FM12 Arsenal Thread - Life after Cesc

[macsoz]

SEASON 2011/2012 (season1 patch12.1.1)

Plans for the season:

My initial aim for my first season as Arsenal manager was simple win a trophy and make the CL for next season as it's been far to long since arsenal have won anything and no CL football just isnt good enough in my eyes. After reading the opening post and my own thoughts on the squad i decided i that i needed a replacement for clichy as i didn't think Gibbs or Santos would be good enough and i also felt that another defensive option was needed in midfield as i think as also irl arsenal have been missing this and song will be away for the ANC but apart from that i wanted to try keep the squad as close to the orginal as i could for the 1st season. so no real selling of players either.

Major Transfer activity

IN OUT

Sven Bender 7.75m

Aly Cissokho 12m

Di Maria -Jan ln fee 1.7m

OUT

Almunia 2.7m

Bennayoun-cancled loan when Di Maria arived

My Tactics- i used this 4321/433/451 what ever you want to call it.

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/290964-Total-Football-Tic-Tac-PHOENiX

i'm not very good with tactics so i prefer to download and tweak them if i need to plus the way this tactic actually plays football is amazing and i think really suits arsenal.

my planned starting team for the season was

Szczesny

cissokho Vermaelen Koscielny/Djourou sagna

ramsey song arteta

Walcott Gerinho

RVP

How the season actually went

Well to continue on with the thread title life after cesc is good. i won the league by goal difference on the last day of the season in a dramtic fashion i needed to win my last game and man utd need to lose. it had been close at the top all season and for the most part of it i had been trailing man utd by 4points all season i had been top a few times but injuries as i've posted in the thread and some bad results meant that i could never build a lead or stay on top to what was a very good man utd side and the best performance in the league i've ever seen from the AI. I also won the champs league which was amazing, beating r.madrid man utd and barcelona in the final, great achievemnt for me as in many saves i allways find the 1/4s of the CL the hardest and my team often produces games of the season in the semi's as this arsenal team did this year, beating utd 4-1 at home which i was amazed with given how well Sir Alex had them playing. i also got to the semi's of the league cup and fa cup getting knocked out by chelsa and man city respectively.

League Table

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Fixtures Run in vs Utd

Game of the Season

The Players

My main man..........obviously RVP

if only i could have had him fit all season things could have been so different. great return of goals and assists.

other players of note:

Koscielny: he was absoultely outstanding for me quite possibly even my 1st choice cb.

Ramsey: developing brilliantly he'll be my 1st choice cm for next season.

Arteta: the main creative force in my midfield he got 30 assists, went off the boil with the return of Wilshere.

Arshavin: he was the biggest surprise for me, he turned out to be amazing all season espically with the injuries to RVP Walcott and Gervinho he carried the team alot.

my signings

cissokho: he was everything i expected him to be solid at left back but he did get turned inside by c.ronaldo and in some of the other big games

bender: biggest dissapointed with was that he got injured at excatly the same time as the ANC so the whole reason i bought him didnt work out, still a solid buy and i played him and song alot in the big away games.

disapointments of the season

All my other strikers when RVP got injured, nobody was able to step up and start scoring goals espicially chamakh and park.

Things i've learned from this season and for the first season with arsenal.

players get injured alot so make sure you all positions well covered.

a new LB is essential for me.

Coquelin and Frimpong are excelent cover for song.

another striker is needed as i doubt RVP will last the season.

and depending on your tactics Mertesacker may not get much game time and it might be worth selling at the start.

season 2012/2013 (season 2)

brief plan for this season is to sell alot of players and bring in 3-4 more top quality players. As you can see from above i've allready brought in Aguero for 39mil and i've made the Di Maria deal permament for 14.25m. Next move is for a better GK, i'm curently monitoring the Adler situation as everytime i scout him his asking price goes down and also looking at Matanda(sp)? as my scouts have them at 3.5stars and only rate Szczesny as 2.5 and he did make some mistakes in some games when he really should have been keeping clean sheets.

