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

[GreyedOutMan]

6th July

Italy finally put an end to the Ivory Coast’s run, goals from De Rossi and Cassano superceding Drogba’s early strike to give the Azzuri a 2-1 win and the chance to defend their title in the final.

7th July

The final will be an all-European affair, with Spain’s David Villa grabbing the only goal in a tense affair against Argentina in the other semi-final. Meanwhile, my pre-season campaign got under way in impressive fashion, with Eduardo’s 4 goals and an own goal leading to a 5-1 victory over Marseille (I leave friendlies to TA but always check who did well). Eduardo was, unsurprisingly, MOTM, and almost everyone else who started – with the exception of Mertesacker who wont be playing much this year – got an ‘8’, but Alex Teixeira’s performance was the most encouraging, especially as there were 5 players in the starting XI who wont get many games this year, even Alex Hleb – who I still can’t sell – got an ‘8’.

8th July

Speculation linking Roy Keane with a move for Djourou was met a statement warning Keano that I wont sell him unless the price is right. Mark Hughes’ interest in Diaby was laughed off, but Aston Villa’s concrete enquiry about Senderos prompted a reply asking for £7m. Had a little look through what my scouts had dug up today in the DMC department. Probably don’t need any more, but I put in a small-ish bid for Grimandi’s main recommendation, Nigel de Jong, and a proper bid for the versatile Anthony Vanden Borre – with defenders leaving all over the place and more cover needed at DMC, he could be perfect.

10th July

The De Jong bid was rejected...dont think I really need him. 3rd place playoff today – Ivory Coast had one last surprise up their sleeve with a 3-0 victory over Argentina, for whom Tevez saw red in the first minute for an elbow on Meite. Later, the bid I made for Vanden Borre was accepted and I offered him a contract – formality really.

11th July

The World Cup final was decided on penalties after Pirlo’s 8 minute spot-kick in normal time was equalized a minute later by Torres. Aquilani and Mauri both missed for Italy, and with four perfect pens from the Spaniards, the World Cup had a new home as Spain won it for the first time ever. Dunga, the Brazil manager, was the first casualty post-World Cup, after losing to the USA in the 2nd round.

13th July

Need some advice now: bid came in from Sunderland for Diaby of £11.5m plus a 30% sell-on clause. He did have a great season 2 years ago so Im tempted to reject, but what do people think? I stalled for now. Vanden Borre completed his move to Emirates for £8.5m today too.

[GreyedOutMan]

14th July

£11.1m bid for Djourou from Sunderland was accepted, but £3.6m from Sunderland for Fabianski wasn’t.

16th July

ATex signed up today for another 3 years so that’s gotta be good. Another offer of £11.5 + 30% from Sunderland...i need a reply now...

[GreyedOutMan]

sorry that offer is for Diaby - recommedations please!

[Stomalomalus]

OK, here we go...

I would recommend Kolarov for LB, he is one of the best LB's in the game. Starts at Lazio.

I would also suggest bringing in a defensive MC, like Veloso, or even though hes slightly older, if you can get him, De Rossi. Both are far superior to Diaby. As for now, I would suggest playing Bodmer alongside Cesc. Hes a quality player who can defend and attack, set him so he plays like Flamini irl (Sits back but sometimes runs forward - his long shots are ace)

Also, though your wingers are good, they arent CL winning quality. Maybe get shot of Vukcevic and bring in Rosina if you can afford him.

Also, in my game, Henri Saivets PA is 198! Cant remember if you have him. If not then bring him in - he can replace Eduardo after a season or two. Hell be approaching 30 then

BTW, I just started a new Arseneal game - u inspired me - and Eduardo has only goy 3 goals so far

[GreyedOutMan]

Have you patched the game? Eduardo wasnt so good in the original version. And he still has a good 3/4 years left in him at least. Defensive MC - yeah sounds like I should accept the Diaby offer then. I'll look into who i can get to replace him - De Rossi will be too old now, though. And as for wingers - I disagree - Nani, RvP, Vukcevic (who is doing well), Gyan, Aissati - I think I'm looking good on the wings, especially now Nani is fit again.

Will be back with an update later today. Thanks for reading!

[alwo]

Your squad is far too big. 8 strikers? Yes, two are wingers but if you're playing two up front, you don't need 6 out-and-out strikers. Dump the chaff any way you can. Even if it's for free with 50% sell on clauses or on loan. Big squads with players unhappy at not being played does nothing for morale.

I usually have two players for every position but try to make sure that one of them is young and doesn't mind not playing so much or, is a veteran and the same applies. If I were you, I'd try to go for a first team comprising of:

Two keepers is sufficient, a quality youngster in reserve should cover you should the worst happen and both your first and second choices are injured.

You NEED a quality player in each defensive slot, if you play a flat back four, you don't necessarily need to have two right backs, two left backs and four center backs, but try to have players (like Micah Richards and Jolean Lescott) who are D RC or D LC who can slot in either at center back or fullback. Therefore, all in all, 6 defenders (i.e. D R, D L, D C, D C, D RC, D LC) should suffice.

In midfield balance is key. Being nice and attacking is great but you need the defensive options if you're playing a tough away game or you're trying to hold onto a slim lead. Therefore you're struggling at DM. Zapata is actually really good in that slot but such is life. Yaya Touré is good if he's available, and there are others.

Make sure you have a definitive starting XI that you're absolutely happy with and you have players capable of slotting in, i.e. a second XI to account for injuries. Anyone who doesn't fit into either of these teams should be sold or loaned. Again, a big squad does no good unless you're playing in so many competitions in one season that you absolutely need the depth - as a for instance, my Barca team often comprised of only 22-24 players, and anyone else was either loaned out or played in the B team. Even then people still got unhappy about not playing.

[Stomalomalus]

All patched up. I think he takes a little while to settle if he isnt playing every match. Scored 2 in 2 now though. Thats 5! lol.

Benzerga may be worth a look for DM. He starts off 17 and I think his PA is -9 so he could be quite good on your game.

good luck

[GreyedOutMan]

I disagree about big squads. Im a big fan of rotation systems to an extent - most players in the squad play at least 10 games per season. Yes one or two are unhappy, but I'd be worried if they werent. Its healthy. Yes I probably have 1 or 2 too many strikers, but given my financial situation Im not in any urgent need to sell.

Will look into getting another DL, definitely, as well as perhaps an extra DMC.

[SkidRo]

although you may not have van persie anymore im just wondering why you played him on the right and not on the left cos thats where i would have stuck him. for my bro he does wonders on the left midfield. also i agree that the squad is a little too big rotation is good but for some positions only. i rarely rotate my Central defence unless im playing at home aginst weaker sides or in cup games where i dnt care about the outcome. mid field is good place to rotate given you have the right players and upfront if one of your strikers is struggling.

also you said you have a striker by the name of adrian, is that the spanish youngster? if so i dn recommend him i bought him for my ac milan team for 30 million because he looked tasty and guess what i sold him th enext season for 19 million. absolute let down f a signing. would be best to make money off him if you can unles he plays good for your squad.

[GreyedOutMan]

I had van Persie on the right simply because i had better left wingers than right so he did a job there. No i agree about DC rotation, I dont do that. And Adrian - yes he has been disappointing but I dont want to give up on him just yet. He's far from a first choice.

[SkidRo]

well sooner or later ou will get rid of that spanish flop lol

also in regards to help with tactics and such maybe you should post your actual tactics screen - passing style, mentality so people can offer more advice on where you may be going wrong.

it is a surprise for me to see someone using arsenal and not reaching their full potential as i was under the impression that arsenal were guaranteed success mainly cos my brother never fails with them on any FM game.

also big thrumbs up for providing the level of detail you have and tbh i speed read through it all and was surprised to see you lose 4-1 to reading at home

i shall be following you further to see how things go this season. something else i noticed about your strikers is that you mainly have pacey strikers good at striking and half decent in the air maybe you should look into an all rounder like hunterlaar or similar.

