FM17: Arsenal

[llama3]

1 hour ago, talhak said:

Thanks guys for your feedback  @llama3 @dily His almost every important attribute is equal or higher than 15, so I have wondered his contribution to the game.

So my thought process was:

• He's a good dribbler, which suits an IF/Winger role
• He's right footed so suits an IF on the left, or Winger on the right
• He doesn't have the outright pace to go past lots of players, but is mobile still which suits receiving the ball in tight areas
• PPM Cuts Inside from Both Flanks
• Fairly creative too

[dily]

yes for me both wide roles he is support IF on the left or winger on the right, if i play him acm i have him as attacking as he gets into box easily then from wide areas

[BrickCommo23]

Hi all,

Been off here for a while but got back into some FM over the last fortnight or so...

Good grief I wish I hadn’t bothered.

This is league table for my 5^th season:

United were absolutely untouchable and got a huge points total – so even without the absolute implosion I suffered I may well have still found it very difficult to make it 3 league titles in a row.

The only real explanation I can offer is the tactics and plans which had worked so well for the last two and a half seasons – suddenly didn’t work anymore and no amount of tweaking and cajoling could get us back to where we wanted to be. A knock on effect is the likes of Dybala, Draxler and others had far poorer seasons than in previous years.

A January spending spree of Griezmann, Lemar and a Spanish ‘wonderkid’ CB couldn’t arrest the slide and the worst part of it all – we fell below Spurs on the final day of the season!

Somehow, we did manage to win the FA Cup though – so not a complete bust.

A few further things have since happened in my off season to make things worse...

1 – Hard Brexit has kicked in. I must have missed the notification some time ago so I’ve not been targeting or stockpiling English talent and I was already a bit low on the homegrown quota

2- As I have missed on CL football Mustafi and Reiss Nelson (one of my few ‘homegrown’ players) want to leave to play for Barcelona and West Ham respectively in the CL. I am taking a hard line ‘no’ with both so far

3- As a result of all the above, my transfer budget is a rather low £45million

4 – Koscielny has chosen now to retire...

So – two options:

1 – Quit and cry

2 – Go back to the drawing board. Reassess the squad, invest a bit more wisely, come up with new tactical plans and go again. This should be my first choice XI (with a change of formation) – which is still very good – I have just never had much luck creating my own tactics.

GK – Donnarumma

DL – Gaya / Gibbs
DC – Laporte
DC – Mustafi (or one of a pair of 5* regens)
DR – Sidibe / Walker

DM – Bazoer / Coquelin

MC – Koke
MC – Ramsey

AML – Griezmann / Sanchez
AMR – Lemar / Oxlade-Chamberlain

ST – Dybala / Eggestein

Subs: Begovic, the other 5* CB regen, Coq/Bazoer, Lo Celso, Ozil, Nelson, Dybala/Eggestein

I am hoping to have a bit of a clear out and get a new ‘spine’ in for the side. Absolute top of the list is either Leon Goretzka or Renato Sanches (both at Bayern). One of those next to Koke should be brilliant...

Genuinely, welcome any views or suggestions!

Cheers

[MShing]

I'd love this in my save   I got bored of my Arsenal save as it was too easy. I'd love a hard brexit and have to rebuild the squad with mainly English talent.  

[coopie54]

I've seen here that lots of people are selling Lucas?? For me he is doing alright as a F9 as a lone striker, he's scored some crackers from way outside the box. My issue is that as soon as he is on a role he gets injured. I can't really decide between him and giroud upfront but don't want to buy new people at the moment. 

[Vilmar]

I sold Welby so I could give Lucas more playing time. He has his moments for me but Giroud is #1. 

[coopie54]

I wanted to give welbz the chance to prove himself. I've got a £38mil budget for the winter transfer window of the first season but I don't have anyone in particular that I want to bring in. 

Will I lose my budget into the next season if I don't spend it?

