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FM18: Arsenal - Victoria Concordia Crescit


gandrasch

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On 18 May 2018 at 21:51, Yoeri said:

Nice one. Welbeck as a central forward? I play him as a Invirted Winger.

Mainly play him as IF (A) but I also use him as my third striker. His stats on January 1st (including one month injury):

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Reiss Nelson and Reine-Adelaide doing good things! Adelaide might make a future for him under my management possible if he keeps this form up.

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January done and with it one signing and one outgoing. Fabrice Hartmann, a german youngster, came in for 4.2 million pounds and Shkodran Mustafi was sold back to Spain, to Barcelona, for 38 millions. Couldn't get my GK and DC targets this window so that will have to wait until the summer window opens.

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Man Utd are having a very good season so it's extremely difficult to keep up with them, especially since I have a rather thin squad right now being plagued with injuries. City also playing nicely and keeping up, but other teams are no competition to us. We still won them in the Carabao Cup semis 2-1 on aggregate so we are in the final there (don't remember who we'll play). We're also still in the FA Cup (5th round) after wins against Derby (took us two games and an extra time to beat them with our reserve squad) and Huddersfield and we got a rather comfortable game against Ipswich away which should see us go through to the 6th round. Next week we'll play our first knockout games in the Europa League against Real Sociedad in the last 32.

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Maitland-Niles has pretty much been a mainstay in my team, which has resulted in a very high wage rise - I had no idea about this clause!

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Youth intake was pretty disappointing, with this guy below being my top prospect. I do think he has some nice attributes and could be moulded into a good player, but he will need some nurturing and focus on individual attributes. Also got a decent defensive left back but only 2 yellow (1 black) star potential.

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We got a huge victory over United in the league who have dropped off a little bit lately, but City has been surging on and are unbeaten in their last 18 games and will provide stern competition until the last matchday.

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Status in all competitions (we won the Carabao, hurray):

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I'm in a bit of a dilemma concerning Jack Wilshere, really don't know if to extend his contract or not. He has nice attributes and is a Gunner throughout. Furthermore, he looks likely to sign the deal irl. I, on the other hand, think it would be a nice time for both parties (Arsenal and Wilshere) to part ways (still talking but real life) at this time and stage, but think it boils down to Aaron Ramsey's stance on his future. Arsenal won't want to lose both and are maybe pessimistic about their chance of getting Ramsey to sign an extension (current deal runs out in 2019) and that may be the reason they've upped their offer for Jack. He's not played an awful lot of games for me (and not especially well when he has played), having Ramsey, Maitland-Niles, Xhaka and Elneny in front of him in competition for the two DM spots. Might have to let him go this summer, but still undecided.

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Season 1 done! Very happy with how it went. Won't waste too many words on this post, will let pictures speak for me.

Premier League

Always felt like we had it, even when we weren't even top. Scored loads of goals (88) and conceded 36, even though we played Mavropanos and Chambers as our central pairing for the most part of the year.

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Europa League

Was always secondary to the league so we played a weakened squad there. Still played very well throughout the competition - leaky at the back though - but one loss against our neighbours (who went on to lose against Chelsea in the final) knocked us out. In that 3-1 loss we gifted Harry Kane 2 goals when we played sloppy backpasses to Macey and Kane managed to intercept them. Nelson was the player of the competition, deservedly so, and Mavropanos and Chambers edged into the team of the year there as well. Surprised me that Nketiah (10 goals in 11 games), 2nd top goalscorer after Kane (12 goals in 6 games) didn't get in.

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FA Cup

Only one hiccup against Derby in the first game but after that a smooth sailing. Arsenal has now won it 4 times out of last 5 occasions.

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Carabao Cup

Easy opponents except for Man Utd in the semis. They didn't cause us too much troubles though.

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Players

Aubameyang (striker), Lacazette (left wing) and Mkhitaryan (right wing) were all amazing. Reiss Nelson played very well (European Golden Boy 2017) also. Managed to give Chambers, Mavropanos and Maitland-Niles big parts in the first team and they did well.

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Summer goals

Sign a goalkeeper and central defender. Would be nice to sign a right back to cover for Bellerin and if Wilshere leaves on a free I want need another midfielder to cover for Ramsey, Maitland-Niles (who is now labelled as a wonderkid), Xhaka and Elneny.

