FM14: Arsenal Thread - "Remember who you are, what you are and who you represent!"

[ajw10]

CL - Basel 0-1 Arsenal Cazorla 61

PL - Arsenal 2-1 WBA Koscielny 10, Ozil 38 Long 51

PL - Hull 1-2 Arsenal Huddlestone 50 McGregor OG 7, Giroud 69

CL - Viktoria Plzen 2-6 Arsenal Jarusek 5, Hubnik 83 Giroud 3, Chamberlain 43, Vermaelen 51, Koscielny 73, Podolski 81 pen, Rosicky 87

PL - Arsenal 1-0 West Ham Cazorla 35

Results wise October was a perfect month, but again performances were disappointing. In the Hull game especially where we were lucky to come away with all 3 points. Ozil and Giroud are blowing hot and cold, Giroud doesn't seem to get many chances either which is giving me a headache as I'm unsure how to rectify this.

[RossoneriGunner]

Can someone please explain to me why, when you start a new game and ask your assistant to set the players training and focus, nothing is ever set for Fabianski?

TIA.

[RossoneriGunner]

Here we go again......3 days into the new game. I know its not a great amount of time out, but why does it have to be CD's all the friggin' time.

I rest my case your 'onour.

[llama3]

You giving them individual training too early? Overplaying them in pre-season?

[Clifton]

I have had similar fitness problems. Difficult not to overplay the CDs when there is no backup, so it's a trade off between fitness risk and risk of not learning the tactic. It seems that we have few serious defender options amongst the Under 21s and Under 18s compared with further up the field.

[ajw10]

Yeah I don't get this game. Defence plays a high line despite my instructions, players shoot from stupid angles despite having better passing options and perhaps best of all a lot of my shots get blocked by my own player

[RossoneriGunner]

You giving them individual training too early? Overplaying them in pre-season?

I use Cleon's preseason setup.

[RossoneriGunner]

Yeah I don't get this game. Defence plays a high line despite my instructions, players shoot from stupid angles despite having better passing options and perhaps best of all a lot of my shots get blocked by my own player

My players shoot when there are opposition players in front of them and you can see whats going to happen....

[RossoneriGunner]

1st preseason match (w-10-1) and Monreal is out for 3-4 weeks.

WHY ALWAYS THE FRIGGIN' DEFENDERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[llama3]

I use Cleon's preseason setup.

Regarding Overplaying - That's not what I meant - i.e. playing the same centreback for 90 minutes consecutively every 3 days straight into pre-season. Team selection rather than scheduling.

[RossoneriGunner]

Regarding Overplaying - That's not what I meant - i.e. playing the same centreback for 90 minutes consecutively every 3 days straight into pre-season. Team selection rather than scheduling.

No I normally play them every other match.

[llama3]

September 2014

PL - Arsenal 5-1 Aston Villa - Ozil, Giroud (2), Cazorla, Vermaelen

UCL - Lille 0-3 Arsenal - Vermaelen, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Arteta

PL - Fulham 2-0 Arsenal

COC - Manchester United 4-2aet Arsenal - Pleguezuelo (2)

PL - Manchester City 2-4 Arsenal - Walcott (2), Cazorla, Giroud

UCL - Arsenal 2-1 Galatasaray - Arteta, Mertesacker

An eventful month, started with a stunning performance against Villa, blowing them away, we were 2nd best for much of the game against Lille before the late show made it look very comfortable, we somehow lost 2-0 at Fulham with a Szczesny howler and an own goal and we had a massive amount of the ball but could not find a way through. We went to old trafford with a mix of youngsters and first teamers, went 2 down early to a pair of vidic headers, before youngster pleguezuelo headed in 2 goals, including a late equaliser to force extra time, but then pleguezuelo was dismissed for a bad tackle, and we lost 4-2. We recovered though by trouncing Man City, going 4-0 up in an hour, before easing off and letting in 2 late goals. Galatasary took the lead at the Emirates, but a penalty and a tap-in from a free kick gave us 3-points again.

