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FM13 Arsenal Thread - Victoria Concordia Crescit


llama3

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So I am thinking about trying to replicate the "Invincibles" of 03-04 and I was wondering if any of you guys knew of players to fill the roles those guys did?

http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/02/12/teams-of-the-decade-9-arsenal-2001-04/

I've looked at this site for inspiration as the tactic that we used back then and I was going to try and use a 4-2-3-1 but 3 AMC's 2 MC's instead of wingers?

That's a big ask, depending how closely you want to copy the old formation and player profiles.

Wilshere is a great AMC in the Bergkamp mould.

Diaby has had understandable comparisons made with Viera.

Szczesny is a fantastic keeper but all together different to David.

Coquelin could be a great Gilberto

The Ox could even be Ljunberg I suppose.

Beyond that I think you're perhaps struggling.

Give us more detail about what elements you want to recreate, besides being invincible :D

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GK - Lehmann - GK defend - Chez

RB - Lauren - FB defend - Sagna

CB - Touré - CB cover - Koscielny

CB - Campbell - CB stopper - Vermaelen

LB - Cole - WB auto - Gibbs (should buy someone)

DML - Gilberto - Anchor man - Buy someone

CMR - Vieira - B2B - Yaya touré, Moussa sissoko, Asamoah, Ayew

RM - Freddie - Winger attack (moves into channels) - Chambo

AML - Pires - IF/AP - Santi cazorla

AMCR - Bergkamp - Treq - Wilshere

STL - Henry - Advanced forward - Theo (or neymar maybe :cool:)

That is how I would set up the formation, the only bit I'm unsure about is Freddie's RM spot.

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Wow that was an incredibly fast response. I started a save with Arsenal a couple days ago but I am thinking about starting over because I want to replicate the Invincibles side down to the tactic and how they played.

You've inspired me to try it :D especially since my previous tactic just no longer works :(

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Yeah, difficult to fit those guys in...

I'm going with this:

Balanced

Control

Default passing

Default CF

Press more

Aggressive tackling

Zonal marking

Default crossing

More roaming

"counter attack" ticked

GK - GK defend - Chez

RB - FB defend - Kohoutek (regen)

CB - CB cover - Kos

CB - CB stopper - Verms

LB - WB attack - Honda

DMCL - Anchor man - Perez (regen) or Arteta, not sure yet

MCR - B2B - Hamsik (not ideal)

MR - Winger attack - Chambo

AML - AP support - Santi

AMCR - Treq - Wilshere

STL - Theo

We'll see how it goes :)

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Wow... first game with the tactic and I beat Chelsea 3-1 :)

60% possession

3 clearcut chances

And I hit the woodwork 6 times!!

Interplay down the left hand side was very nice, as I was hoping for :) Don't think Hamsik has the stats for the B2B role though, I'll need to remedy that in the summer.

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You sure Hamsik as a B2B? Also I am pretty sure I will have to look for an anchor man in the transfer market was thinking Victor Wanyama of Celtic? Would Nainggolan be a good B2B?

In my squad at the moment the only real choices I have are Hamsik and Ramsey, but I wouldn't recommend either of them! Buy someone with worldclass physical stats.

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Im playing Nainggolan as a defensive midfielder, sometimes as a deep lying playmaker, probably should use him as a ball winning midfielder though, Wanyama's a good bet though, hes always looking to leave at the start, atleast on my saves he is.

how much cash you got available?

for a second i had a crazy thought to retrain vermaelen into a b2b.

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Match Report:

In the build up to an away game against Stoke, Tony Pulis took it upon himself to tell the media that "We can show Arsenal how far from a title challenging team they are."

The Arsenal manager duly responded making it clear that he was unsure Pulis was cut out for management and that he was far from Pulis' biggest fan.

With the squad roused by Pulis' smack talking they were motivated to show how they can really play.

An early challenge by Robert Huth left Demba Ba in agony, and subsequently had to be replaced by Olivier Giroud on the 12th minute.

The opening 35 minutes showed a fairly even contest, with Arsenal edging possession but Stoke's physicality keeping them a threat. An ugly challenge on the 35th minute by Wilson Palacios on the byline resulted in a free kick and a yellow card. Santi Cazorla stepped up and floated the ball in towards the back of the 6 yard box where an unmarked Laurent Koscielny broke the deadlock and put the away side 1-0 up.

Frustrated by the ease with which Arsenal maintained possession, Andy Wilkinson lunged in on the 39th minute and had his name added to the book.

The teams entered half-time with only 1 goal standing between them, but an impressive performance by Arsenal left the Potters in little doubt they had a mountain to climb in the 2nd half.

