FM11: The Official Arsenal Thread- All Style and No Substance

[sqxsq]

my tactic is 4-3-3

-------------Almunia---------

Sagna-Koscielny-Vermaelen-Clichy

-------------Song---------------

-----Diaby----------------Fabregas---------

Wilshere---------------------Arshavin

-------------Van persie----------------

[Lashley]

Whats your team settings? Mind print screening? Thanks

I'm always keen to learn various tricks

[Force]

Main problem: so little wingers. Whether they play their in real life or not, most of the midfielders seem to have low crossing, Walcott has 9..

[JEinchy]

Main problem: so little wingers. Whether they play their in real life or not, most of the midfielders seem to have low crossing, Walcott has 9..

Simple answer; play with inside forwards, not wingers.

They may not be natural there, but I've always had success with Nasri, Rosicky and Arshavin as inside forwards whether it be on attack or support duty. Walcott I always look to use as a poacher, but this year I'll probably be using him as a right sided inside forward.

This year, the main problems I see is the amount of talent in the centre of the park. Fabregas, Ramsey and Wilshere are all very alike. Song looks great this year. Diaby, as many have pointed out, is better than he looks. Denilson is useful. Then you get guys like Lansbury, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas and Kyle Ebcillo who are all promising. You'd have to play three in midfield to make use of all that talent.

[sqxsq]

Whats your team settings? Mind print screening? Thanks

I'm always keen to learn various tricks

Balanced and control

[Lashley]

Thanks, I generally play on a slow tempo, this good? Or leave it as default?

[Arda_Turan]

Started a save with Arsenal.

Players Bought:-

Akinfeev - 12.5M

Tevez - 11.0M *

Vukojevic - 8.0M

Mexes - 6.0M

Lukaku - 5.5M

Galeano - 4.0M

Senna - 1.8M

G.Gonul - 1.4M

R.Carlos - 1.0M

A.Smithies - 0.8M

Players Sold:-

Diaby - 5.8M (A.Villa)

Eboue - 5.3M (Bayern)

Rosicky - 3.9M (M.Utd)

Fabianski - Loan (A.Madrid)

* I made transfer bids and declared my interest in Tevez when I started the save, and soon enough he became unsettled. When he was unsettled, I was willing to pay up to 40M for him, but City were not interested in letting him go. They negotiated my bid to 120M... So I moved on...

To my complete surprise; weeks later, on the last day of the transfer window, City offer Tevez to me for 11M...

Not pleased about having to pay him and his agent 4.5M each to sign a contract, plus his 150K p/w wage demands, but I can't complain after getting him on a bargain.

Squad:-

GK: Akinfeev, Almunia

DR: Sagna, Gonul

DL: Clichy, Carlos, Gibbs

DC: Mexes, Squillaci, Galeano

DC: Vermaelen, Koscielny, Djourou

DMC: Song, Vukojevic, Nordtveit

MC: Fabregas, Ramsey, Denilson

MC: Wilshire, Senna, Lansbury

AMC: Arshavin, Nasri,

STR: RVP, Chamakh, Walcott

STR: Tevez, Vela, Lukaku

I realise I have too many players, but my 1st team will only play in league matches, and very tough cup ties. Some players will be sold in January.

Pre-season went smoothly, winning all matches (albeit the oppositions were weak) and only sustaining minor injuries (with the exception of Vermaelen - 4 weeks). Tested a few different formations and settled on a narrow 4-1-2-1-2, after poor displays of football with wingers and a lone striker.

Not a great start to the league:

Man Utd (H) - Won 2-1 (RVP x2)

Chelsea (A) - Drew 1-1 (RVP)

Tottenham (H) - Drew 1-1 (Chamakh)

Hoping Tevez will form a good duo with RVP.

[1984mattyd]

That tactic itself isn't realistically possible as you'd have 12 players ..... unless you plan on playing without a GK?

haha im glad u noticed my errrr intended error, i wanted to see if anyone picked that up, a gold star to you my friend lol! i meant 3-6-1 which by the way does not work !

[smokydark]

Its tough to get the best out of Fabregas in the game

im playing him as a centre mid auto i prefer it better then box to box midfield and its worked gr8 for me give it a try

[SJ234]

My game arrived so I will be soon starting my Arsenal save

[DangerousDan]

Arsenal will be my first save when I get it tomorrow, has many people added to the staff? ahh I can't wait

[Yasp0]

Just started my first 11 game with Arsenal offcourse .

