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

[EBOUE]

Am I the only one struggling to get any sort of consistency from Chamberlain ? and has anyone managed to make Gnabry, Zelalem or Akpom first team players ?

Oxlade is one of my most consistent. The others are still in my U21s at the moment or out on loan. Akpom will be sold soon.

Im into my second season

[EBOUE]

This has probably already been covered but what formations are you all playing?

Im on a slow passing 4-4-1-1

[RossoneriGunner]

This has probably already been covered but what formations are you all playing?

Im on a slow passing 4-4-1-1

Most people play 4-2-3-1

[EBOUE]

I conceded too many goals in pre-season so changed it. 4-4-1-1 keeps the game tighter but I score less.

Had to re-train Podolski to play ML but I brought in Ayew who is great in that role.

[Yasp0]

I am playing 4-1-2-2-1 now, conceding less then my previous 4-2-3-1.

[RossoneriGunner]

I found I was leaking goals when I first started 4-2-3-1, thats why I changed the 2 MC's and my line up is 4-1-1-3-1.

[gholliday87]

Lewis999 - not really no, I play a lone striker and 2 CM's...one of my CM's is always a DLP(S) so he is almost a DM, and my other one changes from a CM(Automatic) or a B2B

[llama3]

4-2-3-1 for me

[EBOUE]

Anyone made use of Joel Campbell after season 1?

Ive tried to utilise him on the ML position but he's not progressing quick enough to oust Podolski or Ayew.

[llama3]

Have to say, never really did enough to interest me in keeping him around at the club. Shame, apparently irl he is doing well for Olympiakos.

[gholliday87]

He sometimes makes the bench for me...but doesn't come on

[llama3]

April 2015

A rollercoaster month, down to business:

PL - Chelsea 3-1 Arsenal - Giroud

UCL - Arsenal 1-1 Marseille - Oxlade-Chamberlain

PL - Arsenal 0-0 Wigan

UCL - Marseille 1-2 Arsenal (aet) - Wilshere (2) - Arsenal progress to Semi Finals 3-2 on aggregate

PL - Arsenal 4-1 West Brom - Podolski, Walcott (3)

PL - Man Utd 3-4 Arsenal - Giroud, Walcott, Carrick og, Wilshere

UCL - Real Madrid 5-1 Arsenal - Giroud

UEFA Champions League Semi Final First Leg

Real Madrid 5-1 Arsenal

Juventus 0-0 Man Utd

Premier League - 35 games

1 - Arsenal - 73

2 - Chelsea - 66

3 - Man Utd - 66

4 - Tottenham - 64

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

5 - Liverpool - 60

6 - Man City - 57

Player of the Month

Simon Makienok (Nottingham Forest)

Young Player of the Month

Ross Barkley (Everton)

Goal of the Month

Madjid Bougherra (Fulham)

Manager of the Month

Roberto Martinez (Everton)

The month started badly, a defeat at Chelsea, conceding 2 penalties in the first 25 minutes, before a Flamini red card before half time. Against Marseille at home we were completely outplayed, and then could not pick a way through Wigan in an uninspiring draw. At that point it was looking rather grim, but a win in extra time with 10 men in Marseille was superb, Flamini again dismissed in 2nd half, this time for a 2nd yellow, and we had Jack Wilshere to thank for a superb brace. We then really picked it up by beating West Brom, and Chelsea contrived to lose 3 in a row. We won a very entertaining game at Old Trafford 4-3 thanks to Wilshere again before getting beating heavily at Real Madrid, where Kieran Gibbs broke his leg. So, we have 3 games left to win the league, and need a huge turnaround against Real Madrid.

May fixtures:

H Everton (PL)

H Real Madrid (UCL)

H Swansea (PL)

A Tottenham (PL)

[RossoneriGunner]

llama do you remember around 2009/10'ish that a few of us started a massive thread with Mag Man, Higgins and quite a few others about the WM formation.

Ive been trying to find it as I was thinking of trying to see if I can set it up again.

[llama3]

May 2015

PL - Arsenal 3-2 Everton - Vermaelen, Koscielny, Walcott

UCL - Arsenal 1-3 Real Madrid - Ozil

PL - Arsenal 2-3 Swansea - Wilshere, Gnabry

PL - Tottenham 2-2 Arsenal - Walcott, Podolski

Premier League Table

1 - Arsenal - 77

2 - Chelsea - 72

3 - Man Utd - 70

4 - Tottenham - 68

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

5 - Liverpool - 65

6 - Man City - 64

Relegated - Swansea, Fulham, Wigan

UEFA Champions League Final

Real Madrid 0-0p Manchester United

Football Writer's Association Player of the Year

Olivier Giroud (Arsenal)

PFA Player of the Year

Juan Mata (Chelsea)

PFA Young Player of the Year

Erik Lamela (Tottenham)

Barclays Premier League Golden Boot

Olivier Giroud (Arsenal) - 28 Goals

Barclays Premier League Golden Glove

Jack Butland (Stoke) - 19 Clean Sheets

Barclays Premier League Goal of the Season

James Chester (Hull)

Barclays Premier League Manager of the Year

Me (Arsenal)

PFA Barclays Premier League Team of the Year

Jack Butland (Stoke); Matthew Lowton (Aston Villa), Younes Kaboul (Tottenham), Vincent Kompany (Man City), Leighton Baines (Everton); Erik Lamela (Tottenham), Santi Cazorla (Arsenal), Mesut Ozil (Arsenal), Juan Mata (Chelsea); Robin van Persie (Man Utd), Olivier Giroud (Arsenal) - substitutes - Hugo Lloris (Tottenham), Dejan Lovren (Southampton), Christian Eriksen (Tottenham), Lucas Leiva (Liverpool), Rickie Lambert (Southampton), Kieran Gibbs (Arsenal) & Theo Walcott (Arsenal).