Tempers began to fray as Arsenal looked to control possession and Matthew Etherington had his name taken on the 59th minute for a cynical trip on Bacary Sagna as the Frenchman flew down the right.

Robert Huth was doing Pulis' bidding when he brought down Sagna, which resulted in the Frenchman struggling to continue. The young manager opted to be cautious and replace him with the exciting young prospect of Carl Jenkinson.

Not before his time, Huth was shown a yellow on the 63rd minute for a shove in the back of Giroud as the lept to bring down a goal kick.

Lovely one touch football saw Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain drift inside from the left before releasing the ball to Aaron Ramsey, who showed great vision to play a perfectly weighted defence-splitting pass between the centre back and the left back for Theo Walcott to latch on to and place neatly into the far post.

A push from Kyriakos Papadopolous on Peter Crouch resulted in his name being added to a growing list of players to have committed fouls in a heated competition between the two sides.

On the 65th minute Cazorla was looking spent, so it was down to Wilshere to take the reigns and pull the strings as Arsenal continued to drive forward and push their dominance home.

A subtle trip from Charlie Adam on Mikel Arteta was well spotted by the referee, who felt the unsportsmanlike behaviour warranted another yellow to be shown.

Growing increasingly frustrated with Stoke's inability to get a foothold in the match, Michael Owen even found himself fitting in with the Stoke mentality as his name was taken for a trip on Koscielny.

By this stage Arsenal were in full flow and a fantastic long ball over the top from the left back, David Alaba, bypassed the defence entirely and was keenly latched on to by Olivier Giroud who made no mistake when slotting it around the keeper with his weaker foot after 82 minutes.

Destraught by what they'd already seen and unwilling to witness it any more, Stoke fans flocked from their seats in their hundreds as they rushed for the exit.

Keen to give the queuing fans a little more to savour, Giroud finished clinically to the near post on the 87th minute.

By this stage Stoke had all but given up, Arsenal smelled blood and Walcott's pace played havoc with their defensive line. 2 minutes into injury time Walcott got in behind the back 4 and got on the end of another fantastic ball from Alaba with a great first time volley to the near post to round the match off at an impressive 5-0 away win for the Gunners that is sure to be savoured for some time.

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GK - Lehmann - GK defend - Chez

RB - Lauren - FB defend - Sagna

CB - Touré - CB cover - Koscielny

CB - Campbell - CB stopper - Vermaelen

LB - Cole - WB auto - Gibbs (should buy someone)

DML - Gilberto - Anchor man - Buy someone

CMR - Vieira - B2B - Yaya touré, Moussa sissoko, Asamoah, Ayew

RM - Freddie - Winger attack (moves into channels) - Chambo

AML - Pires - IF/AP - Santi cazorla

AMCR - Bergkamp - Treq - Wilshere

STL - Henry - Advanced forward - Theo (or neymar maybe :cool:)

That is how I would set up the formation, the only bit I'm unsure about is Freddie's RM spot.

That's a pretty good suggestion.

Here's my take on it, sticking as best you can to the squad you have:

RB - Lauren - FB Support - Sagna

CB - Touré - CB defend - Koscielny

CB - Campbell - CB defend - Vermaelen

LB - Cole - FB support - David Alaba

DMR - Gilberto - Anchor man - Coquelin/M'vila/Song (if you can bare to bring him back)

CML - Vieira - B2B - Diaby (injury prone), Yaya touré, Fellaini

RM - Freddie - Winger support (moves into channels) - Chambo

AML - Pires - IF - Podolski you could look at Mertens for a shorter version of Pires or Di Maria, Perotti

AMCR - Bergkamp - Treq - Wilshere/Ramsey

STL - Henry - Advanced forward - unsure... - this is the trickiest spot. IMO you need high finishing, flair, first touch, acceleration, pace, OtB, 180+cm and more. I'd look at Higuain, Benzema, RVP, Demba Ba and perhaps Rodrigo. Giroud could play here but he'd be less French flamboyance and a little more like German functionality (yes I know he is actually French!)

Essentially I feel it's probably doable from your initial transfer budget. Lose Per, Gervinho, Frimpong, Chamakh, Fabianski, Squillaci and Arshavin and you should be good. Fellaini can be picked up mid september (won't arrive until jan) for under £13m. It's the striker you'll have most difficulty with, so I'd compromise with Giroud.

Fitting Walcott in could be a challenge, but I guess a rotation of him and Giroud would provide a good plan b upfront.

