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

[saware]

1 hour ago, Telegram Sam said:

I didn't want to see him or his face in the game, so lowered all of his attributes and ability to 1 and terminated his contract with United. He'll almost certainly never play Premier League football ever again, regardless of whether or not he does jail time.

You can remove bans via the IGE but I don't see an option to add one. It can be done in the pre-game editor I believe.

That’s fair enough, I was just wondering if there was an easier way to go about it. When I’ve purchased the IGE on previous versions of the game I’ve only ever used it to update real life transfers/contracts etc so I’m unfamiliar with most of what you can and cannot do.

[Telegram Sam]

I can buy a 33-year-old Son for 22.5m in the 2026 January window—do I do it? 😅

He's still very good and has a couple of seasons left him in. It's very tempting...

[saware]

9 hours ago, Telegram Sam said:

I can buy a 33-year-old Son for 22.5m in the 2026 January window—do I do it? 😅

He's still very good and has a couple of seasons left him in. It's very tempting...

It would mean I’d fail my objectives. The club removed their request for me to sign under 18 players for the future prior to my 2nd season. However, they now don’t want me to sign anyone over 30.

[saware]

On 03/02/2022 at 08:52, WillyBroadband said:

This was incorrect, I looked last night and he's actually managing Juventus now. With Allegri at Man City. Zidane is at Chelsea. 

Allegri is at Man City half way through the 2nd season on my save, whilst Zidane is at Juventus.

I forgot to look at Guardiola but Klopp is still at Liverpool, Tuchel is still at Chelsea, & Valverde is now at Man Utd. Bielsa has gone to Spurs, whilst Ranieri has taken over at Leeds.

[KingLara]

Arsenal Season 1 – September/October

Go away Liverpool!!

 

PREMIER LEAGUE

ARSENAL 5 – Bale 20 83 Aubameyang 22 39 Saka 45

BRENTFORD 0

We got off to  a great start with a thumping win over Brentford. Bale has made a good start to his Arsenal career so far.

CARABAO CUP 3^RD ROUND

ARSENAL 2 – Pepe 15 Nketiah 90

PRESTON 0

I made 11 changes for the visit of Preston. We were comfortable throughout. Preston failed to muster a shot on target. Pepe scoring the opener and then setting up Nketiah to add some gloss to the scoreline. We would face Bournemouth away in the 4^th Round.

PREMIER LEAGUE

CRYSTAL PALACE 0 – Kouyate s/o 40

ARSENAL 2 – Holding 25 Bale 49

Palace failed to register a single attempt on goal. I could have been more ruthless but I didn’t want any silly mistakes with two tough games next.

PREMIER LEAGUE

MANCHESTER UNITED 2 – Ronaldo 28 90 Telles s/o 71

ARSENAL 3 – Bale 38 Aubameyang 58 82

We headed to Old Trafford with United who were 7 wins from 7 in the premier league. However we were far the better team and despite Ronaldos best efforts we managed to see out the win in a good display.

PREMIER LEAGUE

ARSENAL 1 – Aubameyang 47

LIVERPOOL 1 – Salah 38

Liverpool came to the Emirates one better than United with an 8 out of 8 win record in the premier league. Salah gave them the lead in an even first half. Aubameyang quickly got us level after half time and I went more attacking to try and get a winner but it sadly never came.

PREMIER LEAGUE

ARSENAL 3 – Aubameyang 15(pen) 26 40

NEWCASTLE UNITED 1 – Wilson 51

A good win to follow the disappointing draw with Liverpool. Aubameyang lashing in a first half hattrick.

CARABAO CUP 4^TH ROUND

BOURNEMOUTH 1 – Lowe 45

ARSENAL 1 – Nketiah 15 Elneny s/o 22

Arsenal win 4 -2 on penalties

I made another ten changes from the Newcastle game but having opted to start Patino in midfield I chose Elneny as his partner rather than the rawer Lokonga. We started well controlling the game and taking the lead but then Elneny got himself stupidly sent off and it was backs to the wall from there although we were still the better team. Cedric did miss a penalty in the shootout but thankfully Pepe, Maitland Niles and Partey all scored before Nketiah hit the winning kick to send us into the quarter finals against Leicester.

PREMIER LEAGUE

NORWICH CITY 1 – Pukki 80

ARSENAL 0

With Liverpool relentless in winning we couldn’t afford silly slipups against teams they beat 6-0. Unfortunately the players never turned up at Norwich and we lost a poor game 1-0. A terrible way to end the month.

 

Premier League Table

1.       Liverpool Played 10 Points 28 Goal Difference +31

2.       Man Utd P 10 P 27 GD 19

3.       Leeds United P 10 P 22 GD 11

4.       Chelsea P 11 P 22 GD 7

5.       Arsenal P 9 P 20 GD 13

 

Spurs are 16^th while Man City are 8tth with 17 points. We need Liverpool and United to start dropping points or it’s going to be tough to catch them.

 

Premier League Top scorers

Salah 13 Ronaldo 12 Aubameyang 10 Jimenez (Newcastle) 9 Lukaku 8

Premier League Top Assists

Robertson 7 Canos (Brentford) 6 Mendy (Man City) Creswell Sancho 5 (Saka 3)

Premier League Av Rating

Robertson 8.27 Ronaldo 7.96 Mane 7.82 Salah 7.79 Jimenez 7.54 (Aubameyang 7.53)

Premier League Motm

Ronaldo 5 Robertson 4 Pulisic Fofana Tomiyasu 2

 

Liverpool/Man Utd results – their goals first

Liverpool;

Wolves (H) 4-0 – Mane 2 Salah (pen) Henderson

Norwich (A) 6-0 – Mane 4(1pen) Salah Thiago

Newcastle (H) 6-0 – Salah 4(1pen) Thiago Gomez

Chelsea (A) 1-0 - Firmino

Leicester (A) 4-0  - Salah Jota 3

Watford (H) 5-0  - Salah 2(1pen) Henderson Minamino 2

West Ham (H) 1-0  - Salah

Arsenal (A) 1-1  - Salah

Everton (A) 2-0  - Salah Firmino

Man City (H) 2-0 – Mane Firmino

 

Man United

Norwich (H) 4-1 – McTominay 2 Greenwood 2

Newcastle (A) 3-2 – Greenwood Sancho Ronaldo

Chelsea (H) 3-0 – Greenwood Fernandes Ronaldo

Watford (A) 4-0  - Greenwood Sancho Fernandes (pen) Ronaldo

West Ham (A) 2-1  - Ronaldo 2

Leicester (H) 3-0 – Sancho Ronaldo 2

Arsenal (H) 2-3 – Ronaldo 2

Man City (A) 2-1 – Rashford Ronaldo

Aston Villa (A) 3-1 – Ronaldo 2 Greenwood

Everton (H) 2-0 – Rashford Ronaldo

 

 

Arsenal stats (1^st team)

Appearances

Partey Bale 9(+1)

Xhaka Aubameyang White Ramsdale 9

Tierney 8(+1)

Tomiyasu Saka 8

Smith Rowe 7(+4)

Gabriel 7

Odegaard 5(+2)

Holding 5

Pepe 4 (+6)

Tavares 4(+2)

Martinelli 3(+3)

Leno Mari Cedric Nketiah 3

M-Niles Lokonga Elneny 2(+3)

Patino 1(+2)

Hutchinson 0(+1)

 

Goals

Aubameyang 10

Bale 5

Nketiah Pepe Tavares Odegaard Holding Saka Lokonga 1

 

Assists

Xhaka Bale Saka Lokonga 3

Cedric Tomiyasu 2

Partey Tierney Aubameyang Smith Rowe Lokonga 1

 

Man of Match

Tomiyasu Aubameyang 2

Pepe Tavares Holding M-Niles Bale 1

November/December Fixtures

Chelsea (A)

Watford (H)

Leicester (A)

West Ham (H)

Wolves (A)

Man City (A)

Everton (H)

Aston Villa (H)

Leicester (H) Carabao Cup QF

Burnley (H)

Brighton (H)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[saware]

22 hours ago, saware said:

Allegri is at Man City half way through the 2nd season on my save, whilst Zidane is at Juventus.

I forgot to look at Guardiola but Klopp is still at Liverpool, Tuchel is still at Chelsea, & Valverde is now at Man Utd. Bielsa has gone to Spurs, whilst Ranieri has taken over at Leeds.

Scratch that… Tuchel got sacked & Luis Enrique took over at Chelsea, Guardiola then got the Spain job.

[WillyBroadband]

On 04/02/2022 at 20:16, Telegram Sam said:

I did the exact same. No regret.

I changed his name & face to a colleagues that he used on a fake ID years ago. No editor needed for that. 

[WillyBroadband]

On 05/02/2022 at 23:27, Telegram Sam said:

I can buy a 33-year-old Son for 22.5m in the 2026 January window—do I do it? 😅

He's still very good and has a couple of seasons left him in. It's very tempting...

I would! 

[Telegram Sam]

2025/26 Season - Part 3

With the international break now over, we welcomed Wolves to the Emirates. I'll let these screenshots do the talking:

After matching the Premier League's record for the biggest victory last season with our 9-0 demolition of Chelsea, we went one further this year and smashed ten goals past a hapless Wolves side with five goals coming in each half, including a hat-trick from Gabriel. We had reached the 9-0 scoreline with 20 minutes still to play, and after wasting numerous chances to bag the record, Emile Smith Rowe stepped up in injury time to grab our tenth of the game:

It was an incredible result, a clear statement of intent to the rest of the league, and a vindication of the 4-4-2 formation I'd seen us switch to in recent weeks.

The good times kept rolling as we dismantled PSG 5-1 at home to secure qualification from Group A before winning 3-0 away at the City Ground to defeat bottom of the table Nottingham Forest, with Gabriel Martinelli bagging himself a brace.

We started December with a trip up to Manchester to face the reigning champions, City, before then hosting our closest title rivals Liverpool at home. At the Etihad we found ourselves 3-0 down at half-time despite it being a close fought affair, with sloppy goals conceded directly from a corner and from a penalty kick. We rallied late in the second half to bring the score back to 3-2 but it was too little, too late, and we were consigned to our second defeat of the season and our second loss in Manchester.

We enjoyed a better time of it against Liverpool as a brace from Folarin Balogun helped us on our way to a 3-0 win, with Gabriel bagging a header late on to wrap up the three points. Balogun's second effort—a placed finish in the bottom corner after he was played through by a superb ball from Ryan Gravenberch—showcased our devastating ability on the counter:

The win was a big one in our push to reclaim the title, with our win subjecting Liverpool to their first defeat of the campaign and giving us a three-point advantage at the top of the table:

Our next game was an away trip to Celta Vigo that saw us wrap up Group A with a superb 4-1 victory, with a brace each for Martinelli (again) and our 6'6" Brazilian centre-back Renan Renato, who had done extremely well so far in the few games that he'd played. We had qualified as group winners extremely comfortably:

Topping the group meant we'd face RB Salzburg of Austria at this stage for the second year running, having defeated them 8-2 on aggregate last year:

We returned to Premier League action with a home fixture against struggling Brentford, which served up another quite incredible result:

We had a 1-0 lead when former Gunner Hector Bellerín got himself sent off for a second bookable offence, and fired five more goals past Brentford's 10 men before they received two more red cards around the hour mark. Declan Rice got his second of the game and Smith Rowe completed his hat-trick against 8 men before Brentford picked up their 4th red card in the dying moments of injury time.