League Table

1 - Arsenal - 15

2 - Tottenham - 14

3 - Newcastle - 12

4 - Everton - 12

UEFA Champions League

1 - Arsenal - 6

2 - Dortmund - 4

3 - Lille - 1

4 - Galatasaray - 0

H Dortmund

A Dortmund

H Lille

A Galatasaray

Player of the Month

1 - Santi Cazorla (Arsenal)

2 - Olivier Giroud (Arsenal)

3 - Maarten Stekelenberg (Fulham)

Young Player of the Month

1 - Doria (Tottenham Hotspur)

2 - Ross Barkley (Everton)

3 - Sean Murray (Watford)

Goal of the Month

1 - Steven Fletcher (Cardiff)

2 - Leighton Baines (Everton)

3 - Moussa Dembele (Tottenham Hotspur)

Manager of the Month

1 - Brendan Rodgers (Liverpool)

2 - Me

3 - Arsene Wenger (Man City)

[Alicon88]

hi,i need an opinion about him!

they ask me a lot of money (35M€) and i don't know what to do.

i'll really appreciate any sugget or opinion

thanks

[llama3]

Not sure what to make of him because of the italian attributes as they are in a different order.

[Alicon88]

you're right!

i made a screen in english =)

[llama3]

Looks talented, not sure 35m euros worth though. Personally I would be swung or not on his personality.

[ajw10]

November 2013

PL - Fulham 0-1 Arsenal Cazorla 8

Fulham had the lions share of possession but really struggled to create anything. Cazorla's long range wonder goal was the difference in an incredibly dull match

CL - Arsenal 3-3 Viktoria Plzen Walcott 5, Giroud 23, 45 Bakos 45,46 Rajtoral 89

Such a frustrating match, we absolutely dominated it, playing probably the best football we've played all season. However defensive lapses either side of half time and a sloppy Wilshere pass at the end ensured we only finished with 1 point.

PL- Cardiff 1-3 Arsenal Cowie 90 Walcott 15, Arteta 48, Giroud 87

We carried on the attacking form from the last match and for the most part cut out the sloppy defensive mistakes. Koscielny switched off right at the end to give Cardiff a consolation goal.

PL - Arsenal 2-0 Norwich Ozil 27, 42.

Routine win. Norwich were probably the worst team we have played so far. Offered absolutely nothing in attack.

CL - Milan 0-2 Arsenal Giroud 29, Cazorla 60

Qualification secured with a game to spare thanks to this impressive win over Wenger's Milan. The defensive errors are slowly creeping out of the game.

PL - Arsenal 2-0 Manchester United Arteta 64, 68 pen

Wow. This is easily our most impressive result of the season. We were only one point clear of United going into this game, Moyes had turned them into a very defensive outfit who are hard to break down. Only 6 goals conceded in 12 games tells the story.

None of that was evident as we tore them apart. United were very fortunate not to be behind before Arteta broke the deadlock with a lovely strike. I was expecting a late United onslaught but Theo won a penalty 4 mins later and Arteta coolly dispatched to end the game. United had absolutely no answer and only mustered 4 shots all match, 3 of which were from distance.

So going into December the top 6 in the Premier League look like this

1. Arsenal 33pts

2. Manchester United 29

3. Everton 24

4. Chelsea 23

5. Aston Villa 22

6. Newcastle 20

Spurs, Liverpool and Manchester City all a few points off of 6th. City in particular have had a poor start, them along with relegation threatened Southampton have been the biggest shocks. And useful for me considering the array of talent at those two clubs that may be up for grabs soon.

And finally, the CL group looks like this.

1. Arsenal 11

2. Basel 6

3. AC Milan 5

4. Plzen 3

The biggest shock in the CL is that the holders Bayern Munich have already been knocked out. Marseille and Manchester City are already through in that group.

[llama3]

Good result there against Man Utd ajw

[RossoneriGunner]

Milan 0 - Arsenal 2, that rings a bell AJ.

Nice results there, looks like your going well.

[D0bi]

Just stared a new save with Arsenal after the patch, it seems to be going well.

In terms of transfers I set out to initially keep the original squad but ended up spending more than I initially planned to!

Ins

Dier looks like he could be a promising ball playing centre back, and he's English, so I figured £4m for a potential International centre back was a sensible decision. He's already played in both Champions League qualifiers and performed excellently.

Vela a "star" Premier Division striker for £3.4m, it's a no brainer. Already scored 4 goals in the Champions League and will offer competition to Giroud for the lone striker role. He also has the advantage of being able to play anywhere across the attacking midfield.

Balanta came in after a couple of friendlies when I realised the only fit centre backs were Koscielny and Mertesacker so Balanta will provide immediate competition to those whilst Dier develops.

