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I'm new so I don't know how much this has been discussed here, but I have seen older threads about the women's game from a few years ago. I understand that SI say that the Women's game needs to bring in Championship level crowds before they consider scouting it. Is it me, or does anyone else think this is an excessive number expected? Most of the women's teams play at lower league grounds, and so will never bring in 20k+ crowds regularly until we see the teams being treated as separate entities to the Men's game. However, in the last two years, we have seen games reach Premier League crowds. England are doing really well and it's an exciting competition. Not everyone is going to want to play it, but can I point out how little interest I have in playing about 80% of the leagues on the Men's game. It would help give the game a boost, with a proper collection of players and NextGen's that aren't generated as 'Alan' or 'Mike'. Surely SI can make enough through all their games to do something small, even if it's a small challenge or mini-game alongside the men's league. Would it not be possible to have a possible selection on the 'New Career' menu where you could pick 'Men, Women or both'? What do people think? What do SI say now, knowing how much the Women's game has grown in the last 24 months? Or are they not really interested?

Hi guys, So i have recently started an arsenal save, and am going into my second season with Arsenal, with about 60mil in the transfer budget. At the moment I need a striker to replace auba, who is amazing, but in the next year or two, I fear will downgrade drastically. So what I need is a striker who has his same characteristics, fast, and good at finishing, but ideally someone young. At the moment I am torn between getting Werner, or giving Eddie Nketiah a go upfront, so any help or ideas are welcome! (Also suggestions for fullbacks that develop well within 2 years would be good as well!)

Hi, when i was a kid i completely loved Arsenal,i don't know why i just did. And i still love Arsenal just as much as the 1st day i knew about the existence of that team and it feels bad knowing that they haven't won a Premier League since the 03/04 season. I don't know what it is about me that tends to support teams that don't win the league for over a decade such as Liverpool, the last time they won the Premier League i wasn't even alive ( 89/90 ) another team i love and support more than any other team is Sporting CP ( i'm portuguese btw ) again... They haven't won the league since 01/02, but we're not here to talk about other teams so let's move on! For now this is going to be the only tactic i will be using: I started the preseason by arranging new friendlies against small teams to boost the moral of the team and these were the results: Besides that 2-2 draw it was a pretty good preseason, something you'd expect when playing a big team and playing against team's nobody has ever heard of ( no offense if you know or support any of these teams ) Played the game against Chelsea for the community shield ended up getting destroyed even though they only managed to make it a 1-0 loss for us. Moving on! 1st game of the Premier League, our mainly focus of the 1st season. Things started bad for us when Crystal Palace scored on the 26th minute. We managed to score just before half time 2 goals but unfortunately for us they both got disallowed... 87 minutes into the game, it was looking like a loss for us but Olivier Giroud ( 66th minute substitution for Lacazette ) came in HOT and scored the equalizer for us! Game stats below. Not off to a good start but it was only the 1st game of the season so there's still plenty of time to turn this 3 point gap. I'll keep you guys updated throughout the season! Next game was against Everton. A nice 2-1 victory and once again Olivier Giroud saving Arsenal with a late goal after getting into the pitch. He seemed to be playing rather well so i decided to give him some 1st team football. Huddersfield was next and our best scorer was on the pitch from the beginning now. 10 minutes into the game Giroud gets injured. Half time and we were losing 2-0 but luckily for us we managed to score and get another draw. Stoke City now ! We were better than they were but we only got a 1-1 result... Another draw. I think it was clear that the tactic wasn't performing well so i decided to remove all the changes i made to the Team's Instructions and put the mentality back on standard and team shape on flexible to start from scratch. This is our Europa League group by the way. Not a hard group we should go trough to the next stage. We played 2 more games, one against Lokomotiv Moscow for our 1st Europa League game and we won 3-0 another one against Newcastle and guess what? Another 3-0 victory! Seems like the key to success is to keep things as they come choose your formation and win games no instructions needed! xD This is our schedule and league table so far. Remember i said Giroud got injured in the 10th minute of the Huddersfield game? Here's all of the injuries we currently have. I'll keep you guys updated throughout the season ! Our next game was for the Carabao Cup 3rd Round against West Ham. 2-0 Victory! Things are starting to look good for us. Next we have a big away game against Manchester City. We won 3-1 even though they were superior most of the highlights were for us. Our 2nd game of the Europa League group stage was against AEK. AEK is not a hard team to beat and we showed that by making a goal festival on their home, 5-0 for us! Next we had another hard game against Leicester City who are doing awful in this start of the season they were in 20th when we play against them, but they still have a great team and should not be underestimated. Fortunately we kept our good run with a 1-0 victory. International break is here and this is how things are going for us. Im gonna keep playing and i'll update this when i get another big game! Tottenham came next, it was a hard game we were up 2-0 and they scored 1 goal near the end making it 2-1 final result. They played much better than we did it was a lucky game for us. The next game was against West Brom for the Carabao Cup, we dominated possession but shots were pretty much even as you can see below. By this point i was playing the tactic that i recently had made and it seemed to be working pretty well, possession and high pressure football so we can have the ball at all times and when we don't have it, we recover it fast. Our 5th game for the Europa League didn't go so well, it was against Lokomotiv Moskow away from home and we managed to score the equalizer on the 89th minute. Also, Reiss Nelson made his debut for the 1st team and got a rating of 8,6 along with the Player Of The Match award. Not bad at all for the young star's 1st game. The next 2 games were against the big boys, Chelsea and Manchester United. We were in second 1 point away from the 1st place held by Chelsea. Manchester united were 3rd, 5 points away from us so those 2 matches were really important. As you can see we were better than Chelsea but couldn't score. The 3-1 loss against Manchester United really made me think this might have been the start of a bad run, the last 3 games 2 draws and 1 loss not good... Luckily i was wrong, we won the next 2 games 3-0. We qualified for the next Europa League stage and got placed against Maccabi Tel-Aviv. It should be pretty easy to be honest. We finally played against Liverpool and this was the result... Carabao Cup! Again... 1-0 victory After that, we've drawn against West Brom 0-0, won 2-0 against Crystal Palace and lost 2-1 against Everton. Christmas has arrived and this is what our schedule and league table looks like so far. Transfer Window is open and im trying to sell Özil and Sánchez because lets get real here, Özil is 29 even though he's an amazing player his value will only start to drop from now on and Sánchez wants to leave at the end of the season. Im thinking about buying Thomas Lemar to replace Sánchez but there might be better options for the future, if you guys know any please let me know!