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Keep struggling with my game! First game into the season after a dodgy pre-season was 3-0 win against Wigan, so I think bonus, tactic is coming well, then I go and get beat by Swansea 4-0 :(

Team is as follows (Can't remember player roles as I'm at work):

GK - Shez

LB - Gibbs (Alaba injured)

CB - Vermaelen

CB - Mertesacker

RB - Jenkinson

DMC - De Rossi

CM - Cabaye

CM - Arteta

AM - Isco

AM - Cazorla

ST - Lewandowski

Had quite a bit overhaul of my team, got rid of Arshavin, Rosicky, Chamakh, Squillaci and loaned out most of my youth team to gain first team experience. Begged the board for more money and I had around 69 mil to spend after selling the 4 players so I was happy with what I've brought in, won't be spending in Jan unless a majory injury crisis.

A good tip I've found on players wanting loads of wages is adding a min release/relegation clause into their contracts, they will accept much lower wages in return.

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Szczesny is amazing. Has single handed given me points I have not deserved before. I have now got into UCL Semi Finals against Bayern Munich. Had a tough run, group stage was Nordsjaelland, Valencia, Ajax, before Juventus in the Knockout Round, Porto in the Quater Finals, Bayern in semis is next, and the winner will play Man Utd or PSG.

I sit top of the league on goal difference to Man City with 6 games left.

Finally I would like to note Abou Diaby's performances this season, has been superb alongside Arteta for me in midfield.

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Szczesny is amazing. Has single handed given me points I have not deserved before. I have now got into UCL Semi Finals against Bayern Munich. Had a tough run, group stage was Nordsjaelland, Valencia, Ajax, before Juventus in the Knockout Round, Porto in the Quater Finals, Bayern in semis is next, and the winner will play Man Utd or PSG.

I sit top of the league on goal difference to Man City with 6 games left.

Finally I would like to note Abou Diaby's performances this season, has been superb alongside Arteta for me in midfield.

Diaby as a dlp/s and arteta as cm/d ?

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For anyone struggling to find a defensive midfielder within the standard transfer budget, I can recommend Gary Medel. Cost £12.5m from Sevilla and has been a monster. Not only tackles and makes sensible passes but has a foot like a traction engine and has scored 3 long ranger belters in 10 starts. Fellani and M'Vila and their ridiculous wage demands can go and do one.

Medel can also cover at centre and right back. Just remember to give him a few games to settle in, his debut was pretty dire and he was struggling to settle in for about 2 months. Worth the wait though, him and Arteta have become a defensive brick wall, even in attacking formations.

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well season 2 is now over, league champions on last day of the season beating liverpool by just 1 point, it didnt help that i had to play man city in the last game winnig that with a 3-1 victory but in the last 7 games i had 2 horrific defeats, a 5-1 loss to stoke! and a 4-0 loss to liverpool which almost ruined my season as it was the 2nd to last game.

1st - arsenal - 79

2nd - liverpool - 78

3rd - man utd - 75

4th - man city - 72

5th - spurs - 69

6th - chelsea - 60

nice to see chelsea slipping away in the league now, top goal scorer was walcott with 31 league goals beating djibril cisse on 24 and rvp on 23, now its the 2014 world cup and no germany in it!!

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After many restart of the Arsenal game, I finally find a way to play the original Arsenal 4-2-3-1 and toward the title.

Right now, first season, my Arsenal is 22 win, 6 draw, 3 loss, sitting at the top on Apr 5th . Win at home for Champions Cup Qtr Final. On the way to FA cup semi Final.

I only bought Baines for 10.5M at January, loan Santos out.

My team is the following:

GK: Szczesny / Fabianski / Mannone

DR: Sagna / Jenkinson

DL: Baines/ Gibbs / Santos

DC: Vermaelen / Mertesacker / Koscielny / Djourou / Squillaci

MCL (Defend) : Arteta ( 5 goal, 6 assist)/ Coquelin ( 4 goal, 2 assist)/ Frimpong ( 2 goal, 2 assist)

MCR (Suppport) : Diaby ( 3goal, 6 assist)/ Ramsey ( 2 goal, 4 assist)

AMC : Cazorla ( 7 goal, 7 assist)/ Wilshere ( 8 goal, 4 assist) / Arshavin ( 3 goal, 2 assist) / Rosicky ( 1 goal, 5 assist)

AML : Podolski ( 7goal, 6 assist) / Chemberlain (2 goal, 3 assist)

AMR: Gervinho (6 goal, 6 assist) /Walcott (8 goal, 8 assist)

FC: Giroud (19 goal) / chamakh (13 goal)

The team all works perfectly, only I am not that satified with Santos performance. There are always injuries, but I survived.....

