FM20 - Arsenal: Time For Artekkers Tiki Taka Tactics?

[VP.]

He's now scored 250 league goals for the club and a massive 386 in all comps. Sadly he's now 30 years old so probably only another season or two left in him, though if he carries on scoring I've no problem in him spending his whole career here.

Also it's finally happened, still a few seasons away no doubt but the board have finally started looking into building a new stadium.

[VP.]

Just noticed this too, bigger than I was expecting.

[the SLC]

On 22/03/2020 at 15:26, SortitoutsiVP said:

For anyone wondering this is probably my strongest 11.

would you be able to make this available for download?

[llama3]

Completed my 6th season, winning a 6th consecutive league title. However, I just lost a 2nd consecutive Champions League Final. It's been a bit of a "what else do I need to do to win it" type situation really.

[BrickCommo23]

Hi all

Just realised I never updated on the end of my last season, chasing 100 points for the first time:

Pleased with that, although our cup competitions were poor and Liverpool knocked us out of CL in the QFs and the FA Cup 3rd Round.

The bright side though is that Liverpool failing to win the league for 2 years in a row means Klopp (my nemesis) has gone. He's been replaced by Simeone and it's not started well!

Lastly, I just wanted to share this regen. My scouts found him 2 seasons ago and I did have to pay £68m to get him out of Benfica but look at those stats after 2 seasons with a 5* coaching team. Even got him some nice PPMs to play the Mez(A) role. and rewarded him with the #7 shirt (yes, I am that sad and spend time on shirt numbers!).

 

[BrickCommo23]

While I am here - these are my other best regens (a couple are just back from injuries, hence the down arrows)

Gonzalez, Blaizel and Altekamp are probably the absolute picks of the bunch.

 

[TheInvisibleMan]

3 hours ago, BrickCommo23 said:

rewarded him with the #7 shirt (yes, I am that sad and spend time on shirt numbers!).

Nothing wrong with that mate, I think a lot of us do it!

He's a great find and a brilliant name too 

[Swills417]

21 hours ago, BrickCommo23 said:

While I am here - these are my other best regens (a couple are just back from injuries, hence the down arrows)

Gonzalez, Blaizel and Altekamp are probably the absolute picks of the bunch.

 

A lot of 6 footers in there! Score many corners? Also that Gonzalez with that OTB attribute. You have the makings of the perfect Raumdeter there!

[BrickCommo23]

13 hours ago, Swills417 said:

A lot of 6 footers in there! Score many corners? Also that Gonzalez with that OTB attribute. You have the makings of the perfect Raumdeter there!

I tend to prioritise speed and acceleration. Height is a nice bonus. Agree on Gonzalez too - I use him as a W(A) at the moment though as it suits my system.

[BrickCommo23]

Worst. Takeover. Ever.

[raeburn]

I've just finished up the 19/20 season in a save that I set up so that I could takeover at the exact point in the league season that Arteta took control - just before the Everton game in game-week 18. After a few early losses to Bournemouth and Chelsea while the team was learning my tactics and I was working out the kinks, we settled into a decent groove in the league and were eventually able to (in our second-to-last game) overtake Spurs and finish the season in 5th. We unfortunately lost the EFL Cup final to Chelsea and were bumped out of the FA Cup in the quarter finals by Southampton, but ended the season on a high with a 2-1 comeback win against Manchester United in the Europa League final.

My front three of Aubameyang, Lacazette, and Pépé were outstanding with 14, 12, and 11 goals respectively over the second half of the season after I took charge. Pépé also tallied 16 assists in the second half, including 5 in a truly dominant display against Gent in the 1st Knockout Round.

My real star, however, was Keiran Tierney who was only able to return to action in mid-March but tallied 7 assists and 1 goal in 12 starts and 1 substitute appearance, and earned a team-leading 7.38 average rating.

An unexpected bright spot came from Folarin Balogun who stepped into the reserve striker role after I sent Eddie Nketiah out on loan to get more regular appearances. Balogun ended the season with 5 goals in 5 starts and 3 substitute appearances, and might give me a tough decision next season when Nketiah comes back from loan.

After winning the Europa League and qualifying for next year's Champion's League the board has entrusted me with an enormous £190 million transfer budget. With Ozil requesting a move after deciding he "wants a new challenge" as he has "achieved everything he can at the club" and PSG and Real Madrid circling around Aubameyang, I am anticipating a very busy summer with some big moves to help get the club back in Champion's League shape, and hopefully help us get a little closer to challenging Liverpool for the title (they ended the season with 104 points, 38 clear of us and 27 clear of 2nd place Chelsea).

