llama3

I don’t, it’s about everything working together in a balanced system.

Absolutely vouch for Tavares, really impressive. A bargain option is Zeki Celik who is also good.

@raeburn have you considered a 3-4-3 instead? Having wide players at MR and ML will help your defensive shape more. You can tweak into a 3-1-4-2 or 3-4-1-2 too, giving players in different areas of the pitch.

Champions League Winners! After reaching my 3rd final in 3 seasons, we finally won the big one! We lost the 2024 final to Barcelona 4-2 on penalties, after a 0-0 draw. We lost the 2025 final 1-0 to Inter after extra time. I was determined not to lose this one. I was even more concerned when looking back at the results against opponents Man City and Klopp who is managing them. I won 1-0 away in a game we were indebted to De Ligt, Saliba & Donnarumma, before losing 1-0 in the reverse fixture at the Emirates in a game we created little and offered too much space in behind. My record against Klopp is very patchy too and my team, whilst they've been brilliant in large swathes of the season; we started badly and were on a run of struggling to create and score by the time the final came around. Early in the match had quite a bit of possession, but didn't do much with it. We gave Sterling a run on goal on the break and he hit the post. I tried playing on the break a bit more to see if I could minimise the space in behind and create some space behind City to work with, but we just couldn't stop City pinning us in for decent spells. I tried pressing more aggressively, it certainly improved me, but there was so little in it. Max Aarons picked up a twisted knee after about an hour and then I decided to roll the dice a bit. I took off Martinelli, Neneca (brilliant Regen winger) and the struggling Aarons - replaced them with Esposito, De Jong and Sandrinho (regen right back/centre back) and switched to a 4-4-2 Diamond, to try and overwhelm the City DM & defence who were starting to get a bit nervous. The only goal of the game came after 71 minutes. We won the ball back in midfield, pressed forward, spread it wide to charging full back Sandrinho, who laid it across the 6 yard box for Haaland to sweep home. We gradually started retreating deeper and deeper as the game went on and I became more risk averse, but we did enough, held on to win 1-0. A board takeover incoming, I won the EFL Cup, FA Cup & Premier League again - as well as the World Club Cup at the start of the season - so going to think about taking on a new challenge, or consider if there's anything else I really want to see done at Arsenal.

Wow, that's a bizarre season indeed!

@TheInvisibleMan my bad luck with Champions Leagues has continued. I lost the 23/24 final to Barcelona on penalties, then the 24/25 final to Inter 0-1 after extra time. Both times, couldn't break down opponents. I got a decent measure of revenge though over Inter by winning the Club World Cup in summer 2025, beating Inter in the final 3-1 after extra time. A game which frankly went much the same way, but I played on the break a bit more and thankfully it opened up some space to win it 3-1. It's literally just the Champions League I haven't won yet. Juventus and me did quite a bit of business between us this summer - they signed Laporte, Mount and Vinicius from me. I re-signed Jadon Sancho back from them. I've moved on Guendouzi (his agent is a *****), Torreira and Barella this summer, but signed a couple of great regens too. A Brazilian midfielder called Rodolpho (left footed, deep-playmaker) and Giovanni Lazzari from Bayern (left-footed ball playing centre back). Achievements so far are: 19/20 Premier League Champions UEFA Europa League Winners FA Cup Winners (beat Spurs) 20/21 UEFA Super Cup (beat PSG) Carabao Cup Winners (beat Chelsea) Premier League Champions FA Cup Winners (beat Liverpool) 21/22 FA Community Shield Winners (beat Chelsea) Premier League Champions (Invincible - 106 points W34, D4, L0) 22/23 Carabao Cup Winners (beat Man Utd) Premier League Champions 23/24 FA Community Shield Winners (beat Burnley) Carabao Cup Winners (beat Liverpool) Premier League Champions lost Champions League Final to Barcelona 24/25 FA Community Shield Winners (beat Chelsea) Carabao Cup Winners (beat Man Utd) Premier League Champions FA Cup Winners (beat Leeds) lost Champions League Final to Inter 25/26 (so far) Club World Cup Champions (beat Inter) Squad I have a top class squad, really not much room for improvement, squad is (regens in italics) 1 - Donnarumma - GK 2 - Sandrinho - DRC 3 - Tierney - DL 4 - Rodolpho - MC 5 - de Ligt - DC (capt) 6 - Saliba - DC 7 - Neneca - AMR 9 - Haaland - STC 10 - Havertz - AMC 11 - Sancho - AML 12 - Martinelli - AML 13 - Lazzari - DC 14 - Esposito - STC 16 - Florentino Luis - DM/MC 17 - Saka - AMR 18 - E. de Jong - DC/DM/MC 19 - Fernandez - MC 20 - Pereira - MC 21 - F. de Jong - DM/MC (v/capt) 22 - Aarons - DR 23 - Cucurella - DL 24 - Meziani - GK 26 - Vandevoort - GK 27 - Morelli - DR 30 - Winterger - AMR 31 - Ferran - AMR

