arsenal won't be a long one. At the moment I'm thinking I'll see out my contract, hopefully bulking up my CV along the way, before heading abroad again. Probably staying in Europe at this stage of my career, unless a really interesting offer comes in from South America.

[SnakeXe]

Urgh, 3 games, 4 CCCs in each, not one CCC for the opposition = 0 goals, 2 conceded, 1 point?!

[City2000]

Well, no one can accuse you of not going for it with those signings. They all look top class!

Going by your above post I assume you have hit a bad patch then, still, looks like you have the squad to get out of it.

[SnakeXe]

Season 13: Halfway House Update

Given our transfer business over the summer, I hoped that our days of struggling for coherency were behind us. Initially this seemed to be the case, as we won 8 of our first 9 matches, the only blot on the copybook being an entirely acceptable 0-0 draw away to Liverpool.

However, we then hit a dodgy patch, with just one win in 5, including defeats away to Blackburn, Spurs and Man City, which dragged us off top spot and back into the chasing pack. With 5 games against also rans left before the mid-point of the season, I had hoped to take wins in all 5 to put us back in pole position. We managed just the three, with 0-0s against Huddersfield and Ipswich that were as one-sided as a mobius strip.

Still, 2 points off top is a lot better than 9.

The League Cup followed a similar arc to last season as the backups made short work of Norwich, Ipswich and Chelsea to set up a semi-final with Liverpool.

The Champions League was straightforward enough, wins home and away against Sampdoria and Dinamo Bucharest, plus a home win over Zenit, leaving the final-round defeat in St. Petersburg irrelevant. PSG in the next round is probably a little easier than Barca, but no room for complacency.

The Good

• All the new signings, and Koster in particular, have been resounding successes
  
• We're still in everything important
  
• Presumably we'll be stronger in the second half of the season when the new signings have settled
  

The Bad

• When Koster doesn't score, we rarely do
  
• Our wonderful habit of donating points to poor teams who don't deserve any
  
• Bad injuries to Abreu and Margreiter leave us a little short of cover
  

Results - League Table - Squad

[ShyBaldBuddhist]

Koster is showing why you spent £60m on him. He's got off to a flyer. Aguero and Silva look to have settled pretty quick too. Very tight at the top of the league. Should be a close run race

[AK22]

Definitely within a sniff of top spot in what looks a pretty competitive Premier League campaign. Everything will click eventually, then just watch the trophies roll in

[Flamers]

I might do, but theres no point updating if i haven't done anything I have just lost the will to game really. I will get back to it

[SnakeXe]

Well, no one can accuse you of not going for it with those signings. They all look top class!

Going by your above post I assume you have hit a bad patch then, still, looks like you have the squad to get out of it.

Yeah had a poor little 5-6 game spell but seems we're out of it now. I've switched tactics around a bit so our primary system is a 4-3-3 as before, but when we're playing a team who are likely to just put 10 behind the ball we go to a 4-2-4. More men in and around the box seems to solve the problem of failing to score, and the defenders are good enough to cope without the extra cover in midfield.

Koster is showing why you spent £60m on him. He's got off to a flyer. Aguero and Silva look to have settled pretty quick too. Very tight at the top of the league. Should be a close run race

Holz has been excellent too - not only does he break up the play well but he's got a hell of a pass on him to set us going in the opposite direction.

Definitely within a sniff of top spot in what looks a pretty competitive Premier League campaign. Everything will click eventually, then just watch the trophies roll in

Let's hope so! I think it might be a case of keeping a settled squad for the next year or two, there's been such a turnover of players even before I joined that they can't have developed a collective identity. I left the January window well alone and that looks to have paid dividends.

I might do, but theres no point updating if i haven't done anything I have just lost the will to game really. I will get back to it

I look forward to it!

[Pangaea]

Wouldn't be Arsenal without relying on one striker to score all the goals

Looks in pretty good stead though, a few points off the top which is no problem to overtake if you get a good run of games. Good luck for the second half of the season