Following Arsene Wengers move as Director of Football at Arsenal FC, The board have decided to install relatively unknown Abbas Mohiddin as the new Arsenal Manager at the emirates. The generation of all the clubs now is Money, all teams are fully loaded with money such as City, PSG and of course the Abramovich Chelsea and Man United all capable of spending big to bolster their squad, then...... Theres Arsenal FC. Manager: Abbas Mohiddin Team : Arsenal FC Transfer Budget :£39,000,000 Arsenal Profile Abbas Mohiddin Profile Incoming Transfers Our Budget was very small, The Board gave us £39,000,000 to spend so we were very limited in buying players so we had to focus on buying young players and a couple of "established players" As you can see our most expensive signing was Lemos at about £20 million and a couple of youngsters. We still have our players from Giroud, Alexis and First team squad but this is the beginning of an ERA. We have already begun our season and we are on week Our Fixture List Currently we are on week 7 and i will be uploading all goals from all fixtures for you to enjoy. Week 1 Fixtures Bournemouth 1 V 1 Arsenal Benik Afobe (39) - Alexis Sanchez (16) Yellow cards Arsenal 2 -Francis Conquelin (79) Kieran Gibbs (85) Goal Highlights Watch out for our next Match Week 2 Fixtures Date: Sat 20/08/2016 Arsenal 2 V Leicester 2 Alex Oxade Chamberlain (7,24) - Jamie Vardy (24,89) Goal Highlights Week 3 Fixture Sat 27/08/2016 Southampton 1 Arsenal 2 Dusan Tadic (45+1) - Olivier Giroud (15) Alexis Sanchez (22) Week 4 Fixtures Date: Sat 10/08/2016 Crystal Palace 2 Arsenal 2 Cristian Benteke (31) Wilfred Zaha (73) - Francis Conquelin (5,)(91+1) Goal Highlights Champions League Week We kick off our champions league draw on this week against FC Red Bull Salszburg. Our toughest opponent in our group is of course FC Bayern and i have posted all other groups for your viewing Week 5 Champions League Group Stages matches Arsenal 3 FC Red Bull Salzburg 2 Alexis Sanchez (5, 25) Aaron Ramsey (15) - Eric Seywald (65) Bernhard Rabensteiner (90+1) GUYS I HAD TO TEST MY MACHINE GRAPHICS SO I CAN IMPROVE THE HIGHLIGHTS AND WAS I RIGHT TO DO SO GOAL HIGHLIGHTS WEEK 6 FIXTURES DATE :SAT 17/08/2016 Arsenal 4 Manchester City 1 Francis Conquelin (4,71) Olivier Giroud (21) Alexis Sanchez (68) - Nolito (50) Bellerin sent off (36) Goal Highlights Current Standings as of Tuesday 20/08/2016 Current Arsenal Stats and Performances Welcome back to Our Career. We are on week 7 and today we are playing away to Bournemouth in the EFL Cup, it was an intense game of shots, subs and toughness as Bournemouth held Arsenal for 90 minutes before Ozil scored late on after being bought in after numerous attempts from Arsenal with no luck in goal. Date: 20/09/2016 EFL 3rd Round Bournemouth 0 Arsenal 1 Ozil (89) s Goal Highlights We rested alot of first team players and introduced for the first time Samir and Lemos as CB who performed well, Ospina Took the Goal Position with Arsenal needing to introduce Ozil late who bought us the winner.

Hi all, This is hopefully not another one of those "fix my tactic for me" sort of posts but - I am after a little bit of assistance. So, I am in season 4 with Arsenal and have been using the below tactic for the last two seasons. It has worked very well and we've won the last two league titles, and narrowly missed out on the Champions League. However, in season 4 - it's struggling a little. I don't think it's a terrible tactic by any means but I'm after some tinkering help to improve it. There are 2 main issues: 1- Away from home it's really poor at creating chances. Defensively it is fairly solid but we regularly have ratings around 6.4-6.6 for the front three. I think this is related to the limitations of the system. When we are at home, we camp outside the opposition box and our chances tend to come from overlapping full backs and late runs from central midfield beyond the striker. When we are away, we struggle to keep possession that far up the pitch and I think the whole team becomes too spread out and cannot keep possession. My obvious thoughts for that are to push the D-Line higher and try retain possession? 2 - My best players have always been Savic (same as everyone else), Bellerin, Tierney (or Alba) and occasionally my AML (either Kean or Griezmann). The only position I tended to struggle with was my CF. Who had been Lacazette, playing as a DLF(A). So, I reasoned in the summer that I needed a striker whose link up play was better and more capable of weighing in with assists for the wingers and Savic. I eventually opted for Dybala (mainly as a throwback to when I had in FM17 and he broke Henry's records). He's had a few good games but when he doesn't score - his rating is 6.5 at best. I think I am just struggling to get him involved. So, I have tried some other roles (such as trying him as a Treq in the screenshot below) but I am still left with the same issue unfortunately. Don't suppose anyone can recommend anything on that front too? Thanks all - welcome any views.

Arsenal have only played one match with Aubameyang and Mkhitaryian, so I know calling it a 'New Look' maybe premature, nevertheless, after analyzing the stats from the Everton 5-1 result, I want to see whether I can replicate this in FM18. (I haven't actually tried this in-game yet, so this is only theoretical at the moment.) Formation / Shape From what I could make out watching the game and from the team line-up, Arsenal appeared to have set somewhere in the middle of a 4-4-1-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-4-2. Looking at the average heat maps (below), I've interpreted how these would be represented using in-game player roles and team instructions Average Player Positions / Action Zones / Attack Sides: The first thing I notice is how vertically compact Arsenal appear, which looks more like a 2-8-0 with the ball. I've interpreted this as a 'Very fluid' philosophy in game, with most players adopting a very similar mentality. So what is the mentality? Well looking at the action zones, to me, this appears to be leaning towards a defensive mentality overall. However I don't think this is a true representation, mainly because Arsenal were 4-0 at half time and then really slowed the pace down in the second half (which finished 1-1). With this in mind I think a standard mentality is probably a fair representation as a primary tactic and use defensive to see out a lead. Defensive line, I'm not sure about this because looking at the average heat map, the CB's look quite deep and isolated, Not sure whether this would be achieved by the use of the defensive line or individual instructions. Although I'm worried that running a deeper line will impact the on the overall compactness for the block of 8. Tempted to go with a slightly deeper defensive line. Feedback on this would be appreciated. Narrow width with stay wider instructions for the WBs and sit narrower instructions for the ML/MR positions. Player Roles 33 - Cech: GK(Defend) 6 - Koscielny: CD(Cover) 20 - Mustafi: BPD(Cover) 24 - Bellerin: WB(Attack) 18 - Monreal: WB(Attack) 7 - Mkhitaryian: WP(Support) 8 - Ramsey: CM(Support) 29 - Xhaka: DLP(Defend) 17 - Iwobi: IW(Support) 11 - Ozil: Enganche 14 - Aubameyang: Poacher Build-Up It's clear that Arsenal prefer a short passing approach to build up play, therefore I will play out of defense and use shorter passing. With 80% of shots coming from with the box, I will also work ball into box. Other Team Instructions: Low Crosses Dribble Less I hope to post some in-game results (with Aubemeyang and Mkhitaryian signed-up) soon, to compare and tweak the tactic. In the meantime I'd love for feedback on my interpretation above, particularly on the positioning of the defensive line.

