FM13 Arsenal Thread - Victoria Concordia Crescit

[SteveUK]

Well its really wierd, see at the start of the game diaby was worth say 8mil, and chamakh was 6.5, then as soon as they joined Lille the valuation of both players shot up by about 5mil each, then when they came back it went down a small amount, but the ones im having problem with are Podolski, whos value was 12mil at the start of the week when he came back from being on loan at PSG, then down to 7mil, also i cant get rid of denilson and rosicky for zero money.

[Rigga89]

I sold diaby immediately for 10.5m at the start of the game but chamakh would only go for loan. Same for Rosicky, but I figure he's a decent squad player and has been good to the club so I may allow him to see out his days with us. Denilson was a problem to shift on last year's FM too I recall. Interesting that you can't move on Podolski though. He's on the verge of getting the chop if he doesn't have a better 2nd half of the season but I had hoped for a better price than his current value.

[Guest]

Beat Spurs 3-0 at home in the PL and then had the Champions league draw , playing Barca in the knockout stage!!!

[SilentBob09]

Game arrived in the post today so started up an Arsenal save right away. Signings so far are Ba, Cabaye, Alaba (once he's recovered from his injury, tried to sign him only to fail his medical) from Bayern and Burdisso from Boca as a back-up CB. Out the door so far are Djourou and Squillaci, also looking to get rid of Chamakh, and possibly Rosicky and Santos.

What is the best way to play Cabaye do you think? Think a midfield of Arteta, Cazorla and Cabaye could be quality.

Also, is there a reason why my new signings (Ba, Cabaye and Burdisso) are marked as 'unavailable' for the pre-season friendlies?

[marks91]

Also, is there a reason why my new signings (Ba, Cabaye and Burdisso) are marked as 'unavailable' for the pre-season friendlies?

Did you buy them after submitting your squad of 40 for the pre-season tour? That could be why.

If so, make them available for the reserves and they will get some games under their belt in those friendlies instead.

[SilentBob09]

Did you buy them after submitting your squad of 40 for the pre-season tour? That could be why.

If so, make them available for the reserves and they will get some games under their belt in those friendlies instead.

That's the problem. They came in after I named my 40 man squad. They got game time in the last friendly of the tour, and have another friendly to go before the Premier League kicks off so they should be nearly at match fitness by then.

[SteveUK]

Ive been using Cabaye as a deep lying playmaker as he has all the stats for that, you could probably use him as a box to box midfielder also, but would leave the rest of your midfield exposed if your playing Arteta in the DM position

[Rigga89]

Last night I had an idea for a slightly more aggressive and unusual formation.

First game was an away fixture against Villa in COC, which ended 5-3 to us. Podolski with a hat rick, 2 of them were penalties. The opposition also had 2 penalties but missed 1.

The second game was a home match against Southampton in the league which finished 4-2. Lambert scored twice for them, first moving into the game between Vermaelan and Koscielny, then the second was from the gap between Koscielny and Sagna. Both were unsaveable shots though.

I'm not convinced by it yet because of the leaky defence but I'm scoring goals like never before and destroying possession with 70+%

[1984mattyd]

Last night I had an idea for a slightly more aggressive and unusual formation.

First game was an away fixture against Villa in COC, which ended 5-3 to us. Podolski with a hat rick, 2 of them were penalties. The opposition also had 2 penalties but missed 1.

The second game was a home match against Norwich in the league which finished 4-2. Lambert scored twice for them, first moving into the game between Vermaelan and Koscielny, then the second was from the gap between Koscielny and Sagna. Both were unsaveable shots though.

I'm not convinced by it yet because of the leaky defence but I'm scoring goals like never before and destroying possession with 70+%

that is quite possiby the most oddest formation i have ever seen, no oxlade though?

[SteveUK]

Remember if you are using the 3d Engine enabled even if you have commentary selected, there is bugs at the moment that result in goals and events that shouldnt happen.