Constantino Sanchez is a newgen who reminds me a little of Fabregas (mostly because he's from Barcelona, is Young and Spanish) and looks to have a potential similar to Cesc. Click here for a picture of him.

Jordan Jones is a youngster who can play all across the midfield and further up with the potential to be a star Premier Division midfielder in future. He's very raw at the moment but with development could become a solid player. At £5.25m a do feel I overpaid but with Spurs and Liverpool in for him I wanted to make sure I got my man.

Outs

No major outs, just the loaning of a few youth players as well as Park Chu Young to Lazio.

Season so far

It's been a mixed season up to September. I qualified with ease to the Group Stages of the Champions League after a 9-1 aggregate drubbing of Red Bull Salzburg but I face a bit of a group of death with 3 very tough teams in Atletico Madrid, Napoli and Zenit St. Petersburg.

I was also unfortunate to draw Manchester City in the 3rd round of the Capital One Cup and it'll be tough to get past such a strong team so early, unfortunately.

In the Premier Division we've been hit and miss; we went a goal down to Swansea before I changed things around and we hit 3 second half goals to win 3-1. Then we visited Stamford Bridge where a hugely overpowered Sammy Eto'o netted a first half hat-trick en route to a 3-1 win for the blues.

[yey]

that sucks.'enjoy' work GH!

Good shout Yey...I'll look into this when I get back on FM on Saturday...damn work preventing me from playing

[KingLara]

Season 1 - September update

Transfer deadline day

No In’s Miyaitchi, Garindo and Iowbi all went to Lorient on loan.

PL - Man City 2-2 Arsenal – Navaz 19 Toure 29 – Giroud 83 89

I went with the game planof getting 0-0 and for 18 minutes it worked perfectly. City mustered one feeble attempt from Lucas and I was pleased. But then a silva free kick missed everyone and found Navas at the back to tuck home. Yaya Toure then made it 2-0. I attacked slightly more after the break but still remained cautious. When a Negredo header was brilliantly saved by Szszesny I had seen enough and Walcott and Chamberlain were sent on. Time still ticked on when Cazorla fed Giroud and he headed in. I brought on Podolski and went for broke. A lovely through ball by Cazorla was smashed home by Giroud to get us level. Very happy with a point.

PL - Arsenal 4-0 Aston Villa – Cazorla 2 Giroud 6 Walcott 28 70 – Sylla s/o 59

A very straighforward win followed against a poor Villa side. 2-0 up after 6 minutes. Villa mustrered just a single attempt on target. Ozil superb as I trialled a new formation of 4-3-1-2. Brilliant start but not sure where it leaves Arteta, Flamini and Ramsey. Having made three subs walcott picked up an injury but had to stay on. He will miss two weeks.

CL gs – Arsenal 3-1 Atletico Madrid – Vietto 17 Giroud 25 68 – Leo 82

I made just one change with Walcott out and Vietto preferred to Podolski. This left both Captain and Vice Captain sitting on the bench. Wilshere took the armband. Vietto repaid me with the opener after 17 flat minutes. Giroud then doubled the lead. We had 11 corners in the first half but nothing fruitful. Something to work at in training. Giroud then added a fine third before Atletico’s only bright spark Leo grabbed a consolation. Great start to the group. In the other game Zenit won 3-1 at Steaua.

PL – Arsenal 5-1 Southampton – Vietto 16 22 24 Cazorla 25 Giroud 27 – Davis 82

I named an unchanged side for Southampton. This time Vietto took just 16 minutes to open the scoring and he wasn’t finished there, completing his hattrick on 24. Cazorla added a fourth on 25 and then Giroud two minus after that. Unsurprisingly the second half wasn’t as exciting as the first with Southampton pulling one back with a great lob by Davis. Tactic going well but being dominated in midfield.

LC 3rd Round – Leicester City 1-2 Asenal – Drinkwater 27 - Podolski 21 64

I planned to play the kids but none of them were fit enough so I was forced to play a team where everyone was a first team squad player. With Nothing on the bench apart from Vietto I kept it tight. Podolski had hardly had a kick in recent weeks but his brace sent us through to the next round.

4th round draw

Arsenal vs Norwich.

Spurs were knocked out by Swansea who will play Nottingham Forrest. Chelsea host United in the stand out tie.

