FM18 Wenger Out

[NabsKebabs]

Arsenal Fan TV have finally got their wish. The Frenchman has taken on the director of football role of Arsenal and I have stepped in to the manager's shoes.

For this save, I want to play attractive possession football as per the club philosophies but also have success doing so, unlike Arsenal IRL who haven't won a league title since the Invincibles did in 2004. It is the first time since Wenger took over at Arsenal that we are not playing Champions League football, so qualifying for the CL is definitely the biggest priority in the first season and winning it at some point is definitely a major goal of the save.

The board have given me a very decent amount of cash to splash in the market (I adjusted it a bit more towards transfers) and the expectations are pretty high. Qualifying for the CL shouldn't be a massive challenge but reaching the final in 2 cup competitions will be difficult. 

Since, I'm going to be playing a possession style of football, my transfer targets will be focused on technical players. A winger and CB are my main priorities.

 

[NabsKebabs]

Pre season:

The pre-season was a bit inconsistent. I setup some friendles against very good teams to really test the tactics. I actually let Wenger manage the pre-season friendlies though and that 's probably why we lost games . I managed the community shield game and absolutely destroyed Conte's Chelsea side 4-1.

Transfers:

I managed to bring in two quality players in positions that I had targeted.

Van Dijk gives us an extra option in our central defenders which was targeted because after Koscielny and Mustafi we are relying on Mertesacker, Holding and Chambers. As Koscielny ages, Van Dijk should be able to step in his position. He is a bit let down by his concentration and decisions however there is a lot to like about physicals and other mentals.

Gelson Martins gives us a really cool flair player who is only 22 years old. 18 techinique and dribbling with 19 flair means this guy is going to scare the hell out of defenders when he runs at them. He has a fantastic touch and decent vision for his age so he should be able to fit the system. Crossing is an area where he will be training and hopefully that improves a fair bit.

Franis Coquelin was sold for a decent amount of money. While he is a pretty good defensive midfielder, he is not that good on the ball and so doesn't really suit the system. Elneny suits the system a bit more so he will be my main DM.

Tactics:

I have decided that I will be closely emulating the way that Pep's Manchester City are currently playing because we have a technical squad who I think are capable of doing so.

The first option is mainly for playing against weaker teams and has wing backs who will stretch the opposition defence and look to create overloads. 

The second tactic will be for playing against top teams and utilises inverted wingbacks (as Pep does) to help take control of the midfield. 

I started off with only a couple of TI's but have added more as I have been watching games. 

 

 

[DavidBeckham]

Van Dijk is a fantastic coup! The signing not only strengthens your defence, it prevents other sides (like Liverpool who needs better center-backs) from strengthening. Good luck for the season ahead! \o/

[NabsKebabs]

2 hours ago, DavidBeckham said:

Van Dijk is a fantastic coup! The signing not only strengthens your defence, it prevents other sides (like Liverpool who needs better center-backs) from strengthening. Good luck for the season ahead! \o/

Yeah mate sure is! A PL experienced defender who suits our style of play and probably should be playing at a champions league team. Gotta be happy with that signing.

Cheers!

[NabsKebabs]

International Break Update:

A solid start to the season with 2 wins and a draw. The new man Gelson Martins kicked off our campaign with a nice early goal. Manchester United as expected was a very tight game. We went up early but United came back and went ahead. A late strike from Sanchez equalised the game.

Transfer Round Up:

 

We didn't make any additional signings because our budget had been depleted from the 2 major signings. I tried to sell Walcott and Welbeck but there were unfortunately no takers. 

 

 

[Toffle]

Will follow, good luck!

[tomtjh90]

Good luck, Funny though that Van Dijk is better at dribbling than marking apparently hahaha 

[Woho]

Try to use Laca as CF(a) and use Gelson as a winger instead. 3x golden boots for me with pretty much the same system!

[DavidBeckham]

Decent start mate. Great point away at Old Trafford! 

[NabsKebabs]

On 11/8/2017 at 21:28, Toffle said:

Will follow, good luck!