Wednesday 7 June 2017. The clear, mild skies across London and its suburbs disguised a bleak atmosphere, with many locals feeling a combined sense of fear and foreboding. The national news was being dominated by the aftermath of a terrorist attack in Southwark four days earlier, which had left eight innocent people dead and 48 others injured. As all the victims were being identified one-by-one, security was stepped up across London and a series of raids were carried out on the properties of suspected Islamist extremists. It was also the final day before the General Election, for which millions of Britons would shortly be going to the polls. Voters would be deciding whether the incumbent Conservative government - led by Prime Minister Theresa May - should remain in office and negotiate the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union, or if socialist Jeremy Corbyn should lead Labour back into power after seven years in opposition. In the southern Hertfordshire town of Borehamwood, situated between Watford and London, another major news story was breaking. Over the past 36 hours, serious concerns had been raised about the welfare of one of Borehamwood's most famous residents. Few people in the history of professional football had risen so highly so unexpectedly, and then fallen just as quickly, as Gary O'Hara. Two years earlier, he was the young, unheralded coach of the Under-21s team at his beloved Arsenal Football Club. Then, following the sudden retirement of legendary first-team manager Arsène Wenger, O'Hara was unexpectedly promoted to one of the English game's hottest jobs. He may have had to fill a couple of large shoes, but - at 6ft 5in tall and 15st in weight - O'Hara was a big man with an even more substantial ego. The larger-than-life Londoner was fiercely passionate about restoring the Gunners - as Arsenal were nicknamed - to their former glories, and he was not afraid to ruffle a few feathers along the way. Ultimately, O'Hara's results with Arsenal would prove to be just as volatile as his character, and the stresses and expectations that came with managing one of the country's most reputable clubs would soon prove too great. His tenure at the Emirates Stadium lasted just a single season, paradoxically encompassing both the team's most abject failure of recent times in one sense, and its most glorious success in another. Fan opinion on O'Hara's brief reign was virtually split down the middle, between those 'Gooners' who hailed him as a charismatic master of motivation, and those who saw him as a quixotic liability. If Wenger was the most revered manager in Arsenal's history, then his successor was without question the most divisive. The 2015/2016 season had seen O'Hara encounter various problems - not just on the pitch, but also off it. The short-tempered coach had publicly fallen out with the press, the board, and the supporters, not to mention a few of his own players. That was even without mentioning the tragedies and turmoil surrounding his personal life, which unravelled as quickly as his professional career. The year that followed O'Hara's departure from Arsenal was filled with even more despair. His 15-year marriage to his childhood sweetheart Laura - with whom he had two daughters - almost completely disintegrated within a matter of months. That was followed by a sudden and startling confession on national television, which would leave many in professional football reeling. By the spring of 2017, this 38-year-old - once healthy and full of enthusiasm - was a broken man. He had become a reclusive alcoholic, hiding from the public spotlight that had once glared brightly on him. O'Hara was last seen in public on the afternoon of 5 June. He had been due to meet his father David for dinner that evening, but never showed up. David would report him missing the next day. In the early hours of 7 June, a team of officers from the Metropolitan Police turned up at O'Hara's house. The doorbell was rung twice, with no answer. Police had to force their way into the property with a battering ram. The Met would spend the next few minutes scouring the house until one officer discovered a harrowing sight in the upstairs study. Dangling from a rope noose tied to a ceiling fan blade was the lifeless body of a tall, muscular, middle-aged man who fitted the description of O'Hara. The deceased was completely naked, with his clothes having been discarded across the bedroom next door, while an upturned chair lay on the floor beside him. In the middle of a mess of papers on the desk was a CD case for "Born To Die" - the second studio album released by American singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey. The title track from said album was clearly referenced on a nearby post-it note, on which were the hand-written lyrics, "Sometimes love is not enough, and the road gets tough, I don't know why." A more thorough examination of the house found no evidence of blood near the crime scene, and no obvious signs of a forced entry. At first glance, it appeared that the man had taken his own life. As Gary's next-of-kin, David and Laura were both informed of the grim discovery later that day. They affirmatively identified his body the following afternoon, plunging them and the rest of the O'Hara family into mourning. The wider football community was also left in shock following the sad news. Five-and-a-half years after the sudden death of Wales national team manager Gary Speed, many leading figures in the sport questioned how another wealthy and highly-rated coach could be in so much despair that they could commit suicide. Indeed, some were left questioning whether Gary O'Hara had indeed killed himself.

So I've started a new game after testing out some tactics with a previous save. I've started a Possession based 4-2-3-1 there are no shouts except for: Possession Short passing Offside trap Low pace Depending on the opposition either exploit the center, or the wings. started with cleaning up the team a bit, sold Elneny and Sanchez(since you can't offer him a new contract) . bought Kasper Dolberg, Mathijs de Ligt and Thomas Lemar. what i want to create is: slow paced possession build from the back creativity clever trough balls I've let the assistant handle the friendly matches because i want players to get fit. and not focusing on tactics. i've played a few games now; (watched them all extended) Chelsea community shield. Neutral p0-0 win (they played without Eden Hazard and Alexis Sanchez) Bournemouth Away 2-2 (played deeper, defending wingbacks because of the fast paced counters they play) Liverpool Home 3-1 ( fantastic game, possession wise, chances created, and defending) Manchester United Away 1-2 (this was a Stalemate although they hardly created any real chances, finally score the 1-0, Pogba gets a red card in the 60th minute, they score the equalizer from a killer [blind] pass, in the 94th minute Giroud shoots, hits the aluminium, the ball rolls against De Gea, into the goal 2-1) Chelsea PL Home 0-1 (Alexis Scored a rebound goal) (we have the majority of possession, Chelsea get hardly any chance. their leftback (i think it was Azpilicueta) gets a second yellow. but we can't seem to turn the game around. Buducnost Home 2-0 i played a complete B-squad (we had 65% possession, 30 shots far to few CCC's, first goal came from a direct free kick in de 70th minute or so (thanks Lemar) (worrying, but playing a very small league club so understandably they park the bus) Southampton Away 0-0 (this is where is started to notice the problem, because i play slow paced possession football, there is great build-up from the back. but no real chances. the wingers either throw the ball terribly in the box, or go inside (as IF) and get stopped by the wall of defenders) parts of what i want to see works the ball is distributed to the the center back or the wing backs, they build up to the midfielders, to the Advanced play maker or wingers, into the box and either a chance is created or it is defended. the opposition either plays a long ball which is defended by the center back and picked up by the midfielders or striker/winger. then the build-up starts all over again. i have the striker and wingers to press more same with the ball winning midfielder the center backs don't press much and don't close down (i don't want fast strikers or wingers break on a deep ball i play with a offside trap the full backs are one defense because I've noticed the wings to be weak (I've noticed way too many goals come from low crosses into the box to the near post) most touches and combinations go between Ozil and Ramsey / Xhaka what i want to achieve is, just like the actual Arsenal is to play slow paced, possession football, with trough balls around the opposition box. but now there is too much played to the wingers that either go wide (Winger support) or go inside, and run with the ball (IF support/attack) i want them to take time and look for better passing options or, play back and shift the play to the other side of the field. please let me know if i need to give additional information! the general setup is: So I've been tweaking my tactics a bit. to get a bit more depth and dare in the game the first match was against a Sky bet 1 team so a good opportunity to try it out a simple 4-0 victory with some B-squad players. although I'm not happy about the possession % The next match was a great test to tweak some more a Home game versus West Ham as you can see they have had a great run. time to end it. I watched the whole match again and did some on the go tweaking. tighter marking on Sakho and Obiang. the first 2 goals came from corners so that's not all tactics. during the second half, I switched the wingers back and put Lemar as a Raumdauter since Zabaleta was winning every duel. i changed Ozil back to a playmaker role instead of Trequerista, and Ramsey to Box to Box midfielder West Ham created nearly nothing, and most of West Ham's attacking situations we're created from own mistakes or loose balls Seems like the tactics are coming together now, except for the following problem; I seem to own home games, and mid-tier away games.. but I could use some help tweaking for teams parking the bus. playing 5-2-2-1 or 4-4-1-1 any suggestions are welcome