One final note - as you can see from the tactics screenshot below I was able to sneak in Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on loan on the final day of the January window. This allowed me to cancel the loan for Ceballos as it appeared Madrid had no interest in letting me buy him at the end of the season so I saw no point in keeping him around. I also canceled Cedric's loan as between Chambers, Matland-Niles, and the returning Bellerin I felt we had plenty of cover at right back. I was able to insert a £47.5m optional fee into Ox's loan contract, but I'm not sure if I will use it. It will probably depend on if I can get someone like Zaniolo for cheaper, and if I need additional homegrown players.

I'll be back with a summer transfer window update soon and we'll see if any of my grand plans have come to fruition.

 

[BrickCommo23]

8 hours ago, raeburn said:

I've just finished up the 19/20 season in a save that I set up so that I could takeover at the exact point in the league season that Arteta took control - just before the Everton game in game-week 18. After a few early losses to Bournemouth and Chelsea while the team was learning my tactics and I was working out the kinks, we settled into a decent groove in the league and were eventually able to (in our second-to-last game) overtake Spurs and finish the season in 5th. We unfortunately lost the EFL Cup final to Chelsea and were bumped out of the FA Cup in the quarter finals by Southampton, but ended the season on a high with a 2-1 comeback win against Manchester United in the Europa League final.

My front three of Aubameyang, Lacazette, and Pépé were outstanding with 14, 12, and 11 goals respectively over the second half of the season after I took charge. Pépé also tallied 16 assists in the second half, including 5 in a truly dominant display against Gent in the 1st Knockout Round.

My real star, however, was Keiran Tierney who was only able to return to action in mid-March but tallied 7 assists and 1 goal in 12 starts and 1 substitute appearance, and earned a team-leading 7.38 average rating.

An unexpected bright spot came from Folarin Balogun who stepped into the reserve striker role after I sent Eddie Nketiah out on loan to get more regular appearances. Balogun ended the season with 5 goals in 5 starts and 3 substitute appearances, and might give me a tough decision next season when Nketiah comes back from loan.

After winning the Europa League and qualifying for next year's Champion's League the board has entrusted me with an enormous £190 million transfer budget. With Ozil requesting a move after deciding he "wants a new challenge" as he has "achieved everything he can at the club" and PSG and Real Madrid circling around Aubameyang, I am anticipating a very busy summer with some big moves to help get the club back in Champion's League shape, and hopefully help us get a little closer to challenging Liverpool for the title (they ended the season with 104 points, 38 clear of us and 27 clear of 2nd place Chelsea).

One final note - as you can see from the tactics screenshot below I was able to sneak in Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on loan on the final day of the January window. This allowed me to cancel the loan for Ceballos as it appeared Madrid had no interest in letting me buy him at the end of the season so I saw no point in keeping him around. I also canceled Cedric's loan as between Chambers, Matland-Niles, and the returning Bellerin I felt we had plenty of cover at right back. I was able to insert a £47.5m optional fee into Ox's loan contract, but I'm not sure if I will use it. It will probably depend on if I can get someone like Zaniolo for cheaper, and if I need additional homegrown players.

I'll be back with a summer transfer window update soon and we'll see if any of my grand plans have come to fruition.

 

Nice update and nice system, looks a good match for Arteta but also cool in its own right. Good luck 

[TheInvisibleMan]

Just finished my fourth season at Arsenal. Another great campaign in the league, holding off a very strong challenge from Spurs. Didn't do great in the domestic cups, losing on pens in both of them, but with very much a second string team. Lost in the Champions League final for the 3rd time 😭 This time to AC Milan on penalties also, following a last minute equaliser from them to take it to extra time. Heartbreaking really as this is the one trophy I wanted to win this season to complete the set.

 

 

On a positive note, Ansu Fati was sensational throughout the season. He won the golden boot in the Premier League and also took home both the PFA & FWA Footballer of the Year awards 👏🏻 He also broke Thierry Henry's record of 39 goals in a season in all competitions, managing 41 - which from left wing is quite brilliant and he was truly unplayable at times. I lost count of the amount of hat tricks he got in the Premier League!

I do think this may be the end of my time at Arsenal. I've won everything twice domestically and the only thing missing now is the Champions League which we just can't seem to win. There's a few jobs available abroad that I fancy going for but hard to tell if I'd be in with a chance. If I do leave, I wouldn't rule out a return to the Gunners to hopefully win that elusive European trophy that we crave.

Edited October 20, 2022 by TheInvisibleMan

[raeburn]

13 hours ago, BrickCommo23 said:

Nice update and nice system, looks a good match for Arteta but also cool in its own right. Good luck 

Thanks! With all the ins and outs this summer I've balanced the formation out a little bit - I'm a little worried that it might blunt Tierney's attacking influence, but hopefully it's still a change for the better, given all the new players I've brought in.

As you can see from that starting XI there have been big changes at Arsenal in the summer of 2020.

