FM14: Arsenal Thread - "Remember who you are, what you are and who you represent!"

[timmy2211]

Season '14/15

Transfers

In

Doria (£11M)

Aleksandar Mitrovic (£11M)

Sebastien Corchia (£4M)

Luke Shaw (£22M + 5M add ons)

Mickael Landreau (Free)

Bernard (£19.25M)

In addition to this, 9 Regens at a combined price of £21M

Out

Park Chu Young - Montpellier - £550k

Vermalen- Marseille - £9M

Lukas Podolski - Zenit - £6M - I was disapointed to get such a low fee, however even though he's a favourite of mine IRL, his wages matched with what his playing time would be meant he had to go, also to free up space in the squad.)

Mikel Arteta - Real Madrid - £2M

Nicklas Bendtner - Fiorentina - Free

Abou Diaby - Elche - £4M

Monreal - Stuttgart - £9M

I'm happy with my transfer business this summer. I've spent quite a lot, but I expect this to be my biggest spending spree for a while, as the players I've bought can develop hopefully into world beaters to add to the potential world beaters I already had. Landreau was bought for back up, don't really trust Pinto.

Pre season went well

San Antonio Scorpions 3-0

Carolina Railhawks 4-1

New York Red Bulls 4-1

Elche 6-1

Anderlecht 6-1

Benfica 4-2

Community Shield

Everton 2-0 ( Doria, Mitrovic)

Premier League

West Ham 4-0 ( Giroud (2) Ozil, Balanta)

Aston Villa 1-2 (Cazorla)

Man Utd 3-0 ( Chamberlain (2), Sagna) Chamberlain LOVES the big games.

Doria has played every game so far, keeping Koscielny out, due to his instant impact. The other signings I've mainly brought them off the bench.

Champions League group has given me Stuttgart, Sporting Lisbon and Malaga. Shouldn't be too hard. Capital One Cup has given me a trip to Burnley.

Heres the squad for the season.

Hoping the other teams will challenge me this year, Chelsea look impressive, they bought Alexis Sanchez and Mandzukic who has score 7 in 3.

[gholliday87]

Abou Diaby - Elche - £4M

Brilliant effort to get anything for him...I ended up giving him away!

[RossoneriGunner]

Hi Mitch, right my 2 formations are 4-1-1-3-1 and 4-1-2-2-1 both Very Fluid/Control.

There are no player instructions, EXCEPT for the GKeeper which I like set to 'Distribute to defenders'.

There are 8 team instructions, Shorter Passing, Play out of Defence, Play Wider, Push Up Higher, Hassle Opponents, Use Tighter Marking, Lower Tempo and Be More Expressive.

Once these are set I DON"T change anything. I don't take any notice of what the opposition like or don't like, I don't even read the team reports, its just 'Oh West Ham next' pick the team and send them out.

I think this is what you wanted Ron B.

I don't ever use the 4-1-2-2-1 I only put it in the game 'cos it keeps saying I should have a back up tactic, so this way it keeps the bloody game quiet....

[Carmi88]

Not doing great in my save, but Man Utd dont seem able to lose! 14 points behind them and they have 2 games in hand in February! And they dont even have a goalscorer who is in the top 5 goalscorers in the league x.x

[Ron_Burgundy]

I think this is what you wanted Ron H.

I don't ever use the 4-1-2-2-1 I only put it in the game 'cos it keeps saying I should have a back up tactic, so this way it keeps the bloody game quiet....

Ross, I thank you very much indeed!

Going to start a proper save game and come back here soon...hopefully!

Cheers again, really appreciate it

[timmy2211]

Brilliant effort to get anything for him...I ended up giving him away!

He still had decent value, and had actually performed quite well on loan from Jan. I told him before he left that I was letting him go because he hadn't developed well enough ( Something I would love to say to him IRL). He told me he will prove me wrong and become great. For some reason I doubt that.

[Carmi88]

New owner of the club called Scott Binns, wanted AVB to replace me but defeating Man Utd, City and AS Monaco has convinced him to keep me

First and second choice keepers out till new season, beat Barcelona 2-0 at home wiwth an 18 yo keeper in goals

[WillyBroadband]

Talk about having a 'kin laugh Nat Clyne wanted £30k a week and then after 1 international appearance wanted his wage to go to £150k a week....................is he taking the wee wee?

