Arsenal all the way to Glory: An Experiment with a New Way of Using Assistant Managers in FM

[JRHaggs]

Keep him! If, however, you do want to sell, you'd better find a top-notch replacement.

Is it possible that your player instructions are hampering him? May we see his instructions page please?

[GreyedOutMan]

26.10.11 Galatasaray v ARSENAL – Champs Lg Group B

Eduardo for Alves was the only change for this game, but with Sakho moving to DC and Richards to DR. The first half had few chances and 0-0 at half time accurately summed up the first 45. The first 15 minutes of the 2nd half saw the Turks dominate rather, and I decided to pull Nani and Cesc (who had been booked and looked worryingly like he was about to be dismissed) off for Dutra and ATex in an attempt to hold on for a valuable point, though of course if I could hit them on the counter attack and win the game...but unfortunately this plan rather went belly-up three minutes later when Eddie Johnson raced through a static Arsenal defence to open the scoring for Galatasaray. In response, Veloso was sacrificed for Vaughan and we went after an equalizer, with a much more attacking mentality. Vaughan and Vela both had opportunities from the same corner from Dutra, and Vela’s long-range shot soon after was tipped over by Turgut in the Gala goal, but with 4 minutes left on the clock, Dutra nicked the ball of the Turksish midfielder, found Vaughan on the edge of the box who picked out Eduardo unmarked on the edge of the 6 yard box to equalize. In stoppage time, Galatasaray hit the post and went close a 2nd time, but despite 6 minutes of added time, we held out for what might turn out to be a very valuable point.

FINAL SCORE Galatasaray 1 – 1 ARSENAL

Need an answer RE: Alves, folks!

[GreyedOutMan]

JR : what page is that exactly? Player instructions with tactics?

[GreyedOutMan]

Hope this is what you meant...

I've adjusted them a bit with that thought in mind - I tend to neglect player instructions a little unfortunately. Does this look good? Might give him another go if so...

[GreyedOutMan]

I have rejected the offer. JR - lets see if we can turn him into a world-class player again?

[JRHaggs]

First, I'd make his 'Mentality' more defensive. Maybe about a quarter of the up. Then I would move his 'Forward Runs' up to 'Sometimes'. Same with 'Runs With Ball'. This functions sort of like a situational f-arrow.

Unless you sign a more attacking-minded left back, I would only change the personal tactics of Alves this way. Sakho shouldn't get caught upfield as his attacking ability is just not there.

Also, I notice you have your team 'Creative Freedom' set very high. I would decrease that significantly. Especially for your defenders. Personally, I set my team CF at about 7 or 8. But I then set each player's CF based on their 'Creativity' and 'Decisions' ratings. Because creativity is useless without capable decision-making to balance it out.

Lets start with these changes, if you're comfortable with them.

Good luck!

[JRHaggs]

Originally posted by JRHaggs:

First, I'd make his 'Mentality' more defensive. Maybe about a quarter of the up.

Of course, this should read, '... of the way up.'

[JRHaggs]

Oops! Also try moving his 'Passing Style' up to somewhere around the first setting of 'Direct'. This is a good idea with all of your defenders. Always a good idea to encourage them to get the ball the heck out of there!

Cheers!

[GreyedOutMan]

Ok. I think if I'm playing with full backs they need to have some attacking instincts and be able to run with the ball. Alves and Sakho are going to have to be on the same settings whatever happens, or we'll get unbalanced. Sakho's pace isnt brilliant, but he has the stamina ratings to get up and down the field plenty and though he wont create as much as Alves on the other side, I think the balance that gives is worth it. I have however, made them both a touch more defensive and told them both to run with the ball and make forward runs. As i say, if Sakho gets caught upfield, his stamina means he'll get back - even if not that fast. Even if you've got "20" pace, you wont be able to get back into position as a DL if the counter-attack is quick - like a long ball, so there are few situations where his pace will be an issue defensively.

Creative freedom - thats a general team thing - every player apart from the full backs has their own setting. Cesc has lots of creative freedom for example, whereas the DCs and other MC have none. However, I want to make sure I get plenty of creative work done, particularly from Alves, so I wanted to keep that where it was.

Thoughts?