Departures (Total £196m)

• Aubameyang to Real Madrid for £70m
• Xhaka to Leicester for £39m
• Guendouzi to Fiorentina for £18.25m
• Elneny to AC Milan for £18m
• Mustafi to Aston Villa for £16m
• Sokratis to Wolves for £16m
• David Luiz to Wolves for £10.5m
• Mkhitaryan to Lille for £9m
• Özil to Wolfsburg on a free

Arrivals (Total £446m)

• Jadon Sancho from Dortmund for £97m
• Lautaro Martínez from Inter Milan for £73m
• Rodrigo Bentancur from Juventus for £70m
• Rúben Dias from Benfica for £52m
• Nicolò Zaniolo from Roma for £41.5m
• Jean-Clair Todibo from Barcelona for £23m
• Gaetano Castrovilli from Fiorentina for £21.5m
• Rayan Cherki from Lyon for £17.5m (half based on appearances)
• Nohan Kenneh from Leeds for £10.5m
• Pablo Marí from Flamengo for £9.5m
• Thiago Almada from Vélez for £7.75m
• Josko Gvardiol from Dinamo for £6.75m
• Eliot Matazo from Monaco for £4m
• Maarten Vandevoordt from Genk for £3.4m
• Eduardo Quaresman from Sporting CP for £3m
• Wuilker Fariñez from Millonarios for £2.9m
• Florent Da Silva from Lyon for £950k
• Aimar Oroz from Iruña for £875k
• Pelayo Morilla from Sporting de Gijón for £700k

This is definitely the most I have ever spent in a single window... ever. In 15 years of playing FM. I'm excited to see if the players are able to gel, and hopeful that some of the prospects that I've brought in will develop well.

My  first team squad now is as follows:

• SKs: Bernd Leno / Wuilker Fariñez / Emiliano Martínez
• IWBs (R): Hector Bellerin / Ainsley Maitland-Niles
• CDd (R): Jean-Clair Todibo / Rob Holding / Calum Chambers
• BPDd (L): Rúben Dias / Pablo Marí
• WBs (L): Kieran Tierney / Sead Kolasinac
• DLPd: Rodrigo Bentancur / Lucas Torreira
• MEZs (R): Gaetano Castrovilli / Joe Willock
• MEZa (L): Nicolò Zaniolo / Emile Smith Rowe
• IFa (R): Nicolas Pépé / Bukayo Saka
• IFa (L): Jadon Sancho / Gabriel Martinelli
• PFs: Lautaro Martínez / Alexandre Lacazette

Honestly, I feel pretty good about going up against most teams with either my first- or second-choice starting eleven. A fair number of the young prospects that I brought in are out on loan, as are Saliba, Nelson, and Nketiah. Cherki and Kenneh are going to spend the season with the U23 side and can be called upon if necessary - I won't be letting either of those two out on loan so that they can eventually be considered "Home-Grown at Club" players.

If the board ever gives me any money again, I feel like the next step with the squad (other than a young left-back to replace Kolasinac) would be targeting huge-money young stars like Mbappe and Alexander-Arnold. I assume I'll have to win the Champion's League a few years in a row for that to be realistic though. And that's getting way ahead of myself.

*In other news around the league, Man City sold Kevin De Bruyne to Barcelona for £199m, but haven't done anything yet to replace him. Meanwhile, Liverpool added Samuel Umtiti, and Chelsea added Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.

[Brandoman10]

Starting a RTG and choose Arsenal as the starting point. First window sold Auba deadline day to Liverpool and signed Lautaro Martinez and brought in Marcos Llorente on loan. Was given 70m in winter and then sold Laca for 60m to Chelsea. Brought in Fede Valverde permanently for 60m and Dayot Upamecano for his release clause (86m I believe). AML is definitely a weak spot I’m looking to improve in summer as well as AMC. Hoping Reiss/Martinelli come good but they’ve been very streaky. Sancho seems the obvious choice but I may try and target Rodrygo if I can get Madrid to come to a reasonable price. Looking at Joao Felix too. Ousmane was an option but he got a huge new deal from Barcelona. 
 

Pepe has also failed to live up to expectations so I’m looking to see if Saka can take over that spot soon or if he just needs a bit of time to adapt.

 

 

Currently in March of first season, 7 points from the top. Lost 4 of 8 to start the season (played all top 5 teams in the first 8 games) and have been on a hot steak since. Was hoping to win Europa but PSG, United, Bayern and Atletico all dropped down. Brutal

Edited May 29, 2020 by Brandoman10

[BrickCommo23]

Hi all

Just a quick one but this must be the third year in a row I have had this sort of message about my youth intake:

Has anyone managed to get better intakes regularly? This is my set up and BFG is still Head of Youth Development. Welcome any ideas!?

Unless I just need to put up with it? The likes of City, Liverpool, RBL, Anderlecht etc still seem to keep churning out 4 and 5 star players each year.

 

[FCArsenal]

In 3 years I only got 1 really good prospect from the academy that can be one of the worlds best accordin to my coaches. Overrall pretty low rated players coming out from the youths. I am also still with BFG as my HOYD.

