[FM20 - Arsenal: Time For Artekkers Tiki Taka Tactics?]

First half of the season is now done! We're currently sitting in 1st with 54 points (17 wins, 3 draws, 1 loss) - Liverpool have a game in hand over us but are only on 50 points, so there's a little cushion there.

Stats wise I'm not hugely happy with how we're doing. We're 6th for possession, but only 11th for passes completed. We've created the highest number of chances by far (105 to Everton's 77) and have the highest number of shots on target (241 to Liverpool's 200) but we're just not putting away as many as I'd like, especially considering we've scored less than Liverpool. 

In terms of playing personnel, we had big injuries to Mesut Ozil (broken leg before the season began) and Bruno Fernandes (torn hamstring) so we were without a couple of our best midfielders for quite some time. Aubameyang has been our best player so far, with 25(5) appearances and 14 goals, 11 assists. I've been quite impressed with Reiss Nelson so far and he's made it quite hard to leave him out of the team, with 19(2) appearances, 9 goals 5 assists.

I'm going to try not to buy too many players in the January window, although a better backup LB may be required.

I also got this nice little message in December:

 

[FM20 - Arsenal: Time For Artekkers Tiki Taka Tactics?]

Following the great advice, I've now started my save and the transfer window has slammed shut! We've made a lot of changes ahead of our opening Premier League fixture.

Our squad is now looking like this:

GKs:

Spoiler

• Bernd Leno - Happy with him as my #1, no real need to replace him here
• Emiliano Martinez - Will keep him on for a season as #2 and decide on his future later
• Maarten Vandevoordt - I wanted a better young 'keeper than Macey, so brought in this 17 year old Belgian to be our 3rd choice

Full backs:

Spoiler

• Hector Bellerin - When he's fit, he'll be our DR 100%. I aim to keep him for some time unless a big offer comes in
• Kieran Tierney - He needs to prove his fitness, but I can see him being our DL for years to come if he does
• Ainsley Maitland-Niles - I chose to keep him partly due to HG quotas and partly due to his versatility, he may be moved on in future
• Calum Chambers - Similar to AMN

Centre backs:

Spoiler

• Ruben Dias - Big money signing, he should be able to lead our defence for a long time
• Kristoffer Ajer - I'm hoping he'll turn into a ball playing version of BFG, I have high hopes for him
• Zinho Vanheusden - Another new signing, he'll need to develop quickly
• David Luiz - I struggled to move him on, so he stays for now to provide cover

Centre mids:

Spoiler

• Bruno Fernandes - Another huge signing, he'll either play MC or AMC depending on who else is in the lineup
• Bruno Guimaraes - Double Bruno! We've been linked with him IRL - my aim is to develop him into an IWB if he doesn't quite cut it at MC
• Lucas Torreira - Will rotate with Bruno G in the more defensive MC role
• Matteo Guendouzi - Not too sure what to do with him, so he'll just be rotating
• Joe Willock - Same as Matteo, will be a rotation option for now
• Jude Bellingham - He'll be used in all midfield roles as cover until I decide where I want him long term

Wingers:

Spoiler

• Nicolas Pepe - Needs to prove that he's up to his price tag. Will be moved on if he doesn't
• Reiss Nelson - I have high hopes for Reiss, hopefully he can live up to the hype
• Emile Smith Rowe - Similar expectations to Reiss, but a completely different kind of player. I'll try to develop him as an AMC if he doesn't work out wide
• Gabriel Martinelli - I have the highest hopes of the lot for Gabriel - a very exciting prospect who can also cover at ST

Attacking mids:

Spoiler

• Mesut Ozil - I still really hope Mesut can return to his old ways. He won't be getting a new contract though, so he's either sold or leaves on a free when his deal expires
• Dani Olmi - Mesut's successor, he'll be getting a lot of game time

Strikers:

Spoiler

• Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang - I chose to sell Lacazette in order to keep Auba. Hopefully he proves me right!
• Amine Gouiri - Laca's replacement - looks a great player already and I hope he continues to grow

 

We also signed Nicolo Armini who has gone out on loan to Fleetwood. Kolasinac went on loan to Southampton for 300k/m and 100% wages.

Will do another update when we get to January!

[FM20 - Arsenal: Time For Artekkers Tiki Taka Tactics?]

With the beta out I think I'm going to be starting my "proper" Arsenal save. I've played around with a few separate saves already and feel like I now want to get into things properly!