Did the same with me - I ended up getting him for £40k a week & £18k international cap bonus and no hike in wage after a certain amount of appearances for England. He's been alright so far, do kind of wish I'd kept Sagna really but Monaco offered a good amount.

[PitchPosh]

Hey guys, just got FM14 a few days ago and am looking at clubs to play. Started a couple saves with various clubs, but I always end up with a serious Arsenal save. I want to run a 4-2-3-1 tactic with Ozil pulling the strings, so I was wondering if anyone has any experience training Wilshere as a Deep Lying Playmaker in the CM position? Overall, I would say his attributes look suitable for the role (mostly) with marking and positioning the only ones that need a great deal of improvement. Anyways, it's exciting seeing all the great saves going on in here and I will be posting the start of my own in the next couple of days!

[RossoneriGunner]

Did the same with me - I ended up getting him for £40k a week & £18k international cap bonus and no hike in wage after a certain amount of appearances for England. He's been alright so far, do kind of wish I'd kept Sagna really but Monaco offered a good amount.

I will only let Sagna go when his legs drop off....

[youngrookie]

didn't really know where to post this but seeing that its about giroud this seemed the right place. Anyway ive always found him, although never had him, excellant on FM13 and FM14. He usually has a good av rating and a pretty good goal return, however on my current save, in the 2nd january transfer window Arsenal have loaned him to.........now wait for it, no not spurs but Inverness CT of scotland who are 4th. I found that a very surprising loan to say the least.

first season he played 28 times with 18 gls, 8 assists and an 7.39 av rating. Not bad, thou have seen him do better. They listed him end of season and shoved Podolksi (sp) up as their number 9. I got him on loan but within a week broke his leg and was out for 5/6 months so i terminated the deal. His attribbutes haven't really gone down that much and is still premiership class. He currently has 8 app 4 goals up in scotland.

Have any of you arsenal savers seen anything like this happen or allowed it to happen. BTW never thought i'd post on this thread being a, currently,unhappy spurs fan lol!

[gholliday87]

Has anyone binned off Bould??

[Ron_Burgundy]

As in real life, I would like a back up for Giroud.

Any suggestions?

I almost had Lewandowski (which would have been a bit OTT admittedly) but now a little lost.

Will be up front by himself, played as DLF(A).

Cheers

[Ron_Burgundy]

Has anyone binned off Bould??

A bit tempted to demote him but he isn't interested, understandably.

Although I haven't seen any outstanding candidates to replace him anyways

[max787]

Been far too busy to play lately, been thinking about starting a new FMC game in order to save time.

Been thinking about new tactics, something a bit different for me:

Balanced

Control

Push higher, pass into space, roam from positions.

GK - GK defend

RB - FB attack

CB - CD defend

CB - CD defend

LB - FB attack

CM - defend

CM - defend

AMCR - Shadow striker

AMC - Advanced playmaker support

AMCL - Shadow striker

ST - Advanced forward

Started a quick game with Chelsea to try that out, since they have the right players, and it was awesome tbh. The Shadow strikers play exactly as I want the inside forwards to play in a wide 4-2-3-1. They never do of course, so the narrow 4-2-3-1 with shadow strikers could be great.

Thinking of the following for my squad if I do start a new game:

Chez / Fabianski

Sagna / Jenkinson

Kos / Mert

Verms / Mert

? / Gibbs

Ramsey / Arteta

? / Flamini

Wilshere / Podolski

Ozil / Rosicky

Cazorla / Chambo

Walcott / Giroud / Sanogo

Thinking Moussa Sissoko, a starting left back, and Micah Richards as transfer targets. Would love Dembélé, he'd cost a fortune though and mightn't even be interested. Alternatively, I could stick Wilshere in CM and get Shaqiri instead of Sissoko.

[RossoneriGunner]

As in real life, I would like a back up for Giroud. Any suggestions?

I always buy Luciano Pavar Vietto from Argentine club Racing Club.

I know a few others have bought him too.