This was our 16th league game of the season, in which we had now scored 54 goals while only conceding 8, giving us a positive goal difference of 46. Liverpool, our main title rivals, only had a goal difference of +19 for comparison. Unfortunately, our lead in the title race was still only 3 points, but we were playing some of the best football I'd ever seen from us in the past few weeks.

More modest victories were to follow as we beat Sheffield United 1-0 at Bramall Lane and Norwich 2-0 at the Emirates with Vlahović, Balogun and Martinelli all bagging themselves a goal apiece. We would then host Norwich at our place for the second game in succession in the quarter-finals of the League Cup, and brushed them aside 4-1 as goals from Vlahović, Gravenberch, Martinelli and Ødegaard booked our place in the semi-finals. We would need to defeat Everton across two legs to book our place in our third successive final. Martin Ødegaard had found some fine form playing out on the right of midfield and his goal was a superb way to close out a magnificent victory:

We rounded off a fantastic calendar year with a 3-1 win at Bournemouth, with a fine brace from Dušan Vlahović preceding a goal from Jude Bellingham to wrap up our year in style. 2025 may not have brought Champions League or Premier League success but we had played some incredible football throughout the year, were in a strong position at the top of the league, and had added silverware to the cabinet with wins in the League Cup, Club World Cup and Community Shield.

I'll talk more about our start to 2026 in my next post, but will leave you with this screenshot as a teaser of things to come...

[Gilberto Silva]

Started a new save over the weekend and am really struggling at the moment. Knocked out in the Carabao Cup in the second round to Oxford and the fourth round of the FA cup via Wolves. Sitting 9th in the league, 6 points off top six as well. 

No idea what has gone wrong, I'm pretty much playing the same way as we do in real life. 4-2-3-1 with similar roles etc. Definitely getting the sack next time I lose - already survived one emergency board meeting. 

[Telegram Sam]

1 hour ago, Gilberto Silva said:

Started a new save over the weekend and am really struggling at the moment. Knocked out in the Carabao Cup in the second round to Oxford and the fourth round of the FA cup via Wolves. Sitting 9th in the league, 6 points off top six as well. 

No idea what has gone wrong, I'm pretty much playing the same way as we do in real life. 4-2-3-1 with similar roles etc. Definitely getting the sack next time I lose - already survived one emergency board meeting. 

Fancy sharing your tactic?

[Gilberto Silva]

This is what I have been using for the most part. Only real adjusted PI's are for Tomiyasu to hold, Partey to hold, Xhaka to stay wider, Saka to stay wider and Smith Rowe to sit narrower - then Odegaard has roam, move into channels and dribble more. 

I have only made one January signing being Tyler Adams to cover RB/CM.

[Telegram Sam]

2 hours ago, Gilberto Silva said:

This is what I have been using for the most part. Only real adjusted PI's are for Tomiyasu to hold, Partey to hold, Xhaka to stay wider, Saka to stay wider and Smith Rowe to sit narrower - then Odegaard has roam, move into channels and dribble more. 

I have only made one January signing being Tyler Adams to cover RB/CM.

I don't see anything crazy bad here but would probably lower the tempo to a standard one, as I find it's an easy way to cede possession and isn't a great option while your team is still evolving and partnerships are being formed. I'd also push the back line up a bit so they're close to your attacking players as I find a high line of engagement alongside a standard defensive line leaves the team a bit spread out.

- 

[saware]

8 hours ago, Gilberto Silva said:

This is what I have been using for the most part. Only real adjusted PI's are for Tomiyasu to hold, Partey to hold, Xhaka to stay wider, Saka to stay wider and Smith Rowe to sit narrower - then Odegaard has roam, move into channels and dribble more. 

I have only made one January signing being Tyler Adams to cover RB/CM.

How do you want your team to play? From your instructions it doesn’t look like you want to play a passing game, but some of the other instructions look a bit muddled for me.

I think @Telegram Samis right, I wouldn’t have tempo higher than standard as a positive mentality increases it anyway.

If you’re wanting a pressing game, why no counter-press or increased pressing? If that’s the case I’d bring the defensive line further up too. Also, I’d probably have Xhaxa on a defensive duty to cover Tierney going forward. However, if you want to counter, in my mind, the line of engagement is too high.

Edited February 8, 2022 by saware

[WillyBroadband]

I'm not supposed to sign players over 30 but I signed a 34 year old Jordi Alba, last night, for £1.1M. His stats are remarkable for his age & it's only a short contract. 

I've always been a sucker for signing older players for one season. I signed César Azpilicueta in this same save, was a handy backup & super reliable. 

[WillyBroadband]

Also signed Marcos Antônio from Shakhtar. Didn't even need him but I like the look of him! 

Sold Julián Álvarez for £29M after signing him for £5.75M, not a bad profit. 

At work mini update over, haha

[Telegram Sam]

6 hours ago, WillyBroadband said:

I'm not supposed to sign players over 30 but I signed a 34 year old Jordi Alba, last night, for £1.1M. His stats are remarkable for his age & it's only a short contract. 

I've always been a sucker for signing older players for one season. I signed César Azpilicueta in this same save, was a handy backup & super reliable. 

There's some great fun to be had bringing in experienced players for a season or two. I'm debating bringing Szczesny back to the club as Ramsdale's backup in the summer as his Juventus contract is up.

[Gilberto Silva]

I got sacked after consecutive losses at home to Chelsea and Man United. Sitting 12th. :-( 

*Retire* --> *Add new manager* 

Edited February 8, 2022 by Gilberto Silva

[hasdgfas]

Summer Transfer Window 2027 complete:

We're hitting the point in a save where I don't bring many players in during any window, unless they're young and to be developed. I prefer to promote from within at this point, but after Boubacar Kamara kicked up a fuss over being played as a Half-Back instead of a Ball Winning Midfielder, I figured it was worth replacing him as I didn't have another good option. Bentancur is getting up there in age and we play a bunch of matches per season so I need a strong second.

For this reason I brought in Oumar Solet from Villa:

Really excited about him for this position. On the expensive side, and on the older side than I generally prefer my FM signings to be, but I think he'll be really good for a few seasons until some of the kids develop.

As far as the outs, I think getting 109M for 4 players I spent a total of 11.25M on is pretty good business, even if I would rather Kamara not gone to Chelsea.

[hasdgfas]

This was neat!

Haven't gotten a group of players this high before.

[Telegram Sam]

1 hour ago, hasdgfas said:

This was neat!

Haven't gotten a group of players this high before.

We have made some very similar transfer decisions!

[hasdgfas]

45 minutes ago, Telegram Sam said:

We have made some very similar transfer decisions!

I do think they're pretty straightforward ones to make this version of FM. I ended up spending 133M on the three of them combined, which is high for me for 3 players! I don't usually get that high, but I've made some BIG sales. I wouldn't even have bought Szoboszlai except that Odegaard wanted to go to Inter and I got 153M for him.

[Telegram Sam]

2025/26 Season - Part 4

The turn of the year meant another transfer window, and an opportunity to refresh the squad. As I shared in my last post, an opportunity arose for us to sign Son Heung-min from Spurs and I decided to take it. He is now 33 years old and past his prime, but remains a quality player who I hope can offer us something extra in the attack. His high level of natural fitness and Professional personality gave me confidence that he's not going to fall off a cliff in the next year or so. Tottenham demanded we pay more than double their asking price for Son, and while Liverpool did also submit a bit, the Korean was clearly bold enough to make the divisive move across North London and chose to join us.

The only other incoming business we had were moves for youngsters who I feel could offer us something in the coming years. Our first signing was that of Aleks Grvala, a Slovenian midfielder who joins us from NK Olimpija Ljubljana in a £1.2m deal:

Grvala does not yet have a work permit so I quickly sought to move him out on loan to gain more match experience on the continent. He has gone out on loan to Hannover 96, the Bundesliga's bottom club, where he'll likely have a difficult time, but I am hoping that with enough minutes played in a top European league he'll be granted a work permit to return to the club in the summer.

I also moved for one of South America's most talented prospects, José Luis Zanaria. He had broken through at Boca Juniors and I sought to bring him to the club by activating the £6m release clause in his contract with other top clubs in Europe sniffing around for his signature:

While I had considered a loan move for him in the last days of the window, I opted to keep him at the club for the next few months so he can settle into life in England and brush up on his language skills.

In terms of outgoings, the only major departure was that of Teun Koopmeiners to PSG. Having signed the Dutchman in 2022, he was a key part of our Premier League and Champions League winning side of 2023/24 but had become an increasingly peripheral figure ever since Declan Rice joined us in 2024. In our 4-4-2 formation we don't really utilise a playmaker, and this had lead to Koopmeiners also falling behind Albert Sambi Lokonga in the midfield pecking order. He had come to me in December asking for more playing time, and when I made it clear it was unlikely to happen, we both agreed that it'd be best for him to move on and seek pastures new. Bids came in for him from both Monaco and PSG, but he ultimately chose the latter and we agreed a deal worth £43m for his services. He's a great player and was a key figure in the dressing room, but at 28 years old and only two years left on his contract, I felt it was great business on our end given that we had only spent £20m on him to bring him in from Atalanta a few years prior.

Our transfer business for the 2025/26 season was therefore concluded:

Back to the football, and away to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on New Year's Day. It was a close game and Chelsea gave us much more of a match than they did at the Emirates on the season's opening day, where we won 4-0, but a goal from Jude Bellingham in the 4th minute of the game was enough to give us victory.

We would then face Everton home and away in the semi-finals of the League Cup, with a home fixture against Sheffield United in the FA Cup sandwiched in between. With the first leg at the Emirates we took the lead thanks a wonder goal from Emile Smith Rowe in the opening minutes, but struggled to put Everton to the sword for the remainder of the game as we hit the woodwork an incredible 5 times. Naturally, Everton stole an equaliser in the 77th minute thanks to a long range strike from Evander, meaning we'd travel to Everton with the tie balanced at 1-1.

The found our shooting boots again with a 6-2 battering of Sheffield United with young striker Vyacheslav Spirin bagging himself a brace, and carried this form into the next game with Everton as we secured our place in the League Cup final with a convincing 5-1 win to make it 6-2 on aggregate. Dominik Szoboszlai bagged himself a hat-trick in this game to help see us through to the final for the third consecutive year; this time we would face Chelsea at Wembley.

The next few weeks would see us again focus on our Premier League title push, and we continued our great run of form with a series of solid yet unspectacular wins:

The goals had begun to dry up slightly but our superb defensive performances meant that we earned numerous victories by a one or two goal margin. Dušan Vlahović reaffirmed his worth to the side in this period with a superb goalscoring run that kept us at the front of the pack in the title; all four of our 1-0 wins in this period came with goals he provided. The win against Manchester United was particularly crucial as United had previously done us a favour by beating Liverpool the week prior, taking the wind out of their sails, so defeating them at home allowed us to do the same to them. Narrow wins against Everton, Villa and West Ham established our title credentials, and we were now looking very strong at the top of the table after 26 games:

I had some concerns about our lack of goals in this period, but with Aaron Ramsdale and the whole defence performing well, felt we now were in control of the title race and should get the job done outside of a terrible collapse.