I'm going to be playing a 4-2-3-1 as I still love the AMC position even though it's not hugely effective this year.

One question I have, mainly for @SteveUK based on his fantastic deals, is how to go about getting rid of the dead wood? In some of my playaround saves I've tried offering out people like Mustafi, Kolasinac, etc, however I've not been getting any real interest, let alone teams willing to pay the amount you managed to get! Tips would be greatly appreciated considering shifting players is necessary to start the rebuild!

[FM19: The English Football League thread]

Just received an absolutely mad bid for Sandro Tonali in my Norwich save. I'm in my third season now and am just about top of the Premiership. Manchester City have decided that they REALLY want Tonali from me, and have agreed with my negotiation of £93M for a man I signed for just £4.7m. I'll be sad to see him go, as he's been a mainstay in the side that got me promoted and then finished 2nd, but I'd be crazy to reject that kind of money!

[FM19: The English Football League thread]

Will be jumping on the Norwich bandwagon as well this weekend! It's where I grew up, so I always like to play games with them.

Out of curiosity, how are people using Buendia? On the games I've played with Norwich before in this game I've struggled to fit him in (partially because he seemed to only play AMC) but would like to try to get him move involved this time around.

[FM19: Arsenal - Au Revoir Monsieur Wenger, Hola Señor Emery]

10 hours ago, Garygooner666 said:

I'm really having limited success in selling some of the fringe Arsenal players off so thought I would ask to see what are the best sales people have got for the players.

 

Ozil .. Not overly looking to sell other then to reduce the wage bill and offload once suitable replacement, it seem most tend to free transfer him.

Mkhitaryan ..  Would like to sell but had no offers at all, even tried throwing him into deals without much success.

Welbeck .. no offers

Elneny .. best so far was from PSG which was around £25mil.

Monreal .. sold for £12mil in December leaving end of season (have Tierney signed for then).

Jenkinson .. £4mil seems the magic fee and normally goes Turkey.

Cech .. Starting new save and debating trying to sell him in this one (Leno got injured pre-season in my game so didn't try it).

 

Thanks

 

 

 

Ozil, Mkhitaryan and Welbeck all had nobody interested for me at the start of the second season. I eventually offloaded Welbeck for free, but nobody will touch Ozil or Mkhi, even for nothing.

As an aside, I managed to get: £27m for Iwobi, £15m for Ospina, £1.5m for Macey, £5m for Asano, £5m for Martinez, £29m for Kolasinac and £30m (rising to £40m) for Mustafi.

[FM19: Arsenal - Au Revoir Monsieur Wenger, Hola Señor Emery]

Feels bad when you offer someone out for £0 and nobody wants them. Really want their wages gone!

[FM19: Arsenal - Au Revoir Monsieur Wenger, Hola Señor Emery]

8 hours ago, NabsKebabs said:

since you have laca, you may aswell replace auba with a natural winger. Ousmane Dembele or Hirving Lozano spring to mind

I already have Pavon and was thinking of bringing in Sancho as well - I could bring in Dembele instead of him but I imagine he'd be more expensive. I intend to rotate whoever plays AML/AMR with Reiss and ESR next season, so can probably only afford to bring one in.

I also want to get rid of some or all of the following, but I'm struggling: Sokratis/Koscielny, Elneny/Ramsey, Xhaka, Iwobi, Mkhitaryan, Welbeck. I'd consider selling Ozil as well to free up the wages for someone else - he's on the same as Mbappe would be!

I'm unfortunately not getting any offers at all for Xhaka, Mkhi or Welbeck, so it's making a squad reshuffle much harder than I'd like!

[FM19: Arsenal - Au Revoir Monsieur Wenger, Hola Señor Emery]

Ended up settling on a 4-2-3-1 and got both Aubameyang and Lacazette scoring regularly by swapping them between AML and ST. They ended up scoring 32 and 31 respectively, with 20 each in the league.

I won the league and the FA cup first season, but now have a big decision to make: selling Aubameyang. Real Madrid are offering just under £80m, and Chelsea are offering £99m. While I'm a massive fan of his, £99m for a 30 year old seems very hard to turn down. I've had a bid accepted for Mbappé, but he'll cost a potential £200m plus 350k p/w. Any other ideas for replacements for Auba if I were to let him go?

