[FM22] Arsenal F.C. - Trusting the process?

[Ö-zil to the Arsenal!]

On 11/06/2022 at 17:21, hasdgfas said:

does Ballard count? I don't remember if he was bought at any point, but he's real solid in FM22

Yea I think he does, but I don't quite see him getting ahead of White or Saliba at centre back.

I've got Reiss Nelson, Omari Hutchinson, Amani Richards, Mika Biereth, Marcelo Flores, Brooke Norton-Cuffy and Omar Rekik all earmarked as potential squad players but not sure I see them being first choice.

The challenge is to get the Arsenal-produced players into the most-used 11 for the season.

[Sunstrikuuu]

In a previous save, Ballard developed into a £50m player, though that may have been before the most recent patch.  He was the best of the bunch in the current U-21 group.

Edit: I think you could definitely win the league with either Hector Bellerin or Ainsley Maitland-Niles at fullback.  Maybe even both, if your five non-academy players are strong enough.

Edited June 14, 2022 by Sunstrikuuu

[Spiegel]

This one's a bit frustrating. Kieran Tierney - team leader - is complaining that he's not getting enough minutes. I've reloaded the save to try every possible interaction and there's no turning him around.

I even bought the In Game Editor to try and fix, only to realise i'd disabled it when I started the save! :')

[Sunstrikuuu]

There's honestly not much you can do about it.  This sort of silly interaction happens regularly, unfortunately. 

[Spiegel]

Finished 4th in my first season, and made the FA Cup Semi-Finals. Not a tremendous season by any stretch, but one I think is fairly realistic based on the quality of the squad. 

For the second season, my aim is to consolidate our position in the top four, grab a domestic cup and give a good account of ourselves in Europe. 

I've culled a significant portion of the U23/loan players - with the view that we create a clear path from the U18 side to the first team.

We've managed to get £102mill from outgoing players - largely the players who were out on loan; Torreira, Bellerin, Mari, Mavropanos etc. 
The only outgoing players who played for us last year are Leno, who moves to Bayern for £7.5mill, and Elneny, who moves to Lazio on a bosman. 

Incomings have been minimal.
Matt Turner's pre-arranged deal has gone through, and he arrives for £5mill. He will be Ramsdale's understudy for the upcoming season. 
Franck Kessie signs on a free to replace/improve upon Elneny. 
Christian Eriksen also joins on a free - he'll replace loanee Eden Hazard as a rotation option in the front four. I'm training him as a false-nine to compete with Odegaard. 
Ballard, Saliba, Rekik, Maitland-Niles, Nelson and Balogun all rejoin the first team following their loans to provide further squad depth now we're also in Europe. 

In terms of the homegrown 'Athletic Podcast' challenge. I still have Patino and Hutchinson around the first team squad. I'm trying to get them to learn the 'Plays One-Twos' PPM before I consider loaning them out, but no luck so far.
I also have some very promising looking academy players;

Neil Brown (4-5* potential) has Welsh U21 caps to his name at 16, a professional personality, and well rounded attribute profile. I've been working on his ball-control and weak foot, and he's coming along quite nicely. 

Khano Tucker (4-5* potential) is an athletic, versatile forward with high potential. He's lacking a bit technically at the moment, so I'm training him quite heavily. He's got a resolute personality so hopefully that will help. 

Regis Ilunga (4-4.5* potential) looks to be a player ideal for the double-pivot. He has intelligence, and can carry/pass the ball at speed. I'm looking to develop his Anticipation/Positioning this season. 

Edited June 19, 2022 by Spiegel

[Spiegel]

January Update, 2023

Made it to January season 2, and things are looking pretty promising. We're currently top of the league after a great start. 
We have qualified from our Champions League group in second place. We used the group stage to rest our regular players, while developing some of the academy players - not a bad result.

Squad Review

• Goalkeeper
  Ramsdale's quickly proving himself as one of the league's best, and has also signed a new 5 year deal.
  Turner has stepped in for cup games and has been excellent. We're under more pressure when playing academy players, and he's had to make some big saves as a result. 
  I have a potential four star academy goalkeeper coming through aswell in Ryan Owen, who'll be developing in the U18s/U23s for now.
   
• Full Back
  Tierney and Tomiyasu are still performing well - both defensively solid, while getting a respectable amount of assists (6 between them). I expect them to remain my starting pair for the foreseeable.
  Maitland-Niles has been a serviceable backup at RB, and can also fill in other positions from the bench. Could definitely be improved on, but not a priority at this point. 
  Tavares has played fairly regularly this year, and has been quite good - with a 7+ average rating.
  