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5 hours ago, Sysiphus said:

Season 1 done! Very happy with how it went. Won't waste too many words on this post, will let pictures speak for me.

Premier League

Always felt like we had it, even when we weren't even top. Scored loads of goals (88) and conceded 36, even though we played Mavropanos and Chambers as our central pairing for the most part of the year.

PL.thumb.png.d7c6a53dc5e778153be573d67e27c828.png

1034458577_ScreenShot2018-05-24at15_37_04.thumb.png.5c09f43561490feb049d6db092dae7a5.png

TOTS.thumb.png.dd1b3db3e694549fded5abdece4ab660.png

Europa League

Was always secondary to the league so we played a weakened squad there. Still played very well throughout the competition - leaky at the back though - but one loss against our neighbours (who went on to lose against Chelsea in the final) knocked us out. In that 3-1 loss we gifted Harry Kane 2 goals when we played sloppy backpasses to Macey and Kane managed to intercept them. Nelson was the player of the competition, and deservedly so, and Mavropanos and Chambers edged into the team of the year there as well. Surprised me that Nketiah (10 goals in 11 games), 2nd top goalscorer after Kane (12 goals in 6 games) didn't get in.

EC.thumb.png.45b46ee3f086cd470679e885b5aadcae.png

2116122897_NelsonEC.thumb.png.8352a57d7f28089837c650de54305e75.png

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FA Cup

Only one hiccup against Derby in the first game but after that a smooth sailing. Arsenal has now won it 4 times out of last 5 occasions.

FA.thumb.png.473bd1521a3a50b56b0700f496190898.png

Carabao Cup

Easy opponents except for Man Utd in the semis. They didn't cause us too many troubles though.

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Players

Aubameyang (striker), Lacazette (left wing) and Mkhitaryan (right wing) were all amazing. Reiss Nelson played very well (European Golden Boy 2017) also. Managed to give Chambers, Mavropanos and Maitland-Niles big parts in the first team and they did well.

Stats.thumb.png.0975e0e3e3dbd9dac2fddb388343f278.png

Summer goals

Sign a goalkeeper and central defender. Would be nice to sign a right back to cover for Bellerin and if Wilshere leaves on a free I want need another midfielder to cover for Ramsey, Maitland-Niles (who is now labelled as a wonderkid), Xhaka and Elneny.

Nice season there mate. Interesting tactic, I thought you might have been a bit more leaky but it worked well.  

I too play with a poacher in Auba and he has done extremely well. 

How did you find Ramsey and Ozil played?

 

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12 minutes ago, Mark. said:

Nice season there mate. Interesting tactic, I thought you might have been a bit more leaky but it worked well.  

I too play with a poacher in Auba and he has done extremely well. 

How did you find Ramsey and Ozil played?

 

Agree, thought I would concede more. 

Auba is an amazing poacher, hope he got at least another 2 years in him, won’t do too much when his pace and acceleration goes under 15.

Ramsey was good, learning a new position as a segundo volante. Özil was underwhelming, but I feel like that was more down to the position as every player I played as my AP (S) played badly. Felt a difference when Özil was in the team and when he wasn’t, he jut brings class. 

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40 minutes ago, Sysiphus said:

Agree, thought I would concede more. 

Auba is an amazing poacher, hope he got at least another 2 years in him, won’t do too much when his pace and acceleration goes under 15.

Ramsey was good, learning a new position as a segundo volante. Özil was underwhelming, but I feel like that was more down to the position as every player I played as my AP (S) played badly. Felt a difference when Özil was in the team and when he wasn’t, he jut brings class. 

Yeah I suspect the AP role ends up being more of a chance creator, but not the provider of the final pass. 

Have you considered just playing him in a non playmaker role, also changing the DLP, that way play ins't funneled through them. I would imagine given his attributes etc Ozil would still find himself heavily involved in attacking play, but potentially with a bit more freedom?

 

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51 minutes ago, Mark. said:

Yeah I suspect the AP role ends up being more of a chance creator, but not the provider of the final pass. 

Have you considered just playing him in a non playmaker role, also changing the DLP, that way play ins't funneled through them. I would imagine given his attributes etc Ozil would still find himself heavily involved in attacking play, but potentially with a bit more freedom?