PL – Chelsea 0-0 Arsenal

We ended the month with a trip to Chelsea. My message to them was simple. Break us down. They didn’t.

League Table top 5

1. Man United Played 6 Points 15

2. Everton Played 6 points 15

3. Arsenal Played 6 points 14

4. Chelsea Played 6 points 13

5. Southampton Played 6 points 12

6. Tottenham played 6 points 11

8. Liverpool played 6 points 10

10. Man City played 6 Points 8

Goalscorers

Giroud 8

Walcott 7

Vietto 4

Cazorla 4

Podolski 2

Assists

Ozil 5

Cazorla 5

Arteta 4

Chamberlain 3

Giroud 2

Average rating – minimum 5 games

Walcott 8.12

Giroud 8.06

Mertersacker 7.78

Cazorla 7.69

Ozil 7.45

Vietto has 8.60 so far but after just two games. Wilshere has 7.12 Chamberalin 7.30 and Szszesny a worryingly low 6.99.

Player of the month - Oliver Giroud

Outstanding month for the frenchman.

PL - Man City – 8.8(2)

PL - Aston Villa – 9.0(1) – sub 73

CL - Atletico Madrid – 8.8(2)

PL - Sothampton – 9.0(1)

LC - Leicester City – NS

PL - Chelsea – 6.7

Game of the month

Sothampton 5-2 Swansea City – Rodriguez 23 36 48 76 Ramerirez 30pen – Michu 8 Monk 27

Sothamptons form has slightly dipped but this was still a wonderful result. Stoke beating Man City 3-0 was a close second

Stat of the month - Calamitous City

Man City were 5-2 for the title before the league started. They wouldn’t be that now. A dreadful start has already seem them fall 7 points behind. This on top of a horrendous champions league group and a waft of injuries. Fixtures so far;

PL - West Ham (h) 3-3

PL - Swansea (a) 3-0

Pl - Arsenal (h) 2-2

PL - Everton (a) 0-1

CL - Barcelona (h) 0-2

PL – Stoke City (a) 0-3

LC – Watford (h) 2-0

PL – Sunderland (h) 2-0

Next for them is PSG away. In the league they play Villa and Chelsea next.

Other stuff

England thumped Montenegro 8-1 and Moldova 8-0 to almost seal world cup qualification. Wilshere netting in both games. Against Moldova they had 56 shots.

While I was boring Cheslea to sleep at Stampford Bridge Three of my big prospects to sign on a free transfer in January all put pen to paper on new deals. Brandt Werner and Thorne.

Giroud and Wilshere won the player of the month awards.Having guided Everton to wins over Man City Cheklsea and Aston Villa Martinez was named manager of the month.Again I didn’t make the top three.

RACE FOR THE TITLE

Every month I will do the race for the title fixtures involving the top 6 teams Us, Chelsea, Man City, Man United, Tottenham and Liverpool. Maybe I should include Everton too!

Liverpool 1-1 Tottenham – Sturridge Gerrard s/o – Sandro

Man City 2-2 Arsenal – Navas Toure – Giroud 2

Man United 2-0 Tottenham – Rooney Van persie – Paulinho s/o

Chelsea 0-0 Arsenal

Liverpool 1-0 Man United – Gerrard(pen)

Coming up in October

Man City vs Chelsea

Arsenal vs Tottenham

October preview

A good run of fixtures should see us towards the top in both competitions.

[llama3]

Good luck for the derby KingLara. Always nice to beat Spurs.

[RossoneriGunner]

Looking good KL, nice to see Vietto on the scoresheet.

[llama3]

October 2014

PL - Arsenal 1-1 Liverpool - Wilshere

PL - Southampton 2-2 Arsenal - Jenkinson, Giroud

UCL - Arsenal 3-3 Dortmund - Giroud (2), Mertesacker

PL - Stoke 0-1 Arsenal - Gibbs

League Table (9 games)

1 - Arsenal - 20

2 - Tottenham - 20

3 - Man Utd - 17

4 - Newcastle - 17

UEFA Champions League Group F

1 - Arsenal - 7

2 - Dortmund - 5

3 - Galatasaray- 3

4 - Lille - 1

Player of the Month

1 - Erik Lamela (Tottenham)

2 - Javier Pastore (Man Utd)

3 - David Meyler (Hull)

Young Player of the Month

1 - Doria (Tottenham)