Players i've allready let go

chamakh 14.25m r.madrid, park 3m, mertersakcer 8m A.C. milian, bentdner 6m everton, Squillaci free to villa. i want to sell santos, diaby and denilson but i can't get any bids in atol and if good money comes my way for Arshavin ill take as he is aging but id like him around for one more season.

i'm also looking to develop bartley and vela as i love vela from a previous life as celtic on fm11 where i won the CL with him and lukaku with the same tactics i'm using now. i'm also have sanogo coming in on a fee to be my 3rd choice striker but he'll see alot of the season on the bench as i think RVP will be moved to AML.

[llama3]

is there anything more beautiful than winning the north london derby? After dominating the opening period, the game became very end to end, but i went for broke to win it, and we broke away 3 v 1 on the counter and walcott squared for van persie to finish - with 5 minutes left.

[macsoz]

i hate angents, i messed up my deal to sign di maria and it has cost me an extra 15k pw which has put him on 75kpw instead of 60k pw and i had to pay him a 2.8m loyality bonus which i had to reduce my transfer budget 10m to do so.

[Carmi88]

Ended the 2022/23 season with the league and Champions League cup

Beat a very poor looking Real Madrid side 2-0, plenty of quality players In their team but none of them seemed to show up, and won the league with 2 points more than man city.

[soundboyy]

guys, pls help....!

sold santos and gibbs as they both performed pretty poorly in the first season, plus dont really rate them.

ive bought jack robinson for the future but am now stuffed for a first choice left back

any suggestions please?!!!

[macsoz]

guys, pls help....!

sold santos and gibbs as they both performed pretty poorly in the first season, plus dont really rate them.

ive bought jack robinson for the future but am now stuffed for a first choice left back

any suggestions please?!!!

i bought ally cissokho for 12m in the first season he was class for me, or have a look at cheik m'bengue he's just been bought for 8m in my game and he looks pretty good. there's allways baines aswell.

[Carmi88]

Leighton Baines or a cheeky bid for ashley cole

[Lone Gooner]

Hi Guys,

Just started a new Arsenal save after a long break from FM, any tips on signings would be appreciated

Cheers

LG

[macsoz]

i can't decide if should by another cb or not, don't really need one but money is burning a whole in my pocket and i've been offered pepe for 20mil. ill maybe wait till jan......infact i might do that it's allways good to bring in a player every window.

starting team going into season 2 is looking like:

matanda

cissokho vermaelen koscielny sagna

ramsey song wilshere

walcott RVP

aguerro

my other cb's are djourou and bartley, i never realised how good djourou stats are, he comes up when i do alot of stat based searches. my only main worry is if i have a cb crisis and i have play song and bartley as my cbs in a semi final or something like that.

@lone gooner i bought cissokho for 12m and bender for 7.75m and had a pretty good 1st season id also look at adding another striker cavani should be good for 20odd mil, it manily depend on what tactics you plan on using. my main thoughts on what to do in the first season are a couple pages above.

[soundboyy]

so is Baines actually any good

[asadk]

so is Baines actually any good

Very consistent, for me he hardly ever puts a foot wrong. Able to hold his own against most attackers, even contained Ronaldo in my encounter with Madrid very well.

In other news, we had some fun in our first friendly of the season...

[Carmi88]

Mancini just left Man City In my save, there goes my main manager rival Got offered the job and declined

And in tribute to Henry joining Arsenal this week I resigned one of my former players, Eden Hazard

Hazard had been with me for 6 seasons, has been at Madrid for 4 and rejoins me with atleast 3 more years left In him

[llama3]

i hate angents, i messed up my deal to sign di maria and it has cost me an extra 15k pw which has put him on 75kpw instead of 60k pw and i had to pay him a 2.8m loyality bonus which i had to reduce my transfer budget 10m to do so.

i like them cos i know how to work them

for robin van Persie i got this deal:

£90k pw

5 year deal

£1.4m loyalty bonus

£1m agent fee

£8.5k appearance fee

£8.5k goal bonus

£450k team of the year bonus

no clauses

win for me

[macsoz]

yet again more injuries for me. i'm 3 games into pre-season and bartley, gervinho and surprise surprise RVP are all out injured only for a mixture of 3-5weeks but still when alot of my squad are at the olympics it's not leaving me many options. currently out of the 8 players i have that can play Striker only one is available and it's some guy called sergio aguero who'll just have to do........

is there anyway to reduce the injuries? diffrent coaches? change training? and how do i do it if there is?

i like them cos i know how to work them

for robin van Persie i got this deal:

£90k pw

5 year deal

£1.4m loyalty bonus

£1m agent fee

£8.5k appearance fee

£8.5k goal bonus

£450k team of the year bonus

no clauses

win for me

any tips, RVP is on 150k pw on my game. i do try to negoiate but i never really get that great a deal.

