FM15: Arsenal FC

[Sunstrikuuu]

TIL David Ospina is rated as a striker in addition to a goalkeeper. 3-0 up 70 minutes in again Liverpool in the cup seems as good a time as any to try it.

Edit: For what it's worth, after struggling with other tactics, I've gotten some damned fine performances out of Giroud in year 2 playing him as a F9 flanked by two attacking wide players or as a CFs behind an advanced forward. 39 games, 32 goals in all competitions; 23 in 27 in the league. Meanwhile 15 in 33 for Sanchez, 11 in 37 for Welbeck, 12 in 37 for Oxlade-Chamberlain, 7 in 34 for Ozil and 17 in 28 for Walcott. Generally I've struggled to get the best out of Welbeck but I mostly play him on the left. I'm looking for someone like Gotze, and maybe one more, to come in for two of Welbeck, Walcott (who wants to go to Liverpool) and Giroud; Giroud's great but if I can get £30m plus for a 30 year old I think I have to do it. That would leave me with something like Gotze as the striker, AOC and Sanchez on the right and a new left side that's actually meant to play there rather than the ol' Arsenal thing of just sorta slotting people in on the left. Between playing Ozil out of position at striker and using Pereyra as cover for both flanks, and plugging in youth players, I think it'll be good. The trick is getting bitches to sell to me.

[Sunstrikuuu]

There is nothing in this game as ****ing frustrating as the crazy home/away swings. Win 2-0 at home with 70% possession, lose 4-0 away with 30%.

[Mark.]

what tactic/s do you use Mark I could do with something more solid at the back

Hi ATB,

I currently use 3 tactics, a 4-5-1, a deep 4-4-2 and a striker-less 4-1-2-3 based loosely on a narrow 4-2-3-1 I used last year.

The 4-5-1 is my most used tactic and probably the most defensively sound as the other two are at varying levels more aggressive in the press.

A lot of my 4-5-1 development was done after having read Jambo's excellent thread in the T&T forum so I would highly recommend reading that.

For me the Key defensively, from watching the games, is having a solid midfield that hold position allowing me to be more aggressive with the full backs, seems to help keep shape while also applying pressure on the wings. That is deffo something I would consider if you are wanting to add some defensive stability, but as always it needs to be considered within the context of what else you are doing, for example my 4-5-1 is usually either played on counter or standard, so I can afford the full backs to be more aggressive.

Not wanting to get on a preaching wagon here, but I find the thing that has helped me the most with my tactics (other than reading guides of course) is everything I read from other posters that sounds good, I always take a step back and consider if that could work with how I am wanting my team to play, and of course with the players I have. Sometimes in the past I would read about something intriguing, get all excited to try it, then it would be a failure with the team I was using as I didn't consider how it fits into my greater picture.

Sorry to not be more specific Haha. But if you are playing on a middling mentality I could see the CWB with a positionally sound central midfield working well. I guess Fluidity would also need to be considered.

BTW; I remember on FM14 you said that you always use Defensive Positioning for your Match Prep as you always have heavily attacking tactics. Since then I have been using that as a rule of thumb, and while I have no concrete evidence and this may be conjecture, but it seems to work well. IE a heavily attacking tactic I will use Match Prep of Defensive Positioning in general, anything below Standard and I will use Attacking Movement. Of course I will still change for some specific matches.

[Mark.]

Sunstrikuuu

What does "TIL" mean?

I too have found Giroud to be surprisingly effective. It's odd, he doesn't really play the way I would like from my main striker (In my system), but he just keeps getting results!

[lomekian]

Inspired by Mark's consise format coinciding with a new game, I thought I;d do the same: Using a couple of DB add-ons that add a couple of kids, update contracts and amend CA/PA according to performance this season so far. V few affect Arsenal.

Season 2014-2015

Transfers In:

Éder Álvarez Balanta - £7.25 - 48 months

Munir - £10.25m release clause

Lucas Romero - £6m over 48 months plus Loan Back

Pione Sisto 2.5m - one of my faves on this game, partly as a tribute to a best friend from South Sudan.

Fernando Gago - 2.1m over 48 months

Josh Kimmich - 1.5 plus loan back

And the big one - Phil Jones 29m over 48 months...could have got him for 24 up front, but didn't have the money in the bank.

Also a couple of kids for peanuts and some freebies.

Tranfers Out:

Loans of a few kids

Obviously needed a DM and a CB, and Gago's passing allows for more control than Flamini & Balanta's pace and flexibility was important. Jones obviously can compete for both postions and is home grown, so when Utd bought Vertonghen and he became available it was a no-brainer, as he can hopefully replace Per in season or two while coovering 3 roles.

Tactics:

A tweaked version of my 4-2-3-1

GK(D)

RWB (S) CD © CD (D) CWB (A)

RPM (s) DLP (D)

RW (A) TQ (A) IF (A)

DLF (A)

Although obviously roles depend slightly on who is playing where. Cazorla or Rosicky will be AP (S), Flamini BWM (D), Giroud CF or TM (s)

AUGUST 2014 REVIEW

10/8/14 - Community Shield (N)

Arsenal 4 - 2 Man City - Welbeck (30), Cazorla (33), Koscielny (70), Ramsey (87) - Came back from 2-0 down and had 15 shots on target...winner was scrabled off his arse from 5 yards out....

16/8/14 - Premier League (H)

Tottenham 2 - 9 (NINE!) Arsenal - Welbeck (5,38,59), Sanchez (7), Ozil (9, 22, pen 43), Cazorla (58), Fazio (og 89). - Spurs Dominated possession, but having just sold Vertonghen had the softest of centres. Alexis tore Danny Rose (3.5 rating!) all kinds of new holes, and the season had started better than plausible. Even their two goals were massive ****-ups in my defence.

19/8/14 - Champions League BPP - Leg 1 (A)

Dnipro 1 -2 Arsenal - Giroud (11), Campbell (85). - A second string team just about got the job done.

23/8/14 - Premier League (H)

Arsenal 4 - 0 Swansea - Welbeck (22,24), Cazorla (54), Ozil (87) - Fulls strength Swans had 3 shots all game, only 1 on target.

26/8/14 - Champions League BPP - Leg 2 (A)

Arsenal 4 - 0 Dnipro- Oxlade-Chamberlain (9),Giroud (68), Rosicky (77), Podolski (81) - late flurry confirmed earlier superiority.

30/8/14 - Premier League (A)

Hull 0 - Arsenal 2 - Sanchez (62), Ramsey (68) - Comfortable, solid professional.

Summary

Not any really tough games yet, but that win over a full strength spurs will be long enjoyed!

Champions League Group

Arsenal, PSG, Napoli, Slovan Bratislava

Bit of a *******, but I reckon we'll be ok (I hope!)

[Mark.]

Lomekian

Epic start there mate! I take it your mentality is quite attacking?

Tough Champs league group there too.