  The left back position is proving a little problematic. Tierney is a "Star Player" and, as I'd noted further up the page, seems to get unhappy if I don't play him every minute of every game. Taveres is also unhappy as he's an agreed "Regular Starter" (as he was at the start of the game), and complains if I try demoting him to a squad player. Joel Lopez is a prospect (potentially 3.5 stars) so it may be a case of moving Taveres on, and using Lopez as a pure backup - not sure. 
   
• Centre Back
  I'm quite happy with this position. White and Gabriel are the main pair, with Ballard and Saliba starting in the cup games. Ballard's been more impressive than Saliba, but Saliba appears to have the higher ceiling.
  Rekik looks a decent prospect, and is currently getting good minutes out on loan at West Brom.
  Neil Brown remains an excellent prospect, and has appeared from the bench a few times. He'll be supplemented by incoming signings Juan Sebastian Diaz, a left-footed Colombian defender, and Mihajlo Radivojevic, a Serbian who looks like potentially the second coming of Nemanja Vidic. Both join in 2024.
   
• Midfield Pivot
  Another area I'm happy with. Kessie has been a revelation - with 6 goals and 5 assists. He's the key man, and he's partnered by; 
  - Partey, who's essentially a lesser version of Kessie. He's been excellent, with a 7.32 average rating, but is 29 now so may look to take advantage of his great form.
  - Xhaka has served more as a squad player this year, and isn't thrilled about it. Another pushing 30 who I may move on. 
  - Lokonga is also a squad player. I'm not convinced he'll be a long term starter for us, but is certainly worth keeping around at this point. 
  - Patino has played decent minutes, who I view as the future starter in my midfield. I'm trying to get him to learn One-Twos before I find him a loan, but he won't have it! 
  
  Ilunga has made a couple of appearances from the bench and looks promising. He'll likely follow a similar path to Patino over the next few years. 
   
• Front Four
  Pretty happy here aswell. Martinelli, Saka and Nketiah are typically used out wide and are my top scorers. Reiss Nelson has served a similar goal-scoring function in the cup team so happy with them. 
  Smith Rowe largely competes with Eriksen as the 10. Both have been effective. Omari comes in for cup games and, similar to Patino, needs to learn PPMs before a loan.
  Odegaard is still my starting striker, he hit 15 goals and 12 assists last term and looks set to match that this season. He's about more than direct contributions though - his movement is key to how we're playing. 
  Balogun has been frustrating - he gets into great positions, but misses far too many easy chances. Likely one for another loan in the transfer window. 
  
  I have agreed a £13mill deal to bring in Benjamin Sesko from Red Bull Salzburg. At 6"4, and with plenty of pace, he should be a great budget option.
  Khano Tucker still looks a good option in the academy, though I'm still looking to develop his technical stats.

Edited June 24, 2022 by Spiegel

[MShing]

My first save with Arsenal, I signed Haaland, de Ligt, felix, and more top players I quickly got bored as it was too easy.

So I started again and am trying a youth only save. I have allowed myself to try to sign/steal new youth prospects from other clubs but more often than not they're not interested.

First season. We finished second , second season we won the league, third season we finished 3rd and won the fa cup. we are doing well, got some good youth coming through and £600m in the bank. 

Annoyingly a tycoon has just taken us over and wants me to sign high profile players 😡😡😡

First time I've ever had a tycoon take over any of my clubs on fm and it's on a youth only save 😂😂😂

[Ö-zil to the Arsenal!]

Has anyone ever tried converting Tomiyasu into holding midfield?

He's tall, physical, technical and intelligent. Passing, vision and composure are a little light, but I think that could be ironed out within a season.

I am thinking he could play the Partey-role at the base of a 4-3-3.

Makes good sense in the transfer market. Partey had a good season and could attract £60m in the transfer market and free up £160k in wages. Southampton went down so Livramento is unsettled and would give us an overlapping option at fullback. Plus I have Vagnoman who had a wonderful first season.

Undecided tactically though.

[Spiegel]

11 hours ago, Ö-zil to the Arsenal! said:

Has anyone ever tried converting Tomiyasu into holding midfield?

I think there's value in trying for utility if nothing else. He can win the ball and carry it - should be pretty press resistant aswell. It's just a case of improving that passing. 

Looking at your Tomiyasu, he's got completely different PPMs to mine - how do you get them to stick? I've been trying to teach Patino to play one-twos and he's just not having it.

[Ö-zil to the Arsenal!]