Thanks mate!

On 11/8/2017 at 23:35, tomtjh90 said:

Good luck, Funny though that Van Dijk is better at dribbling than marking apparently hahaha 

Cheers, yeah I had noticed that too lol. VVD is a beast but there are certainly some concerns about his intelligence. Hopefully he proves his worth!

On 11/9/2017 at 01:06, Woho said:

Try to use Laca as CF(a) and use Gelson as a winger instead. 3x golden boots for me with pretty much the same system!

I would probably say that Laca's best role would be that CF(A). However, I'm really trying to create possession style of football here so I really need as many support duties as possible. I have Martins as an IF but he has the trait runs with ball down right so he still acts like a winger anyway. He has a fairly strong left foot if you check in the game so it's quite cool having him both go down the byline and cut in sometimes too. Unpredictable.

On 11/9/2017 at 19:13, DavidBeckham said:

Decent start mate. Great point away at Old Trafford! 

Cheers mate! Mou would've been absolutely filthy!

[NabsKebabs]

Update:

So I'd been holding off on an update because I was actually considering starting a new save with the full release of the game. This was largely due to the fact that in the BETA Sanchez had been hardcoded to leave Arsenal for City at the end of the contract which I thought they would change with the full release, however he still appears to be hardcoded to leave so I've downloaded the editor to use depending on how the season goes. If we win the league. I will probably use the editor to keep him on a massive contract as I believe that is realistic (unless City win the CL). It also didn't make much sense to start a new save as I have actually been on an unbeaten run.

Schedule and League Table:

Apart from the Carabao Cup, we are unbeaten in all other competitions this season! Particularly early on there were a few too many draws but overall so far it has been a fantastic start to the season. We have qualified for the next stage of the Europa League and are equal points with top of the table Chelsea in the league.  I thought it would be a good time to update now because the next league game is against the only other unbeaten team in the league - our arch rivals!

Matches:

We even went on a run of 12 games without conceding a goal which was a club record. In the league we had that streak for 8 games and the reason for the high scoring game at Everton was because I thought it would be fun to experiment with this 3-1-2-3-1 system I created based on Cryuff's diamond. It certainly was fun as we smacked 5 past the Toffees even if it did mean spoiling our great defensive streak in the League. Cruyff created his 343 diamond to counter the 442 and when I saw Everton had been playing 442 in my scout report, I couldn't help myself.

Probably the most satisfying match so far for me was the 1-0 win against City. We had completely dominated Pep using his own real life tactics with inverted wingbacks (system In my first post in this thread) but couldn't finish. I threw on Giroud in the 86th minute and he scored in stoppage time.

Looking ahead to the clash vs Spurs, we have just lost some key players for the game so will need to be up for it and hope some others players can step up!

Spurs Game Update:

What a performance in the North London Derby!

An early strike from range courtesy of the obvious candidate Harry Kane got us off to a poor start. But Ramsey managed to find the net from a bit of a scrap in the box not too long after. Unfortunately, our captain on the day Koscielny managed to get sent off just after that in the 28th min. I then had to completely ditch my tactic as it is based on possession which doesn't sound like a good idea to me with a man down. I switched to a 4-4-1 formation aiming to hit Spurs on the break with Lacazette, Sanchez and Walcott. Laca won a penalty early in the second half and put it away. We were able to defend and see out the game with 10 men to win!

 

[NabsKebabs]

Post Jan Update:

The good form has continued and we have only lost just one game in the League. Chelsea are putting up one heck of a fight at the top of table though and it looks like a two horse race. Lacazette is head and shoulders above the competition for number of goals scored and he and Ozil are leading the average player ratings in the league.

Another early knockout in a cup competition was a disappointment in the FA cup but the Europa League is going pretty well as we topped the group.

Nothing really interesting happened in the January window as the board gave me nothing and I wasn't able to sell Walcott. Some youth players were sold and I let Rob Holding go out on loan as Brighton wanted him as a valuable first team player.