I used Thebetterhalf FM12 4231 tactic.

http://thebetterhalf.freeforums.org/4231-cautious-counter-attack-t69.html

There are 3 tactic there. So here is how the way works.

When every match start, I watch the opponent's Goals Analysis. The time he scored more, it is the defend time. The time he conceded more, it is the attack time. And I will switch different tactic according to the defend/attack time.

For example, if meet Swansea, and Arsenal is the favorite. At the defend time, I will use cautious 4231. At attack time, I will use attack 4231.

For example, if meet Chelsea, and Arsenal is not the favorite. At the defend time, I will use counter 4231. At attack time, I will use cautious 4231.

I kept using this way, and it is quite enjoyable for my FM13 right now.

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Podolski is having a torrid time for me. 9 games without a goal, 3 consecutive goals disallowed for offside and in our latest fixture against Villa he missed a penalty and it was only an injury time screamer from Cazorla that gave us a 1-1 draw from a game we completely dominated.

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Just beat Newcastle 3-0 in the League cup final, Hummels with a header from a corner, and then two superb finishes by Falcao, then faced Newcastle 2 games later and and after losing Kosh to a red card in the 80th minute, Giroud came on to nab a late winner to my surprise! :), that seemed to be the final nail in Pardews coffin as he was sacked the next morning and replaced by an also recently sacked Steve Mcclaren.

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Just had a little trial emulating the Invincibles formation with the team I have and it's working OK. Drew away to Man City and at home to QPR. This is what I've been using:

Sweeper keeper

FB - Support

CB -Defend

CB -Defend

FB - Support

Anchor man

Ball Winning Midfielder - Defender

Wide Midfielder - Automatic

Attacking Midfielder - Support

Attacking Midfielder Left - Support

Poacher - Attack

The shape is as follows

-------P------------

AML------AMCR---

----BWML------WMR

------------AR-----

FB---CB---CB---FB

---------SK--------

It's certainly got potential anyway :)

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I've decided to start again after completing one season (fifth time lucky this time!)

Can anyone seeing any big weak spots in these two tactics I've put together?

I think this will be the main tactic...

Arsenal4-5-1.jpg

and this one as a back-up....

Arsenal4-3-3.jpg

I don't play with transfer budgets in the first window so I'll be picking from the usual suspects.

Any feedback/advice would be greatly appreciated. :thup:

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Who are you going to play on the wide left spot? I'm presuming Podolski?

Well I was thinking Gervinho as first choice in the LM role and the IF role mainly. My only little bit of success in previous saves has been with Gervinho on the left wing. It seems to suit him.

Then Podolski and Walcott as my poachers. I think Podolski would be a bit wasted at LM. Do you agree?

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Yeah that spot doesn't play to Podolski's strengths, which is why initially I played the diagonals the opposite way because the Ox is a natural RM.

Having said that I just looked again at my team and my LB, Alaba, can play LM with the benefit of decent defensive stats. I switched things around for a game against sunderland and the result was this...

ScreenShot2012-11-13at225959.png

ScreenShot2012-11-13at230034.png

ScreenShot2012-11-13at225924.png

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Just followed that up with a 2-0 away game against Sp*rs. At half time I switched the diagonals to run the other way to limit Bale down our right and that worked a treat. This looks like a really versatile and balanced formation. I think it's important to keep the opposition guessing on this game though, whenever I begin to settle on a formation I'll have a frustrating draw where the opposition have worked out a way to limit our attack.

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Season 2 was better than season 1, but disappointing nonetheless.

2nd in the league (4 points off city)

Semis in the FA cup

Semis in the CL

4th or 5th round in the Carling cup (can't remember)

I've abandoned the invincibles project as Henry's and Pires' roles were impossible (for me) to implement. This season I'll be changing the team's philosophy, moving away from the rigid 4-4-1-1 with lots of crosses, and moving towards a 4-5-1 with inside forwards (which unfortunately don't score very much).

I sold gibbs and Podolski, and signed eduardo on a free and Falcao for 33M :) I finally cracked and bought him, which is very harsh on Giroud actually because he has been fantastic! I'll be looking for regens for the rest of the summer, my first team purchases are over.

Here is my new team:

GK Chez Sandrock (regen)

RB Kohoutek Sagna

LB Honda Jenks

CB Kos Feng (regen)

CB Verms Papadopolous

DM Perez (regen) Arteta Cana

MCR Hamsik Ramsey Akgun (regen)

MCL Wilshere Adryan

AMR Bakkali Cazorla Eduardo

AML Chambo Theo Fielding (regen)

ST Falcao Giroud Eduardo

So, Koscielny has won his place back and will be staying, Bakkali is being fast-tracked into the team unless someone can suggest a worldclass inside forward.