[yey]

have a look at Mauro Icardi, also Argentinian at Inter at the start of the game. so far he's scored 3 goals in 3 games for me, came in as sub in all three games.

[RossoneriGunner]

need your thoughts guys, should i or shouldn't i?

Nice little earner......Luvly Jubbly.

[yey]

it's crazy. all sort of teams are now bidding for Chamberlain, Zelalem, Ozil and Alex Sandro.tense

[gholliday87]

it's crazy. all sort of teams are now bidding for Chamberlain, Zelalem, Ozil and Alex Sandro.tense

I know the feeling...it's crazy!

[yey]

managed to fend off all offers by asking 70mill for Ozil from Real Madrid, 55 mill for Chamberlain from Man City, 40mill for Sandro from PSG and 35mill for Zelalem from Bayern. what I don't understand though, Bayern spent close to 35mill for another player but reluctant to up their bid of around 29mill for Zelalem.

[Yasp0]

2 shots after the red card, outplayed them.

Omg..next match I lose against Crystal Palace...end of a very good run. They had their first 3 shots on target and got 3-0 up...ended 3-2.

[Carmi88]

into the CL final after beating Hoffenheim 2-1 with a 2-0 away win after a 1-0 home loss, Man Utd ran away with the league, and i face Man City in the final with no decent goalkeeper available :[

[RossoneriGunner]

Get that defence organised Carmi, protect your keeper and bang the goals in. Sorted.

[gholliday87]

I have a new king of assists, and thy name is Gino Peruzzio

[Ron_Burgundy]

All,

I usually follow Cleon's pre-season set up to the letter and always works well.

But the thread is no longer showing the images so I did it the best I could...but the team's fluidity with a pretty basic formation is growing extremely slowly...

Have I done anything wrong?

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[lewis999]

All,

I usually follow Cleon's pre-season set up to the letter and always works well.

But the thread is no longer showing the images so I did it the best I could...but the team's fluidity with a pretty basic formation is growing extremely slowly...

Have I done anything wrong?

Yes mate the tactics you have chosen on the left hand side at the top actually trains your players' attributes, i.e decisions, anticipation etc. The one you need is where you have chosen defensive positioning. If you click that it says tactics only, that's the one that improves your familiarity.

Also during pre-season do not rest your players at all, they need an intense program to get match fit for the new season. I would swap your tactics training on the left hand side to fitness and very high during pre-season and then change it to team cohesion if you have signed a lot of players.

On the note of new players, all the new player's you sign makes it a lot slower for your tactic to learn as they're new to your club, much as it would in real life.

Finally you have your games 6 days and 9 days apart. If you make them three days apart, nearly all the days in your training program will be on trying to improve your tactics.

[hooniebagoonie]

nice to see all of you having successful tactics, I have been sacked 6 times now and have to keep restarting, cant get a tactic to work no matter what I do, hardest version of the game ever tactics wise

[Carmi88]

lost the final on penalties, after drawing 2-2, however Vietto got a brace to take him to 41 goals for the season, overtaking Henry's record. Finished 4th :[

[RossoneriGunner]

Unlucky Carmi, sounds like your boys put up a brave fight.

[Ron_Burgundy]

Yes mate the tactics you have chosen on the left hand side at the top actually trains your players' attributes, i.e decisions, anticipation etc. The one you need is where you have chosen defensive positioning. If you click that it says tactics only, that's the one that improves your familiarity.

Also during pre-season do not rest your players at all, they need an intense program to get match fit for the new season. I would swap your tactics training on the left hand side to fitness and very high during pre-season and then change it to team cohesion if you have signed a lot of players.

On the note of new players, all the new player's you sign makes it a lot slower for your tactic to learn as they're new to your club, much as it would in real life.

Finally you have your games 6 days and 9 days apart. If you make them three days apart, nearly all the days in your training program will be on trying to improve your tactics.

Legend, thank you!

I should just add though, that was a badly timed screenshot, we have been playing every 3 days - just a little gap between a tour and a few others matches.

Only 4 friendlies left so hopefully we can make some quick progress. Morale is ace though.

Cheers again

[gholliday87]

Just been offered a new contract, finances are mega healthy, yet, I'm taking a paycut?! Good job this isn't real money!!!