[GreyedOutMan]

Changed my mind about Diaby at the last minute and decided to keep him. He’s retraining as a DMC and I’m going to give him another year to see if he can replicate the form of 2 years ago in partnership with Cesc. Big decision I know, but if it doesn’t work, I’ll sell him at the start of next season. Remind me of that promise, I will stick to it. This will free up some money to try to buy a DL – I’ve had Kolarov before, playing with Man City, but he wasn’t that good and anyway he recently moved to Everton for £17.25m. A few players were brought up from the reserves with back-up for the first-team in mind – this is only really to have them all in the same place in general – any of these players could come in and do a job.

This brings it to a well-balanced 34-man first team squad. Yes it sounds like a lot but I plan to put players down to the reserves for the odd few weeks here and there to get some games if they’re not in great form or are being kept out. It will increase to 35 with the signing of an extra left back (I had a look at Saivet and he’s not very good), but other than that I’m happy with the squad as it is. No-one is unhappy and last year, everyone in the squad got at least 6/7 games I think...If I could get rid of Kiessling and Doyle I would but its not happening. Currently, my first choice 18 – which will probably change a little over the season due to form, but it’s a starting point, is as follows:

GK: Simon Pouplin

DR: Dani Alves

DL: Eduardo da Defender

DC: Micah Richards

DC: Ezequiel Garay

MR: Asamoah Gyan

ML: Nani

MC: Cesc Fabregas

MC: Abou Diaby

FC: Carlos Vela

FC: Eduardo da Striker

S1: Joe Hart

S2: Anthony Vanden Borre (if Alves doesn’t do well, he’ll quickly slot in at DR)

S3: Younousse Sankhare (signed in 2007, has been in reserves but now ready to step up)

S4: Alex Teixeira

S5: Ismail Aissati

S6: Rhys Murphy (or Doyle)

S7: Adriano

[GreyedOutMan]

Good news! £5m bid from Aston Villa to relieve me of Doyle. If I can get rid of Kiessling as well, I’ll buy a better back-up striker. But I doubt that will happen. I’ll stick with Murphy if not.

Told the groundsman to make the pitch particularly wide this year. In previous years I’ve gone narrower, but with Gyan and Nani is first choices, I think a bit of width will be good, even if it will limit ATex/Aissati’s effectiveness when on the field.

Villa have competition for Doyle with an identical bid coming in from the Riverside. Also accepted. I’ve also changed my mind about my DC pairing this season – I am going to bring back Mertesacker instead of Garay – what do people think? Theres still time to change. Here they are with seasonal AvRs etc:

Mertesacker:

S1: 7.19 in 56(1)

S2: 7.10 in 51

S3: 7.00 in 12(1)

Garay

S1(Barca): 7.00 in 7(2)

S2(Barca): 7.18 in 42(3)

S3: 7.00 in 51

It’s a tough call but I think the German shades it

Thing is I’d like to put Garay on the bench but the flexibility that the combination of Sankhare (DM, MLC, so can play DL if necessary) and Vanden Borre gives me is useful, so whoever doesn’t get the nod to play alongside Richards wont play much. The other option is to drop Alves and play Richards at DR, and thus play both Mertesacker and Garay, but I think this would be a waste of Micah Richards’ talent, and I think Alves deserves a chance as his form was improving last season. Feedback? Theres still ages till the start of the season so you have time....

[SkidRo]

sankhare should play as a good back up dm i boguth him in for my ac milan team and although he got injured alot he did well in the games he played and was looking like a very good prospect (note he was 21 at the time) so if diaby doesnt do as expected im sure he can step in and hold you down for a while. although nani can do well sometimes i would suggest replacing at some point unless you cant buy any one better for a decent price. for right back i bought a player called rafinha for my valencia team and he was absolutely wonderful imo hes better then alves if you can nick him go for it as im not to sure about van den borre at right back.

[GreyedOutMan]

I just bought Nani for a large sum so I'm hoping he'll hold down a spot for some time, but we'll see. Rafinha is great, yes, but he wont come cheap and I think Alves will get better. Vanden Borre is a perfectly good backup DR - and if he's better at DC I can always move Ricards wide and play him or Garay in the centre.

[GreyedOutMan]

Couple of tempting bids came in: £10m for Mertesacker and £5.6m for Nordtveit. Both turned down, but tempted. The latter, however, was allowed to go out on loan, to Espanyol. Fabianksi completed a loan move to Sunderland as well. As this leaves me with no really stand-out 3rd choice, I’m going to dabble in the transfer market to get a 3rd choice – even for a short term fix, I don’t mind spending £5-6m – I have lots of money. Will report back on that in a second. I prefer these shorter posts I think – what do you guys make of it? If I keep it down to as little chunks as possible, does that make it easier to follow?

[SkidRo]

for me it does but if you have a lot of news to report then why the hell not make a large post of it.

fabianski turns out great after about 4 seasons so watch for him next season. maybe instead of buying a good 3rd choice check if you have any up coming young goalies in your youth system that could save you 5-6 mil.

i dnt really know o fany decent keepers just great ones such as carrizo and akinfeez but thats not what your after plus they cost money.

[alwo]

Not too sure about Vanden Borre at right back either. Why not Corluka? Miles better, costs more but you've got to spend to get the right players.

Cheaper players are cheaper for a reason.

[GreyedOutMan]

Bids were made for the following keepers:

Nikolay Mihaylov (Liverpool reserves – looked ok and is only 22) - £2.5m

Samir Kouakbi (Marseille – his Mental and Physical attributes aren’t very good but his GK ones are) - £2.5m

Olexandr Rybka (Olympiakos – looks ok, nothing special) - £2.5m

And Hugo Lloris – speculative, just to see if I could buy him back for the same price for which I sold him, because he’s awesome – £20m.

Another offer – this time from Bordeaux – was accepted to take Nordtveit on loan for the season. And another the next day from Marseille, and later that day, one from PSG – France clearly likes Nordtveit! Meanwhile, my scout Everton Gushiken (no kidding – what a name, eh?) watched Fabianski make his debut for the Black Cats and he played fairly well. This season should be interesting from that point of view – if Lukasz plays a lot and Sunderland stay up with a mean defence, who knows? He could be first choice at Emirates before long. Meanwhile, Eduardo da Striker finally signed a new 5 year contract worth a whopping £23m (£79k p/w). He is most definitely worth it.

Doyle left the club today for an initial £3.8m, headed for Villa Park. Im not sure it was the right choice – he scored 3 goals in only 2 league starts last year, but its done now, and he wasn’t getting many games. Does mean a loss of up to £6.2m on him though, and only 6 goals in over 2 years at the club. Oh well.

Meanwhile, my odds of 25-1 didn’t really compare favourably to Liverpool and Chelsea, 2-1 joint favourites, or even Everton at 20-1, but hey! Arsenal only ever win the league when they’re not expected to, we all know that!

[GreyedOutMan]

Corluka is very good, but he's too good to warm the bench. Vanden Borre is a perfectly good 2nd choice DR! I'm leaving that alone! Especially as Eduardo/Richards can also play there. As for keepers - see the last post. Unless I get Lloris back it wont cost much, not that I have any problems with money with a transfer kitty over £100m.

[GreyedOutMan]

Only one GK bid was accepted, and I offered a contract to Nikolay Mihaylov. He’s not a world beater, but I don’t want him to be! Denilson also singed a new deal today (25th July if you’re following dates), keeping him at the club until 2013. Meanwhile, Man Utd caused a splash by signing Lyon’s Hatem Ben Arfa for £21.5m. After only one season as a regular for Lyon, it strikes me as a big risk, though he did do well. And, bigger news still, Liverpool are seeking a new manager as Rafa Benitez leaves for the head coach role at the Spanish national side.