2 - Kenneth Omeruo (Chelsea)

3 - Jack Butland (Stoke)

Goal of the Month

1 - Carl Jenkinson (Arsenal)

2 - Oscar (Chelsea)

3 - Steven Naismith (Everton)

Manager of the Month

1 - David Moyes (Man Utd)

2 - Paul Lamber (Aston Villa)

3 - Michael Laudrup (Tottenham)

A disappointing month, with 3 draws before finally breaking down Stoke. We threw away our lead against Liverpool, had to come from behind twice at Southampton, and had to come from 2-0 down at home to Dortmund, with the defence at sixes and sevens, before again throwing away the lead. We controlled the game at Stoke far more, who went down to 10 men in the first half, we finally won when a Kieran Gibbs rocket into the roof of the net from 25 yards gave us the winner 6 minutes from time.

We have not played well all season, struggling to break down teams, and looking defensively shaky. So I am working on the little tactical nuances that are causing these problems. Hopefully we will return to form soon. We are in the mix at the moment though, so that is the important bit.

[ajw10]

llama, how are you playing Giroud? Ozil, Walcott etc are firing, but I can't get Giroud to do much atm. Hasn't scored in over a month, only 5 league goals all season and I'm almost halfway through. Has 6 in the CL though. Odd.

[ajw10]

The month of December is done. Mixed results.

PL - Crystal Palace 0-4 Arsenal Grandin 0.G 38, Arteta 45 pen, Walcott 65, Wilshere 73

Really impressive result this considering Palace were 6 unbeaten going into the game. 4 flattered Palace, it could have easily been 6 or 7

PL - Everton 3-0 Arsenal Naismith 70, Jelavic 83, 85

Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear. We were well in this game until Everton made the break through on 70 mins. Jelavic scored a couple right at the end which flattered Everton really.

CL - Arsenal 1-1 Basel Sagna 38 Stocker 83

I was already through so used it as an opportunity to blood some youngsters. Gnabry and Toral started, Jebb come off of the bench. Poor game with 1-1 the right result. We top the group having won all our away games and drawn all our home games which is odd.

PL - Arsenal 2-1 Sunderland Arteta 55 pen, Cazorla 57 Larsson 44

Top played bottom in a game that looks close but was anything but. We had 26 shots to Sunderland's 2.

PL - Arsenal 4-1 Tottenham Mertesacker 1, Ozil 3, Walcott 40, Lloris O.G 64 Lamela 30

Spurs had more possession and only 2 less shots than us. We were clinical in front of goal and devastating on the counter.

PL - Aston Villa 0-0 Arsenal

Really fortunate to come away with anything. We were second best all throughout and our midfield were unable to control the game. Monster performances from Szczesny and Monreal saved us.

PL - Chelsea 2-2 Arsenal Mata 35, Oscar 63 Cazorla 57, Walcott 82

Pleased with this. We played well and with a bit more luck and composure may have won it at the end. Giroud's form remains a worry. I have no idea what to do with him.

So halfway through the season and the League looks like this :

1. Manchester United 45

2. Arsenal 44

3. Everton 38

4. Chelsea 34 (have a game in hand)

5. Manchester City 33

6 & 7 Aston Villa and Tottenham 30

In other news we've got Marseille in the CL and Middlesbrough at home in the FA Cup. The draw has been kind.

[RossoneriGunner]

One Tactic Season - 2013/14

January 2014

Premier League

Arsenal 3 - 1 Swansea - Sagna, Fierro, Wilshere

FA Cup - 3rd Rnd

Arsenal 2 - 0 Wolves - Giroud (2), Fabianski s/o, Monreal s/o

Capital One Cup - S/F 1st leg

WBA 1 - 0 Arsenal

Premier League

WBA 1 - 2 Arsenal - Giroud, Gibbs

Arsenal 3 - 1 Fulham - Özil, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Balanta

Capital One Cup - S/F 2nd leg

Arsenal 5 (5) - 1 (2) WBA - Vietto, Walcott, Balanta, Cazorla, Özil (pen)

FA Cup - 4th Rnd

Bolton 2 - 3 Arsenal - Wilshere, Vermaelen, Ramsey

Premier League

Newcastle 1 - 2 Arsenal - Vietto, Cazorla

[ajw10]

Just drew 1-1 with 17th placed Southampton. We had 19 shots to their 4. 3 CCC's and 3 woodwork hits to their none.

