FM16: Arsenal FC - Why Fly When You Can Walk on Water

[Spike]

Do you get the players getting upset when you transfer list them or have the clubs just been coming in with offers?

Pretty much all the players I have sold have been offered to clubs for transfer.

A few have been unhappy but I have just been firm with them & told them they have no future at the club. Usually works ok.

[Spike]

Season 3 December Update

Results



Manager of the Month



Table



World Player of the Year



World Team of the Year

[KingLara]

January

Transfer Window

IN - Gabriel Barbosa (14m)

OUT - Zelalem, Malen, Adelaide (all loan)

FUTURE - Youri Tielemans (15m) July 1st , Che Nunnely (3.5m) July 1st

[Elsewhere]

Not much. United signed Camacho, Pato and Lucas Lima. Pratto went to Spurs. Chelsea bought Fellaini for 7m.

Premier League

ARSENAL 3

Ozil 64 Campbell 66 Sanchez 78

CRYSTAL PALACE 2

Wickam 45(+1) McArthur 49

I feared for the worst when we trailed 0-2 but somehow we found our shooting boots and turned it around.

League Cup Semi Final 1st Leg

MAN CITY 2

Aguero 24 Otamnedi 90

ARSENAL 3

Ozil 64 Campbell 66 Sanchez 78

Second hattrick of the League Cup for Giroud. Otamendis late goal gives City hope. Looks like a North London derby in the final. Spurs won 2-0 at Cardiff.

Fa Cup 3rd Round

CREWE 0

ARSENAL 5

Morata 2(pen) 11(pen) 66 79 Ramsey 54 morata miss/pen 86

I played quite a decent team. Very very comfortable. Fulham away in the next round

Premier League

MAN CITY 0

ARSENAL 2

Giroud 51 Gibbs 90(+3)

A classic smash and grab. We had just one shot in the first half. Despite the attacking talent City unable to break down the red wall.

Premier League

ARSENAL 3

Giroud 72 77 Morata 82

ASTON VILLA 0

A much stiffer test than their real life counterparts. I had to go into overload mode to get the first goal. Morata strained his knee and would miss 6 weeks.

League Cup Semi Final 2nd Leg

ARSENAL 2

Chamberlain 40 Coquelin 78

MAN CITY 0

Bye Bye City. Spurs in the final.

Fa Cup 4th Round

FULHAM 0

ARSENAL 3

Walcott 53 87 Campbell 57

We were shocking in the first half with just 3 attempts. Better in the second. Wilshere made his comeback from injury while there were debuts for Barbosa and Mammana. 5 clean sheets in a row.

[League Table]

An 11 point lead means I can slightly focus on other competitions. United are 7th (34) Liverpool 11th (30)

1. Arsenal P23 P59

2. Chelsea P23 P48

3. Tottenham P23 P45

4. Man City P23 P43

5. Crystal Palace P23 P36

[injury table]

Welbeck 4 Days - Rosicky 12 days - Morata 5 weeks

[other news]

Liverpool, Southampton Stoke and Watford all sacked their managers. Wernger took charge of the reds. Saints went for Frank De Boer, Watford Steve Clarke. Stoke recruited Brendan Rodgers.

[February Fixtures]

Watford twice in the league inside 9 days.

Premier League - Everton A) Newcastle (H) West Ham (H)

Champions League - Shakhtar (A)

Fa Cup - Norwich (A)

League Cup - Tottenham (N)

[numero uno gunner]

Hi all.

Just finished my first season. Here's my review of how it went.

Transfers in:

Luan - Gremio - £7.5m – Of my three attacking first-team signings (Embolo and Barbosa being the others) Luan was the one I was expecting least of this season, but 6 goals and an average rating of 7.11 represents a steady introduction to English football.

Iver Fossum - Stromsgodset - £2m – He's spent the season on loan at Hertha in the Bundesliga,where he nailed down a starting place and did well. I think he'll definitely get his chance during pre-season to see if he can nail down a place in the squad.

Breel Embolo - Basel - £16.5m – He made a bright start during pre-season, but struggled during the first few weeks of the season. He then went and got injured, breaking his leg and not really coming back until May. I'm hoping he'll hit the ground running next season.