[llama3]

llama do you remember around 2009/10'ish that a few of us started a massive thread with Mag Man, Higgins and quite a few others about the WM formation.

Ive been trying to find it as I was thinking of trying to see if I can set it up again.

Don't remember sorry.

[llama3]

Have resigned from my Arsenal post after my title win, contract negotiations broke down in the season, the board offered poor terms and we did not agree.

[gholliday87]

Have resigned from my Arsenal post after my title win, contract negotiations broke down in the season, the board offered poor terms and we did not agree.

Any jobs avaliable or are you going to be unemployed for a while?

[Cleon]

llama do you remember around 2009/10'ish that a few of us started a massive thread with Mag Man, Higgins and quite a few others about the WM formation.

Ive been trying to find it as I was thinking of trying to see if I can set it up again.

You can thank me later

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/106245-W-M-Discussion-Thread.-An-attempt-to-recreate-the-historical-formation.

My thread about the W-M still exists too inside the SI Sports Centre thread but sadly the images no longer work. Shame my old hosts went bust because it was based on FM12/13 too

[llama3]

Any jobs avaliable or are you going to be unemployed for a while?

A few jobs, but I would prefer international. Declined Lyon job on wages.

[RossoneriGunner]

You can thank me later

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/106245-W-M-Discussion-Thread.-An-attempt-to-recreate-the-historical-formation.

My thread about the W-M still exists too inside the SI Sports Centre thread but sadly the images no longer work. Shame my old hosts went bust because it was based on FM12/13 too

Sir Cleon you are a star, thanks very much.

I've been reading the bible (Inverting the Pyramid) to give me some inspiration and thought of Mag Man's thread but I was looking far to late so thats why I didn't find it.

[KingLara]

FM 14 Season 1 - January

PL - Arsenal 4-0 Everton– Giroud 11 60 Hibbet o.g 64 Walcott 73 – Deulofue s/o 57

We started the New Year with the top of the table clash against Everton. December had been a perfect month and with a 5 point lead I was confident we would win. We did, although didn’t play to our potential. The sending off killed Everton and flattered the result. Nice to see Giroud finally score after ten hours.

BREAKING TRANSFER NEWS!!!

I’ll do the full transfer report at the end of the month but before the Fa Cup game this came through

ARSENAL TO SIGN LEWANDOWSKI.

FAC 3rd round – West Ham 3-3 Arsenal – Morrison 2 Nolan 13 Crouch 57 – Chamberlain 47 Adrian o.g 53 Monreal 59

I was still buzzing from the signing of Lewandowski before the trip to West Ham. We welcomed back Szczesny after injury. We got off to a disastrous start conceding after just three minutes. Then to compound the misery West Ham doubled the lead. I was furious at Half Time with the players for allowing West Hams only attacks to result in goals. In the second half Chamberlain pulled one back and then an Adrian own goal brought us level. However despite been man marked by two players Crouch got West Ham level with their third shot of the game. Monreal levelled and we settled for the replay.

A big shock in the 3rd round as. Bournemouth beat 10-man Tottenham. Aston Villa vs Man City went to a replay.

4th Round Draw – West Ham or Arsenal vs Aston Villa or Man City

Tricky but pleased we are at home. In other ties only real pick was Everton vs Southampton.

LC sf1leg – Arsenal 1-1 West Ham – Vietto 17 – Downing 76

Part 2 of the West Ham Quadrilogy saw the first leg of the league cup semi final. I played a strong side with Giroud starting alongside Vietto. I preferred Mertersacker on combat the threat of Carroll and Crouch in the air. Vietto gave us the lead and from that point on it was one-way traffic. Unfortunately Adrian had yet another blinder in the West Ham goal and downing popped up with a header to earn West Ham a surprising and very undeserved draw. Stoke beat Chelsea 2-0 in the other first leg tie.

PL – Arsenal 2-1 Manchester City – Walcott 40 Giroud 87 Arteta s/o 72 / Navas 3

In the early kick off United lost 1-0 at home to Hull giving me the chance to extend the lead at the top to ten points. We did although needed a late winner. Navas gave City the lead with their only shot for the first hour. We were excellent in the first half but so was Joe Hart. Walcott evejntually getting the better of him. City came more into it in the second half and after Arteta was sent off seemed destined for the three points. But as they went forward we hit themon the break and Giroud slotted away the winner. Great result.

FAC 3rd round replay – Arsenal 1-0 West Ham - Chamberlain 65

Both Walcott and Cazorla missed the game after picking up knocks against City. I left out a host of others too. Even Diaby made the bench! There was a first appearance for Luca Toni. I loaned him as a back up to Giroud. Twice in the first half he had the ball in the net but both were disallowed. Eventually we took the lead through Chamberlains pounce on the rebound. Podolski then hit the bar but one was enough. West Ham had 33 fouls in the game. Mike dean gave zero yellow cards.

We will play Man City in the fourth round after they ruthlessly dispatched Aston Villa 4-1.

PL – Sunderland 0-3 Arsenal – Sagna 1 Vietto 7 Giroud 58pen

Bottom vs Top. Sunderland had lost their last 5 league games without scoring a goal and it didn’t get much better. Sagna opened the scoring after 40 seconds and it was only the brilliance of their keeper that prevented it being more as I went for the throat.

LC sf 2nd leg – West Ham 0-3 Arsenal – Morrison s/o 33 – Giroud 44 52 Ramsey 45

We comfortably progressed to the final after beating West Ham. Morrisons sending off didn’t help but we were still looking far more likely to score. Two brilliant Car Jenkinsin’s crosses were both headed home by Giroud. Food for thought.

We would play surprise package Stoke in the final. I went to Stamford Bridge expecting Chelsea to win 3 or 4-0 but Stoke put up a good defensive performance. Eto’o did breach it with 15 minutes left but Chelsea couldn’t get the second..