@Cleon @Rashidi Maybe you guys can help me or anyone else for that matter Hi, So I've started a new game after testing out some tactics with a previous save. I've started a Possession based 4-2-3-1 there are no shouts except for: Possession Short passing Offside trap Low pace Depending on the opposition either exploit the center, or the wings. started with cleaning up the team a bit, sold Elneny and Sanchez(since you can't offer him a new contract) . bought Kasper Dolberg, Mathijs de Ligt and Thomas Lemar. what i want to create is: slow paced possession build from the back creativity clever trough balls I've let the assistant handle the friendly matches because i want players to get fit. and not focusing on tactics. i've played a few games now; (watched them all extended) Chelsea community shield. Neutral p0-0 win (they played without Eden Hazard and Alexis Sanchez) Bournemouth Away 2-2 (played deeper, defending wingbacks because of the fast paced counters they play) Liverpool Home 3-1 ( fantastic game, possession wise, chances created, and defending) Manchester United Away 1-2 (this was a Stalemate although they hardly created any real chances, finally score the 1-0, Pogba gets a red card in the 60th minute, they score the equalizer from a killer [blind] pass, in the 94th minute Giroud shoots, hits the aluminium, the ball rolls against De Gea, into the goal 2-1) Chelsea PL Home 0-1 (Alexis Scored a rebound goal) (we have the majority of possession, Chelsea get hardly any chance. their leftback (i think it was Azpilicueta) gets a second yellow. but we can't seem to turn the game around. Buducnost Home 2-0 i played a complete B-squad (we had 65% possession, 30 shots far to few CCC's, first goal came from a direct free kick in de 70th minute or so (thanks Lemar) (worrying, but playing a very small league club so understandably they park the bus) Southampton Away 0-0 (this is where is started to notice the problem, because i play slow paced possession football, there is great build-up from the back. but no real chances. the wingers either throw the ball terribly in the box, or go inside (as IF) and get stopped by the wall of defenders) parts of what i want to see works the ball is distributed to the the center back or the wing backs, they build up to the midfielders, to the Advanced play maker or wingers, into the box and either a chance is created or it is defended. the opposition either plays a long ball which is defended by the center back and picked up by the midfielders or striker/winger. then the build-up starts all over again. i have the striker and wingers to press more same with the ball winning midfielder the center backs don't press much and don't close down (i don't want fast strikers or wingers break on a deep ball i play with a offside trap the full backs are one defense because I've noticed the wings to be weak (I've noticed way too many goals come from low crosses into the box to the near post) most touches and combinations go between Ozil and Ramsey / Xhaka what i want to achieve is, just like the actual Arsenal is to play slow paced, possession football, with trough balls around the opposition box. but now there is too much played to the wingers that either go wide (Winger support) or go inside, and run with the ball (IF support/attack) i want them to take time and look for better passing options or, play back and shift the play to the other side of the field. please let me know if i need to give additional information! the general setup is:

Arsenal 2016/17 Guide Welcome to the FM17 Arsenal guide. Arsenal Football Club is based in North London and is one of England's most successful clubs of all time. Their honours are: League Champions (13) - 1931, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1938, 1948, 1953, 1971, 1989, 1991, 1998, 2002 & 2004 (unbeaten) FA Cup Winners (12) - 1930, 1936, 1950, 1971, 1979, 1993, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2014, 2015 League Cup Winners (2) - 1987, 1993 Community Shield Winners (13+1) - 1930, 1931, 1933, 1934, 1938, 1948, 1953, 1991 (shared), 1998, 1999, 2002, 2004, 2014, 2015 European Fairs Cup (1) - 1970 European Cup Winners Cup (1) - 1994 History Arsenal were founded in 1886 by workers from the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich. Arsenal eventually moved north of the river in 1913 to Highbury and were elected to the First Division in 1919 after the conclusion of the First World War at the expense of Tottenham Hotspur - spawning a fierce rivalry. Arsenal's most dominant period was in the 1930's under legendary manager Herbert Chapman - the inspiration behind the iconic red shirt with white sleeves. Arsenal won the Fairs Cup in 1970 over Anderlecht, as well as the domestic double in 1971, winning the League at White Hart Lane, before winning the FA Cup in Extra Time 2-1 over Liverpool. Arsenal had a mixed decade, before a period of mediocrity in the 1980's. George Graham began a successful spell as manager, ably supported by new captain Tony Adams, guiding Arsenal to 2 League Cups, 1 FA Cup and 2 League Titles, as well as a famous Cup Winners Cup triumph over Parma in Copenhagen. Graham's first league title was dramatically won with seconds of injury time remaining between Liverpool and Arsenal, with Michael Thomas' winner handing Arsenal the title at Anfield. In 1996 Arsene Wenger took over at Arsenal and quickly revolutionized the club. Wenger won the double in his first year, before repeating the trick again 4 years later. Wenger lead Arsenal's Invincibles to an entire league season unbeaten, with stellar contributions from Sol Campbell, Patrick Vieira, Robert Pires, Dennis Bergkamp & Theirry Henry. Arsenal lost their first Champions League Final 2-1 to Barcelona in 2006 after playing with 10 men for 73 minutes after Jens Lehmann's early red card. If you are interested in reading more of Arsenal's history, please click here. Facilities Arsenal play at the 60,000 capacity Emirates Stadium in North London. Arsenal train at London Colney training ground, which is renowned for its excellent facilities. Squad Key: ***** - Poor, ***** - Back Up Player, ***** - Rotation Player, ***** - Key First Team, ***** - World Class (Current Ability only) Goalkeepers 13 - David Ospina - Colombian international with a reputation for excellent reflexes. He is good depth to have around the club. ***** 26 - Emiliano Martinez - young Argentine keeper has acquitted himself well for Arsenal on a few first team appearances. Is decent back-up but would need some game time to develop. ***** 33 - Petr Cech - experienced goalkeeper, recently retired from international duty. He is clearly first choice and still retains excellent reflexes, command of his area and intelligence. ***** Right Back 2 - Mathieu Debuchy - experienced Frenchman. Fairly consistent and balanced player. However is at an age where he is not keen to play back-up to Hector Bellerin. ***** 24 - Hector Bellerin - lightning quick Spanish wing back with strong attacking instincts. Has made the position his own in the last 18 months and is now considered integral to Arsenal. ***** 25 - Carl Jenkinson - lifelong Arsenal fan with an excellent engine, but is prone to mistakes and defensive errors. ***** Left Back 3 - Kieran Gibbs - no longer a young prospect, Gibbs has plateaued in his development. Whilst quick and comfortable on the ball, Gibbs is not as defensively aware as he should be. ***** 18 - Nacho Monreal - the experienced Spaniard has become clear first choice at Arsenal, with his aggressive and intelligent defending. Monreal likes to intercept the ball ahead of opposing wide players and offers support down the flank on the overlap. ***** Central Defence 4 - Per Mertesacker (Captain) - Experienced German defender is the new club-captain, however is absent until the new year with a knee injury. The BFG is tall and intelligent, however is particularly susceptible to being caught by pace in behind, which is not going to improve given his age. ***** 5 - Gabriel Paulista - an aggressive Brazilian defender. Can be an effective defender, but prone to being drawn out of position due to his aggressive tendancies. Development has plateaued. ***** 6 - Laurent Koscielny (Vice-Captain) - an extremely impressive defender. He is very intelligent and proactive at winning the ball. He is also very mobile despite the fact he is now the wrong side of 30. He is clearly the best defender in the squad and possibly in the league. ***** 16 - Rob Holding - new signing from Bolton is a talented prospect. Holding is comfortable with the ball at his feet and is fairly intelligent. He is likely to improve considerably. ***** 20 - Shkodran Mustafi - new signing from Valencia is a very good defender. Similar style to Koscielny and appears comfortable with the ball at his feet. ***** Central Midfield 8 - Aaron Ramsey - a player with a fantastic engine and technique. He can play in most central midfield roles, as well as wide on the right. His excellent movement and engine makes him a good box to box type player, but he is also effective as a wide man on the right tucking narrow as a wide playmaker, encouraging overlaps. ***** 11 - Mesut Ozil - a truly world class player, with superb technique and intelligence. Is easily most at home in AMC behind the striker as a playmaker. ***** 19 - Santi Cazorla - an aging playmaker who is beginning to suit a deeper role, picking the ball up out of the defence and dictating play from a deeper position. Still very important to Arsenal despite his age. ***** 29 - Granit Xhaka - new signing in central midfield has a reputation for disciplinary problems, but offers bite as well as outstanding distribution. He can play either deeper, or higher in central midfield. ***** 34 - Francis Coquelin - an aggressive and mobile, ball-winner. While comfortable technically, he is not a creative player. Despite the additions of Elneny and Xhaka, he is still very valuable. ***** 35 - Mohamed Elneny - an extremely consistent and intelligent midfielder. Can play a more reserved and defensive role due to his intelligence, or play in a box to box manner due to his great energy. He uses the ball sensibly and offers a lot of balance to the midfield. ***** Forwards 7 - Alexis Sanchez - Chilean forward can play wide, or as a false nine. Extremely quick and technically impressive, but with a great workrate off the ball. ***** 9 - Lucas Perez - an aggressive and mobile striker, signed from Deportivo in the summer. Could play as a false nine, or off the shoulder of the defence. Versatile forward. ***** 12 - Olivier Giroud - Arsenal have not yet reduced their reliance on the French Target Man. Giroud is strong in the air and links play well, but has not shaken off question marks over his pace or ability to deliver on the big occasion. Is still an extremely useful player, as well as alternative option from the bench. ***** 14 - Theo Walcott - very pacy wide forward, who is beginning to move into the peak of his career. Still an important player for the club, despite some limitations as a player. ***** 15 - Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain - an inconsistent player of great potential. Chamberlain needs to push on and become a regular for the first team. A powerful winger, with great dribbling and technique. ***** 17 - Alex Iwobi - a talented young winger with excellent potential. Technically sound as well as intelligent and mobile. Plenty of room to develop with game time. ***** 23 - Danny Welbeck - injured with a serious knee injury, however his athleticism, combined with teamwork and technique make him arguably the most balanced of Arsenal's forwards. ***** 31 - Jeff Reine-Adelaide - another talented young wide player, with great technique. Is likely to become integral in years to come. ***** On Loan 1 - Wojciech Szczesny - Polish goalkeeper is spending a 2nd year on loan at Roma after an infamous smoking incident saw him lose his place as first choice in 2015. ***** 10 - Jack Wilshere - injury-prone midfielder is spending a year on loan at Bournemouth to provide week-in, week-out playing time due to a lack of minutes in recent years. ***** 21 - Calum Chambers - versatile defender can play at centre back or full back, as well as in midfield - on loan at Middlesbrough to give him regular game time to develop. ***** 28 - Joel Campbell - despite an impressive season in 2015/16 Campbell is on loan, but with little obvious room back in the Arsenal squad. Has provided a versatile and consistent wide option. ***** Youth/Reserves Players to pay particular attention to include: Joao Virginia, Krystian Bielik, Ismael Bennacer, Gedion Zelalem, Vlad Dragomir, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Chris Willock, Chuba Akpom & Donyell Malen. Tactical Options Arsenal could feasibly play in a variety of ways. They are technically excellent with a lot of pace, so could play on the counter-attack, or could set up to control the ball and attack opponents. Their good teamwork, workrate and stamina suggests they could be good at pressing opponents. They have some very versatile options in attack and could comfortably play 4-2-3-1 (or variants such as 4-4-1-1) as well as 4-1-2-2-1 (or variants such as 4-1-4-1) and even a 4-4-2 or Diamond midfield. I recommend building your team around Mesut Ozil as an AMC - as he is clearly your best player and most comfortable there. Coaching & Scouting Arsenal have an extremely well establish coaching team at both senior and youth levels. This will need little immediate work. The scouting team is also quite large and talented. Again, little immediate work is required in this area.