[GreyedOutMan]

thanks for that last piece of advice, which definitely makes sense. Have done that, though didnt want to go too direct, or we'll end up like Wimbledon!!

[JRHaggs]

Maybe another screen shot?

[GreyedOutMan]

of what?

[JRHaggs]

His player instructions.

[GreyedOutMan]

Here

[JRHaggs]

Looks like an improvement! Can't wait to see the results.

We could do this with any player/position you like, by the way.

Time to go home now, though. I'll check back in tomorrow. I only monitor these forums while I'm at work in Boston.

Good luck!

[GreyedOutMan]

wow im being read across the pond! cheers JRH - speak soon! Come back tomorrow, there will be plenty of updates before then i think.

[GreyedOutMan]

29.10.11 Classifieds: Prem

Early: Bolton 2 – 0 Blackburn

Man Utd 0 – 0 Fulham

Reading 2 – 1 Tott***am

Watford 1 – 3 Everton

Late: Birmingham 4 – 1 Ipswich

Good to see United dropping 2 more points, not to mention another defeat for sliding Sp*rs.

30.10.11 ARSENAL v Portsmouth

New tactics on trial of course...and the early exchanges suggested an improvement as we dominated the first 20 minutes or so, having several chances. But we faded a little towards the end of the half, and though we still dominated possession, we had few chances. Right at the start of the 2nd half, though, a corner from Nani, a shot from Cesc, and a save from ‘keeper Ben Foster resulted in the ball smacking into Jermain Defoe to open the scoring with an own-goal. After 65 minutes, the game was made safe, Vela finding a neat pass for Eduardo to score his 5th goal in 6 games. After a barren run of 5 games without a goal, he’s starting to come good again. Before the goal, however, his rating was only ‘6’ so we are looking for an improvement. I left him on nevertheless, thinking that a goal could only boost his confidence, and sacrificed Vela for Carlton, just behind Eduardo as a lone striker.

With 7 minutes to go, Pompey pulled one back as a Yakubu shot was badly dealt with by Pouplin, pushing it out for Mido to put Pompey back in with a shout. However, in the 90th minute, Veloso and Nani combined, before a square ball to Carlton and a neat shot into the back of the net gave young Lee his first Arsenal goal. Good for him! Eduardo got a 2nd deep into injury time to make the score a rather flattering 4-1. But a good performance, and the Alves tweaking seemed to work wonders – both full backs got ‘8’s, and Alves in particular played a key defensive role, winning twice as many tackles as anyone else.

FINAL SCORE ARSENAL 4 – 1 Portsmouth

Classifieds: 30.10.11 – Prem

Early: ARSENAL 4 – 1 Portsmouth

Chelsea 3 – 1 Man City

Leeds 1 – 2 Aston Villa

Newcastle 0 – 3 West Ham

Late: Liverpool 6 – 1 Scunthorpe

United’s draw with Fulham yesterday not backed up by dropped points from Liverpool or Chelsea, but oh well. Man City and Scunny at home are not games I’d expect them to drop points (though of course neither is Fulham at home). I’m not going to include a table every time but I’m now 6 points behind leaders Bolton, with Chelsea in 2nd only 4 points ahead of us, and United only 2.

Incidentally, whenever anyone’s on this page waiting for updates and I’m updating, please do let me know – I like to know whenever I have “live†audience!

[GreyedOutMan]

Cesc’s booking in that game means he’ll miss the visit of Scunthorpe on Nov 12th – could think of worse games for him to miss, especially with Scunny on a terrible run of form that has seen them slide from a comfortable 16th to 19th in 5 games during which they’ve only picked up a point – though to be fair, they have a horribly tough run:

18.9.11 Reading (H) 3-2 (last win)

24.9.11 Leeds (A) 0-1

1.10.11 Watford (H) 3-3

8.10.11 Chelsea (A) 0-2

22.10.11 Man Utd (H) 0-3

30.10.11 Liverpool (A) 0-6

5.11.11 Birmingham (H)

12.11.11 Arsenal (A)

Dani Alves’ improvement was underlined by his selection in the Premiership team of the week for the last week of October, by the way.

2.11.11 ARSENAL v Newcastle – Carling Cup 4th Round

Having won this competition twice now, I wanted to keep up my good record. I don’t hold with the policy Arsenal have in this competition – I saw silverware is better than none, and we haven’t won any in ages so...