[KingLara]

Update January/February

FA Cup 3rd Round – SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 0-4 ARSENAL - Mensing 76 - Vertonghen 41 Gervinho 64 Granero 80 Ghidini 88 Granero m/pen 32

2013 began with an FA Cup tie at Sheffield Wednesday. A fist half bombardment should have seen us take at least at least a four goal lead. Ramsey and Vertonhen missed open goals, Granero missed a penalty, Fierro hit the post, Lansbury the bar before Vertonghen capitalised on a keeper mistake to poke us into the lead. Second half saw more of the same with more end product. Sub Gervinho scored a good counter attack goal. Granero made up for his penalty miss with a cracker and Ghidini flicked in a crisetig shot for a 4-0 win. A great start to the competition.

FA Cup 3rd Round Review

Spurs and Man united were both held to goalless draws at home. Spurs have the trickier task of having to go to Middlesbrough in the replay. Unjited should overcome Swansea. Liverpool vs Everton was also a draw

FA Cup 4th Round Draw

Rochdale vs Arsenal

Travelling to another league 1 club. Only tie of any interest is the winner of Liverpool vs Everton hosting high flying Aston Villa.

Premier League – FULHAM 1-1 ARSENAL – Zamora 21 – Vermaelen 90 Van Persie 42

The irony of the game is that I completely forgot to drop Adler for Szczesny after the Fa Cup. Blessing in disguise. Completely outplayed before and after the red card for Van Persie. Didn’t really deserve Vermaelens thumping header in stoppage time but a point well and truly gained. Only mustered 2 attempts the entire game. Fulham had 23!

League Cup Semi Final 1st Leg – MANCHESTER CITY 0-2 ARSENAL – Balotelli 3 - Mertersaker 45 Ramsey 88

A tough game was greatly helped by Balotelli hacking down Mertersaker and getting sent off. The rest of the half resulted in a series of half chances as I still didn’t want to take risks until Mertersaker headed home Graneros free kick. Second half was all about holding onto the lead. Hart made two brilliant saves from Chamberlain and Park before Ramsey completed the job for his first of the season. Job done.

Premier League – ARSENAL 4-0 NORWICH – Schurrle 9 Koscielny 16 20 Vermaelen 25

Norwich were carved apart at the Emirates. It was a tough decision with all centre backs fit and ready to play. All four had been in great form with Mertersacker just producing a man of the match display. Unluckily it was he that made way as I stuck with Vermaelen and Koscielny playing Vertonghen as defensive midfielder. Koscielny and Vermaelen both scored in a rampant first half display. Schurrle also scored. Second half probably saw twice as many shots but no goals. The game taught me a lesson not to play park and Vela together. Doesnt seem to work

FA Cup 3rd Round Replay Review

Everton knocked out Liverpool. Tottenham, City and United all won their replays

Premier League – PORTSMOUTH 0-1 ARSENAL – Vermaelen 90

Against Fulham Vermaelen rescued a point and this time snatched all three right at the death. Just about deserved it. Walcott made his comeback from injury

League Cup Semi Final 1st Leg – ARSENAL 3-2 MANCHESTER CITY – Park 44 Mertersacker 55 Van Persie 68 – Dzeko 38 Danny 63 [/color]

Was delighted to come through with a 5-2 aggregate victory. Mertersacker scored again and also had two headers cleared off the line. In fact Chamberlain could have had four in the opening 10 minutes but needs to work on his composure. I was a little worried when Dzeko opened the scoring but it was so against the run of play I knew we would hit back. On a side note Koscielny came on for the last 7 minutes meaning her is eligible for the final. Adler, Song and Arteta will be missing though

LEAGUE CUP FINAL DRAW

ARSENAL VS WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS

Somehow Wolves knocked out Manchester Unied. Astonishingly they won 3-0 at Old Trafford before a 2-2 draw at Molineux. I guess I better not take them lightly.