[RossoneriGunner]

Ron B, don't let your assistant take care of preseason match training as he will set what he wants and not what you want, that is why you screenshot shows Defensive Positioning instead of tactics.

I have also put up a screenshot of my preseason friendlies. I always try to get between 10-12 friendlies, and I go right up to a week before the league starts in this case I start with a home game against Cardiff.

[lam]

Based on recent performances, how do you all think Arsenal are lining up (positions, roles and duties)?

Regards

[rossi789]

I'm into my 5th season now and we are finally playing well! Took 3 seasons to get the 4-2-3-1 the way I wanted but its taken some cracking signings and a lot of tactical changes to get there.

1st season - 2nd in league, no trophy

2nd season - 2nd in league, Community Shield

3rd Season - 4th in league (collapsed in last 8 games and only a EC place), no trophy

4th season - Won league, League Cup and Euro Cup

5th season - Currently 1st with 13 games to go, still going strong in all the cups and beat Dortmund 2-0 in the European Super Cup.

Squad has gone through a lot of changes now but the standout players are still there like Ozil, Wilshere, Ramsey, Ox, and Szczesny. Gibbs, Mertesacker, Arteta are still at the club as back up although the latter 2 will likely retire soon (Arteta has Av rating of 7.43 with 5 goals in 13 apps so far this season).

A lot of additions of course, most notable ones are Lewandowski, Balanta (who doesn't have him?), Benteke, Shaw and Bakkali, who has been an absolute beast. Signed for just 13.75m.

The January transfer window has just passed and a lot of my players were attracting offers from Europes elite, the only one I allowed to leave was Vitinho whom I signed for free in 2014. He went to Real Madrid for £32.5m. An offer I couldn't really refuse.

Also getting to that time in the save where the regens are beginning to break into the first team which is always exciting! Now to push on with the Champion's League knockout rounds.

[timmy2211]

Into February in 2015 now. Opted not to do any business in January other than loan out Zelalem to FC Twente.

1st in the league, but only just. Away form has been indifferent, losing to Villa, Man City, Liverpool and Newcastle.

Team are playing ok. Not hitting the heights of last season. Only Ozil and Mitrovic are in double figures goal wise, and 8 of 11 of Mitrovic's goals were 2 hat tricks and a brace. Giroud has got 9, missing tons of sitters. I'm thinking of changing his role of Complete forward to Target Man or Advanced Forward.

Walcott only has 4, though he has created 12. Chamberlain seems to ONLY score in the big games (Chelsea, Spurs, a must win against Stuttgart.) Has been indifferent otherwise. Ramsey, Wilshere, Ozil and Shaw have been my best players so far.

Got knocked out of the Capital One Cup bu Burnley (A) in the 3rd round on pens.

Came from 2-0 down to beat Liverpool 3-2 (A) in the 3rd round of the F.A. Cup. Somehow drew with Millwall in the next round at home and now I'm about to play the replay at The Den which I have a feeling could be quite tough for the youngsters who will play.

Won my Champions League group, drew Spartak Moscow next.

Going t plough on and hopefully hit a purple patch of form soon.

[WillyBroadband]

Has anyone binned off Bould??

I did yeah, half way through second season - replaced him with Bernhard Peters from Hoffenheim who has great stats.

[WillyBroadband]

Evening all,

I think I may need help again (sorry). I just don't know what is happening with my side this season?! Playing the same formation as the first season - where I finished 2nd in the league, won FA Cup & semis of Champions League - but just not winning games that I should. Not doing really bad but frustrating though!

Here are my results so far. Only 3 defeats but far too many draws!

My line-up/formation. Got Schürrle for a bargain & couldn't resist but he's been rubbish & so has Santi - in that position.

My team instructions. Have only tweaked these a bit since the first season.

And finally my first team squad - players missing off screenshot are Jenkinson, Kehl, Smithies and all the youngsters out on loan.

Is it just that the AI has figured me out and I need to change it around a bit do you think?? Giroud has been really disappointing compared to last season and currently toying up whether to sign Llorente in the January window - also Mandzukic possibly. Thanks again for your help & thanks for reading.