[Swills417]

About to begin the second season, and its been a preseason of lots of transfers in and out!

Firstly, two major departures were sorted before the window opened. Jack Wilshere left for the other side of London and joined Chelsea in a £28m deal. Giroud who had played second fiddle to Welbeck and Pratto the previous season left for Southampton for £16.25m.

Podolski, Ospina and Campbell left the club for just over £20m combined, along with Monreal and Flamini. Bellerin, Sanogo and Gnabry will continue their development in loan deals away from the club.

In terms of the incoming, I made use of Steve Bould and later Overmars as a director of football as they sorted a number of transfers for me. Sheyi Ojo, the 18 year old playmaker from Liverpool joined in a structured £15m deal. Bruma from Galatasary soon followed as I needed to add depth to a weakened left flank. I was short on GK cover so I brought in Alphonese Areola on loan from PSG for a nominal amount. Hovarth and Bongonda were both brought in by my DoF.

Following was the procurement of Ayoze, the 21 year old Spanish forward from Newcastle for an initial £10m, who would be perfect for my false 9 role up top. Porto was raided for their wing back as Alex Sandro and Danilo both arrived for a combined sum of £27m. I've always wanted to have these lads on previous FMs, and now I can finally make use of their maundering wing play. Finally, Kostas Manolas was brought in on loan to act as 4th choice defensive cover.

Line up for the first league game of the season against stoke is likely to be as below.

There's going to be extension rotation up top this season, will look to give Ayoze, Welbeck and Pratto equal game time to see who emerges as top dog.

The LW spot is up for grabs with Ozil and Walcott both able to perform there as competently as Chamberlain, Cazorla and Pratto. The CWB role of Alex Sandro proving that flank to be my most dangerous!

In central midfield Ramsey is the talisman, he's going to have a AP(a) role this season which should see more output than he had in a B2B role. Next to him Ox will be prefered, but chances will be given to Crawley, Ojo and Horvath. Llorente will continue his development with a first team role (despite his star rating suggesting he's not ready).

At the back, I've noticed only Koscielny and Chambers are comfortable on the left hand side, will have to watch that as the season progresses.

Still have £90m in the bank, waiting for a huge player to become available to spend that, have had rejections from Koke, Jerome Boateng and Hummels during the window and i'm waiting to see who becomes available closer to the window deadline.

Been challenged by the board to win the league, it will be tough especially with Chelsea even stronger than before with Wilshere joined by Iturbe and Shaqiri.

[JEinchy]

I bet that Wilshere sale went down well. Were Chelsea the only team to bid for him?

Some interesting signings there. Ayoze is one that interests me, especially as there's a decent chance of him getting a boost in the next database update. I've played against Porto four times and Alex Sandro and Danilo are always a handful; you won't find many better wing backs in the game.

4-3-3 has been my formation of choice recently, since it's helping me get the most out of Ramsey and Ozil at the same time.

Hope your season goes better than mine is currently. 12 points off Chelsea in the title race with six games to go, so no chance of catching them up; dumped out the FA Cup 6th round by Liverpool; and now I've just lost 3-0 to Galatasaray of all teams in the CL quarter-finals. Season has well and truly gone down the crapper.

[lomekian]

Lomekian

Epic start there mate! I take it your mentality is quite attacking?

Tough Champs league group there too.

Attacking/Flexible

[lomekian]

SEPTEMBER 2014 REVIEW

13/9/14 - Premier League (H)

Arsenal 4 - 1 Crystal Palace - Walcott (29,40), Giroud (80), Podolski (85) - For some reason the new patch seems to have shortened Theo's injury on my game. A happy first appearance for him. had over 30 shots, but finishing in this one was poor with Sanchez out with a little knock.

16/9/14 - Champions League GS (A)

Napoli 2 - 3 Arsenal - Welbeck (25,38,48) - A great winning start in a very tight game I just about edged in shots, possession and goals, but it could have gone either way. 2 Assists from Rambo were key.

20/9/14 - Premier League (A)

Southampton 0 - 3 Arsenal - Ramsey (27), Sanchez (71), Welbeck (73). Was actually a very tight game, but we created better chances. Ozil MOTM despite no assists or goals.

24/9/14 - Cap One Cup 3rd Rnd (A)

Burnley 0 - 4 Arsenal - Akpom (45+2), Chambers (51), Oxlade Chamberlain (71), Sisto (89). I love it when the kids do well. Akpom only came on because Sanogo was injured. Very even game, but worldies by Sisto and the Ox made it safe.

27/9/14 - Premier League (H)

Arsenal 4 - 0 Manchester Utd - Alexis (1,21,25), Welbeck (8). A stroll vs RVP-less Utd. 24 seconds to get the ball rolling and once we went 4-up I just shut up shop tactically.

30/9/14 Champions League GS (H)

Arsenal 2 - 1 PSG - Giroud (15), Oxlade Chamberlain (78). Should have been more comfortable but poor finishing all round.

Summary

Another excellent if less spectacular month. Nice to share the goals around a bit, and keep most of my squad involved. October and November are quite kind fixture wise, but December will be a nightmare! - Stoke (a), City (h), PSG (a), Newcastle (a), Chelsea (h), Villa (a), Liverpool (h) with Spurs on New Years day - ignoring any carling cup progress....OOF! 3 Points ahead of Liverpool and 6 ahead of Chelsea at the top...but far too early to draw conclusions. Ox will be out for October, but other than that fairly injury free.

[Sunstrikuuu]

Sunstrikuuu

What does "TIL" mean?

I too have found Giroud to be surprisingly effective. It's odd, he doesn't really play the way I would like from my main striker (In my system), but he just keeps getting results!

Thing (or things) I Learned.

I'm planning to replace Giroud but I don't know where to go for a Gotze or someone maybe more big and strong.

[Mark.]

OCTOBER 2014 REVIEW

Fixtures

(Comments where relevant and memory serves)

1/10/14 - Champions League GS (A)

Arsenal 2 - 0 CSKA Moscow - Giroud (11), Ramsey (72)

Little bit of rotation here. Not a pretty performance, but 3 points away was all we needed.

4/10/14 - Premier League (A)

Arsenal 2 - 0 Crystal Palace - Campbell (3), Arteta (pen 15)

18/10/14 - Premier League (H)

Arsenal 2 - 0 West Ham - Giroud (7,53)

Third game of rotation in a row. Giroud continuing his great form. Poor performances as a whole are being masked by his battering ram style.

22/10/14 - Champions League GS (H)

Arsenal 1 - 0 Monaco - Welbeck (67)

Poor performances continue, backup tactics are getting proficient so I may switch to something more aggressive for a game or so. Welbeck with the towering header to save 2 points.

25/10/14 - Premier League (A)

Arsenal 2 - 0 QPR - Wilshere (15), Ashley Williams o.g. (67)

Better performance here. Jack involved in both goals, looking good given the freedom of the central winger role.