Signed so far (july 23 ingame):

Coentrao - Benfica - € 10M (2M cash, 8M in 48 months)

Kevin - Zaragoza - € 2.1m (cash)

Fazio - Sevilla € 625k (cash)

Diarra - Real Madrid - Loan (fee 850k)

Rafael - ManU - loan (fee 130k)

And 1 tactic and 1 ball control coach.

Not planning to sign many more players. Still doubting about Almunia....I prefer Fabianski irl but in FM Almunia is better. Scouting Adler atm.

Starting XI (before the start of any game )

--------------------RVP---------------------

---------------------------------------------

Arshavin-----------------------------Walcott

---------------------------------------------

------------Diaby---------Cesc--------------

--------------------------------------------

------------------- Diarra -------------------

---------------------------------------------

Clichy ---- Vermaelen --- Squillaci ---- Sagna

---------------------------------------------

------------------ Almunia ------------------

First matches played:

Barnet (A) 5-0 Diaby 3x, Arshavin, Rosicky

Indios (N) 4-0 RvP 4x

Benfica (N) 1-0 Diaby

Borehame Wood (A) 6-0 Rosicky 4x, Diarra , Vela

Villareal (A) 2-1 Chamakh, RvP - Squillaci misses penalty (forgot to select )

[soundboyy]

all of my french players are showing as suspended for one international game (b'cuz of the wc, right?)

but i cant select them for any of my friendlies.....

anyone else had this?

how long does it last?

can they play in the prem?!

thanks

[Eugster]

It's only for friendly games that sagna, clichy, squillaci and diaby are suspended, and I believe it's only for 1 game.

Just about to start my proper game with arsenal, can never enjoy the demo because I theres no point in buying youth.

[pully89]

Started the demo, and bought Lukuka, Neymar, Hazard and Areola. I know I have a lot of strikers, but trying to give Lukuka and Neymar as much game time as possible, not a massive fan of Bendtner, so may try and sell him. I know Areola is young not yet the best but I have got him as my starting goalkeeper because I think in a couple of seasons he could be one of the best. I've also moved Havard Nordtveit into the first team, not always a starter but will be one of the best in a couple of seasons.

[thaswhasup]

Hey guys, does anyone know what role I should set fabregas to at central midfield to have him scoring and assisting like last season?

[smokydark]

Hey guys, does anyone know what role I should set fabregas to at central midfield to have him scoring and assisting like last season?

i have him as central mid on auto and has worked very well can anyone tell me how to take a picture of in game so i can post fabregas stats

[Cinnabon09]

Could someone post a screenie of Walcott after the first patch update? Cheers

[thaswhasup]

i have him as central mid on auto and has worked very well can anyone tell me how to take a picture of in game so i can post fabregas stats

if you click on the fm button near the top right of the screen one of the options is to print screen, or yu could use the print screen button on your keyboard and bring it into paint or another program and save it

[yorkie87]

well put in a bid for de rossi got turned down then a bit later they offer him to me for like 12.75mil. can only offer him 150k a week but 50k appearance fee. surely this will **** up my finances? advice needed lol

[char11]

I'm on my second season now. Won the league, f.a. cup and carling cup on my first season as manager. I reached the Semis in the Champion's League but was beaten by Real Madrid on a 4-5 aggregate.

spent 41.45M on the 2010 July Transfer window on

Arda Turan 9M

Fabio Coentrao 6M

Bobby Pires Free

Ezequiel Munoz 7.5M

Holger Badstuber 12M

Dennis Appiah 1.2M

Yaya Sanogo 5.75M

and Sold for a total of 32.75m

Rosicky 2.5M

Clichy 6.75M

Bendtner 5M

Song 7M

Arshavin 8.5M

Squillaci 3M

Eboue 3.9M

Djourou 3.9M

On the January transfer window I convinced Peter Hill-Wood to get Hugo Lloris from his own pocket and bought Moussa Sissoko to help in Midfield Defense

January Transfer Window

Hugo Lloris 27M

Moussa Sissoko 16M

[char11]

I used a 4-4-2 similar to the invincible side for the first half of the 2010 season with much success. I had three variants for the 4-4-2 an attacking left side ( advanced winger + overlapping fullback) which is shown in the screenshot. An attacking right side which is a mirror image of the picture with nasri on ML and turan or walcott on AMR and a flat 4-4-2 without flying full-backs which is a more disciplined side.

my midfield is pretty flexible as cesc, nasri, turan,sissoko,wilshere and ramsey can fill in for the central positions while walcott, nasri, turan, van persie, vela and wilshere to some extent can play the wing positions.