Our focus now turned back to the Champions League and our tie with RB Salzburg in the last sixteen. A bullet header from Szoboszlai and a close range finish from Gabriel Martinelli—his first goal for a couple of months—earned us a deserved 2-0 victory to take back to the Emirates. Next up would be a game against Spurs at home, with our earlier meeting in the season ending 1-1 after we had been reduced to 10 men. Things were looking bleak as Spurs took a shock 2-0 lead in the first half, with Harry Kane scoring from Spurs' first shot of the game and Gabriel Jesus doubling their lead on the stroke of half-time.

I gave the players at bollocking at half-time after some lacklustre defending and wasteful attacking play, and changed from our 4-4-2 to our more attacking 4-1-3-2 formation from last season. The boys responded incredibly in the second half, with goals from Vlahović and Martinelli levelling the game before the hour mark before Gabriel stepped up to score two headers from set pieces to earn us a sensational 4-2 victory. It's the history of the Tottenham, or so they say.

Next up was the League Cup final against Chelsea as we sought to defend our trophy and win the competition for the fourth time in our history. Like the Spurs game, we started poorly and found ourselves 1-0 down within the opening minutes thanks to a goal from Yeremy Pino:

Undeterred, we managed to level the game with 11 minutes on the clock thanks to a superb curling effort from our very own Bukayo Saka:

In an open game, Chelsea continued to cause us more problems than they had done in recent times, and we frustratingly again fell behind thanks to a header from Romelu Lukaku:

With the half petering out and me already planning the hairdryer treatment at the break, Vlahović stepped up once again to bring the scores to 2-2 in first-half injury time:

As I had done in our last game against Spurs, I switched us to a 4-1-3-2 and attempted to control the middle of the park in the second half with Chelsea also starting the game with a 4-4-2. We started the second half brilliantly and took the lead in the 48th minute thanks to Jude Bellingham:

Szoboszlai had found Bellingham with a superb through ball and he made no mistakes in front of goal, slotting it past Edouard Mendy to give us the lead for the first time in the game. That would prove to be the final goal of the match as we regained control and kept Chelsea at arm's length, securing our second League Cup title in as many years and adding another piece of silverware to the collection.

[Telegram Sam]

1 hour ago, hasdgfas said:

I do think they're pretty straightforward ones to make this version of FM. I ended up spending 133M on the three of them combined, which is high for me for 3 players! I don't usually get that high, but I've made some BIG sales. I wouldn't even have bought Szoboszlai except that Odegaard wanted to go to Inter and I got 153M for him.

I spent £235m on the three of them! They'll all been worth the outlay, in fairness.

Edited February 10, 2022 by Telegram Sam

[hasdgfas]

4 minutes ago, Telegram Sam said:

I spent £235m on the three of them! They'll all been worth the outlay, in fairness.

I did get Bellingham on a Bosman, so I really spent 133 on the two others! Had to be patient and keep expressing interest so he didn't sign a new contract. Then I pounced. But yeah, they're all incredible players.

[hasdgfas]

Some midseason updates!

 

And we are crushing the league. Who was our loss to? Norwich, obviously. This is FM after all.

[BrickCommo23]

21 hours ago, Telegram Sam said:

2025/26 Season - Part 4

The turn of the year meant another transfer window, and an opportunity to refresh the squad. As I shared in my last post, an opportunity arose for us to sign Son Heung-min from Spurs and I decided to take it. He is now 33 years old and past his prime, but remains a quality player who I hope can offer us something extra in the attack. His high level of natural fitness and Professional personality gave me confidence that he's not going to fall off a cliff in the next year or so. Tottenham demanded we pay more than double their asking price for Son, and while Liverpool did also submit a bit, the Korean was clearly bold enough to make the divisive move across North London and chose to join us.

The only other incoming business we had were moves for youngsters who I feel could offer us something in the coming years. Our first signing was that of Aleks Grvala, a Slovenian midfielder who joins us from NK Olimpija Ljubljana in a £1.2m deal:

Grvala does not yet have a work permit so I quickly sought to move him out on loan to gain more match experience on the continent. He has gone out on loan to Hannover 96, the Bundesliga's bottom club, where he'll likely have a difficult time, but I am hoping that with enough minutes played in a top European league he'll be granted a work permit to return to the club in the summer.

I also moved for one of South America's most talented prospects, José Luis Zanaria. He had broken through at Boca Juniors and I sought to bring him to the club by activating the £6m release clause in his contract with other top clubs in Europe sniffing around for his signature:

While I had considered a loan move for him in the last days of the window, I opted to keep him at the club for the next few months so he can settle into life in England and brush up on his language skills.

In terms of outgoings, the only major departure was that of Teun Koopmeiners to PSG. Having signed the Dutchman in 2022, he was a key part of our Premier League and Champions League winning side of 2023/24 but had become an increasingly peripheral figure ever since Declan Rice joined us in 2024. In our 4-4-2 formation we don't really utilise a playmaker, and this had lead to Koopmeiners also falling behind Albert Sambi Lokonga in the midfield pecking order. He had come to me in December asking for more playing time, and when I made it clear it was unlikely to happen, we both agreed that it'd be best for him to move on and seek pastures new. Bids came in for him from both Monaco and PSG, but he ultimately chose the latter and we agreed a deal worth £43m for his services. He's a great player and was a key figure in the dressing room, but at 28 years old and only two years left on his contract, I felt it was great business on our end given that we had only spent £20m on him to bring him in from Atalanta a few years prior.

Our transfer business for the 2025/26 season was therefore concluded:

Back to the football, and away to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on New Year's Day. It was a close game and Chelsea gave us much more of a match than they did at the Emirates on the season's opening day, where we won 4-0, but a goal from Jude Bellingham in the 4th minute of the game was enough to give us victory.

We would then face Everton home and away in the semi-finals of the League Cup, with a home fixture against Sheffield United in the FA Cup sandwiched in between. With the first leg at the Emirates we took the lead thanks a wonder goal from Emile Smith Rowe in the opening minutes, but struggled to put Everton to the sword for the remainder of the game as we hit the woodwork an incredible 5 times. Naturally, Everton stole an equaliser in the 77th minute thanks to a long range strike from Evander, meaning we'd travel to Everton with the tie balanced at 1-1.

The found our shooting boots again with a 6-2 battering of Sheffield United with young striker Vyacheslav Spirin bagging himself a brace, and carried this form into the next game with Everton as we secured our place in the League Cup final with a convincing 5-1 win to make it 6-2 on aggregate. Dominik Szoboszlai bagged himself a hat-trick in this game to help see us through to the final for the third consecutive year; this time we would face Chelsea at Wembley.

The next few weeks would see us again focus on our Premier League title push, and we continued our great run of form with a series of solid yet unspectacular wins:

The goals had begun to dry up slightly but our superb defensive performances meant that we earned numerous victories by a one or two goal margin. Dušan Vlahović reaffirmed his worth to the side in this period with a superb goalscoring run that kept us at the front of the pack in the title; all four of our 1-0 wins in this period came with goals he provided. The win against Manchester United was particularly crucial as United had previously done us a favour by beating Liverpool the week prior, taking the wind out of their sails, so defeating them at home allowed us to do the same to them. Narrow wins against Everton, Villa and West Ham established our title credentials, and we were now looking very strong at the top of the table after 26 games:

I had some concerns about our lack of goals in this period, but with Aaron Ramsdale and the whole defence performing well, felt we now were in control of the title race and should get the job done outside of a terrible collapse.

Our focus now turned back to the Champions League and our tie with RB Salzburg in the last sixteen. A bullet header from Szoboszlai and a close range finish from Gabriel Martinelli—his first goal for a couple of months—earned us a deserved 2-0 victory to take back to the Emirates. Next up would be a game against Spurs at home, with our earlier meeting in the season ending 1-1 after we had been reduced to 10 men. Things were looking bleak as Spurs took a shock 2-0 lead in the first half, with Harry Kane scoring from Spurs' first shot of the game and Gabriel Jesus doubling their lead on the stroke of half-time.

I gave the players at bollocking at half-time after some lacklustre defending and wasteful attacking play, and changed from our 4-4-2 to our more attacking 4-1-3-2 formation from last season. The boys responded incredibly in the second half, with goals from Vlahović and Martinelli levelling the game before the hour mark before Gabriel stepped up to score two headers from set pieces to earn us a sensational 4-2 victory. It's the history of the Tottenham, or so they say.

Next up was the League Cup final against Chelsea as we sought to defend our trophy and win the competition for the fourth time in our history. Like the Spurs game, we started poorly and found ourselves 1-0 down within the opening minutes thanks to a goal from Yeremy Pino:

Undeterred, we managed to level the game with 11 minutes on the clock thanks to a superb curling effort from our very own Bukayo Saka:

In an open game, Chelsea continued to cause us more problems than they had done in recent times, and we frustratingly again fell behind thanks to a header from Romelu Lukaku:

With the half petering out and me already planning the hairdryer treatment at the break, Vlahović stepped up once again to bring the scores to 2-2 in first-half injury time:

As I had done in our last game against Spurs, I switched us to a 4-1-3-2 and attempted to control the middle of the park in the second half with Chelsea also starting the game with a 4-4-2. We started the second half brilliantly and took the lead in the 48th minute thanks to Jude Bellingham:

Szoboszlai had found Bellingham with a superb through ball and he made no mistakes in front of goal, slotting it past Edouard Mendy to give us the lead for the first time in the game. That would prove to be the final goal of the match as we regained control and kept Chelsea at arm's length, securing our second League Cup title in as many years and adding another piece of silverware to the collection.

Another great update dude. How do you do those GIFs for the goals?

[Telegram Sam]

1 minute ago, BrickCommo23 said:

Another great update dude. How do you do those GIFs for the goals?

Thanks mate. I record them using a program called Monosnap and then upload them to GIPHY. 

[saware]

On 30/01/2022 at 09:58, saware said:

With my creative accounting for the Bellingham deal, a clear-out of fringe players helping to boost the transfer kitty, & a hefty reduction in the wage bill it left me with some £s left over (Mari was also sent out on loan with a mandatory purchase fee of £12.5m).

I had to reinforce at LCB, I had scouted Gvardiol & Ignacio Gonçalo but they would’ve required big transfer fees, wages, & more crucially, a place in the 1st team. I didn’t want to displace Gabriel, who has been excellent, so I settled on Pavlovic from Monaco for £7.5m who was happy to play backup for now.

I had roughly £25m left when deadline day came around, agent offers were coming in left, right, & centre. One name too my eye… Declan Rice! Transfer listed at £67m & almost begging to come. I didn’t have the funds but I didn’t want to miss out, I asked the board to push the transfer through on the basis that it could be a game changer & they agreed. Later that day, he signed a long-term deal.

I’ve still had no interest in Aubameyang, hoping something happens in January as he no longer makes the team & he’s a very expensive bench warmer. Due to not being able to move him on I’ve missed out on Adeyemi, who moved to Dortmund for just under £20m.