[MShing]

7 hours ago, coopie54 said:

I wanted to give welbz the chance to prove himself. I've got a £38mil budget for the winter transfer window of the first season but I don't have anyone in particular that I want to bring in. 

Will I lose my budget into the next season if I don't spend it?

Not usually. Whenever I have budget left over I get an even bigger war chest th next season. I suppose it depends on the clubs finances though. 

[nomolos]

Has anyone else been able to get Dybala at the beginning of the game? Whenever I start a new save I ask the board for extra transfer funds just to see if I can get luck, and somehow they said yes! I snagged him from Juve for £102 million.

[Vilmar]

I've been trying to lure Dybala for 2 months now. Juve won't drop below 100. I eventually got a bid accepted at 108 million. It doesn't feel right but I could not have Man Utd get stronger by getting him. 

Opted to have him arrive at the end of the season so I can think about my striker situation.

[coopie54]

Anyone got advice on how to sell some players without having the team have a paddy about it? Got a few players I want to move on to make some money and reinvest it.

[kea014]

Hey I'm new on here. Currently managing Arsenal and in my third season. Barcelona and Madrid have made Dembele and Dybala they're primary transfer targets respectively. Their players mouth off to the press after every performance from Dembele and Dybala. This began after the summer transfer window had closed. My Arsenal has a higher reputation than both Barcelona and Madrid coz we've won back to back Epl, Champions League, Fa Cup, Efl Cup, Club World Cup, Super Cup and Community Shields so when this all began Dembele and Dybala weren't interested in moves but several players from both clubs have come out to mouth off to the press every week and now it appears they're interest has grown over time. No way I can take any of this till the summer transfer window or the winter transfer window approaching. So at this rate, I'll have a mutiny on my hands once bids are made. So my question is - How do i stop all this nonsense? Dybala has been my top goal scorer, scoring 51 goals and then 52 goals in his second season winning the golden boot in the Epl with 46 goals in both seasons and has won the Balon d'or so there's no way I want to lose him. Both players are attempting to use this situation to leverage  new contracts from the club but are already on massive wages having signed new deals recently. Dybala wants 300k a week and Dembele wants 275k a week. Is this the only way to keep them? Caving into their contract demands? or I can play hardball and hope for the best?

[Vilmar]

They still have 4 en 3 years left on their contracts. You could try the hardball approach. 

Whenever I get something like this I start looking for possible replacements. 

[iArsenal11]

Anyone else think transfer prices are a bit high? Burnley want 41m for Michael Keane in the first season. Leverkusen want 71m for Jonathan Tah. Atletico want 56m for Gimenez.

[brigzi]

On 2017-5-6 at 17:00, nomolos said:

Has anyone else been able to get Dybala at the beginning of the game? Whenever I start a new save I ask the board for extra transfer funds just to see if I can get luck, and somehow they said yes! I snagged him from Juve for £102 million.

took me till the 4th season to get him for 230m including add ons and money over time

14 hours ago, iArsenal11 said:

Anyone else think transfer prices are a bit high? Burnley want 41m for Michael Keane in the first season. Leverkusen want 71m for Jonathan Tah. Atletico want 56m for Gimenez.

i usually get keane for around 15m on a few saves

[TheBigBoss]

Anyone else tried that 3-4-2-1 formation for Arsenal ?

[kea014]

What a ridiculous offer hahaha!

[arsenalthebest]

On 2017-5-10 at 15:53, brigzi said:

took me till the 4th season to get him for 230m including add ons and money over time

i usually get keane for around 15m on a few saves

He's unhappy in my save got an offer of 15m plus Alexis accepted but Alexis rejected the contract going to try and get Dybala then loan him back until end of next season when Alexis will be 32

[arsenalthebest]

Sold  Wilshere for £75m to China got Mario Lemina for £26m as a replacement

[coopie54]

Is anyone having trouble with scoring here? I can be getting about 25 shots per game, with only about 10 on target and scoring only at most 3 goals per game.  it's frustrating.  And I've got Lukaku and I want him to just sit in the box and deal with crosses put into him but he is coming back to the halfway line and dribbling even though h shouldn't be doing that - I've got him as a target man - attack.  What am I doing wrong?