Gabriel Barbosa - Santos - £10.5m – 14 goals in 20 games is a great return for a youngster in their first premier league season, and when considered alongside the fact he spent almost four months out injured, I'm happy with his contribution.

Andrija Zivkovic - Patrizan - £750k – He's spent the season on loan at Lorient in Ligue Un, and with 5 goals and 7 assists, plus an average rating of 7.48, its fair to say he did well for a young lad. He's definitely pushing to come into the first team squad.

Emanuel Mammana - River - £4m – 25 starts tells its own story. He's rendered Mertesacker surplus to requirements this season. I've been impressed and would highly recommend him to anyone.

Lucas Romero - Lanus - £3.3m – He has rotated with Coquelin well, and been reliable when called upon.

Gino Peruzzi - Boca - £2.8m – 12 league starts, plus a few cup appearances this season. He's been solid up until this point, and at 24 feels a better fit for the squad than Debuchy was.

Transfers out:

Joel Campbell - Watford - £9.5m – I thought this was a good price after bringing in better alternatives.

Mathieu Flamini - Leicester - £1.7m – I love his passion, but he wasn't going to play, so happy for him to move on.

Mikel Arteta - AC Milan - £1.9m – I half expected a bit of backlash for moving the captain on, but the timing seemed right. His passing will work well in Serie A.

Mathieu Debuchy - Man Utd - £10m – I thought this was an excellent bit of business for a player who wasn't really needed due to Bellerin's excellence. Shame he went to a rival, but money talks and all that. Plus, they were the only team interested.

Tomas Rosicky - Retired - Easily the worst moment of the season for me. He was injured for months, came off the bench in the 60th minute, scored the winner in the 65th minute, and went off injured in the 75th minute, never to play another game of professional football. Sad, sad times.

Calum Chambers – Leicester – Loan – Lots of other youngsters spent time out on loan, but I thought I'd mention Chambers as he was in the first team squad originally. 29 appearances and an average rating of 7.12 makes me think he's ready to come back into the first team squad next season.

Competitions:

Premier League: We finished second behind City (Manchester, not Leicester!), a point being the difference. To be honest, we should have won the league this year. Drawing 3-3 at home to Newcastle with four games to go, after being 3-0 up, was ridiculous. Despite winning the rest of our games, we couldn't pull Man City back in.

Champions League:

A ridiculous group draw saw us play Barcelona, Roma and Olympiakos. Somehow, we topped the group, mainly in part to winning our three home games. We got given what I thought was a favourable tie in the last 16, against Galatasaray. A 5-2 first leg defeat ended any hopes we had. Furious is not the word. I'm targeting a minimum of the last 8 next season.

F.A. Cup: After struggling past Millwall and Watford, both ties needing replays, we were duly dispatched 2-0 by Man Utd at Old Trafford. To be perfectly honest, we were utterly abysmal from start to finish, and didn't deserve to go any further.

Capital One Cup: I rested too many players, and we crashed out 2-1 at home to Derby in round 3. Next time round, I'm going to try and get the balance right.

Key Performers:

Alexis Sanchez – 27 goals and 12 assists. He carried the side at times, so no change from usual really. I wouldn't sell him for all the money in the world.

Hector Bellerin – This lad is out of this world. An average rating of 7.58, 11 assists and just relentless energy. He's going to be the best right back in the world, if he's not there already.

Santi Cazorla – Playing in central midfield, he's contributed 9 goals and as many assists, and has made the team tick over in almost every game he played.

The squad

My squad is now far too big, what with players coming back from being on loan and back from long-term injuries. Ideally, I'd like two players for each position, with a younger player available as well. So here's my current squad, including the talented youngsters.