Anyway, Arsenal’s place in the 2011/12 Carling Cup is what’s at stake now. And it never really looked all that threatened, to be honest, with Newcastle having only 2 shots on target in the 90 minutes – though for long periods, neither did Newcastle’s. 7 shots on target was a bit of an over-statement of the quality of the shots, and we had very few really good chances. Before extra time, I gave the players a bit of a rollocking because they’d created very little. I upped the creativity sliders a bit, hoping we’d make a few more chances in extra time. We made one. Only one. But it was important – a cutting ball from Vela put Eduardo through to score yet another goal on this impressive run, and we were through to the Quarter-Finals.

FINAL SCORE ARSENAL 1 – 0 Newcastle

[GreyedOutMan]

Classifieds: 1st and 2nd Nov 2011: League Cup

Tottenham 2 – 2p Everton

Arsenal e1 – 0 Newcastle

Aston Villa 0 – 1 Middlesbrough

Birmingham 6 – 2 Burnley

Chelsea p2 – 2 Reading

Man City 2 – 1 Man Utd

Portsmouth 0 – 1 Doncaster

Southend 0 – 2 Liverpool

Couple of minor shocks there – United going out to City, Doncaster (who are Championship now) beating Pompey....

We drew Man City in the Quarters, by the way – at home. Donny will host Boro as the only two Championship teams left battle it out, Everton will host a Merseyside derby, and Chelsea will travel to St. Andrews to play Birmingham.

...and in the early kick off at the weekend...what do you know?

Classifieds: 5.11.11 – Prem (early game)

Man City 2 – 1 Man Utd

The same result! Spooky!

Ipswich v ARSENAL – Premiership

With Vela struggling for form, I decided to give Vaughan a run-out with Eduardo up front. It’s a shame because 2 seasons ago, when he scored 42 goals in 53 games at just 20 years of age, he looked set to be the one of the best players in history. Now he seems to be fading into obscurity rather. Hopefully he’ll bounce back in the 2nd half of this season. Diaby was back, and came in for Veloso who still doesn’t look the player his attributes suggest. ATex made way for him on the bench. Once again, we dominated the first half without making many chances. This time I upped the creativity stakes at half-time, hoping we’d make a few more. With 22 minutes to go, and still no goal in sight, Diaby made way for Vela (he was struggling anyway), and we switched to an attacking 4-3-1-2. It did the trick, as within a minute of his entrance, Vela connected with a loose ball to tap in from virtually on the goal line. Eduardo made way for Dutra, and we hung on.

FINAL SCORE Ipswich 0 – 1 ARSENAL

[GreyedOutMan]

Sorry, forgot to do the rest of the classifieds:

5.11.11 Classifieds – Prem (3pm and 5.15pm k/o)

Everton 0 – 3 Chelsea

Fulham 2 – 1 Liverpool

Ipswich 0 – 1 ARSENAL

Scunthorpe 4 – 1 Birmingham

Tottenham 1 – 0 Leeds

West Ham 3 – 1 Bolton

Late: Aston Villa 6 – 0 Watford

Good to see Liverpool losing there – at least one of them seems to drop points every week. This is the table, which we’re climbing fast!

[GreyedOutMan]

That's all for now folks. Sorry, was planning to do more but tiredness has caught up faster than I'd expected. Tune in tomorrow for more...next ten games arent too tough, and with any luck we should be able to pick up a fairly large number of wins to put us in a good position on three fronts:

Galatasaray (H) (ECC)

Scunny (H) (EPL)

Fulham (A) (EPL)

Shakhtar (A) (ECC)

Man City (H) (EPL)

Man City (H) (LC)

Valencia (H) (ECC)

Blackburn (H) (EPL)

Everton (A) (EPL)

Aston Villa (H) (EPL)

[Stomalomalus]

Hey, soz I havnt been around tonight. Apart from the Newcastle lass it went alright, but Id be worried about that home form. Maybe its time to try and develop a new tactic to win away from home against those slightly better teams. You need to be able to keep hold of the ball better away from home, and I always think a three man midfield with short passing and low creative flair except for 1playmaker workd well. I set it up with 2 DMs and 1CM with no arrows, but I dont think it really matters so long as you keep hold of the ball.