I used quick tempo, narrow width, and a defensive line in between deep and normal.

Most of my draws and losses though came from teams playing 4-5-1 and it's variants so I decided to make my own 4-5-1 tactic and it helped me win against teams playing 4-5-1.

I used a Normal defensive line, slow tempo and narrow width for this one.

I used most of the same personnel for my 4-5-1. Sissoko is important on the DM position and I used Badstuber as a reliever for him when he gets tired.

I got Pastore 9M and Paolo Henrique 6.75M for my 2012 season from offers from their agents and I retrained them for wing positions. I also got Aurier for 6M as a future replacement for Sagna.

I also customized most of my player instructions which I think helped in streamlining the tactics.

I found the Avg. Position option in the match Analysis screen to be extremely useful in adjusting player mentality/positioning.

[SJ234]

<snip>

Song>>>Diarra tbh.

<snip>

Don't see why you sold all those players but that is me and I like to keep the squad Arsenal like

[tylerazevedo]

With Players and Roles like this:

Sanga - FB/Auto

Koscielny - CD/Cover

Vermaelen - CD/Stopper

Clichy - WB/Attack

Song - Anchor Man

Wilshere - Deep Playmaker/Support

Diaby - Box 2 Box

Fabregas - Adv Playmaker/Attack

Walcott - Winger/Attack

van Persie - Trequartista

Good tactic if you want to include Diaby and Wilshere in your team. Arshavin and Nasri can rotate with Fabregas while Fab can also play in place of Wilshere. RVP can also play in place of Walcott, but he would need to be adjusted to be an Advanced Playmaker in that spot.

[char11]

<snip>

Song>>>Diarra tbh.

Don't see why you sold all those players but that is me and I like to keep the squad Arsenal like

I wanted to have a LB with good crossing so i sold Clichy. Rosicky is injury prone and I believe was in his last year so I wanted to make a profit.

I actually kept Eboue, Song and Squillaci until the end of the season so they won a trophy with me.

I wanted a younger and more hard-working winger so I sold Arshavin.

I loaned out Diaby and eventually sold him because he was complaining about his minutes/role.

Bendnter was surplus to my needs so I sold him.

I wanted to sell Denilson but nobody wanted him so he's still stuck in my reserves hahaha.

I actually kept the core of my Arsenal side and signed Pires to be a mentor for my young wingers so contrary to what you said the side was pretty much Arsenal at least on the 1st season.

[JEinchy]

A bit of a noob question from me, but how do you ask the board to buy a player for you? Looks like a darn useful feature that I might take advantage of.

[jameswibbs]

I used a 4-4-2 similar to the invincible side for the first half of the 2010 season with much success. I had three variants for the 4-4-2 an attacking left side ( advanced winger + overlapping fullback) which is shown in the screenshot. An attacking right side which is a mirror image of the picture with nasri on ML and turan or walcott on AMR and a flat 4-4-2 without flying full-backs which is a more disciplined side.

my midfield is pretty flexible as cesc, nasri, turan,sissoko,wilshere and ramsey can fill in for the central positions while walcott, nasri, turan, van persie, vela and wilshere to some extent can play the wing positions.

I used quick tempo, narrow width, and a defensive line in between deep and normal.

Most of my draws and losses though came from teams playing 4-5-1 and it's variants so I decided to make my own 4-5-1 tactic and it helped me win against teams playing 4-5-1.

I used a Normal defensive line, slow tempo and narrow width for this one.

I used most of the same personnel for my 4-5-1. Sissoko is important on the DM position and I used Badstuber as a reliever for him when he gets tired.

I got Pastore 9M and Paolo Henrique 6.75M for my 2012 season from offers from their agents and I retrained them for wing positions. I also got Aurier for 6M as a future replacement for Sagna.

I also customized most of my player instructions which I think helped in streamlining the tactics.