 

Nice pointers. I was thinking about making some minor changes to my tactic as I feel it goes a bit stale if I don't change it up once in a while - your opponents learn to play against you. It might be that I free Özil up a little more by making him a trequartista, or trying Niles/Xhaka as registas instead of DLP (D).

On another note: Dream on City, dream on...

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Summer window before the 2nd season done. Made three signings and decided to give Wilshere a new contract (heavily playing time based) as Maitland-Niles will be needed to cover both right back and left back since I didn't manage to sign a backup for Bellerin and Monreal is aging and always injured (got Kolasinac there as well though). Everton were relegated so we took advantage af that and addressed our need for homegrown players meanwhile. We managed to unsettle both Jordan Pickford and Tom Davies and snapped them up for 5 millions (rising to 21) and 18 millions, respectively. Benjamin Pavard became available after a row with the Stuttgart manager so we finally managed to bring his price under the 100 million pricetag he had had for the whole first season. We got him for 19 millions in the end.

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We won the Community Shield against City 4-3 where Auba scored an hatrick. Our Champions League group draw was favourable I think, all the teams are strong but I think we're a level above them all. We've had a rocky start to the league (4 points from 3 games), even though we've had an easy program. Tom Davies managed to tear up his hamstring and will be out for two months and Mavropanos picked up an 7-8 week injury as well.

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You are going strong @Sysiphus! Keep it going.

What about playing Pavard as a back-up for Bellerín in a whole other set-up, more defensively. 

I am currently playing new FM update with start in the second season, but I always get an error *crashdump* after a while. :( 

Should post an update soon.

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@Sysiphus trying your tactic you posted a page back, its working well for me so far in 1st season.

The inside forward and poacher positions have bagged 22 goals each and only in February and lacazette who plays the inside forward has a bag of assists as well, same goes for the right sided attacker who also has contributed a lot.

The central midfield positions are not as great for me especially the Segundo Volante role which I have Ramsey playing in only gets average rating of about 6.5 and the amc advanced playmaker role which I have Ozil in, has only scored 3 goals and 4 assists, which is quite a poor return when the other attacking positions have done so well.

Saying that Im in 3rd at present and doing well in the cups.

Have you tweaked any of the central midfield roles?

I may try a more simple box to box role for Ramsey next season but not sure about the amc position, maybe its just Ozil!!

Thanks

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So tempted to start a new save reading all these updates. Will holiday the first season and play from 2018/19. Kind of fancy a continuation of retraining player positions. Fancy a Welbeck and Iwobi as CMs with someone like Kolasinac as a DM.

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5 hours ago, Yoeri said:

You are going strong @Sysiphus! Keep it going.

What about playing Pavard as a back-up for Bellerín in a whole other set-up, more defensively. 

I am currently playing new FM update with start in the second season, but I always get an error *crashdump* after a while. :( 

Should post an update soon.

Pavard is a little too slow for my liking to play as a full back, think I'd rather use Chambers or Holding there - but it is a nice idea to have a more defensive back up plan for the back line. Sucks to here about the crash dump bug you're having!

4 hours ago, gunnermitch said:

@Sysiphus trying your tactic you posted a page back, its working well for me so far in 1st season.

The inside forward and poacher positions have bagged 22 goals each and only in February and lacazette who plays the inside forward has a bag of assists as well, same goes for the right sided attacker who also has contributed a lot.

The central midfield positions are not as great for me especially the Segundo Volante role which I have Ramsey playing in only gets average rating of about 6.5 and the amc advanced playmaker role which I have Ozil in, has only scored 3 goals and 4 assists, which is quite a poor return when the other attacking positions have done so well.

Saying that Im in 3rd at present and doing well in the cups.

Have you tweaked any of the central midfield roles?

I may try a more simple box to box role for Ramsey next season but not sure about the amc position, maybe its just Ozil!!

Thanks

Yeah; Lacazette, Auba and Mkhi we're all amazing for me as well. Ramsey also played well (7.20 avg. rat.) although I feel segundo volante isn't his best position, I just feel the role works in this tactic and I also feel that is the closest approximation to his play style irl (box to box might also suit that, but I want 2 DM's). Özil was underwhelming but as you say I feel that's a little down to the AMC position or the AP (S) role. I'm now trying him out as a trequartista, still in the AMC spot, will report back here after about 10-15 games and let you know how that works out.