FA Cup 4th Round – ROCHDALE 1-6 ARSENAL – Akpro 55 – Schurrle 9 Van Persie 10 61 Ramsey 23 Park 25 Chamberlain 37

A great result. All credit for to Rochdale who made a good game of it and deserved their goal but the Arsenal side I put out was just too strong to make it a contest.

FA Cup 4th Round Review

Only surprise was Chelsea being held at home by Preston. Man City were also taken to a replay but should overcome Charlton. Everton beat Aston Villa

FA Cup 5th Round Draw

Queens Park Rangers vs Arsenal

Away again! All the top 5 got simple draws again. Going to be a glamorous quarter final draw.

Premier League – ARSENAL 2-0 NEWCASTLE – Koscielny 12 Walcott 37 - Coloccini m/pen 36

Koscielny’s TENTH of the season got us off to a great start and it was just a matter of how many. Newcastle were awarded a pretty soft penalty. Oddly Coloccini stepped up and Adler flung himself to his left to make a great save. Walcott then tapped in a parried Van Persie freekick.

Premier League – WEST BROM 1-1 ARSENAL – Long 66 -Van Persie 17

I knew that at some point we would lose the winning run but didn’t expect it to come at the Hawthorns. Van Persie put us in front and in what was a pretty drab game never extended the lead and Shane Long managed to grab an equaliser. Man City are 2 points behind with a game in hand.

FA Cup 3rd Round Replay Review

City and Chelsea both won their replays with ease.

Champions League 2nd round 1st leg – ATHELETIC BILBAO 0-1 ARSENAL – Van Persie 85

An excellent performance in Spain. Had several chances before finally Van Persie scored. I would’ve taken 0-0 and could almost argue played for it. Van Persie was earlier booked and will miss the second leg. Actually quite pleasing on reflection.

FA Cup 5th Round – QPR 2-2 ARSENAL – Eriksson 8 17 – Park 12 38

Quite a game at Loftus road. The first half saw saw all four goals with qpr twice taking the lead and having much the better of the play. Infact Arsenal only created two chances and scored both. The second half went more with form but couldn’t find a way through. Park crashed a late shot against the bar looking for his hattrick,. That was the closest we came. In an ideal world we would win it in one but I’m just glad we’re still in it.

FA Cup 5th Round Review

No shocks at all. How dull.

FA Cup 6th Round Draw

Newcastle vs Queens Park Rangers or Arsenal

Fourth away tie in a row. This time however it’s a slightly tougher ask Let’s just get past QPR first. The draw threw up two good ties. Chelsea hot Manchester City while Manchester United host Tottehnam. The other game will see the winners of Everton vs Sunderland host the winner of West Brom vs Brighton

Premier League – ASTON VILLA 0-4 ARSENAL – Collison 71 – Schurrle 33 Song 40 Van Persie 50pen Koscielny 61

A wonderful performance. I was a bit nervous as it’s usually a tough game at Villa Park but not tonight. The perfect first half saw Schurrle go on a mazy run before slotting in on the rebound. Then a great goal by Song gave us the needed breathing space. Van Persie scored a penalty before Koscielny scored yet again. Collison used all his nine lives before finally being sent off.

Champions League 2nd round 1st leg review –

Man United lost 2-0 in Barcelona. Chelsea won at Galatasary 3-0. Man City drew 1-1 in Sevilla. In the other ties Lyon take a 2-0 lead to the Bernebau. PSG and Bayern are locked at 1-1, Marseille have a 2-1 advatange over Benfica and AC Milan take a 2-0 lead back to Italy after beating Shalke.