29/10/14 - Cap One Cup 4th Rnd (A)

Arsenal 3 - 1 Everton - Flamini (42), Cazorla (pen 45), Akpom (74)

Interesting game, our largely rotated side performed well but never really looked in charge, a screamer from Flamini followed by two set piece goals made it look far more comfortable that it was, but hey you need these in a cup run.

Summary

Another pretty easy month. There were a few tricky fixtures as well as some heavy rotation required.

Was good to see the backups and youth through the League Cup fixture as Akpom, Crowley and Zelamen all got on.

Tactics wise I am sticking with the 4-5-1. Just need to be paying a little more attention to finer details. Defense is still looking impressive.

Top Performers So Far

Oxlade Chamberlain [9] - 7 Gls, 4 Ast, 4.1 Dpg, 7.94 AvgR

Alexis [11(1)] - 6 Gls, 5 Ast, 8.33 Dpg, 7.86 AvgR

Giroud [6(3)] - 7 Gls, 3 Ast, 7.48 AvgR

Ozil [9(1)] - 6 Ast, 35 KeyP, 8.03 AvgR

No real standouts in the defense as due to injury and trouble keeping fitness up they have been rotated pretty heavily. Still doing well though. That Ozil Key Pass stat is likely more as its not on the screenshot I am looking at, but I recall seeing 35 when I checked a few games prior.

Ozil has been fantastic really, seems to find a way to be involved in all our key plays and along with The Ox has not skipped a beat when being shunted out wide, or shuffled inside. When the both play, making use of the switch position option has been fantastic, even though I now have them using the same role setup for each position they both play it differently which is great to watch.

November

PRM Hull (H)

ECL Monaco (A)

PRM Man Utd (A)

PRM Spurs (H)

ECL Leverkusen (A)

PRM Newcastle (A)

Going to be a tough wee month. No real respite apart from the international break between the Utd and Spurs game. A real test of our mettle.

[Mark.]

Thing (or things) I Learned.

I'm planning to replace Giroud but I don't know where to go for a Gotze or someone maybe more big and strong.

Cheers, good to know these things! Gotze would be a dream, how much is he likely to cost though?

[llama3]

Good month there Mark. The next month will be a real test.

[Mark.]

Good month there Mark. The next month will be a real test.

9 Goals in the first two games! Two hattricks. Attack is firing now. Still, Man U is the first real test.

[JEinchy]

The 17/18 season ended in disaster for me. Winning the Capital One Cup was barely an achievement after Liverpool knocked us out the FA Cup, Galatasaray knocked us out the Champions League and Chelsea won the title by a landslide. We ended up losing to Newcastle at home and Spurs away back-to-back and drew our last two home games against Southampton and Everton 0-0. Certain players lost form completely, most noticeably Danny Welbeck who went a whopping 14 games without a goal.

So I decided to shake things up a bit in the summer and got some new players and some new members of staff.

First order of business was to bring in Marc Overmars as my Director of Football. I don't usually use one, but I was struggling in negotiations for the bigger, more expensive targets and with transfer prices getting bigger as the years go by, I thought now was a good time to get an expert to help me. Also coming in from Ajax is Dennis Bergkamp, who replaces the retiring Boro Primorac as my expert technical coach. Bernd Dreher was hired from Wolfsburg to take up the vacant Goalkeeping Coach spot left by Gerry Peyton after he also retired.

For first team transfers, it was three out-three in:

Szczesny made it clear at the end of the season that he wanted a new challenge. Usually I would try to convince him to stay, but his form had inexplicably dropped so I didn't feel like standing in his way. Just as I agreed to let him go, Monaco duly arrived with a bid and off he went for £17mil. Jeronimo Rulli, a keeper I've been tracking since the beginning, will be his replacement for a bargain £10mil.

Juan Bernat complained about a lack of first team football. I liked him for his attacking qualities and consistency, but I have a good young left back who could do with more game time so I offloaded him for £16mil, making a £5mil profit in the process. Not a terrible result, really. Sime Vrsaljko, an FM favourite, is his expensive replacement, though at £23.5mil was still much, much cheaper than some of my other defensive targets that I was being asked to pay £50mil+ for.

Mattia Vidali was a Canadian regen that we signed a while ago. He's a very pacey and skillful forward, but his other technical skills and game intelligence didn't develop to the standard I wanted them. A bit of a shame, but I made a healthy profit from him.

Speaking of profit, I never thought I'd get nearly £10mil for Mourgos and Bola. Goes to show that taking the time to develop young players, even if they won't make it in the first team, can be rewarding.

The standout signing is Robert Lewandowski. £42mil is almost cringe worthy amount of money to spend on a 29 - soon to be 30 - year old but he's still a world class forward and I had grown fed up of my other strikers failing to deliver consistently.

Here's my squad for the season:

Hopefully we'll get back to trophy-winning ways, but it's likely going to be the toughest season yet with Chelsea, City and United really splashing the cash in the summer and building formidable squads.

[llama3]

Think Rulli is an excellent signing there JEinchy.

[Sunstrikuuu]

Cheers, good to know these things! Gotze would be a dream, how much is he likely to cost though?

£20 million with a 20% of next sale clause from Bayern. Done and sorted this morning. £275k a week, plus £17.5 million in signing-on and agent fees, plus additional bonuses.

The contract was a bit more expensive than I would have liked but I can't really complain about the price. I've been making public flirty-eyes and putting in bids for six months or so, and his contract expires in a season. He's been unhappy at Bayern so maybe they were finding it tough to resign him. The last two years he's only made 24 appearances total in all competitions with 8 goals. Pretty crap. He's still only 23, though.

Edit:

Giroud gorn. £3m up front, £27m over two years from AS Monaco. Getting £30m for a 29 year old is something I'm ok with even if it does leave me in the position of replacing the guy who was by far my leading scorer.

[lomekian]

OCTOBER 2014 REVIEW

4/10/14 - Premier League (A)

Sunderland 0 - 5 Arsenal - Jung Sung-Ryong o.g (7), Cazorla (44), Ramsey (60), Ozil (63), Munir (85). A confident comprehensive victory...a brilliant first goal off the bench for Munir.

18/10/14 - Premier League (H)

Arsenal 4 - 0 Everton - Cazorla (26), Ozil (61), Walcott (64,90). Mish mash team after the international break against an equally mish mash Everton side, and the difference of squad depth showed.Only 3 shots for the visitors.

21/10/14 - Champions League GS (H)

Arsenal 3 - 0 Slovan Bratislava - Giroud (31,60, 63). 3 well taken goals as the frenchman starts to find his form in a largely reserve side. Dull game other than that, 0 shots on target for the away side.

25/10/14 - Premier League (A)

W.B.A 0- 4 Arsenal - Welbeck (18,21, pen 36), Ozil (pen 55). Another surprisingly comfortable victory in a relatively even game. Cazorla with 3 assists, and Jack managed to injure both Ideye and Berahino making my life a lot easier!