1 hour ago, Yoeri said:

Just signed Hernandez, Guess which one! :D 

I'll go with Theo Hernandez from Madrid or Juan Hernandez from Watford (looks a prospect)!

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5 minutes ago, Sysiphus said:

Pavard is a little too slow for my liking to play as a full back, think I'd rather use Chambers or Holding there - but it is a nice idea to have a more defensive back up plan for the back line. Sucks to here about the crash dump bug you're having!

Yeah; Lacazette, Auba and Mkhi we're all amazing for me as well. Ramsey also played well (7.20 avg. rat.) although I feel segundo volante isn't his best position, I just feel the role works in this tactic and I also feel that is the closest approximation to his play style irl (box to box might also suit that, but I want 2 DM's). Özil was underwhelming but as you say I feel that's a little down to the AMC position or the AP (S) role. I'm now trying him out as a trequartista, still in the AMC spot, will report back here after about 10-15 games and let you know how that works out.

I'll go with Theo Hernandez from Madrid or Juan Hernandez from Watford (looks a prospect)!

I signed Lucas Hernandez (i am a huge fan of him because he can play as leftback and as a central defender) and i also signed (based on real life interests) Lichtsteiner as back up for Bellerín

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46 minutes ago, Yoeri said:

I signed Lucas Hernandez (i am a huge fan of him because he can play as leftback and as a central defender) and i also signed (based on real life interests) Lichtsteiner as back up for Bellerín

Lichsteiner has retired in my game and is a manager now, wanted to sign him but that's how it goes.

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On 14/05/2018 at 01:27, Yoeri said:

I didn't read you well. I thought that you were in season 2. I am now. Downloaded a data update with real life data and competition table. 

Asano comes back. However Lucas was doing pretty OK while he was in London, I prefer (even as you) to sell him. But nobody wants him with that wages. 79k a week :( 

Where can I download this update to start from season 2018/19?

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Hi folks!

I picked this version of FM up fairly late compared to when I normally do, and as such have only gotten through two seasons in my Arsenal save.

First season I had a very tough set of away matches to begin the season and never made up for that, but was still able to finish 3rd. I lost in the finals of the FA Cup to United. However, I was able to win the Europa League in a cracker of a final.

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The second season finished like this:

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A lot of successes here that I'm very happy with. It took United losing at Crystal Palace on the final day for me to be able to steal the title from them, and I don't have a problem with that at all!

 

I'm usually very light on transfer activity, as I prefer buying young players and then developing them as opposed to purchasing very expensive stars. Here are my transfers in/out from both seasons(there are a TON more loans out in both seasons, but I don't want to clutter up the transfers in the screenshot)

Season 1:

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(note with Vitinho: I like to name my projects by their PA star ratings to keep a better eye on the projects I really want to do a lot of work with, which explains his weird name)

Season 2:

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Notes on a few young players

Reiss Nelson is an absolute star, and has been one of my best performers in both seasons. I look forward to seeing his continued development.

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I brought Eddie Nketiah up to the first team as a backup to the unstoppable force of Aubamayeng and Lacazette after a good first season on loan, and he performed quite admirably! However, I think he needs another year or so of seasoning and regular play that I don't expect him to get with me.

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For next season, I'm looking to strengthen the defense. The young players just don't have quite the quality I really want, and Koscielny is getting up there in years. The defense has been performing ok, but I really want some solid rocks back there, and I'm not sure who to target.

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I've had a bit of a rocky start to season 2. Won the Community Shield vs. City. We've not been hauling in the points in the league but we're still the top of a very close bunch. We progressed from our Champions League group, but not with minimal effort and we placed second. Monaco surprised me with their quality, having brought in players like William Carvalho and Kostas Manolas in the summer with their Mbappe money. We're also out of the Carabao following a bad loss against Brighton. Not to bothered about that though.

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I went a bit transfer-crazy(at least for me) in the summer before season 3.