I found the Avg. Position option in the match Analysis screen to be extremely useful in adjusting player mentality/positioning.

where did you get the backgrounds from mate

[dagoonerfan]

A bit of a noob question from me, but how do you ask the board to buy a player for you? Looks like a darn useful feature that I might take advantage of.

its just on certain occasions, i.e. if you tried to sign Messi then it can appear.

[hasdgfas]

A bit of a noob question from me, but how do you ask the board to buy a player for you? Looks like a darn useful feature that I might take advantage of.

Well, as I just did it with Lloris with no prior knowledge, I can tell you. If you are going to sign an important player, under "Make an Offer", there may be, in the top right corner "XXX would be an important signing, you may wish for your board to arrange this transfer" and then click "interact with board".

[JEinchy]

its just on certain occasions, i.e. if you tried to sign Messi then it can appear.

Well, as I just did it with Lloris with no prior knowledge, I can tell you. If you are going to sign an important player, under "Make an Offer", there may be, in the top right corner "XXX would be an important signing, you may wish for your board to arrange this transfer" and then click "interact with board".

Ah, I see. Thank you very much.

[char11]

where did you get the backgrounds from mate

I just transferred my old ones from FM 2010. I forget though where I got them.. I think the logos were the Metallic Logos from the skinning hideout section of the forum. I also used the galaxy skin. The backgrounds as far as I recall were from FM Base..

[SJ234]

<snip>

I wanted to have a LB with good crossing so i sold Clichy. Rosicky is injury prone and I believe was in his last year so I wanted to make a profit.

I actually kept Eboue, Song and Squillaci until the end of the season so they won a trophy with me.

I wanted a younger and more hard-working winger so I sold Arshavin.

I loaned out Diaby and eventually sold him because he was complaining about his minutes/role.

Bendnter was surplus to my needs so I sold him.

I wanted to sell Denilson but nobody wanted him so he's still stuck in my reserves hahaha.

I actually kept the core of my Arsenal side and signed Pires to be a mentor for my young wingers so contrary to what you said the side was pretty much Arsenal at least on the 1st season.

I am not criticising I was just saying my way of playing with Arsenal is different.

[Yasp0]

<snip>

Song>>>Diarra tbh.

Yes Song is the better player, but Song is still injured in my game. And because of lacking in DM players I got myself a cheap backup player. And no whining from him

[Suggy33]

Well, after giving up (very easily) on the demo due to a crap fixture list, I've got cracking on my full game.

Before I rant on for pages, I'd like to note that I have (already!) edited my own Arsenal .xml. I'm pretty sure there will be changes which some of you will and won't agree with. I've tried to note down as many as I can remember doing (I should have noted them at the time). The recent loan deals such as Mannone to Hull, Afobe to Huddersfield and, Hoyte to Lincoln, Randall to Rotheram, Evina to Oldham and Cruise to Carlisle have been included, but I have made them extend until 31/12/2010, as it's better for their progress in game. I will upload it if anyone wants it. Here are (hopefully) a full list of changes:

Jack Wilshere: PA from -9 to -10

Wojciech Szczesny: PA from -8 to -9

Jay Emmanuel-Thomas: PA from -8 to -9 (natural position ST)

Chuks Aneke: CA from 65 to 85, PA from -7 to -9

Kieran Gibbs: PA from 160 to -9

Henri Lanbury: PA from -8 to -9

Thomas Cruise: PA from -6 to -8

Sanchez Watt: CA from 90 to 97, PA from -7 to -8

Craig Eastmond: CA from 100 to 107, PA from -7 to -8

Benik Afobe: CA from 75 to 85

Ignasi Miquel: PA from -7 to -8

Josh Rees: CA from 0 to 68, PA from 0 to -8

Conor Henderson: PA from -7 to -8

Cedric Evina: CA from 70 to 78, PA from -6 to -7

Theo Walcott: PA from 172 to 182, Speed and Acceleration attributes both increased to 20

Here is a couple of links to the file, as someone has requested it.

Link 1: Megaupload

Link 2: Filefront

I wasn't very active in the market, well, certainly not in the buying side.