29/10/14 - Cap One Cup 4th Rnd (A)

Bournmouth 0 - 2 Arsenal - Sisto (45+2), Adama Traore (49) - Ex Barca youth scored on his debut. Only Sisto was really impressive. Out of 12 shots, Bournmouth had 1 on target. Debut for Zelalem as well.

Summary

A walk in the park. 5 games you'd expect to win and 5 clean sheets. Still nicely sharing the goals around and most of the squad getting game time, to help their morale. November fixtures equally winnable coming up, before the nightmare December. Hopefully can secure top spot in ECL group and get a lead at the top of the table before then.

[Sunstrikuuu]

So far a very busy transfer window that has yet to really involve many moves.

Edit: Business isn't closed quite yet, but it's getting there. The Community Shield is upon us, and I'm starting to finalize my moves.

I've ended up bringing in seven players of consequence. Mario Gotze joins from Bayern for £20m. Nemanja Matic was transfer-listed by Chelsea and I needed reinforcement at DM and defending CM positions, so I was pretty alright spending £7m on him. Regens Sean O'Shea, Soliou da Silva, Freek Claassen and Franck Morel joined from New York Red Bulls, Montpellier, NEC and Sochaux respectively; only O'Shea has a chance to feature this season. He's a striker/AM with some decent technical attributes. Last, Jonathan Silva from FC Porto comes in to play at both fullback positions. Hector Bellerin isn't good enough as cover, and I play with wingbacks rather than fullbacks most of the time, meaning Calum Chambers isn't ideal. Long term I see him as a centerback anyway. I spent a bit over £23m on Silva.

I'm still making a huge profit this window. Giroud went out for £3m up front plus £27m over two years. Roberto Pereyra moved to Real Madrid for £21.5m + £11.25m over a year + £12.3m in various performances clauses and a 30% profit sell-on fee. Not bad for a free signing. I'll miss his versatility. Gaston Gil Romero goes to Juventus for £20.5m + £10m over a year + £4.3m in performance bonuses. Juventus are an obnoxious club to deal with, unsettling players and refusing to compromise their negotiations at all. Which is why I sold Mesut Ozil to Bayern instead of the Old Lady. £25 million, plus a 20% profit clause, £22.2 million over a year and £30.75m in performance bonuses.

It's a bit of money and it leaves me with two players left at the club who still want to go elsewhere. Matheiu Debuchy wants to go to Barcelona - they bid £6.25m for him eight months ago and haven't been back; Theo Walcott wants to go to Liverpool, who bid £12.5m when he was injured a little less than a year ago, haven't followed up, despite being interested. Chelsea, Leverkusen and Everton also have major interest but no one has bid, despite Walcott having a £30m release clause and being transfer listed.

[Sunstrikuuu]

I'm preparing to be extremely pissed by the transfer engine. I've been trying to sign Divock Ogiri from Liverpool for two years now with no luck. They want £35m+ for him. Juventus have just bid £5.75 with possible rises to £20.5m. If that goes through, I will be furious.

Edit: And one day after the bid went in, he's off to Juve. This is incredibly stupid.

[Chewy2006]

Hey Lads,

I can't believe this has just happened on my save

and in the first season aswell so got all summer to try and sign the players I really want. The initial budget was 95m which is still a lot but as soon as I got to June the chairman has given me 350m to spend I have already made a lot of young player signings and also signed Dani Alves, Miranda, Baines for my main side.

On the departures front I've got rid of mertersacker, nacho, gibbs, arteta and podolski. Gibbs was a tough one but with Baines coming in I just felt I didn't need him anymore and with Chelsea giving me 10m for him I thought it was great business. I'm also trying to get rid of Rosicky, Diaby and Giroud as I don't rate them that much so will be looking to bring in another top striker. I'm thinking of Cavani as number 1 choice as Ronaldo and Messi r impossible to get and I think city wouldn't sell me Aguero But overall just buzzing that got so much cash to spend and with the new chairman getting rid of all the loans that would of been round for ages and with him agreeing to let me improve the youth and training facilities the short term and long term future looks great and I'm sure i'll win many titles and cups along the way

[john1]

Now that's a interesting save there Chewy Looking forward to see who you bring in.

[lomekian]

NOVEMBER 2014 REVIEW

1/11/14 - Premier League (H)

Arsenal 5 - 3 QPR. - Welbeck (16,27,31,45), Koscielny (64), Gibbs S/O 74. Great for Danny Boy, but frustrating as QPR scored twice after the sending off and had 3 goals from 3 shots on target. After the match the review said the ref favoured the away side...ho hum

5/11/14 - Champions League GS (A)

Slovan Bratislava 0 - 6 Arsenal - Giroud (18,59,85pen,88), Podolski (38), Balanta (66). Second 4 goal haul for the DLF in 2 games. 7 in 2 against the whipping boys for Giroud. 3 Assists for Pod. Predictably comfortable game.

8/11/14 - Premier League (H)

Arsenal 5 - 1 Leicester City - Ozil (6,29,35), Cazorla (47), Sanchez (60), Flamini S/0 48. Dominant performance that could have been more so if nor for Flamini getting 2 yellows on his first start. 2 Shots on target for the visitors. 7th Hat-trick of the season already!

22/11/14 - Premier League (A)

West Ham 0 - 3 Arsenal - Oxlade-Chamberlain (13,15), Welbeck(38). A mixed team of the fit after internationals kept the hammers down to 3 shots on target and the Ox won the game with 2 identical goals and an assist. Good performance from Le Coq in his first game.

25/11/14 - Champions League GS (H)

Arsenal 7 -0 Napoli - Podolski (5,11), Sanchez (23), Giroud (42,48), Gnabry (88), Callejon o.g (92). Expected a tough game and got off to a flier, scorign 7 times from 8 shots on target. Podolski turns up for the second ECL game in a row, and Giroud continues his love affair with continetal football. It was actually a very even game, but our finishing was clinical and theirs was wayward. Lucky result really. Great finish from Gnabry late on.

29/11/14 - Premier League (H)

Arsenal 6 -1 Burnley - Arteta (pen 14,pen 62), Ozil (38), Welbeck (50), Cazorla (66), Sisto (84). A total battering. 36 shots on goal and really it could have been 8 or 9. But then Burnley are injury hit and bottom!

Summary

Another fantastic goal filled month, with the odd defensive slip, but a very welcome 100% record and 10 point lead in the League before a nightmare December. Crucially, a group win in the ECL which allows rotation for the away game against PSG. Fixture list made a bit trickier by Man U in the League cup, but at least its at home....Stoke (a), City (h), PSG (a), Newcastle (a), Man U (h), Chelsea (h), Villa (a), Liverpool (h) with Spurs on New Years day. Deep breath.

TRANSFER SHOCK!