I’m still struggling to agree a new contract with Bellerin, he wants to be classed as an important player but he’s a squad player at best right now. I still want Livramento long-term so it’s unlikely I’ll be going back to the negotiating table with Hector.

With Bellingham & Rice now at the club competition for midfield places is fierce. There’ll be rotation but if offers come in for Xhaxa or Partey in January then one, or both, may well leave. Pepe is in a similar bracket, happy to keep him for now but if I get an offer then he’s more than likely to be shown the door.

Looking at the season so far I’m pretty happy with how it’s going. I’ve won all but one of my games, a 1-1 draw away at Chelsea, but that still leaves me 2nd behind Liverpool.

I’m still in the League Cup. I have two wins from three in the Champions League, including one over Juventus. Unfortunately I couldn’t stop Bayern, although they would’ve been held to a draw if it wasn’t for a mistake & a Vlahovic injury.

We went on quite a run following our defeat to Bayern, winning 11 of the next 12 games & drawing the other away to Juventus. We were now top of the league and had won our Champions League group with 13 points... our reward was a tie against Real Madrid in the next round. After such a productive October and November I was disappointed to have the break for the World Cup stop us in our tracks. However, it was good to see my players perform well as England went on to win the competition, beating Switzerland, Italy, Germany, and then Colombia in the final. Bellingham, Rice, and Ramsdale all played key roles, with Bellingham picking up goal of the tournament and Ramsdale taking the golden glove.

The Christmas schedule was incredibly difficult with Man Utd, Man City, and Liverpool all in the league and then Man City and Chelsea in the FA Cup and League Cup respectively. Whilst we picked up 7 points from the league games we were disappointing in the cup games and we were knocked out of both competitions. After the 2 losses we had a slight hangover in the league, dropping points with draws away at Tottenham and Everton. We managed to pull ourselves together to go on another winning run, taking us up to our Champions League 1st knockout round 1st leg match... we lost 1-0. In the 2nd leg we went 1-0 down, however strong words were said at half-time and we managed to score 5 without reply, setting up a tie against Inter in the following round.

Obviously the Christmas period also included the transfer window and there was quite a bit of business done, both in and out. Xhaka had decided he wanted a new challenge by January and I couldn't get Bellerin to agree to a new contract so they both left the club in early January, leaving for West Ham (£11.25) and Roma (£10m) respectively. I needed a right back and I didn't have the funds to go for Livramento so I pumped for Vanderson from Gremio (£10m). Fulham put in an offer for the transfer-listed Aubameyang but he rejected it, I lowered the asking price and Porto bid £9.75m, which I accepted and off he went. The final outgoing of the window was Partey who had become unhappy at his lack of opportunties, Wiegl signed for Chelsea and Benfica came in with an offer of £36.5m. Initially I was hesitant to sell, however he wanted to leave and I was happy to give more game time to Lokonga and Koopmeiners so I made the decision to let him go. Finally, on deadline day I was offered the chance to sign Arrey-Mbi for £6.25m so I took the chance, & I may loan him out or Pavlovic out next season. Also, I've now set up deals for Moukoko (£50m + add-ons) from Dortmund and Aydin (£10m) from Bayern for the summer.

[KingLara]

Arsenal Season 1 – November/December

Closing the Gap.

 

PREMIER LEAGUE

CHELSEA 1 – Werner 37

ARSENAL 1 – Bale 66

Heading into our first game of November we were 8 points behind Liverpool with a game in hand. Unfortunately we weren’t given the easiest fixture. However we played pretty well and were marginally the better team.

PREMIER LEAGUE

ARSENAL 3 – Bale 14(pen) Saka 27 Nketiah 86

WATFORD 1 – King 39

Aubameyang missed the game through Injury but we didn’t miss him having one of our highest shot counts (20) and XG (2.32) of the season so far.

PREMIER LEAGUE

LEICESTER CITY 1 – Perez 30

ARSENAL 1 – Bale 45

Auba was still missing as we travelled to struggling Leicester with both United and Liverpool starting to stutter in their results. Unfortunately we couldn’t capitalise as we put in a poor performance and only deserved a point.

PREMIER LEAGUE

ARSENAL 3 – Odegaard 21 Pepe 39 Nketiah 57

WEST HAM 0

The first match of an 8 game December saw us host West Ham. Nketiah still starting upfront. We played well and dominated an easy game. The Hammers never really turned up.

PREMIER LEAGUE

WOLVES 1 – Hoever 90

ARSENAL 2 – Pepe 29 Odegaard 50

Aubameyang returned but niggles in the squad meant constant rotation. A tight game but we managed to just sneak the win. Could be crucial.

PREMIER LEAGUE

MANCHESTER CITY 0

ARSENAL 0

A great defensive performance saw us get a draw at the Etihad. We still had more possession which was nice to see as well as a 94% pass accuracy. The team started well but as City grew into the game we started having to sit deeper and deeper. Not pretty but a good point. 

PREMIER LEAGUE

ARSENAL 2 – Bale 22 60

EVERTON 0

We were back to winning ways at home with a good win over Everton. We should’ve scored more though.

PREMIER LEAGUE

ASTON VILLA  1 – Ramsey 78

ARSENAL 2 – Aubameyang 9 Gabriel 38

A second really good 2-1 away win in December. Villa played really well and definitely deserved something from the game.  Aaron Ramsey scoring for Villa although not the former Arsenal one apparently.

CARABAO CUP QUARTER FINAL

ARSENAL 2 – Aubameyang 60 68

LEICESTER CITY 0

Only White Xhaka and Aubameyang from the regular first eleven played but it was still enough to ease past Leicester and set up a semi final with Chelsea. Spurs play Man United in the other tie.

PREMIER LEAGUE

ARSENAL 2 – Aubameyang 10(pen) 51

BURNLEY 0

We finished the month with the first of two home games in three days. Mari kept his place from the Leicester game as I rested each first choice centre back. Another brace by Aubameyang enough in a poor game.

PREMIER LEAGUE

ARSENAL 4 –  Bale 8 Saka 21 Xhaka 70 Nketiah 90  (Aubameyang miss/pen 42)

BRIGHTON 0

We scored over 3 in a game for the first time since September to end the month and year in good style. Hopefully more goals will start to flow as that’s an area I’m not happy with.

Premier league table

1.       Man Utd Played 20 Points 49 Goal Difference 38

2.       Liverpool P20 P 47 GD43

3.       Arsenal P 19 P 44 GD 28

4.       Leeds United P 19 P 40 GD 23

5.       Man City P20 P39 GD21

 

Chelsea are now sixth Spurs having sacked Conte and replaced him with Bielsa lie in 11^th. Leicester also have a new manager in Genaro Gattuso. The are 16^th.

 

Liverpool United November December record

The records of Liverpool and United and Arsenal over the November December league fixtures showing how we've closed the gap. Liverpool beat united when the played each other at the end of December.

MAN UNITED – WWWLWWDWLW

LIVERPOOL -  DWDDWLWDWW

ARSENAL - DWDWWDWWWW

 

Transfer news

I sold Elneny for 7.5 million to Al Ahli having decided not to offer him a new contract. We then picked up injures to Partey and Xhaka so could’ve done with him but just had enough to get by.

 

Premier League Top scorers

Ronaldo 23 Salah 16 Aubameyang 13 Mane Greenwood 11

Premier League Top Assists

B Fernandes 10 Robertson 8 Bowen W-Prowse Sancho 7 (Saka 5)

Premier League Av Rating

Ronaldo 8.00 Robertson 7.93 B Fernandes 7.88 Mane 7.60 Salah 7.55 (Tomiyasu 7.28)

Premier League Motm

Ronaldo 9 Robertson 5 B Fernades Buendia Bale 4

 

Other top 5 leagues

Spain – Barcelona 44 Real Madrid 37 A Madrid 36

France – PSG 49 Nice 38 Lens 38

Germany – Bayern 39 Dortmund 37 RB Leipzig 34

Italy – Milan 45 Inter 42 Juventus 41

 

EUROPE

Not that I’m particularly interested in Europe this season but I’ll give a brief summary as the group stages have ended

Champions League

Not too many surprises. Brugge topped their group with Dortmund, Seville Ajax and Atletico Madrid all going out. All four English clubs topped their groups.

PSG vs Man City the best of the first knockout ties. Juventus play Real Madrid. United are against Wolfsburg, Chelsea play Benfica and Liverpools opponents are Inter.

Europa League

In the Europa League Leicester and Celtic eased through but West Ham came third in a tough group with Napoli and Frankfurt. Leicester play Rangers in the last sixteen while Celtic are against Porto.

Europa Conference League

Tottenham won all six group games and didn’t even concede a goal. Not as much fortune for Aberdeen and St Johnstone who both were given tougher groups and went out.

 

January/February Fixtures

Southampton (A)

Chelsea (H) – Carabao Cup Semi Final (1^st Leg)

Burnley (A) – FA Cup 3^rd Round

Chelsea (A) - Carabao Cup Semi Final (2^nd Leg)

Leeds (H)

Tottenham (H)

Brentford (A)

Tottenham (A)

Crystal Palace (H)

Man United (H)

Liverpool (A)

[Telegram Sam]

2025/26 Season - Part 5

With the League Cup in the bag for the second consecutive season, attentions now turned to the sixth round of the FA Cup where we faced the Premier League's bottom side, Nottingham Forest, at Emirates Stadium. We put on a show for our fans as Folarin Balogun struck a hat-trick in the first half, Vyacheslav Spirin scored a brace, and we finished resounding winners with a 6-1 scoreline. A favourable draw in the cup meant we would again be playing in the quarter-finals, with Championship outfit West Bromwich Albion our opponents.

Our next game saw us return to league action and we notched up a comfortable 3-0 win away at Brighton with Saka, Szoboszlai and Vlahović grabbing the goals. We then successfully navigated ourselves in the quarter-finals of the Champions League as well with another 3-0 victory as RB Salzburg were brushed aside at the Emirates, earning us a 5-0 aggregate result. Manchester United, who'd fallen away in recent seasons, were our next opponents, with either Manchester City or Juventus waiting for us in the semi-finals if we could progress:

The win over Salzburg also meant we had broken a long-standing team record:

The previous record of 14 games won in a row in all competitions had been set back in 2002, and we had been unstoppable since drawing the first game of our League Cup semi-final against Everton back in January. How long could we keep this run going?