With Arsenal supporters screaming for Wenger's head a student of his 'School of Management' appeared. Believing in the same football philosophy, he was brought in at the recommendation of Arsene. Many said this was a ploy by Wenger to ensure he was not eclipsed by a better manager. Some worried he was the Moyes of North London. But like with Wenger when he was first appointed at Arsenal, he and the board felt this could be an even better love story for the club than his own. My goal is to create a steady stream of talented youngsters coming through the academy while signing the occasional world star players for commercial goals. I'll be posting small updates here but the writing will mostly happen on Medium. Think of goals, matches or summaries. I'm also looking into live streaming a few key matches each season, of which I'll be posting the link a few hours ahead. (Having already started my save I could not make a nice starting post as I've seen here and here) The adventure starts Chapter IV: Summer break Chapter V: Summer Break Chapter II: Summer break Chapter IV: Pre season Chapter II: First half Chapter IV: Kick-off Chapter II: Christmas season Chapter IV: Feel good August Chapter II: Youth Intake Chapter IV: Summer transfers Chapter II: End of the season Chapter IV: Win-tember Chapter III: Summer break Chapter IV: Octoberfest Chapter III: 1st quarter Chapter IV: November Chapter III: November Chapter IV: December Chapter III: Chilly December Chapter IV: Halftime Chapter III: Christmas Season Chapter IV: Christmas Season Chapter III: Busy January Chapter IV: January Chapter III: Transfer Deadline Chapter IV: January Tranfers Chapter III: Tranquil February Chapter IV: Go February Chapter III: Youth Intake Chapter IV: Youth Intake Chapter III: March Madness Chapter IV: Mud March Chapter III: International Break Chapter IV: International week(s) Chapter III: April Fool's Chapter IV: May Be Now Chapter III: May We Win Chapter IV: Fini Chapter III: Final Match(es) Day Chapter IV: The Rest of Them Chapter III: End of the season Chapter IV: Squad Review Chapter III: The mainland Chapter III: Squad review

I'd like to share a tactic I made for mine Arsenal side, I'm not after likes or sorts I'm mostly after seeing is it good on overall base since it was made around mine current squad. The ones I'm most interested about are PRESA series of tactics which are Control based 451, Attacking based 451 and Control based 4231 DM WIDE, so if anyone has spare time on his hands and is willing to try them out and provide info here is a link to FM base where I posted whole description and analysis on the few tactics I made: http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/share-download-fm-17-tactics/366119-little-mozart.html Cheers and thanks for your time

Apologies if this is a known issue or what have you but a search on here with keywords like budget or finance get a shed loads of hits... So, simple issue really - I am managing Arsenal and just finished my seventh season. For the last two years we have been the 'Richest' club in the world. The board always say the highlight of my time is the amazing increase in the club's stature: I have a net spend of circa £300million on transfers but have always been within my wage and transfer budget. So - given all that is there any particular reason why my overall balance went into the red towards the end of last season (it's recovered now thanks to TV revenue etc) my transfer budget remains at £28mil and I can only keep 30% of my transfer fees received - as per the below. Anyone else found similar and is it something stupid I am doing or missing? Feel free to say yes to that one!! Thanks!

Long-time reader, infrequent poster. I thought I ought to share this league and cup double winning tactic having benefited from the insight of so many people on here. I built this tactic having taken the Arsenal job two years into the save following Wenger's retirement. (I started the save unemployed before getting the job at Swansea City and winning the Europa League and European Super Cup) Fortunately, the squad was pretty much in tact with only Monreal sold by the time I took over. I wanted to play a controlling style of football with emphasis on possession, pressing and fluidity - an attempt at emulating the 'Total Football' utilised by Michels/Cruyff. PS - I'm posting this tactic a season after I won the double. Since winning those pieces of silverware I also bagged the League Cup before losing the Premier League to Chelsea on goal difference last season - three goals, to be precise. *sob* I set my team up as follows: I find that when my team attacks and reaches the final third it becomes a 3-2-4-1 of sorts with my left back often overlapping the inside forward. The combination has proved fruitful and that is shown by the number of assists from the left wing area. The most common types of goal I score tend to be through balls from Ozil, WIlshere and Coutinho to Giroud and Oxlade-Chamberlain or crosses from Davies headed in by Giroud or finished by Ozil. Obviously there are several other types but these two seem to crop up quite a lot. I rarely score from outside the area though and would like to add that as another string to my team's bow. I haven't tweaked the Fluidity setting at all so far but do vary my side's mentality quite frequently in matches. I start most games with Control but have sometimes used Counter when playing difficult opponents, particularly away from home. If I'm looking to shut out a match, having secured a lead, I will switch to Counter or Defensive and adjust my other TIs accordingly. Usually I do this by adding Retain possession, Much lower tempo and Waste time. When I'm chasing goals I switch to Attacking and employ Higher tempo and Much higher defensive line to try and compress the opposition's space further and use the ball more urgently. If I'm really desperate and in the last 15 minutes I'll go to Overload and use Much higher tempo, Get stuck in and Shoot on sight. (I'm still tweaking my tactics for chasing goals and try different combinations as I play more of the save) Team instructions: I settled on these TIs quite quickly having read through a series of really useful posts (linked to below) but some variations that I've used in the past, with differing success, are Pass into space and Use offside trap. The latter requires a change in PIs for my centre backs from Stopper and Cover to Defend and Defend. Player instructions: GK: Goalkeeper (Defend) - Pass it shorter // Default role for the tactic which I use for Szczęsny and Mannone. However, when I use ter Stegen I employe him as a Sweeper keeper (Support) because of his unique skill set. I have found there isn't too much difference between the two roles but there are moments when an SK is particularly useful in a team playing with a high defensive live. This includes intercepting long balls sent over the top of your defence and instigating counter-attacks. DR: Full back (Support) - Run wide with ball // I used Sagna here until he got a bit too old and then switched to Stones last season. I prefer tallish full backs in this position as they don't get forward as much as the left back and often deal with aerial clearances from the opposition. DRC: Central defender (Stopper) - Mark tighter // I use Koscielny and Vermaelen here who are getting on a bit but have great mental stats, useful for tutoring younger players, and can still get the job done. DLC: Central defender (Cover) - Mark tighter // Eventually I'm hoping to make Dier a Ball playing defender with Cover duty as he has the required skills and gives me another creative option from deep. My first choice until recently was Nkoulou but he's upset I rejected an offer from Monaco and his performances started to drop. DL: Full back (Attack) - Run wide with ball // A really important attacking outlet for this tactic, as odd as it seems to say for a defender. Constantly provides overlaps and crosses into the box for Giroud and Kane. I use Davies and Gibbs presently but used to have Bernat who was one of the best performing players in the Premier League for the two seasons I had him. Average rating was 7.38 in his final season with us before Real Madrid bought him for £36.5m - kerching! MCR: Central midfielder (Support) // I try not to have more than one PI for each position as I have quite a lot of TIs for this tactic and don't need any in this position. Wilshere is really good from deep and gets further forward to support the attack when I use Attacking or Overload mentality - has scored some crucial goals at the death. Ramsey is the other player I use here and he brings distance shooting and long range passing qualities I otherwise don't have. I'd like to be able to play both at the same time. MCL: Central midfielder (Defend) - Mark tighter // I like tall players here as I've noticed a lot of what they do is dealing with aerial clearances from the opposition's defence when I have them under the cosh. Enriquez and Rodwell work well in winning the ball in the air and laying it off to one of the attacking players to start another attack and keep the pressure on. However, I got Bender in this year as he was available for a good price and he brings a more physical defensive presence - a couple of times his challenges high up the pitch have led to quickly taken goals. I play him as a Ball winning midfielder with Defend duty. AMR: Winger (Attack) - Get further forward // Oxlade-Chamberlain and Walcott give me width, pace and crosses from the right hand side but their main threat is running in behind defences and finishing in the corner. Ox scored 28 goals (all competitions) in the season I won the double. I instruct them to Stay forward in Set pieces and they have picked up a good few goals, corners and free kicks by attacking on the break. AMC: Advanced playmaker (Attack) - Roam from position // I have Ozil - the Kings of Assists. Basically, he's brilliant and scores goals as well as creating them. In the last two seasons his average rating has been 7.67 and 7.41 with Cazorla relieving him when he's rested. AML: Inside forward (Support) - Sit narrower // Coutinho and Rotariu are becoming really good in this position and it's fun to see them pick the ball up in the final third with lots of options available. Davies running down the left, Ozil and Giroud in front of him, Ox to the right and Wilshere square. One of the main strength's of this tactic is the consistent overload it creates down the left hand side and, touch wood, will continue to be a reliable supply of goal-scoring opportunities. ST: Advanced forward (Attack) - Shoot more often // Default role for the tactic but I always put Giroud and Kane as Target man (Attack) because of their skill set and it's really useful to have an aerial threat up top. Giroud has scored 29 and 24 goals in the last two seasons with Podolski also banging in a few before he was sold. (Got old and fell out with me) The added height also gives me extra protection at defensive set pieces which is useful in a team with quite a few short players and particularly when playing the likes of Pulis / Alladyce. Thanks for reading and I hope I've included everything that's needed. Feel free to ask any questions about the tactic or pass on some advice, best of luck! Recommended reading: How to Play FM14: A Twelve Step Guide How to Play FM14: A Twelve Step Guide [Ext] Shouting Strategies: Defensive Counter-pressing; Or Why Aggressive Is An Absolute Pre-Requisite In FM14 Football Manager 2014 Staff Requirements Youth In FM14: Getting 5 star regens How To Develop Youth In FM 2014