[llama3]

@TheInvisibleMan my bad luck with Champions Leagues has continued. I lost the 23/24 final to Barcelona on penalties, then the 24/25 final to Inter 0-1 after extra time. Both times, couldn't break down opponents. I got a decent measure of revenge though over Inter by winning the Club World Cup in summer 2025, beating Inter in the final 3-1 after extra time. A game which frankly went much the same way, but I played on the break a bit more and thankfully it opened up some space to win it 3-1. It's literally just the Champions League I haven't won yet.

Juventus and me did quite a bit of business between us this summer - they signed Laporte, Mount and Vinicius from me. I re-signed Jadon Sancho back from them.  I've moved on Guendouzi (his agent is a *****), Torreira and Barella this summer, but signed a couple of great regens too. A Brazilian midfielder called Rodolpho (left footed, deep-playmaker) and Giovanni Lazzari from Bayern (left-footed ball playing centre back).

Achievements so far are:

19/20

Premier League Champions
UEFA Europa League Winners
FA Cup Winners (beat Spurs)

20/21

UEFA Super Cup (beat PSG)
Carabao Cup Winners (beat Chelsea)
Premier League Champions
FA Cup Winners (beat Liverpool)

21/22

FA Community Shield Winners (beat Chelsea)
Premier League Champions (Invincible - 106 points W34, D4, L0)

22/23

Carabao Cup Winners (beat Man Utd)
Premier League Champions

23/24

FA Community Shield Winners (beat Burnley)
Carabao Cup Winners (beat Liverpool)
Premier League Champions

lost Champions League Final to Barcelona

24/25

FA Community Shield Winners (beat Chelsea)
Carabao Cup Winners (beat Man Utd)
Premier League Champions
FA Cup Winners (beat Leeds)

lost Champions League Final to Inter

25/26 (so far)

Club World Cup Champions (beat Inter)

 

Squad

I have a top class squad, really not much room for improvement, squad is (regens in italics)

1 - Donnarumma - GK
2 - Sandrinho - DRC
3 - Tierney - DL
4 - Rodolpho - MC
5 - de Ligt - DC (capt)
6 - Saliba - DC
7 - Neneca - AMR
9 - Haaland - STC
10 - Havertz - AMC
11 - Sancho - AML
12 - Martinelli - AML
13 - Lazzari - DC
14 - Esposito - STC
16 - Florentino Luis - DM/MC
17 - Saka - AMR
18 - E. de Jong - DC/DM/MC
19 - Fernandez - MC
20 - Pereira - MC
21 - F. de Jong - DM/MC (v/capt)
22 - Aarons - DR
23 - Cucurella - DL
24 - Meziani - GK
26 - Vandevoort - GK
27 - Morelli - DR
30 - Winterger - AMR
31 - Ferran - AMR

[arsenalthebest]

got quite a few players on loan whom will likly be ready for the senior squad but i have to decide which one of those to keep and which to sell or loan out

Edited June 3, 2020 by arsenalthebest

[arsenalthebest]

my last nine league games particularly pleased with beating Stoke 9-0 away 

 

 

Edited June 30, 2020 by arsenalthebest

[raeburn]

The 2020-2021 season was a confusing one for sure. After spending big in the summer we were competitive in the league for most of the year and looked set to finish either 2nd or 3rd when the squad hit a real slump and ended the season with a run of only 1 win, 2 draws and 2 losses that saw us drop down into 5th place. A big part of this was down to my choosing to play our second choice XI in a lot of these games as we faced some serious fixture congestion... Which brings me to the good news! We won both the Champions League and the FA Cup! This makes it the second season in a row that we'll have qualified for the CL by winning a European tournament, and means that we've now won the Europa League and the Champions League in back-to-back years. We also won the UEFA Super Cup, beating CL holders Atletico back at the beginning of the year.

Overall our summer signings were significant contributors to our success this year, including 21-goal Lautaro Martínez , CL Defender of the Season Rúben Dias, Fan's Player of the Season Rodrigo Bentancur, and Young Player of the Season Jean-Clair Todibo. The one disappointment was actually Jadon Sancho who I was never quite able to find the right role for. This under-performance generally carried over to other players that I tried in the AML position as well, so I am pretty certain it was an issue with my tactics and not with the player. He has absolutely incredible stats, so I will certainly not be giving up on him. And even in a bad season he tallied 8 goals and 4 assists.

The AMR position with an Inside Forward on Attack was one of the keys to our success this year with both Nicolas Pepe (10g, 16a) and Bukayo Saka (11g, 10a) tallying double figures in each of the attacking columns. And while Kieran Tierney did not keep up his ridiculous assist rate from last year, I am still very pleased with the 11 assists he was able to contribute.

