FM17: Arsenal

[exumo]

9 hours ago, Tullekunstner said:

Here you go, set at 22. may so you can make your own signings. My wife and step-kids are included though :

https://www.mediafire.com/?xgugq4o14xdb2f9

I've loaded the leagues that's updated with real-life fixtures, so if you want to add or remove leagues you can do it immediately and they'll be added for the first full season if I'm not mistaken.

Cheers mate.

[Tullekunstner]

New years update - Lads, it's Arsenal.

So after Ox going out injured for pretty much the whole season, a rather usual story for Arsenal started to unveil. One after one our players was ruled out to injury, forcing me to start using some youth players. First one out was Welbeck, then Iwobi and then Reiss Nelson. I was down to the bare bones when Bernardeschi (who's been a revelation btw) decides two go for a two-footed lunge in our derby match against Tottenham, getting sent off and gets handed a three-match suspension. I had to start thinking on solutions. My wingers were down to only Lucas and my step-son, Harry Johnson. Luckily my next match was against Bournemouth in the league cup, which meant I could play some youngsters and then try out something new if things weren't working out. I took inspiration from wherever I could find it, and created an alternative tactic based on a strikerless tactic I've seen working to great effect. It has in no ways become our main tactic, but it's a decent change of pace in matches where things just isn't working out. Or all our wingers gets injured at the same time. This is, after all, Arsenal.

Overall though, it's been a fairly successful season. Most of our signings are coming good, though Bernardeschi is the only one who's shown any real star quality so far. Belotti started of slow, but with 8 goals and 3 assissts in his last 10 outings, he's showing signs of getting comfortable.

Player performances

I've been pretty happy with our defence, but I still feel like we're lacking that little bit extra in attack. Hopefully Mertens will come in and provide it in the second half of the season. The league is currently a rat race, with us currently at 50 points, just below Liverpool on goal difference. Every point matters now, as fifth placed Machester City is only 4 points behind us. We're still on course to achieving my personal goals for the first season - finish in the top 4 and get a trophy.

Results

Current league table

The board have been so kind to give me a significant increase in transfer budget, going from £3m to £116m. Absolutely perfect for my plans to get some marquee signings in. I'm left with one problem though - the board will not allow me to increase our wages, meaning the transfer budget is more or less irrelevant at the moment. Mertens should be a huge signing and help us over the line this season, but no doubt I will be sniffing around to see what else comes up. Isco is currently on my radar, with his contract expiring in the coming summer and Willian at Chelsea is unhappy so I'm currently keeping a close eye on him as well. As far as outgoing, I've been unable to get a work permit for Gabriels new contract, and with a couple of chinese clubs sniffing around he might very well be on his way out.

If I could just get a star player for £100m on a £1k/week contract that would be fantastic, mmm'kay
 

[Tullekunstner]

In addition to Mertens coming in, the reserve squad was instantly strengthen in the January window. 19 year old Moreto Cassama was transfer listed for a bargain price, and was picked up for £21.5k. I'm not one for developing youth, but wost case scenario he's free cash. I will never refuse free cash.

A couple of weeks out in the transfer window, the board finally allowed me to air my feelings on the current wage budget. They seemed reluctant at first, but after some some passionate exchanges of opinions we could finally see eye-to-eye. The board allowed a £500k per week increase in the wage budget, and this coming right after the £18m sale of Gabriel Paulista.

I immediately saw this as a perfect opportunity to get the star quality I so much wanted in my attacking force. Doing some quick scouting, I reconsidered Willian and looked at what other top talents were available. Lewandowski was a feasible option, and even though Belotti had shown clear signs of improvements, he was a perfect example of what I wanted. A world class striker who score goals on a weekly basis. Willian was instantly pushed to the back of my mind, with Bernardeschi playing well a winger really wasn’t my main priority. However, a bid for Lewandowski never came to fruition as there was another, younger striker who caught my eye. Paulo Dybala. Considering we were still only a EURO cup club, he obviously had his reservations about coming to us, but refused to rule it out completely. Juventus had no intentions of selling, but I’d made my mind up. With £130m to spend, I should be able to get whoever I wanted.