[SJ234]

Wilshere's performances for me are truly awful. Any ideas on how to use him? I play 4-5-1 as it is called on the creator

[Rigga89]

Add to that a 0-0 at home against 8th place Swansea. Complete domination again but couldn't convert the chances on this occasion.

I've never seen as many clear cut chances being created as with this formation!

[Rigga89]

Remember if you are using the 3d Engine enabled even if you have commentary selected, there is bugs at the moment that result in goals and events that shouldnt happen.

I'm on 2d at the moment

[1984mattyd]

Wilshere's performances for me are truly awful. Any ideas on how to use him? I play 4-5-1 as it is called on the creator

advance playmaker in in central midfield is where i have always played him and hes given me good performances

[SJ234]

advance playmaker in in central midfield is where i have always played him and hes given me good performances

Gets a 6.5 nearly every game with that role. I am truly mystified. How do you have him and the rest of the team set up?

[SilentBob09]

Absolutely blitzed pre-season, scoring 7 or more goals 3 separate times. So just my luck that I kick off the league season with a 2-1 defeat to Spurs (after going 1-0 up through Mertesacker), and a last minute 1-0 loss at home to Wigan! Tempted to start over, lol!

[1984mattyd]

Gets a 6.5 nearly every game with that role. I am truly mystified. How do you have him and the rest of the team set up?

i play a 4-1-2-2-1 formation like this:

gk

fbr cb cb fbl

dfm

b2b adps

w w

p

attacking formation

last year his av rating was 7.29, 13 assists and 5 goals, but i have played with the same formation on the beta save and he was scoring twice as many and assisting over 20 goals, i do find that sometimes its down to the ai, could be worth playing him out wide as an advance playmaker as he can dribble the ball and cross

[Rigga89]

Wilshere's performances for me are truly awful. Any ideas on how to use him? I play 4-5-1 as it is called on the creator

advance playmaker in in central midfield is where i have always played him and hes given me good performances

Gets a 6.5 nearly every game with that role. I am truly mystified. How do you have him and the rest of the team set up?

I'm playing him as an attacking midfielder on support duty. After 21(10) games he's scored 6 goals, 9 assists, 3 PoM, 90% pass success, 4.09 tackles per game (more than anyone else in my team!) and an average rating of 7.21. He's probably the star of my team!

[SJ234]

i play a 4-1-2-2-1 formation like this:

gk

fbr cb cb fbl

dfm

b2b adps

w w

p

attacking formation

last year his av rating was 7.29, 13 assists and 5 goals, but i have played with the same formation on the beta save and he was scoring twice as many and assisting over 20 goals, i do find that sometimes its down to the ai, could be worth playing him out wide as an advance playmaker as he can dribble the ball and cross

Going to try some of that

[1984mattyd]

with wilshere it is getting it right, on fm12 i always played 4-4-2 and he would be even better

[1984mattyd]

just looked at my reserve team before i start my first friendly before my 3rd season gets under way and realise i only have 2 defenders, all the rest are midfield players! think i may have release to many crap defenders and not got any young ones in! but on the plus side, least i will be able to attack but not defend, may try a 2-4-2-2 formation lol!

[Rigga89]

just looked at my reserve team before i start my first friendly before my 3rd season gets under way and realise i only have 2 defenders, all the rest are midfield players! think i may have release to many crap defenders and not got any young ones in! but on the plus side, least i will be able to attack but not defend, may try a 2-4-2-2 formation lol!

The first half of my season I only had 10 players in my reserve and under 18 team combined. Somehow they're sitting in 2nd. The team will be even smaller by the end of january too Next season I'm going to pay more attention to my reserve and youth sides!

[SteveUK]

Season 2 is about to begin!

So i have gutted the reserves to reduce the wage budget, and repay some of those funds i used in the first season.., the board gave me a transfer budget in the region of 45million and a 1.8million wage budget that carried over from last season, i was several hundreds of thousands in the red in this regard as you can imagine.