TOP SCORERS (all comps)

Park 18

Van Persie 17

Koscielny 11

Walcott – 10

Schurrle - 9

Granero - 4

Chamberlain - 3

Mertersacker - 3

Song - 3

Vermaelen - 3

Chamackh - 3

AVERAGE RATINGS (all comps minimum 5 games)

Laurent Koscielny - 7.64

Robin Van Persie – 7.52

Chu-Young Park – 7.51

Leighton Baines – 7.29

Andre Schurrle – 7.28

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

Theo Walcott - 7.18

Thomas Vermaelen – 7.21

Rene Adler – 7.08

LEAGUE TABLE

It was nice to see the table after 27 games and be top of the pile. However there were still tests to come. It was just a case of winning the games left and not slipping up

1. Arsenal played 27 points 65

2. Tottenham played 26 Points 61

3. Man City played 25 points 60

4. Man United played 26 points 58

5. Chelsea played 26 points 48

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

7. Liverpool played 26 points 44

GAME OF THE MONTH

Chelsea got their revenge on Tottenham for their defeat to them earlier in the season with a massive win at White Hart Lane. An honourable mention should go to Everton for berating Man United 1-0 at Old Trafford.

TOTTENHAM 0-3 CHELSEA

/-/ Mata 50 Torres 57 77

Shots 13 - 12

On Ta 1 - 6

Poss 48 - 52

PLAYER OF THE MONTH – Thomas Vermaelen

A tough one. I’m going for Vermaelen for hitting form at the right time when it was needed and for scoring two crucial goals. Van Persie was a very close second.

S

7.9(1)

US

8.3 (1)

8.2 (1)

NS

7.7

7.0

6.9

7.1

US

NS

7.6

STAT OF THE MONTH

At this time of the season It’s time to look at the form book. This is how the big four performed over the course of January and February

Man City - WLWWWWW

Arsenal - DWWWDWW

Man Utd - WLLWWWW

Tottenham - LWWWWW

MARCH PREVIEW

The Champions League heads into the last 8. We have a replay against QPR in the Fa Cup but first must beat Wolves in the league Cuip final. Only two league fixtures but one of them sees the big game against Manchester City at the Emirates. Big. Big month.

[llama3]

any tips, RVP is on 150k pw on my game. i do try to negoiate but i never really get that great a deal.

now this took me 3 rounds of negotiating too (often makes it harder to do a deal) however only the player interaction, you can "warn player transfer list" by telling him if he doesn't agree to sign a new deal then you will transfer list him.

my next point is completely anecdotal but i think there are good times to do a deal, as in the middle of transfer windows i think it is harder to do a deal.

try to compromise and lockout only 1 or max 2 aspects of the contract. i tend to make an initial offer to their demands a fair chunk lower, then i will cut off clauses like "match highest earner", and trade them off with things like "league goals clause" don't be afraid to go up on an agent fee if you need to, but i tend to reduce it first. But there does need to be some progress in talks. Sometimes if an agent won't budge when i raise their fee, i actually cut it dramatically and a fair few times this has forced a deal.

Long and short - i am a REALLY hard negotiator.

That deal of mine costs in wages only £23.4m - yours costs you £39m in wages alone - so perhaps a fat bribe to an agent along with a nice season league goals bonus clause is not a bad thing.

but do NOT allow ANYONE a match highest earner clause - as soon as you let anyone else have it, or you bring in a player worth more - your expenditure is going to be huge

[macsoz]

That deal of mine costs in wages only £23.4m - yours costs you £39m in wages alone - so perhaps a fat bribe to an agent along with a nice season league goals bonus clause is not a bad thing.

but do NOT allow ANYONE a match highest earner clause - as soon as you let anyone else have it, or you bring in a player worth more - your expenditure is going to be huge

paying agents more now thats interesting as i try to pay them as little as possible but when you put it like that paying an agent 1m is nothing when i'm paying 16m more in wages.

i allways find if i don't get the deal done first time it costs me more then next time like the di maria deal.

yeh and that highest earner clause is killing me. aguerro and rvp have it so if i ever offer them any new deals both will get a pay raise.

[llama3]

http://www.theawaystand.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/6595-the-tas-contract-calculator-for-windows-mac-v01/

download that - my original idea, developed by someone else on my behalf

[macsoz]

that tool is cool, i used your methods when i extened sagna's contract got him down from 70k pw to 48k which is was happy enough with.

man utd away 1st game of the season, and i just lost the charity shield 1-0 to man city matanda howler and adebayor of all players scored

[lomekian]

King Lara..how on earth are your centre-backs scoring so many? I have no problem with total team goals, but my centre-backs get maybe 10 between them in a year, whereas you seem to have that many in 2 months!

[Llew_Arshavin23]

I've been really tempted to make an Arsenal save lately, so much so that I have actually made a Arsenal save!