[coopie54]

On 10/05/2017 at 00:52, iArsenal11 said:

Anyone else think transfer prices are a bit high? Burnley want 41m for Michael Keane in the first season. Leverkusen want 71m for Jonathan Tah. Atletico want 56m for Gimenez.

YES! I find them ridiculously high! I paid £48.5mil for Lukaku AND he was transfer listed by request at the time! £40mil for Rugani and now man united are after dybala for a reported £109mil!

[Dokara]

C'mon guys, again with this... What you do when you don't want to sell a player?? Set some ridiculous price. And that's what AI does. What do you think, if you want any player, that clubs are obligated to sell them to you?!

[arsenalthebest]

7 hours ago, coopie54 said:

YES! I find them ridiculously high! I paid £48.5mil for Lukaku AND he was transfer listed by request at the time! £40mil for Rugani and now man united are after dybala for a reported £109mil!

Got an offer of £40m plus £7.5m over 30 months 10% of next sale and a further £15m based on appearances & league goals accepted for Dybala

 

[arsenalthebest]

I love China!! got £75m For Wilshere , £60m for Bazeor & £56m for Ramsey

 

in early/mid  Jan 2020 so my transfers have been

IN

Rafinha - Real Madrid - £47.5m , Mustapha Kamara(regen)  - Swansea - £500k ,                                    Rayan  Salhi(regen) - Sochaux-Montbéliard -£2m , Thiago Maia - Juventus - £23m ,                      Richard Cooper - Blackburn - £400k , Rafael(regen)  - Esporte Clube Bahia - 175k , Mauro Acosta(regen) - Racing Club de Avellaneda - £2.3m , Jesú María Vázquez - Athletic Club Bilbao - £2.5m , Mario Lemina - Juventus - £27m , Lewis Cook - Bournemouth  - £14.25m 

Total: £ 129m 

Alex Iwobi - West Ham - £225.5m , (£32m) , Luis Olivera - Olmpique De Marseille , Sead Kolasinac/ Marco Van Ginkel - Association Sportive de Monaco - £11m(£12.75m)/ £26m , Mesus Özil - Bayern München ,  Maxwell Cornet - Paris Saint-Germain - £13m , Ezequiel Barco - Internationale Milano - £14m , Kelechi Nwakali - Crystal Palace - £675k(£850k) , Krystien Bielik -  Associazione Sportiva Roma - £11m , Abdoulaye Sissako - Associazione Calcio Milan - £18m , Jack Wilshere - Jiangsu Gloxinie-Sainty  - £75m , Riechedly Bazoer - Guangzhou Evergrande - £60m

Total: £295m

[nomolos]

I'm in the January window of my second season at Arsenal. I have a front three of Sanchez (who's been injured for a while and I'm starting to think about moving on), Dybala and Mohamed Salah. Salah has been absolutely world-class but desperately wants to move to Real Madrid and I don't think I can stop him. I'm expecting to get £50 million for him. Any suggestions for who I can sign to replace him on the right wing?

[coopie54]

26 minutes ago, nomolos said:

I'm in the January window of my second season at Arsenal. I have a front three of Sanchez (who's been injured for a while and I'm starting to think about moving on), Dybala and Mohamed Salah. Salah has been absolutely world-class but desperately wants to move to Real Madrid and I don't think I can stop him. I'm expecting to get £50 million for him. Any suggestions for who I can sign to replace him on the right wing?

Haven't you got iwobi or nelson? Or a youth player? Some of the youth I've got through are world class. Saving up to get messi haha. 

 

If no youth then thomas lemar from Monaco 

[nomolos]

16 minutes ago, coopie54 said:

Haven't you got iwobi or nelson? Or a youth player? Some of the youth I've got through are world class. Saving up to get messi haha. 