13 minutes ago, Spiegel said:

I think there's value in trying for utility if nothing else. He can win the ball and carry it - should be pretty press resistant aswell. It's just a case of improving that passing. 

Looking at your Tomiyasu, he's got completely different PPMs to mine - how do you get them to stick? I've been trying to teach Patino to play one-twos and he's just not having it.

 I agree. I am coming around to the idea.

I like the idea of Tierney, Gabriel, Saliba and White with Tomiyasu ahead of them.

On the traits - for me, I find it works very well to combine mentoring groups with training player traits.

'Plays One-Twos' is a good example as I like this trait throughout the squad so I will have quite a lot of players training this trait early in a save and a large mentoring group. My aim is to double-up, so players are simultaneously learning the trait individually and from their mentoring group. Eventually you can get a snowball-effect where, as you have more and more players in the tutoring group pick up the desired traits, the easier it becomes for players in the group to pick up that trait.

Over time, I break the mentoring groups down by function where different groups focus on traits for their respective role. For example, defenders 'Bringing the ball out of defence'.

[Harper]

For those playing with third-party data updates, how do or are y'all using Jesus? I can't get him going as an AF, F9, or PF.

Saka is struggling too, mostly as an IW

 

[Harper]

Of course, I post that and Saka has scored the only goal late into the NLD.

Look at this howler by Lloris!

 

[JRS1]

Three seasons into my save, and we’ve just lifted the Premier League for the first time.

Edited August 9, 2022 by JRS1

[JRS1]

The new season sees some minor changes to the squad. It's all about keeping the squad small enough to allow the academy players to progress. 

Outgoing Players

The biggest loss this year is Thomas Partey (£55M to Real Madrid). He's a big loss as he's consistently got 7+ average ratings, but I'm really pushing Patino and Rice as my main DMs, and I found our results began to stutter when Partey was used as one of my eights. 

Other sizeable outgoings are Tyreece John-Jules (£6M to Birmingham) and Omari Hutchinson (£15M to Young Boys). Both decent players at Championship level, but wasn't convinced of their ceiling.

Academy Players/Returning from Loan

In terms of Partey's replacement, I have promoted Marcelo Flores into the first team. He's a similar profile to my starting eights Odegaard and Smith Rowe, and can also play across the front three. He's had impressive loans at West Brom and Norwich in the Championship, so feel he can step up.

Brooke Norton-Cuffy returns from a loan at Swansea where he won 1st and 2nd place in Championship Goal of the Season. I'm not yet convinced he has an immediate place in the squad, and may benefit from another loan. 

Emmanuel Nwankwo is an immense prospect, who would likely slot into the first team should one of my centre-backs leave. He had a decent loan at Luton in the Championship for the second half of that season but they were playing him as a RWB, which he clearly isn't suitable for. I'd like to get him a loan playing at centre-back, but as it's not his natural position, clubs seem reluctant to take him.

Jake Walker, a £1M signing from Fulham in January, is one who will likely go on loan this year. He's a more classic winger than I'd typically use, but he's clearly a future star. Wolves are interested, but not convinced he'd get regular game time. 

Paul Parcell, an academy product, goes on loan to Championship side Barnsley for the season. He's another future star, and a towering 6"4.

Incoming Signings

Jordan Sim was the big-money signing - £28M from Aston Villa. He's naturally a left winger, but I think he's better suited in centre midfield. I have him on a Roaming Playmaker schedule, while also trying to improve his weaker foot. 

Juan Andrés Torres joins for a slightly cheaper £525k. He will also be deployed in centre midfield, once I train him there. 

 

Edited August 12, 2022 by JRS1
Images all went to the bottom of the post. Repositioned.

[krisdonna]

On 10/08/2022 at 00:16, JRS1 said:

Three seasons into my save, and we’ve just lifted the Premier League for the first time.

Nice squad there mate.

[Skywalk3r83]

Nice read, started reading last Friday! Loaded up a new save, probably for the remainder of FM22. Will update about my season here😄.
 

Turned off the first transfer window, setting my team up in a 4231, something like this: maybe I’ll mirrow the tactic as well. I’m going to change the DLPd into a CMd and the AMA into a APs. Left WB on attack and the RW as well. Thoughts about this formation? 

Have a nice Sunday everyone! 
 

Edited September 11, 2022 by Skywalk3r83
Typo

[Fragnat]

On 02/08/2022 at 13:48, Harper said:

For those playing with third-party data updates, how do or are y'all using Jesus? I can't get him going as an AF, F9, or PF.