Meanwhile, Fabianski was disappointing in Sunderland’s second friendly, conceding two and getting a ‘5’. But he’ll be OK – with a determination rating of 20, I’m sure he’ll be keen to bounce back. On the topic of loans, Nordtveit today moved to Espanyol on loan. If he has a good year, he could well be finding himself in the first team next season.

[GreyedOutMan]

Maximum win bonuses were given for all competitions this season, in a bit to motivate the players to greater heights. I want a trophy! We haven’t won anything since a 2008 League Cup triumph, despite finishing runners-up in the FA Cup in all three seasons so far. Its time to fix that record!

Ive neglected to tell you about the friendlies. They’ve gone well so far. I think I told you about the 5-1 mauling of Marseille, with Eduardo da Striker on form with 4 of them. Since then, away tips at Carlisle and Barnet have also gone well, with 9 goals coming from them without reply. Kiessling 2, Alves and Murphy against Carlisle, whilst Bodmer, Sakho, ATex, Eduardo and an own goal gave us a 5-0 victory at Underhill. Two more, at BEC in Thailand, and away at Macclesfield, and the season will start ten days later at home to Sunderland. Then it’s the big stuff, with a trip to Old Trafford followed four days later by a visit from Liverpool. Tough start to the year.

Liverpool’s Bulgarian shot-stopper Nikolay Mihaylov completed his move south. He’s very much a 3rd choice, but for that money, I’m not too concerned, and at 22, theres time for improvement.

[GreyedOutMan]

Squad numbers were given out today. To be honest I don’t really pay much attention, and assume it actually doesn’t matter one bit, but Carlos Vela was promoted to number 11, whilst Murphy’s ‘8’ was swapped with Gyan’s ‘10’, and then with ATex’s ‘29’ – I don’t think Murphy will play enough to merit a 1-11 number. Simon Pouplin was finally given the number 1 shirt which he had never had in the past for some inexplicable reason. Garay, Alves and Aissati were all given more realistic numbers than the high-30’s shirts that had been theirs previously, swapping with Denilson, Hleb and Mihaylov respectively. Meanwhile, Fabianski kept a clean sheet for Sunderland in their latest friendly outing to Burnley.

Question: do squad numbers make ANY difference whatsoever? Only thing I can think of is morale, but not convinced...

[GreyedOutMan]

The friendly in Thailand was a great success, with goals from Vela (2), Mertesacker, Kiessling (2) and Vukcevic sealing a 6-0 win in which none of the starting XI got less than an ‘8’, and Kiessling got the man of the match star. Who knows, perhaps he might turn out to be a decent back-up this year. His attributes suggest he’s more than good enough to sit on the bench at Emirates, and 4 goals in 2 starts in the friendlies is a good return.

Meanwhile, after not totally unfounded press-speculation, I put in a £10m big for Blackburn’s Vincent Enyeama. I know I don’t really need him but he’s a really great keeper, doing wonders at Rovers, and if I can get him then I could get rid of Hart at the end of the season when Fabianski returns...we’ll see.

[GreyedOutMan]

Having been vice-captain for several years now, the time was right following Colloccini’s departure, and Cesc Fabregas was announced as Arsenal’s new captain, with Eduardo da Striker as his deputy in a new-look captaincy team which I hope will last several years. Cesc declared himself “delightedâ€, Eduardo was happy to be a deputy, and seven players reacted with “happy at the appointment of Francesc Fabregas as captainâ€. A good call, I thought...

[GreyedOutMan]

The Macclesfield friendly resulted in a hat-trick for Eduardo in another 6-0 win. An aggregate score of 26-1 over 5 friendlies suggests that Arsenal are in great form going into the new season. Perhaps we’re being underestimated with the long odds I mentioned?

Enyeama was rumbling in the press about wanting to leave Blackburn for a bigger club so I declared my interest – see if I can nab him soon. Also rejected a bid for Lee Carlton – can people have a look at his attributes (above – probably on page 2) and tell me what they think of him? I think he looks like a player with bags of potential. Enyeama responded with a comment indicating that he was flattered – a bid of £11m went in immediately. Meanwhile, the final season ticket sales dropped a bit from 40,532 to 38,505 this season. Still a healthy figure, netting us over £52m. In the community shield, Man Utd overcame Chelsea 2-1 with goals from Rooney and Pazzini, despite leaving £20m+ new signing Ben Arfa on the bench and not bringing him on. The Enyeama bid was rejected so I upped it to £13.5m – I have money to spend, and he’s been really good, one of the best in the world.

[SkidRo]

lee carlton loosk amazing dont sell him try and further develop him he looks like an important player for the future.

you seem to be having some good friendly results but dnt take it for granted and remain cautious as you have a tough start that could disrupt your whole season.

[GreyedOutMan]

I’ve been neglecting keeper Mathieu Gorgelin – I signed him last year. He’s still only 20 and in the reserves, but in an emergency he could certainly cover. One for the future really though.

14.08.10 Arsenal v Sunderland – Premiership

Pre-match, Roy Keane cast doubt over our ability to challenge for the title this year. My response was simple – he has a 33% win ratio – he’s a ***** manager. With Cesc Fabregas suspended, I brought in Mathieu Bodmer to partner Diaby, with Riquelme promoted to the bench in place of Adriano. I was tempted to play Riquelme, but I think 20 minutes at the end is probably all his legs can manage now. His attributes in terms of technical and mental are still some of the best in the game, but his physical attributes show a real weakness – a ‘9’ for pace, very little stamina or fitness – he can do a job for up to about half an hour from time to time but he cant start this year. Garay’s PR to Keane’s comment demonstrated that I had made the right decision in going with Mertesacker this year – he’s unsure if we can win the title. Alves, on the other hand, is in agreement with Carlos Vela, and they both seem really determined this year. Good stuff. Lets hope Alves’ performances pick up this year, and Vela’s don’t deteriorate, after a world-class season last time round.

The season was to start with a touchline ban, so my thoughts of 20 minutes or so for Riquelme were out of my hands. Lets hope Tony Adams is telepathic! For Arsenal, Gyan was to make his debut, whilst Vanden Borre and Sankhare would do likewise if brought on. A glance at Sunderland’s milestones was quite interesting: following the signing of Steve Sidwell from Spurs, they had three former Arsenal players on debut for them in Eboue, Gallas and Sidwell. Arsenal Old Boys FC!

The season didn’t exactly kick off with a bang at Emirates Stadium, and it wasn’t until the half hour mark that Carlos Vela created the first opportunity, which was saved by Black Cat keeper Fulop (Gordon had of course been sold to Bayern, and Fabianksi was injured, though it would seem he will be their first choice). By half time there had still been no goals, however, and an injury to Carlos Vela prompted TA to bring on ATex. When the hour mark came and went, I was itching to bring on Riquelme and Murphy, but no further substitution came until the 71st minute, and then it was Nani and Gyan replaced by Vanden Borre and Aissati – hardly inspirational. However on 74’, a great corner from Dani Alves found the head of Bodmer, who rose above Dean Whitehead to open the scoring, and even though it doesn’t really exist (because, yes, I DO know this is just a game), even I could feel the relief around Emirates Stadium! Sunderland never really threatened either before or after the goal, and the last 15 minutes passed without a lot of incident, the ball spending the vast majority of the time in Sunderland’s half, but no second goal came. A good start to the season. Not great, but 3 points is all that we require!

FINAL SCORE ARSENAL 1 – 0 Sunderland AFC Scorers: Bodmer. Man of the Match: Fulop.

[GreyedOutMan]

Yeah thanks for the advice RE: Carlton, he does look great. He's pushing on the door even this season - might play him in the league cup, though I want to win it, not having won anything for a while!