GK: Cech / Ospina / Szczesny

DR: Bellerin / Peruzzi

DC: Koscielney / Mammana

DC: Gabriel / Chambers / Mertesacker

DL: Monreal / Gibbs

B2B / AP: Cazrola / Ramsey / Wilshere / Crowley / Dragomir

CM(d): Coquelin / Romero / Fossum / Bielik

AMR: Oxlade-Chamberlain / Walcott / Zivkovic / Maitland-Niles

AMC: Ozil / Embolo / Zelalem

AML: Alexis / Luan / Reine-Adelaide / Iwobi / Willock

ST: Giroud / Barbosa / Welbeck / Akpom

Now, this is obviously unmanageable. So, what I'd like is some advice on the following three areas:

Which youngsters are likely to make it? Would it be better to keep them in the squad and give them game time (which would be limited) or send them out on loan for the season at a high level?

Which of the youngsters need moving on?

How can the first-team squad be improved? I've got £134m in the transfer kitty. Recommendations are most welcome!

Oh, and Man City have just offered me £60m (£40m up front, £20m over 12 months) + 25% of next sale for Oxlade Chamberlain. Do I accept it? I'm leaning towards no at the moment...

Sorry for the length of this post!

[Spike]

@numero uno gunner

For me Reine-Adelaide was a member of the 1st team squad from day one & has been really good for rotating. Start of season 3 he has guaranteed 4 star potential with the possibility of 5 stars.

I have just bought Maitland-Niles in for rotation in season 3 as he has developed well.

I definitely wouldn't sell Ox as he is now at 4 star ability for me despite only being used as a rotational Roaming Playmaker.

For me your defence is the weakest area. Bellerin is brilliant on the right side. I have just brought in David Alaba on the left side, with Laporte & Varane in the centre. Some other good options are Sule, Romagnoli, Rugani & De Vrij.

Hope this helps

[berrysi]

Been off FM for few weeks but returned yesterday to finish off me 2017/18 season, twas decent like, time to sort squad for next campaign.

Got 6 players in CL dream team, happy with that (Dragowski, Bellerin, Shaw, Barkley, Ozil & Sanchez).

[KingLara]

Season 1 February

Premier League

ARSENAL 0

EVERTON 0

Our only league away game of the month so was happy to take a point. Hardly a classic though. Just 12 attempts by either side. Second half didn't feature a single highlight.

Premier League

ARSENAL 2

Sanchez 35 Giroud 54

WEST HAM 1

Valencia 57

How on earth it ended 2-1 I'll never know. Could have had 10.

Premier League

ARSENAL 5

Giroud 2 7 36 Sahchez 47 Walcott 53

NEWCASTLE 2

Wijnaldum 4 Perez 45(+1)

Against releation threatened Newcastle i opted for something a bit different. Playing a very high line and attacking direct approach. It was an obvious conclusion. 5 scored but 2 conceded. Welbeck made his return from injury off the bench late on.

Fa Cup 5th Round

NORWICH 1

Tettey 54

ARSENAL 2

Campbell 33 Chamberlain 74

A double blow before the game as Sanchez ruled out for 3 weeks and Welbeck 2 weeks. Both would miss the first leg of the champions league game while sanchez would also miss the league cup final. We were fairly comfortable against Norwich. Walcott would now also miss the final after spraining his wrist.

Champions League 2nd Round 1st Leg

SHAKHTAR 2

Bernard 3 89

ARSENAL 1

Ozil 31

I set up to get a 0-0 with Gibbs employed wide left and two holding midfielders. My former fm favourite Bernaqrd scored after only just 3 minutes and then Chamberlain limped off injured. Ozil equalised and I think 1-1 would've been fair but after Giroud also went off injured up popped Beranard again to give the ukrainians the advantage. CHamberlain out for five weeks. Giroud 12 days.

LEAGUE CUP FINAL

ARSENAL 1

Welbeck 56

TOTTENHAM 0

Team selection descended in caos after my rule of only playing players in the final that had made at least one appearance in the cup run came back to bite me. Walcott, Giroud, Flamini, Morata, Chamberlain and Cazorla and were all injured while Barbosa, Welbeck, Wilshere, Rosicky and Mammana hadn't played a game and could only fill the remaining numbers on the bench. Reserve player Kamara was forced to start having freatured in the first two rounds while i played a narrow 4-1-3-1-1 formation with Campbell upfront. Spurs were at full strength. The game was pretty even Welbeck on at haltime stabbed home from five yards.