Saka is struggling too, mostly as an IW

 

Im wondering about this too, Jesus is underperforming for me as AF, rest of the team is playing well but he just cant seem to get the goals

[Sunstrikuuu]

On 15/09/2022 at 03:40, Fragnat said:

Im wondering about this too, Jesus is underperforming for me as AF, rest of the team is playing well but he just cant seem to get the goals

I've been pretty committed to using a Pressing Forward on attack with inverted wingers flanking throughout FM22.  That's worked for me in 3-4-3, 5-2-3, 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 configurations.

[BnadnerB]

Not sure what the Arsenal researcher has been smoking prior to FM23… barely any upgrades as usual

[_mxrky]

51 minutes ago, BnadnerB said:

Not sure what the Arsenal researcher has been smoking prior to FM23… barely any upgrades as usual

Saka 9 strength is a joke

[vlad-the-impaling-gunner]

ESR and Saka - 11 finishing......come on, they both hit double digits last year

[WM]

Gabriel Martinelli massively underrated. The researcher still thinks its 2019 

[Ventricity]

6 hours ago, WM said:

Gabriel Martinelli massively underrated. The researcher still thinks its 2019 

yeah, in reality he is one if the fastest players in the league. And his stamina should be much higher. 

[Davidog]

10 hours ago, _mxrky said:

Saka 9 strength is a joke

deceptively strong, been saying that for a while should be at least 12-13 

[TangoFM]

First competitive game of the Beta went well...total domination. 

[TangoFM]

38 minutes ago, Davidog said:

deceptively strong, been saying that for a while should be at least 12-13 

Agree with this completely.

There was even a moment in the match last night, where he ran through 2/3 defenders who were pulling him back and I thought about his FM attribute being low.

[_mxrky]

Jesus looks the same level as  lacazette did on fm20😂. He has worse physical which is laughable

[WM]

[gunner86]

13 hours ago, TangoFM said:

First competitive game of the Beta went well...total domination. 

What role are you using for Jesus? I can’t get him scoring in pre-season.

[KamyKaze]

2 hours ago, gunner86 said:

What role are you using for Jesus? I can’t get him scoring in pre-season.

I'm using him as a Attack DLF. But not really happy with him too. and not happy with the AMC position yet

Edited October 22, 2022 by KamyKaze

[TangoFM]

7 hours ago, gunner86 said:

What role are you using for Jesus? I can’t get him scoring in pre-season.

That game he was playing as F9 but I've been switching him with DLF-S and CF-S also (we play attacking mentality) 

He's only scored 3 in 7 but had more assists. Martinelli (IF) and Saka (IW) have both scored over 6 goals. They are playing amazingly well! 

[gunner86]

8 hours ago, KamyKaze said:

I'm using him as an Attack DLF. But not really happy with him too. and not happy with the AMC position yet

I’m wondering whether, with the AM strata playing so high in relation to the ST strata this year, that having Ødegaard as an AP is taking too much of the ball away. Will experiment later with an AM(s). Failing that might have to a 4-3-3.

 

2 hours ago, TangoFM said:

That game he was playing as F9 but I've been switching him with DLF-S and CF-S also (we play attacking mentality) 

He's only scored 3 in 7 but had more assists. Martinelli (IF) and Saka (IW) have both scored over 6 goals. They are playing amazingly well! 

Last year I had so many issues getting a striker to score. I’ve tried CF(a), PF(a), PF(s) and DLF(s). Just not clicking. Seems to be specific to Jesus, as Martinelli played one game up front in preseason and scored a hat trick.

[KamyKaze]

1 hour ago, gunner86 said:

I’m wondering whether, with the AM strata playing so high in relation to the ST strata this year, that having Ødegaard as an AP is taking too much of the ball away. Will experiment later with an AM(s). Failing that might have to a 4-3-3.

 

Last year I had so many issues getting a striker to score. I’ve tried CF(a), PF(a), PF(s) and DLF(s). Just not clicking. Seems to be specific to Jesus, as Martinelli played one game up front in preseason and scored a hat trick.

I'm switching to a 4-3-3 with 1 DM and trying Odegaard as a Mezzala now.

[gunner86]

Just now, KamyKaze said:

I'm switching to a 4-3-3 with 1 DM and trying Odegaard as a Mezzala now.

Read my mind.

Let me know how it goes. I can’t get on til the kids are in bed so have several hours to wait.