[GreyedOutMan]

As for other results of significance on day 1 - Liverpool's 1-1 draw with United probably gives me a slight edge going into the games against those two sides, and with only Aston Villa managing a bigger win than me (3-0 against Blackburn), Arsenal are 2nd after day 1!

[GreyedOutMan]

Longer post coming up, sorry!

Ottmar Hitzfeld, the Bayern manager, had been spotted at Emirates in that game, looking at Mertesacker. He’s not having him. I like Per, he’s a good little player (OK, at 6’6â€, I know he’s not little, no e-mails please!). With 18 shots, 10 on target to Sunderland’s 3 (none on target), the Premiership suddenly opened its eyes to our quality – perhaps we’ll be taken seriously now! Unfortunately, Carlos Vela will be out for 2 weeks, missing the two big games. Nothing we can do about it I suppose, and we have cover in the shape of ATex. I also decided to move Lee Carlton up to the First Team – being with the big boys cant do any harm. I will move him down to the reserves for some matches now and then, or, if possible, farm him out on loan. He’s nowhere near ready to be in the first team proper yet, but he wont be far off. Meanwhile, I had a look at my finances and they’re really good. So good in fact that despite having about £150k in excess salary budget, the system wont let me move that over to transfer budget to increase it from the current £96m (which I wanted to do just to get an idea of how much excess budget I had in real terms...) – with a bank balance of £156m, we can safely say that Arsenal are doing well financially! Admittedly, I had over £160m at this stage last season, but that was when the playing squad still needed significant investment – now there’s not really any area of the squad which I feel needs improvement.

On the Sunday, Man City’s 2-1 win at Middlesbrough knocked Arsenal down into 3rd place, but I didn’t care, especially after the result from the later match came in – Chelsea held to a draw by Pompey at Stamford Bridge – has to be good! Then I had a look at my team, nearly decided to give Lee Carlton a space on the bench, and then, noticing that it was a tough and very important period, moved him down to the reserves and offered him to various clubs on loan. There was a huge response and I could choose my club! They were all low championship or high L1 sides, so I went purely on preference, and living in Brighton, I had no other option, and Lee Carlton will probably be going to Brighton and Hove Albion for 3 months. No longer than that because I think the 18 year old might be ready to make his debut at some point this season...we’ll see. Blackburn asked for £20m for Enyeama and I wasn’t prepared to pay that high for a keeper who, whilst very good, wasn’t strictly necessary, even with a mammoth transfer budget.

17.08.10 Man Utd v ARSENAL – Premiership

Cesc returned to the side in place of Bodmeer, who in turn replaced Riquelme on the bench. Slightly harsh on Saturday’s Man of the Match, but one cannot leave out one’s star player!! Unless of course they’re injured – and on that note, ATex replaced Carlos Vela up front with Eduardo, with Simpson stepping up to the bench. Also, I remembered Stefan Kiessling’s good performances in pre-season and he replaced Rhys Murphy, at least for the time being, on the bench. At 9-4 compared to Man Utd’s backing at Evens, this wasn’t going to be easy. I switched to my “BIG UNDERDOGS†formation, with Diaby in DMC, and ATex in the hole behind Eduardo da Striker. As this formation didn’t really suit Gyan and Nani, who are genuine wingers, I replaced them for this game with Aissati and Bodmer, though both Gyan and Nani retained a place on the bench. I was hoping Eduardo’s spectacular form might show through an bring him a goal despite a lack of service from the wings. This, incidentally, was a particularly sweet moment for former Man City player Micah Richards, not only up against the team he must’ve hated all his adult life, this was his 150th career league appearance. Aissati hit the 100 milestone, too.

It took just 13 minutes of constant United pressure to extract an opener, with Anderson placing a corner onto the head of Pazzini who opened the scoring. Things didn’t look good, particularly as the only win I had ever managed at Old Trafford was in the League Cup, and I’d only beaten them 3 times out of 10 in total. However, after 29 minutes, Vidic pulled down Eduardo, who stepped up to convert the penalty and give Arsenal what was, frankly, a totally undeserved leveler. However, after that we got a new lease of life, and the half-time whistle probably came at the wrong time, just after some extended pressure from the team in white. I was pleased by the spirit the team was showing, and I told them as much. We had been under a lot of pressure, but tight defending and a resolute midfield performance was keeping United’s chances restricted: only 5 in the first half. However, early in the 2nd half, a disastrous bit of defending by Richards gave the ball to Jeremy Menez who fed Rooney to restore United’s lead. After 66 minutes, Aissati’s disappointing performance brought Kiessling on, with ATex dropping into midfield and a more adventurous 4-1-3-2 formation being adopted. If we’re going down, I thought, I’m not going down without a fight! Diaby, by the way, was having a stormer in the DMC role – a ‘7’ didn’t reflect the 66 passes he’d made in just 70 minutes, with a completion ratio of 86%, and the one key tackle he had made which had prevented a clear United goal. While we’re at it, Richards’ statistics proved why he was getting more recognition from the ratings system (‘8’) – a massive 12 interceptions! Given all that, I didn’t want to make any changes, which would have to have involved wide players, because it would have disrupted the system. And we held sway, Eduardo even scoring a late equalizer which was ridiculously ruled offside – it was very clearly not offside...but then again, this was Old Trafford, remember!

A very good performance was under-rewarded in this game – though the goal was the only shot on target (apparently legitimate goals ruled offside don’t count), the holding display from Diaby and the defensive performances of Richards and Mertesacker in particular were very encouraging. Why cant I beat United at OT in the league?! Its infuriating! In four years, we’ve only managed a solitary point, a 1-1 draw in October 2008.

FINAL SCORE Man Utd 2 – 1 ARSENAL AFC Scorers: Eduardo (pen). Man of the Match: Pazzini. AFC MOTM (manager's award): Richards (Eduardo da Striker a close 2nd!).

[SkidRo]

unlucky there mate but i find it hard to beat most i fthe top prem teams away especially arsenal and man utd. at leas you didnt get thrashed like most do.

[GreyedOutMan]

...and another long one. Sorry – I’ll try to write them better so they fit into a set of smaller ones.

Though against Liverpool at home, I would normally use my “BETTER TEAM†formation, which is my most usual one, but its success in so nearly getting a result at Old Trafford led me to the decision to use my “BIG UNDERDOGS†formation again, against a strong Liverpool side. They’ve only beaten me once in 7 games so I want to keep that run going.

In the reserves, by the way, a few youngsters are really staking their claims in the early matches. Kieran Gibbs has scored 3 goals and nabbed 2 assists in only 2 appearances, whilst Rui Fonte and Jack Wilshere have each scored two goals early in the season. Even Phillippe Senderos is impressing, with an AvR of 7.75 from 4. However, it is Carlton and Barazite who, according to TA, have the most potention. Whilst Barazite might make it eventually, Carlton is really looking like a star in the making, and given that he is 6 years his junior, he compares quite favourably with the player he most resembles in the first team squad, Simon Vukcevic, and unlike Simon, he’s a team player, with a Teamwork rating of 15 and a Work Rate of 18 (compared to the 6/13 of SV). There is no doubt he will be a star of the future. Other names to look out for in the future – those not named in this paragraph that is (RG=regen, others come with a guarded recommendation!):

Robert Brazier (RG)

Mathieu Gorgelin

Emmanuel Frimpong

Mark Randall (ish – rated at £3m already, but his attributes don’t really back that up)

Andy Carroll

...and in the u-18s:

Kieran Brown (RG) – 17 yr old striker, already rated £2.3m, attributes look good – might be another star in the making I think.