My ever so lovely board saw I was a bit skint, and gave me another 35m to spend. Knowing I will be casting off a little dead wood in Jan (Flamini, Le Coq, maybe Diaby and a couple of no-accounts I got on frees), I thought I'd splash it. After my relentless campaign to unsettle Paul Pogba, and a serious injury to Buffon affecting their league form, I offered Juve 40m over 48 months + some extras. To my surprise, they came back with 11.5m up front + 37m over 48 months + 30% next fee + friendly match. A grand transfer budget hit of 16M. Obviously his wages are huge ...nearly 200k p/w, but I bargained his signing on fee down to 2m from the 11m he wanted. This probably means a swift end to Gago's Arsenal career, but I'll still get a decent profit from him....

Will do Stat update in next update....

[Sunstrikuuu]

...holy crap that's an awesome signing.

[WillyBroadband]

Hey Lads,

I can't believe this has just happened on my save

and in the first season aswell so got all summer to try and sign the players I really want. The initial budget was 95m which is still a lot but as soon as I got to June the chairman has given me 350m to spend I have already made a lot of young player signings and also signed Dani Alves, Miranda, Baines for my main side.

On the departures front I've got rid of mertersacker, nacho, gibbs, arteta and podolski. Gibbs was a tough one but with Baines coming in I just felt I didn't need him anymore and with Chelsea giving me 10m for him I thought it was great business. I'm also trying to get rid of Rosicky, Diaby and Giroud as I don't rate them that much so will be looking to bring in another top striker. I'm thinking of Cavani as number 1 choice as Ronaldo and Messi r impossible to get and I think city wouldn't sell me Aguero But overall just buzzing that got so much cash to spend and with the new chairman getting rid of all the loans that would of been round for ages and with him agreeing to let me improve the youth and training facilities the short term and long term future looks great and I'm sure i'll win many titles and cups along the way

Wow, thats cool man! I didn't get a takeover until my 3rd season and he wasn't a tycoon.

How come your first season starts in May 2014 dude?

[WillyBroadband]

Cheers, good to know these things! Gotze would be a dream, how much is he likely to cost though?

I got Götze on a Bosman end of 2nd season (I think) and he's been one of the best signings I have ever made. Astronomical wages but worth every penny.

[lomekian]

DECEMBER 2014 REVIEW

1/11/14 - Premier League (A)

Stoke City 1 - 3 Arsenal. - Rosicky (27,59), Giroud (44). A dour game lit up by Super Tom, just about deserved the win.

6/12/14 - Premier League (H)

Arsenal 4 - 2 Man City - Welbeck (31,54), Sanchez (pen 74), Oxlade Chamberlain 92. Had 5 times as many shots on goal and on target at City, who are under-achieving in the League, but diidn't take the lead til late on. Have never had any difficulty with City at home on FM15.

10/12/14 - Champions League GS (A)

PSG 2 - 3 Arsenal - Podolski (8), Diaby (70), Campell (85). Very pleased with this...was struggling with a mish mash side and trailing until late on brough on DIaby as a B2B and Campbell as a right of centre support striker. Goal and an assist each! Boom!

13/12/14 - Premier League (A)

Newcastle 1 - 2 Arsenal - Sanchez (37), Munir (80). As tiredness starts to kick in, my toughest game to date bar the two against PSG. They actually created more, and it was a lucky win through a good substitution. Again Ozil with one of his no goals, no assists MOTM performances.

16/12/14 - Cap One Cup 4th Rnd (H)

Arsenal 5 -1 Man Utd - Sanogo (12, 57, Pen 77), Sisto (20), Diaby (59). My reserves were too strong for a Utd team missing De Gea, RVP, Falcao, Vertonghen and Di Maria. Their goal was from one of their 2 shots on target, a 4th minute misshot cross from 40 yards out by Luke Shaw. As soon as we got the equaliser we dominated.

20/12/14 - Premier League (H)

Arsenal 3 -1 Chelsea - Sanchez (35), Welbeck (58), Cazorla (60). Once a half-fit Diego Costa limped off in Chelsea's previous game, I felt a lot more confident coming into this one, and so it proved. For some reason Chelsea are playing new signing Farfan and Marchisio ahead of Willian and Fabregas, which helps! A lot more comfy than expected.

26/12/14 - Premier League (A)

Aston Villa 0 - 4 Arsenal - Podolski (pen 12), Walcott (14,45), Rosicky (23). Blew Villa away early - two wonder goals from Theo - before a red card challenge from Okore ended up with Giroud out until early Feb. I found 10 harder to play against than 11, and the second half passed with barely a highlight. Always seem to have players injured at Villa Park in FM15.

28/12/14 - Premier League (H)

Arsenal 6 - 0 Liverpool - Ozil (6), Mertesacker (10), Cazorla (11), Welbeck (20,80), Daniel Ward o.g (89). Quite apart from the ineptitude of their 3rd choice keeper, a tired Liverpool put in as bad a first half performance as I've ever seen on FM. They were reliant on the woodwork, goal-line clearances and missed sitters to avoid losing this by double figures. Could have been 8 at half-time. They were a bit better in the second half, but the most shambolic performance from a big team I've seen so far in FM..and they are only 5th....

Bonus game!

1/1/15 Premier League (H)

Arsenal 3 - 1 Tottenham - Sanchez (30), Welbeck (69), Cazorla (72). Including this as its the end of the tough run of games. Came back from 1-0 down. Extremely even game in terms of possession and chances, but wonderful goals from Sanchez and Cazorla were the differrence.

Summary

The month I was dreading ended with 9 wins out of 9, and despite some defensive issues and the injury to Giroud I'm delighted. Need to decide whether the existing squad can hold the fort until the Frenchman returns. A nice home FA CUP draw against Tranmere helps. League Cup Semi's are against Everton, so I f I rotate wisely, I should scrape through that. Lookign forward to Pogba's debut!

Transfers: Nabbed a handful of Scandinavians and South Americans on bosmans for later fund-raising fodder and to increase cup squad rotation options. None will be here next year, but will hopefully form a bridge until more of the kids are ready to become real rotation options, such as Gnabry, Bellerin etc.

Summer Bosmans secured so far (1/1/15) - Yarmolenko, Rabiot, Praet, Nicola Leali, Bakkali, Suently Aleberto...a first teamer, a reserve, and some highly rated kids. No buyers yet for my known cast-offs, but my summer cynical fundraising free-bies (Lell, Stevanovic, N'Guemo and Bakkal) have been bid on and should bring in about 15m between them to boost the coffers. In terms of further arrivals, unless a great deal comes up, I won't bite though.

New Years Day Player Performance Review.

One thing I love about FM is how different saves bring different performance levels out of players.