Looking forward to next season, even without any transfers in (which I am hoping I will have room in the budget to make) I am going to have a bit of a headache. Many of the players that I loaned out this season have developed significantly, as have a number of those that I kept in our U23s:

Thiago Almada (loaned to Anderlecht - 14g, 15a, 7.45 avg rating)

William Saliba (loaned to Anderlecht - 4g, 1a, 7.14 avg rating)

Reiss Nelson (Loaned to Celta - 3g, 5a, 6.80 avg rating)

Eddie Nketiah (loaned to Vit. Guimaraes - 12g, 5a, 6.97 avg rating)

Josko Gvardiol (loaned to Derby - 2g, 0a, 6.83 avg rating)

Aimar Oroz (loaned to Lincoln - 3g, 10a, 7.18 avg rating)

Rayan Cherki (U23s)

Nohan Kenneh (U23s)

Eduardo Quaresma (U23s)

Florent Da Silva (U23s)

[kevbk6222]

I just finished the 2028 season in my Notts County save and Arsenal had one of the most bizarre seasons I have ever seen. Arsenal managed to be relegated while still winning the Europa League, so they have managed to secure both Championship & Champions League football for next season. I figured I'd share the save file here incase anyone wanted to take on this challenge. 

http://www.mediafire.com/file/u94oqlbl8btocmz/Arsenal_Relegated_%2B_CL_-_2028.fm/file

[llama3]

20 hours ago, kevbk6222 said:

I just finished the 2028 season in my Notts County save and Arsenal had one of the most bizarre seasons I have ever seen. Arsenal managed to be relegated while still winning the Europa League, so they have managed to secure both Championship & Champions League football for next season. I figured I'd share the save file here incase anyone wanted to take on this challenge. 

http://www.mediafire.com/file/u94oqlbl8btocmz/Arsenal_Relegated_%2B_CL_-_2028.fm/file

Wow, that's a bizarre season indeed!

[llama3]

Champions League Winners!

After reaching my 3rd final in 3 seasons, we finally won the big one! We lost the 2024 final to Barcelona 4-2 on penalties, after a 0-0 draw. We lost the 2025 final 1-0 to Inter after extra time. I was determined not to lose this one. I was even more concerned when looking back at the results against opponents Man City and Klopp who is managing them. I won 1-0 away in a game we were indebted to De Ligt, Saliba & Donnarumma, before losing 1-0 in the reverse fixture at the Emirates in a game we created little and offered too much space in behind. My record against Klopp is very patchy too and my team, whilst they've been brilliant in large swathes of the season; we started badly and were on a run of struggling to create and score by the time the final came around. 

Early in the match had quite a bit of possession, but didn't do much with it. We gave Sterling a run on goal on the break and he hit the post. I tried playing on the break a bit more to see if I could minimise the space in behind and create some space behind City to work with, but we just couldn't stop City pinning us in for decent spells. I tried pressing more aggressively, it certainly improved me, but there was so little in it. Max Aarons picked up a twisted knee after about an hour and then I decided to roll the dice a bit. I took off Martinelli, Neneca (brilliant Regen winger) and the struggling Aarons - replaced them with Esposito, De Jong and Sandrinho (regen right back/centre back) and switched to a 4-4-2 Diamond, to try and overwhelm the City DM & defence who were starting to get a bit nervous. The only goal of the game came after 71 minutes. We won the ball back in midfield, pressed forward, spread it wide to charging full back Sandrinho, who laid it across the 6 yard box for Haaland to sweep home. We gradually started retreating deeper and deeper as the game went on and I became more risk averse, but we did enough, held on to win 1-0.

A board takeover incoming, I won the EFL Cup, FA Cup & Premier League again - as well as the World Club Cup at the start of the season - so going to think about taking on a new challenge, or consider if there's anything else I really want to see done at Arsenal.

[raeburn]

When spending £196m means you had a quiet summer... Well that's my Arsenal going in to the 2021-22 season. The big purchases this summer were Erling Håland from Dortmund for £96m, Gianluigi Donnarumma from Milan on a free transfer, Eduardo Camavinga from Rennes for £25.5m, and Fabio Silva from Porto for £10m. Bringing in Håland alongside Martinez up top means that we had to change our formation so now we are playing an attacking 4-2-4. Early results are good, but between the relative vulnerability of our midfield two and the lack of real quality fullbacks in the game (aside from Alexander-Arnold who Liverpool are asking more than £200m for) I am considering transitioning to a 3-3-4 formation. Something like this:

My relative restraint in the transfer market, combined with summer sales totaling £328m (Kolasinac, Maitland-Niles, Leno, Mari, Lacazette, Zaniolo, Mavropanos, Azeez, and Torreira) means that we have around £200m remaining in our transfer budget for some big moves in the winter. Right now my ideal targets are Frenkie De Jong, Eder Militao and Ilaix Moriba but it may be difficult to get those three even within that huge budget unless I am able to unsettle them.