Now i never share tactics as i tend to be of the opinion that just because it works for me doesn't meant it'll work for the rest of you, but due to the success with this one i thought i better share and see how others fair with it. As the tile says i managed to go 69 games unbeaten using this tactic, admittedly i did sacrifice the cups by resting players and using a second string side in them but even so still managed to reach the FA Cup semi final and Champions League Quarters losing to Tottenham in both during that unbeaten season. The link for the tactic which is shared on Sortitoutsi is below, there you will see a few screenshots including transfers made to show i didn't make massive changes to the Arsenal squad and that my team wasn't full of superstars. Below is the main starting 11 i used. Sanchez-DLF-At Griezmann-SS Ozil-AP-Su Cazorla-AM-At Coguelin-BWM-Df Ramsey-MC-Au Gibbs-FB-Au Koscielny-CB Mustafi-CB Bellerin-FB-Au Cech As you can probably guess the key to this tactic is the front four, get them playing well together and you should have a successful time using it. https://sortitoutsi.net/downloads/view/30934/vps-arsenal-unbeatables

Playing as Arsenal, I have been able to create an attacking line that I thought would score more goals than I would ever need. However, I just can't seem to get there - against established defences, playing against weaker sides. I recently had a ridiculous run: 0-0 Burnley-Arsenal; 7-0 Arsenal-Barcelona; 1-1 Arsenal-Bournemouth; 3-0 Arsenal-Real Madrid; 0-0 Arsenal-Stoke. It seems obvious that the problem isn't when I play against sides that tend to leave open spaces through offensive play, but rather that I am unable to break down weaker sides. On a side note, I am not sure that is entirely the case either, because it's not like I never have chances - every one of those tie games are basically one long YouTube reel of 'football fails' with horrible misses inside the 5-yard-box, every goalkeeper I play against no matter the skill seems to play at an 7.5 or over etc etc. Before you say it is just a slump, this one has lasted for about 18 months... As a sign of how extreme it can get, I finished 7th in the Premier League while winning the Champions League the same season. So, my line-up is usually as below: I may sometimes change a BBM midfielder to a BWM (Coquelin/Elneny) depending on the opposition. As for tactical instructions, I feel like I have tried everything: control-fluid with lots of ball possession, overlaps, creative freedom wide play etc; counter-rigid with passing into space and quick transitions; offensive-fluid with roaming, running at defence, creative freedom etc. Can anyone please give me some advice on how they would get the best out of this line-up offensively? Every match feels like something is stuck, something is not working, but I am running out of ideas for what to try. Other available offensive players are Welbeck, Iwobi, Wilshere, and Tielemans. Any help would be much appreciated! Thank you all in advance!

Hi does anyone have a link to download a Arsenal DB based on the 03/04 squad?? any help much appreciated

So I have Arsenal in the FA Cup and I'm very nervous, I've beat every team in the league at least once BUT Arsenal so to have them in a cup final which i really want to win is an issue, they play a 4-2-3-1 with two holding midfielders and 3 attacking midfielders. I've played 4-1-2-3 all season and beat the likes of City, Chelsea and Spurs, with a false 9. Can anyone recommend any tips for me to come out on top, ill post the previous games between me and arsenal for you guys to look at. Thanks in advance.

