PaulHartman71 Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 I'm taking a break from my FM10 ABC save game (admittedly at the moment I don't have my FM10 disc anyway because I'm a ******, but yeah back on topic...) but with FM13 beta out, despite my doubts about it I thought **** it YOLO, might as well start a save game with Arsenal and see where it goes. This could evolve into another A-Z thing, but my main aim at the moment is to just have a few seasons with Arsenal and win some stuff. Let's get this started! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted October 19, 2012 Author Share Posted October 19, 2012 I've got England down to BSN/BSS and the top tiers of France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Scotland, Spain and the MLS with a large database. This will be my first save game in FM13/Beta etc so I have no idea if I'll get any bugs/weird stuff happen, hopefully it shall all go swimmingly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted October 19, 2012 Author Share Posted October 19, 2012 After visiting the SI forums during a day off in early July of 2012, Arsene Wenger decided to check the Football Forum's Arsenal thread. After reading numerous posts from djvandyke and Sy13 he became sad, depressed and lost the will to manage Arsenal Football Club. He decided to resign with immediate effect, with his last wish that PaulHartman71 be tracked down and hired as his replacement. The reaction to this appointment was not great... Peter Hill-Wood welcomed me to the club and gave me a very tasty 86K a year deal, the fact it's only for a year though shows that if I don't deliver the goods I will not last very long. They expect possession football, attacking football and some good old fashioned youth system development. I'm already on bad terms with SAF, AVB, Mark Hughes, RDM and Roy Keane Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 Who can blame him Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted October 19, 2012 Author Share Posted October 19, 2012 Best of luck in your future endeavours... Anyone fancy putting £10 on us? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted October 20, 2012 Author Share Posted October 20, 2012 It was nice to see Southampton improving their defence... It was disappointing to see not only Chelsea strengthen their attack, but also miss out on a key target who was considerably cheap for a player of his quality... Our pre-season tour of the USA went swimmingly aside from a minor hiccup in San Jose, overall a good tour though and I got to experiment with tactics as well. Our first game of the season against Reading is coming up shortly, I'll be doing match reviews of each match as well as possibly goal highlights depending on how it goes with uploading to Youtube etc. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted October 20, 2012 Author Share Posted October 20, 2012 GK: Szczesny DR: Jenkinson DL: Gibbs DC: Mertesacker DC: Vermaelen © MC: Arteta MC: Diaby MC: Cazorla AMR: Gervinho AML: Podolski ST: Giroud S1: Djourou S2: Santos (on for Gibbs 52) S3: Koscielny (on for Mertesacker 58) S4: Ramsey S5: Oxlade-Chamberlain S6: Arshavin S7: Walcott (on for Gervinho 76) Arsenal MOTM: Podolski Absolutely gutted. After the second goal I was expecting double figures, however it wasn't to be and we were exposed defensively a lot in the first half. Gibbs and Jenkinson both looked nervous or out of their depth, potentially both, against a glorified Championship team which is very worrying. Vermaelen and Mertesacker didn't cover themselves in glory either, not a great start to the season to see your Goalkeeper concede 3 times either. The front three did well, Podolski especially shined, getting both assists. Cazorla wasn't overly impressive, however that could be a tactical fault of my own for playing him deeper than he'd probably like. Diaby didn't get injured but aside from that didn't have a great game, going largely un-noticed. Our next game is at home to Aston Villa, absolutely vital to get a win to quiet any doubters. At least we wont have the "when the hell will Giroud score?!" brigade as he scored within 2 minutes of his debut Shipping 3 goals to Reading is very worrying though, I think I will have to play more defensive in future matches. I wasn't planning on buying a DM as I liked the idea of having a Arteta-Wilshere-Cazorla midfield once Wilshere is back, however I may end up having to bring in a more imposing defensive midfielder to bolster the defence. I'm even considering getting in a left back or a right back, hopefully was just nerves from Gibbs and Jenkinson. I'm on the verge of signing an attacking player, as well as looking to sell on an older attacking midfielder within the team. I won't spoil the surprise on either of those just yet though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnakeXe Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 Bad luck missing out on Ba - he has 10 in 7 in my Newcastle save so far! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted October 20, 2012 Author Share Posted October 20, 2012 SnakeXe - Yeah it was annoying to miss out on him especially for just £7M! Carl Jenkinson has chosen his nationality at international level. I'm happy with this as he will surely get a lot of games straight away which can only help his development as he attempts to de-throne Sagna as first choice at right back. In transfer news I have broken the club's record fee with the attacking player I was talking about... The fans are pretty excited about his arrival, as am I. My first choice was Demba Ba as another striker to play, but after missing out on him I went for Jovetic due to his age as well as his versatility, which can also seem him play on the left. I paid a little more than I would have liked but I hope he will prove me right and be worth the £16.5M that I paid for him. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted October 20, 2012 Author Share Posted October 20, 2012 GK: Sczczesny DR: Jenkinson DL: Vermaelen © DC: Mertesacker DC: Koscielny MC: Diaby MC: Arteta MC: Cazorla AMR: Gervinho AML: Podolski ST: Giroud S1: Santos S2: Djourou S3: Ramsey (on for Diaby 69) S4: Oxlade-Chamberlain S5: Arshavin S6: Walcott (on for Gervinho 69) S7: Jovetic (on for Podolski 79) Arsenal MOTM: Vermaelen It wasn't a great performance, but the cliche is that the best teams win even if they've played bad. It was a very pleasing game defensively, Jenkinson looked good especially compared to the last game against Reading. I played Vermaelen at LB mainly because Gibbs had a poor game last time, I could have played Santos, but wanted to try out Koscielny and Mertesacker at CB, whilst dropping Vermaelen is difficult as he is captain. Diaby had another pretty anonymous game, Cazorla and Arteta both had relatively average games. Gervinho had a poor game. Giroud took his goal well but should have had at least another one, hitting the bar on two occasions. Walcott and Ramsey looked decent when they game on, Jovetic didn't really get much of a chance in his 10 minute run out, he did sky a shot late on though. Our next game is another winnable home time, this time against Wigan. It's important to win these games and I really want to make sure our home form is good this year, so another win is crucial against Martinez's boys who do well against the big boys - it's a bit early for them in the season to be beating the big boys though. It is looking like my final transfer will be going through shortly, I hope it will done before the Wigan game but it might not be. The attacking player I was looking to offload practically begged me to stay, I felt bad so for now he looks to be staying, however that could change if somebody comes in for him with a nice bid. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted October 20, 2012 Author Share Posted October 20, 2012 Champions League draw has been made and as you can see, aside from Schalke it was a very nice draw for us. I expect us to be able to top the group, not qualifying would be terrible considering the draw. The draw itself was worrying, there was only Basel and PSG left at one point and I was ******** it that we'd get PSG, luckily we avoided them and Chelsea got them instead... Man City avoided a group of death, though Bayern will be very difficult for them and I can't see Anderlecht or Celtic qualifying with those two giants in their group. Man United should qualify, though Lille and Valencia especially could give them a few problems. Madrid and Juve should qualify from Group C, though Montpellier or Olympiakos aren't the biggest whipping boys they could've drawn. Group D looks extremely open, in my opinion anyone could top that group, though Porto would be the best bet. Barcelona's group isn't the easiest, there's no clear whipping boy as Benfica and Fenerbache are both decent, with Dortmund being another quality team. Group F is another one that looks quite open, though I'd say AC Milan and especially Zenit are likely to progress. Chelsea's group is pretty difficult, Malaga and Dynamo Kyiv should be difficult and with PSG you have a team that can definitely challenge Chelsea for top spot. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted October 20, 2012 Author Share Posted October 20, 2012 My first transfer deadline day was a relatively quiet one, the only major out-going player was Francis Coquelin who left on a season long loan to Aston Villa. I made the decision to keep Frimpong as my back-up/league cup DM, so it made sense that Coquelin went out on loan to pick up some important first team football. The other players that I have sent out on loan are below, the highlights include: Nico Yennaris joining Barnsley, Ignasi Miguel joining Coventry, Thomas Eisfeld going to MK Dons and the bright prospect Serge Gnabry on his way to Portsmouth. There was however one more player to join the club. It was between him and M'Vila, ultimately I went with this player as he is more versatile and was around £5M cheaper. I'm hoping Capoue can settle into the club nicely and he'll find himself battling with Arteta for a place in the first team this year. I was unable to shift Arshavin in the end, so he gets his wish to stay at the club for now. His contract expires at the end of the season and currently I have no intention of renewing it as his wages are very high considering his place in the squad. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRL88 Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 Nice layout dude. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted October 20, 2012 Author Share Posted October 20, 2012 @SLR - thanks man It shall be interesting to see how the usually home-sick Jesus Navas copes as he joins Chelsea's already impressive attacking line with Demba Ba. Fellaini finally left Everton and has made the step up to Man City. Glen Johnson also joined City in a relatively surprising move which saw Liverpool make a significant loss. Subotic also joined Chelsea which will help improve their defence. Jose Enrique swapped Anfield for White Hart Lane, Liverpool losing both their full-backs in one window can't end well. Anderson left Man United and has joined former team-mate Darron Gibson in Everton's midfield. Angel Rangel left Swansea for Fulham, Jermaine Jenas left Spurs on the cheap to join Aston Villa, Milan Baros returns to the PL as he joined Everton on the cheap and Malouda returned to France for just under £1M to surprisingly join PSG. The league cup draw has been made and we have a relatively good draw as we're at home to Millwall. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted October 20, 2012 Author Share Posted October 20, 2012 GK: Szczesny DR: Jenkinson DL: Vermaelen © DC: Mertesacker DC: Koscielny DM: Capoue MC: Arteta MC: Cazorla AMR: Walcott AML: Podolski ST: Giroud S1: Gibbs S2: Djorou S3: Diaby S4: Ramsey (on for Cazorla 78) s5: Oxlade-Chamberlain (on for Walcott 62) S6: Gervinho S7: Jovetic (on for Podolski 62) Arsenal MOTM: Koscielny A very solid performance. There was never really any concern from a defensive point of view, all of our defenders had a great game, it's making it difficult to pick a CB pairing at the moment, my intention is for Gibbs to be the main LB though. Giroud had another good game, now with 3 goals in 3 games which is great, he very nearly had a 2nd when he hit the post just before half-time. Capoue had a good debut, he slot into the anchor man position well, he hit the post himself in the 70th minute, would've been nice for him to get a goal even if that wasn't what he was signed for. Our next game is with QPR who haven't scored a goal away yet, drawing 0-0 with Norwich and then getting battered 6-0 by Reading in their last game. With a tough away game in Schalke mid-week, I will almost certainly rest a few key players against QPR, hopefully it doesn't come back to bite me in the arse! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pearcey_90 Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 Noticed Spurs signed two left backs Ahaa! Good business AVB! Good luck anyway lad Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 Decent start. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnakeXe Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 Tidy start indeed! I've gone for Jovetic as well, although I got him for slightly less - £13.25m. I think I'm going to go for Jovetic, Ben Arfa and Dzagoev as a three behind Ba or Cisse. Although surprisingly Obertan is playing spectacularly well, so I might not be able to drop him! The useless boggleheaded freak. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nava Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 good luck man!! I do like the look of the arsenal team this year and you've made a couple of nice additions. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
abulezz Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 Navas, Fellaini, and Johnson made the exact same moves for the same fees in my save! Yarmolenko went to Arsenal instead of Spurs, though Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted October 21, 2012 Author Share Posted October 21, 2012 @pearcey_90 - hopefully he messes things up! @deltablue - ...for now! @SnakeXe - as if you got him for 3M less. Did you have clauses or something? They wouldn't budge any lower That does sound like a very scary Newcastle attack, definitely top 4 worthy! @nava - thanks man! @abulezz - he was a player that I looked at, but I went for Jovetic in the end. - Now, about that being bitten in the arse... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted October 21, 2012 Author Share Posted October 21, 2012 GK: Szczesny DR: Jenkinson (sent off 59) DL: Gibbs DC: Mertesacker © DC: Koscielny DM: Capoue MC: Oxlade-Chamberlain MC: Ramsey AMR: Gervinho AML: Jovetic ST: Walcott S1: Vermaelen (on for Gibbs 59) S2: Sagna S3: Diaby S4: Cazorla S5: Frimpong S6: Giroud (on for Walcott 61) S7: Podolski (on for Gervinho 58) Arsenal MOTM: Oxlade-Chamberlain So resting players wasn't such a good idea. To be fair we were dominating them until Jenkinson got himself sent off, with Gibbs also on a yellow I brought on Vermaelen to give us 3 at the back, as I still wanted us to push on and win it. This backfired incredibily as two of QPR's three goals came from crosses from the wing where I should have had a full back. Walcott had been terrible, he offered nothing and this may be the last time I try him up-front, Gervinho had also been poor so I'd brought on Podolski just moments before Jenkinson went off. Podolski and Giroud did make a difference as they combined for our first goal, Giroud keeping up an impressive record of scoring once in every league game so far. Oxlade-Chamberlain scored a thumping volley late on and I thought we were going to come back to a draw, but unfortunately we ran out of time. We've now lost 2 games out of our first 4 which is awful. Hopefully we can beat Schalke in Germany as the last thing I need is a poor start to the Champions League. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnakeXe Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 @SnakeXe - as if you got him for 3M less. Did you have clauses or something? They wouldn't budge any lower That does sound like a very scary Newcastle attack, definitely top 4 worthy! He was bizarrely transfer listed! It was £4m up front with the rest over 48 months. Indeed - I'm closing in on January 1st and starting to get excited at the prospect Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted October 21, 2012 Author Share Posted October 21, 2012 @SnakeXe - you were a very lucky boy then! GK: Szczesny DR: Sagna DL: Gibbs DC: Koscielny DC: Vermaelen © DM: Capoue MC: Oxlade-Chamberlain MC: Cazorla AMR: Walcott AML: Podolski ST: Giroud S1: Jenkinson S2: Mertesacker S3: Diaby (on for Cazorla 70) S4: Ramsey S5: Arteta (on for Capoue 45) S6: Gervinho S7: Jovetic (on for Walcott 78) Arsenal MOTM: Walcott A pretty impressive performance with a comfortable win that I hoped for. Walcott was the best player on the pitch, going past 3 players before laying off a nice pass for Giroud to slot home first-time. Giroud actually scored again 5 minutes later but it got called off for offside, looked onside from the angle I saw it though. Walcott volleyed in himself from a Podolski cross, giving us a comfortable margin of 2 goals, we never really looked like conceding as all of our defenders had a good game. It was Sagna's first game back into the team since his injury and he did well. Capoue had to come off at half-time, he'd been booked and looked like he was a tackle away from a red card. Diaby picked up a knock just 5 minutes after coming on, but thankfully he was okay enough to carry on. Giroud keeps up his impressive record of having scored in all of our competitive games so far. Our next match is at the Etihad Stadium, probably one of the hardest game we're going to have this season but hopefully we can get something out of it! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted October 21, 2012 Author Share Posted October 21, 2012 GK: Szczesny DR: Sagna DL: Gibbs DC: Koscielny DC: Vermaelen © DM: Capoue MC: Oxlade-Chamberlain MC: Arteta AMR: Walcott AML: Podolski ST: Giroud S1: Santos S2: Mertesacker (on 70 for Sagna) S3: Frimpong S4: Ramsey S5: Cazorla (on 61 for Oxlade-Chamberlain) S6: Gervinho S7: Jovetic (on 15 for Walcott) Arsenal MOTM: Szczesny A third loss in five league games, an awful awful start to the league campaign. City were much the bettre team and thoroughly deserved their win. Giroud hit the bar and had a few one on one chances with Hart, but Hart got the better of him. Jovetic looked promising when he came on but still couldn't contribute towards a goal. We were lucky to get a penalty as that seemed to be the only way we were going to score, Podolski made sure by thumping it in. Morale isn't great around the players at the moment, we're away to Everton next who are in great form, we really cannot afford anything other than 3 points from that game. Milwall next in the League Cup, I'm hoping for a comfortable win even without playing all of my first choice players. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted October 21, 2012 Author Share Posted October 21, 2012 GK: Szczesny DR: Jenkinson DL: Santos DC: Koscielny DC: Mertesacker © DM: Frimpong MC: Ramsey MC: Diaby AMR: Gervinho AML: Oxlade-Chamberlain ST: Jovetic S1: Gibbs S2: Vermaelen S3: Capoue (on for Diaby 59) S4: Cazorla (on for Ramsey 59) S5: Podolski S6: Walcott (on for Jovetic 77) S7: Giroud Arsenal MOTM: Gervinho Obviously it wasn't the stereotypical Arsenal putting the kids out, but to be fair all of the talented kids we have are already out on loan anyway. Frimpong got his first start of the season and did relatively well, all of the defence looked impressive especially Santos and Szcesny in goal. Santos' penalty was probably the hardest I've ever seen a player on FM hit the ball from the penalty spot, great stuff. I didn't want to risk playing Fabianski or Mannone as they're both not great and will only play if Szczesny is injured or suspended, he needs game time to develop into a better keeper anyway. Ramsey and Diaby were nothing special in midfield so I brought on Capoue to help stabalise things and Cazorla to give a bit more creativity. Jovetic scored his first goal for the club and had a good game in general, Oxlade-Chamberlain also looked good but the best player on the pitch was comfortably Gervinho - he's definitely put in a shout in for the AMR slot on a regular basis. Big game in the league next, in-form Everton who have won 4 of their last 5 league games at Goodison Park, should be a tough game! A few surprises as Swansea win at Anfield to knock the holders out and Southampton defeat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Newcastle are also out as they were beaten by in-form Everton. QPR away isn't the best draw we could have hoped for, a home tie against one of the Championship sides would've been nicer but it's still not the end of the world. United and City both have tough draws, hopefully at least one goes out, though Spurs and Everton would be tough opponents in their own right. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
abulezz Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 Tough loss to Man City Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted October 22, 2012 Author Share Posted October 22, 2012 @abulezz - It was pretty disappointing, the two losses previously made it even worse of a result than it would usually have been. GK: Szczesny DR: Sagna DL: Gibbs DC: Koscielny DC: Vermaelen © DM: Capoue MC: Arteta MC: Cazorla AMR: Gervinho AML: Podolski ST: Giroud S1: Santos S2: Mertesacker (on 69 for Koscielny) S3: Ramsey S4: Wilshere S5: Oxlade-Chamberlain S6: Walcott (on 3 for Gervinho) S7: Jovetic (on 78) Arsenal MOTM: Vermaelen I'd say "struggle to draw" is a pretty harsh description. It was a pretty open game and I thought we deserved the win, a pretty lucky goal from Oviedo that Szczesny should have saved really. Arteta scoring against his old club, he did at least seem to not celebrate against them which was nice of him. Giroud had a quiet game, I left it late to replace him as Gervinho got injured very early on and Koscielny picked up a slight knock so was also taken off, leaving me with just the one substitute. Jack Wilshere is also fit once again, I didn't risk him but he may well get game time in our next game against Basel. Our next league game is at home to Newcastle, another tricky game, hopefully we can win that one though. A quick look at the current table. It's not particularly happy reading for Arsenal fans at the moment, 7 points off the pace and stuck down in 11th - with Swansea and West Brom both having games in hand that they could go ahead of us with. Man City are unbeaten and look strong, Chelsea also looking strong and could go top with their game in hand - as could, god forbid, Spurs! Everton and Fulham have also had strong starts, Sunderland could break into the top 4 if they win their game in hand. One silver lining is that we're at least ahead of Liverpool who have already lost 4 games. It's looking pretty bleak for Roberto Martinez and Wigan, 6 games in and they've lost all of them, scoring only once and conceding 13 times. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted October 22, 2012 Author Share Posted October 22, 2012 GK: Szczesny DR: Sagna DL: Santos DC: Koscielny DC: Vermaelen © MC: Arteta MC: Oxlade-Chamberlain AMR: Walcott AML: Podolski ST: Giroud S1: Gibbs S2: Mertesacker S3: Ramsey S4: Wilshere (on 82 for Arteta) S5: Cazorla (on 66 for Oxlade-Chamberlain) S6: Rosicky S7: Jovetic (on 45 for Giroud) Arsenal MOTM: Podolski Another game where we've been 1-0 up and then blown the lead which is really frustrating. Giroud picked up a knock and had to go off at half-time for Jovetic, who didn't really do much at all in the 2nd half. Oxlade-Chamberlain had a poor game, he'd been good lately so I played him instead of Cazorla, who came on and didn't really do much either. Wilshere made his return as he played 8 minutes, replacing the injured Mikel Arteta. Podolski was the best player on the pitch, he got the assist for Giroud's goal and generally looked lively. Some things never change... I'm still confident we can win the group. We should beat Salzburg home and away, after already beating Schalke in Germany we should have the confidence to beat them at the Emirates and Basel away is a winnable game. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted October 22, 2012 Author Share Posted October 22, 2012 GK: Szczesny DR: Sagna DL: Gibbs DC: Koscielny DC: Vermaelen © DM: Capoue MC: Oxlade-Chamberlain MC: Cazorla AMR: Walcott AML: Podolski ST: Giroud (sent off 39) S1: Jenkinson S2: Santos S3: Mertesacker (on 88 for Capoue) S4: Wilshere S5: Ramsey (on 57 for Oxlade-Chamberlain) S6: Diaby S7: Jovetic (on 57 for Podolski) Arsenal MOTM: Walcott A very pleasing performance. Walcott's goal early on put us off to a great start and we dominated the first half, Giroud with a terrible tackle just before half-time got him sent off, rather than put a striker on I instead moved Cazorla to CAM, operating with a Spanish no striker style formation. This seemed to work as Walcott added a second minutes later from a Cazorla assist. Vermaelen made sure of the win with his volley from a corner in the 56th minute. Szczesny had a good game making some tidy saves, the two stars of the day were without doubt Walcott and Cazorla, the latter having his best game at the club so far. Wilshere wasn't subbed on as he is still lacking in match fitness. Jovetic didn't look particularly impressive when he came on, I am unsure whether to play him or Walcott at ST for the game (or potentially games) where Giroud is suspended. Our next game is at Craven Cottage against a Fulham side that so far have done pretty well, with 4 wins from their 7 games. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted October 22, 2012 Author Share Posted October 22, 2012 Before our game against Fulham we had some bad news regarding Cazorla and Giroud... I'm pretty annoyed to see Cazorla out for a week just as he hits peak form, especially for something as stupid as food poisoning ffs! Giroud getting the extra two matches wasn't a huge surprise but is this irritating as he's our top scorer. GK: Szczesny DR: Sagna DL: Gibbs DC: Koscielny DC: Mertesacker © DM: Capoue MC: Oxlade-Chamberlain MC: Cazorla AMR: Gervinho AML: Podolski ST: Walcott S1: Jenkinson S2: Santos S3: Arteta (on 59 for Cazorla) S4: Wilshere (on 76 for Oxlade-Chamberlain) S5: Ramsey S6: Diaby S7: Jovetic (on 59 for Gervinho) Arsenal MOTM: Podolski It turned out Cazorla recovered from his food poisoning quick enough to be fit enough to start anyway. A good game which towards the end we made hard for ourselves, but ultimately a win is a win. Podolski was the best player on the pitch, looking lively and like he could create or score a goal on numerous occasions. Vermaelen was rested which saw Koscielny and Mertesacker partner in defence, they both had a great game together. Jovetic is still yet to really impress me, since he scored a goal and generally looked decent I think I will stick with Walcott up-front for the next couple of league games. We face Salzburg at home in our next game, it should be an easy win, emphasis on the should. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted October 23, 2012 Author Share Posted October 23, 2012 GK: Szczesny DR: Sagna DL: Santos DC: Koscielny DC: Vermaelen © DM: Frimpong MC: Oxlade-Chamberlain MC: Cazorla AMR: Walcott AML: Podolski ST: Giroud S1: Jenkinson (on 74 for Sagna) S2: Mertesacker S3: Arteta S4: Wilshere (on 61 for Cazorla) S5: Ramsey S6: Gervinho S7: Jovetic (on 11 for Podolski) Arsenal MOTM: Walcott Again, not the most comfortable of victories but it was a win nonetheless. Podolski getting injured early on was pretty irritating, it did give Jovetic a chance to show what he can do for 80 minutes, he didn't do much at all. Giroud, fresh from not having played in the league due to suspension had a good game and scored the first goal (all of his goals so far have been the first in the match). Walcott's goal was un-real, dribbling from inside of our half, past 4 or 5 Salzburg players before smashing it in, was Henry vs Spurs-esque. Wilshere got half-hour, he's nearly up to 100 percent match fitness so he will be starting games soon enough. Our next game is at home to West Ham, hopefully we can keep up our good form and defeat Big Sam's men. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnakeXe Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 Make sure you batter Fat Sam's sausage Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted October 23, 2012 Author Share Posted October 23, 2012 GK: Szczesny DR: Sagna DL: Gibbs DC: Koscielny DC: Mertesacker © DM: Capoue MC: Wilshere MC: Cazorla AMR: Gervinho AML: Podolski ST: Walcott S1: Jenkinson (on 56 for Mertesacker) S2: Santos (on 56 for Gibbs) S3: Arteta S4: Oxlade-Chamberlain S5: Ramsey S6: Rosicky S7: Jovetic (on for Podolski 78) (taken off injured 80) Arsenal MOTM: Podolski A good win that was over-shadowed by injuries. Mertesacker headed in from a corner early on, we managed to hold on to a 1-0 lead until Podolski doubled our lead. After this I made the decision to take off Mertesacker and Gibbs who had picked up slight knocks. Walcott put it beyound doubt when he made it 3-0. I took off Podolski in the 78th minute to give Jovetic a go, within 90 seconds he had managed to get injured enough for us to have to finish the game with 10 men. Thankfully this didn't affect us and we still kept a cleansheet. Podolski and Walcott were the best players on the pitch, with Podolski edging the MOTM award. Wilshere settled into the midfield pretty nicely. The bad news is that Jovetic will be out of action for a while, which is very bad timing considering Gervinho is already injured, several other players aren't match fit and Giroud is suspended for 2 domestic games. Our next game is the league cup game with QPR. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted October 23, 2012 Author Share Posted October 23, 2012 GK: Szczesny DR: Jenkinson DL: Santos DC: Koscielny DC: Vermaelen © DM: Capoue MC: Wilshere MC: Ramsey AMR: Gervinho AML: Podolski ST: Walcott S1: Sagna S2: Gibbs S3: Djourou S4: Oxlade-Chamberlain (on 57 for Ramsey) S5: Cazorla (on 67 for Capoue) s6: Akpom S7: Iwobi ( on 57 for Walcott) Arsenal MOTM: Szczesny Pretty annoyed to be out of the League Cup, especially so early, it was a competition I felt we had a great chance of winning. A second loss to QPR, they seem to be our bogey team and Mark Hughes must be loving it. We had a few injuries/Giroud suspended and quite a few players not match fit which meant I had to resort to Akpom and Iwobi being on the bench, Iwobi even getting half hour or so, Iwobi was just 4 days away from levelling Fabregas' youngest appearance record for the club. Overall it was a pretty poor display, Julio Cesar being man of the match tells you everything you need to know about the game. Everton also caused an upset as they knocked out Man united after extra time. I imagine the eventual winner will be one of Man City or Everton, but I guess one of the other teams could go on and win it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