[Bloodbore8]

How do I get a black background like yours, Luke?

My copy of FM08 finally came in the mail yesterday!

[JRHaggs]

Nice little string of results. I know it seems to have paid off in both of the last two games, but be careful setting your creativity too high. Tactical coherence is usually sacrificed if everyone's on high creativity.

I think there's still more to come from Alves. If you notice, your fullbacks are not making any(0,0,0 last three games!) runs. It might be worth putting 'Forward Runs' and 'Runs With Ball' at the higher setting, but what I think might be the best solution is to try f-arrows on your fullbacks again. I think with the new, more defensive mentality settings, they will perform better than before. I like f-arrows on my fullbacks when playing against any team who uses conventional MR/MLs (with or without f-arrows). When a team uses AMR/AMLs, I usually take the f-arrows off. Make sense?

Looking forward to the next updates!

Stomalomalus -

Personally, I find a 4-5-1 in the Mourinho mold works wonders on the road. You get your 3 man midfield that way, too. I usually play it with 1 DM and two CMs, but, if the boss is interested in developing a road tactic, I'm sure we can all work one out.

[Stomalomalus]

Well, here is my away tactis that I use sometimes:

positions

team instructions

And heres another:

lineup2

team instructions2

[JRHaggs]

Stoma -

lineup2 is very much like what I play. My posture is much more defensive, and I don't use f-arrows on my attacking wingers, but, other than that, very similar. Also, I play a little slower and with a more mixed passing scheme.

We'll see what LH has to say.

[Bloodbore8]

Originally posted by Bloodbore8:

How do I get a black background like yours, Luke?

My copy of FM08 finally came in the mail yesterday!

So, can some1 tell me how to do this? plz

[Stomalomalus]

Its a different skin, bloodbore, have a look on sortitoutsi theres a good collection of skins there to download. Then extract the skin to My Documents/Sports Interactive/Football Manager 08/Skins.

In game, go to prefernces, then change the skin in display.

[Bloodbore8]

I have to make an account that for money and I'm not doing that. Is there a free website where I can get these?

[Stomalomalus]

You dont have to make an account, I downloaded the skin in my screenshots from there

[GreyedOutMan]

He's right bloodbore - i got mine from there too. I think mine's called Black-in2 or something. Thanks for the advice guys - will get onto making some tweaks either this evening or tomorrow - im really busy at the moment!

[GreyedOutMan]

By the way i LOVE your skin Stoma - where did u get hold of that one/what is it called?

[GreyedOutMan]

Stoma - your 1st tactic is on a very high mentality setting - is that right?

[GreyedOutMan]

actually they both are...

[JRHaggs]

Originally posted by Luke Hearn:

Stoma - your 1st tactic is on a very high mentality setting - is that right?

This alarmed me, too. I think a more defensive posture is better, especially for a counter-attacking, away formation.

[Bloodbore8]

I got it from another website. The black 2 thing one. Awesome! I'm now done with my 30-hour first season (except for the upcoming FA Cup final). Won the league and league cup. Got knocked out of the champions league in the semi finals to Barca 3-2 on aggregate. Fabianski is amazing! I'm using Lehmann to tutor him but he's already good enough!

[GreyedOutMan]

Pocognoli was starting to get a bit restless so I decided to bring him in for a few games in place of Sakho, who is doing really well (18 games at 7.11, and has a passing accuracy of 73%), but could probably use a few games off/playing for the reserves. I also brought Vela in for Vaughan who is still failing to live up to his obvious potential.

5.11.11 Classifieds: Prem

Portsmouth 2 – 1 Newcastle

Blackburn 1 – 2 Reading

8.11.11 ARSENAL v Galatasaray

A win here would all-but guarantee a place in the knockout rounds for this season’s competition, especially if, as expected, Valencia beat Shaktar. Pocognoli and Vela for Sakho and Vaughan were the only two changes to the side, and Sakho got a place on the bench in place of Dutra. I think your thinking with the various formations – next tough away game is ages away, but we should knock heads together and work out a set of tactics that will really fit this team for those games. For the moment, the change I did make was to have the full backs with farrows, just one step forward, in an effort to get them to create a bit more. I also took the general team Creative Freedom down just one notch to make sure that coherency wasn’t an issue.