Shaun Copper (RG)

Back to first team action, but not before I let you in on one piece of news: I accepted an offer of £4m from Sheffield United for Justin Hoyte. Its not a particularly good offer money-wise, but given that this is now his tenth season with Arsenal, and he’s managed only 56 appearances, of which 27 were at Sunderland on loan, I felt I really did have to let him go. He clearly isn’t going to make it (and note here – I’m not just talking about the game!). New Liverpool boss Javier Aguirre warned me not to try any mind games before the match, so I ignored him, choosing instead to spend my time drafting a letter turning down an admittedly good offer from Bayern Munich (yes, Ottmar Hitzfeld, who, if you had been paying attention, had been at the game against Sunderland, scouting) for Per Mertesacker of £12m. I’m not selling my first choice DC at this stage of the season with only 10 days to find a replacement.

21.08.10 ARSENAL v Liverpool – Premiership

With Gyan having dropped to the bench, I replaced Jay Simpson with ATex for the match, with the fit-again Carlos Vela in turn replacing him in the starting XI, in the hole behind Eduardo. With this formation, this is our strongest line-up (with the normal 4-4-2, Gyan and Nani would replace Bodmer and Aissati). Aissati, incidentally, retained his place again in front of Vukcevic by virtue of a better reaction to the media comments by Aguirre, though this time Vukcevic didn’t respond to it at all, which, whilst better than the negative response last time, is not as good as the positive response that Aissati gave. I told the team to do this for the fans – this is a big game after the result at Old Trafford went against us despite such a good performance. It started well, with a good passing movement resulting in a Fabregas shot. It was right at ‘keeper Reina, but a promising opening exchange. Consecutive Liverpool corners were then dealt with well by the always-improving Mertesacker – so pleased I rejected that offer – and that was followed by another good move resulting in a similar Fabregas shot. Only 18 minutes gone, but Arsenal were dominating possession. I felt uneasy at that somehow, not sure why.

20 minutes of relative inaction later, Eduardo picked up a knock. He could have carried on but I didn’t want to risk it, and gave Kiessling his chance to shine. I was tempted to bring Vela up with him to give him more support, but I stuck with the same formation for the time being. However, before the substitution could be made, Dani Alves threw a spanner in the works by getting himself sent off for a terrible tackle. As I had Diaby at DMC, I felt confident enough to move Eduardo inside and just use just three centre backs, despite the complete lack of any width in the side which that led to.

However, in the five minutes before half-time, I could see that we were getting run ragged by the wide players in the Liverpool side, so at half time I moved Vela to the right wing, and played a 3-1-4-1 formation. Unusual, but I thought it would be easier to provide width that way than by changing the defence. So as not to leave poor Stefan Kiessling totally isolated, I pushed Aissati and Vela’s runs forward so that they could get some crosses in if possible. Gyan and Nani could do that better, but I didn’t want to use all three subs at the start of the 2nd half. I simply instructed Aissati and Vela to try to get as many crosses in as they could.

After 65 minutes, a Bodmer throw-in found Kiessling, but Vincent Kompany out-jumped him to head behind – only it didn’t get up high enough and the team with 10 men had the lead through an own-goal. However, it was fragile, and after a disallowed Peter Crouch goal, I decided on safety first, pulling off Vela for Vanden Borre, and switching to a safer option of 4-1-3-1. Sankhare also came on for his debut, replacing the disappointing skipper Fabregas. Diaby moved to central midfield, with the more adept Sankhare entrusted with the vital DMC role for the last 8 minutes. Pouplin was forced into two excellent saves, but Arsenal held out for a win which they totally deserved – after the goal, Liverpool completely dominated, but it was an excellent defensive performance, and a world-class, man of the match display from Simon Pouplin.

FINAL SCORE: ARSENAL 1 – 0 Liverpool AFC Scorers: Kompany (OG). Man of the Match: Pouplin.

That was LONG! Im sorry about that but as I feel that was probably my most impressive tactical victory ever, I’m not going to cut it down!

[GreyedOutMan]

On the Monday following the triumph at Liverpool, Lee Carlton moved to the south coast for a vital loan spell at Brighton and Hove Albion. Up the Seagulls!

Following a report from a scout, I put in a whopper £15m bid for James Vaughan of Everton. However, I set the transfer date to ‘End of Season’ – after 24 goals in 31 games last year, I think the young lad could do with a season more at Everton to back that up before starting in the pressure environment at Emirates. Given that Kiessling is not really the player he should be, I’m sure he will come in useful. Meanwhile, a bigger bid of £6.1m plus a 30% sell-on clause came in for Justin Hoyte. I thought I’d accepted the last offer, but I told them that I would accept that if the clause was upped to 50%. The bid for Vaughan was met with a negotiation, asking for £19m, which, with a transfer budget of £96m and £6.1m seemingly coming in for a player who never plays, I was more than willing to pay. The contract offer is almost certainly a formality, so the pressure is now on Kiessling, who has the rest of this season to convince me that he’s good enough to keep Vaughan off the bench next season. Eduardo seems injury-prone at the moment so he should get his fair share of chances.

28.08/10 Middlesbrough v ARSENAL - Premiership

With Alves suspended and Eduardo injured, a reshuffle was in order for a trip to the Riverside. Vanden Borre came in for Alves, while Kiessling was given a rare start in place of Eduardo. He probably could have played, but he’d been out all week and I didn’t think it was worth it. Rhys Murphy and Mamadou Sakho (another player yet to make a debut despite a big-money move from PSG – he looks a great prospect, and is already rated amongst the top 7 or 8 players in my squad) came into the match-day squad to park their bums on the bench. Before the game, Kieran Brown continued his good form for the under-18s, scoring his 4th goal in as many starts. I promoted him to the reserves. And just as the players were in the tunnel, Alves’ ban was extended to 3 matches, which I rather saw coming. His attributes, incidentally, have shot up this season. Though he’s only performing at 6.67, his pre-season performances as well as his performances for Brazil are telling a different story – perhaps I’m not using him right?

Going into the match, my record against Boro was impressive, reading P7, W6, D0, L1. However, in those seven games, I had only scored 10 goals (conceding three), so it would be important for my strikers to start firing in this game early. With that and the imminent signing of Vaughan in mind, I told Kiessling that I expected a goal. After just 14 minutes, he went close, forcing a good save from Dudu Aouate, but shortly afterwards, Boro created a really good goal for Igor Budan. Unstoppable team goal, can’t fault my players at all. It was like the current Arsenal team at their best. The rest of the half passed mainly without incident, until, minutes before half-time however, the ball broke for Carlos Vela in the box, who smashed the ball home for his first of the season. 1-1.

The second half began brightly too, with Fabregas pushing the ball through to Vela, who went down after a trip by Wheater. It was a contentious penalty, but Vela kept his cool to score his 2nd of the game and complete a good turnaround. We had about 35 minutes to hold onto the lead, but it looked more likely that we’d add to it at this stage. On the hour mark, I realized that I had forgotten to bring Gyan and Nani back for Bodmer and Aissati. Though Aissati was playing really well, they were both out of position, with Bodmer on the left and Aissati on the right - the wrong wing. He’d still managed a ‘7’, but given that I had planned to play Gyan and Nani there, I made the double substitution straight away. Kiessling had been disappointing, but after 70 minutes, a great run from Nani gave him a goal on a silver platter – great play for the Portuguese. But I felt that the ‘8’ which Kiessling had now been awarded was artificial, as the goal had been so easy and he’d been on a ‘6’ before, so I replaced him with Murphy after 83 minutes (though he didn’t get on until the 86th), and relaxed for the rest of the game. Or at least so I had planned, until Cesc Fabregas gave the ball to Igor Budan in a great position for him to pull one back. Very out of character. Afonso Alves then nearly leveled the scores, before Carlos Vela popped up in the 94th minute to complete his hat-trick and seal the victory once and for all. We’d got another win, and finally this was a high-scoring match – after 10 goals in 7 games against Boro, suddenly we’d scored 4 in one!

FINAL SCORE : Middlesbrough 2 – 4 ARSENAL AFC Scorers: Vela 3, Kiessling. Man of the Match: Vela.