[u][b]Transfers Out[/b][/u]

Havard Nordtveit     Burnley     6 month loan
Craig Eastmond       Burnley     6 month loan
Jay Emmanuel-Thomas  Norwich     6 month loan
Gilles Sunu          Scunthorpe  6 month loan
Emmanuel Frimpong    Milwall     6 month loan
Rhys Murphy          Scunthorpe  6 month loan
Nico Yennaris        Scunthorpe  season long loan
Carlos Vela          Villarreal  season long loan
Daniel Boateng       Celta       season long loan
Ignasi Miquel        Celta       season long loan
Sead Hajrovic        Celta       season long loan
Oghuzan Ozyakup      Celta       season long loan
George Brislen-Hall  Lorient     season long loan
Manuel Almunia       Barcelona   season long loan + £200k

[b][u]Transfers In[/u][/b]

Alex Chamberlain      Southampton         £650k
Mahamadou Diarra      Real Madrid         season long loan + £120k
Wendel                Atletcio Mineiro    £4.6m + £2.1m after 1st international appearance (joins 1st January 2011)
Lucas Piazon          Sao Paulo           £800k (joins 20th January 2012)
Adam Barton           Preston             £2.5m (joins 9th June 2011)
Christian Eriksen     Ajax                £5m + £5m after 30 league appearances (joins 9th June 2011)

I have high hopes for Wendel and Eriksen, who shall be straight squad replacements for Rosicky and Arshavin, the former whose contract I will not be renewing. Diarra is just a temporary move while I decide who of Eastmond and Nordtveit deserve first team involvement. Barton adds to our youth midfield options which isn't strong in numbers once the deadwood is shipped out.

My formation is a centralised 4-1-2-2-1. A typified line-up would be:

                   Fabianski                       
Sagna     Squillaci         Vermaelen      Clichy
                     Song
           Denilson        Fabregas
           Nasri           Arshavin
                   Chamakh

Pre-season was a bit hit and miss, but we certainly improved as the season approached.

Arsenal 1-1 FC Brasov (4-5 pens)

Van Persie

Arsenal 2-1 Newells

Vermaelen, Wilshere

Antwerp 2-5 Arsenal

Rosicky, Lansbury, Walcott, Neita, Aliadiere

(I was trying to get Aliadiere to become a coach)

Borehamwood 1-2 Arsenal

Lansbury, Rosicky

Kilmarnock 0-3 Arsenal

Van Persie x2, Arshavin

Barnet 1-2 Arsenal

Chamakh x2

Arsenal 2-0 Inter Milan

Fabregas, Van Persie

We started our league campaign with to tough trips to Stoke and newly promoted Newcastle.

Stoke 1-2 Arsenal

Fuller 5; Rosicky 19,29

Arsenal 0-1 Newcastle

Nolan 69

We're at home to Bolton, before our Champions League adventure commences. Our group consists of ourselves, Marseille, Ajax and Dinamo. We host Derby in the 3rd round of the Carling Cup.

Right, thats about it for now, otherwise I'll take up too much space

[thebigman1985]

started a new game, bought in mama diarra for 2.5 as he's transfer listed, song needs cover if injured...

buonanotte as affelley wanted too much, he was 2 million plus 5 in 48 months

got akinfeev coming for 4 then 10 over 48 months

fazio possibly for 2 million, if not im gonna go after samba or subotic, might not be able to afford the latter

sanogo is coming for future fees based on appearence, he looks beastly

think im gonna go for a

..........................rvp

arsh.................................theo

..............cesc....diaby

...................song

clichy...verm......fazio.........sagna

..................akinfeev

[lee_the_pea]

bought joe hart & macheda ( loan )

see how it goes

[chrisy]

Bought Fabregas in a fun save with my mate, is his best Position Deep Lying Playmaker or Advanced Playmaker ?

[lee_the_pea]

u bought fabregas? ..... he's already at arsenal ....

( unless i'm missing something, for which i apologize )

[chrisy]

u bought fabregas? ..... he's already at arsenal ....

( unless i'm missing something, for which i apologize )

I mean I bought him for another club

[aditya]

I mean I bought him for another club

everyone here is still trying to figure out the best way to play him, but i play him as advance play maker (Attack) and hes playing ok

[munter]

Oh no! In my Arsenal save Wenger has just taken over the helm at Man City... I wonder if he will splash the cash!