Just two minutes in, we had Gala pegged back in their 6 yard box and eventually the ball got to Nani to fire in through the crowd and get Arsenal within sight of progression. By the 13th minute, when Eduardo went through and placed a wonderful lob over the keeper and into the net, I was relaxed. The team were playing as well as they had done all season, and by the 20 minute mark, we could probably have scored 5. The 3rd didn’t come until the 33rd minute, though, when Eduardo put Cesc through to lob over the keeper. The ball took a big deflection off a defender which slowed it down a lot, but the ball trickled agonizingly over the line. Half-time. 3-0. Game over.

With that in mind, I brought Vaughan on for Eduardo only 6 minutes into the 2nd half, and Cesc, who had picked up a knock, made way for Veloso. After 62 minutes he promptly got in on the act, Vela squaring the ball to him before he placed a shot across the ‘keeper at the perfect angle for it to sneak into the net for a 4th. Shortly afterwards, Gala got a goal back courtesy of a loss of concentration from Alves, but it was academic. A very good win.

FINAL SCORE ARSENAL 4 – 1 Galatasaray

With Valencia only managing a draw in Donetsk, we moved up to pole position:

Group Table after 4 matches

ARSENAL 8

Valencia 6

Galatasaray 3

Shakhtar 2

Selected other scores from matchday 4:

Litex 0 – 2 Celtic (Lansbury scored there)

AEK 1 – 2 Chelsea

Inter 2 – 1 Lyon

Man U 5 – 0 Spartak Moscow

Dundee Utd 3 – 3 Roma

Barcelona 2 – 3 Liverpool (100% record in 4 games, having played 2 vs. Barca, 1 vs. Juve and only 1 vs. CFR Cluj – impressive!)

[GreyedOutMan]

By the way, thought this might be of interest: list of all the current Premiership gaffers in season 2011-12. Some interesting changes here:

Arsenal: Luke Hearn

Aston Villa: Martin O’Neill

Birmingham: Trevor Francis

Blackburn: Mike Newell

Bolton: Ruud Gullit

Chelsea: Avram Grant

Everton: David Moyes

Fulham: Sven-Goran Eriksson

Ipswich: Jim Magilton

Leeds: Gary McAllister

Liverpool: Javier Aguirre

Man City: Felix Magath

Man Utd: Steve Bruce

Newcastle: Vicente Del Bosque

Portsmouth: Michael Laudrup

Reading: Adrian Boothroyd

Scunthorpe: Nigel Adkins

Tottenham: Louis Van Gaal

Watford: Martin Ling

West Ham: Tony Mowbray

Thoughts on all that encouraged. Ones that caught my eye:

Blackburn – might Newell be an outside bet for them IRL?

Bolton – Ruud! Classic!

Chelsea – the man with the scary eyes still hangs in there

Everton – will Moyes ever leave? now only 4 months short of 10 years, which, at a club like Everton, is amazing!

Fulham – hee hee Sven Goran to Fulham!

Tottenham – no matter how many big name managers they get in, they still stay mid-table! Finishes since start of game: 7-4-10-10 and are 11th this year.

[GreyedOutMan]

Oh and Birmingham, for whom a return to Trevor Francis smacks of a step in the wrong direction, but we've been there before!

[GreyedOutMan]

12.11.11 ARSENAL v Scunthorpe - Premiership

Our 4th game in November already. Luckily after this, we have a 2 week break! Garay (injury) and Cesc (suspension) were out for this game, and replaced by Sakho and Rakitic respectively, with ATex the beneficiary with a space on the bench. He’s unlucky not to be playing this year, but Nani and Di Maria are striking up a useful partnership. Vela’s shot from distance in the 6th minute was fiery, must have stung the hands of ‘keeper Murphy somewhat, as he tipped it over, and it set the tone for the match. The breakthrough, however, took 36 minutes to come, Rakitic’s corner finding the head of Vela to nod us into the lead. Just a few minutes later, a wonderful cross from Nani found Vela in the centre who scored his 2nd headed goal in about 5 minutes. In stoppage time at the end of the first half, Scunny had a player sent off, and the game was over as a contest. I told the lads I was pleased with them and sent them out again.