 

If no youth then thomas lemar from Monaco 

Sadly, I had to sell Iwobi in the first window. I wanted to keep him and develop him into a world class player, but right before the first game of the first season he came wanting a key player contract and wanting to start every game over Sanchez or Salah. Liverpool came in with a big bid so I accepted it. I've played Nelson a lot on the LW.

[coopie54]

wow.  fair enough then.  A few other suggestions I'd have are:

Kingsley Coman

Leroy Sane

Bernardo Silva

Andrija Zivkovic

Domenico Berardi

 

[nomolos]

Thanks! I'm strongly considering Coman. I was hoping to move for Silva but he moved to Chelsea for a world record fee after the first season. I'll check out the others!

[kea014]

Get Griezmann he's truly world class or Neymar. I have a front 4 of Dybala, Griezmann number 10, Alexis right and Neymar on the left. You can imagine the amount of goals they score lol!

[coopie54]

Oooooh I've just been told james Rodriguez is available for transfer (funny that) and it would be around £60mil. I'm torn. I've got some excellent youth, and my main midfield front 3 are alexis ozil & iwobi. I'm torn on if I should sign him or not?!?

also, what have been done when cech goes downhill? I've got a 16yr old keeper with a great potential of better than cech, but he isn't premier league quality yet. I'm giving him games but I don't have anything for inbetween. Do I stick with youth or get someone else in?

[BrickCommo23]

On 2017-5-16 at 17:38, coopie54 said:

Oooooh I've just been told james Rodriguez is available for transfer (funny that) and it would be around £60mil. I'm torn. I've got some excellent youth, and my main midfield front 3 are alexis ozil & iwobi. I'm torn on if I should sign him or not?!?

also, what have been done when cech goes downhill? I've got a 16yr old keeper with a great potential of better than cech, but he isn't premier league quality yet. I'm giving him games but I don't have anything for inbetween. Do I stick with youth or get someone else in?

It doesn't sound like you need James - I wouldn't bother personally. 

As for Cech, it's not very original but I got Donnarumma in. He's immense. 

[BrickCommo23]

 

Hi all,

So season 5 was a complete bust but 6 has been better. We basically started again on the tactics front and had a major clear out of coaches and scouts.

We changed the tactics to a very fluid 41221 and ended up with this final table:

(Really wish West Ham would drop off now though)

And just for good mesasure, this was a lovely way to end the season:

Not all good news though, our U23s were relegated from the Premier Group and the lack of Champions League football means I can only keep about 30% of transfer revenue at the moment.

Plan for the summer is to massively cull the bloated youth set up, prowl for a job lot of quality youngsters and run slightly smaller youth squads.

Unfortunately, the time has also come to say goodbye to Ozil and Sanchez.

Cheers

[coopie54]

1 hour ago, BrickCommo23 said:

It doesn't sound like you need James - I wouldn't bother personally. 

As for Cech, it's not very original but I got Donnarumma in. He's immense. 

I could probably afford him as I have 100mil transfer budget. But I'm very much wanting to develop my youth players and save all the budget for one big player, especially seeing as the transfer fees are so high!! Guess it does reflect the real world in that sense haha

[nomolos]

I'm in February of my third season. My lineup is:

Leno; Gaya-Keane-Mustafi-Bellerin; Weigl-Rakitic; Coman-Ozil-Salah; Dybala

Bench:

Virginia, Inigo Martinez, Kimpembe (on loan), Casemiro, Reine-Adelaide, Turan, Moussa Dembele

Any transfer recommendations for the summer? I want a CB, LW and CM. My first three choices are Laporte, Mbappe and Sanches, but I don't think I can afford all three. Any alternatives?

[TheBigBoss]

Anyone had success with the 3-4-2-1 ?

[arsenalthebest]

23 hours ago, TheBigBoss said:

Anyone had success with the 3-4-2-1 ?

Haven't tried it yet 

[arsenalthebest]

Just set a tactic recommended by my assistant manager which he used in games I've holidayed but there are no team instructions does mean he not given any instruction in the matches he's managed? 