Transfers Out -

Demba Ba - 25million - Olympic Marseille

Abou Diaby - 7.75million - Lille (it was a pre agreed fee from the loan)

Benik Afobe - 1million - Huddersfield

Damian Martinez - 350k - Union

Mikel Arteta - 15million - Chelsea (He had a good season scored some crucial goals, but at his age i felt it good time to cash in and 15mil was a good offer imo)

Bacary Sagna - 15million - Fulham (Same as Arteta really, that and the fact Jenkinson has developed really well and was keeping Sagna out of the team.)

Chuks Aneke - 160k+future bonuses - Watford

Lukas Fabianski - 1.5million - Man City (I loaned him to Man City in the first season and he was picked ahead of Joe Hart for atleast 27 games which was extremely odd, i would of given him away for free)

Manny Frimpong - 2.7Million+50percent of next transfer fee - Fulham (was a hard one this as i like the kids commitment but the chances of him getting a game in my team where zero)

Nik Bendtner - 10mil - Leverkusen

Marouane Chamakh - 10mil - Bayern Munich

Chu Young Park - 5mil - West Brom

Samuel Galindo - 350k - Cadiz

So those are the transfers out for what i consider good money, a few other free's and loans went out too but nothing really of note, TOTAL 94MIL.

Transfers In -

Alessio Romagnoli - 5million - Roma (Young CB Prospect i agreed a deal with back at the start of the 2012 season but only arrived in July 2013)

Fernando Llorente - Free - Athletic Bilbao

David Alaba - 20mil - Bayern Munich

Yann M'Vila - 32mil - Rennes

Lars Bender - 28mil - Leverskusen

Marouane Fellaini - 25mil - Everton

Danilo - 24mil - Porto

So just when i thought id recouped my spending from last season i go on a spending spree, what can i say i like shiny new things:D TOTAL 135Mil

Formations

I play 3 different formations now, a 41212 Narrow Diamond, 451 with Wingers and a 451 with only 2 in midfielder(2wingers and an AMC behind the lone striker.

Squad

Goalkeepers - Chezney, Mannone. (This is the weakest part of my team in my opinion, Chezney is solid but Mannone is a bottom half Premier League goalkeeper at best, so this will most likely be the only other place i make signings in the near future.)

Central Defenders - Vermaelen, Hummels, Koscielny, Kirchoff. (The first three where incredible last season, large contributing factor to the best defense in the league, Kirchoff is solid cover for both CB and DM.)

Left Back - Leighton Baines, David Alaba, Kieran Gibbs. (Kieran Gibbs is another tough choice for me on this years FM13, his potential isn't what i thought it would be i guess this is due to the injuries, so i might find myself moving him on sadly )

Right Back - Jenkinson, Danilo. (Danilo only made 18 apps for Porto in 2012 season but secured a spot on the Porto season best eleven as well as securing the title with them, has a lot of potential according to my scouts.)

Defensive Midfielders/Ball Winning Midfielders/Anchormen - Radja Nainggolan, Lars Bender, Yann M'Vila, Marouane Fellaini. (This is my most altered area of the team, 3 big signings, lots of competition for places, though 2 places are up for grabs in one of the formations i use.)

Central Midfielders/Box2Box/DeepLying Playmakers/Advanced Playmakers. - Cazorla, Wilshere, Ramsey, Cabaye, Svensson. Wellington Nem.

Winger's/Inside Forwards - Yarmolenko, Walcott, Ox.

Strikers - Falcao, Llorente, Giroud, Ademilson.

Summary -

A)Yep there is a lot of players i know, but there is also a lot of games, especially if the World Club competition thingy is included in FM which i assume it is.

B) My squad is young, with a handful of experience of course, so i should not need to buy much for the foreseeable future unless a true gem catches my eye, as i will show in my reserve list shortly.

C) Cover! Adapt!, i like my teams to be what the real Arsenal is not, Flexible!, alot of the players at the club can play numerous positions so i should have no fear of injury problems.

Reserves/Youth Prospects

Unfortunately i did not get the luck of some other people with good regens, the best i got was a 2star potential and that won't do luckily my overspending accomodated for this.

Goalkeeprs - None! this is troublesome, need to scout and invest in someone, possibly Butland, Chezney should do for a while but still.