The 2nd half followed a similar pattern: a stinging shot from Diaby whistled over the bar, and Eduardo scored a sharp finish after 62’ from another Nani cross, this time after a shot from Di Maria had been saved by Murphy, only to push the ball to the deadly Croat. His 2nd goal came only moments later – again, 2 goals in a short time, by the same player. Spookily similar to the first half. This time, Scunny were awarded a penalty, though, but Pouplin was determined not to let his clean sheet be destroyed, and he saved Le Tallec’s effort. In the 2nd half, they brought on a right winger by the name of Filipe Teixeira – brother of Alex, perhaps? Not sure, he’s nothing like as good, and he doesn’t list Alex amongst his favoured personnel. Plus he actually has a photo on the database – I believe he currently plays for West Brom, though its not clear if he moved there from Academica IRL or in the game. Either way, he’s played for PSG in the past...anyone know of him?

We won a penalty in the last ten minutes, and Eduardo, unlike Le Tallec clearly, doesn’t miss those. He had another hat-trick, inside 20 minutes, and we had a very convincing win. 21 goals in 21 starts for Dudu, 14 in 13 League games...

FINAL SCORE ARSENAL 5 – 0 Scunthorpe

12.11.11 Classifieds – Prem

Early: Man Utd 1 – 1 Everton

Arsenal 5 – 0 Scunthorpe

Leeds 2 – 3 Blackburn

Reading 3 – 1 Bolton

Late: Watford 2 – 1 T*****ham

Good to see United dropping 2 more points, and it means we’re solidly ahead of them now, by 3 points. Not to mention an embarrassing defeat for the rapidly declining scum.

13.11.11 Classifieds – Prem

Early: Birmingham 4 – 2 Fulham

Liverpool 1 – 0 Man City

Newcastle 4 – 1 Ipswich

Portsmouth 3 – 2 West Ham

Late: Chelsea 2 – 1 Aston Villa

...and the table....

[Stomalomalus]

Couple of good results there! Yeah, sorry bout that, I dont tend to alter the team instructions very much between tactics as player instructions overrule them. The 1st one was employed at Arsneal btw, and was successful except for a 6-2 humiliation at Real Madrid

KUTGW

Away match next, are Fulham still playing at the cottage?

[GreyedOutMan]

Yes, they are. The only new stadiums since 07/08 are Liverpool's (New Anfield) and Pompey's (Solent Stadium). I'm guessing FM doesnt do any new stadia - only the ones that are planned anyway? Shame if that is the case - would be funny to see what funny stadium names the engine dreamt up over the years!

[JRHaggs]

Rolling along now, eh? 5 straight wins with a 15-2 goal differential!

The competition hasn't been the steepest in the last two, but the f-arrows on the fullbacks seem to be a good modification. They're not conceding unreasonably, anyway.

Alves is now seeing quite a bit of the ball. Completing passes at an acceptable rate. It still doesn't look like he's part of the attacking apparatus, though. We'll see, over the next few matches, how he performs with the f-arrows. It'll be good to see how he fares against tougher teams.

The table is encouraging. You're tied for the lead in goals scored, and tied for second in goals allowed. Very good stuff. Of course, a lot of that is due to your last three league games. 10-1 scoring record in those games. So maybe it's a little deceptive. Anyway, you should continue to steadily climb.

Looking good!

[GreyedOutMan]

Its great that interest in this thread has picked up lately. Any suggestions from anyone on how I could further improve the format? Anyway, on with the game...

26.11.11 Fulham v ARSENAL – Premiership

Nani’s injury gave ATex a start against the Cottagers – his 75th game for the club, while Cesc returned for Rakitic. Real Madrid boss, Jose Mourinho was in the stands at the Cottage. No prizes for guessing who he was looking at – some things are the same at the end of 2011 as they are in mid-2008!

After 37 minutes, Maxi Lopez was put through, Pouplin came out, but Lopez rounded him. Simon did well not to bring him down and get sent off, but was powerless to prevent the former Barca player giving Fulham the lead. At half time, our impressive run was under considerable threat.