I don't know what to do with Giroud. He's not doing anything. Whoever plays alongside Arteta is pretty pointless too atm.

[ajw10]

Getting utterly fed up with this game. My winger loves running down the right hand side, cut back and pass to my RB or CM. Move breaks down. Is happening 4/5 times a match minimum atm.

[arsenalthebest]

January Update

01/01/14 | Barclays Premier League | White Hart Lane

Arsenal 1 ( Flamini 26)

Spurs 1 ( Pjanic 57)

04/01/14 | F.A Cup(Rd 3) | Bescott Stadium

Arsenal 3 ( Bennett 12 , Sanogo 36 & 74)

Walsall 1 ( Grella 21)

08/01/14 | Barclays Premier League | Liberty

Arsenal 2 ( Mertesacker 5 , Wilshere 57)

Swansea 1 ( Hernandez 23)

12/01/14 | Barclays Premier League | Emirates

Arsenal 3 ( Giroud 14 , Oxlade Chamberlain 56 & 79)

Stoke 0

19/01/14 | Barclays Premier League | Cardiff City Stadium

Arsenal 0

Cardiff 0

25/01/14 | F.A Cup(Rd4) | Dean Court

Arsenal 1 ( Fierro 78)

Bournemouth 0

28/01/14 | Barclays Premier League | Emirates

Arsenal 2 ( Fierro 16 , Cazorla 67)

Swansea 0

Transfers

I Sold Pod to City for 10m he was performing very poorly and I wasn't prepared to pay the wages he was on I brought back Fierro from his loan deal early as cover , I brought Clyne for six million I agreed to sign Lewendowski and Gustavo Cabral in July for free( well I had to pay 375k to his agent to purchase his 80% of the player)

[llama3]

Ajw10 - playing Giroud as a Complete Forward (Attack) in a 4-2-3-1 system, instructed to dribble less. Last season played him as an Advanced Forward, but have adapted my system slightly this year after a poor-ish start. I am also noticing poor wing play at the moment too.

[ajw10]

Ok, cheers. I have just switched Giroud from AF to CF so hopefully I'll see a difference. And yes, the poor wing play is really ruining this save now. Only thing I can think of is changing Theo Walcott to an IF?

[llama3]

I wouldn't say it is ruining it, they are less effective, but tbh they were probably too strong on 14.1.3 - anyway yeah the logic with Giroud is the following:

• He plays with his back to goal
  
• The CF(A) will hold the ball up and link play
  
• He will still lead the line and attempt to move into channels or get in behind
  
• Will attempt more through-balls, hopefully to Walcott and Cazorla.

[timmy2211]

Hello all.

Got FM14 last week and did my obligatory first save with my beloved Arsenal and finished a pretty successful season.

SEASON '13/14

TRANSFERS

IN

Lars Bender - Leverkusen £25m - ( £15 +£10M over 36 months)

EderAlvarez Balanta - River - £6M

Jahmal Howlett-Mundle - Crystal Palace - £2.8M

Miguel Pinto (GK) - Free

Transfers Out

Fabianski - Lokomotiv Moscow - £2M

Domestic - Premiership, F.A Cup & Capital One Cup

Domestically we were on fire all season.

I won the league with real ease which really surprised me. Stormed away winning it by 19 points. Mesut Ozil won player of the year, scoring 14 goals and providing 19 assists in the league.

Here's the league table. Just look at the TOP 4! I couldn't personally believe it. Man Utd sacked Moyes in November after losing 7 of his first 12 games. AVB replaced him. Laudrup then joined Spurs , which lead to Martin O'Neil taking over at Swansea. Pellegrini got the sack in March and was replaced by Benitez.

I realise i stormed away with the league due to all the other big clubs not performing. Hopefully they'll put up a better fight next year and give me a challenge

Capital One Cup

Managed to guide Arsenal to their first trophy in 9 years. Route to the final was relatively easy,

3rd Rnd Leicester (H)

4th Rnd Huddersfield (A)

Qtr Final Wolves(A)

Semi Final Newcastle 1st Leg (H) 1-1. 2nd Leg (A) 2-1.

The final was against united.

Won 2-0 Thanks to goals from Gibbs & Chamberlain.

F.A Cup

Completed a Domestic Treble by adding the F.A Cup once again to Arsenal's trophy cabinet.