 

The formation is as follows

GK:GK-D  ,  RB: WB-S. ,  L/RCB: CD-D. ,  LB: FB-D. ,  DMC: DM-D  ,  MCR: AP-Su  ,  MCL: CM-D. ,  AMC: AM-Su  ,  STCR: DLF-Su. ,  STCL: AF-At

 

any recommendations for team instructions and mentality & shape?

[Vilmar]

Made my first FM post in a very long time (last time I think was CM).

https://medium.com/@vesnl/the-2017-football-manager-adventure-starts-ec100f3fe868

Was planning on posting on the forum during my first season but I went through there so quickly I forgot. Will post short updates here and lengthy ones on Medium. 

[aditya]

On 5/20/2017 at 01:45, nomolos said:

I'm in February of my third season. My lineup is:

Leno; Gaya-Keane-Mustafi-Bellerin; Weigl-Rakitic; Coman-Ozil-Salah; Dybala

Bench:

Virginia, Inigo Martinez, Kimpembe (on loan), Casemiro, Reine-Adelaide, Turan, Moussa Dembele

Any transfer recommendations for the summer? I want a CB, LW and CM. My first three choices are Laporte, Mbappe and Sanches, but I don't think I can afford all three. Any alternatives?

CBL Jonathan Tah, Lucas, Jose Gimenez, Jesus Vallejo
LW Lozano, Pulisic, Asensio, Ousmane Dembele
CM Sanches is probably the best

[Tullekunstner]

The Rebuilding of Arsenal

It's 22nd of May, 2017. Arsenal have just missed out on Champion's League football for the first time in 21 years. Their star players are furious and have caused an uproar resulting in Arsene Wenger being forced to give up his job as manager.

To make matters worse their number one star player, Alexis Sanchez, have agreed to join PSG in a deal worth £50m.

Özil has agreed to a shock move to up-and-comers RBL in a deal worth £40m.

And last, and perhaps least, their most exciting talented right back, Hector Bellerin, is coming home to Barcelona in a deal worth £45m.

In steps a completely unknown manager, practically just a toddler in manager years at 27 years old. Can he be the man to rebuild an Arsenal side bereft of top quality, but with all the expectations and pressures of a top quality club? Can the clubs huge finances help Arsenal back into a top PL side, and can they manage to take the next step in becoming a european giant? Time will tell.

 

 

 

(plenty of editor data has been changed including, but not limited to, players CA and PA. No Arsenal players have been changed except Sanchez, Özil and Bellerin in addition to Cech who's had his CA reduced to better reflect his real life performances. I've used sortitoutsi's current date starting date file.)

[BrickCommo23]

1 hour ago, Tullekunstner said:

The Rebuilding of Arsenal

It's 22nd of May, 2017. Arsenal have just missed out on Champion's League football for the first time in 21 years. Their star players are furious and have caused an uproar resulting in Arsene Wenger being forced to give up his job as manager.

To make matters worse their number one star player, Alexis Sanchez, have agreed to join PSG in a deal worth £50m.

Özil has agreed to a shock move to up-and-comers RBL in a deal worth £40m.

And last, and perhaps least, their most exciting talented right back, Hector Bellerin, is coming home to Barcelona in a deal worth £45m.

In steps a completely unknown manager, practically just a toddler in manager years at 27 years old. Can he be the man to rebuild an Arsenal side bereft of top quality, but with all the expectations and pressures of a top quality club? Can the clubs huge finances help Arsenal back into a top PL side, and can they manage to take the next step in becoming a european giant? Time will tell.

 

 

 

(plenty of editor data has been changed including, but not limited to, players CA and PA. No Arsenal players have been changed except Sanchez, Özil and Bellerin in addition to Cech who's had his CA reduced to better reflect his real life performances. I've used sortitoutsi's current date starting date file.)

That's a great set up for a save. Looking forward to seeing more! 

[coopie54]

Who here has kept wenger on as Dof? I've just finished my second season, having won the FA cup and champions league (beat bayern 1-0, it was sweet).