A while longer, it proved. Southampton fell to a 2-0 defeat at home to us before we went on to easily dispatch West Brom 3-0 in the FA Cup to move on to the semi-finals. We would now face Tottenham at Wembley as we sought to win our first FA Cup trophy during my reign. As we headed into April, tougher fixtures lay ahead:

I was keen to start the month strong by beating Leicester, whose 2-0 win at the Emirates last season had effectively doomed our title challenge as we tried to catch up with a rampant Manchester City. We made no mistake this time around and smashed them 5-0, with Gabriel and Gabriel Martinelli both grabbing a brace before Dominik Szoboszlai finished the scoring. On the same day, Liverpool lost 2-1 at home to Southampton, meaning after 30 games we had a commanding lead at the top of the Premier League table:

A 4-0 win in our next game against Nottingham Forest took us a step closer to the title before we then welcomed Manchester United to the Emirates for the first leg of our Champions League quarter-final. We put ourselves in a great position by winning this first leg 3-0 thanks to an opening goal from Gabriel Martinelli and a fantastic brace from Bukayo Saka. The first two goals came within two minutes of each other, and showcased our quality finishing on a night where United had sat deep and tried to contain us:

We earned another three points in the league with goals from Ødegaard and Szoboszlai helping us to come back and win 2-1 away at Wolves, before we then headed to Old Trafford for the second leg. It was a nervy affair despite our commanding first leg lead, and we nearly threw it all away:

Our xG ended up being only slightly lower than United's, but they had the scoring touch on the night and had made it 3-1 early in the second half to make me fear that we would collapse in spectacular fashion. Martinelli's second goal on 68 minutes calmed the nerves and we managed to keep United at bay for the rest of the game until Jović struck late to make the aggregate score very close. It was a poor defensive performance and the end of our record-breaking winning run, which had stretched to 21 games, but we were through to the semi-finals of the Champions League. Manchester City had defeated Juventus on penalties in their quarter-final so they would be our next opponents, while Liverpool would go up against Inter in the other tie.

The loss against United also meant our superb unbeaten record had come to an end, with us having gone 30 games unbeaten in all competitions between December and April. The previous record was 28 games, achieved in 2007:

There was no time to rest as we then made the short trip to Wembley to face Spurs in the semi-final. In an even first half, we were able to get ourselves into a 2-0 lead by half-time with goals from Szoboszlai and Vlahović, although we could count ourselves somewhat lucky to have done so. Spurs fought back in the second half and we managed to keep them at bay until the 93rd minute when Ruben Neves scored a free-kick to give them a bit of hope in the dying moments of the game. It was a disappointing display on our end but we had found a way to win, and made it to our first FA Cup final having lost to Liverpool in the semi-finals the season prior.

We then travelled to Anfield knowing that a point would be enough to seal the title. The game petered out and ended in a 0-0 draw with neither side being able to get the breakthrough, but it was all we needed. We were champions again:

It had been a superb league campaign and it was fantastic to see us continue our incredible performances from last season to win the title, with our 96 points last year having not been enough. City, United, and Liverpool had also suffered from inconsistency while we had continued to dominate week after week. We were crowned champions after only 33 games, meaning we could ease up in the league and focus on a clean sweep with us in the semi-finals of the Champions League and the final of the FA Cup.

There was little time for us to celebrate our title victory with the first game against Manchester City in the Champions League coming three days after we sealed the title at Anfield. We would again open the tie with a home game, and with our defeat at Old Trafford in the second leg of the quarter-final still fresh in my mind, I was keen for us to earn a comfortable victory here so we could take a big lead with us to the Etihad.

Despite our dominance, Manchester City kept us out for the first hour of the game, and it was starting to look like we may not find a breakthrough. However, we eventually managed to take the lead as Bukayo Saka got on the end of Dušan Vlahović's through ball and fired his effort past Ederson in the City goal. A 1-0 win wasn't ideal but it was something, and we at least had a goal to take with us up to Manchester in the second leg.

A trip to Brentford came for us before the second leg, with Ødegaard and Heung-min Son striking late in the game to earn us a 3-1 victory. Going into the City game I opted to return to the 4-1-3-2 that had served us well last season, as the 4-4-2 I'd been using was not effective when we played City away in the league and lost 3-2. I had expected a nervy evening but we progressed into the Champions League in style with Gabriel Martinelli setting up Dušan Vlahović twice as we took a 2-0 lead on the night within the first 21 minutes:

City never managed to find a way back into the game and Dominik Szoboszlai fired home a third goal on the night for us in injury time to make it 4-0 on aggregate as a place in the final was secured. It was a superb team performance to nullify City over two legs and with Liverpool overcoming Inter in the other semi-final, it meant we would need to overcome one final domestic rival to be crowned champions of Europe for the second time in our history.

Between now and our two finals were our final four Premier League games, which served mainly as a procession with the trophy already secured. I attempted to find a balance between resting some of our key players and keeping up our momentum, and in the end we won two games, lost one, and drew the final game of the season 4-4 away at Norwich:

The Bournemouth game was a classic case of "being FM'd"—we missed a penalty, hit the post, and failed to score despite an xG of 2.79, while Bournemouth scored a messy goal with their only shot on goal in the entire game. It was frustrating but it ultimately didn't matter too much with the title already secured. We beat City again to rub their noses in it, and on the final day we conspired to throw away a two goal lead twice against Norwich: 

I really hate playing Norwich in this game; they're a very good team and ended up finishing 6th this season, and they play a five-at-the-back formation that we always struggle to counter in our games with them. Again, with the title secured it wasn't much of a disappointment, but the two dropped points meant we finished the season on 99 points and we were prevented from breaking the 100-point record set by Manchester City in 2017/18:

The poor results against Bournemouth and Norwich couldn't hide our dominance, however, as we stormed to our second Premier League title in spectacular fashion. Our goal difference of +84 demonstrated how much better we'd been than the rest of the pack throughout the season and nobody had looked close to catching us during the second half of the campaign.

We the league season wrapped up, we now faced Liverpool at the Santiago Bernabéu in an attempt to win our second Champions League trophy in three seasons. Liverpool had faded in the league but had Salah, Mané and Haaland leading the line, and between them had scored 90 goals in all competitions this season. I opted for a diamond formation in an attempt to dominate the middle of the park, whereas they set up in their traditional 4-3-3.

Things started perfectly for us as Vlahović ran the line, whipped in a superb cross, and Dominik Szoboszlai rose like a salmon to head us into the lead with 4 minutes on the clock:

Our lead didn't last long, unfortunately, as Robertson played Haaland through on goal and he slotted home an equaliser:

The game was evenly balanced at this point, with both sides looking threatening and I was nervous about how we weren't able to gain control of the game. However, in the 34th minute, Dušan Vlahović played another great pass through for Gabriel Martinelli to run on to and he deftly chipped the ball over an oncoming Alisson:

We had taken our chances and regained the lead, but Liverpool came back at us for the remainder of the half as we sought to keep our lead going into the break. With the clock running down, we were given a huge lift as Robertson went in two-footed on Bukayo Saka and was given his marching orders:

It was a huge moment in the game and we went into the break both a goal and a man up, meaning victory would surely be ours. To my dismay, throughout the second half we failed to control the game despite our man advantage and Liverpool had a number of chances to level the game. Aaron Ramsdale kept them at bay with some big saves as it was clear that we were nervous irrespective of the extra man we had on the pitch.

Things got worse for Liverpool in the 84th minute as Süle was also sent off for his second yellow card offence, reducing our opponents for 9 men. It was a killer blow for Liverpool and things ended 2-1 as we lifted the Champions League for the second time in our history, making a fantastic season all the more incredible. It was one of those games where everything seemed to go right for us and on another day this was a game we easily could have lost. 

The FA Cup final was all that we had left to play for, which had been pushed back until Wednesday 3rd June with the Champions League final having been played on the Saturday. We had won the Club World Cup, Community Shield, Carabao Cup, Premier League and Champions League already this year, so a victory here would make it an unprecedented clean sweep of every competition we'd featured in this season.

I held a team meeting prior to our final game and noticed that only a handful of first team players had attended. Curious indeed. When it came to the day of the cup final, I then realised that the vast majority of my squad had already disappeared to join up with their national teams ahead of the 2026 World Cup, which was to begin in 8 days time:

It was a total farce and meant that we would go into the FA Cup Final with only 7 recognised first-team players available, and not a single midfielder available to me who wasn't an U23 player. I had also sent my best young prospects out on loan for the season so didn't even have my best youngsters to choose from:

Thankfully, City had the exact same problem and were missing a host of key players. It was a farcical situation but we had little choice to step up and try to win the game with what we had available. In a thrilling final, we did just that:

In an open game, Dušan Vlahović dragged us kicking and screaming over the finish line, with his hat-trick providing decisive in spite of the absurd situation. We had won the FA Cup for the first time under my management and every competition we had entered this season, writing our names into the history books:

Our fifth season had been the best yet, and marked the pinnacle of what I had hoped to achieve with this team. I'll do more of a summary in my next post about this campaign, and what I hoped to do moving forward, as I feel we may be in need of a refresh. With five seasons completed, however, our honour roll was looking pretty impressive:

2x UEFA Champions League

1x Club World Cup

2x Premier League

1x FA Cup

2x Carabao Cup

2x Community Shield

1x UEFA Super Cup

Thanks, as always, to everyone who takes the time to read these updates!

[Cam NBH]

You won the bloody lot Sam! Well done

[hasdgfas]

Youth Intake has arrived, and this guy is already 20th in the NxGn "Best 50 Wonderkids" list. He's going to be awesome.

[BrickCommo23]

@Telegram Sam - thank you for that tactical post the other week. I've slightly plagiarised it, with a 4411 and its working beautifully. 

Will do a proper post this week when I have a moment but thanking you.

[Telegram Sam]

1 hour ago, BrickCommo23 said:

@Telegram Sam - thank you for that tactical post the other week. I've slightly plagiarised it, with a 4411 and its working beautifully. 

Will do a proper post this week when I have a moment but thanking you.

I'm glad to hear it's worked out for you! I was surprised at how well the 4-4-2 went for me as I've generally had limited success with it in previous saves.

[BrickCommo23]

Familiarity is still not there (particularly for a couple of positions) but it's getting better...

[Swills417]

@Telegram Sam excellent write ups! Interested to hear how you build on a near perfect season!

Remind me where the facepack for the regens/newgens is from?

 

[Telegram Sam]

1 hour ago, Swills417 said:

@Telegram Sam excellent write ups! Interested to hear how you build on a near perfect season!

Remind me where the facepack for the regens/newgens is from?

 

Thanks! Not quite sure how we improve from here but we shall see.

The faces I use are from Zealand's NewGan Facepack.

[hasdgfas]

2027/28 Season Review!
 

A very good season, clearly! Premier League and Champions League winners (which apparently wasn't enough to pass the required "win a domestic cup" club goal, and nearly got all my players mad at me  )

Nearly perfect league results, honestly! Highest scorers, lowest goals against, over 100 points, crushed the GD, Chelsea and Spurs out of Europe completely. The only thing missing is an unbeaten season.

Chelsea, by the way, is absolutely horrible since Abramovich left. 11th, 11th, and 15th in the past 3 seasons.

Champions League was...not easy after Krasnodar, but it was nice to see some new faces late into the competition with Mainz and Newcastle(even if it's Saudi money for Newcastle).

Stats from the season. An excellent season again from Vlahovic, but also from Martinelli with goalscoring, and Szoboszlai with assists, and a couple other forwards as well (Eck and Cerqueira). 

Too many individual awards to go over in this post, but there were a lot of them! A huge success of a season, and I really don't have much left to play for, except youth development and an undefeated season. This save might be coming to a close soon.