Just 6 minutes into the 2nd half though, a wonderful cross from Di Maria found the powerful head of Eduardo to head across the whole goal and into the side of the net for the equalizer, which was well-timed. Lopez scored again on the hour mark but was adjudged to have fouled Richards in the build-up. ATex soon got a nice cross in which Vela should have connected better with, and with 14 minutes remaining, caution was thrown to the wind, with Di Maria making way for Vaughan, and we switched to a 4-2-2-2, with Vela and ATex in AML and AMR positions. Eduardo went close with a long range shot when he could have run on towards goal, but that was about as close as we got to the winner. A disappointing 2 points dropped, but we’re still on an upwards curve here...stick with it!

FINAL SCORE Fulham 1 – 1 ARSENAL

26.11.11 – Classifieds – Prem

Early: Everton 0 – 0 Liverpool

Aston Villa 2 – 1 Man Utd

Blackburn 2 – 1 Watford

Fulham 1 – 1 ARSENAL

Ipswich 1 – 2 Portsmouth

Man City 1 – 0 Birmingham

Scunthorpe 2 – 3 Newcastle

Late: Sp**s 0 – 2 Chelsea

...with Liverpool and United dropping 5 points between them, the blow was softened a bit, and we’re 5 and 4 points clear of them respectively, but we’re also now 6 points behind leaders Chelsea...

[Stomalomalus]

Your winning run has come to and end, but theres no suprise it happened away from home. Fulham also look a good team, Sven is a good manager, and he always does well against me.

Alves still doesnt seem to be getting involved that much though, and that seems wierd considering how much more Pog is involved on the other wing.

[JRHaggs]

I think it might be worth bumping Alves' 'Forward Runs' and 'Runs With Ball' to 'often' or whatever the highest setting is. Sometimes, with a fullback who's better suited to a wingback role, I like to change his position to wingback but add a b-arrow. This tends to start him higher up the field but still demands that he get back in defense.

Incidentally, if you start Sakho at LB in the near future, I'd undo his f-arrow, as I don't think he's as attack-minded as Alves or Pocognoli.

[GreyedOutMan]

Alves’ runs are already up at ‘often’. And I agree that Sakho’s more defensively minded, but I don’t like the team to be unbalanced, so when Sakho plays at DL he’ll just have to adapt. But Pocognoli’s doing ok there for now, and Sakho’s doing fantastically well at DC.

27.11.11 – Classifieds (Prem)

West Ham 2 – 2 Reading

Bolton 2 – 0 Leeds

29.11.11 Selected Champs Lg results

Barcelona 2 – 0 Juventus

Liverpool 2 – 0 CFR Cluj

PSV 0 – 0 Milan

Chelsea 1 – 1 CSKA Moscow

Celtic 2 – 0 Sevilla

30.11.11 Shakhtar v ARSENAL

A win here would guarantee qualification, though even defeat would probably do that, to be honest. However, more importantly, a win would mean we’d only need a draw in the game against Valencia to top the group. The only changes were Rakitic for the suspended Cesc, and Nani in for ATex. Within a minute, despite having to resist a Shakhtar attack from kick-off, Di Maria had put in yet another cross for Eduardo to head into the net to give us the lead. Within 6, Eduardo’s neat 1-2 with Vela gave the Croatian and the Gunners a 2nd goal. He looked dead set for a hat-trick. He nearly got it in the 19th minute after a sharp shot resulting from a nice run by Alves, who was taking the tactics to heart at last. Shortly before half-time the result was put beyond doubt by a nice solo goal by Di Maria, cutting in from the left wing and placing a nice shot across the ‘keeper and into the net. Half-time. 3-0. Job done.

Within 5 minutes of the restart, Shakhtar had hit the post, and a few minutes later, they did pull one back, a nice ball across the penalty box by Razvan Rat gifting a tap in to Andrey Yunusov. But Arsenal still pressed for more goals. By the 69th minute, however, none had come, so on came Vaughan for Nani, who was struggling for fitness. Vaughan went close ten minutes later, and we were camped in the opposition box for ten minutes solid, but then a Shakhtar break in the 82nd minute seemed to ensure a really nervy 10 minutes or so for the Arsenal. However, in the 88th minute, this was alleviated, as Rakitic’s corner found Eduardo’s head for another hat-trick for the player who is looking more and more like threatening Henry’s goalscoring record. The engine, as you probably know, does that only on LEAGUE goals. Henry got 174, and that was Eduardo’s 99th. At 28, he’ll have to make sure he keeps up at around 20 or so league goals per season, but its possible. Valencia’s victory at home to Galatasaray means we’re both through, and a draw in the last game will ensure top spot.