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I'm pretty sure Calvert-Lewin was a mistake, but with a Brexit involving foreign player limits, I wanted a young English striker. We'll see what happens.

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57 minutes ago, hasdgfas said:

I went a bit transfer-crazy(at least for me) in the summer before season 3.

599d357be4.jpg

I'm pretty sure Calvert-Lewin was a mistake, but with a Brexit involving foreign player limits, I wanted a young English striker. We'll see what happens.

Welp, I'm eating my words already(Auba was badly injured on int'l duty over the summer, so Calvert-Lewin is starting until he gets back)

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Hit a bit of a bump in form and City have taken advantage. If we win our game in hand though it will only be a point between us.

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I got Leverkusen in the CL final 16 which I'm very happy with, considering we finished second in our group. All competitions status:

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Been hit with some bad injuries recently, none of them will be out for more than two months though, but those months will be difficult. All of my starting midfield is out (Maitland-Niles has been playing DR as Bellerinn has been injured for three months) and my main creator in Mkhi is also out. Iwobi, Nelson, Elneny and Maitland-Niles will now have to step up!

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I looks like our captain's career is coming to and end after this season. He's 33 years old - very capable still - but wants to go back to France and I've had to give him a leave of absence for a month. Will sell him next summer if he wants to go home.

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A little youngsters update: I finally managed to teach Nketiah to try to beat the offside trap which I think will make him a much more efficient poacher with his 18 acceleration. He's played around 10 games (this season) for me and scored around 10 goals, but I don't really trust him with many of the important games in the second half of the season so I think I'll loan him out for the first time, I've got good offers for him from sides with superb facilities and good reputation (Lille, Marseille and more). Reiss Nelson just won the Europe Golden Boy for the second year in a row and that was very deserved.

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Im at end of season 1, undecided if I should bring in a central defender or stick with Kos and Mustafi.

I have Holding, Chambers and that young Greek guy we recently signed.

Mertesacker is retiring 

Would like to stick with Mustafi unless I get a big bid come in as a few clubs are interested in him.

Any recommendations for replacing Kos in the near future?

 

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58 minutes ago, gunnermitch said:

Im at end of season 1, undecided if I should bring in a central defender or stick with Kos and Mustafi.

I have Holding, Chambers and that young Greek guy we recently signed.

Mertesacker is retiring 

Would like to stick with Mustafi unless I get a big bid come in as a few clubs are interested in him.

Any recommendations for replacing Kos in the near future?

 

De Ligt from Ajax
Harry Maguire from Leicester

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5 hours ago, gunnermitch said:

Im at end of season 1, undecided if I should bring in a central defender or stick with Kos and Mustafi.

I have Holding, Chambers and that young Greek guy we recently signed.

Mertesacker is retiring

Would like to stick with Mustafi unless I get a big bid come in as a few clubs are interested in him.

Any recommendations for replacing Kos in the near future?

 

Jorge Mere has been good for me. I believe he starts at Koln.

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Toying with an Arsenal save. As a supporter, I pretty much never run the club. its weird, I know. 

My go-to formation in FM18 has been a Very Fluid 4-2-3-1 with two DMs and MC. Was gonna adapt it for Arsenal, possibly use an AMC to accommodate Ozil. Then I started thinking I could do it differently. One of the two DMs is a DLP. Xhaka could do that. Wilshire could be retrained to play there.... but so could Ozil. Anyone manage to turn him into a DM with any success? 

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1 hour ago, Bigpapa42 said:

Toying with an Arsenal save. As a supporter, I pretty much never run the club. its weird, I know. 

My go-to formation in FM18 has been a Very Fluid 4-2-3-1 with two DMs and MC. Was gonna adapt it for Arsenal, possibly use an AMC to accommodate Ozil. Then I started thinking I could do it differently. One of the two DMs is a DLP. Xhaka could do that. Wilshire could be retrained to play there.... but so could Ozil. Anyone manage to turn him into a DM with any success? 

why the heck would you want Ozil to play as a DM?

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3 hours ago, Bigpapa42 said:

Toying with an Arsenal save. As a supporter, I pretty much never run the club. its weird, I know. 