Defenders - Luke Shaw(LB), Doria (CB), Romagnoli(CB), Kenny Tete(RB), Jores Okore(CB)

Midfielders - Coquelin(DM), Ryan Gauld (ML), Will Hughes(AM), Sean Murray(RM), Mattheus (AM), Adryan(AM), James Ward-Prowse(MC), Gnabry(AM), Ryo Miyaichi(W), Eisfeld(AM), Henderson(MC), Glen Kamara(DM)

Strikers - Wellington Silva, Mason Bennett, Chuba Akpom, Zakaria Bakkali, Joel Campbell, Leonard Kweuke.

The Leftovers, if any of you guys want these ill trade you for a pack of haribo, seriously.. Rosicky, Denilson, Podolski.

Thanks for reading hope it wasnt too long a post

[Rigga89]

that is quite possiby the most oddest formation i have ever seen, no oxlade though?

Sorry, missed your post!

It's definitely odd but it's working out incredibly well in terms of chance creation and match domination. Slightly vulnerable to the counter but i'm working on improving it.

The Ox is struggling to get a first team spot. Podolski has upped his game the last 4 matches and chipped in with 5 goals I think it is, and Walcott has scored 10 and 6 assists so it's hard to see where he fits. With the fixture congestions that comes from being in all competitions still he does get plenty of opportunity for rotation, he just hasn't had the edge to force his way into the starting XI side now Podolski is playing as he should.

I'm actually really enjoying playing with a small squad. Usually I'll hit the 25 man limit, even with several unregistered under 21s but playing with a total of 18 players before Jan - 19 now Cavani and Fellaini have come in with Ba leaving - has meant that careful rotation is essential and everyone gets a good amount of play time. Bould has recently reported good things about almost all of my younger player's progress. I think perhaps Gibbs and Jenkinson are the only 2 not developing as I'd like.

[max787]

Remember if you are using the 3d Engine enabled even if you have commentary selected, there is bugs at the moment that result in goals and events that shouldnt happen.

Really? has that been confirmed??

Season 2 summer summary

Great squad, love your defensive midfielders! Unfortunately Fellaini went to city in the 1st season on my game and Nainggolan went to PSG, so they won't be moving on again

[SteveUK]

Yeah there's quite alot of problems with the match engine apparently, theres alot more info over in the bugs forum, they said in the recent patch that the team is working on the match engine patch and that hopefully they will have it out soon.

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/327215-UPDATE-13.1.2-RELEASED-for-Football-Manager-2013

The bold text in the first post.

Things like fullback positioning and the one i get quite alot which is teams passing like Barcelona/Arsenal, for instance you might have stoke in possession but instead of playing the ball forward, they continually pass sideways to other players accumulating pass numbers in the region of what barcelona would do, and pretty sure the disallowed goals thing is a bug, as you will get alot more of them in 3d match enabled than you do in 2d.

[1984mattyd]

Sorry, missed your post!

It's definitely odd but it's working out incredibly well in terms of chance creation and match domination. Slightly vulnerable to the counter but i'm working on improving it.

The Ox is struggling to get a first team spot. Podolski has upped his game the last 4 matches and chipped in with 5 goals I think it is, and Walcott has scored 10 and 6 assists so it's hard to see where he fits. With the fixture congestions that comes from being in all competitions still he does get plenty of opportunity for rotation, he just hasn't had the edge to force his way into the starting XI side now Podolski is playing as he should.

I'm actually really enjoying playing with a small squad. Usually I'll hit the 25 man limit, even with several unregistered under 21s but playing with a total of 18 players before Jan - 19 now Cavani and Fellaini have come in with Ba leaving - has meant that careful rotation is essential and everyone gets a good amount of play time. Bould has recently reported good things about almost all of my younger player's progress. I think perhaps Gibbs and Jenkinson are the only 2 not developing as I'd like.

walcott is amazing as a poacher and i have ox on my amr as a winger and he scores and assists and get a good rating

[Rigga89]

walcott is amazing as a poacher and i have ox on my amr as a winger and he scores and assists and get a good rating

With Cavani and Giroud doing well up front I can't really see Walcott taking over from them. Perhaps a formation with 2 strikers is the way to go on some occasions. Walcott has been an amazing winger for me, though. He's completed more dribbles than anyone else in the squad and the chances he creates from wide are impressive.