After some tough negotiating I managed to agree a £130m deal, £60m up front, £70m over the next 48 months and an additional £20m after 50 league goals and 50 league games. It meant more than doubling his wages to £240k a week, but penny-pinching has never been my forte, I was ecstatic to say the least. I’d also devised an adventurous formation I was looking forward to trying out. Time would tell how it would work, but in the first match we smashed West Brom 0-3 with Dybala scoring two and assisting Mertens with one. What a debut! Admittedly, it wasn’t the strongest of opposition, but the signs were promising nonetheless. Winning the league no longer seemed like a delusional target, but a legit possibility.

Could this be our title-winning formation? At least we have plenty of options.

 

When the last day of transfers came rolling in, I was quite honestly more than satisfied with my squad. My only worry going forward, was keeping within registration rules. Though I had no intentions of starting to use youngsters in any game of importance, I realized having a couple of homegrown players for depth was important. Selling Gabriel and having just sent Holding out on loan, I was two injuries short of a centre back crisis. It only made sense to bring someone in and considering that their game time would be close to none-existing, 18 year old Matthijs de Ligt looked like a perfect fit. Either he'll turn into homegrown backup, or he'll turn out well and start fighting for a starting position. At worst case, he'll be sold for about the same price I paid, all in all a cheap gamble. I sent a £15m offer to Ajax, and they immediately responded well. The deal was done and dusted in a matter of hours and my squad was complete. Looking at my players, I have to admit I felt proud of what I'd managed to put together in my first two transfer windows.

All transfers done in 2017/18.

[iArsenal11]

So I just started a new save with Arsenal and it seems I can't offer Alexis or Mesut contracts worth more than 150k per week? Anyone else having this issue?

[Vilmar]

I started with 17.3.1 and didn't have that.

Did you get some new players in?

[iArsenal11]

For some reason I couldn't offer them new contracts right away but a couple weeks in and I could. They are both on 220k a week now until 2020. And I didn't make any new signings it was a very frustrating first transfer window for me. I couldn't find a good back up RB for cheap (under 20m) and I had contracts declined from both Bernardo Silva and Thomas Lemar.

[iArsenal11]

So here is my first update on my career with Arsenal. I am currently halfway through the league in my first season and I am currently unbeaten! Our team is doing excellent and we are 5 points clear of 2nd place Tottenham, We have taken 13/15 points from the "big 6" clubs with a 0-0 draw with United being the only blip.

As you can see I haven't been able to bring anyone in in the summer transfer window as I above said that I couldn't find a suitable back up RB. In January I hope to bring in Thiago Maia from SAN. I just agreed a 7.75m fee for him. I am also looking at Joao Cancelo as a back up RB to Hector Bellerin. Hopefully this means I can finally get rid of Carl Jenkinson. Also I think I will look At Naby Keita from RBL and possibly some younger English talents.

I have been all over the park with my tactics. I usually check to see which tactic the opposition is having trouble with and go with that. That has worked wonders so far. I even beat Barcelona 3-1 in the Champions League at home using a 3-4-3 with 2 DM's. As for the Champions League, we somehow managed to finish 2nd behind Barcelona, We drew PSV in the First Knockout Round so I think we can progress through that.

[aditya]

Manage to win the Premier League, FA CUP in the 2019/20 season. Here is my highlights:
 

Alexis Sanchez scored 25 goals in 39 apps in all competition after going 1.5 months with an injury, in 16/17 season he scored 47 goals, 17/18 36 goals, 18/19 45 goals. I cant imagine playing my save once Alexis retires, such an unique player, however after signing Dybala I see certain traits that are similar to Sanchez. 