[GreyedOutMan]

A bid to take Barazite on loan came in on the Sunday from Slavia Prague, and as it looks as if he might just turn into a quality player, I accepted it. Good for him to get some experience. And with that in mind, I accepted a bid from Sheff Utd of £3m for Rui Fonte. He’s a decent player but I have several who are better (Barazite, Randall, Wilshere....), and a few hours later he was playing under Kevin Blackwell, not Luke Hearn.

Later in the day, the £19m deal for Vaughan was completed. He will be a Gooner on July 1st, 2011. And he’s kicked his final season at Everton off in style, with 2 goals from 3 games at a 7.67 AvR.

In a busy day for transfer activity, I told Barcelona that I wanted £20m for Bodmer. When Sevilla came in for him too, I lowered my price to £16m. Barca are a richer club, they should have to pay more!! But neither were interested at that price, so I offered him to both of them for £14m, but wasn’t prepared to go any lower. Barcelona did offer that. His attributes are very good but he doesn’t really fit into the team, so though I was hesisitant, I accepted the offer, and Barca were given just one hour to negotiate with Bodmer before the deadline, which they didn’t, so the transfer will go through on January 1st. I half-heartedly tried to sign Naldo, Gerard Pique or Mickael Chretien, three of the best centre-backs in the world, but I knew it wasn’t going to happen in the last 15 minutes before the deadline, and I have enough DCs to see me through to January at least.

Barazite’s loan deal with Slavia Prague was finalized, for some reason it was allowed to go through after the deadline, and it will be good to see how he gets on in the Czech Republic. One of my scouts has been sent away with instructions to monitor his progress. Real Madrid beat Betis to win the Super Cup in an all-Spanish affair in Monaco, and then the draws for the UEFA and League Cups brought out tricky ties against Loko (Sofia) and Portsmouth respectively. Sofia will be interesting, a team no-one knows a thing about...

Will post in a few minutes with the report from Villa Park...watch this space!

[GreyedOutMan]

Last post for tonight people, I’m shattered and need to turn in! Comments/queries etc overnight please, both about the game itself and this thread. All comments are useful.

4.09.10 Aston Villa v ARSENAL - Premiership

Tony Adams’ training report had highlighted Anthony Vanden Borre as having trained really well recently, which was useful as Alves is suspended for the game, so he had to deputise. Adriano came in for Eduardo da Defender, who has been disappointing so far (as, actually, has Alves). Otherwise, its as normal, really, though Messrs. Sakho, Sankhare and Tiago Dutra are all pushing hard at the door of the starting line-up.

From an attacking point of view, the first half was only notable really for a missed penalty from Eduardo da Striker, which is a rarity. A good performance from Coloccini against his former team-mates largely kept us quiet, confined to a lot of passing just outside the Villa box. However, on the stroke of half-time, a Villa counter attack led to the opening goal, scored by Agbonlahor. Having had a whopping 59% of the possession, this was very much against the run of play. I congratulated the players on a good half but told them they needed to keep it up, and then the goals would come. And indeed it did – 6 minutes into the half, the ball broke to Adriano, who found Richards, who fed Eduardo da Striker on the edge of the box to fire through the crowd into the back of the net. After that there really was only one winner, with Villa keeper David Marshall under constant pressure. However, by the 74th minute I was getting a little edgy, and decided to force the issue by replacing Gyan with Kiessling, and Nani with Riquelme, and switching to a flat 4-3-3 formation for the last 15 minutes. On this occasion, the goal never came, and the game we had so dominated finished level. And actually, though the possession was very much one-sided, Villa managed 11 shots on goal, with 6 on target, to our 12 and 6 – so perhaps it was a fairer result than the possession stats suggest. I still think we were unlucky not to score more.

FINAL SCORE Aston Villa 1 – 1 ARSENAL AFC Scorers: Eduardo da Striker. Man of the Match: Agbonlahor (AV). AFC MOTM (manager’s pick): Abou Diaby.

[GreyedOutMan]

Next few days passed without incident. Various loan offers for obscure reserves were ignored – total waste of time to accept or reject really. England’s qualifying campaign for Euro 2012 didn’t get off to the best of starts, with a goalless draw away at Bosnia & Herzegovina. Richards’ 90 minutes and a clean sheet was encouraging from an Arsenal perspective, though.

Chelsea manager Avram Grant (yes, he’s still there, even in late 2010!) tried some mind games but I totally blanked him – that’ll teach the evil genius! Chelsea haven’t been doing quite so well of late so this might be a chance to nab three bonus points.

18.09.10 ARSENAL v Chelsea - Premiership

Alves was still suspended, and Fabregas’s knock meant I had a choice on my hands. It was really either Sankhare or Dutra. As Sankhare will get more games due to his versatility, I went with Dutra on this occasion, for his debut. We’ll see how he and Diaby get on in partnership. Also, Aissati came on for the out-of form Gyan, but I retained my 4-4-2 “BETTER TEAM†formation, as Chelsea are a team we ought to be able to beat. I told Dutra there was no pressure on him today, and the match kicked off. Within 5 minutes, a Drogba header from a corner by Mikel gave the visitors the lead. Chelsea went on to more or less dominate the 1st half, and on the stroke of half-time, Scott Sinclair’s one on one, whilst saved well by Pouplin, resulted in a rebound giving the striker an open goal. 2-0 and I don’t think I’ve ever come back from 2-0 down against Chelsea! I told the players I wanted more from them but didn’t really expect it. After 65 minutes, with the score still at 2-0, Diaby made way for ATex, who went up front in a 4-3-3 formation. No point going down without a fight. A few minutes later, Aissati made way for Kiessling, with ATex switching to the 3 man midfield, and Dutra, despite an impressive performance, made way for the more creative Riquelme. Nothing came of it, and another defeat – this time totally deserved after a pretty poor performance to be fair – probably all but ends my title challenge already, having lost to United too. Champs Lg qualification would be a step forward, though.

FINAL SCORE ARSENAL 0 – 2 Chelsea Man of the Match: Drogba. AFC MOTM (managers choice): not awarded due to poor performance of the team!!

[Stomalomalus]

Ive always found Drogba a handful against human controlled teams. He alway scores against me to. Do you ever use Opposition assignments? I didn't until recently, but Ive found they can really help keep key men quiet, especially if theyve got low bravery and you set it to hard tackle them.

[GreyedOutMan]

A visit from Loko (Sofia) was next on the agenda, and I planned on giving certain players a much-needed rest, keeping only my defence intact – if I don’t conceded at home, we’re as good as through.

In the Champions’ League, Liverpool kicked off in style by beating Juventus 1-0 at Anfield, while Man Utd beat Feyenoord away.

23.09.10 ARSENAL v Loko (Sofia) – UEFA Cup R1 L1.

The defence did stay intact, and Fabregas came in having missed the last game through injury, to complete his rehabilitation. Other than that, it was all change: Pouplin made way for Nikolay Mihaylov to debut, Nani was replaced by ATex, Gyan came in for Aissati to attempt to regain form, Sankhare came in for Diaby, and the pairing up from was Adrian and Murphy, with Kiessling retaining his spot on the bench, which was strong, with Hart, Eduardo da Defender, Dutra, Nani, Aissati, Vela and Eduardo da Striker. Just in case.

I needn’t have worried. Both Murphy and Adrian had scored before the half-hour mark. It seems I have plenty in reserve as far as strikers go. And with quarter of an hour remaining in the 2nd half, Murphy got a 2nd to round things off. A solid, professional display.

FINAL SCORE ARSENAL 3 – 0 Loko (Sofia) AFC Scorers: Murphy 2, Adrian. Man of the Match: Murphy.

[GreyedOutMan]

I use them against teams with specific players who are a threat, but with teams like Chelsea, there are too many. Keep Drogba quiet, fine, Scott Sinclair will score....so I dont against them.