[league Table]

1. Arsenal P26 P66

2. Man City P27 P52

3. Chelsea P26 P52

4. Tottenham P26 P50

5. Man Utd P27 P48

[injury Table]

Cazorla 1day - Sanchez 1day - Morata 4days - Giroud 5days - Chamberlain 4weeks

[other news]

Fa Cup Quarter Final Draw - ARSENAL vs Sheffield Wednesday

Sunderland vs Wolves/Bolton

Huddersfield/Man Utd vs Southampton

West Ham/Tottenham vs Cardiff

Giroud won player of the month.

I signed two regens from germany.

[March fixtures]

Premier League - Leicester (H) Swansea (A) Chelsea (A) Bournemouth (A)

Champions League - Shakhtar (H)

FA Cup - Sheffield Wednesday (H)

[berrysi]

Squad for 2018/19 season coming along nicely, got bit carried away with signings mind with big additions of Alli, Sterling, Bale (wasn't planned but saw L'pool have a £25m rising to £30m offer accepted and felt was too good to allow them to get) and Martial, but they have allowed me to send out younger players to get full playing seasons, then on the outs have been Cech and Cazorla, sadly, however needed to give more time to previous backup/reserves/rotational players, especially in goal as Dragowski was outstanding last term and became starter for bigger games in end.

[Spike]

Season 3 - January/February review

Transfers In - January

Ayoze Perez - £13.75

Transfers Out - January

Danny Welbeck - £12.5m

Transfers In - End of Season

Martin Odegaard - £33m

[Scribe]

Has anyone had any decent youths come through yet? I've mostly had to steal promising regens from other teams, but I've had a couple of promising homegrown ones come though in the last two seasons. They aren't ready for the first team yet, but they have half a chance of getting there eventually:

[arsenalthebest]

September Report

12/09/15 | Barclays Premier League

Arsenal 3 ( Walcott 79 | Asst: Vardy x1)

Crystal Palace 0

15/09/15 | Uefa Champions League (Group Stage) | Nou Camp

Arsenal 1 ( Özil PEN 40)

Barcelona 2 ( Suarez 20 , Neymar 59)

Barclays Premier League | 19/09/15 | Liberty Stadium

Arsenal 2 ( Oxlade-Chamberlain 26 , Giroud 83 | Assts: Özil/Cazorla x1)

Swansea 0

22/09/15 | Capital One Cup( 3rd Round) | Vicarage Road

Arsenal 3 ( Iwobi 28 & 85 , Giroud 90+1 | Assts: Alexis/Walcott x1)

Watford 1 ( Ighalo 88)

26/09/15 | Barclays Premier League | Emirates

Arsenal 2 ( Iwobi 7 , Wilshere 84 | Assts: Alexis x2)

Southampton 1 ( Rodriguez 9)

30/09/15 | UEFA Champions League(Group Stage) | Emirates

Arsenal 2 ( Giroud 6 & 69 | Assts: Campbell/Walcott x1)

Olympic Lyonnais 0

100% record in the League so far 9 wins & just 1 loss in all competitions

[Ivan787]

As an italian fan of Arsenal start a save with this team.

Only one transfer (Pogba) for almost the entire budget.

I'm very happy about Wenger in DoF role, I think he could be very useful for the club.

Preseason was ok and Community Shield is at Emirates with 2-1 against Chelsea with a superb performance of Ozil (1 gol and 1 assist with 9.00 of rating). Match well dominated up to 75th when, on 2-0, I switch to 4-1-2-2-1 Counter and this was a mistake. Chelsea increase pressure, move up on the pitch and fortunately score the 2-1 only at 89th. But a terrible save of Cech at 93th make my blood very very cold.

Before this save I played with Inter and I've learned a lot in particular using same tactic with two so different teams. In particular:

- Mental stats are very important: Due to work rate/teamwork I can use Flexible and have the team very compact, also with attack duty in AM strata, more than Inter using Very Fluid.