FAC 4th Round – Arsenal 5-2 Man City – Walcott 12 14pen Ozil 54 55 Chamberlain 80 – Negredo 78 86.

Wow. After winning the last two games 3-0 I certainly didn’t expect to match or better it against city. After a quiet opening Walcott opened the scoring and then slotted in a second from the spot. At half time we were playing well all apart from Ozil who had 6.2. I raged at him and his response was two second half goals. One a quite brilliant mazy run dancing through four players and slotting home and the other pouncing on a poor mistake from Joe Hart. Once Ozil, Walcott and Giroud had been taken off Negredo pulled one back before Chamberlain added a fifth. Again Negredo replied but it was job done.

Liverpool were beaten 2-1 at home to Stoke.

5th Round draw – Chelsea vs Arsenal. It doesn’t get any easier

PL – Aston Villa 0-1 Arsenal – Cazorla 32

The final game of a busy month saw us travel to Villa. Cazorla scoring a sublime free kick and then hitting the post from a yard.

Premier League Table top 5

Now won the last 8. 11 points clear.

1. Arsenal Played 23 points 61

2. Chelsea Played 23 points 50

3. Everton Played 23 points 48

4. Man United Played 23 Points 46

5. Tottenham played 23 points 39

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

8. Man City played 23 Points 33

9. Liverpool played 23 points 33

Goalscorers

Having gone blank in December Giroud hit 6 in January. 4 for Walcott.

Walcott 23

Giroud 21

Vietto 13

Cazorla 9

Ozil 7

Assists

Ozil 12

Cazorla 11

Giroud 10

Sagna 6

Arteta 6

Average rating – minimum 5 games

Mertersacker 7.81

Giroud 7.72

Walcott 7.41

Ozil 7.41

Vietto 7.32

Player of the month – Olivier Giroud

Horrible December but decent January.

PL – Everton– 9.5(2)

FA - West Ham – Not Selected

LC - West Ham 6.8

PL - Man City 7.1(1)

FA - West Ham – Not Selected

PL - Sunderland – 7.5(1)

LC - West Ham – 8.8(2) – sub69

FA - Man City – 7.9 – sub72

PL - Aston Villa – 6.8 – on72

Game of the month

Man United 0-1 Hull City – Sagbo 90

As mentioned earlier United lost at home to Hull. They also lost the following weekend by the same scoreline at Cardiff. Bellamy scoring in the less dramatic 54th minute.

Stat of the month

Premier League Top 5’s

Now past January time to look at the tops 5’s for the rest of the league.

Goals

Walcott 15

Giroud 14 14

Long 12

Soldado 12

Negredo 10

Assists

Ozil 11

Eriksen 9

Baines 9

Lallana 8

Rooney 7

Av Rating

Mertersacker 7.82

Giroud 14 7.76

Ozil 7.47

Rameirez 7.45

Distin 7.43

Clean Sheets

Cech 12

Begovic 12

De gea 10

Lloris 10

Szczesny 9

MOM

Skrtel 6

Giroud 14 5

Shawcross 5

Mertersacker 3

Zaha 3

other stuff

Giroud and Mertersacker were second and third in player of the month. Lampard winning it. In young player Vietto was second to Eriksen. Santi Cazorla’s free kick at villa was named goal of the month and I had to settle for second place behind Mourinho in manager of the month.

In the transfer window very little happened. Chelsea signed Jackson Martinez and daily Blind, Spurs snapped up hyndmanin the only transfers of any note.

On a personal level I have been offered a new deal but am still tey to accept. Mainly because they are asking me to take a massive wage cut.

RACE FOR THE TITLE

Current Results

Arsenal 2-1 Man City – Walcott Giroud - Navas

Tottenham 1-1 Liverpool – Soldado - Henderson

Tottenham 0-0 Man United

January Fixtures

Man United vs Liverpool

Arsenal vs Chelsea

Chelsea vs Man City

Transfer Window

We were a bit busier than most. Ledson is exciting but at 16 it's too soon for my team. Ibrahim the same.

IN

Ledson -7.5m

Ibrahim – 26k

Toni – Loan

Lewandowski –free - July

Rossiter – 3.3m – June

OUT

Flamini – 3.6m

Zelalem - loan

February preview

We start with Chelsea in the league. Other than that the league fixtures are pretty kind. In the Fa Cup we travel to Stamford Bridge. The champions League first leg against Napoli gets underway.

[lpcinder]

Hello guys, I started an Arsenal save 1 month ago, but didn't have a lot of time to play back then, so I really started playing this week. I followed llama3's tips on pairs and such, but I'm having some trouble with my team. Walcott plays like cr*p, and Cazorla, who is my IF left side with support and sit narrower, is really not playing well either. In fact I feel the whole team has rather low ratings. Giroud doesn't score at all. I bought Damiao who has been playing okay. Any other people with this problem?

[llama3]

Depends 100% on what your team instructions are. What are you doing?

[lpcinder]

I'm playing control and balanced, with the following instructions: shorter passing, hassle opponents, pass into space, work ball into box, roam from positions, be more expressive, play out of defence, push higher up and use offside trap

[Rodgery1]

Ffffff!

I just beat ManU (who are in 4th place to my 3rd, 2nd season) 5-0 at home, with wanayama scoring a hatrick within 10 minutes as a sub in 2nd half, one of them as a first corner free-kick, him with a fkt of 9... Other goals being supplied by Wilshere and Ramsey. Full controll and this without any of my prefered wingers in play (ayew with national team and walcott and the ox out injured.)

And the laptop dies of heat after the post-game teamtalk..

Got a save 1 game before that one so no real problem.. but hell.. I deserved that win!

[llama3]

Jaysus! Bad laptop.