Best Av R = Ozil- 8.30, Cazorla - 8.25, Sanchez 8.22, Welbeck 8.16, Monreal 8.06, Arteta 7.96, Kos 7.9

Goals - Welbz - 26 in 19 games!, Giroud 14 in 13 games, Ozil 12 in 19 games, Sanchez 11 in 20, Cazorla 10 in 19, Walcott 8 in 8+11 (starts +subs).

Assists - Sanchez 19 in 20, Cazorla 13 in 19, Podolski 10 in 10+6, Ramsey 10 in 19, Welbeck 8 in 19, Ozil 7 in 19.

Its pretty clear who my star performers are to date! 16 points clear at the top of the table, so kinda have the cigar out domestically barring a horrible injury run, though I still have Utd, Chelsea, City and Liverpool away from home, so not chicken counting yet....

As ever with FM its a good tactic and good rotation that are key...

[chroniclesofal]

Wow lomekian, you're absolutely killing it! I'm tempted to give an Arsenal save a proper go again, although I inevitably get frustrated halfway through and pack it in... what formation are you using?

[tinkerer]

Won the Prem League in first season with goal difference ( 86 pts, 1 GD better than Manchester City, yeah that was close ).

Slightly changing the squad with Damian Martinez, Natxo Monreal, Yaya Sanogo, Joel Campbell, Mathieu Flamini, Carl Jenkinson and Abou Diaby all gone. The decision to replace Natxo Monreal ( sold to Juventus for £8.5m ) for £12m Lucas Digne wasn't a popular decision for the fans ( Monreal had a good solid season, consistently defended the flanks while contributing with a few assists, but that's arguably because i played him against easier teams than Kieran Gibbs ). Sanogo had decent loan spell with Wigan scoring 16 goals in Championship and help them win promotion, then i offered them to buy him for £7m, then we had deal for £6m. Good deal for us ( I think ). Joel Campbell and Carl Jenkinson probably had a solid season with 34 games for Newcastle and 21 games for West Ham, but both doesn't good enough for my champion team. Sadly, only managed £1.6m and £1m for them respectively. The decision to swift Martinez and Flamini was clear, both just not good enough, i prefer younger Matt Macey as my 3rd goalie and Flamini just good playing in cup games.

I bought in Marco Reus, Lucas Digne, Patric, and Zakaria Bakkali. Marco Reus brought to play in left inside forward role, with Cazorla is the only player capable for me playing in this position. £21m is a daylight robbery for a world-class Marco Reus. As mentioned before, Lucas Digne brought in to replace Natxo Monreal, i need refreshment and a proper competitions for Kieran Gibbs, Digne met both criteria and probably he offered better attacking threats than Gibbs. Signed Patric from Barcelona B on bosman. He was naturally right back but obviously he doesn't have enough pace and acceleretion to play in the flanks, but he do has enough strength and defending abbility to play in the centre or defensive midfielder. I turned him in to permanent defensive midfielder, he really has good tackling and offered safety in front back four, but he too has great passing (15), something which is not a surprise for a La Masia alumni. Zakaria Bakkali also a bosman, but he is really young and he hasn't yet has a spot in my first team, rather than playing in reserve ( 19 is too old for his big prospect to play in reserves ) i decided to loan him back to Vitesse, hopefully he will comeback much better.

I probably have too many players right now, I'm planning to swift Olivier Giroud, Mikel Arteta, Tomas Rosicky, Theo Walcott, and probably Cazorla over the next year. Can't sell Olivier Giroud right now because he is on injury and will back in 2 months from August. Mikel Arteta, Tomas Rosicky, and Theo Walcott contract will expire next summer. Both Arteta and Rosicky will finish their contract and won't be sold ( unless there's offer ), both are senior figure and good role model for tutoring ( Signed Youri Tielemans and immediately loaned back him for a season to get first team experience so he will be ready for replacing both Arteta and Rosicky ). Theo Walcott on the otherside is the player i'm trying to swift, he is a good player but he's too fragile, injured in about 3 games he played, and only managed to play in 10 PL games last season. However his wages doesn't really make other team interested. £5.2m/year for an injury prone player? Well for me, no thanks. Okay guys, so what do you think? Should i sell Walcott now? ( probably for a real cheap, below £7m ) or let him play whole season and release him when his contract end or just simply put faith in him and offered him new contract? I do like Walcott but i do love my club finance

[Sunstrikuuu]

I kept Walcott, played him almost exclusively as an IFs on the right side and in the 2016 August window sold him to Barcelona for £30 million. I could have gotten more, but when I resigned his contract I put in that release clause to keep his wages down. In performance terms, he was quite good. Just needs games, of course.

So my transfer window ended up being crazy. 9 players came in, including 4 who'll be around the first team - Gotze, Jonathan Silva, Nemanja Matic and Josh Murphy of Norwich. Giroud, Pereyra, Gil Romero, Ozil and Walcott left, for a total profit of £63 million. It's more turnover than I wanted, and I resisted selling Lucas Romero despite getting offers in the £50 million range, but I think I've still got more than enough. I might sell Romero next year and prepare a monster bid for Paul Pogba.

Woj and Ospina are in goal. Debuchy is the first choice right back with Jose Luis Gaya and Keiran Gibbs splitting time at left back. Jonathan Silva, Calum Chambers and Hector Bellerin provide cover. Balanta and Koscielny are the first-choice centerback partnership with Chambers third choice and Mertesacker fourth, though I rotate a lot. I'll use Matic as emergency cover if needed.

I play a flat three-man midfield with one more creative midfielder, one RPM/DLP and one defensive midfielder. Wilshere, Ramsey and Romero are the first-choice trio. Nemanja Matic plays when I need a true enforcer, and I can also add strength without losing creativity by playing Ramsey, Romero and Lucas Silva together. Arteta and Lampard make up the numbers. Youri Tielemans is starting to break in, but I'm still unsure how I want to use him positionally.

Up front, I play two wide attackers and a creative deep-lying striker. Mario Gotze starts ion the middle usually flanked by Danny Welbeck and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. I'm still trying to figure out how best to use Welbeck. Josh Murphy can play on the left or in the middle, and Alexis Sanchez can play on either side or in the middle. Generally I think this area of my team is the least well-balanced as only Gotze has the attributes I really want in a center forward and he's not quite it either. I have some prospects in the reserves who'll get some games whenever I can.

[Cesc_cil]

why isn't b. beckham in the arsenal squad???

[lomekian]

Wow lomekian, you're absolutely killing it! I'm tempted to give an Arsenal save a proper go again, although I inevitably get frustrated halfway through and pack it in... what formation are you using?

A tweaked version of my 4-2-3-1

GK(D)

RWB (S) CD © CD (D) CWB (A)

RPM (s) DLP (D)

RW (A) TQ (A) IF (A)

DLF (A)

Although obviously roles depend slightly on who is playing where. Cazorla or Rosicky will be AP (S), Flamini BWM (D), Giroud CF or TM (s)

Attacking/Flexible - TI's: Retain Possession, Pass into Space, Work Ball into Box, Play out of Defence, Whipped Crosses, Exploit the flanks, Play Wider, Push Higher Up, Close Down more, Prevent Gk Distribution, Use Offside Trap, Higher Tempo.