 

 

Hector Bellerin was a beast as wing back, manage to get in the scoresheet several times and assist as well. (10 goals, 18 assist)

 

Vlad Dragomir is one of the two youngsters that I see a huge potential, appeared in cup competition several time and end up selling him to Villareal for 12.5m

 

Jeff Reine-Adelaide, despite alot of big offers I decided to keep him as backup since he can cover for the AMC position. Just like Vlad, he is a player worth the investment in game time, because they are developed really well. 

 

Mesut Ozil being Mesut Ozil. 21 games 23 assist. Started training him as MC for next season since his physical attribute have dropped, I think DLP or RPM is a good role for Ozil. 

Overall a succesfull season, plenty of big results, and minor dissapointments. I think squad rotation is one of the key skill you need to learn in FM, relying on a certain player to play everygame will end up in silly injuries (Sanchez 1,5 months injury). 

[iArsenal11]

Anyone else having problems with English Premier League FFP? I am starting 2017/18 and it says that I am projected to fail player salary raise regulations. Anyone know what I can do to get rid of this? 

[Vilmar]

 Did you buy players? If so what were their wages? If you extended contracts of current players, what are their wages?

FFP rules state the following:

 

I'm currently having this warning as bought Dybala but also raised a number of contracts to keep players within a time span of 2 months. 

 

[iArsenal11]

Yeah I bought Griezmann for 86m in January. I extended some contracts as well. Alexis and Ozil are highest earners on 220k per week.

[arsenalthebest]

On 6/3/2017 at 18:54, iArsenal11 said:

Yeah I bought Griezmann for 86m in January. I extended some contracts as well. Alexis and Ozil are highest earners on 220k per week.

have to sell players or get player to agree to new lower contracts or loan players and have the loaning team pay a % of the wages. every 10k/week equals about 500-520k/year

 

t

[krisdonna]

Might get rid  of Walcott in the first season as Liverpool offers me 30m£ in hand. with that  money i can renew the contracts of Sanchez & Ozil and bring Lemar in.

[The Icepick]

On 5/25/2017 at 18:48, Tullekunstner said:

New years update - Lads, it's Arsenal.

So after Ox going out injured for pretty much the whole season, a rather usual story for Arsenal started to unveil. One after one our players was ruled out to injury, forcing me to start using some youth players. First one out was Welbeck, then Iwobi and then Reiss Nelson. I was down to the bare bones when Bernardeschi (who's been a revelation btw) decides two go for a two-footed lunge in our derby match against Tottenham, getting sent off and gets handed a three-match suspension. I had to start thinking on solutions. My wingers were down to only Lucas and my step-son, Harry Johnson. Luckily my next match was against Bournemouth in the league cup, which meant I could play some youngsters and then try out something new if things weren't working out. I took inspiration from wherever I could find it, and created an alternative tactic based on a strikerless tactic I've seen working to great effect. It has in no ways become our main tactic, but it's a decent change of pace in matches where things just isn't working out. Or all our wingers gets injured at the same time. This is, after all, Arsenal.

Overall though, it's been a fairly successful season. Most of our signings are coming good, though Bernardeschi is the only one who's shown any real star quality so far. Belotti started of slow, but with 8 goals and 3 assissts in his last 10 outings, he's showing signs of getting comfortable.

Player performances

I've been pretty happy with our defence, but I still feel like we're lacking that little bit extra in attack. Hopefully Mertens will come in and provide it in the second half of the season. The league is currently a rat race, with us currently at 50 points, just below Liverpool on goal difference. Every point matters now, as fifth placed Machester City is only 4 points behind us. We're still on course to achieving my personal goals for the first season - finish in the top 4 and get a trophy.

Results

Current league table

The board have been so kind to give me a significant increase in transfer budget, going from £3m to £116m. Absolutely perfect for my plans to get some marquee signings in. I'm left with one problem though - the board will not allow me to increase our wages, meaning the transfer budget is more or less irrelevant at the moment. Mertens should be a huge signing and help us over the line this season, but no doubt I will be sniffing around to see what else comes up. Isco is currently on my radar, with his contract expiring in the coming summer and Willian at Chelsea is unhappy so I'm currently keeping a close eye on him as well. As far as outgoing, I've been unable to get a work permit for Gabriels new contract, and with a couple of chinese clubs sniffing around he might very well be on his way out.