[Rodgery1]

Managed to somewhat replicate it on first try. The reason I did so good first time was that carrick was suspended, which he wasn't in the replay. Managed a 3-0, with 2 penalties scored and vidic out with a direct red. So not too bad.

[RossoneriGunner]

llama, I am going to start a new save with the WM formation and with your permission I would like to keep it on this thread and not in the 'Tactics & Training' section as it will involve only Arsenal but, if you would prefer me to open a new thread in T&T then I'll understand.

Many thanks mate.

[KingLara]

Arsenal season 1 – February

PL – Arsenal 2-0 Chelsea – Wilshere 57 Vietto 80

As has been the case recently we started the month playing one of the big teams. After a few days off we had a good bill of health and I was able to play my strongest team. The game was a cagy affair with neither team getting going. Wilshere’s shot on the turn gave us the lead and as Chelsea pushed forward sub Vietto broke away and wrapped up the game. 13 clear and still unbeaten. Walcott limped off early on and would be out for two weeks.

PL – Arsenal 3-0 Crystal Palace – Wilshere 19 Mertersacker 37 Toni 90 – Nuhu s/o 47

A comfortable win against Palace. Wilshere and Mertersacker gave us a 2-0 lead before half time although palace had started well. In the second half it was just a barrage. 28 shots 22 on target. We hit the woodwork 3 times but only added one further goal. Luca Toni scoring his first for the club. Nuhu’s red card tackle on Cazorla would rule the Spaniard out for 4 months. Vietto would also miss a couple of weeks.

PL – Southampton 1-2 Arsenal – Lambert 37 – Podolski 54 Vermealen 85

With Wilshere suspended Cazorla, Walcott and Vietto injured and plenty of others suffering from fatigue I was forced to have to youngsters on the bench Ledson and Maitland-Niles. Neiither got on. Southampton were very aggressive in their approach putting pressure on our players and not letting us settle. Bennayoun had two great chances but blasted both wide while podolski forced a fantastic double save from Boruc. Szszesny then made a howler to give Southampton the lead dropping a cross at Lamberts feet. In the second half Podolski scored for just his third of the season. I settled for a draw but from a cross Vermaelen headed in the winner. This team just can’t lose.

FAC 5th Round – Chelsea 0-3 Arsenal – Podolski 10 28pen Walcott 89

When we went to Stamford Bridge earlier in the season I set up so extremely narrow and defensively that Chelsea just couldn’t create anything. The issue was neither did we culminating in the dull 0-0 draw that ensued. This time I did the same the only difference was Podolski scored. A clumsy challenge on Ozil gave us a 2-0 lead and Walcott added a third off the bench just for icing.

Fa Cup Quarter Final draw – Manchester United vs Arsenal

West Ham, Man City, Chelsea and now United. Conspiracy? Leicester vs Newcastle and Swansea vs Reading are the other ties. The other quarter will see Stoke play Stevenage.

PL – Cardiff City 1-3 Arsenal – Cornelius 61pen - Giroud 1 Podolski 12 Marshall o.g 89

After his brace against Chelsea I stuck with Podolski meaning Walcott was on the bench and poor vietto left out completely. Jenkinson replaced Sagna who was ruled out for six weeks. We got off to a great start Giroud heading home Gibbs cross. Podolski then doubled the lead. Cardiff came back into it though and Cornelius converted a penalty to give them hope. Podolski then scored again although it was credited as a marshall own goal. Napoli next.

CL 2R 1leg – Napoli 1-2 Arsenal – Inler 5 – Walcott 56 Giroud 71

We kicked off the second round tie without Mertersacker who had fatigue. It didn’t help that Inler scored after just five minutes and I expected an uphill task. Second half though we were outstanding. Walcott repaying my faith in him and Giroud scoring another fine header. Game over I think.

Premier League Table top 5

Winning run stretches to 12. Still unbeaten.

1. Arsenal Played 27 points 73

2. Chelsea Played 28 points 62

3. Man United Played 27 Points 54

4. Everton Played 27 points 54

5. Tottenham played 27 points 48

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

7. Man City played 27 Points 42

10. Liverpool played 27 points 39

Goalscorers

Podolski now on 6. Cazorla won’t be adding any more this season.

Walcott 25

Giroud 23

Vietto 14

Cazorla 9

Ozil 7

Assists

Six in the month for Ozil.

Ozil 18

Cazorla 12

Giroud 10

Arteta 8

Gibbs 6

Average rating

Mertersacker 7.88

Giroud 7.62

Ozil 7.45

Walcott 7.37

Vietto 7.31

Player of the month – Per Mertersacker

Only blip was Southampton in yet another outstanding month.

PL – Chelsea– 8.9

PL – Crystal Palace – 8.5

PL - Southampton 6.7

FA - Chelsea – 8.5

PL – Cardiff – 9.0

CL – Napoli – Unused Sub.

Game of the month

Chelsea 2-0 Man City – Luiz 59 Hazard 84 – Lescott s/o 90

The death of Pellegrini. A pretty poor month for games to be honest.

Stat of the month

The Youngsters.

A check on how the youth and reserve teams have been doing.

Under 21’s are having a roller-coaster of a season. Currently 10th with United topping the table. In the cup though things have been better. Into the final to play Middlesbrough.

League Position 10th

Played 18 won 7 drawn 4 lost 7 Goals For 33 Goals Against 33 Points 25

Cup Run – Final vs Middlesbrough

1st round Brentford 2-1 - 2nd Round Crystal Palace 2-1 - Quarter Final Chelsea 3-2 - Semi Final Blackburn 2-1.

The under 18’s have faired better and are3rd below Southampton and Norwich. Again in the cup the team has done well and will play Blackburn In the semi-finals.

League Position 3rd

Played 26 won 12 drawn 5 lost 9 Goals For 53 Goals Against 39 Points 41

Cup Run – Semi-Final vs Blackburn

2nd round Watford 3-2 – 3rd Round Barnet 5-1 - 4th Round Chelsea 5-0 – 5th Round Wolves 3-0.