- Close Down: I used to set it to close down more because in my opinion this would mean a lot of pressure, but this led also to a lot of space exposed with my opponent that, bypassing the first line of pressure, found a lot of space. Closing down more, in particular in midfield and in defence give a lot of solidity in defense.

[berrysi]

Sadly not had any good true home grown products thus far, with this lad being the only one that has even progressed to the U21 team level;

[Scribe]

Sadly not had any good true home grown products thus far, with this lad being the only one that has even progressed to the U21 team level;

Any good purchased ones? I've just had my first regen break into the first team squad, albeit as fourth choice central defender (at the expense of Papdopoulos, who suffered a bad injury).

He has a bit of progressing to do before I'd trust him in a big game though.

[berrysi]

Got a lot of youthards of a regen nature signed from elsewhere, none currently on edge of breaking through into first team, most will be off on loan for a season or two before such, but do have high hopes for this French lad whom is in our U18 team at moment, think his transfer was the last piece of business conducted by Wenger before he retired;

[Scribe]

Just the fourteen players on the Ballon D'Or shortlist this year

[Ivan787]

I'm really struggling about 4-1-2-2-1.

I set a very good 4-2-3-1 which give me results and good football, but I also want a plan-b, a 4-1-2-2-1 (or a 4-1-4-1) for playing against top side or when I want to slow down the game, keep possession, "freezing the match".

General idea are compactness, short passing football, a lot of movement without any "landmark" in my forwards.

Has anyone successfully set a similar formation with Arsenal?

[numero uno gunner]

@ Spike

Thanks for the feedback. I knew I was going to have to think about the defence this summer, as Mertesacker needs to be moved on. I guess that leaves me on the lookout for a decent centre back, preferably under 24, and the same at left back. Monreal had a good season last season, but at 30, I'm going to have to think about the future sooner rather than later. I'm not sure I can bring myself to spend what's needed for someone like Alaba, though. I guess I've been watching Arsene's transfer dealings for too long!

[KingLara]

Season 1 March

As ever in March a large number of regens but I'll start with the fixtures.

Premier League

ARSENAL 3

Flamini 28 Walcott 62 Monreal 79 Flamini s/off 72

LEICESTER 1

Okazaki 1 Vardy s/off 19

Although nothing like their real life counterparts Leicester were still 7th and Vardy was top scorer. Okazaki gave Leicester the lead inside the first minute. But that was to be their only attempt on target in the game. Vardy then got stupidly sent off and we ran out comfortable winners. Flamini also seeing red from card happy Stuart Attwell.

Premier League

SWANSEA 1

Gomis 9

ARSENAL 1

Walcott 69

Swansea controlled both halves but could'nt make it count. Happy with a point

Premier League

CHELSEA 0

ARSENAL 2

Walcott 11 Giroud 58

Our third victory and clean sheet of the season against Chelsea. I was less defensive and they created much more than in the previous two games but a man of the match display by Cech kept Hazard, Costa and co at bay. Morata came on as a late sub but Walcott and Cazorla would miss two weeks.

FA Cup 5th Round

ARSENAL 6

Barbosa 2 Loovens o.g 16 Welbeck 35 54 Morata 80 83

SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 0

There's a new King of The Assist. Step forward Kieron Gibbs. 5 assists in the game. I made 11 changes to the win at Chelsea. Welbeck started his first game of the season. He capped it with a brace as did Morata. While Barbosa scored his first for the club.

Champions League Second Round 2nd Leg

ARSENAL 3

Barbosa 37 85 Sanchez 83

SHAKHTAR 0

Blue/black shirts at home! why??????????????????

Premier League

BOURNEMOUTH 1

Hooper 13

ARSENAL 4

Morata 6 43 Barbosa 15 Giroud 74

A good win. 14 points clear with a game in hand. Almost home now.