[ajw10]

After 15 hours of no goals and poor performances Giroud finally produces at Swansea with a goal and 2 assists in a 4-1 win.

I think I've cracked it, I think I've finally found a way to get the best out of Giroud and then he follows it up with a 6.2 rating at Preston in the Cup.

I give up.

[rossi789]

After 15 hours of no goals and poor performances Giroud finally produces at Swansea with a goal and 2 assists in a 4-1 win.

I think I've cracked it, I think I've finally found a way to get the best out of Giroud and then he follows it up with a 6.2 rating at Preston in the Cup.

I give up.

I've found all my strikers to be terribly inconsistent apart from Benteke. Ive been trying different roles and instructions with Lewandowski and a regen but nothing seems to get them to perform so I use Benteke as first choice.

[rossi789]

As I wrote that Benteke completed a hat trick..

[llama3]

ajw & willy - yeah struggling a lot too this season. Top at the moment still (spurs about to play their game), but playing sooo poorly. Laboured build up play, and defensively abominable.

[rossi789]

WillyBroadband,

I had a similar tactical set up to you and had a lot of success by taking retain possession off. I found the midfield were able to penetrate defences much more effectively. Also, when I played Lewandowski over Giroud pass into space created a lot of chances. Maybe experiment with Walcott or Schurrle up front with that?

Its worth noting that a lot of your bad results are away from home. For some reason away games seem much harder in FM14. If you are struggling for possession I'd suggest pushing your defensive line up a bit to close the space but if you're getting caught on the break then drop it back. Hassle opponents instruction pulls players out of position as well so keep an eye on whether you concede because your centre back has run into midfield to meet an AMC.

Llama3 suggested to me that dropping CM's to Dm's is a good way to protect the back 4.

[WillyBroadband]

WillyBroadband,

I had a similar tactical set up to you and had a lot of success by taking retain possession off. I found the midfield were able to penetrate defences much more effectively. Also, when I played Lewandowski over Giroud pass into space created a lot of chances. Maybe experiment with Walcott or Schurrle up front with that?

Cool, thanks rossi789 I'll give that a go.

[ajw10]

ajw & willy - yeah struggling a lot too this season. Top at the moment still (spurs about to play their game), but playing sooo poorly. Laboured build up play, and defensively abominable.

It's the winger bug and the defensive line bug that's causing us issues I think. Giroud has just scored thanks to a Sagna cross, which makes me think about how many we could have scored if Theo fancied crossing.

[ajw10]

Right. I've finally finished January. Actually a good month results wise, even though there were some flat performances.

PL - Arsenal 1-1 Southampton Chamberlain 39 Lambert 86

Urgh. We had 19 shots, Southampton had 4. We had 3 CCC's, Southampton had 0. Just one of those frustrating days

FA Cup - Arsenal 1-0 Middlesbrough

25 shots this time. We've recently lacked the clinical edge in front of goal to really finish teams off. That and the incredibly buggy wing play are costing us atm.

PL - Stoke 1-2 Arsenal Assaidi 66 Gibbs 39, Arteta 80

Another match that we should have killed off at 1-0 only to be pegged back. Giroud remians a worry. No goal in almost 2 months and he didn't even have a shot all game. Pathetic.

PL - Swansea 1-4 Arsenal Pablo Hernandez 84, Michu m/pen 51 Cazorla 4, Giroud 29, Mertesacker 61, Wilshere 77

FINALLY A GIROUD GOAL! His first in 15 hours. Great performance from us, we finally turned out domination into goals. Giroud sensational with Motm performance.

FA Cup - Preston 0-2 Arsenal - Jenkinson 16, Chamberlain 75

Solid, professional performance, although Giroud's subdued performance was a worry after the brilliance of his last one.

PL- Arsenal 2-0 Manchester City - Giroud 72, Gaston Ramirez 78

We battered Manchester City from start to finish and we're unfortunate not to win by a greater margin. Good to see Giroud score again and new loan signing Ramirez get a debut goal.

So, a good month, although United's flawless January means we're playing catch up.