abulezz Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 Ouch! That QPR loss mustve hurt Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted October 24, 2012 Author Share Posted October 24, 2012 @abulezz - it was really annoying to go out of a competition I thought we could win. GK: Szczesny DR: Sagna DL: Gibbs DC: Koscielny DC: Vermaelen © DM: Capoue MC: Wilshere MC: Cazorla AMR: Walcott AML: Podolski ST: Giroud S1: Jenkinson S2: Santos S3: Djourou S4: Arteta S5: Ramsey (on 71 for Wilshere) S6: Oxlade-Chamberlain (on 71 for Cazorla) S7: Gervinho (on 79 for Walcott) Arsenal MOTM: Giroud An awful performance rescued by a late Giroud equaliser, still not good enough as it's definitely a game we should be winning. Our midfield had a very average game and nobody really stepped up, Gaston Ramirez had a great game and Lambert should have scored more goals than he did. I can't really say any of our players had a particularly good game, Giroud was the best of a pretty bad bunch. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Still, only the League cup. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 Bit inconsistent, this Arsenal side. Next thing, you'll be telling us you lost at home to Schalke... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted October 25, 2012 Author Share Posted October 25, 2012 @deltablue - that is true! @AK22 - GK: Szczesny DR: Sagna DL: Gibbs DC: Koscielny DC: Vermaelen © DM: Capoue MC: Oxlade-Chamberlain MC: Cazorla AMR: Gervinho AML: Podolski ST: Walcott S1: Jenkinson S2: Santos (on 79 for Gervinho) S3: Mertesacker S4: Arteta S5: Ramsey S6: Wilshere (on 71 for Oxlade-Chamberlain) S7: Giroud (on 71 for Walcott) Arsenal MOTM: Gibbs It wasn't a very exciting game, nor did it particularly make us look very good, but again a win is a win and it was an important win for us to get. Our defence was pretty strong throughout, attackingly we offered very little at all, with Cazorla's first goal for the club being the winner. This win puts us top of the group, 2 points clear of Basel and 6 clear of Schalke. Qualification is basically secured, however Schalke at home and Basel away aren't the easiest of games for us to have left. We face West Brom next in the league, but after that we have a ridiculous run of games - more on that in the West Brom game update. In other news, Kevin Keegan has made his return to the top flight... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted October 25, 2012 Author Share Posted October 25, 2012 GK: Szczesny DR: Sagna DL: Koscielny DC: Vermaelen © DM: Arteta MC: Wilshere MC: Cazorla AMR: Walcott AML: Podolski ST: Giroud S1: Jenkinson (on 83 for Sagna) S2: Santos S3: Mertesacker (on 66 for Vermaelen) S4: Capoue S5: Ramsey S6: Oxlade-Chamberlain (on 66 for Cazorla) S7: Gervinho Arsenal MOTM: Podolski It was important to get a win here since our run after this game is very difficult, the team didn't disappoint me. Szczesny had a great game in goal, as did Koscielny at CB, Arteta did well filling in at DM, Walcott and Podolski were the stand-out performers though as they combined for both of Podolski's goals. Mertesacker's header was also great, especially since he'd only been on the pitch about 15 minutes before scoring. Our next 7 games all are important/dificult games: Man United (H) PL Schalke (H) CL Chelsea (A) PL Liverpool (H) PL Basel (A) CL Sunderland (A) PL Tottenham (A) PL Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshpmilton Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 West Ham are going to have a hell of time. Bloody love Keegan's gung ho attacking attitude. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 Nice change from Allardyce. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted October 25, 2012 Author Share Posted October 25, 2012 GK: Szczesny DR: Sagna DL: Gibbs DC: Koscielny DC: Vermaelen © DM: Capoue MC: Wilshere MC: Cazorla AMR: Walcott AML: Podolski ST: Giroud S1: Jenkinson S2: Djourou S3: Mertesacker (on 58 for Vermaelen) S4: Arteta S5: Ramsey S6: Oxlade-Chamberlain (on 66 for Cazorla) S7: Gervinho (on 80 for Walcott) Arsenal MOTM: Giroud This picture says more than I ever could about the game - Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted October 27, 2012 Author Share Posted October 27, 2012 GK: Szczesny DR: Sagna DL: Gibbs DC: Mertesacker DC: Djourou DM: Capoue MC: Oxlade-Chamberlain MC: Arteta © AMR: Walcott AML: Gervinho ST: Giroud S1: Jenkinson S2: Vermaelen (on 56 for Gibbs) S3: Koscielny S4: Cazorla S5: Ramsey (on 83 for Oxlade-Chamberlain S6: Wilshere S7: Podolski (on 70 for Giroud) Arsenal MOTM: Mertesacker In a less than impressive performance we drew 1-1 with Schalke, it could easily have seen a win for the German side. Admittedly I did rest a few players, as well as gift Djourou his first game of the season, but we have Chelsea in a few days time which ultimately was more important as we were more or less qualified anyway. We are now officially qualified for the next round, our game with Basel in Basel will decide whether we top the group or finish 2nd. I'm pretty sure it goes on head to head, so we can only finish 2nd if we draw 0-0 or lose (at least that's what I'm under the impression of, I could be, but hopefully am not wrong). Next up in the league is a big game with Chelsea. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 Better than the real life result. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hypanimz Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 Cracking result against Van Persie and co. I always enjoy seeing United beaten. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted October 27, 2012 Author Share Posted October 27, 2012 @deltablue - very funny! @Hypanimz - I was pretty pleased myself when Giroud's winner went in GK: Szczesny DR: Sagna DL: Gibbs DC: Koscielny DC: Vermaelen © DM: Capoue MC: Cazorla MC: Wilshere AMR: Walcott AML: Podolski ST: Giroud S1: Jenkinson S2: Djourou S3: Mertesacker S4: Arteta S5: Ramsey S6: Oxlade-Chamberlain S7: Gervinho Arsenal MOTM: Koscielny A good result considering we were at Stamford Bridge. Petr Cech getting an 8.8 rating shows how vital he was in making sure we didn't grab all 3 points. It was a pretty dull game, but overall I'm pretty happy to come away from an away game to Chelsea without having lost. Our next game is Liverpool at home, despite the fact Liverpool are in poor form and Rodgers job is insecure, they do still have quality in Suarez who could pose a threat to our defence. The league table as it stands is below. Spurs and AVB have unfortunately had a fantastic start to the season and could go top of the table if they win their game in hand. Sunderland and Everton have both had good starts to the season, I don't see Sunderland being able to keep up for long but Everton could stay in the hunt for top 4 for a while if they keep players fit. United haven't had a great time, RVP is scoring goals for fun and is top scorer but their defence has leaked a lot of goals. Liverpool have had a poor start, they could go as high as 7th if they win their games in hand, although obviously one of those is with us. And finally it looks as though Roberto Martinez' men will have an even bigger escape job on their hands this season, 14 games in and they've won 1 and lost 13. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted October 27, 2012 Author Share Posted October 27, 2012 GK: Szczesny DR: Sagna DL: Gibbs DC: Koscielny DC: Vermaelen © DM: Capoue MC: Oxlade-Chamberlain MC: Arteta AMR: Walcott AML: Gervinho ST: Giroud S1: Jenkinson S2: Mertesacker (on 69 for Koscielny) S3: Wilshere (on 69 for Oxlade-Chamberlain) S4: Ramsey S5: Cazorla S6: Jovetic (on 61 for Gervinho) S7: Podolski Arsenal MOTM: Walcott A game that started out great but ended very disappointingly for us. Arteta the former Everton man banging in the penalty early on was great and when Giroud made it 2-0 early in the second half, I thought that we had it in the bag. Then, Stewart Downing of all people popped up to score and suddenly Liverpool were back in it. Suarez' equaliser came just 5 minutes after he was booked for diving, the ****. Walcott had a good game, as did Giroud, aside from those 2 nobody really stood out. Jovetic made his first appearance for a while, didn't do much mind. We've got a terrible draw in the 3rd round of the FA Cup... The rest of the draw sees Fulham away to Stevenage or Oldham, QPR at home to Peterborough, Blackburn away at Brentford, West Ham away to Rochdale, Stoke at Southend, Sunderland at MK Dons and Swansea at Kidderminster. The bigger draws of the round include Liverpool at home to Spurs, we're of course away to Chelsea and Man United at home to Everton. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
arsenalthebest Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 It was nice to see Southampton improving their defence... It was disappointing to see not only Chelsea strengthen their attack, but also miss out on a key target who was considerably cheap for a player of his quality... Our pre-season tour of the USA went swimmingly aside from a minor hiccup in San Jose, overall a good tour though and I got to experiment with tactics as well. Our first game of the season against Reading is coming up shortly, I'll be doing match reviews of each match as well as possibly goal highlights depending on how it goes with uploading to Youtube etc. how do you get that layout with the fixtures?( Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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