Quarter-Final Millwall 3-2.

Other news

The euro2016 qualifying draw was made. England were paired with Turkey, Malta, Hungary, Andorra and Estonia. Wales face a tougher ask to make it to France with Sweden, Belgium and Bulgaria joining Kazakhstan. The pick of the groups see’s Austria Czech Republic and Italy battle to make it to the Euro’s. Not a lot to chew on really.

Champions League first legs. Bayern will have to overturn a 2-1 deficit after losing to csk Moscow. City beat Real Sociadad 4-0. I was present in Germany as Dortmund drew 1-1 with Chelsea. Zenit beat United 2-1, Madrid won 1-0 in Turin. Isco with the winner. Ajax beat Barca 1-0

After a 2-0 defeat to Chelsea, Manuel Pellegrini was sacked by Man City. Villas-Boas seems likely to leave Spurs and take over.

Mertersacker was named player of the month. Lamela won the young player award. Chamberlain was second while I won manager of the month beating Mourinho again.

We got closer to agreeing a new contract but not quite.

RACE FOR THER TITLE

February Results

Man United 2-1 Liverpool – Rooney Anderson - Henderson

Arsenal 2-0 Chelsea – Wilshere Vietto

Chelsea 2-0 Man City – Luiz Hazard

March Fixtures

Tottenham vs Arsenal

Arsenal vs Liverpool

Arsenal vs Man United

Man City vs Tottenham

March preview

The month see’s us play United twice as well as Napoli, Newcastle, Liverpool, Tottenham and the League Cup Final. Be surprised if my unbeaten record stays intact.

Also the batch of Youth Intake come in.

[llama3]

RG - its an Arsenal save, this is an Arsenal thread, for everyone, not just me - fire away. If you get some interesting stuff you could always write about it in T&T as well though.

[RossoneriGunner]

Thanks llama, I asked you out of respect as you have done all the hard work in getting this thread up and running.

[gholliday87]

I've just got to the new year of the 2nd Season, I'm on to win everything (go me!) so naturally I'm planning for season 3 and beyond...My two choices are:

1 - Stick with buying the best I can (english or not) and aim to win everything. There has been some comments in the media that my squad is mainly foreign which is true.

2 - Have a possible barren run (not nearly as long as the irl current one!) and aim to bring in a good crop of English (or british at the very least) youth players, and not make many signings.

Option 1 has the glory, but option 2 could be more fulfilling and possibly fun.

[RossoneriGunner]

I think I agree with you about 2 being fulfilling and fun, thats why I have decided to try the W-M formation again, which a few of us tried in 2009 and I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge.

[Mark.]

Finally purchased the full game last night. Very excited.... now just to find time to be able to play it!

Going to go with a bit of a challenge from the start and use a 4-4-2 variant. Probably something similar to how Pellegrini is playing City this season.

[arsenalthebest]

http://www.mediafire.com/download/lye214zj21xfdmz/future%20gamev2.fm

save-game starting in July 2030

[arsenalthebest]

March Update

01/03/14 | Barclays Premier League | Stadium of Light

Arsenal 4 ( Walcott 27 & 35 , Giroud 63 , Walcott 79)

Sunderland ( Cabral Inj 37 , O'Shea Inj 67 , Roberge S/O 87)

08/03/14 | FA Cup (6th Rd) | The Circle

Arsenal 0

Hull 2 ( Livermore 26 , Huddlestone 68)

12/03/14 | Barclays Premier League | Emirates

Arsenal 1 ( Ozil 87)

West Ham 0

16/03/14 | Barclays Premier League | Emirates

Arsenal 2 ( Giroud 34 , Ozil 69)

Hull 0

19/03/14 | UEFA Champions League( 1st K/O Rd Leg 2) | Emirates

Arsenal 3(7) ( Bennett 34 & 46 , Arteta 89)

Atletico 1(6) ( Suarez 89)

24/03/14 | Barclays Premier League | Carrow Rd

Arsenal 0

Norwich 0

29/03/14 | Barclays Premier League | Emirates

Arsenal 4 ( Giroud 2 & 7 & 15 , Tamas O/G 87)

Crystal Palace 1 ( Jerome 41)

[patrask]

Wow, just ended an amazing first season with Arsenal, won the league AND Champions League! I had almost given up on this game, no tactic seemed to work for me and I could never get my team to be somewhat consistent. Just when I tought I'd found a solid tactic I would go on insane losing streaks... But I decided to give it one last shot with a new save and I think I nailed it! The biggest problem I had before was that I conceded alot of goals, so that became my focus. I still concede more than I want but things are looking much better...

The tactics

http://www.ladda-upp.se/image.php?id=81153&size=full

The left one is my standard tactic I use at home vs most teams and away vs lesser teams or away vs teams who don't have an AMC. The 2 Team Instructions you can't see on the screenshot are 'Stay on feet' and 'Pass into space'.

Focus is on possesion which I've really struggled with in this years version but this tactic gives me more than 50% most of the times.

The right one I use away vs strong teams, at home vs very strong teams with AMC, when I defend a narrow lead or when I struggle with possesion with the other tactic. It basically gives up any thoughts on possesion and focus on defending, winning the ball and counter fast using the flanks. The key for me to make this tactic work was not to have the defensive line push up, good teams always found alot of space behind it.

I very rarely remove or add shouts during games, I might be a terrible matchcoach but I never had any success tweaking shouts to get a goal we need, I rely on my players and that the tactics are solid.

To get the most out of Özil I have him sit narrow and roam more, the LB with attack duty will push up and add width while Özil often moves to a more central position. Has turned out to be very successful.