My go-to formation in FM18 has been a Very Fluid 4-2-3-1 with two DMs and MC. Was gonna adapt it for Arsenal, possibly use an AMC to accommodate Ozil. Then I started thinking I could do it differently. One of the two DMs is a DLP. Xhaka could do that. Wilshire could be retrained to play there.... but so could Ozil. Anyone manage to turn him into a DM with any success? 

Love it. Maybe teach him dictate tempo and play as a regista? Training his positional trait would be key here. You may need to pair him with a rather combatative midfielder. 

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13 hours ago, Yoeri said:

@Sysiphus I had the same with Koscielny but instead of leaving to his homeground he left for Watford :| 

Well, that is quite the bizarre move.

A quick post-January update: Falling a bit behind in the league. Koscielny was given a leave of absence and Chambers broke his leg (out for 4 months) so my only central defenders were Pavard, Mavropanos and Holding. I decided, after some unsettling, to bring Sokratis Papastathopolous in from Dortmund for 20 million quid. He brings experience and roughness to a young defence, and with Koscielny looking like he might be on his way out this summer there was definitely a need for strengthening.

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10 hours ago, NabsKebabs said:

why the heck would you want Ozil to play as a DM?

Why not lol? 

Honestly, he has the playmaking skill to be effective pretty much anywhere on the pitch. there are some concerns - the Bravery and Aggression don't bother me much, but the Positioning seems likely to have some issues. Generally, I prefer to have my playmakers a bit deeper. It can help alleviate two problems that Arsenal seemed to face last year (and preivously) - stronger opposition controlling the midfield and cutting off supply and defensive sides playing deeper and cutting off space. Both of those situations seem to make Ozil less effective. This avoids that. And with plenty of runners around him, balls from deep that tear open opposition could be loads of fun. 

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A massive comeback for my team as we continue to push for a Champions League qualification spot and try to fight our second season syndrome. Plenty left still.

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Youth intake day was disappointing like last season. This guy is the pick of the bunch and I really don't think he'll amount to anything special.

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Second season done, disappointing to say the least. A very bad league campaign still saw us finishing second as every top team had a bad year, except for Man Utd who still had a below par season. In the cups I fielded weakened teams and suffered in both instances against sides I really should have won. In the Champions League we won our first leg against Bayern (who have won the CL both seasons in my game now, having signed players like Griezmann and Kovacic) 4-1 at home. In the second leg Bayern scored to go 1-0 and I wasn't stressed at all until Kolasinac got a red card just before halftime - pen for them and 2-0. Early in the second half Bellerin also got red, and we were nine against eleven superhumans. Eventually we lost the game 3-0 and went out on away goals. Very disappointing. The Community Shield was our only success. I'm getting really tired of Kolasinac, he has an abysmal cards record. When I start him I usually have to sub him during halftime because he already has a yellow card and I KNOW he will get a second one in the second half if kept on. Monreal is homesick and I will probably let him leave this summer, so a left back tops my buying list. Will put up few screenshots, including an event-packed game against Watford which was real fun. Just ask if you want to see anything special.

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CL Semi finels
3 Pen misses in the second leg

in the first game UTD scored two goals at the 89 min and in extre time to win me 2-0
third season in a row that i drew them at the semi final.

 

in the PL we finished in second place to them in the first season and then continued to win 3 times in a row with them as runner up.

the game just don't want me to win the CL title in this save

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@itamarled unlucky. You'll win it next season! How is Mavropanos doing for you? I'm having a hard time developing him, been giving him a lot of playing time, tutoring and individual training, but nothing much happens. I'm starting to think he doesn't really have a good PA to grow into.

The summer before season three starts well for me.

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I've also bought a left back to replace Monreal and a future right back as well. More on that later.

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Solid yet disappointing season 3 for me:

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We beat our points total from last season, but still couldn't win the title. Eagle-eyed readers will notice that Manchester United hit 102 points with 32 wins and 6 draws. Yes, they had an unbeaten season. No wonder my 3 losses were too many. I had mentioned my worry about the Calvert-Lewin signing early in the season, but as it turns out...

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23 goals and 6 assists. I'd call that a good return on 30 million for a 23-year old English player.

 

Next season may be tough though. I'm losing Cech, Wilshere, Jonny, and Iwobi for various reasons. I should have a few young players to bring up to replace them though, and hopefully I don't lose anyone else.

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