[GreyedOutMan]

Ipswich away was next up. The newly promoted team were, on paper, canon-fodder, and had just lost 4-1 to United and 1-0 to Liverpool (I know, tough run!) but I needed to be cautious. Despite the professional performance by the semi-reserve side against Sofia, I reverted to my first-choice XI for the game, but with Adriano at left back, and Adrian on the bench following his good performance, replacing Kiessling. All three (Adrian, Kiessling and Murphy) have really got a good claim to that spot, we’ll be rotating around a fair bit there. But it was the first choice in that position, Eduardo da Striker, who converted a 4th minute penalty to give us the lead. Then we peppered the Ipswich goal for another 40 minutes but at half-time it was still only 1-0. I encouraged the team and sent them back out. 20 minutes later, I was given a dilemma by Nani’s 2nd yellow card. In a precarious situation, I decided not to make any changed, and simply pushed Vela out onto the left wing, leaving Eduardo da Striker up front on his own. He then scored a goal a few minutes later, though correctlycorrectly ruled offside.

Danny Haynes equalized for Ipswich 2 minutes later. Chasing a vital win, Adrian replaced Diaby and for the last 10 minutes, I played a ridiculous formation of 4-1-2-2 – with Fabregas in the middle, Vela and Gyan in the AMR/L positions, and Adrian up front with Eduardo. Risky but I felt a goal would come. It did. With 3 minutes to go, Alves fed Gyan, who ran through empty space to hammer home Ipswich ‘keeper McGregor. 2-1. Relief all round. Sankhare replaced Eduardo and we switched to a flat 4-4-1 formation. Ipswich striker Billy Clarke had a golden opportunity to snatch a point in the last minute of stoppage time, but it was saved by Pouplin, and 3 points was ours.

FINAL SCORE Ipswich 1 – 2 ARSENAL AFC Scorers: Eduardo da Striker (p), Gyan. Man of the Match: Gyan.

[GreyedOutMan]

Despite that sending off, incidentally, Nani has made an encouraging start to his 2nd attempt at playing for Arsenal, after his switch in January was cancelled out by an injury on debut which kept him out for the rest of that season. In 4 starts and one bench appearance, he's AvRing at a solid, and consistent 7 - he's got '7' each time - and the same internationally. He's only got one assist, but his pass rate is 76%. I'll be looking for improvement as he settles in, but its a promising start from the expensive 23 year old.

[GreyedOutMan]

Nani’s suspension gave ATex a chance to start against Pompey in midweek in the League Cup. Other than that, I kept a strong team out – the squad is at full fitness apart from Sidnei who is injured, and I have plenty of cover. Vukcevic moved up to the bench. Sakho came in for his debut at left-back in place of the still-disappointing Adriano, and I rested Cesc in favour of Denilson in the one concession to the normal Arsenal League Cup policy.

29.9.10 ARSENAL v Portsmouth – League Cup R3

In only the fifth minute, Vela and ATex combined well to feed Eduardo for an easy finish from just outside the penalty area. Good goal. After 33 minutes an injury to Gyan (who was replaced by Vukcevic, with ATex switching wings) seemed to rock Arsenal a bit, and Yakubu equalized moments later with a screamer from just outside the box. 1-1 was how it stayed until the half-time whistle. Immediately after half-time though, more good work between Vela and ATex set up Vukcevic to score – the third goal of the game, and all from outside the box. With 10 minutes to go, the game was sealed as Diaby made a great run through the Pompey defence, played a neat one-two with Eduardo da Striker, and slotted past ‘keeper Ben Foster. 3-1, and a good performance from the lads.

FINAL SCORE ARSENAL 3 – 1 Portsmouth AFC Scorers: Eduardo da Striker, Vukcevic, Diaby. Man of the Match: Eduardo da Striker.

[GreyedOutMan]

Under new manager Ruud Gullit, next opponents Bolton were looking a much tougher outfit this season, and after a brief flirtation with relegation this year, were now safely in mid-table with three wins from the first seven matches – in fact, only three points behind Arsenal in 6th. Other notable starts included Man City, unbeaten leaders of the Premiership, Fulham in 3rd with 13 points from 7 games, Liverpool languishing in 12th with only 2 wins, and Scunthorpe, the hot favourites to go down pre-season, but who had secured two wins and two draws and were sitting in 14th, clear of the relegation zone for the moment at least.

2.10.10 ARSENAL v Bolton Wanderers – Premiership

The injured Gyan was replaced in the starting XI by Nani, returning from suspension, whilst ATex retained his place, switching to the right wing. Fabregas came back in for Denilson, and Sakho retained his place after an encouraging start in the League Cup game. Half an hour into the game, Sakho justified his selection, feeding Nani from the wing for the Portuguese to open the scoring. Five minutes into the 2nd half, Cesc seemed to have put the game beyond doubt with a scorcher from twenty yards, firing in from an acute angle in order to miss the mass of players in the box. However, Landon Donovan pulled a goal back for Bolton with 11 minutes remaining following a mistake from the normally reliable Mertesacker. The rest of the match was very tense. Eduardo da Defender replaced Sakho whilst Adrian was brought on for Eduardo da Striker in order to have some fresh legs to spearhead the attack, with Vela dropping to AMC. A few minutes later, Ricardo Vaz Te had a fabulous opportunity to equalize which he luckily spurned, and though Bolton continued to exert pressure, we held out – Adrian actually scored a 3rd in the 5th minute of stoppage time but it was ruled out for offside. 3 points from nothing more than a just-above average performance – has to be good!

FINAL SCORE ARSENAL 2 – 1 Bolton AFC Scorers: Nani, Fabregas. Man of the Match: Nani.

That’s all for now folks, I’m off to watch the Russians get kicked by the Americans on home soil (in other words, come on United! Though as a life-long Gooner I cant bear to have to say that!)

[GreyedOutMan]

The fourth round of the League Cup will bring Aston Villa to the Emirates Stadium. Championship Coventry will be visited by Man Utd and Chelsea face a trip to Manchester City. However, the tie that caught my eye was Scunthorpe of the Premiership against Championship West Ham. Meanwhile Man City’s excellent run continued, a 2-1 win at Blackburn taking them to 22 points from 8 games, fully 4 points clear of United. In the Champions’ League, Man Utd lost at home to Betis, whilst Liverpool’s victory against Rapid combined with Bayern’s draw with Juventus must have made Scousers happy. With Bayern having drawn with Rapid on matchday 1, when Liverpool beat Juventus, Liverpool had a 4 point lead on top of the group over Bayern on 2, with Rapid and Juve both with only a solitary point from their opening two games.

7.10.10 Loko (Sofia) v ARSENAL – UEFA Cup R1 L2

Genuine reserve side for this game, after a 3-0 first leg home win. Line-up: Mihaylov; Vanden Borre, Adriano, Garay, Sakho; Simpson, Vukcevic, Dutra, Sankhare; Murphy, Adrian.

Loko opened the scoring with a penalty, but Adrian equalized before 10 minutes had gone to more or less seal a victory for Arsenal, despite the conversion of a 2nd penalty for Loko before the half-hour mark. Encouragingly, Murphy got the 2nd equalizer – whenever these two strikers play together they both score!

The 2nd half was a dull affair, which had “game over†written all over it. Not the best performance – the wingers were especially disappointing – but the DCs and strikers all got 8’s, and clearly are capable of filling the shoes of their bigger-name counterparts.

FINAL SCORELoko (Sofia) 2 – 2 ARSENAL ARSENAL win 5-2 on aggregate AFC Scorers: Adrian, Murphy. Man of the Match: Dimitrov. AFC MOTM (MP): Sakho.

More feedback would be great, folks...