Completed my 6th season, winning a 6th consecutive league title. However, I just lost a 2nd consecutive Champions League Final. It's been a bit of a "what else do I need to do to win it" type situation really.

@TheInvisibleMan - I have had 2 cracks at beating that Invincible run and fallen short. Managed 40 games when I went the season unbeaten (had lost on final day of previous season and 3rd game of the following season). then crossing over the middle of 2 seasons managed 47 games, losing to Liverpool at Anfield. Still, at least I knocked them out of the Champions League.

It's more than likely a wider tactical issue - might be worth a trip to tactics forum?

Lost my Champions League Final 4-2 on penalties to Barcelona after a 0-0 draw. Only one team was trying to win it, but counts for nothing if you can't take the trophy. Time for a think and to try again.

I'm in the UEFA Champions League Final - at the end of my 5th season. I am playing Barcelona at the Stade de France... a bit of a flashback there.

It's set in the editor with no expansion capacity - in real life the Emirates was capped at 60,000 due to the transport links being insufficient to cope with more - originally 80,000 was considered

Good comeback win there

Finished 4 x seasons on my save so far. Interestingly, a club favourite is Catalin Cirjan! He was recalled from loan by me out of the blue - Kai Kavertz was in bad need of a rest post-World Cup, so I decided to give him a week off and recalled Cirjan to get me through 2 x games. He scored 14 seconds into his debut, at home to top of the table Everton. Set a new club record. Went on to get a few more goals and assists, before selling him on for £20m in the summer. My overall record so far: 19/20 - Premier League, FA Cup, Europa League 20/21 - Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup, UEFA Super Cup 21/22 - Premier League (Invincible, with 106 points), Community Shield 22/23 - Premier League, League Cup My Invincible run was 40 games, ended at home to Burnley... We've been good, but missed out on the Champions League. Went out in the semis in 2021 to winners PSG, went out to Real Madrid in the round of 16 in 2022 which was irritating; they also scored over 100 points in their league, but as they had only come 2nd in the group stage, my reward for an excellent group stage was to face the other standout side in Europe. In 2023 went out to winners Man Utd which was also frustrating - I've clearly got a better side, but somehow contrived to not win it. The disappointment has prompted a bit of a rethink tactically - just focusing on more of a Gegenpress style, than Control Possession. After my defeat to Man Utd I went on a brutal run of form, scored 5+ goals in 3 or 4 occasions in the last 7 games. Just tweaked the side with my signings this summer and feel the squad is at the most cohesive it has ever been. From the original squad I have still got: Bellerin, Tierney, Saliba, Saka, Martinelli, Torreira, Guendouzi, plus promoted James Hillson as a backup goalkeeper. Had quite a few players both arrive in and go out again where my recruitment hasn't been quite on the money - Aaron Martin, Jadon Sancho, Jules Kounde to name a few.

Sorry it's taken a few days to get to: Looks like a lot of thought has gone in to who is supporting to who in the system. You've mentioned vertical and horizontal depth in attack and you're spot on - you need both. It's pointless having lots of the ball if you're not stretching opponents and creating gaps. Your observations on how the DLF and WP interacted are a good indicator for why watching your team is important! Good observation to realise what you aren't seeing that you expect, rather than just what you are seeing. I have the same beliefs in how I see a False Nine - a positional player, rather as a second striker per sé. I tend to use 1 striker systems a lot, but was recently playing a game as Chippenham Town, where I have had moderate success using a target man dropping deeper - this suits a more direct side, but obviously a target man is not a typical choice if you have a possession side. You are right, the post adds to the discussion - keep them coming.