[1984mattyd]

well walcott can get u a minimum of 30 goals a season so never rule that out

[marks91]

1st Season January Update

Premier League - P22 W13 D8 L1 GF34 GA16

Currently sit in 3rd position on 46 points, one point behind Liverpool who have played one less than me and ten points behind Man U who have played two more games than me.

Champions League

Got handed a pretty easy group with only a late Zenit goal in the last game preventing me from a 100% record. I've been rewarded with a draw against some team called Real Madrid in the first knockout round.

FA Cup - Out 3rd round

Lost 1-2 to Aston Villa at home in a replay. Completely dominated but a shocking back-pass from Frimpong and a 30-yard screamer from Bannan sealed my fate.

League Cup - Out 3rd round

Lost 1-3 at home to Burnley with all three of their goals coming from Squillaci assists. Burnley have gone to beat Chelsea and Man City in the following rounds

Overall

I'm not doing too bad considering Vermaelen, Arteta, Ramsey, Wilshere, Cazorla, Podolski and Walcott have all been out at some stage for at least a month. I also went through an incredibly frustrating run of four consecutive 0-0's against bottom-half opposition, the key highlights showing the kick-off, the restart and the final whistle going each game. I even tried the overload option but still nothing!

I've brought in Baines for £10m and Fellaini for £13m with the Belgian getting an average rating of 7.48 after his first five games. I've let Squillaci go to Newcastle for 400k and let Coquelin go to Udinese on loan for the rest of the season. I've also decided to give a new one-year deal to Arshavin as he his my third top scorer with a 7.02 average rating so there is still some life in him.

I echo those who say play Walcott as a poacher. 10 goals in 20 apps for me so far. However he does miss his fair share of one-on-ones!

I'm struggling though to get the best out of these players. My current positions, roles and duties are in brackets;

Oxlade-Chamberlain (MR/RW Winger attack)

Arteta (DMC Deep-Lying Playmaker defend)

Ramsey, Wilshere (AMC Trequartista)

Any help?

My main aim now is to finish in top four and anything else is a bonus really. Then hopefully I'll get a new contract and get a chance to re-assess the team/tactics at the end of the season.

Cheers for reading!

[llama3]

mate if it shows no highlights then log that as a bug - for 4 consecutive games it sounds like it

[llama3]

Wilshere is Determined and Aggressive, and Ramsey is Determined and has great fitness - neither suit the languid style of a Trequartista particularly well.

[1984mattyd]

play oxlade as amr - winger - attack he does well for me, he will come good end of first season but the 2nd season where it is all about him, ramsay, sold him, dont like the guy, and wilshere, playmaker, arteta good to play in a defensive role, but i sell him after 1 season

[marks91]

Cheers for the quick responses chaps. If I get another run of no replay highlights I'll definitely log it as a bug. I'm reluctant as I've not had it since. Hoping it's just a one-off (or a four-off in this case!)

I'll tinker around with Wilshere and Ramsey in the roles you've suggested and be a bit more patient with The Ox. I will report back when I've finished the season. Thanks

[Rigga89]

Well my 30 game unbeaten streak just came to an end at the hands of United at Old Trafford as they beat me 2-1. At the end of 2012 they stood at about 8th but a recent run has seen them climb right up to 3rd, frustratingly. In January I noticed that Rooney, Cleverly and Anderson were all listed for transfer by request but they're happy again now. How I wish a club had stolen Rooney from them

[Big Yellow]

so i have switched over to the assymetric invincibles formation with much success. have only conceded 3 goals in the past 10 games!

my top scorer is actually wilshere from either the AMC or AMR positions.

on a side note, had something really really perculiar happen in one match.

had walcott on as a winger from MR position. he dribbles the ball all the way up the right side of the pitch towards the corner, stops and decides he does not want to cross. he then dribbles the eintire length of the pitch back to our defensive corner, then dribbles to the left side of the pitch then proceeds to dribble all the way up to the left attacking corner where he lobs a perfect cross for the open podolski to slot in a goal.

i was like WTF!!