Again, a relatively easy passage through to the final.

3rd Rnd Blackburn (A) 2-1

4th Rnd Stevenage (A) 3-1

5th Rnd Southampton (H) 3-1

Qtr Final Hull (A) 3-1

Semi Final Man City (N) 1-0 aet. (Chamberlain scored with 15 seconds to go of extra time remaining.)

Met Stoke in the Final. Won the game 1-0 thanks to an Ozil goal after 34 seconds.

Champions League.

Really enjoyed my European Campaign this year.

Qualifers

Zulte Waregem 1st Leg (H) 7-1. 2nd Leg (A) 3-1 (10-2 aggregate.)

Was drawn in a group against A.C. Milan, Ajax and Legia. Won the first 4 games, and won the group after those 4.

Celtic managed to win their group with City and Bayern Munich, which inevitably lead to me drawing Bayern in the first leg.

1st Knockout Round Bayern Munich 1st Leg (A) 2-1 (Ramsey popping up with a last minute strike:p) 2nd Leg (H) 0-1 (Through on away goals)

I was thrilled with the Munich win. Played a positive Counter Attacking system which paid off.

Next up were Chelsea.

Qtr Final Chelsea 1st Leg (H) 3-2 2nd Leg (A) 3-1. (6-3 on aggregate)

Ozil absolutely destroyed Chelsea in the second leg, scoring 2 sublime chips and creating chance after chance.

The semi's brought me with Ozil's former club, Real Madrid.

Semi Final - 1st Leg - (A) 2-1. Walcott's pace on the counter was too much for Real and he bagged two goals in the last twenty minutes.

2nd Leg - (H) 0-2. I was gutted at this result. We'd had 57% possession and 23 shots (15 on target.) I played my more attacking gameplan in a bid to get the first goal. This cost me as Marcelo scored on the break in the 85th minute. Then just after I had set my team up to park the bus, Ronaldo scored from a corner in the 89th Minute. Ending my fun Champions League campaign.

All in all, 3 trophies and some great results. Put Arsenal back on the map.

Squad

Here's the squad at the end of '13/14.

One thing I need to look at is the team defensively, let in far too many goals for my liking and not enough clean sheets. I might have to sacrifice the "Much Higher Defensive Line" shout that I tick for most games, though I would rather not.

Ozil was the star performer, 18 goals and 20 assists. He did go missing in some away games, but in nearly all the big games turned up.

Walcott had a slow start and was injured quite a bit, but hit ground running in the second half, finishing with 20 goals and 12 assists. Again, big game player as well.

Giroud finished top scorer, 24 goals and 7 assists. He went through a goal drought til November, but took over from Podolski up front and stayed there til the end.

Podolski started like a house on fire. Ended up with 19 goals, though most of those came between Aug-Nov. After which I moved him to the Left to accomodate Giroud, where he played well the majority of the time. Tore his hamstring in March though and didn't play again.

Chamberlain was fantastic for me. Loads of important goals, including winners against City, Utd and Milan. Got in ahead of Cazorla on the left a lot of times.

Wilshere was inconsistent for a large part of the season before I tweaked his PI's for the BBM role. Ticked Run with ball more, shoot less and more risky passes and after that he was brilliant for me between March and right at the end of April before he got injured. Hopefully he will carry that form into 14/15.

Ramsey played ok. Not bad, not amazing(like IRL). I'm going to try and see if he can learn a ppi to arrive late in the area and work on his finishing, as he has a lot of shots in games but only 3 goals to show for it.

Balanta and Bender were solid all year round. Balanta became my 1st choice centre back, often partnering Koscielny. Mertesacker played well when asked, it's just in a lot of games I play with "Much Higher Defensive Line", which with Per's pace, can cause many issues.

Transfer targets and exits.

Doria is already signed, bought him for £11M in Jan but opted to have him join us at the end of the season, as he wouldn't be getting much playing time.

I want t get a new RB. Sagna signed an extension and was solid. Jenkinson was ok, but I don't think he'll make the cut and would like to improve this area.

Danillo from Porto had been my 1st choice to go for in the summer, mainly due to his high team work and Work Rate. Also on my list was Montoya, who at 22 like Danillo, has good solid stats in areas I look for. However, Corchia is transfer listed and available at £6.75M, which seems a good price and I wouldn't feeel guilty about rotating a £6M player with Sagna as opposed to a £15M player in Danillo, Montoya.