1. Manchester United 57

2. Arsenal 54

3. Chelsea 45

4. Everton 44

5. Aston Villa 39

6. Manchester City 36

As you can see it's developing into a two horse race now. City continue to underachieve whilst Liverpool are all the way down in 11th. If this keeps up I might be able to rob a couple of their players.

As well as signing Ramirez on loan for the rest of the season January saw me bring in FM favourite Balanta for £7m and little known Argentine striker Rescaldani for 180k.

[Yasp0]

Can't remember al the matches so almost no text per match .

OCTOBER 2014

CL3r - Birmingham 1-3 Arsenal - Cooke(og 10), Giroud (83,86)

PL - Arsenal 1-0 Chelsea - Giroud (59)

PL - Wigan 0-0 Arsenal

CL - Monaco 1-1 Arsenal - Vermaelen (77)

Struggled really and happy with the draw.

PL - Arsenal 4-0 Newcastle - Ayew (38), Mertesacker (45), Vermaleen (64, 81)

LC4r- Arsenal 2-0 WBA - Podolski (pen 21), Ox (62)

NOVEMBER 2014

PL - Norwich 0-5 Arsenal - Wilshere (8), Livermore (og 16), Khedira (64, 68), Vela (75)

CL - Arsenal 3-1 Monaco - Ayew (10), Giroud (30), Ramsey (67)

PL - Arsenal 5-0 Swansea - Giroud (11, 24, pen 67), Ayew (14), Ozil (16)

PL - WBA 1-3 Arsenal - Ramsey (5), Giroud (20, 34)

CL - Arsenal 4-1 Dortmund - Papasthatopoulos (og 31), Ozil (pen 45), Bender (68), Walcott (81)

PL - Arsenal 2-0 Everton - Ozil (43), Ayew (83)

DECEMBER 2014

PL - Tottenham 1-3 Arsenal - Drogba (71), Bender (79), Monreal (83)

Thnx to a Spurs red card in min 68.

PL - Arsenal 2-2 ManUtd - Ox (38), Ayew (46)

Unhappy about the result, I could not get the best out of the players this match.

CL - Dynamo Kiev 0-4 Arsenal - Giroud (4, 86), Ox (35), Podolski (pen 75)

CWC sf - Arsenal 3-0 Cruz Azul - Cazorla (47), Khedira (50), Vela (84)

No troubles at all here, fielded my 'B squad'.

CWC final - Arsenal 5-0 Flamengo - Balanta (21), Vela (23), Vermaelen (29), Monreal (47), Podolski (51)

No troubles at all here, fielded my 'B squad'. Very busy fixtures list, so time to rest key players.

PL - Fulham 1-4 Arsenal - Giroud (13), Ox (39), Ozil (44), Pino (83)

PL - Leicester City 0-4 Arsenal - Vela (5), Giroud (12), Khedira (35), Ox (54)

PL - Arsenal 3-2 Chelsea - Ayew (7), Vermaelen (36), Giroud (40)

JANUARY 2015

FA3r - Arsenal 2-0 Ipswich - Balanta (15), Khedira (78)

LC sf- Newcastle Utd 0-1 Arsenal - Giroud (37)

PL - Arsenal 5-3 Southampton - Balanta (18), Cazorla (68), Drogba (84, 89), Podolski (87)

PL - Cardiff 1-3 Arsenal - Giroud (22), Wilshere (46), Cazorla (61)

PL - Arsenal 3-0 Aston Villa - Drogba (23), Khedira (53), Livaja (77)

LC sf- Arsenal 2-1 Newcastle Utd - Giroud (53), Walcott (67)

FA4r - Arsenal 4-0 Bournemouth - Wilshere (4), Walcott (15, 60), Drogba (45+3)

PL - Liverpool 2-2 Arsenal - Ozil (35), Giroud (52)

Tough match, happy with the result.

PL - Arsenal 3-1 Man City - Vela (9), Giroud (14), Khedira (36)

Dominated the, they had 2 shots in total.

FEBRUARY 2015

PL - Crystal Palace 3-2 Arsenal - Wilshere (7), Drogba (32)

An amazing run of 30 games without defeat ended here Although going strong, Chelsea are on my tail. Next fixture is Stamford Bridge away.