A few specific Pi's to players strengths.

[lomekian]

Re Walcott...his impact isn't so great on the game I am playing (though still a goal or assist every 1.5 games), but on my last saves he got 37 assists as a RW in the EPL alone in season 1. If you use him right in the right system he CAN be amazing.

[Chewy2006]

I started my save with these leagues loaded

And started it in feb 2014 so that's how it's only May in the screenshots I uploaded earlier and yeah I was just very lucky got the tycoon that quickly. I have now decided I'm going to forget about playing as one of the Swedish clubs as now I got this game lol and have decided also to scrap original leagues I loaded and add france, Italy, Germany and spain however they won't come in till June 2015.

[JEinchy]

I'm quite pleased about this:

[Sunstrikuuu]

That's an odd assortment. Why did you load Qatar, UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia?

[Chewy2006]

I just thought I'd have a look at leagues I'd never normally manage in but then soon realised they had some strange rules where you needed to sign so many home grown players and since the home grown players weren't great in them countries I'd get rid of them and cba to start a new save as takes a while to load on my pc since I like to play with over 330,000 players so luckily I decided against it as I'd never get the tycoon happen since they are very rare things to happen

[Sunstrikuuu]

Fair enough!

Edit: my last run of games has been super frustrating mostly because Alexis Sanchez and Danny Welbeck are putting up 15 shots between them and getting zero on target.

[arsenalthebest]

why isn't b. beckham in the arsenal squad???

legal reasons I think( he's only 15) however lfc marshalls summer transfer update does have Brooklyn in the Arsenal squad http://www.fmscout.com/a-lfcmarshalls-update-2015.html

[raeburn]

2014 Preseason and August

Every year I start my Arsenal save with the first transfer window turned off to see what I can do with the current squad. The obvious hole this year is in the center of defense, and much like Arsene this year, I anticipate being forced to use either Monreal or Flamini as injury cover at some point before January.

My tactic this year is an attempt to re-create the 03/04 Invincible team. It's not quite a straightforward 4-4-2, I have Sanchez pushed into the AMR slot, Ozil pulled back to the central AMC position, and Welbeck side of the forward position.

Lehmann - SK(a) - Szcezsny

Lauren - WB(s) - Debuchy

Campbell - CB(d) - Mertesacker

Toure - CB(d) - Koscielny

Cole - CWB(a) - Gibbs

Ljungberg - IF(a) - Sanchez

Viera - B2B(s) - Ramsey

Gilberto - CM(d) - Arteta

Pires - WM(s) - Cazorla

Bergkamp - T(a) - Ozil

Henry - AF(a) - Welbeck

One change that I'm considering is making the Pires role a WM(a) as even with "get further forward" he doesn't get as close to Welbeck as I'd like.

Preseason Fixture Results

7/12/2014 - 1-0 vs FC Red Bull Salzburg (Welbeck)

7/15/2014 - 1-2 at Feyenoord (Rosicky)

7/19/2014 - 4-2 at Grimsby (Cazorla, Sanchez, Campbell, Ozil)

7/23/2014 - 3-1 at Millwall (Campbell x2, Zelalem)

7/26/2014 - 2-0 at AFC Rushden & Diamonds (Sanchez, Rosicky)

7/30/2014 - 3-1 at Parma (Ozil, Cazorla, Rosicky)

8/2/2014 - 5-2 at Guimaraes (Campbell, Zelalem, own goal x3)

8/5/2014 - 3-2 vs Anderlecht (Campbell, Zelalem, Podolski)

Community Shield

8/10/2014 vs Manchester City at Wembley Stadium (2-1)

Despite losing the possession battle and out-shot 9-29 we were able to bring home the Community Shield with a 2-1 victory over City thanks to goals from Lukas Podolski and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. We weren't wholly outplayed though, creating 4 clear cut chances to City's 3.

EPL

8/16/2014 vs West Ham at the Emirates (4-0)

A four-nil victory at home was the perfect way to start off the season. Lukas Podolski started up top due to injuries to both Welbeck and Giroud and netted a hat trick while Mesut Ozil contributed a 10th minute goal.

8/23/2014 at Southampton's St. Mary's Stadium (2-1)

Santi Cazorla got us of to an early start with a 14th minute free kick from 30 yards. Alexis Sanchez latched on to a Jack Wilshere through ball in the 60th minute to put us 2-0 up, before Dusan Tadic pulled one back for the Saints. Lukas Podolski started again but had a diminished impact and was replaced in the 57th minute by Olivier Giroud.

8/30/2014 vs Manchester United at the Emirates (2-2)

Another 10th minute goal from Mesut Ozil was just enough, along with a Juan Mata own goal, to even out a brace from Man U's Falcao in what was an evenly fought match. Unfortunately, Mesut Ozil was the victim of a wild (and unpunished) tackle by Marouane Fellaini that will see him out with a broken leg for the next 5-6 months.

As it stands now in the league, we are 3rd with 7 points, behind Chelsea and Liverpool who have 9 from 9.

Champions League

8/19/2014 vs Feyenoord at the Emirates (3-1)

8/27/2014 at Feyenoord's De Kuip (1-1)

Goals from Aaron Ramsey, Calum Chambers and Danny Welbeck got us off to a good first-leg lead in the Champions League Best Placed Playoff, and a 1-1 tie thanks to a Koscielny header from a corner in the second leg saw us through to the Group Stage.

The Group Stage draw was nothing if not typical Arsenal. We will face our perennial rivals Dortmund, along with Shakhtar and Roma in Group D.

Youth Projects

Dan Crowley is my main project this save. With his high technique, dribbling and passing I hope to turn him in to the next Pires and am retraining him to play ML. Gedion Zelalem should become the heir to the Bergkamp position without too much re-moulding, but he is another player I am counting on to have a big future. I also have high hopes for some of the other youngsters who may turn out to just be good squad players. Hector Bellerin is one of those other youngsters who is already getting first team minutes due to our lack of numbers at the back. I will likely post screenshots as these players develop.

Shortlist

Turning off the first transfer window gives plenty of time to scout out your January transfers. The main targets that my scouts have turned up so far are Matthew Targett from Southampton, Ondrej Duda from Legia, and two Austrian players, Sandi Lovric from Sturm Graz and Sascha Horvath from Austria Wien.

[tinkerer]

Re Walcott...his impact isn't so great on the game I am playing (though still a goal or assist every 1.5 games), but on my last saves he got 37 assists as a RW in the EPL alone in season 1. If you use him right in the right system he CAN be amazing.