[llama3]

@raeburn have you considered a 3-4-3 instead? Having wide players at MR and ML will help your defensive shape more. You can tweak into a 3-1-4-2 or 3-4-1-2 too, giving players in different areas of the pitch.

[raeburn]

@llama3 I've thought about a 3-5-2 variant dropping the wingers back in to the midfield line, possibly with 2DM and a CMa or AM, but I'm also curious about how top-heavy I could make this formation and still get away with it. So far the 4-2-4 is working a treat in attack so I am somewhat reluctant to reconfigure the front 4.

[arsenalthebest]

first time i've got double figures in a game except when i've decide to have a bit of fun and named a tiny player in goal and a load of rubbish youths all out wide

edit didn't Notice i put Nketiah at RM untill after i started the match

Edited June 20, 2020 by arsenalthebest

[raeburn]

2021-22

Wow. What a year. The main story of this season was our constant competition with Liverpool for the title of the best in England, Europe, and the World - a competition that we just about edged.

 

Arsenal v. Liverpool

1. It started out with a 2-1 victory in the Club World Cup Final that saw the first of Erling Haland’s many goals for us this season.
2. Less than a month later Liverpool got their revenge on penalties after a 2-2 draw in regular time in the Community Shield.
3. A pair of 1-0 wins over Liverpool in the league, both thanks to goals from Nicolas Pepe, helped us open up a gap at the top in the Premier League.
4. But the hit to morale from a 0-1 loss to Liverpool in the EFL Cup final, combined with heavy rotation in the league as we prioritized the Champions League led to Liverpool entering the final day of the season two points ahead of us.
5. On the final day of the season as we faced off against relegation-bound Norwich, Liverpool matched up against 7th place Southampton. This was Liverpool’s third game in five days, and lucky for us, it showed. In the 19th minute, Kelechi Iheanacho scored the first goal of his hat trick for Southampton, and one minute later Nicolas Pepe scored a brilliant placed shot to take us one point clear. Both scorelines only got wider from there, with Pepe getting his second hat-trick of the month as we won 4-0 and Liverpool succumbing to a 5-1 thrashing. 
6. That wasn’t the end of it though - two weeks later we faced Liverpool in the Champions League Final and walked out of Munich with a deserved 2-1 victory!

 

Competition Results

• Won the FIFA Club World Cup (2-1 vs Liverpool)
• Won the UEFA Super Cup (3-1 vs Borussia Monchengladbach)
• Lost the EFL Cup (0-1 vs Liverpool)
• Won the Premier League
  
• Lost the FA Cup (1-2 vs Everton)
• Won the Champions League (2-1 vs Liverpool)

 

Star Players

Rather than one or two players leading the team this season, we had six players with more than 20 goal-contributions, including three with more than 30. Our starting front-four of Pepe, Martinez, Haaland and Sancho tallied 85 goals and 48 assists between them. Kieran Tierney provided 11 assists again this season from the left wingback position, and our one January signing - Shakhtar’s Marcos Antonio (£28m) - provided 7 assists in less than half a season and looks to have taken over the starting B2B spot from Gaetano Castrovilli.

First XI Stars

• Nicolas Pepe (IF-A) 42 appearances, 18 goals, 17 assists, 7.49 average rating
• Lautaro Martinez (PF-S) 49(2) appearances, 27 goals, 13 assists, 7.39 average rating
• Erling Haaland (AF-A) 45(2) appearances, 28 goals, 5 assists, 7.32 average rating
• Jean-Clair Todibo (CD-D) 41(1) appearances, 4 goals, 2 assists, 7.26 average rating
• Ruben Dias (BPD-D) 51 appearances, 4 goals, 0 assists, 7.25 average rating
• Hector Bellerin (IWB-D) 45(2) appearances, 2 goals, 3 assists, 7.20 average rating
• Kieran Tierney (WB-S) 50(5) appearances, 1 goal, 11 assists, 7.16 average rating
• Marcos Antonio (B2B-S) 18(7) appearances, 1 goal, 6 assists, 7.10 average rating
• Jadon Sancho (IW-S) 43(11) appearances, 12 goals, 13 assists, 7.08 average rating

Second XI Stars

• Eddie Nketiah (AF-A) 21(1) appearances, 17 goals, 4 assists, 7.52 average rating
• William Saliba (BPD-D) 27(2) appearances, 2 goals, 5 assists, 7.35 average rating
  
• Fabio Silva (PF-S) 16(16) appearances, 10 goals, 6 assists, 7.26 average rating
  
• Calum Chambers (IWB-D) 24(3) appearances, 2 goals, 3 assists, 7.25 average rating
• Rob Holding (CD-D) 18(1) appearances, 1 goal, 0 assists, 7.11 average rating
• Gabriel Martinelli (IW-S) 23(22) appearances, 16 goals, 8 assists, 7.10 average rating

 

First Team Candidates

Between players out on loan and players in our U23 squad who are now ready for a role in the first team, I am going to have a tough time next season keeping everyone happy. 