Champions league group F

1. Arsenal 14

2. Monaco 7

3. Dortmund 7

4. Dynamo Kiev 2

A draw away to Monaco and Dortmund. Will play Galatasaray in the 1st KO round.

Premier league table

1. Arsenal 59

2. Chelsea 58

3. Man Utd 48

4. Man City 46

5. Everton 44

6. Southampton 42

7. Liverpool 37

8. Swansea 37

9. Stoke 36

10. Tottenham 35

[KingLara]

Season 1 October

A very flat month.

CL gs – Zenit 2-1 Arsenal – Zvryanov 31 Hulk 58pen – Giroud 53

Most of the time my away tactics work. But mainly the only time they don’t is when we concede a penalty or a wonder goal. Step forward Konstantin Zvryanov with a fabulous strike from 35 yards to give Zenit the lead after they barely threatened. Giroud did equalise but that soft penalty meant a first loss of the season.

PL – Crystal Palace 2-2 Arsenal – Jedinak 29 Williams 39 - Walcott 2 Giroud 48

Another new formation this time a 4-1-3-2 with no defensive midfielder. Ozil and Mertersacker both missed the game after failing fitness tests. Walcott gave us a perfect start heading home after 2 minutes for his 8th of the season. There after however despite controlling possession we never got going and Jedinak got palace level. Then after a procession of corners Palace made one count to take the lead. Giroud got us level but we couldn’t get the winner. Palace created a lot more chances than teams normally do so maybe I played it a bit too open.

PL – Arsenal 4-2 Cardiff City – Walcott 2 Cornelius o.g 6 Mertesacker 47 Gibbs 90 – Park 18 Cowie 27

Giroud smashed 4 for France against Georgia although drew a blank when I went to Paris to watch them play Spain but he was still in fine form. We returned to premier League action against Cardiff. The game appeared over after six minutes when walcott and then an own goal saw us sailing into a 2-0 lead, only for Park and then Cowie to get the game level for Cardiff. However the outstanding Mertesacker and then Gibbs at the end saw us home. Still conceding goals though.

CL gs – Arsenal 4-1 Steaua Bucherest – Walcott 40 74 Cazorla 72 Giroud 89 – Sanciu 1

Another formation! Having spent the Tuesday night at Stamford Bridge watching Chelsea draw with Napoli I thought it was time for the diamond. It worked well for about 33 seconds when Sanciu scored to give Steaua the lead. They didn’t create much after that and were on the back foot the rest of the game. A Walcott brace and strikes for Cazorla and Giroud.. In the other game Atletico beat Zenit 2-0 in Spain. Next up Tottenham.

PL – Arsenal 1-0 Tottenham – Kaboul o.g 17 – Paulinho s/o 29

Spurs were indebted to Hugo Lloris who made sure it was just 1. Soldado had the only clear cut chance of the game but shot wide on the stroke of halftime. Although it would have been great to win 4 or 5 I’m happier with the clean sheet. I told the players to get stuck in and they truly did 22 fouls to just 6. Gibbs limped off and will miss 4 weeks

LC 4R – Arsenal 1-0 Norwich – Vietto 64

Vietto hasn’t had much action of late but he reminded me why he deserves a chance with a fine header to give us an important win. Norwich tried to unsettle my much changed team with an aggressive approach but it didn’t work. The closest they came was a Bradley Johnson shot from miles out that went down Zielers throat. United got thumped 4-2 at Chelsea thanks to an eto’o hattrick. City scraped through on penalties after drawing 1-1 with Palace.

Premier League Table top 5

1. Everton Played 9 points 24

2. Arsenal Played 9 points 21

3. Man United Played 9 Points 21

4. Chelsea Played 9 points 18

5. Southampton Played 9 points 15

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

6. Tottenham played 9 points 15

7. Man City played 9 Points 15

8. Liverpool played 8 points 13

Champions League Table

Tight!