If I could just get a star player for £100m on a £1k/week contract that would be fantastic, mmm'kay
 

Might I ask what skin that is? Looks awesome!

[arsenalthebest]

I'm going to have to loan out with Reine-Adelaide Or Chris Willock or sell/loan  someone else as  have room for them all, next season will see me make some important decisions on which players to keep as few will no longer be u-21 and my squad is already full. Was planning to Get Dybala as a replacement for Alexis but hes gone to Real

[Barnetboyz]

Good morning all, recently bought my first football manager for about 6 years and have started a game as the mighty Arsenal

I know nothing about the training aspects or potential abilitys so I'm playing it from fresh

Looking to play a 4-2-3-1 as I'm not yet fond of a 3 man defence they play in real life and looking for a decent right winger  (ideally a inside forward to complement Sanchez on the other side) and a decent forward ( unless Giroud or Lucas are any good?) 

Any help will be very welcome

[coopie54]

So this is my current first team.  Lukaku is a beast of a goalscorer.  Alexis & Ozil are pushing 30, and I still have Iwobi who plays regular first team football. Reine-adelaide, and reiss nelson are both on loan for first team football as I struggle to fit them in.

 

This is my "futures" team, who have great potential, but seeing as I have such high expectations from the board, I am struggling to fit them in for first team games.  Any advice?

 

I have won the champions league, premier league and FA cup in my time with Arsenal.  Just bought Asensio this window as he has a good potential but again will struggle to fit him in as much as i would like.  Considering selling perhaps Xhaka? I have already offered Elneny out as his contract is up in 2020 and he won't sign a new one.  And I dont want him on the team anyway as he is surplus.

 

So....Do I just swap them round every few games? Play them in cups? Bring them on as subs?

 

The high potential players are all being tutored and well trained so it just comes down to game time.  Has anyone experimented with adding extra friendlies for U23 SQUAD and playing them in that? I am not overly keen in loaning them out until they're of at least Championship side quality.  I have Milwall as an affiliate and they're in the Championship at the moment.

I have also been selecting my english players in International games as much as possible....mostly Reiss Nelson though, as he is banging in the goals and assists!

 

Anyway, any advice greatly appreciated

[iamkingsleyf]

I just started

[iamkingsleyf]

what do you guys set for training?

[coopie54]

2 hours ago, iamkingsleyf said:

what do you guys set for training?

Depends on the time of the season and how my team is doing. Pre season is fitness, rest of the time I'll do what I want to improve on generally. Players will train positions specifically in my tactics. Individual training on attributes that need to be strengthened. 

[iamkingsleyf]

22 minutes ago, coopie54 said:

Depends on the time of the season and how my team is doing. Pre season is fitness, rest of the time I'll do what I want to improve on generally. Players will train positions specifically in my tactics. Individual training on attributes that need to be strengthened. 

i use Balanced 

[coopie54]

13 hours ago, iamkingsleyf said:

i use Balanced 

If it works for you then awesome! I play attacking football so that's what I train the majority of the season. 

[krisdonna]

First game  of the season with an outstanding debut for Lemar...

[arsenalthebest]

Marcus Rashford's contract expire at the end of the current season 2020/21 and he's leaving on a free!!!

[iamkingsleyf]

On 2017-6-9 at 09:40, coopie54 said:

If it works for you then awesome! I play attacking football so that's what I train the majority of the season. 

Ok.

i have no idea if its working or not

[iamkingsleyf]

Lucas gets injured at every turn........... am selling him

[feche]

Did anyone try to use the new 3421 formation ?

[Vilmar]

On 6/8/2017 at 17:48, iamkingsleyf said:

what do you guys set for training?