[thebigman1985]

cesc sadly has been rated poorly imo and plays much better as a deeper lying playmaker than the amc he was in real life last year, his dribbling stat is pathetic and he's quicker in real life too

[SJ234]

cesc sadly has been rated poorly imo and plays much better as a deeper lying playmaker than the amc he was in real life last year, his dribbling stat is pathetic and he's quicker in real life too

he does fine tbh. It also reflects that he drops deep a lot as well to dicatate play

[SJ234]

Jack Wilshere: PA from -9 to -10

Wojciech Szczesny: PA from -8 to -9

Jay Emmanuel-Thomas: PA from -8 to -9 (natural position ST)

Chuks Aneke: CA from 65 to 85, PA from -7 to -9

Kieran Gibbs: PA from 160 to -9

Henri Lanbury: PA from -8 to -9

Thomas Cruise: PA from -6 to -8

Sanchez Watt: CA from 90 to 97, PA from -7 to -8

Craig Eastmond: CA from 100 to 107, PA from -7 to -8

Benik Afobe: CA from 75 to 85

Ignasi Miquel: PA from -7 to -8

Josh Rees: CA from 0 to 68, PA from 0 to -8

Conor Henderson: PA from -7 to -8

Cedric Evina: CA from 70 to 78, PA from -6 to -7

Theo Walcott: PA from 172 to 182, Speed and Acceleration attributes both increased to 20

Don't agree with some of them but maybe me and you could create a joint arsenal edit as tbh it won't be fair if one person does it by themself as then our own personal views would be too dominant. Strong squad except I would have brought in a keeper

started a new game, bought in mama diarra for 2.5 as he's transfer listed, song needs cover if injured...

buonanotte as affelley wanted too much, he was 2 million plus 5 in 48 months

got akinfeev coming for 4 then 10 over 48 months

fazio possibly for 2 million, if not im gonna go after samba or subotic, might not be able to afford the latter

sanogo is coming for future fees based on appearence, he looks beastly

think im gonna go for a

..........................rvp

arsh.................................theo

..............cesc....diaby

...................song

clichy...verm......fazio.........sagna

..................akinfeev

Sanogo is overrated in the game. Can't believe Akinfeev is that cheap , is fazio as good as he was in previous editions?

[JEinchy]

Cesc's dribbling stat is not "pathetic". Alone, that stat may seem rather low but if you think about all the other stats that are factored in when a player is dribbling like Agility, Balance, Flair and Technique you'll see that Cesc is in fact a more than decent dribbler on the game. His stats in game are pretty spot on for someone who dribbles through players and not around them.

[Carmi88]

just paused my game as im not sure whether i should be happy or worried. 15 minutes in against birmigham im 5-0 up :S so where else to brag but in the arsenal thread

just signed macheda and taiwo in the january transfer window, and taiwo got his first through a penalty, then macheda got his debut goal with a penalty will let u know my result when the match ends, but they have been unlucky with 2 goals xD

won 7-0 lovely game to watch xD

[SJ234]

just paused my game as im not sure whether i should be happy or worried. 15 minutes in against birmigham im 5-0 up :S so where else to brag but in the arsenal thread

just signed macheda and taiwo in the january transfer window, and taiwo got his first through a penalty, then macheda got his debut goal with a penalty will let u know my result when the match ends, but they have been unlucky with 2 goals xD

won 7-0 lovely game to watch xD

Impressive tbh. What formation etc are you playing and what were the match stats like at the end ?

[SJ234]

Cesc's dribbling stat is not "pathetic". Alone, that stat may seem rather low but if you think about all the other stats that are factored in when a player is dribbling like Agility, Balance, Flair and Technique you'll see that Cesc is in fact a more than decent dribbler on the game. His stats in game are pretty spot on for someone who dribbles through players and not around them.

This, also JEinchy do you have any oppinions on the data as you are very fair in you views?

[JEinchy]

This, also JEinchy do you have any oppinions on the data as you are very fair in you views?

I think, by and large, the data is spot on this year. I don't see any major issues with it and really, Wilshere's PA is the only thing I might consider changing before I start an Arsenal save. But other than that, I think the players are rated fine.

[SJ234]

I think, by and large, the data is spot on this year. I don't see any major issues with it and really, Wilshere's PA is the only thing I might consider changing before I start an Arsenal save. But other than that, I think the players are rated fine.

I agree with that but I would downgrade some as they don't warrant their P.As.