[FM19: Arsenal - Au Revoir Monsieur Wenger, Hola Señor Emery]

I've managed to  get 18 goals and 4 assists from Aubameyang in 21(1) games as a lone AF(A) although I must admit I'm not too happy with how the rest of the team is doing so may start again and rethink things tactically.

Lacazette, while he hasn't played much due to injury, has 2 goals and 2 assists from 8(5) games, although most of these were from AML as an IF - this is one of the things I'm not hugely happy about. I don't mind who plays up top for me, but I'd like both Auba and Laca to be scoring regularly. I'd also like Ozil to do SOMETHING. I think playing him as a Mezzala as suggested already in the thread may be the right call. I've been playing him at both MC and AMC so far, and he's managed 1 goal and 2 assists in 21(2) games. In contrast to Mesut though, Smith-Rowe has been brilliant for me and I look forward to developing him further.

[FM19: Arsenal - Au Revoir Monsieur Wenger, Hola Señor Emery]

7 hours ago, Sysiphus said:

The screenshots I promised. First off, the tactics; one of them attacking based on Man City irl and the other a counter one based on how Liverpool played vs. Man City in the CL quarter finals last year.

Özil has been immense as a mezzala, it's really the first team in recent FM's I've got him to play like he's supposed to. He's averaging 7.76 over the first 12 games in the league, has been rested the other games.

We lost the first game of the season 1-0 away to Man City with them scoring in extra time. Since then it has been smooth sailing and the team has been firing on all cylinders. We're also top of our Europa League group but somehow went of the Carabao Cup vs. Bournemouth where Boruc saved 19 shots! 

Glad to see you've got Mesut performing - what goal/assist figures has he got for you?

[FM19: Arsenal - Au Revoir Monsieur Wenger, Hola Señor Emery]

59 minutes ago, Rob Gray said:

Started my Arsenal now, Signed Lucas Paqueta, Kieren Tierney, Cristian Pavon and Matthias De Ligt.  Hopefully they will slot into my team nicely

What formation are you planning on playing? Hopefully Pavon gives you some much needed width as our squad is lacking in that regard.

[FM18 Magic Enganche]

I just did a holiday season as Arsenal (with live data update from sortitoutsi), and had the following results:

League 

2nd place with 23 wins, 8 draws, 7 losses - 77 points. The losses were ALL away, and were:

0-1 vs Bournemouth, 2-5 vs Man City, 3-4 vs West Ham, 0-1 vs Chelsea, 1-4 vs Tottenham, 0-2 vs Wolves, 1-2 vs Burnley

Had the most possession (60.58%) and highest amount of completed passes (24026) by far, with the highest completion percentage (85%)

Most goals in the league with 94

3rd highest clean sheets with 15

 

Player wise, I had Augameyang and Lacazette getting 1st and 3rd in the top scorer charts respectively, with 37 and 23 goals. Lacazette was mainly playing AML by the look of things. Mesut Ozil, the Enganche, had the highest key passes in the league with 76, but only registered 10 assists.

 

Cup competitions

League cup winners, Europa League finalists (lost 5-1 to Lyon, but had 2 red cards in the 42nd minute - still controlled possession though), FA cup finalists (lost 2-0 to Chelsea after extra time despite controlling the game and having injuries to key players). Looks like the tactic worked wonders in the cups.

 

After this relatively low effort test, I'm looking forward to starting a proper game with the tactic and seeing where it will take me when I've not just left my AM in charge of everything. Nice work!

[My Big Fat GK can score more than your Big Fat GK (Blast from the past challenge).]

you can also find it in the 'profile' page.

btw, I can't seem to find regen keepers with decent penalties attributes, I see lots of great FK rating (around 15) no luck with the PK though. I want to join this challenge badly but waiting for the perfect candidate to pop up and domiatae scoring charts for 20 years

Thanks, I was looking in the wrong place!

[My Big Fat GK can score more than your Big Fat GK (Blast from the past challenge).]

Has the "Free Kick Taking" attribute been removed from Goalkeepers in FM16? I can't seem to see it on any attribute pages for GKs. Is it now taken into account as part of "Kicking"?

[Quickfire Questions and Answers Thread (Tactic and Training Questions Only)]

I remember quite a while ago there were some studies into seeing which tactics certain managers used during games. As far as I am aware, this was done by putting a really good manager as an assistant manager and letting him take control of matches. How do you view what tactics the assistant manager is using aside from just looking in the "formations" tab after a match - is it possible to extract tactics from matches?