[Telegram Sam]

2025/26 - Review

The season was over and we'd achieved an unprecedented clean sweep of every competition we'd entered, from the Community Shield to the Champions League. Winning our second Premier League title under my stewardship was particularly sweet having missed out in 2024/25 despite our 96-point haul, and we'd got even better this season as we notched up 99 points on our way to victory. Our opponents had all fallen away dramatically and the final weeks of the season were effectively a stroll to the title. The goal output figures for the season demonstrates our dominance:

We were fantastic in attack last season, although our goal figures were inflated considerably by the 10-0 and 8-0 drubbings of Wolves and Brentford respectively. The key to our title win was our rock solid defence, which only conceded 19 goals all season (with 4 of those coming on the final day during our draw at Norwich). Aaron Ramsdale was again superb, solidifying his status as one of the world's best goalkeepers, with the 26 clean sheets he notched up being a Premier League record:

The actual record was actually 24 clean sheets set by Petr Čech back in 2004/05, so being able to better that after over two decades was an impressive achievement. Between January and April 2026 we notched up an amazing 11 clean sheets in 12 games, with a number of those being 1-0 victories, and this period really sealed the title for us as our opponents all fell away in the meantime.

Our defensive stats show that, for the most part, the control we have over games means that we do not need to perform as many defensive actions as other teams in the league:

As a defensive unit, we are required to make very few blocks and clearances with much more of the play happening down the other end of the pitch, and our above average interception metrics shows that we are effective at winning the ball and turning over possession before attacks can build too much momentum.

Our possession metrics also point to one of our strengths, which is dominating the ball when we have it and winning it back well when we don't. We're one of the most effective pressing teams in the league and while we're careful on the ball when we have it, we're not obsessed with keeping it at the cost of being more adventurous. Sides like Newcastle and Leeds enjoy having the ball but with our 4-4-2 system I rarely found that we had issues preventing them from doing much with it.

In terms of personnel, none stood out more last season than Dominik Szoboszlai:

Operating primarily from the left side of midfield, the Hungarian was the creative hub of our side while also having a keen eye for goal. He earned an incredible 15 Man of the Match awards last season and made 45 goal contributions in all competitions last season, with 21 goals scored and 24 assists laid on for teammates. In the Champions League final he scored the opening goal and consistently made a big impact when we needed him most.

The truth was though that we had a number of incredible performers in the team, which was reflected in the PFA Team of the Year:

I could wax lyrical about the bulk of my squad but the long and short of it is that virtually all of them stepped up and performed with real consistency last year, and the depth and quality of the squad was the main reason why we had won every competition we had entered. Here's a breakdown of how they all performed:

As well as we had done, I knew that I couldn't be complacent this summer and that a squad refresh was probably needed. We had a number of players entering the last two years of their contract and a number of young players were ready to break through and compete for a first-team place. I'd likely need to let go of some talented players who had helped win us a lot of trophies, but with an already bloated squad I tried to put emotion out of the window and give my squad a breath of fresh air.

Outgoings

At the time of writing I am still in the summer window, so there may be more departures, but I did the bulk of my business early:

We've earned some huge money this summer from player sales, none of whom were regular starters despite their quality. The hardest player to let go was probably Folarin Balogun, a home-grown player who'd had a superb three seasons in the first team where he'd scored 65 goals in all competitions. Balogun is a great goalscorer but with Vlahović and Martinelli ahead of him in the pecking order, and some great young attackers waiting in the wings, I decided to cash in on him this summer. The £49.5m we received from PSG was a little less than I had hoped to get for him but it still represents fantastic profit on one of our youth academy prospects.

Takehiro Tomiyasu and Albert Sambi Lokonga had both been with us since the summer I joined and had been great options for me over the past five years. Tomiyasu and lost his place to Tino Livramento as our starting right-back, however, and wasn't going to get his place back anytime soon, so I opted to cash in on him this summer and bid a sad farewell. Chelsea had bid a good amount for him but I had no intention of letting him depart for a rival, so he instead went to Barcelona for nearly double what we paid for him in 2021. Lokonga was a player I had considered keeping around, but during his contract discussions he was adamant on being deployed as an attacking playmaker where I saw him as more of a ball-winner, so I chose to move him on to the other half of the El Clásico rivalry. I may regret losing the midfield depth he offers but with his insistence on being played in a position I didn't want to use him, I felt I had little other choice.

Another fan-favourite who left was Giovanni Reyna, who had become a peripheral figure in his final few months at the club. His influence had dwindled due to the immense quality and depth we had in attacking midfield positions and we ultimately let him leave to Inter for the exact same amount we had paid to bring him in from Dortmund four years prior. Not the best business, perhaps, but he leaves having left a big mark at the club as he seeks pastures new in Italy.

One deal I was very happy with was the sale of Maarten Vandevoordt to Spartak Moscow for a £36.5m fee. The Belgian had served as a capable understudy to Ramsdale for a number of seasons now, but was likely going to continue as one for a number of years yet. I figured it was best to cash in on him now at 24 years of age and aim for an older, short-term backup goalkeeper as a replacement, and then look to integrate one of the great young goalkeepers we have at the club when Ramsdale is past his peak.

In terms of deals that didn't happen, PSG had courted Bukayo Saka for months and came knocking with two huge bids for him in the summer:

I think I could easily have squeezed £150m+ out of them for Saka, but truthfully I don't think I would have sold him for any price. He was one of our own and he had had one of his best seasons under my management last season, so I felt that even if we received some insane money for him I wouldn't really be able to replace him.

Incomings

I had noticed in January that Wojciech Szczęsny's contract at Juventus was up in the summer, and kept him in my mind for this summer. The opportunity to bring back a former favourite on a free transfer was too good to pass up, and he was happy to take a reduced salary and role to rejoin the club where he made his name. Barcelona had also made him an offer but he chose to return to London where he will serve as a capable backup to Aaron Ramsdale. He has signed a one-year contract with the option for a second.

With our U23 side looking light in defence, I was keen to bring in a young defender to offer some depth there who could also develop into a good player for us. I had a number of options but opted to sign Agustín Seaone, an 18-year-old Uruguayan centre-back who looks very promising. It cost me £3.7m to sign him from Nacional, his work permit was granted at first request, and I intend on keeping him at the club to develop for the coming years as he'll qualify as a home-grown talent if he stays with us until he's 21.

In our single big move this summer, I broke our transfer record for the fourth time during my tenure to bring in Jamal Musiala from Bayern Munich for a fee of £111m. The young German also has English citizenship and qualifies as home-grown due to his youth career at Chelsea, and at 23 years of age is already established as one of the best attacking players in the world. This really wasn't a signing I needed to make but with £250m+ burning a hole in my pocket, I choose to go big and bring in a marquee name to give us a boost ahead of the new season. I haven't decided yet where he will play but his versatility means he should be a big player for us no matter where I choose to deploy him.

I intend on making one or two more signings before the window closes, but they're likely be young players who I'm hoping to develop at the club. I'll include an update on some of our most promising newgens who should be involved in the first team this season in my next post.

[KingLara]

Arsenal Season 1 – January/February

A busy two months

 

PREMIER LEAGUE

SOUTHAMPTON 0

ARSENAL 1 – Nketiah 31

We started the new year 5 points behind Man United but with a game in hand. It was a tough game only settled by an Nketiah freak goal. A pass back to the goalkeeper hit Nketiah and went in. The  fact that Ben White was man of the match shows it was a tricky game.

 

CARABAO CUP SEMI FINAL (1^ST LEG)

ARSENAL 1 – Tomiyasu 44

CHELSEA 0

All three African players were now away at the African Nations, which wasn’t the best timing. I kept Gabriel and White as the centre back pairing instead of switching it. Chelsea came looking for damage limitation and once the brilliant Tomiyasu scored I was happy to take a 1-0 to Stamford Bridge.

 

FA CUP 3^RD ROUND

BURNLEY 0  - Vydra miss/pen 88

ARSENAL 1 – Nketiah 70

A third 1-0 win in a row saw us get past Burnley and set up a fourth round meeting against Plymouth at the Emirates. However we were battered the entire game. Leno with an 8.9 including saving the late penalty. Burnely had 23 shots on goal! XG of 2.53 to our 1.04. No shocks in the other ties.

 

CARABAO CUP SEMI FINAL (2^nd LEG)

CHELSEA 1 – Lukaku 15

ARSENAL 1 – Saka 13

Arsenal through 2-1 on aggregate

Chelsea became the first team this season to out possession us (54%) but despite putting in a decent display ( we were dreadful) they couldn’t find the second goal and we went through to face Tottenham at Wembley at the end of February. Spurs drew 2-2 with Man United at home but then managed to win 1-0 at Old Trafford. Should be a good final.

 

PREMIER LEAGUE

ARSENAL 2 – Saka 13 Bale 60(pen)

LEEDS 0

A low scoring month (and season) saw Saka score in the 13^th minute for the second game in a row. Spooky! With Aubameyang away Bale was on penalty duties and dispatched the spot kick.

 

PREMIER LEAGUE

ARSENAL 2 – Bale 44(pen) 48

TOTTENHAM 1 -  Zapata 84(pen) Hoiberg s/o 61

Before we would play them at Wembley we faced Spurs twice in the league. A fiery game which saw 7 yellow cards and a red saw us get a valuable 2-1 win. Spurs seemed to improve after the sending off.

 

PREMIER LEAGUE

BRENTFORD 1 – Wissa 78

ARSENAL 0

A second dreadful 1-0 away defeat of the season. Out passed, out shot, out possessioned. Just awful.

 

JANUARY TRANSFER WINDOW

Deadline day was busy. Having promised Mari, Maitland Niles and Cedric I would get rid of them if they didn’t play they all left on the final day. Mari went to Seville for 11.25 million, Cedric left for PSV for 9 million and Maitland Niles went on loan to Bournemouth.

I tried to sign Artuto Vidal but he wanted too much money and too long a contract. In the end I had to rush so loaned in Umtiti, Arthur and Lainer. A young Australian signed but he won’t be able to play for a while.

There weren’t many 6 month expiring contract players I liked but the two I wanted I failed to get. Dybala joined PSG and Boubacar Kamara went to Roma. Two still available are Isco and Zakaria but I don’t think I’ll go for them.

Not much other activity. Spurs signed Zapata and Carvalho, Newcastle bought Coquelin back to the premier league while Coman went to real madrid in the biggest European signing. Mbappe still hasn’t signed a contract yet.

 

FA CUP 4^TH ROUND

ARSENAL 4 – Martinelli 20 32 62(Pen) Nketiah 28

PLYMOUTH 1 – Broom 39

All three of my new signings started. Pepe was back from African nations duty while I chose not to play Aubameyang or Partey. To my surprise neither Martinelli or Smith Rowe has scored during the season so I told both to get more goals and although Smith Rowe couldn’t Martinelli went and scored a hattrick. 30 shots on goal and an XG of 4.61. Both highs for the season.

 

PREMIER LEAGUE

TOTTENHAM 1 – Moura 90

ARSENAL 1– Martinelli 40

We were nearly at full strength with just Saka missing for the short trip to face Spurs again. Martinelli got an early goal and it was backs to the wall from then on. We seemed likely to hold on for big win before a poor pass from white allowed Sessegnon to intercept and cross for Moura to tap home in stoppage time. A sucker punch but we didn’t deserve anything. Not the last time Spurs would dominate us in a game this month.

 

PREMIER LEAGUE

ARSENAL 4 – Aubameyang 5, 45 Odegaard 29 Martinelli 75

CRYSTAL PALACE 1 – Gallagher 54

We returned to winning ways with a commanding victory over Crystal Palace.  A good performance and nice to see goals.