But I digress..Basically, I noticed that both icardi and Donnarumma were unhappy and both wanted to join me at the mighty Arsenal, so i got Wenger to bid and offer their contracts, which he did.  However, he lowballed both their contracts, Donnarumma went to PSG and Icardi went to Chelsea.  I bought Pedraj Rajkovic (chose him ahead of Alban Lafont) then I had a youth keeper brought in by Wenger who is basically a wonderkid and he brought in a striker from porto who looks alright, but I am annoyed that I missed out on 2 great players because of his cheapness!!

[exumo]

9 hours ago, Tullekunstner said:

The Rebuilding of Arsenal

It's 22nd of May, 2017. Arsenal have just missed out on Champion's League football for the first time in 21 years. Their star players are furious and have caused an uproar resulting in Arsene Wenger being forced to give up his job as manager.

To make matters worse their number one star player, Alexis Sanchez, have agreed to join PSG in a deal worth £50m.

Özil has agreed to a shock move to up-and-comers RBL in a deal worth £40m.

And last, and perhaps least, their most exciting talented right back, Hector Bellerin, is coming home to Barcelona in a deal worth £45m.

In steps a completely unknown manager, practically just a toddler in manager years at 27 years old. Can he be the man to rebuild an Arsenal side bereft of top quality, but with all the expectations and pressures of a top quality club? Can the clubs huge finances help Arsenal back into a top PL side, and can they manage to take the next step in becoming a european giant? Time will tell.

 

 

 

(plenty of editor data has been changed including, but not limited to, players CA and PA. No Arsenal players have been changed except Sanchez, Özil and Bellerin in addition to Cech who's had his CA reduced to better reflect his real life performances. I've used sortitoutsi's current date starting date file.)

Do you mind sharing the save file I wanna try this to. thanks.

[Vilmar]

1 hour ago, coopie54 said:

Who here has kept wenger on as Dof? I've just finished my second season, having won the FA cup and champions league (beat bayern 1-0, it was sweet).

But I digress..Basically, I noticed that both icardi and Donnarumma were unhappy and both wanted to join me at the mighty Arsenal, so i got Wenger to bid and offer their contracts, which he did.  However, he lowballed both their contracts, Donnarumma went to PSG and Icardi went to Chelsea.  I bought Pedraj Rajkovic (chose him ahead of Alban Lafont) then I had a youth keeper brought in by Wenger who is basically a wonderkid and he brought in a striker from porto who looks alright, but I am annoyed that I missed out on 2 great players because of his cheapness!!

I have Wenger as Director but I do all contract negotiations myself. I remember in FM16 he gave somebody one crazy deal with 25% yearly raise. Same with selling players, he made us pay 40-60% of their wage till end of contract. 

[Tullekunstner]

2 hours ago, exumo said:

Do you mind sharing the save file I wanna try this to. thanks.

 

Don't know where to upload it to, but here's the editor data I've used (not every change I have in my save, but the ones related to Arsenal are there.. you might notice you'll have two new players in the U23s as well as a new ass. manager lol... more on that later): rebuilding arsenal_EDE48B69-FDCA-4626-B698-1AE7A9EBE738.fmf

 

You can download the custom starting date here (note: there might be some cl game you'll either have to play or just insta result at the end of the 16/17 season): https://sortitoutsi.net/football-manager-start-date

[exumo]

9 hours ago, Tullekunstner said:

 

Don't know where to upload it to, but here's the editor data I've used (not every change I have in my save, but the ones related to Arsenal are there.. you might notice you'll have two new players in the U23s as well as a new ass. manager lol... more on that later): rebuilding arsenal_EDE48B69-FDCA-4626-B698-1AE7A9EBE738.fmf

 

You can download the custom starting date here (note: there might be some cl game you'll either have to play or just insta result at the end of the 16/17 season): https://sortitoutsi.net/football-manager-start-date

Go with mediafire. Very simple, just register, upload and post the link. You can also use it as personal cloud storage as it offers 5GB of free space if not more.