LB is another area I want to improve. Neither Gibbs or Monreal were bad, and this isn't a necessity. Alaba would be the dream, but I don't fancy breaking the bank for him. Next would be Luke Shaw, but from what I've read, he could be expensive as well, however being English and sure fire world class talent in the future, it might be someone I invest highly in. If neither of those come through, I'll go for Jonathan Silva hopefully and develop him to hopefully reach the 5* potential Rowely gives him.

I'm going to bid for Aleksandar Mitrovic as well. I see him as the future leader of my line and want to develop him and rotate him with Giroud. I had put a very expensive contract offer in for Lewandowski, but he's going to Bayern. I was dithering about Barbosa, and then Barcelona knicked him.

Another player I'm interested in is Bernard at Shakhtar. This is not necessity, given the form of chamberlain, but he has decent work rate and teamwork stats (which I look for first in players) coupled with good technical stats and is available at a reasonable £15M.

I also have 5 regens at a combined price of £11M arriving.

Bendtner is on his way to Fiorentina on a free.

I'm planning on selling Vermalen. Couldn't get much playing time and considering his value and wages, I would cash in now.

Depending on my hunt for Bernard/AML and Mitrovic, Podolski could be sold. Did well for me, but again considering his value, I wouldn't mind cashing in.

Similar to Podolski, if my hunt for LB goes well, I'll sell Monreal.

Arteta will be sold. He's had interest from teams and didn't get that much playing time. Also, I have Coquelin coming back and he looks more than adequate to be back up for Bender.

So that's my season review. If anyone has any suggestions for my transfer targets that would be great. Really enjoying FM14 so far, hoping to build on my success and create a Fergie like Dynasty.

[timmy2211]

Apologies i didn't realise how long that post was, I got carried away .

I'll do posts in between my seasons from now. Again apologies.

[gholliday87]

Start of the second season...my first 5 game are: Southampton (H), Villa (H), Q.P.R. (A), United (A) & Wigan (A), I'd expect at least a win against Wigan, Q.P.R & Villa, I'd be want at least a draw (but expect a win) against Southampton & I'd be happy with anything at United.

[timmy2211]

Also, does Ozil struggle to get into the Germany team for anyone else? He won World Player of the Year yet isn't in the world cup squad.

Neither is Chamberlain to my surprise, and Zaha went instead.

[gholliday87]

Have you got the German National Team fix on it?

[llama3]

Don't apologise Timmy, nice to see you doing well and how you play. Nice sometimes to see a summary instead. But congratulations though, a superb season.

Yeah Ozil rarely in Germany squad in my save.

[gholliday87]

That's Theo gone...£8.5 mil up front, £19 mil over 48 months and 20% of future fee

[Yasp0]

Januzaj on TL for 28M euros....hmmz

[RossoneriGunner]

That's Theo gone...£8.5 mil up front, £19 mil over 48 months and 20% of future fee

GH you should have sold him to me, then I would have 2 Theo's, that should keep defenders on their toes......

[gholliday87]

Rossoneri...If I could have I'd have swapped him with Wilshere! That guy is immense on my save, I was massively disappointed with Theo, started 15 games, came on as sub in a dozen more and only scored 4 goals

[Yasp0]

Wilshere is is not performing well in my game, what role do you give him? And instructions?

[gholliday87]

As a few of you may know, Paul Pogba has been a long term target of mine...he's now requested a transfer happy happy happy...But Mr Holliday, what's his asking price I hear you say? GBP 132,000,000 sad sad sad

[gholliday87]

Wilshere is is not performing well in my game, what role do you give him? And instructions?

He's on the left hand side of my 3 AMC's, playing as a T(A), no individual instructions

[yey]

132mill?? thats beyond ridiculous.

[yey]

Yasp0

I play Wilshere in AMC position Trequartista Attack. he's done quite well for me. play 39(1) gems, scored 16 goals with 10 assists in second season.

[RossoneriGunner]

As a few of you may know, Paul Pogba has been a long term target of mine...he's now requested a transfer happy happy happy...But Mr Holliday, what's his asking price I hear you say? GBP 132,000,000 sad sad sad

Ask them If you can pay it over 100 yrs......

God only knows what his wages will be, I'd hate to even hazard a guess.