[craiigman]

21 hours ago, WM said:

Worth raising something over here: https://community.sigames.com/bugtracker/football-manager-2023-early-access-beta-bugs-tracker/database-and-research/england-premier-division-data-issues/

[KamyKaze]

4 hours ago, gunner86 said:

Read my mind.

Let me know how it goes. I can’t get on til the kids are in bed so have several hours to wait.

So far it looks promising. Mind you this is pre-season still. Hoping it translates well into the season

[gunner86]

8 minutes ago, KamyKaze said:

So far it looks promising. Mind you this is pre-season still. Hoping it translates well into the season

Better than what he achieved against similar level opposition for me. 

[KamyKaze]

As soon as oficial matches start, the team seems to ignore all my tactical choices and just be complacent all games... Oh the joy of managing Arsenal...

[Carmi88]

This beta has felt weird for me, probably because of how well we are doing in real life i never found anyone to sign in the summer or winter transfer window so i have not signed anyone  

 

Nketiah is outscoring Jesus, and with 8 games left we are battling for 4th with Man Utd and Southampton 

 

Chelsea are 12th, Spurs are 10th so not all bad  

[wiseowl]

Jesus is killing it in pre season in my Beta save. Playing him as A/F with Odegaard behind in A/P support.

Martinelli I/F support and Saka I/W support both scoring and assisting consistently. 

[Kraake]

What tactic are you using, @wiseowl?

[GylfiAsCharged]

Any first window business for you guys?

Had a bid accepted for Endrick at Palmeiras who is absolutely not interested in negotiating terms which is really disappointing. 

Playing the rather uncreative 4-2-3-1 I'm tempted to strengthen in midfield, but don't like the asking prices for Ndidi/Tielemans/Rice and am half tempted to just give Sambi the chance to grow into one of the deeper roles alongside Partey, using Xhaka and Elneny as depth there. If anyone has picked up a starting calibre defensive CM within budget I'd be keen to hear.

Was tempted to look for a new, more attacking RB but Tomiyasu has pleasantly surprised me going forward in preseason.

I'd also never heard of George Lewis before this save, what an unusual situation he is in. 22 years old without any real potential according to our very good scouts. Neither homegrown for club or country, so think he'll be going on the scrapheap.

[Carmi88]

Jesus and Nketiah were so inconsistant for me so by season 3 they have both gone  

I really should have done a Dortmund save, Bellingham, Reyna and Moukoko all signed by me.

 

The highlight of my save however (because i've won nothing :D) Spurs getting relegated in second season   And i signed boyhood Arsenal fan Kane to lead the line, which is working a treat.

 

[itamarled]

Jesus is amazing on my save

 

[wiseowl]

On 28/10/2022 at 13:14, Kraake said:

What tactic are you using, @wiseowl?

4-2-3-1 custom, vertical  Tiki Taca.

Won the 1st three in the league without conceding a goal then lost 2-1 away at Man Utd in a very even match with a 78 minute penalty deciding the outcome .Saka had a terrible sub par performance even though he just signed a new massively improved contract.

Sitting third now after 4 matches 1 point of top.

Brighton up next who are currently bottom of league.

[Fragnat]

21 hours ago, itamarled said:

Jesus is amazing on my save

 

Whats your tactic/how do you use Jesus? He barely seems to score for me

[lomekian]

Looking at the FM23 beta its another utterly half-arsed effort from the Arsenal researcher. There are players on there whose starting attributes haven't changed in 3 years. Still far too many kids with attributes that bear little relation to the players. Players who had really good seasons last year with worse or the same attributes than before.

Have to edit it every year because its so poorly done. Not so much CA/PA levels but a highly regarded player with 2 good seasons under their belt shouldn't have the same attributes as they did with barely any top league time - not to mention the traits always being under-defined and never changing.

[Gilberto Silva]

Does Gabriel Jesus still have the trait “runs with the ball rarely”? Because that’s nonsense. 

[Cam NBH]

7 hours ago, lomekian said:

Looking at the FM23 beta its another utterly half-arsed effort from the Arsenal researcher. There are players on there whose starting attributes haven't changed in 3 years. Still far too many kids with attributes that bear little relation to the players. Players who had really good seasons last year with worse or the same attributes than before.

Have to edit it every year because its so poorly done. Not so much CA/PA levels but a highly regarded player with 2 good seasons under their belt shouldn't have the same attributes as they did with barely any top league time - not to mention the traits always being under-defined and never changing.

Xhaka's stats and some of his traits are particularly bad.

[itamarled]

14 hours ago, Fragnat said:

Whats your tactic/how do you use Jesus? He barely seems to score for me