[Vilmar]

Or use Google Drive if you have a Gmail/Google account.

[Tullekunstner]

So after the initial talks with the boards, it became clear to me that Wenger wasn’t the only problem with this team. The board seems to be completely delusional. I’m here to win, which left me worried once the board forced me to win using academy kids, playing only attacking football with a focus on ball possession. My only goal here was to make Arsenal into a powerhouse ASAP and having to make these empty promises left me slightly annoyed, but nothing compared to my anger upon learning the expectations of not only going to the final of both the EURO and FA cups, but winning the league in my first season. Right after Wenger coming in at fifth and the club selling off the players who dragged the team all of last season.

 

Oh well, one step at a time.

 

My first actions as Arsenal manager was to bring in my own assistant manager, my wife, as well as her two kids, twins, from a previous marriage and placing them in the U23s. After a bad breakup, she decided to change both her own and her kids last names to mine, which I thought was slightly weird but oh well. Not my decision to make.

The happy little family

 

Having a look on the squad, it was clear to me that some marquee signings needed to be made. I’m sure the board would prefer promoting some kids 5 years away from being fit as a premier league player, but I’m not having that. At all. Hopefully I can make them see the errors of their ways over time.

 

 

Goalkeepers:

Not a priority area. Cech is still very much a capable goalie and Ospina is good backup. In a pinch, Martinez is also a brilliant third option to have. Might have to reassess next season.

 

 

Defence:

The right back position is a glaring weak-point in this team. Debuchy is decent backup, but there’s no way he’ll be a starter in a Johnson team. Our starting centre backs, Mustafi and Koscielny, is actually quite strong. My preference here is to have three world class, or at least close to world class, centre backs. Paulista is decent backup, but some way off what I want as third choice and Mustafi can be upgraded. Not a priority position, but if the right player comes along for the right price, I might grab the opportunity. As for left back, Monreal is decent but lacks the attacking flair I want from my full backs which makes Gibbs look like the first choice at the moment. Not ideal, will look to upgrade.

 

 

Midfield:

The first thing I notice is a need for a central midfielder. This might seem weird to some, as we have plenty of depth here with Xhaka, Wilshere, Ramsey, Cazorla, Coquelin, Elneny and even Chamberlain who can do a job here. The problem however, is that this is two and a half playmaking ball winners and 3 and a half playmakers, Plus Ox. I need some glue. A hard worker, both in attack and defence. Someone to run from box to box all game. At the wings, we have a decent number of options, but some real quality is needed. Will have to see what becomes available.

 

 

Strikers:

Lucas, Giroud, Welbeck. Something else is needed, preferably some real star quality. Hopefully with enough 48-months payments and a bunch of sales, I can make the transfer budget stretch further than what looks likely at the moment.

 

 

Clear-out:

The squad has way too many injury prone players, and I’ll be looking to phase them out as I go. A couple of midfielders should leave and leave room for a hard working star player in the middle of the pitch. As Monreal doesn’t fit my plan for the team, I’ll look to sell him on as well and bring in a more attacking left back. I will have no sentiments and I will be ruthless. That is my promise to the fans, and the first thing I did showed the world, and my team, that I mean business as I immediately placed Mertesacker on the transfer list. I have no place for geriatric patients bringing their walking stick on the field. If you can’t run, become a ****ing dart player. I don’t need you.

 

 

The team was in uproar, but as I shouted at them "I will have no nonsense, I will have no sentiments, I will have winners and Per is not it!", they all cowered and my autority was accepted . The new regime was in place.