The transfers

Having decided on those tactics the most important thing was to find defensive midfielders, Flamini and Arteta isn't good enough for me so I splashed the cash on Lars Bender and also got Matuidi (a bargain!). Carlos Vela is a no-brainer and became my best striker as Treq and first choice. Monreal got a long-term injury during pre-season and I don't like Jenkinson as backup to Sagna so I solved two problems by buying Davide Santon for a decent price, he's great at both DL and DR.

Doria is a steal and he will become a beast, got him too. After that I had some cash left and having read great things about Balanta I decided to get him, I wanted to loan him out but no one was interested. A rushed decision, he became my only mistake, more on that later. More players than I usually buy first season, but you gotta bet big to win big.!

In: Lars Bender, Matuidi, Vela, Santon, Doria, Balanta

Out: Podolski, Bendtner, Frimpong and a bunch of players on loan

In January I sold Monreal and Vermaelen and got Danilo (was planning on getting rid of Jenkinson after the end of the season and Sagna is getting old).

The results

Premier League http://www.ladda-upp.se/bilder/exvxfdyfwuermr/

United looked unstoppable for a long time but I was slowly gaining on them, a 0-0 draw vs Fulham made things look grim for us but with a only a few games left Utd visited me on Emirates where I managed to win 1-0 (Szczesny saved a penalty!), after that they lost momentum and I won the last games! The two losses came away vs Everton and United. Outstanding.

Champions League

Sailed through the group (Ajax, Olympique Lyonnaise and Apoel Nicosia) and secured 1st place with one game to go. FCP in 1st knockout, lost 2-1 away and were lucky we didn't concede more, crushed them 4-0 at home though. (5-2)

PSG in qtr final. Was down 3-1 away and Özil got injured, things looked terrible but Cazorla replaced Özil and scored 2 goals in 5 mins! Got 0-0 at home after some nail-biting stuff... (3-3)

Real Madrid in semi, this is where I thought things would end. Managed to get 0-0 at home. But away, after the strongest defensive performance of the season, it was 0-0 after 85 mins when Walcott scored! Great success! (1-0)

Final vs Barcelona. Was down twice but came back and Özil added his second goal with about 2 mins to go! Sick! (3-2)

Got knocked out from League Cup by Man City in 4th round but I only played reserves so I didn't care. I gambled a bit in the FA cup and decided to rest a few players in he first game (vs Utd) and lost 2-3, not good but my focus was on the league and CL so it felt ok. Must do better next season.

Awards: Manager of the year, English footballer of the year (Özil), Champions Cup best player (Özil).

Player performances

Most of my players were very solid without shining apart from a a few games here and there. These are the players that stood out in one way or another:

Outstanding: Özil, Mertesacker

Very Good: Vela, Wilshere

Disappointing: Arteta, Flamini, Cazorla, Chamberlain (will get much more games next season), Sagna (only first half of season)

Horrible: Balanta. Wow, this guy sucks. Can't get him to work neither as CD(d) or CD©. Odd since everyone else seems to love him, have to step up next season or he is gone.

Breakthrough of the year: Doria. Koscielny will have to work very hard to defend his place... And this kid is 19...

Next season

It's summer now and the World Cup is on so that means transfers! Players out or about to go out are Arteta, Flamini, Jenkinson, Rosicky (free), Fabianski (free). Hoping to sell Diaby, Djourou and Park aswell.

Most important thing is to find a backup to Szczesny. Timo Horn at Köln has a 4-star potential (wich i think seems low), good stats, "model professional", is 21 and has a release clause of only 3.8M so I will probably get him. Will probably buy Diego Reyes aswell, a 21 y/o DM with 4.5 star potential who can also play MC and DC and has excellent stats. Probably availible for about 12M.

Suarez is unhappy and I'm a bit interested tbh, if I can push the price down I might go for it... Otherwise I will settle for a few regens...

Long long post... This game is fun again! I don't expect to win both CL and PL again this season but I'll do my best. Will perhaps tweak my tactics and add another one but we'll se... Thanks for reading!

[RossoneriGunner]

Well done Patrask looks like you had a really good season.

A lot of people give up when things don't go according to plan and it's really rewarding when you work out the problems and finally get it right.

[RossoneriGunner]

Back in 2009 myself, mag_man and a few other FM'ers decided to try and recreate the famous Herbert Chapman's W-M formation which took English football by storm. It took us a while to get it right, well 99% right, and we all thoroughly enjoyed the experience and now I want to try and recreate it again.

I am not going to write a massive post explaining it all but you can read our exploits in this thread 'W-M Tactic'.

I know that while I'm experimenting I will probably lose quite a few games but, if I can get a top 5 place and European football for next season then I will be more than happy.

Quite a few players will be surplus to requirements as I only need 2 maybe 3 CD's, but may have to look at bolstering the DM positions. I want to bring in Balanta and Heintz, I know that Koscielny, Mertesacker and Vermaelen can do a really good job for me but I want to bring those 2 players in as they are young and can be world class players and in a couple of years I may not be able to buy them if they have already been snapped up.

If anyone else is interested in trying this tactic with me then please feel free.

Feedback on how your team and players are performing is a must

Thanks In Advance

Here's how the W-M tactic looks.

[gholliday87]

RG - No Ozil /Wilshere?

[RossoneriGunner]

Rosicky replaced Özil who got injured and Wilshere had played the last friendly so was rested. I need to evaluate the squad and sell those I won't really need.

But it could be great if I get Öil, Cazorla, Wilshere, Ramsey, Rosicky all mixing it up in those 2 AM places.

This is still a work in progress and probably will be for the whole season, unless I hit lucky and get it sorted quickly.

[gholliday87]

Ahhh...I thought the screenshot was a "full strength" line up.

Rosicky has just announced to me he's going to retire at tend of season...I'm a little sad about this, he's an highly adept deputy in the advanced role.