[League Table]

1. Arsenal P30 P76

2. Chelsea P31 P62

3. Man City P31 P59

4. Tottenham P28 P56

5. Man Utd P29 P49

Arsenal Season stats (all comps)

Played 49 Won 40 Drawn 4 Lost 5 GF 108 GA 39

Appearances - Koscielny 40 - Mertesacker Monreal Giroud 38 - Ozil Coquelin Ramsey Chamberlain 35

Goals - Giroud 23 Morata 17 Sanchez 13 Walcott 11 Ozil 9

Assists - Bellerin 11 Ozil 10 Walcott 9 Valero 9 Gibbs 8

Av Rating - Welbeck 8.00 Bellerin 7.73 Debuchy 7.69 Chambers 7.67 Sanchez 7.59

[injury Table]

Cech 1day- Rosicky 7weeks

[Draws]

Champions League Quarer-Final - ARSENAL vs Wolfsburg

Lyon vs Juventus Barcelona vs Bayern Munich Real Madrid vs PSG

FA Cup Semi-Final - ARSENAL vs Tottenham

Man United vs Sunderland/Wolves

[Regens]

Overall signed 9 players. It's much harder to get the good players from the bigger clubs now. They always say no interest. Due to age some won't arrive until for another year. My youth team only seems to have produced one decent player. I have upgraded the facilities so hopefully I'll get a better batch next year.

[April Fixtures]

Busy

Premier League - Man Utd (H) West Brom (A) Liverpool (H) Stoke (H) Sunderland (H)

Champions League - Wolfsburg (H) Wolfsburg (A)

FA Cup - Tottenham (N)

[Spike]

Has anyone had any decent youths come through yet? I've mostly had to steal promising regens from other teams, but I've had a couple of promising homegrown ones come though in the last two seasons. They aren't ready for the first team yet, but they have half a chance of getting there eventually:

Not had any decent regens come through the youth system, but these are the ones I have brought in;

[Spike]

Season 4 Christmas Review

As you can see from the results this season is going well, gutted about the one slip up against Red Bull Salzburg





The squad has been immense despite being rotated on an almost weekly basis;



Not sure how many people have given Reine-Adelaide a chance, but he is well worth persevering with. I have used him in a rotation role from day one after he impressed in the first pre-season. This is him now;





EDIT: Right on cue

[Scribe]

To continue on from the other thread Spike, my spending has probably been a bit OTT and that's why I'm in debt:

[berrysi]

Also why you've 15 bloody players on Balloon Door shortlist!

On the money front;

Decent profit me thinks, deal for Højbjerg wasn't actually just £7.5m, had £7.5m clauses for both 50 games and 50 goals (didn't reach either as can see), but still, really didn't expect anyone to come back with the £60m offer I threw out to clubs, tis City mind, L'pool tried with £30m but were slightly out bidded.

And yes Scribe, you have spent a pretty penny, mine thus far;

[Spike]

To continue on from the other thread Spike, my spending has probably been a bit OTT and that's why I'm in debt:

Holy crap! No wonder you're in debt.

My spending is frugal in comparison lol

[berrysi]

To be fair, per head you actually come out tad worse in spending Spike compared with Scribe, still both in the £12m range mind, which is lots.

[Spike]

To be fair, per head you actually come out tad worse in spending Spike compared with Scribe, still both in the £12m range mind, which is lots.

Yeah I do tend to spend big

£70.00m - Paul Pogba

£53.00m - Raphael Varane

£48.00m - David Alaba

£42.50m - Alvaro Morata

£36.50m - Medhi Benatia

£35.50m - Aymeric Laporte

£33.00m - Martin Odegaard

£25.00m - Marc Andre ter Stegen

[Spike]

Morata puts Moneybags City to the sword

[Scribe]

Yeah I do tend to spend big

£70.00m - Paul Pogba

£53.00m - Raphael Varane

£48.00m - David Alaba

£42.50m - Alvaro Morata

£36.50m - Medhi Benatia

£35.50m - Aymeric Laporte

£33.00m - Martin Odegaard

£25.00m - Marc Andre ter Stegen

That ain't big, this is big!

Top twelve most expensive:

149m Neymar

97m James

78m Pogba

66m De Gea

65m Laporte

64m Koke

61m Dybala

55m Embolo

51m Varane

48.5m Gaya

46.5m Alaba

32m Stones

[Spike]

Need some help. Signed Ayoze Perez for £13.75m in January of season 3. Now in January of season 4 and have received this bid;

Current stats;

He is my back up to Alvaro Morata......should I sell?