 

Carl Jenkinson, useless as he is, was sold of cheap to Watford. Szcesny's optional fee was triggered and off to Roma he went. Monreal left for Liverpool for £7m along with handicapped midfielder Wilshere for £15m, thank God for that. Joel Campbell, aKa squad fodder, helped bring a useful sum of cash by going to RBL for £17.5m. Elneny, who I regarded as a useful player, also had to go after constantly assessing and reassessing my squad. £20.5m to City seemed like a decent deal to me. Another player who has troubles going on the pitch without his crutches, Mr. Walcott, was sent off to loan at Sevilla with an option to buy for £22.5m. A deal was agreed with Napoli for Dries Mertens, who would've been an immense signing after his succsesful 16/17 campaign, but sadly the deal fell through on deadline day as Napoli couldn't find a replacement. As I'd sent Walcott off to loan the same day this was, to say the least, not ideal. I think I'll manage though.

 

Incoming I had one goal, marquee-****ing-signings. The fans have been screaming for it for years and I had every intention to oblige. A statement was made on the first day of the transfer window as my two new players arrived. First was our all-over the pitch midfielder, Naby Keita. Having a real breakthrough season with RBL, the expectations are sky-high. The same could be said for our new right back, Djibril Sidibé, who's had an excellent season with Monaco. Both players will go straight in and strengthen our first XI.

 

Next up was some sorely needed offensive power to replace the loss of Özil and Sanchez. With the transfer budget available and the need for reinforcements all over the pitch, I realized I couldn't expect the same quality, but the least I could do was try. In comes up-and-coming striker Andrea Belotti from Torino. Great player and a better fit tactically than Giroud, but not the star I wanted so he's going to have to battle it out for a place in the starting XI. Time will tell who delivers on the pitch. Next up was winger Federico Bernardeschi. Not the most well known player in the world, but there's no doubting his quality. At 23 years, he can only grow and hopefully he'll be a star sooner rather than later. Better than what is already at the club.

 

Next up, a left back was needed with the departure of Monreal. Sidibé can do a job in a pinch, but he'll be needed at right back so my idea was to bring in a certified first teamer. Juan Bernat is exactly that.

 

Back to deadline day. I've already covered the debacle of Mertens, leaving us short of offensive options, but it was not all doom and gloom. My scouts had told me about how this central defender, perhaps last years best defender in the whole EPL, was available for a pretty decent fee. With Elneny on his way to Manchester City, I couldn't refuse. In steps Virgil Van Dijk at the last hour of the transfer window and my squad was finally complete. For now, at least.

All transfers in and out

Full squad and tactics

 

 

On 23.5.2017 at 11:51, exumo said:

Go with mediafire. Very simple, just register, upload and post the link. You can also use it as personal cloud storage as it offers 5GB of free space if not more.

Here you go, set at 22. may so you can make your own signings. My wife and step-kids are included though :

https://www.mediafire.com/?xgugq4o14xdb2f9

I've loaded the leagues that's updated with real-life fixtures, so if you want to add or remove leagues you can do it immediately and they'll be added for the first full season if I'm not mistaken.

[Tullekunstner]

Initial results

 

After the transfer window was closed, I went back to Napoli with another offer for Mertens. Fair play, I understand not wanting to sell a player of his quality without having a replacement ready so I figured if they had half a season to sort it out they might agree to a deal before sorting out his replacement. Luckily for me, I was right and I could make a swift prosess of sorting the contract and paperwork out. Because of his age and short time left on his contract, a deal could be struck for only £12m. Quite honestly an amazing bargain for someone of his quality.

 

A couple of games out and the need for more offensive power is already showing as Chamberlain is now out for 6-8 months. With Welbeck being injury prone as well, January just can't come soon enough.

 

On the bright side, we've started the season well. Starting off by winning the community shield vs Chelsea, the only really disappointing result came in our second league match, only managing a 1-1 away against Swansea. Besides that we look solid defensively and decent (but not amazing) going forwards. We're currently sitting at third, tied on points with United and Tottenham. The most satisifying result so far came away against Chelsea, where we switched to a more defensive formation made to frustrate the opponent and hit them on the counter. It couldn't go more according to plan, as we held out for 90 minutes before, two minutes into added time, Iwobi slotted home the winner. To hell with possession and attack, 3 points is always what matters.

Starting tactics vs Chelsea away...

...and the resulting match.