 

PREMIER LEAGUE

LIVERPOOL 1 – Origi 54

ARSENAL 1 – Aubameyang 46

We were 3 points behind Liverpool heading into the clash at Anfield. Luckily for us they had distractions of Europe so didn’t play as strong a team as they could have. Salah was also missing for them. We took the lead just after half time but Klopp made a triple substitution and Origi gabbed an equaliser. Both teams after that settled for a draw.

 

PREMIER LEAGUE

ARSENAL 3 – Bale 32 Aubameyang 50 90

MAN UNITED 0

Three days after playing second we hosted top. The table wasnt pretty with United six points clear with a game in hand. Bale headed in a superb Tomiyasu cross for 1-0. 5 minutes after the break a horror back pass from luke shaw saw Aubameyang nick in frot of De Gea for 2-0. After that we just managed the game before Aubameyang added a fine third in stoppage time.  Not one United player scored more than a 6.7. De Gea getting a 5.9. United drew with Man city the game after to leave us still in with a chance of the league. Liverpool are there though as well.

 

CARABAO CUP FINAL     

TOTTENHAM 0

ARSENAL 0

ARSENAL WON 4-1 ON PENALTIES

 

Tottenham and Arsenal have (had) never met in a major final. I left out all three new signings from the squad as none had played before in the competition. Partey was also injured while White was suspended. Spurs played much better over the 120 minutes with an 0.97 higher XG than us. However their only clearcut chance fell to Ndombele rather than Kane, Son or Moura.  The game petered out in extra time. Kane stepped up for the first penalty but hit it straight down the middle at Leno. Hojbjerg then also missed allowing Aubameyang to kick the final penalty. Nice to win the trophy and obviously also beat Spurs again.

 

 

Premier League Table -  Played / Points / Goal Difference

1.       Man Utd P27 P65 GD51

2.       Liverpool P26 P 61 GD55

3.       Arsenal P27 P 61 GD 37

4.       Man City P27 P58 GD30

5.       Brentford P27 P50 GD 14

 

Watford(13) and Burnley(15) look likely to go down. Crystal Palace are 18^th on 20 points then surprisingly Leicester with just 22. Brighton next on 27.

 

March/April Fixtures

Man United – Norwich (H) Chelsea(H) Newcastle (A) Watford (A) West Ham (A) Leicester (H) Wolves (H)Man City (H)

Liverpool – Man City (A) Aston Villa (A) Everton (H) Burnley (H) West Ham (A) Southampton (H) Brighton (A) Leeds (A) Brentford (H)

Man City – Liverpool (H) Newcastle (H) Norwich (A) Chelsea (A) Leicester (A) Watford (H) West Ham (H) Arsenal (A)

 

Premier League Top scorers

Ronaldo 25 Aubameyang 18 Salah 16  Lukaku Bale 15

Premier League Top Assists

B Fernandes 16 Robertson 11 Sancho 10 Salah, Canos (Brentford) 9 (Tomiyasu 7)

Premier League Av Rating

B Fernandes 7.95 Robertson 7.94  Ronaldo 7.80 Origi 7.70 De Bruyne 7.55 (Aubameyang 7.28)

Premier League Motm

Ronaldo 9 B Fernandes 8 Robertson, De Bruyne 6 Pulisic 5 (Bale 5)

 

 

Arsenal stats (1^st team)

Appearances

Tomiyasu 30

White 29

Gabriel 27(+1)

Xhaka, Ramsdale 27

Odegaard 26(+4)

Bale 24(+7)

Saka 23(+3)

Aubameyang 22

Partey 19(+1)

Tierney 18(+3)

Tavares 17(+4)

Smith Rowe 14(+14)

Martinelli 14(+8)

Nketiah 14(+3)

Lokonga 13(+9)

Pepe 11 (+13)

Leno 9

Holding 8

Arthur 2(+2)

Umtiti 2

Patino 1(+7)

Lainer 1

Hutchinson 0 (+4)

 

Goals

Aubameyang 20

Bale 15

Nketiah 8

Saka, Martinelli 5

Odegaard 4

Pepe 3

Xhaka, Tavares, Tomiyasu, Holding, Gabriel, Lokonga 1

 

Assists

Saka 8

Xhaka Tomiyasu 7

Pepe  5

Odegaard Bale Smith-Rowe 4

Partey 3

Tierney, White, Lokonga 2

Aubameyang, Martinelli, Lainer 1

 

Man of Match

Bale 5

Tomiyasu Aubameyang 4

Leno Odegaard 2

Pepe Tavares  White Ramsdale Holding Smith-Rowe, Martinelli Gabriel 1

 

African Nations

 

The early rounds were quite high scoring. Ghana, Gabon and Ivory Coast all made the second round although the latter two joined Egypt in being knocked out. Ghana lost 2-0 to Nigeria in the quarters ending Arsenals interest. The semis saw Senegal need extra time to beat Nigeria while Cameroon beat Algeria 1-0. The final was deservedly won by Senegal while Nigeria came third.

 

MESSI AT PSG

Although not nearly as dominant as before Lionel Messi has still had a decent first season at PSG.

Played   27(+6) Goals 15 Assists 9 AV Rating 7.62 MOM 6

 

MARCH/APRIL Fixtures

A decent run of fixtures. I would expect to beat Chelsea at home. Strange to have three away games followed by three home games.

By the end of April I hope to be top of the league

March will also be busy with all the youth players coming. My scouts and my pen and paper are ready.

West Ham (A) – FA Cup 5^th Round

Norwich (H)

Chelsea (H)

Newcastle (A)

Watford (A)

West Ham (A)

Leicester (H)

Wolves  (H)

Man City (H)

[hasdgfas]

5 hours ago, hasdgfas said:

A huge success of a season, and I really don't have much left to play for, except youth development and an undefeated season. This save might be coming to a close soon.

Now as soon as I say this...

With the number of English players I have in my squad, and the fact that my youth intake players are starting to come through, I think I have to accept this, which should inject some life back into the save.

[Telegram Sam]

4 hours ago, hasdgfas said:

Now as soon as I say this...

With the number of English players I have in my squad, and the fact that my youth intake players are starting to come through, I think I have to accept this, which should inject some life back into the save.

Did they approach you out of the blue or did you apply for the job?

Southgate won EURO 2024 in my save and has just left after the 2026 World Cup, where England finished third. Rafa Benitez has just taken over.

Edited February 18, 2022 by Telegram Sam

[hasdgfas]

2 hours ago, Telegram Sam said:

Did they approach you out of the blue or did you apply for the job?

Southgate won EURO 2024 in my save and has just left after the 2026 World Cup, where England finished third. Rafa Benitez has just taken over.

They approached me out of the blue. It was a huge surprise, but I have to take it, as I have several young players coming through who I can call up soon.

[Gilberto Silva]

I had a miserable time of it in season one, ended up finishing 11th (sacked in March but added myself again as this was intended to be a long-term rebuild....). Really going the full Mikel Arteta project youth sort of route.

I got to work with the rebuild in the January transfer window of season one initially which looked like:

Ins:
Tyler Adams (RB Leipzig - 23.5m) - useful squad option, can be used to fill in for Tomiyasu at right-back as well as the central midfield areas. 
Mariano (Real Madrid - loan) - last minute panic signing on deadline day as I wanted another option up front. He ended his loan with four appearances and zero goals. Well played. 

Outs:
Cedric (Wolves - loan) - self-explantatory. I had signed Tyler Adams which meant his playing time ceased to exist. 
Eddie Nketiah (RB Leipzig - 12m) - didn't fancy signing him to a longer-term deal so wanted to sell.
Calum Chambers (Newcastle - 3m) - Another player I wanted to sell before he left for free.
Pablo Mari (Newcastle - 17.75m) - Not required, happy enough to have Holding cover for the remainder of the season.
Saed Kolasinac (Sevilla - 875,000) - Another player I wanted to sell before leaving on a free

Then it came to the 2022 summer transfer window where I really wanted to overhaul the squad so to speak. 

Ins:
Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton - 42m rising to 72m) - As real-life, new striker required with Lacazette leaving on a free. Calvert-Lewin absolutely ideal, wanted a real focal point up front.
Ruben Neves (Wolves - 26m rising to 32m) - I wanted to move on from Granit Xhaka - and feel that in FM at least, Neves is the perfect replacement. Younger, more agile and a better personality.
Sam Johnstone (WBA - 4m) - Signed purely as a number 2. May feature in the League Cup this season.
Edinson Cavani (Manchester United - free) - With Aubameyang leaving, I wanted a player with experience to help up front when needed. Cavani was available on a free one-year deal with an option of a second if he plays 15 games, which is unlikely.
Romeo Lavia (Man city - 9m rising to 18m) - I see him as a long-term replacement for Thomas Partey. 
Alex McCarthy (Southampton - 350,000) - Available on a cheap deal, low wages. Ideal as an emergency backup - also could develop into a decent enough coach.
Dani Olmo (RB Leipzig - 47m rising to 57m) - This one I was on the fence about. I was thinking I needed a little more creativity and directness in the final third. Decided to put in a couple of bids and managed to negotiate a decent enough fee. Should provide a little extra for us in our push for a European spot this season.

Outs:
Bernd Leno (Manchester City - 8.5m) - Contract was running out in 2023, wanted him off the wage bill. 
Matteo Guendouzi  (Marseille - 9.5m) - Marseille activated their option to buy. 
Lucas Torreira (Fiorentina - 12.75m) - Fiorentina activated their option to buy.
Mohamed Elneny (Nice - free) - Decided against offering him a new deal as I feel as though we have enough depth in midfield.
Hector Bellerin (Inter 9.75m) - With Tyler Adams giving Tomiyasu back-up at right-back I felt that Bellerin was no longer required.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles (Borussia Monchengladbach - 12m) - he wanted out, kept demanding football that I could not give him.
Runar Alex Runarsson (Brighton - 1.2m) - Useless. Sold. 
Cedric (Zenit 6.75m) - No reason to keep him.
Reiss Nelson (Bayer Leverkusen - 15m) - I toyed with the idea of keeping him around but decided he wouldn't get nearly enough game-time so decided to sell. Includes a 25m buy-back clause though.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Newcastle - loan) - Another I wanted off the wage-bill. Could not get rid of him for the life of me until deadline day - where relegated Newcastle loaned him whilst paying 30% of his wages.
Granit Xhaka (Newcastle - loan) - Another I couldn;t shift until deadline day. Newcastle paying 70% of his wages.
Charlie Patino (Bolton - loan) - Needs some real competitive game-time. 

I think I am now left with a really energised and young squad with plenty of competition for places despite being fairly streamlined. Full squad available listed below - ages included to show how I have brought the average age down even further. 