[talhak]

@Spike

That depends on who will you sign with the funds selling Perez. With considering all competitions, you need at least 2 first team strikers and Perez is one of best young strikers in the game alongside Berardi, Embolo, Barbosa and a few others. So what is your plan after selling him?

[Scribe]

Sad times

[KingLara]

Season 1 April

Premier League

ARSENAL 2

Morata 9 Barbosa 62

MAN UNITED 0

With one eye on Wolfsburg I played a slightly weaker team. United were very unlucky not to get anything out of the game. Ospina debutising for Cech made some fine saves. United had an alarming 62% possession.

Champions League Quarter-Final 1st Leg

ARSENAL 2

Sanchez 7 Barbosa 27

WOLFSBURG 1

Origi 82

Important to get the win in the first leg. However the away goal for Wolfsburg and a 5 week injury to Gibbs are big blows. Barbosa now scored in six consequtive games.

Premier League

WEST BROM 0

ARSENAL 0

I made 9 changes to keep the players fresh for the return leg. Probably deserved to lose but will take the draw. Wilshere picked up another injury and would miss the rest of the league season.

Champions League Quarter-Final 2nd Leg

WOLFSBURG 2

Rodriguez 18 Kruse 77

ARSENAL 2

Coquelin 37 Barbosa 60

We put in an excellent display so see off Wolfsburg and progress to the semi-final. We controlled the majority of the game. Coquelin finishing off a swift counter. Walcott joins Wilshere in having his season cut short through injury.

[semi-Final draw]

ARSENAL vs PSG - Juventus vs Barcelona

Premier League

ARSENAL 2

Barbosa 12 Sanchez 83

LIVERPOOL 1

Sturridge 29

I actually won this game 7-3 but my computer restarted so lost it. Anyway I named an unchanged team as we hosted struggling Liverpool. We had 36 shots but could only get 2 goals. Missing 5 of the 6 clear cut chances.

Premier League

ARSENAL 3

Monreal 53 Campbell 79 86

STOKE 0

A very good performance by the second string to secure the league title. Having surrendered possession in recent weeks we produced 66% which was pleasing. Two more injuries to Welbeck and Giroud 4 weeks and 5 days. The right way round though.

FA Cup Semi-Final

TOTTENHAM 1

Pratto 41

ARSENAL 4

Monreal 19 29 34 Campbell 23

It was a very tricky job to juggle the two sides heading into the PSG game in just 3 days time. I played the same team as the stoke game but with Ozil, Morata and Koscielny restored. The spanish strikers hattrick condemmed Spurs to defeat. Campbell following up his brace against Stoke with the second goal. United beat Wolves on penalties in the other game.

Champions League Semi-FInal 1st Leg

ARSENAL 2

Sanchez 46 73

PSG 0

One foot in the final after a Sanchez brace gave us a 2-0 win. He had earlier hit a post. PSG created next to nothing.

Juventus dominated the other semi-final but could'nt put the chances away and were held 1-1 by Barcelona.

Premier League

ARSENAL 2

Gabriel 10 Campbell 19

SUNDERLAND 2

Toivonen 43 Larsson 53

A typical FM game. Dominated the entire game 33 shots to 6. 65% possession. Hit the woodwork three times. ect. ect. ect.

[League Table]

United currently in seventh can't get into the top 4. Liverpool 10th. Watford are relegated. West Brom (37), Stoke (31), Norwich (34) and Southampton (35) fighting to stay up.

1. Arsenal P35 P87

2. Chelsea P36 P72

3. Tottenham P34 P69

4. Man City P36 P69

5. Swansea P36 P56

[injury Table]

Gibbs 4days - Rosicky 12days - Welbeck 2 weeks - Wilshere 3 weeks - Walcott 7weeks

[May Fixtures]

Premier League - Norwich (A) Tottenham (A) Sothampton (H)

Champions League - PSG (A)

FA Cup - Man United (N)

[berrysi]

My start to 2018/19 season is going decently, drew two out of 3 Champions League games and drew one in Prem, but no defeats and as this season is off the back of a World Cup I'll take it, only real downside was the loss of Ozil after 3 games, damaged his Achilles Tendon and was out for 3/4 months. Think he is back in 5 weeks now, am just into November, Alexis our star man, has like 7 goals, 5 assists, 4 man of matches in about 9 games, with a 8.22 avg, reckon he'll be fighting with Messi and Ron again for Balloon Door award honours.