I will be alternating between this Arsenal save and my beloved Gladbach one, which I cannot recommend highly enough. After my Gladbach thread has become quite 'uninspiring', this is the most logical time to make a Gunners save Looking forward to it.

[Anxiietyyy]

I've been really tempted to make an Arsenal save lately, so much so that I have actually made a Arsenal save!

I will be alternating between this Arsenal save and my beloved Gladbach one, which I cannot recommend highly enough. After my Gladbach thread has become quite 'uninspiring', this is the most logical time to make a Gunners save Looking forward to it.

Uninspiring to say the least... Every thread that I contribute to dies!

[Llew_Arshavin23]

Uninspiring to say the least... Every thread that I contribute to dies!

Well, it started well but, everyone who said they were making a Gladbach save didn't even come back in the thread, apart for a few like yourself, Rob and Deejay

[Robert the Spud]

Funny that, I am so tempted to start an Arsenal save

I must refrain though, not even enough time for my Gladbach/Udinese saves at the moment. Then there's the Spurs one in Feb. Still, really tempted. I like the look of Frimpong in this year's version. Him, Song and Wilshere would make a very good midfield.

[llama3]

i like a midfield trio of ramsey, wilshere & song

[Robert the Spud]

Yeah forgot Ramsey actually. His PA is ridiculous on this game, but may be accurate i suppose.

[llama3]

Got Man City in my Carling Cup Quater Finals - the other semi is Everton v Chelsea - guess which team i wanted to avoid?

[llama3]

I've been really tempted to make an Arsenal save lately, so much so that I have actually made a Arsenal save!

I will be alternating between this Arsenal save and my beloved Gladbach one, which I cannot recommend highly enough. After my Gladbach thread has become quite 'uninspiring', this is the most logical time to make a Gunners save Looking forward to it.

yeah was thinking i hadn't seen you round here much

[macsoz]

i'm having a horror start to 2nd season, i haven't won a big game yet.

Man city 1-0 Arsenal CS

Man utd 3-1 Arsenal

Arsenal 4-0 Reading

Dnipro 0-2 Arsenal SC

Arsenal 4-1 Stoke

Arsenal 1-1 Galatasaray CL

Fulham 3-2 Arsenal

Man utd 2-1 Arsenal LC

My solid defence from last year just isnt there, Mandanda is AWFUL and making Varmaelen my captin was an poor choice as well but made sense as RVP is injured again and isnt first choice with aguerro around.

Bolton and Rangers up next should win those games hopefully.

i like a midfield trio of ramsey, wilshere & song

it's a class midfield.

[Llew_Arshavin23]

yeah was thinking i hadn't seen you round here much

Well, I'm back I'll get my save up and running properly tomorrow night as I have nothing better to do.

For the first transfer window, I'm going to sign some younger players. I'm not expecting anything big though; January and next Summer are the more likely periods for some considerable squad strengthening. Looking forward to a save with my beloved Gunners!

[bdixon]

Life is tough

[soundboyy]

^^^^^

How?!!

[Kieran87]

got to be a sugar daddy buyout.

[bdixon]

we got taken over by a young chairman and board of directors, cleared debt and pumped 275m in to club. Only spent 30m on Kompany.

[macsoz]

this almost feels like cheating!

After my bad start to the season i decided to make up my own tactic and it seems to be going quite well. i have him set as a poacher in a 433.

do take overs happen alot as arsenal?

[bdixon]

Welcome to the Emirates.

[lucatonix]

Wow that's pretty insane. Would be cool to see the final transfer history after you finish making your deals.

[bdixon]

Well there's not many players needed to be honest, I have the likes of Hazard, Pastore, Augero, Konpany, Hulk. But sure I'll post a screenie once I've finished.

[Anxiietyyy]

Ahh Gladbach has got too boring. I know it looks like i'm following Llew, but I'm gonna start a save at my beloved Arsenal.

[Llew_Arshavin23]

Ahh Gladbach has got too boring. I know it looks like i'm following Llew, but I'm gonna start a save at my beloved Arsenal.