Goalkeepers:
Aaron Ramsdale (24), Sam Johnstone (29), Alex McCarthy (32)

Centre-Backs:
Gabriel (24), Rob Holding (26), Ben White (24), William Saliba (21)

Full-backs:
Kieran Tierney (25), Nuno Tavares (22), Takehiro Tomiyasu (23)

Central Midfield:
Thomas Partey (29), Ruben Neves (25), Albert Sambi Lokonga (22), Tyler Adams (23), Martin Odegaard (23)

Attacking Midfield:
Dani Olmo (24), Emile Smith Rowe (22), Nicolas Pepe (27), Bukayo Saka (20), Gabriel Martinelli (21)

Forwards:
Dominic Calvert-Lewin (25), Edinson Cavani (35), Folarin Balogun (21)

I am gearing toward more of a 4-3-3 at the start of this season but will shift to a 4-2-3-1 in certain games. First XI looks like:

GK (SK-S) Ramsdale
DR (WB-D) Tomiyasu
DL (WB-S) Tierney
DCR (BPD-D) White
DCL (CD-D) Gabriel
DM (A-D) Partey
MCR (CM-S) Odegaard
MCL (DLP-S) Neves
AMR (IW-A) Saka
AML (IW-S) Olmo
FC: (PF-A) Calvert-Lewin

Started the season well - winning 3 games out of 5 and only losing a tight 1-0 away at Chelsea. Feeling better about this season already!

[WillyBroadband]

Hello lads (& everyone else), thought I'd do a little update as I've just finished my 3rd season and I think it will be my last before the next update. Not much point starting a new one, IMO. 86 points is the third highest points tally - of the Premier League era - since The Invincibles & our title win in 2001/02 but Liverpool are so hard to knock off their perch. 

Here's my squad... I must admit, I do have some average squad players (Hidemasa Morita, Anatoliy Trubin) but a strong 15/16, I like sticking to my Teamwork & Work Rate rule though.

Even though I don't think I'm carrying on, I still have these two dudes on the way. I signed Ilaix Moriba on FM21 for Everton & he was unreal & I really like Florian Wirtz IRL (big fan of the Bundesliga, been following for years)

My history - 66% win percentage and £44M in profit, 2 FA Cups & a Community Shield. Not bad but maybe a little underwhelmed. 

This is probably my strongest XI - I would sometimes put Martin Ødegaard as CM/Att & bring in Marcos Antônio as the DLP (but he was terrible in bigger games) - also used a customised version of a FuSS tactic this season. 

Thanks for reading, all and hope everyone is having fun on their Arsenal saves. 

[WillyBroadband]

22 hours ago, hasdgfas said:

Now as soon as I say this...

With the number of English players I have in my squad, and the fact that my youth intake players are starting to come through, I think I have to accept this, which should inject some life back into the save.

Oh wow man, thats cool! 

Weirdly, in my save, Ernesto Valverde is the England manager.

[WillyBroadband]

Another update, as I've never seen this before in any save (I don't think) - Gabi Martinelli was really unhappy because I didn't play him as an AML/Winger (he played 21 games as an AML/Inside Forward & 4 as a ST/Pressing Forward) he requested to be transfer listed, so I accepted. 

So, I looked at what social group he was in and asked Gabriel & ESR to have a word - nothing. Along comes my captain Kieran Tierney and this happens...

[hasdgfas]

Squad Review 2028:

Time to do a review of the full squad, as it's been a while. I am a heavy squad rotater, so they all get plenty of playtime. I'll also list up to one future prospect for each position, depending on whether I have one .

GK(Sweeper Keeper - Support):

Aaron Ramsdale - Everpresent every season. He's still fantastic and only hitting 30. I'm starting to look around for backups/replacements at this point, but I still don't think I'll need that for a few seasons yet.

Ignacio Suarez - The player I've found for backup at the moment, he cost 5.75M from Racing Club in Argentina back in 2025/26. He's the cup keeper and will generally get a couple matches during the League season, whether because of injury or because we solidified our League position before the end of the season and I wanted to get him some time. He's getting very close to as good as Ramsdale, and in a season or two might be better.

No good future prospect here. There are a couple young GKs in the wings, but they'll never be more than a backup. And honestly, a backup to Suarez in the future might just be fine.

DR(Wing-Back - Support):

Tino Livramento - He's just been incredible in his first 3 seasons and took over as the starter from Tomiyasu. He's 25 and has been averaging about a 7.4 in every season here. He's so good. 25M was a steal.

Takehiro Tomiyasu - He's also performing really well in this role! The only problem is he's starting to reach 30. We'll see if he keeps it up or starts to decline fast.

FUTURE PROSPECT: Rolando Alcott - A 2024 youth academy prospect. He already has 11 caps for Jamaica at the age of 20. He's maybe not quite defensive-minded enough for how I like this role to be, but as an academy prospect I think I want to keep him around. He's on loan at Celta Vigo in Spain right now, so some time in La Liga should do him wonders.

DC (BPD - Defend. yeah, both of them. I'm playing two DMs):

Gabriel - Somehow had his best season last season as he turned 30. He's still very good, but I anticipate slowly starting to phase him out of a starting position soon.

Ibanez - I spent 40M on him from Roma in 2023/24 and he has been worth it. He hasn't quite performed as well as Gabriel, but he's still VERY good. He's 29, so similar age to Gabriel, and I'll be very disappointed to lose their partnership soon. They are outstanding together.

Pablo Tobar - I think he's actually our "best" central defender just looking at attributes, but since he's only 21, he's third choice(but again, he gets plenty of playing time). How much did he cost to look that good, you might ask? He was free from Millionarios FC in Colombia. I love going to Colombia for Wonderkids. It feels like their regens start to come through really strong really quickly, and he's no exception.

Airton - Falling into 4th choice central defender even though he's still really good! He cost 13.5M from Flamengo in Brazil, and was a steal. I'll definitely hear out offers for him if anyone comes for him though.

FUTURE PROSPECT: Dani Rodrigues - While it's weird to call him the future prospect when he's older than Tobar, he's clearly the weakest choice at the moment. That's why he's out on loan at Ajax this season. But if Ajax is a good level for him, he'll be a good backup here soon. He cost 14.75M from Boavista in Portugal, and will almost certainly end up being worth more than that when all is said and done, even if he's 5th choice now.

DL (Wing-Back - Support):

Ellis Poate - A 2022 Youth Academy Prospect, he's already got 6 caps before I became England manager. The only reason he wasn't a first teamer last season was Tierney, but with 1 year left on his contract, I sold him for 34M to PSG. I don't need him when I have a 22-year old like Poate.

Luca Netz - Clearly weaker than Poate, but has been around for a while since a 40M move from Gladbach. Has he been worth it? Probably not, honestly. I could have gone with someone similar for cheaper for a while before Poate came through. We'll see how he develops as a clear backup, but I might have to cut some losses on him soon.

FUTURE PROSPECT? - Kevaughn Biggs - a 2025 Youth Prospect, I'm not sure if he'll develop well enough to join the first team, but he's the only DL who's got a shot.

DM (Half-Back - Defend):

Oumar Soulet - 65M from Villa. He was a central defender there, but he performed wonderfully as my Half-Back, with an average rating of 7.17. No goals or assists, but that's not his job. His job is to break up play and oh boy does he do that well.

Rodrigo Bentancur - Obviously will not be an option in future updates, but he's been a fantastic servant for 20M from Juventus since the 2022/23 season. His place has been taken by Soulet since last season, but he's still no slouch. If he's happy as a squad player, I'm happy to keep him around a while longer.

FUTURE PROSPECT - Joel D'Alessandro - 6.25M from Boca with a loanback to them for a while, he looks like he'll be a great understudy for Soulet and Bentancur once that loan ends.

DM (Segundo Volante - Support):

Jude Bellingham - He's incredible. Particularly having been able to get him for free after his contract expired. He plays the toughest position in the tactic and performs quite well at it.

Charlie Patino - He's developed wonderfully from the start of the save. He's actually performed pretty comparably to Bellingham, although he hasn't played against competition at quite the same level. He still gets plenty of time, but he doesn't get the CL knockout rounds or away at Man United/Liverpool/Man City/etc.

FUTURE PROSPECT - Finley Heard - I showed him off right after his youth intake, and I'm already starting to blood him into the first team. At least for preseason. He'll still be around and training and being mentored with the first team because I think he's going to be just unbelievably good. Why'd I pick him for this role rather than the AMC? That 10 tackling he has right now at age 16.

AMR (Inside Forward - Attack):

Steven Eck - Another 2022 Youth Academy Prospect. Floats around the "world-class" level, He had 16 goals and 11 assists in all competitions last year, and he has 32 goals in 44 caps for the USA at age 22!!! He's so, so good. He won the Kopa trophy last year and he's going to keep performing at a high-level for a very long time.

Andre Cerqueira - He cost 22M from Antwerp in 2025/26 and immediately jumped into the first team. 17 goals and 18 assists in all competitions last season fought hard with Eck. He may be slightly less good, but he still performs wonderfully. And he's a great choice for several positions on the pitch.

FUTURE PROSPECT - Ellis Gordon - a 2027 Youth Prospect. He's got a shot, let's see if he develops.

AMC (Advanced Playmaker - Support):

Dominik Szoboszlai - 83M from Leipzig was nothing the season I sold Odegaard for 150+M, and he has been, somehow, a steal. Just an unbelievably-high-performing player and the undisputed starter. For some reason he's starting to get grumbly. I think because I don't have him play literally every game.

Emile Smith Rowe - However, if I had to, I could probably sell him, because ESR is also very very good. I think he's coming up on a Testimonial soon too, which would be fun.

Luka Romero - Somehow hasn't found a spot, even though he's very good. I just have a very crowded front line. He cost 7.5M from Lazio and I could probably get 10x that if I wanted to sell him. I wouldn't even mind selling him! He was on loan at Bayern the last two seasons and got plenty of playing time there!

FUTURE PROSPECT - Jason Blanks - He looks like an excellent backup, but the position is incredibly crowded in my squad right now. He's on loan at Ajax, and as long he gets time there, he'll probably fit in somewhere here soon.

AML (Inverted Winger - Attack):

Darko Jovanovic - Speaking of steals, he cost 5.5M from Red Star in Serbia and just look at him. He's unbelievable. He's 21 years old.

Dwight McNeil - A very capable backup, and has been since I bought him from Burnley for 35M in 2023/24. He hasn't complained about playing time once, and just puts in the work. I was going to sell him this summer with how crowded everything is, but he tore his cruciate ligaments near the end of last season. 

Panagiotis Kaloskamis - a 2023 Youth Prospect, he's easily the weakest of the current crop of people fighting for time, and I might even send him out on loan again this season, but he's been very good at HSV the last couple seasons.

No other future prospects here just yet.

ST (Advanced Forward - Attack):

Dusan Vlahovic - An absolute star. Bangs in the goals. 50M from Fiorentina, even though he won't be available at the next update, but he's been 30 goals a season since he arrived, and has been over 40 for 4 straight seasons.

Gabriel Martinelli - Kinda cheating, because i play him at AML a lot too, but he's also super super good. He's also reaching testimonial levels soon, and he just performs at a high level very consistently, wherever I try to play him in the front 4.

No future prospects directly for this position, because I'm having trouble finding regens with top finishing numbers this FM for some reason.

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And that's the squad! There are several more future prospects I didn't describe, just because I have so many. I'm really looking forward to bringing several of these players through and starting to integrate them into the first team.

[arsenalthebest]

I have decided to restart with a transfer update but I'm uncertain if I should renew Nketiah's contract I like him in game but letting his contract expire would be more realistic