[GreyedOutMan]

Charlton offered to take Andy Carroll on loan for a few months. He’s been doing well for the reserves but I thought some first team football would do him good. For Scunthorpe, the first team was reinstated, though Vanden Borre’s good start to the season saw him coming in for Alves, Sakho played at left-back once again, and with Gyan out, ATex deputized. Good form means that Murphy, Bodmer, Garay and Adrian were all knocking on the door, and the pressure’s on for several players in the first team, notably Mertesacker, and even Cesc who isn’t performing to his usual standards. Bench read: Hart, Eduardo(D), Bodmer, Dutra, Vukcevic, Adrian and Murphy. This game, incidentally, marked Carlos Vela’s 150th career league appearance. For a 21-year-old, that ain’t half bad! Though admittedly, loan spells at Salamanca, Osasuna and Inter account for 80 of those. However, 48 goals in 67 Arsenal starts is very impressive by anyone’s standards.

10.10.10 (HOW COOL IS THAT DATE?!) Scunthorpe v ARSENAL

After just a couple of minutes, a cutting ball from Cesc put Eduardo in for the opening goal. A wonderful assist. Ten minutes or so, Vela’s equally beautiful 1-2 with Eduardo gave him goal number 49 for the Gunners, and a Fabregas corner a couple of minutes later gave Micah Richards Arsenal’s 3rd. It looked like there were plenty more goals to come. However, Scunny rallied rather in the remainder of the half, and actually had a fair few chances. However, the half-time whistle was blown with the scoreboard still reading 0-3. Ten minutes into the 2nd half, Eduardo spurned a chance to make it 4, but made up five minutes later with a nice lob over keeper Murphy, reminiscent of Henry in his pomp. After that, it was party time, and I must’ve witnessed about 100 Arsenal passes (...Wahey...Wahey...Wahey...), before Eduardo completed a memorable hat-trick with 7 minutes remaining. It was a fantastic performance from the Croatian, and marked his 100th goal for Arsenal in just 169 starts. And he’s been improving year on year, with goal tallies of:

2007-8: 24 from 54 (3)

2008-9: 30 from 54 (2)

2009-10: 39 from 53 (1)

2010-11: 7 from 9 so far

...which means he’s well on course to score 40+ goals this season, though of course there’s a long way to go.

FINAL SCORE Scunthorpe 0 – 5 ARSENAL AFC Scorers: Eduardo 3, Vela, Richards. Man of the Match: Eduardo

[GreyedOutMan]

Sorry, just realised I included that match in the season by season stuff, and not in the total - that was of course, Eduardo's 100th goal in 170 starts

Feedback would be good, people! How do you think this is going? Still enjoying it? I want more Assistant Manager advice too!

[GreyedOutMan]

Leeds, Bradford and Plymouth also had offers accepted, extending Carroll’s choice of clubs at which to spend the rest of 2010. After canvassing Eduardo’s opinion for new players to spend my huge transfer budget on, he replied with an interest suggestion – his Croatian teammate, the 22-year-old Ivan Rakitic. As an AMC, he would be a perfect replacement for Bodmer, and despite a big-money summer move and fantastic attributes, he isn’t making it into the Everton squad. He wouldn’t be a first choice but he could provide cover perfectly acceptably. I put in a bid of £10m.

The UEFA Cup group phase threw up a tough group including Villarreal, Panathanaikos, Red Star and Mlada Boleslav of the Czech Republic as the minnows. Carroll completed his loan move, choosing Plymouth on this occasion. I hope he plays more than the 4 games he had at Scunthorpe last year!

Everton then held Man Utd at home – a big result for my title aspirations, which, whilst not huge, aren’t totally unrealistic. Man City are 6 points clear at the top but will fall away, and the next 4 (including me) are level on 19 points, with 3 on +9 GD and me just one behind on +8. Suprisingly, it’s Fulham who are top of the chasing pack, having managed 21 goals to the 17 which Chelsea, Man U and Arsenal have scored.

My Rakitic offer was accepted, but I decided to try to push my luck and save £2m by withdrawing the offer and seeing if Everton would accept £8m. I know I don’t really need to, and I’ll pay £10m if necessary, but £2m saved on every signing would produce extra finance for quite a few very good players over a couple of years or so...and the deal wont go through until January anyway, of course. However, this didn’t happen, and I put in another £10m bid.

In qualifying for Euro 2012, England managed a vital 1-0 win away to the Czech Republic thanks to a Rio Ferdinang goal, whilst Stephen Ireland’s late goal equalized Ronaldo’s penalty to grab a 1-1 draw for Ireland against Portugal. Scotland got a routine 1-0 win in Kazakhstan. Wales, however, lost 2-0 to Russia in Moscow and Northern Ireland went down 3-0 to Holland at home.

[GreyedOutMan]

The offer for Rakitic was accepted and I offered him a contract.

23.10.10 Reading v ARSENAL – Premiership

Gyan came in for the injured ATex for this game, with Nani switching wings again. TTen minutes in, a Fabgregas corner was cleared back to him, only for a 2nd attempt to find Anthony Vanden Borre on the edge of the box to smash in his first goal for Arsenal. Just before half-time, Eduardo continued his good run, making it 6 goals in four and a half games, converting an open goal after ‘keeper Lobont could only parry a Nani shot. Gyan nearly scored a 3rd in the dying moment of the 2nd half, but otherwise it was an uneventful 2nd half. I need to start making more substitutions in games like these I think – once I’m 2 or 3 up and playing really well, like we did in this game, I tend to relax, but I should be making more substitutions to give other players such as Dutra, Vukcevic, Adrian and Murphy more of a chance. Still, 4 straight league wins now...

FINAL SCORE Reading 0 – 2 ARSENAL AFC Scorers: Vanden Borre, Eduardo. Man of the Match: Vanden Borre.

And just after the match, a £10m deal for Ivan Rakitic was finalized. He’ll become an Arsenal player in just over 2 months, on 1/1/11 – another cool date!

[GreyedOutMan]

Later in the day, Hatem Ben Arfa, United’s £21.5m summer signing, scored his first goal for United. He really does look like a big waste of money to me. He’s not been playing much, with only 2 starts despite staying fit throughout the season so far, and he’s only managed ratings of 6-5-8...not exactly the standard of Messrs Eduardo and Vela, who between them probably cost barely half of Ben Arfa’s fee....

Another trip to Eastern Europe was next up, with Red Star Belgrade (did anyone know that in Spain they translate this name to Estrella Roja de Belgrad? The one time I’ve ever been to Barcelona, they were playing a pre-season friendly against them which allowed me to find out this fascinating fact...

Liverpool’s great run in the Champs Lg continued with victory away at Bayern Munich. With Juve, like Bayern, only managing a draw with Rapid Vienna, the victory all but put united through, with 9 points from three games, with the other three teams all stuck on just two. Man Utd recovered from their defeat at home to Betis to beat Marseille 2-1 and go level on points with Betis at the top of the group on 6 points.

28.10.10 Red Star v ARSENAL – UEFA Cup Group Phase

On Thursday, the UEFA Cup group phase began, for Arsenal anyway, in Belgrade. Murphy replaced Vela in the game, partly to rest Vela and partly because Murphy’s form is a lot better. For similar reasons, Garay came in for another rare appearance for Mertesacker. In a dull game, I brought on Adrian for Murphy after 70 minutes, and Vukcevic replaced Nani, who had picked up a knock, after 80. Adrian did provide a spark and some good chances were created in the last 20 minutes than in the rest of the game put together, and in the 93rd minute, the substitute scored a richly deserved, and quite probably vital, winner. His influence and the quality of the football before he came on with 20 minutes to go was underlined by the fact that those 20 minutes were enough for the young Spaniard to secure a Man of the Match bottle of Champers. Good going, Adrian.

FINAL SCORE Red Star 0 – 1 ARSENAL AFC Scorers: Adrian. Man of the Match: Adrian.