The problem for me he is to easy injured, and Alexis Sanchez excelled in AMR with Raumdeuter role ( Chambo also plays good on RMD role )

Might need tweak tactic and role in order to get best out of Walcott then

I kept Walcott, played him almost exclusively as an IFs on the right side and in the 2016 August window sold him to Barcelona for £30 million. I could have gotten more, but when I resigned his contract I put in that release clause to keep his wages down. In performance terms, he was quite good. Just needs games, of course.

Good one, though i've never use him as IF on AMR, i see him as traditional winger and ocassionally use him upfront. Might give a shoot then!

[Tiebreak]

A tweaked version of my 4-2-3-1

GK(D)

RWB (S) CD © CD (D) CWB (A)

RPM (s) DLP (D)

RW (A) TQ (A) IF (A)

DLF (A)

Although obviously roles depend slightly on who is playing where. Cazorla or Rosicky will be AP (S), Flamini BWM (D), Giroud CF or TM (s)

Attacking/Flexible - TI's: Retain Possession, Pass into Space, Work Ball into Box, Play out of Defence, Whipped Crosses, Exploit the flanks, Play Wider, Push Higher Up, Close Down more, Prevent Gk Distribution, Use Offside Trap, Higher Tempo.

A few specific Pi's to players strengths.

Any Player instructions?

[lomekian]

Any Player instructions?

GK - Fewer Risky Passes

RWB - Cross from Deep

LCB - More direct passes

DLP - Mark Tighter/Tackle harder - thinking of changing this

RPM - Close Down more/shoot more often/move into channels

RW & LIF - Close down more/mark tighter/roam from position

Treq - Pass it shorter/run wide with ball - thinking of changing the pass setting

DLF A -Close Down More/Mark Tighter....

Opposition instructions are fairly aggressive.

[Nickyh]

Just starting in 2014, 4-2-3-1 wide (retain possession, short passing, ball into box, clear to flanks, early crosses, run at defence, push higher up, roam, lower tempo, expressive)

Transfers in

Dede, Yarmalenko, Garmash, Depay, Green, Khedira, Bonazzoli - £60m

Transfers out

Coq, Flamini, Arteta, Monreal, Poldi and Campbell - £35m

Still need some left back cover but happy with that business.

Won the Community Shield 5-3 so onto the real stuff...

[Collzy]

Anyone had problems with Alexis? Performance wise he's been good, but he's played about 18 games in 2 seasons for me because of injury

Torn calf in Community Shield first season, played 20 minutes of u21 game to get some match fitness back after 3 months out, injured with torn hamstring one day later, out for 4 months, comes back, played last few games of the season all fine. Goes to that Copa America thing, all fine, comes back, gets through pre-season fine, plays 3 games, pow, torn calf again, another 3 months out. I have him on the same schedule as Theo and Ox and they've been consistently playing, both very well I'll add, with no injuries other than maybe a stubbed toe here and there.

So frustrating as he's been class when he's actually played and I don't want to sell him, but with all those injuries

[JEinchy]

Going well so far. Relieved that Lewandowski is making the difference up front after the money I spent on him.

[arsenalthebest]

End Of Season Report

U-21's

The Under 21's Won the U-21 League( South) and the U-21 Cup. Lakhdar Zouak was Top scorer with 35 goals he also had most assists(22) he came scond for aveage rating although he was only 0.02 les then Miyaichi who played 29 games less

U-18's

The Under 18's Won the U-18 League( South) & The U-18's Group 1 (Group A). Neil White was top scorer (16) , Jon Adamson Was Top Assister(16) & Dan Hearn had highest average rating (7.22)

Plans for Next Seasons I Plan to sell Alexis' & Joe Gomez, and possibly Kondogbia due to excessive wage demands. If I'm able to sell Alexis & Nathan. I plan (wage demands permitting) to bring in Reus & Ibra to replace them both will be free agents come July

[arsenalthebest]

Just sold Zelalem to City

15m up front , 8m over 12 months , 4 m after 50 league games and 25% of next sale(his value was 8.5m)

Edit : Sold Kondogbia to City

15m up front , 20.5m over 12 months , 9.5m after 10 int apps , 10% next sale

[Mark.]

NOVEMBER 2014 REVIEW

Fixtures

(Comments where relevant and memory serves)

1/11/14 - Premier League (H)

Arsenal 5 - 0 Hull City - Alexis (pen 4, 6, 15), Munir (46), Oxlade-Chamberlain (84)

Good start to a tough month. Alexis is really beginning to fire, not complaints going forward this game.

4/11/14 - Champions League GS (A)

Arsenal 4 - 0 Monaco - Oxlade-Chamberlain (11, 40, pen 82), Welbeck (66)

Getting a good head of steam heading into our toughest game of the season. The Ox continues to impress.

8/11/14 - Premier League (A)

Arsenal 2 - 2 Man Utd - Wilshere (9), Welbeck (79)

First big test, first dropped points. Big game player Jack stepped up early on, but obviously I must have heaped too much pressure on the team as both their goals came from defensive lapses. A game we should feel aggrieved a dropping points from, but when you concede on two mistakes, and one right near the final whistle, do you really deserve more?

22/11/14 – Premier League (H)

Arsenal 2 - 0 Tottenham - Alexis (6, 27)

He sure knows how to endear himself to the fans. To be fair, the score flattered them. Alexis really should have been taking the match ball home, but once he was on his hattrick started blasting chances over.

26/11/14 – Champions League GS (A)

Arsenal 4 - 0 Leverkusen - Ozil (37), Chambers (51), Giroud (79), Campbell (90+1)

Interesting game, haven’t really seen us play like this yet. Under a lot of pressure in a scrappy affair, but absolutely deadly on the counter. Chambers and Campbell’s goals particularly brilliant cutting in from the wing after a counter

29/11/14 – Premier League (A)

Arsenal 3 - 1 Newcastle - Gibbs (3), Munir (53), Alexis (60)

Form is really coming along nicely, unfortunate to concede, the defense is really working well together, surprising due the amount of rotation it has seen.

Summary

Bit of a wringer of a month, but we came through relatively unscathed, and to be honest really started to fire on attack.

The Man Utd result was disappointing and the fans let us know about it. But it is a positive thing that a dropped win is met with such uproar as opposed to trying to look for positives in a loss.

Alexis has really found form of recent and is now in the running for most of the big awards. Others who have been performing well are continuing to do so. Perhaps Ozil is dropping off a bit, but that it more due to trouble keeping his conditioning up.

Sweeping the awards

Myself, Munir and Alexis winning Manager, Young Player and Player of the month respectively.

December

PRM Everton (H)

PRM Aston Villa (A)

ECL CSKA Moscow (H)

PRM Chelsea (H)

COC Norwich (H) (QF)

PRM Leicester (A)

PRM Stoke (H)

PRM Southampton (A)

Another tough month, and a busy one! A dead rubber in the Champions League at home to CSKA will give me a chance to rotate ahead of the London derby at home to Chelsea. Following that we start our busy festive run which I would hope we can take max points from.