[RossoneriGunner]

Balanta and Heintz have come in so Mertesacker is up for sale and once Vermaelen is fit I will put him up for sale as well to bolster my transfer funds, I will probably keep Koscielny as he can cover LB as well as DC and I need him now that Monreal is out for 2-3 months.

Miyaichi and Park Chu-Young are also on the list.

I have put bids in for both Lars and Sven Bender and Arteta is wanted, but I may keep Arteta and that will give me both Benders, Arteta and Flamini covering DM. I was also looking at playing Ramsey in the DM position as a DLP/s.

[gholliday87]

I've never got Heintz. I have just managed to sign a 20(ish) German CB who's labeled a "wonderkind" as backup on a bosman...can't remember who as I'm at work!

[RossoneriGunner]

I have found out that Dominique Heintz is classed as a Wonderkid, which is a nice surprise and he goes straight into the 1st team.

[RossoneriGunner]

We have just had our first EPL match using the WM formation, a 2-0 home win against Sunderland thanks to goals from Oxlade-Chamberlain and Koscielny.

Jack Wilshere who is now captain was MoM. We had 34 shots to their 7, 14 on target against 0 and 62% possession so not too bad.

PSV away in the ECL Best Placed Play-Off, not expecting to set Europe alight but will be pleased with a draw.

[gholliday87]

Wilshere is immense, I personally think making his captain is a way to get the best out of him.

The guy who I've got on a free is *drum roll please*........

[gholliday87]

Any tips to score from corners? From my last 50 games, I've only scored 7 from corners from a total of 143 goals...not good enough!

[KingLara]

Arsenal season 1 – March

LEAGUE CUP FINAL – Stoke City 0-3 Arsenal – Giroud 54pen Vietto 64 Walcott 90pen

We won the League Cup in quite controversial circumstances. Two hotly debated penalties were both given my Martin Atkinson. The game as a whole wasn’t a classic. Stoke asked plenty of questions and just like the league game which we won 1-0 they can count themselves unlucky to lose. Still the League Cup is ours.

Stoke – Begovic Wilson Shawcross Huth Solly Ireland Nzonzi Cameron Whealen (Edu 70)Adam Shea

Subs not used: Butland Hulme O’reily Assaidi Saunders Parr

Arsenal - Zieler Gibbs Vermaelen Mertersacker Jenkinson Arteta Wilshere Podolski (Ozil 83) Chamberlain (Ramsey 73) Giroud Vietto (Walcott 73)

Subs not used: Szczesny Koscielny Rosicky Monreal

Match Stats – Shots 6/13 Target 4/4 Possession 47/53 Fouls 17/15 Corners 5/5 CCC 2/3 WW 0/0 YC 2/2 RC 0/0

Man of the Match – Carl Jenkinson(8.2)

FAC QF – Manchester United 0-1 Arsenal – Giroud 57

I changed my mind several times about choosing Szczesny or Zieler. In the end I went for Szczesny. I played Walcott as a right winger intending to counter attack. It worked beautifully. The first half was tight with United creating only one chance. The second half was a little more open but Girouds expert lob did for De Gea and United never looked like getting the equaliser. United’s aggressive approach left Arteta injured and he would miss 2 weeks.

FA Cup Semi-final draw – Arsenal vs Stoke City.

In a repeat of the League Cup final we would play Stoke. In the other Semi reading take on Newcastle.

PL – Tottenham 2-2 Arsenal – Vertonghen 4 Dembele 36 – Giroud 70 82

I played the same system as I had ay Old Trafford. Just two changes with Wilshere in for Arteta and Vermaelen for Koscielny. A fabulous Vertonghen free kick saw Spurs take the lead. We spurned a few chances before my static defence went against all instructions and allowed Dembele time and space to place a shot into the bottom corner. Giroud finally got the better of Lloris to pull one back and then slammed home an equaliser. I went into overload mode to try and get a winner but by the time the actual changes were made it was already well into added time. An annoying feature. Bedisde from that although it is our first dropped points since

PL – Arsenal 2-0 Liverpool – Toni 2 Ozil 43

We welcomed Liverpool to the Emirates just three days before Napoli. I rested a number of players and decided to play a more rigid style to try and avoid defeat. I had received a phone call regarding Luca Toni’s playing time. The Italian had only featured sparingly since his loan move so I decided to give him a start. He scored after just two minutes with a lovely header. Ozil then doubled the lead before half-time and that was game over. Liverpool were very very flat. They managed just a single shot the entire game. In the aftermath I completely forgot to give a teamtalk which probably didn’t leave the team very happy. Oh well. A good win in a pretty drab game. Onto Napoli

CL 2nd Round 2nd Leg – Arsenal 2-2 Napoli – Giroud 29 Walcott 50 – Insigne 54 64

For the third straight game I played the same system. Simular to the real life game a couple of days ago. For the first hour Napoli were completely flat. Then with their first and second shot they were back level. We just about survived. Gibbs limped off late on and would miss three weeks

Champions League QF draw – Arsenal vs Barcelona.

First out of the hat and we would face Barcelona. Man City drew Madrid. Chelsea got Porto and Bayern play Zenit with the first leg in Germany.

PL – Newcastle 0-2 Arsenal – Mertersacker 31 Walcott 43

I was a little disappointed by the Napoli game. Great to get through but wasn’t happy with conceding the two goals. With that being the case I kept it much tighter at Newcastle. A tight opening saw us break the deadlock. Mertersacker heading home a corner. Walcott then doubled the lead and we just settled for the 2-0. In fairness to Newcastle they gave it a go but couldn’t get the breakthrough.