Loanees

• Reiss Nelson (AMR at Marseille) 47(1) appearances, 14 goals, 16 assists, 7.15 average rating
  
• Thiago Almada (AMC at Fiorentina) 42 appearances, 7 goals, 13 assists, 7.02 average rating
  
• Eduardo Quaresma (BPD at AA Gent) 37(1) appearances, 1 goal, 0 assists, 6.99 average rating
  

U23s

• Ryan Cherki (IW-S) 37(6) appearances, 18 goals, 27 assists, 7.79 average rating
  
• Nohan Kenneh (DLP-D) 49(1) appearances, 1 goal, 3 assists, 7.39 average rating
  

 

Summer Transfer Plans

Given our successes this season I am delaying my earlier idea of moving to a 3-3-4 formation, but there still are a few transactions that I will be looking to make before the start of next season:

• Gaetano Castrovilli (sell) - has been bumped out of the starting XI by Marcos Antonio, and Joe Willock has the B2B role locked down in the second XI due to his homegrown status.
• Nuno Tavares (sell) - has put in decent performances at LB but looks to have limited room for growth so I will be hoping to find another young LB to fill in behind Tierney.
• Trent Alexander-Arnold (buy) - if at all possible I am still hoping to upgrade at the Inverted Right Wingback position, despite the solid performances from both Bellerin and Chambers this season. TAA is really the only young option here and he would hopefully generate some more assists from the position than the 5 total this season from Bellerin and Chambers together, so if I can persuade Liverpool to part with their captain, I will.

[Clifton]

Hi @raeburn Looks like you are playing good football.   Can you show us your current formation and  TI's please?   Interested to know how a two-man midfield holds up against the top teams.

[raeburn]

Sure thing - here it is, along with my first XI. My most recent tweak was lowering the IWB mentality to improve the spacing between them and the BBM in possession. The next tweak I am considering is changing the DL to a CWB.
The only individual instructions are on the BBM and they are: "Get Further Forward" and "Move into Channels."

[Clifton]

Thanks.   It certainly looks like it needs hard working CMs!  Especially as ask the BBM to get further forward.

[raeburn]

Yes, the aim is for the IWB to tuck in alongside the DLP to create a flat base midfield pairing in possession while the BBM moves forward into the AM slot to create a front 5.

The one issue that I have found with this formation is that on opposition goal kicks the two central midfielders tend to split wide and leave an opposing midfielder wide open in the center. It hasn't caused major issues for us, but it is frustrating to see happen again and again.

[Travis Bickle]

What Brexit did you guys get? 

[Sunstrikuuu]

The standard (I think) one, with a 17/8 split and existing foreign players grandfathered in. 

I'm kind of avoiding playing right now.  I was unbeaten until December, then got month-to-six-week injuries to four of the five players I have who can play fullback effectively and my goalkeeper and my backup goalkeeper and my starting striker.  In the period these players have been and will be out, I play RB Leipzig, Tottenham and City in a row, then Everton, Liverpool, Chelsea and Everton again.  Other than Chelsea and the first Everton game, all of those fixtures are away. 

[SteveUK]

9 hours ago, Travis Bickle said:

What Brexit did you guys get? 

The one where Neil Lennon becomes manager of Real Madrid .

[arsenalthebest]

On 01/07/2020 at 16:44, Travis Bickle said:

What Brexit did you guys get? 

None I cancelled it

[Swills417]

On 02/07/2020 at 02:11, SteveUK said:

The one where Neil Lennon becomes manager of Real Madrid .

It happened to you too?! 

[SteveUK]

3 minutes ago, Swills417 said:

It happened to you too?! 

Yep and he is still there after 2 seasons, keeps calling me a bitter manager when i beat him in europe .

Marco Silva is Chelsea manager.
Lionel Scaloni just replaced Klopp who went to City, Pep went to Napoli and now to Tottenham.
 

[BrickCommo23]

Had the most ridiculous first leg at Lazio in the Champions League but not to worry I thought - will get them at home...

 

[BrickCommo23]

Finished 2025/26 season. It was a bit of a strange one as we were absolutely dominant up until about February and looked odds on to go unbeaten - smashing United 3-0 and Liverpool 4-1 - but something happened in the last few months of the season and we looked very ordinary in a lot of games, particularly away from home. My CM ratings dropped to circa 6.7 consistently and we were helped by a league high 16 penalties and general great goal scoring from Mbappe. 

I think we may need a new tactic for next season - which is a little daunting after this one has been so good - but will see what I can cobble together. 

Details here:

 

 

Edited July 7, 2020 by BrickCommo23

[BrickCommo23]

PS - is anyone using a flat 4411 - or perhaps a  4141?