1. Arsenal Played 3 points 6

2. Atletico Played 3 Points 6

3. Zenit Played 3 Points 6

4. Steaua Played 3 Points 0

Goalscorers

Giroud 11

Walcott 11

Vietto 5

Cazorla 5

Podolski 2

Assists

Cazorla 7

Ozil 5

Arteta 5

Giroud 3

Chamberlain 3

Average rating – minimum 5 games

Giroud 7.91

Mertersacker 7.80

Vietto 7.78

Walcott 7.71

Cazorla 7.57

Ozil now has 7.20 after some lacklustre performances. Wilshere has 7.03 and Szszesny is still just 6.97

Player of the month – Per Mertersacker

Not an outstanding month by any means.Walcott has four goals, Cazorla has been doing well but Mertersacker just shades it. Keeping Koscielny out at the moment.

CL – Zenit St Petersburg – 7.1

PL – Crystal Palalce – Not Selected

PL – Cardiff City – 8.5(1)

CL – Steau Bucherest – 8.8(1)

PL - Tottenham – 7.0

LC - Norwich – Not Selected

Game of the month

Norwich City 3 – 0 Mancester United - Van Wolfswinkle 17pen Tettey 17 Fer

Brilliant from Norwich. United were awful.

Stat of the month

Wizard or wasteful

Mezut Ozil was meant to be the big player this season but has so far failed to live up to expectations. I’m playing his as engage attack. If that’s wrong please tell me!

Appearances 11(1)

Goals 0

Assists 5

Average Rating 7.20

Man Of Match 0

Pass completion 83%

Yellow Cards 0

Red cards 0

Highest Rating 8.90 vs Aston Villa

Lowest Rating 6.40 vs Manchester City

Other stuff

England Qualified for the world cup with a 0-0 in Poland. In the play offs Bosnia play Ukraine, Croatia play Turkey Denamrk play Russia and France have Slovenia.

Both Mertersacker and myself finished third in our monthly awards. Martinez won again. while player of the month was Lampard.

Quite a boring month. In the big game in Germany Bayern won 3-0 in Dortmund, while Madrid beat Barca 3-1 at the Nou camp

RACE FOR THER TITLE

Current Results

Man City 0-0 Chelsea

Arsenal 1-0 Tottenham – Kaboul o.g

November Matches

Liverpool vs Arsenal

Man City vs Liverpool

November preview

We await the draw for the league Cup. In the Champions League we face two big tests with back to back away games at Steaua and Atletico. In the league we travel to Anfield.

I will also try to work out my best formation team and what to do with Ozil.

[RossoneriGunner]

One Season Tactic - 2013/14

February 2014

Premier League

Man City 0 - 2 Arsenal - Özil, Giroud

Arsenal 0 - 0 Everton

Arsenal 4 - 0 Cardiff - Vietto (2), Walcott, Risicky

FA Cup 5th Rnd

Southampton 0 - 3 Arsenal - Cazorla, Walcott, Vermaelen

Premier League

C. Palace 1 - 2 Arsenal - Vietto, Özil (pen)

UEFA Champions League 1st K/O - 1st leg

FCP 2 - 3 Arsenal - Giroud (2), Oxlade-Chamberlain

We still top the Premier table after 27 games with 74 pts and a +53 GD, next comes Newcastle on 57 with Man Utd 3rd on 55 pts, Chelsea 53 and Stoke 50 make up the top 5.

The draw for the Quarter Finals of the FA Cup see's us with a home tie against Norwich, Newcastle v WBA, Barnsley v Huddersfield, C. Palace v Stoke or Swansea. So with a bit of luck we could pick up the FA Cup this year.

We have 3 away goals to take back to the Emirates after our 3-2 away win against FCP in Portugal.

The Capital One Cup Final is our next fixture with a tough game against Chelsea at Wembley Stadium. Lets hope we can give our loyal supporters something to celebrate.

[timmy2211]

Decided before my 4th round replay to Milwall to temporarily drop my 4-2-3-1, as I can only assume teams had cracked it.

Changed my 4-3-3 that I hadn't used to often and everything for now has turned around.

Giroud has gone from having only scored 9 goals all season up until February, to scoring 7 in 5. Mitrovic has got 5 in the 2 games he's played. Walcott, Chamberlain and Bernard have all started chipping in.

I have been letting goals in though, Southampton 5-4, Fulham 4-3, Ipswich 5-3. I guess with the way I set my team out it is expected, but I like taking the I'll score than you approach .