This is best asked here: 

https://community.sigames.com/forum/19-tactics-training-strategies-discussion/

[Vilmar]

The youth intake of my second season.

https://medium.com/book-of-gooner/football-manager-chapter-ii-youth-intake-d33b268c1b16

Thomas Albeck is in charge and the youth facilities were upgraded to the best level around februari. Coaching was done the season prior.

[iamkingsleyf]

On 2017-6-11 at 13:11, Vilmar said:

This is best asked here: 

https://community.sigames.com/forum/19-tactics-training-strategies-discussion/

thanks

[iArsenal11]

So apparently due to the clubs debts they have decreased my transfer percentage to 10%. This despite myself making profit from transfers for the first three seasons. I don't get this game sometimes. My wages are at 2.8m per week as well.

[coopie54]

Just out of interest....does everyone here always give a halftime and full time team talk? I always ignore my assistant when he says "don't say anything as it will only complicate things."

Anyone else?

[hbsssj]

Does anyone know a good substitute for Ozil? I want a playmaker, a creative genius like him (or even close) who can provide assists to my strikers

[krisdonna]

11 minutes ago, hbsssj said:

Does anyone know a good substitute for Ozil? I want a playmaker, a creative genius like him (or even close) who can provide assists to my strikers

Dani Ceballos from Betis.

[BrickCommo23]

Just finished my seventh season with Arsenal - by far longest save I've ever managed. 

A quick summary which I hope is vaguely interesting!

League Cup - we had a fairly kind path until we drew Man City in the semi finals. We squeaked through that and faced Huddersfield in the final:

That was my fourth League Cup win in my time with the club. No mickey mouse cups here...

The FA Cup was a disappointment and we crashed out away to Wolves. 

Champions League - Having won the league and the Europa League last year we were looking forward to a chance of reclaiming the CL we won 2 years ago. We won our group and then dispatched Atletico Madrid in the first knockout round. We then faced an all English quarter final against West Ham. We lost a tight first leg away 1-0 but our home form had been brilliant all season and I was confident we could overturn that loss:

 

Unfortunately, we chose a terrible night to forget how to finish and lost to a proper sucker punch. 

League - We had a shaky start to the season but a much better second half of the season saw us go top around February and stay there for the season. Our goals scored and points were actually a fair bit lower than previous seasons but that was balanced out (to an extent) by having the league's best defence for the first ever time:

In terms of the off season, we have a very bloated squad now and I will be trying to trim that to get the wage bill down and also provide a path to the first team for my youngsters. 

Speaking of which, I wanted to share a couple of regens I have picked up. First two in particular look like being stalwarts for me going forward:

Carlos Ruiz

Sven Kluessein

Samuel Manuel

Cheers all!

[arsenalthebest]

Has anyone had any success with Chris  Willock?  IIRC correctly in the 2019/20 season of my Arsenal save he had an average rating of about  7.2 from 10-15 games. Akpom also got about 10 goals  last season

[Vilmar]

Sadly I never used both as the positions play were filled. 

Akpom has some decent stats in my game. Could be a decent back striker when paired

[arsenalthebest]

Sold Vald Dragomir to Man  City for about £30-35m!!!!

[Vilmar]

Which season?  Good to know how his valuation rises over the course of season.

[krisdonna]

Anyone know a good back up for Bellerin? 

[Vilmar]

Chambers is decent enough

[krisdonna]

I know but  i am still in my first season and he is on loan at Middlesbrough and Jenkinson is out for another 6 months now...

[Vilmar]

Look to play Mustafi on the right while giving Paulista strict orders when played in both CB and RB. Holding is also able to hold his own on the right when you're not looking for a fullback to burst forward. 

Or you can opt for Wengers latest formation 3-4-3

I didn't buy a right back as Chambers would be coming back. Seemed like a waste of money

[krisdonna]

Thanks,I wasnt  sure about getting another full back cause  i like Chambers a  lot and  i just bought Gimenez(who also can cover up the right back position).I will use Mustafi as back up for Bellerin till Callum returns to the club.

[Tullekunstner]

On 7.6.2017 at 01:13, The Icepick said:

Might I ask what skin that is? Looks awesome!