[arsenalthebest]

some of my regens

all are academy graduates

Edited July 7, 2020 by arsenalthebest

[davie1980]

On 29/06/2020 at 19:15, raeburn said:

, and our one January signing - Shakhtar’s Marcos Antonio (£28m) - provided 7 assists in less than half a season and looks to have taken over the starting B2B spot from Gaetano Castrovilli.

,

• Marcos Antonio (B2B-S) 18(7) appearances, 1 goal, 6 assists, 7.10 average rating

 

How's this guy working out for you?

 

Looking at picking him up at the end of 2021/22 for his buy out clause to replace Alexis MacAlister. Will probably be able to get more selling the Argie on and Marcos Antonio looks the better player.

[raeburn]

@davie1980 He was good while I had him, but unfortunately he wasn't a perfect fit with my tactics (not good enough defensively to be my DLP and not good enough at finishing to be my B2B) and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic was available so I sold him on for almost immediate profit. I was able to get Everton to pay £52m for him.

I probably would have kept him as he performed pretty well, but the board added "sign high reputation players" to the club vision in the off-season.

[Vilmar]

I'll just leave this here 

 

[dido53]

ı started a new save and won the league first season and euro league.But second season lots of ups and downs any advice on tactics ?

[CalumF]

Whos the Arsenal researcher for FM 21 this year? Any changes you can tell us with players positions from FM20?

Like Kieran Tierney getting a boost? Great player. More of an complete wingback/inverted wingback than last season?

Ainsley Maitland-Niles. Started as a natural messala/advanced playmaker last year? Where do people see him?

Can you have Auba as a more natural Inside forward from the left?

Saka to be more natural, or at least more accomplished at left back and wingback? 

Ozil. Does he start off the game unhappy, lost faith in the managers ability? 

Good to get an idea for building the squad going into the game. 

[SteveUK]

3 minutes ago, CalumF said:

Whos the Arsenal researcher for FM 21 this year? Any changes you can tell us with players positions from FM20?

Like Kieran Tierney getting a boost? Great player. More of an complete wingback/inverted wingback than last season?

Ainsley Maitland-Niles. Started as a natural messala/advanced playmaker last year? Where do people see him?

Can you have Auba as a more natural Inside forward from the left?

Saka to be more natural, or at least more accomplished at left back and wingback? 

Ozil. Does he start off the game unhappy, lost faith in the managers ability? 

Good to get an idea for building the squad going into the game. 

IMO.

I'd be happy if they just left Tierney alone, his CA/PA is already very good, have a horrible feeling they will nerf him 

As you say Saka's positional familiarity should be Accomplished or Competent at LWB and stay as Competent at LB, I think Natural would be a bit too far. His CA and PA should be boosted.

AMN probably won't see much change in his positional familiarity, he's already rated as Accomplished at all the positions he's been playing.

I agree with Auba becoming classed as Natural at the IF Left position.

I would expect Ozil to be listed as leaving on a free at end of contract, this hasn't been officially announced of course and he still has the possibility to leave in January in real life but I think all signs point to him riding out the last year of his contract, it's looking likely he will be left out of the real Arsenal PL 25 man squad today.

I think the squad might be very similar to how it was in FM20, Gabriel and Partey should have pretty good stats and I'm excited to use them in the game, not so much Willian and Cedric who I will no doubt try to offload as soon as possible.

Martinelli, Mustafi, Mari, Leno, Chambers and possibly Smith-Rowe will all probably be listed as injured at the start of the game.

Very big squad which should bode well for transfer activity in-game and raising funds.

[CalumF]

5 hours ago, SteveUK said:

IMO.

I'd be happy if they just left Tierney alone, his CA/PA is already very good, have a horrible feeling they will nerf him 

As you say Saka's positional familiarity should be Accomplished or Competent at LWB and stay as Competent at LB, I think Natural would be a bit too far. His CA and PA should be boosted.

AMN probably won't see much change in his positional familiarity, he's already rated as Accomplished at all the positions he's been playing.

I agree with Auba becoming classed as Natural at the IF Left position.

I would expect Ozil to be listed as leaving on a free at end of contract, this hasn't been officially announced of course and he still has the possibility to leave in January in real life but I think all signs point to him riding out the last year of his contract, it's looking likely he will be left out of the real Arsenal PL 25 man squad today.

I think the squad might be very similar to how it was in FM20, Gabriel and Partey should have pretty good stats and I'm excited to use them in the game, not so much Willian and Cedric who I will no doubt try to offload as soon as possible.

Martinelli, Mustafi, Mari, Leno, Chambers and possibly Smith-Rowe will all probably be listed as injured at the start of the game.

Very big squad which should bode well for transfer activity in-game and raising funds.

Yeah good reply Steve. 

Think your right with Tierney. 

Normally start the game with no transfers until the January window. Next summer you should be able to raise some good cash through sales and people off the wage bill. Sokritis. Mustafi, Chambers, Kolasinac, Torreira, Guendouzi, Ozil, Elneny, maybe Xhaka. Your talking nearly a million a week there.....