[Spike]

Season 4 - January Transfer Window

Back-up Deep Lying Playmaker

Out: Ainsley Maitland-Niles for £20m upfront, £10m over 12 months & £5m after 10 international appearances

In: Youri Tielemans for £11m upfront & £1.1m after 50 league appearances

Back-up Poacher

Out: Ayoze Perez for £39m upfront, £14.5m over 12 months, £12.25m after 50 league appearances & £12.25m after 10 international appearances

In: Marco Asensio on loan with a £26m agreed fee

Will move Breel Embolo to back-up Poacher & play Asensio as back-up Deep Lying Forward.

1st XI



2nd XI

[Spike]

Starting to regret that 2-2 draw at home to Man Utd

[Baptista_8]

@Spike - you have built a phenomenal squad there.

[Spike]

@Spike - you have built a phenomenal squad there.

Thanks.

Just need to decide whether to sign Asensio permantly for £26m or go for a natural in the DLF role (ie. Gabriel Barbosa, £127m release clause, or someone else).

[Baptista_8]

How did you prize away ter Stegen, Alaba, Varane and Pogba? Must have cost you loads. Trying to get Bellerin now for my Atletico side but Arsenal are rejecting £72m

[Spike]

How did you prize away ter Stegen, Alaba, Varane and Pogba? Must have cost you loads. Trying to get Bellerin now for my Atletico side but Arsenal are rejecting £72m

Ter Stegen - he became unhappy when Barca refused my bid so eventually got him for £25m

Varane & Alaba - both had around £50m release clause

Pogba - £70m release clause

Not surprised about Bellerin, he is immense for me.

Already been given a provisional transfer budget of £255m for next season so might go nuts lol

[Scribe]

Thanks.

Just need to decide whether to sign Asensio permantly for £26m or go for a natural in the DLF role (ie. Gabriel Barbosa, £127m release clause, or someone else).

Neymar? Or have you copied my squad enough already?

[Spike]

Neymar? Or have you copied my squad enough already?

No copying, just signing the very best players

Neymar is a possibility but not sure i can spend £150m on one player lol. It's really for a back up/rotation atm as Alexis is still tearing it up.

[Scribe]

No copying, just signing the very best players

Neymar is a possibility but not sure i can spend £150m on one player lol. It's really for a back up/rotation atm as Alexis is still tearing it up.

I got him for a bargain 149m!

He's a rotation player for me - everyone is...

[Spike]

Absolute bargain lol

Me too really.

[Scribe]

Talking of Neymar, I've moved him out to the left to replace Sanchez and it has allowed me to promote this guy into my first team:

He's made a pretty decent start and still has some growing to do so hopefully he can perform well enough to become a valuable member of the squad. He cost me £3.4m from Boca a couple of seasons back.

[Spike]

Talking of Neymar, I've moved him out to the left to replace Sanchez and it has allowed me to promote this guy into my first team:

He's made a pretty decent start and still has some growing to do so hopefully he can perform well enough to become a valuable member of the squad. He cost me £3.4m from Boca a couple of seasons back.

Funny you should say that, my other option is;

Just had a season long loan at Palmeiras - 35APP, 8GLS, 4ASS, 7.09RAT

[Scribe]

I suppose your guy is better than mine at, urm, er...crossing...?

[Spike]

Crossing is very underrated

[Spike]

@Scribe

Thoughts on Raheem Sterling? Transfer listed for £60m......worth it?

[Scribe]

I'd say yes.

[Spike]

I'd say yes.

Negotiated to £35m upfront, £10m after 50 league appearances & £10m after 50 league goals.

Only problem is he wants £300k pw wages & £15m in signing fees.