[SteveUK]

@Big Yellow, Hes clearly been working on that on the training ground lmao, you might want to report that as a bug

[TheBigBoss]

Some of the regens you get on this our top class I got a 16 year old striker with 5* potential who gets called up to a u21's on a regular basis, what a prospect

[error]

So a very frustrating night last night saw a run of one win two loses and three draws including a 3-0 defeat at old trafford, a draw at home to Chelsea where I missed two pens and lose to Villa who a currently one point behind me in 4th. Some very frustrating games which have left me falling off the pace, really struggling for goals atm

[max787]

Why does everything stop working from January onwards in every single season? Seriously?

3rd season now, and in every season so far results and performances have been great until the second half of the season, and then it all falls apart!

[Guest]

I have The Ox as a inside forward on the right , but he is a little ineffective at times , is he best as winger attack then?

[SilentBob09]

Well, talk about an uninspired start to the season! Blitzed pre-season, scoring 7 goals or more on 3 separate occasions (biggest win a 9-1), made what I think are good signings (Cabaye, Ba, Burdisso from Boca, Alaba, and Andreas Cornelius from Copenhagen), but my league season started with FIVE straight draws! Finally beat Southampton 3-0 in the league, only for them to knock me out of the League Cup on pens 4 days later! Cazorla has started brightly, but the rest of my signings are struggling to fit in, and Ramsey wants to leave cos he thinks I have too many players in his position.

[error]

Why does everything stop working from January onwards in every single season? Seriously?

3rd season now, and in every season so far results and performances have been great until the second half of the season, and then it all falls apart!

Exactly what is happening to me, although I am only in my 1st season

[1984mattyd]

because thats what happens to arsenal in real life lol!

[SilentBob09]

Any ideas how I can get Giroud scoring? 8 games now and he's still on a big fat zero. Usually play him as a Poacher, is there another way to get him playing better?

[1984mattyd]

Any ideas how I can get Giroud scoring? 8 games now and he's still on a big fat zero. Usually play him as a Poacher, is there another way to get him playing better?

what formation are you playing? walcott is better for poacher

[SilentBob09]

what formation are you playing? walcott is better for poacher

Playing a 4-3-3. Flat back 4, then 2 (mostly Arteta and Cabaye) in central midfield (sometimes drop Arteta back to DM against bigger teams), Cazorla as AMC (now Wilshere though cos Santi's out for 3 weeks), Podolski/Gervinho rotated at AML, Walcott and Ox rotated at AMR, with Giroud and Ba rotated at CF (Ba isn't doing much better than Giroud, he's only got 1 goal!)

[1984mattyd]

Playing a 4-3-3. Flat back 4, then 2 (mostly Arteta and Cabaye) in central midfield (sometimes drop Arteta back to DM against bigger teams), Cazorla as AMC (now Wilshere though cos Santi's out for 3 weeks), Podolski/Gervinho rotated at AML, Walcott and Ox rotated at AMR, with Giroud and Ba rotated at CF (Ba isn't doing much better than Giroud, he's only got 1 goal!)

play the ox permently as amr and move walcott into a poacher position he will get goals, i brought ba just to make profit on him and giroud i shipped out, giroud would be good for a target man role or a deep lying forward because he has the height, but walcott has the pace and acc for poacher

[Rigga89]

Giroud is my top scorer, he certainly doesn't suit poacher but CF or DLF have had good results for me.

[max787]

what formation are you playing? walcott is better for poacher

Walcott may score more goals, but Giroud is far better as a poacher in my opinion because of the variety of goals that he can score, and his aerial ability helps immensely in general play and set pieces

He can score with his feet and with his head, and he can hold up the ball and bring others into play.