Gladbach, boring? Anyway, good luck with your Gunners save, mate

[Anxiietyyy]

Gladbach, boring? Anyway, good luck with your Gunners save, mate

I couldn't get into it, I love a good FM challenge but I just wasn't enjoying Gladbach tbh. Good luck to you, too.

[Llew_Arshavin23]

Cheers, Anxiietyyy

Anyway, here's my latest signing;

Delighted with it. Admittedly, I have edited his PA to a -9, as I feel he deserves it due to his current performances within the Polish League, but I have been looked over very nicely by the FM gods. I may look to loan him for his first-season to allow him to settle within England and adapt to the British game. Looking forward to watching this young man develop.

[bdixon]

love the way you do screenshots, teach me oh master /bow

[KingLara]

King Lara..how on earth are your centre-backs scoring so many? I have no problem with total team goals, but my centre-backs get maybe 10 between them in a year, whereas you seem to have that many in 2 months!

lomekian

I believe it is more down to luck than skill but obviously the first step is to have good takers. I use Arteta, Van Persie and Granero.

In most cases Koscielny players on the right side of centre back so the right sided player attacks the far post and the left sided centre back attacks the near post. Everyone else is just random

The takers aims are mixed.

There's more to come in the March update too!! lol

[Kieran87]

I haven't been on as much this last week as SWTOR has taken my life a bit but last night I cracked open the game for an 8 hour stint and finished my 1st season.

I would of taken that after October as I had a horrid start as you all saw. I ended up just buying for the future except for this lad who rolled back the years and won me 3 valuable points

Other than that all I have to say is Hoorah!

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/80/facupfinal2012.png/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/215/champleaguefinal2012.png/

Ac didnt even turn up - they were awful. My gain!

This was my best result of the 2012 calender year and my run to the final of the champs league. 2 - 0 first leg and yes that is 3 penalty misses Lol!

Well onwards to 2012 - 2013.

On a side note did anyone apply for team gb manager as I have and look forward to it?

[llama3]

Pires scoring! Nice!

[Llew_Arshavin23]

Pre-Season Update;

Pre-Season come and gone, so I feel the need to update you on what happened throughout. I played 5 pre-season games which provided a great insight as to where I may need to improve before the opening weekend of the Premier League campaign. Enjoy!

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Pre-Season fixtures and results;

A good pre-season. I decided to test my team with some challenging games against the likes of Vfl Wolfsburg, Málaga and Paris Saint-Germain and we performed well, despite losing two of the three. I was pleased with what I saw though. The likes of Oguzhan Özyakup, Chuks Aneke and Nico Yennaris all made a good leap into my first-team set up and impressed, whereas more experienced players, like Ignasi Miquel, gave a great account of themselves. I'm hoping that this boost in fitness and familiarity to my tactical set-up will give us an advantage over Fulham in our first competitive game of the season; Good start.

Line-Ups and Formations;

[Will add screenshot and analysis soon!]

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A few final words...

My journey into the UEFA Champions League Group Stage - For me to progress into the Champions League group stage, which for me is key, I will have to win over 2-legs against a good side. Here's the draw;

I've pinpointed a handful of players that I will need to watch and, from experience, this game will be tough. Looking forward to it though.

Van Perise's contract situation - For us to progress and become the force we once were, we will have to re-sign players like RVP to new long-term deals. I'm pleased to announce that negotiations have started but, nothing is concrete yet. I'm hoping to drive down his agents wage demands from around £120k down to around £100k. I'm hoping that RVP will see his career out at The Arsenal.

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FORZA ARSENAL

[llama3]

Remember Llew I got van Persie super cheap

[macsoz]

I haven't been on as much this last week as SWTOR has taken my life a bit but last night I cracked open the game for an 8 hour stint and finished my 1st season.

On a side note did anyone apply for team gb manager as I have and look forward to it?

id love to have a laptop good enough to do a season in 8hours a month takes about 2hours on my laptop, it's so slow!

i applied for it never got it, 'they' gave it to mcclaren who picked an awfull squad. he ended up with two of those 'grey' players you get when you don't have a big enough squad and played gibbs at cb although it that did make his team more like an arsenal side with walcot ramsey and wilshere in the team.

[Llew_Arshavin23]

Remember Llew I got van Persie super cheap

Yes, I do remember! Wasn't it something like £80k a week?