Sorry, been away a while... It's CFM dark 1.01. You can find it here:

 

[iamkingsleyf]

On 25/06/2017 at 09:40, Vilmar said:

Look to play Mustafi on the right while giving Paulista strict orders when played in both CB and RB. Holding is also able to hold his own on the right when you're not looking for a fullback to burst forward. 

Or you can opt for Wengers latest formation 3-4-3

I didn't buy a right back as Chambers would be coming back. Seemed like a waste of money

do you have this 3-4-3 formation

[Vilmar]

I haven't seen anybody convert this RL formation to a Fm formation yet. I'm not using it. 

[Achieve]

I just completed my first season, after picking up fm17 a month ago. I had lots of fun with my Arsenal save. Ozil and Alexis are world class and I hope Arsenal keep them in real life.

transfer in: (first season)

dybala - most important to win trophies. He is unreal, almost a guilty pleasure.

howedes - rock to replace mertesacker.

during the January window I managed to get Donnarumma and Maia after the board gave me a increase in wage budget. (Adjusted budget to buy them both.)

sold:

ospina, Walcott (only 9m), 

jan window sold : mertesacker and giroud

Now i am onto season 2.

playing around the game I realized that the earlier I offered contracts (as quickly as the season is ends) , the lower wages they were to ask. Hence I quickly renew contracts of iwobi, Gibbs, Alexis and ozil.

now I have some questions.

I plan to sell the following - xhaka, welbeck and the ox. Xhaka has too low of a determination for my liking. I use the ox in too little GameS, so he deserves better. Welbeck keeps missing chances and on such high wages I dislike him. Only one I am reluctant to sell is the ox. I also am unable to move on welbeck because his wages demands are too high. Qn1: Should I reconsider any of them?

Qn2: who to buy?

i need a left back - Gibbs did great and monreal was a great too. Now that monreal is older, I need a new left back. Hopefully he is someone like Gibbs - fast, pacey and great work rate, low injury - any recommendation?

alex grimaldo is too injury prone and rodgriuez is too slow or wants high ass wages.

q3: who to take over from carzola?

i am thinking of getting Isco, should I consider anyone else?

q4: grizemann, should I get him ?

reason I am looking at him is because, he is either footed. That intrigues me a lot. And of course he is great too! Should I get him? It will blow almost all my season 2 budget on him. Got an offer accepted at 66m. Contract 175k per week. 

Q5: I would like to know if there are other either footed players in the game that are great to buy .

 

[Vilmar]

Q1 Reconsider Ox, he's becoming a beast for me in my 4-3-3 playing as an attacking CM. I managed to sell Xhaka in my second season to Real but it was only for £26 million. I sold Welby at the end of the first for £20-25 to Leipzig. I included a lot of clauses. Be willing to take a hit here if you want him gone. 

Q2 Some threads regarding LB's 

I got Josh Tymon myself from Hull. Good for homegrown quote and balanced overall. Kolasniac is another to look at as he's playing for them next season.

Q3 Look at your youth. How is Dragomir developing? Perhaps convert Iwobi to an AP in midfield. See if Martin Odegaard has a clause for only £11,75 million. Crazy transfer option, Dele Alli

Q4 The question is more, do you need him. With Dybala you would definitely have forwards to fear but are you looking at younger players as well? Secure your homegrown talents.

Q5 Are you willing to wait a season or two (youngsters)? How much are you willing to spend? What formation are you playing? Which philosophy are you following (buy big names or bring in youngsters)?  Are you planning to keep Özil, Sanchez and Dybala at any cost (wages)? These are all important questions to answer. You can get Thiago Maia, Donnarumma, Rashford, Tah, Pogba, Lewandowski, Pulisic, Icardi, Coutinho but is that the way you want to play and can you afford it

[arsenalthebest]

Just had Brexit kick  from the 2021/22 seas on all non British players will have to apply for work permits with the other exception of eek players already on England/Britain(can't remember which)