PL – Arsenal 4-0 Hull City – Walcott 46 67 Chamberlain 64 Vietto 88

It was that time of the season where rotation becomes a big key. We had United 3 days later and Barca 3 days after that. Several players had fatigue and Monreal had picked up a knock meaning we had Ledson Jebb Eisfield and Smith all on the bench. Balanta slotted in a left back. We were awful in the first half. Creating little and letting Hull an easy ride. But a kick up the backside saw us take the lead with just 30 seconds of the second half played. Walcott pouncing on a mistake. Chamberlain then added a second before Walcott wrapped up the game with a trademark finish. Vietto added another late on.

PL – Arsenal 0-1 Manchester United – Turan 36 Vidic s/o 72

Yet more changes and injurys meant a debut for Leander Siemann at right back. Balanta stayed at left back with all four full backs and ramsey out. We played pretty well as I tried to get a draw to maintain the unbeaten run but Turan exposed the right hand side and placed a shot pasy Szszesny for what proved to be the winner. Vidic was sent off with 18 minutes left and we went for it but the goal never came. Unbeaten run ends at 32. Not a nice way to end the month

Premier League Table top 5

Unbeaten run ended but 12 clear of Chelsea who have played a game less. Awful month for City and Liverpool.

1. Arsenal Played 32 points 83

2. Chelsea Played 31 points 71

3. Man United Played 32 Points 67

4. Everton Played 31 points 59

5. Tottenham played 31 points 56

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

9. Man City played 31 Points 46

10. Liverpool played 31 points 43

Goalscorers

Walcott 30

Giroud 28

Vietto 16

Cazorla 9

Ozil 8

Assists

Ozil 20

Cazorla 12

Giroud 11

Arteta 8

Walcott 7

Average rating

Mertersacker 7.81

Giroud 7.61

Walcott 7.42

Ozil 7.38

Cazorla 7.26

Player of the month – Theo Walcott

Giroud was a very close second.

LC – Stoke– 6.9(1) – on73

FA – Man United – 6.9

PL – Tottenham - 8.2

PL - Liverpool – 7.6 – sub70

CL – Napoli –6.9(1)

PL – Newcaslte – 8.3(1)

PL – Hull City – 9.4(2)

PL – Man United – 6.7 – on73

Game of the month

Man City 0-2 Cardiff City – Park 47 Cornelius 66

Man City and Liverpool had awful months. Liverpool lost at home to Swansea but I’ll give it to Cardiff for keeping a clean sheet and having a better game overall.

Stat of the month

Messi vs Ronaldo

Thought it was time to compare the two greatest in the world. Interesting stats.

LA LIGA

Messi – Played 29 Goals 16 Assists 9 MoM 13 Average Rating 8.27

Ronaldo – Played 31 Goals 16 Assists 4 MoM 1 Average Rating 7.51

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Messi – Played 8 Goals 4 Assists 0 MoM 1 Average Rating 7.36

Ronaldo– Played 8 Goals 4 Assists 1 MoM 2 Average Rating 6.96

CUP

Messi – Played 5(1) Goals 4 Assists 2 MoM 3 Average Rating 8.45

Ronaldo– Played 8 Goals 8 Assists 0 MoM 3 Average Rating 7.86

INTERNATIONAL

Messi – Played 7 Goals 2 Assists 0 MoM 0 Average Rating 6.94

Ronaldo – Played 7 Goals 6 Assists 1 MoM 2 Average Rating 7.60

OVERALL

MESSI – Played 42(1) Goals 24 Assists 11 MoM 17 Average Rating 8.13

RONALDO – Played 47 Goals 28 Assits 5 MoM 6 Average Rating 7.47

HEAD TO HEAD

Barcelona 1-3 Real Madrid – Messi 6.6 Ronaldo 8.9(2)

Real Madrid 1-1 Barecelona – Ronaldo 7.20 Messi 8.5 MOM

And…

Neymar – Played 30(5) Goals 12 Assists 6 MoM 0 Average Rating 7.25

Bale – Played 35 Goals 13 Assists 5 MoM 2 Average Rating 7.38

Other news

In a bad omen for the summer. Uruguay beat England 4-2 at Wembley. England actually played well in the game just some clinical finishing from Suarez and fabulous strikes from Lodeiro and Gonzarlez meant defeat. Cole and Gerrard both suffered bad injuries in the game. Wilshere and Walcott got through unscathed.

Villas-Boas did indeed replace Pellegrini as Man City manager. Laudrup took over at Spurs.

Champions League 2nds leg round up. The biggest shock came with Zenit beating United on Penalties after a 2-1 reverse. Rooney missed the only kick while Ashavin netted the winner. Shame I chose to watch the Madrid game instead. Elsewhere Chelsea beat Dortmund 2-1 on the night to go through after a draw in Germany. Porto beat Marseille. Bayern overturned the 2-1 deficit and went through 4-3 on aggregate. Man City lost on the night but went through. Barca beast Ajax 3-0 to progress. Real beat Juventus 2-0.

In the monthly awards Walcott was named player of the month. Young player was Cornelius and Moyes won Manager of the month. I was third.

The youth Intake came in. Not much promise from around anywhere. Signed six but the rest stayed at their clubs. Waiting for the Spain players now.

The under 18’s were beaten 3-1 by Blackburn in the cup semi final. Under 21's play final this month.

I eventually put pen to paper on a three year deal taking a 16k wage cut.

RACE FOR THER TITLE – Even though only us or Chelsea can win it now.

March Results

Tottenham 2-2Arsenal – Vertonghen Dembele – Giroud 2

Arsenal 2-0 Liverpool – Toni Ozil

Arsenal 0-1 Man United - Turan

Man City vs Tottenham – Dzeko Aguero - Dembele

April Fixtures

Liverpool vs Man City

Chelsea vs Tottenham

Liverpool vs Chelsea

Man United vs Man City

March preview

Champions League vs Barcelona. An FA Cup Semi-final against Stoke and hopefully lifting the title.

[llama3]

Super there Patrask, glad you have stuck at it. Really pleased for you. Impressive showing in the league there too KingLara.