I've been toying with the idea of retraining Giroud to an AMR for some far-post crossing mayhem :cool:

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Impressive results there Rigga. I'll probably switch between the two diagonals regularly when I get a more defence-minded LB and use the 4-3-3 I posted as a third back-up.

My initial thought was to play to the strengths of Gibbs and Santos and then play a Cover CB, a DMCL and an ML to protect their forward runs.

I will see how it goes. I'm much more confident though for the season ahead with this set-up. It just looks right.

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Finished my first season.

Barclays Premier League - Champions! by a 5 point margin, W22 D14 L2, I thought for a while the draws would really screw the league up for me as they have done to arsenal in previous seasons, but the other contenders also suffered similar setbacks luckily. The two losses came away to fulham and on the last day of the season against wigan.

Key players - Vermaelen(7.5 average and 6 Player of the matches), Giroud (18 goals), Walcott(12 Assists), Chezney(16 clean sheets), Yarmolenko(6 player of the matches)

Champions League - Champions! It was a long road, the group stages went smoothly as i have described in a previous post, i met Helsingborg in the 1st knockout round, avoiding all the big names, winning by 3-0 aggregate scoreline, Quarter finals i got Man United, which i thought would be the end of the road, but to my surprise ended as a 7-3 aggregate win, Semi finals was Fenerbache 5-2 agg win, then on to the final against Real Madrid, who despite losing Arbeloa and Marcelo to red cards held out till penalties where an injured Chezney saved the penalties of Orzil and Alonso.

F.A Cup - Lost in the Semi finals to Man City, who went on to win it.

Capitol One Cup - Champions! as stated in previous post, beat Newcastle 3-0.

Oh i should also add Giroud was my top scorer with 30 goals in 48 appearances(played as a TM/Attack setting)

Falcao turned out to be really worth the money, he got 16 goals in 22 apps since signing in January.

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Thanks, now begins the process of assessing what youth prospects are ready for first team or loans, and moving on the players that dont cut it, my wage bill is going to be enormous when all the players i had out on loan in the first season return :eek:

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Ok, so it's the 1st of January in my first season as the new Arsenal manager. We currently stand 1st in the premier league, on 46 points and a game in hand, with Man City trailing 3 points behind and Everton a distant 3rd with 33 points. A poor first half of the season for Chelsea, United and Sp*rs see them occupying 7th, 8th and 9th. Liverpool sit in 16th on goal difference, with equal points to 18th place West Ham, and Brendan Rogers has already been released.

A touch and go group stage of the CL has seen us qualify and we'll play SL Benfica in the first knock-out round, who have already achieved a surprise win over Real Madrid in their group games.

In our first FA Cup game we've been gifted what should be an easy draw against Ipswich.

Several Capital One Cup upsets have left the final 4 as Arsenal, Newcastle, Stoke and Aston Villa. We take on Villa away from home in the semi final.

A warm welcome has been given to Cavani and Fellaini, as they join to reinforce a fatigued 19 man squad. Doria and Dzagoev are 2 more exciting prospects for the side, although they're less likely to feature in the first team setup. I'm considering a recall of one or two loan players to cover midfield and centre back, as those positions are currently overstretched and it will only take one injury to leave the players exhausted with the upcoming fixture congestion.

A lot of players in the youth academy (all currently on loan) enter the final 6 months of their contract, and it seems unlikely a new contract will be negotiated.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has been offered a new deal with the club.

Lars Bender is currently on the radar as a transfer target, though the need to maintain responsible financial ownership may prevent us adding him to the side.

Demba Ba has been a useful but fragile player who will reluctantly be placed up for transfer.

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Haha, the board have gone mad and offered me the option to revise my transfer and wage budget in light of my premier league success. I'd previously opted for a top 4 finish, but having now said I'm going to win I have £43m and £385k p/w to play with. I'm going to have to think long and hard about whether that's money I use now or hold on to for the long-term good of the club.

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I've played with 3 strikers in last year's FM but never occupying the widest positions, so I can't help you unfortunately.

I did trial the 3 forwards again this year and was very defensively frail even with them pressing a long way back, I can't imagine having them wider will resolve that problem but you never know how the match engine works until you try it :)

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Good to see its going well for you!:thup:

I gave Demba Ba a chance to prove himself, he made 15 appearances but only managed 1 goal and 2 assists, i put him up for transfer and got a full 25mil bid from Olympic Marseille.

No idea how you got that much for him, best I could do was £14.5m to PSG. Still, it means I doubled my money in 6 months.

Aghhh! cant even give some of these guys away :(

Who are you trying to get rid of?

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