I'm playing football manager mobile on my iPad, currently managing arsenal in my first season. I reached the fa cup third round and efl cup semi final but it stallled on both those fixtures there were no finals, I stared season 2 for 2017/2018 and their still stuck on 2016 fixtures any help would be much appreciated

Hi guys, I'm sure this has been asked before but I am having trouble transferring the demo to the full game. I've moved the file in my drive from the demo to the full game, but when I try to load it, it isn't there. Is there anything else I can do? Thanks in advance for your help! Jeff

With the FM17 Beta out, I've decided that I will be going for what I hope will be a one-club save, having spent previous years doing Journeyman or dafuge challenges. For this first safe, I have decided that I will play as Arsenal, the team I once supported as a boy. I'm not going to waste too much time with this opening post. Manager Profile Leagues Loaded

Check out episode one of my Arsenal YouTube save here!

This happened against me on my FM2017 Arsenal Save, thought it was highly amusing to see the defender pass back to the keeper expecting him to clear it but ended up kicking it straight at him causing the ball to roll into his own net.

Hello, I have been thinking of what to do with the FM17 Beta and have decided, rather unimaginatively, to take over Arsenal for a season or two to get used to the game, like I've done for most versions of FM. In the past I've opened threads here at this stage to unleash my tactic ramblings, most notably Özil + 10, a tactical exercise on FM14 with Arsenal, and this should be the FM17 version of this, basically. Although I want to keep my writing much shorter this time. Please notice THIS IS NOT A GUIDE, this is not meant to teach anyone how to play the game, in fact I'm routinely pretty unsuccessful whenever I attempt these short careers with big teams. This is more like a brainstorming exercise to trade some ideas with other people either also managing this club, or attempting to play similar systems. For now as I'm writing this I don't have access to the Beta yet, but I think I have a pretty good idea of what Arsenal are like and don't expect to be massively surprised by how the players are like in the database. I've identified the following strenghts and weaknesses in the side: Strenghts - Excellent creative ability, technique, ability to keep ball and operate in tight spaces - 2 particular world class players in Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez - Generally highly complete players throughout the squad, capable of performing more than a specific role - Quality players at rushing from deep in Aaron Ramsey and Hector Bellerin - Pace upfront, specially in rotational players like Theo Walcott, albeit it should be difficult to use this pace as we'll have many matches where the opposition park the bus - A quality forward for holding up the ball and creating space for others in Olivier Giroud Weaknesses - General lack of aggression, physicality, height which could be highly problematic in a highly physical league - Lack of reliable goalscorer and clear penetration outlets in the area - Some older players at the back that, whilst it's a stretch to call them "slow", might be unable to operate a high line at a truly world class level Therefore, my initial idea for a system is this rather standard 4-2-3-1: GK - GK/D: Cech DL - FB/S: Monreal DC - CB/D: Koscielny DC - CB/D: Mustafi DR - WB/S: Bellerin DMCL - DM/S: Xhaka MCR - BBM/S: Ramsey AML - IF/A: Alexis AMC - T/A: Ozil AMR - WP/S: Cazorla ST - DLF/S: Giroud Control Very Fluid Reasons: - I want to maximize my strenghts as much as possible by playing Alexis and Ozil in their preferred positions and building the team around them. - Likewise I just want to play my better players as much as possible, and I see this as the best way to fit in all 3 of Ramsey, Cazorla and Xhaka whom I believe should be my 3 strongest midfielders (although I will need to go through player profiles in a bit more detail when I get the game). - "Very Fluid" is something I haven't tried in a very long time and generally stay away from, but considering just how complete all my players are (all offensive players are both capable of creating and scoring, defensive players like Xhaka and the fullbacks are very capable at attacking) it seems to fit. Also I've been inspired by @LPQR's success with Stuttgart with a very fluid 3-4-1-2. - Alexis, Ozil, Cazorla and Giroud, all being highly gifted players, should be able to play in the demanding, adventurous, high-ish-tempo game of the Control mentality, in the tight spaces around the area. - Different roles and dynamics between each wing to encourage variety, stretch the pitch, and open up different angles of attack. - No TIs or PIs at the beginning to start with a simple base, and then add things as I react to what I see happening on the pitch. Possible problems and tweaks: - This is a very attacking setup and I need to be extremely careful to be sure I'm not overcommiting players forward. Depending on how this plays out, if Bellerin and Ramsey both run forward and Cazorla is too high up, I could be caught out on the counter with a 4-6 split, only 4 players remaining in defensive position which can be too few. - If the opposition decides not to go for the counter but to try to pin us back by pressing aggressively and beating us at our own possession game, we don't have a good defensive shape to deal with this with the wingers high up (depending on whether on FM17 AMR/AMLs still don't track back to MR/ML positions). This may necessitate a change of formation for these matches, whether a 4-3-3 with Ozil shoved to the right wing and Cazorla pulled back into MC, a 4-3-1-2/narrow diamond with Ozil behind a Alexis/Giroud striker partnership, or a flat 4-4-2 to defend with 2 banks of four. - I'm undecided whether the more cautious Xhaka is most needed on the centre-left to cover for Alexis' attacking role, or on the centre-right to cover for Bellerin's runs - I may need to switch my DM/MC's left-to-right. I went for this initial option as I see us creating some serious overloads down the right wing with Bellerin, Cazorla, Ramsey and Ozil; we'd lose this if I move Ramsey centre-left (also he'd probably run into Alexis' space). - There may not be enough attacking outlets for goalscoring, beyond Alexis (my intended primary threat), the odd goal by Giroud and rare late runs from Ramsey. A possible solution might be to move aside Ozil to the wing, and introduce another runner from AMC. - Conversely, whilst I trust the superb creativity of my players, it may prove to be too much to ask from them to break down packed defences from such advanced positions. "Drop deeper" looks a very good TI to add (beyond opening up space to playmake in, this would also aid with our slow-ish defence, and to help us unleash our pacey attackers); possibly I could also lower the tempo or mentality. - I'm intentionally starting without any possession-oriented TIs, to avoid our team becoming too addicted to sideways passing, but our best game is obviously with the ball on our feet and I will watch closely to see if we're not too direct. Very good odds I'll add "play out of defence", if not enough then also "pass shorter". - This initial gameplan isn't great to take the best out of my squad depth, as I see Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Welbeck, Iwobi, mostly all as best fitting for alternatives to Alexis' role, and there's no clear Cazorla substitute as WP. I'll need to either readjust my plan to all these players, or hit the transfer market to sort this out. - Beyond Giroud and the CBs we don't have much aerial threat on set pieces - I might consider a short corner routine if I feel we're wasteful on them. Ideas and comments are welcome.

Hello, I am new to the forum, and I wish to report an issue regarding the typical 'Crash Dump' error which many FM players seem to be experiencing at some point. My error seems rather unique, though - whenever I attempt to access the Arsenal players as a Manager, I receive a Crash Dump error, which is incredibly infuriating as it prevents me from carrying on with my match. I have included a screenshot series file to depict exactly what is happening, along with an error Report file. Hopefully someone will get back to me soon, cheers! FM Error Report.txt