FINAL SCORE Shakhtar 2 – 4 ARSENAL

30.11.11 Selected Other Champs Lg results

Leverkusen 1 – 2 Real Madrid

Valencia 4 – 1 Galatasaray

Inter 6 – 0 Olympiakos

Dundee Utd 0 – 2 Man Utd

Roma 5 – 0 Spartak Moscow

Classifieds: Prem – 3.12.11

Early: Ipswich 3 – 1 West Ham

Birmingham 0 – 0 Everton

Chelsea 4 – 0 Blackburn

Leeds 1 – 1 Reading

Liverpool 3 – 2 Aston Villa

Man Utd 3 – 1 To*****am

Watford 1 – 3 Bolton

Late: Portsmouth 3 – 0 Scunthorpe

...will give you a table after tomorrows games, ARSENAL v Man City and Newcastle v Fulham.

[GreyedOutMan]

A Tribute to Eduardo da Striker

Just before he notches up his century...99 League goals he’s managed for Arsenal now, but his remarkable overall record (after a load of calculations!) since joining at the start of the 2007-8 season is:

Apps: 237 (7)

Gls: 157

Asts: 35

MoM: 44

Yel: 7

Red: 0

AvR: 7.27

But with 25 goals in 23 starts this season, its shaping up to be his best yet...9 man of the match awards in those games!

His overall record in the league, including previous clubs (the “Total†at the bottom of the history screen) reads even more impressively, with 184 goals in 277 starts and 3 from the bench. Find me a more prolific scorer in the history of football....

[GreyedOutMan]

With all that in mind I decided to do a player search from Eduardo’s attributes. 42 players matched up – most of the one’s you’d expect, Torres, Rooney, Robinho etc, so I did a search for players no older than 23, because the fact is within a 3-4 years we’ll need a replacement. Only 7 were under 23, and of those, only two caught my eye. One was Felipe Caicedo (he exists, starts the game at Basel), who I got my scout to cast my eye over, but more interestingly, Sedat Ishak, who I also asked my scouting team to compile a report on. We’ll see what they pick up, but from this he looks promising....

Sedat Ishak.

[GreyedOutMan]

4.12.11 ARSENAL v Man City – Premiership

Richards was suspended and couldn’t face his former club – Gerson came in for a rare start with Mertesacker out of form and Garay injured. I was tempted to go with Nordtveit but I think I have more faith in the young Brazilian. Once again Cesc came back in for Rakitic, who, with an AvR of 7.43, must be wondering what he has to do to get a starting berth. This was Eduardo’s 150th league appearance, so if he could score his 100th goal too, that would be nice and neat!

The party threatened to be spoilt in the 4th minute when Bojinov inexplicably managed to curl a shot round two defenders who were tight on him in the box and past the ‘keeper too. Joey Barton, who had returned to City from Newcastle via Pompey after only one season in the North, was pulling all the strings, though when the 2nd goal came, it was courtesy of a shot from Bojinov which Pouplin could only parry out to Mathias Fernandez. When Samaras’ 30th minute free-kick was inch perfect, and Pouplin could do nothing to keep it out, it looked as if our long unbeaten run was over. A few minutes before half-time, a Nani cross found the head of Vela who headed in to give us a ray of hope, but I knew we’d need a massive improvement – we weren’t playing well.

It did improve straight away after half-time and we were by far the better team in the 2nd half, but we just couldn’t find the goal. With 11 minutes to go (yes, probably a bit late), I threw Veloso and Vaughan on for Pocognoli and Alves, switching to 3-4-1-2. Di Maria did pull another goal back, but not until the 92nd minute, and it was too little, too late. A disappointing defeat, especially in a home game. City are a vastly improved side, 6th in the table and now level on points with us, but they’re a side we really shouldn’t be losing to having scored twice...

FINAL SCORE ARSENAL 2 – 3 Man City

Classifieds: 4/12/11, Prem

ARSENAL 2 – 3 Man City

Newcastle 1 – 0 Fulham